Chasing Dreams and High Stakes: The Journey of Alec Torelli – Part II

Alec Torelli is probably best known for his 11th place finish in the World Series of Poker 2023 Main Event, as well as for being the being the founder of ConsciousPoker.com. While you could read about how Alec entered the poker scene in the first part of the interview, in this part, we’ll go through some memories of his early years in professional poker.

In the next episode of our interview with Alec Torelli, we delve into his transition from poker enthusiast to professional player, exploring the pivotal moments that influenced his career choice. Alec discusses his decision to focus on cash games over tournaments, the high-stakes opportunities that guided his path, and the inspiration behind launching Conscious Poker, his training platform.

Stay tuned as we uncover the strategic and personal insights that shaped Alec Torelli’s journey in the poker world.

Melvin PokerListings: Nowadays, you are mainly a cash game player, right? Can you elaborate a bit more on choosing cash games over tournament games? Do your courses at Conscious Poker reflect your own game preferences?

Alec Torelli: Over my career, I’ve played thousands of online tournaments, have studied ICM, and learned the hard way the importance of understanding tournament strategy. (I made an ICM mistake at a Final Table early in my career, and from then on, I went deep down the rabbit hole).

Early in my career, I played many tournaments and had good results. If you look at my profile at The Hendon Mob, there aren’t many cashes because I haven’t played that many, but out of my 24 in the money finishes, 10 of them are final tables.

Despite this, I’ve focused more on cash games because I believe the opportunity cost of playing tournaments is high.

At $50/$100 NL, for example, it’s not unreasonable to swing $100K, but in most tournaments, you need to make the top 10 to earn that amount. This makes cash games more profitable on an hourly basis, especially when considering variance and risk of loss.

A good cash player wins 65-70% of sessions, whereas a good tournament player only wins 20%. In tournaments, the risk of loss is higher with a lower hourly rate. From a business, lifestyle, and emotional well-being perspective, a full-time career in MTTs is hard to justify.

The pain of losing often outweighs the joy of winning, especially since you mostly lose in tournaments. Even second place can feel like a loss, and the closer you get, the greater the pain. This creates an emotional and financial downside in tournament poker.

That said, I love playing tournaments on an emotional level. There’s nothing like a deep run in a major event. In cash games, there are multiple winners, and you don’t satisfy the competitive side of yourself like you do in tournament poker. This is why I still love the Main Event at the WSOP. Making a deep run or winning that event provides a joy and glory that cash games can’t offer.

At Conscious Poker, we offer strategies for both tournaments and cash games, and I’d say it’s quite evenly split. Half of my coaching clients focus on tournaments, which keeps me studying both formats to stay on top of my game.

Tournaments and cash games require different skills. It’s like playing two different instruments. If you learn bass guitar, you won’t automatically be good at a standard guitar, but you’ll learn faster than someone with no musical background. For this reason, we take a unique and nuanced approach to both formats.

Melvin PokerListings: Looking back, many professional poker players from the US have moved to Europe or Australia. You mentioned earlier that you also moved to Australia to chase your dreams. How did that come about?

Alec Torelli: When I was 18, I dropped out of college and couldn’t play poker in the US. I couldn’t go to Vegas, Tunica, or LAPC. I lived in Southern California but had to sneak into casinos to play. I could play cash games at the Bellagio but not win the WPT.

Moving to Australia was driven by the Aussie Millions, one of the biggest tournaments in the world. It was January, summer in Australia and winter in the US, the perfect time to go. My goal was to travel and play poker, and Australia was a dream destination.

I extended my because I loved it so much. After the live tournament in Melbourne, I got an apartment, played online, and at the Crown Casino. You can play poker anywhere, so why not in Australia? It was an incredible experience, and I ended living there for 9 months.

Melvin PokerListings: Playing in events like the Aussie Millions must have been exciting. How was that experience for you?

Alec Torelli: Oh yeah, I was starstruck. I was very young and hadn’t interacted with many celebrities or high-profile people. Meeting renowned poker players was cooler than meeting musicians, athletes, or actors. I’d rather meet Doyle Brunson or Phil Ivey because they were my heroes.

In poker, high-caliber players are more accessible than in other sports. You can watch a tennis match, but you can’t just walk by Roger Federer and start chatting with him.

In poker, you can go to the Crown Casino or a tournament in the Bahamas and interact with top players. When I was 18, my friend won a seat to a tournament in the Bahamas, and he invited me. I paid for my flight, stayed with him for free, and found myself in a high-profile environment. It was surreal to see and talk to these pros who I looked up to.

Melvin PokerListings: You’ve been around poker for a while and collected many memorable moments. What moments still stand out to you?

Alec Torelli: At my first live poker tournament, when I was just 18 years old, I was at the bar in the lobby of the Atlantis hotel, where the tournament was held. Freddy Deeb walked up and sat next to me. He had just won a million dollars in the Los Angeles Poker Classic or WPT. I had seen him play on TV and it was one of my first interactions with a big name pro.  

The bar was empty – it was just the two of us. I ordered a drink, and he looks at the waiter and goes, ‘put it on my tab’. That sparked a conversation, and we began chatting about poker and tournament strategy. I said, “Hey, I’m here trying to qualify for the Main Event. What do you think?” He gave me poker advice, and it was a surreal experience. I ended up qualifying.

It was like a musician meeting their favorite guitarist and getting help with playing the strings properly. I was very starstruck, and these early impressions of other players were super awesome. It gave me a lot of confidence because they were very kind, receptive, and helpful. They gave me tips, and I thought, “Oh wow, I’m kind of here playing in the same events as them. I’m not on their level of course, but I’m with them in the same room.”

Playing in the same tournament was a very cool feeling and that early confidence really helped me move forward.

Melvin PokerListings: You mentioned how accessible poker players are and how open they are to talking about all sorts of things. At PokerListings, we often speak to many players from around the world and appreciate how helpful they generally are. But like many things in life, it’s important to have the right people around you to grow. What is your take on that?

Alec Torelli: Yes, I was lucky to meet some great players who would become friends over the years. We kind of came up together. Building that community was huge. At these events, we had an online community where pros or aspiring players, like 18-year-olds, could connect. There weren’t many people doing that, so we all congregated through these online communities and made friends.

I remember playing with the same players online day in and day out, chatting on partypoker, and exchanging AOL screen names. We made virtual friends and talked strategy and hands. During the Full Tilt days, when I started playing high-stakes poker, there weren’t many people playing the nosebleed games, so we all talked regularly.

After Australia, I flew to Rome and hung out with Tom Dwan, who I met in the Bahamas while he was playing online in the hotel lobby. He was playing 10-20 No-Limit at the time, which was huge; the biggest game available on partypoker. He was super creative and far ahead of the curve, doing things like four-betting pre-flop, which wasn’t common back then.

I met Andrew Robl in Aruba during my second live poker tournament. Meeting these people, learning poker with them, and growing together as friends was invaluable. We traveled, played online, and partied together. I remember being in Warsaw with friends, playing online and having a great time. Having friends who became great players and could talk poker with was super cool and has always been a big part of my career.

I’ve always valued social learning immensely. Even with Conscious Poker, we emphasize social learning because it had such a big impact on my career. We try to replicate that with our courses, clients, programs, and group coaching.

At 24, I moved to Macau after playing poker professionally for six years. It was interesting because almost none of the locals spoke English, so all of the expats that came from around the world to compete became friends, and we built this little community. There were maybe 30 regular pros in total who would compete at the high-stakes games, and many of us would talk poker together and learn from each other. It was awesome and really helped me grow as a player and person.