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Richard “Quiet Lion” Brodie

published on 03/13/06 at 7:25 pm

Richard Brodie is a Full Tilt Poker professional with 4 WPT cashes, 1 WSOP cash and 3 UPC televised final tables to his credit. Nicknamed “Quiet Lion”, Richard is renowned in poker circles these days and chronicles his poker adventures through his blog, Lion Tales. He is the author of Getting Past OK and the current best-seller, Virus of the Mind, which carefully builds on the memetics theories of Richard Dawkins, Douglas Hofstadter and Daniel Dennett et al. In a former life, Richard was a Personal Technical Advisor to Bill Gates and the original author of Microsoft Word. Richard now spends much of his time playing Texas Hold ‘em and his star is rising on the world poker stage.

When did you know you could play poker professionally? Was there a book or professional poker player that helped define your game?
I’m only a “professional” in that I take the game seriously and try to play it well. I don’t need to support myself with my poker winnings. I never really doubted I could become a good poker player. I’ve always been good at games and I have a mind for math and psychology.

I’ve read a lot of books but playing a lot of hands and discussing them with good players has really been the key.

Are there any comparisons with your years of employment at Microsoft and the game of poker?
Uh… virtually none that I can think of! I really don’t like being tied down to a job.

I note your wife, Heather, is a success coach. Has she been able to teach you anything that has helped your poker game, or does the adage “you can’t counsel your spouse” hold true?
Heather is a wonderful role model for treating people with respect and kindness. I am not a client, however, for the reason you stated.

Of all the personal growth groups you explored in the past, which one or two did you derive the greatest benefit from? Did your study and knowledge of memetics come out of this exploration?
I recommend Extraordinary Learning for their six-day retreat “21st Century Leadership.” Memetics I first learned about at Microsoft from my mentor Charles Simonyi.

You mentioned in a recent interview that one of the most important areas of self-examination is clarifying your life’s purpose. How clear has that purpose become to you and is poker helping you in any way with that clarity?
I’ve been very clear about what’s most important to me for quite some time now. I’ve done a few “major” things with my life — develop Microsoft Word and publish two books — but the day-to-day texture of life is also important. Playing poker I have the mental challenge I enjoy while still being able to touch many people, hopefully in a constructive way. I’ve also become a bit of an entertainer with my TV appearances, which is a real if minor contribution to society.

Who do you currently rank as the best overall poker player? What one skill that you don’t currently possess would you like to model from them?
I really don’t have enough information to judge that, but the pros who play regularly on Full Tilt are some of the best. Many people would put Phil Ivey at the top and it’s tough to argue with that.

Poker is a complicated game. There is a whole bag of tricks, but I think the number-one ability is putting people on hands, and that becomes perfected with years of experience. At the higher levels you can lead people to erroneously put you on hands and make bad decisions. Those are the areas I’m working on.

I recall you saying recently that there are a thousand tricks in the game of poker and you knew 385 of them. What was the latest addition to your personal list?
Limping early with big pairs in tables full of smart players with deep stacks. It’s usually a mistake against average players, but at high levels you can make some money through deception.

Many professional poker players these days seem to have a nickname a bit like a prizefighter. How did yours (Quiet Lion) originate and does the implied persona help you to get into a preferred poker playing state?
It was actually my Internet nickname since back in 1993 when the World Wide Web started to sprout up. I got it from a fun personal-growth workshop I did where we “channeled” our “Indian spirit name.” Mine was Quiet Lion.

What is the best piece of poker advice anyone has given you?
I think Erik Seidel said it best: pay attention.

Given your writing skills, had you ever considered writing a book about poker? If you were to write one, from what angle would you approach it?
I do plan to come out with a book about my experience on the tournament circuit based on my trip reports on Lion Tales.

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