In a recent interview published on November 28th, 2015, Ashley Adams, poker player and author, tells you how he accomplished his goal: play poker in all 50 states.


The journey of this player from Boston ended in early November, during a No-Limit Hold’em cash game at Pendleton Wildhorse Casino, in Oregon.

Poker fan ever since he was young and loyal to casinos until today, his American poker-run had begun more than two decades ago.

Ashley Adams is proud to have accomplished this feat, even top pros such as Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu could only dream of pulling off. Actually, he’s reported to be the only player who has done it.

As he relates in his interview with Poker News, he started his journey by making the most of his business trips to other states to enjoy himself some poker games. “I lost for the first year-and-a-half or so playing stud,” Adams explains. “Finally I figured out a basic strategy that worked against typical casino players and started to win.”

He came up with this idea of travelling across the American territory looking for poker games ten years ago. “By 2005, I realized I had played in more than half the states.” He adds. For him, it was a challenge that he set himself, just for fun.

Here is what he learnt from his journey:

  • Playing poker in every state is easier said than done. In fact, finding home games in states where gambling is illegal was the most difficult part of his tour.
  • Poker is a universal language. Ashley Adams had some happy encounters during the whole journey with people totally different from him (farmers, Indians…), but with whom he got along really well thanks to a common passion. He also learnt a lot from local populations.
  • No poker game is similar. From a game set up in a synagogue to a private in the middle of the woods in Alabama, each game was a brand-new experience for him.
  • Participating in the WSOP is great, but private games are even greater. Intimacy, conversations, and the field are the charm of this game.

Ashley Adams finishes the interview stating he doesn’t especially have a favorite place on the territory, but if he had to choose, he would go to the Mashantucket Foxwoods Casino & Resort, in Connecticut, where he regularly plays.

Finally, he also tells us more about his future project: “my next step, though, is to write a book and share all of the stories I’ve gathered.” His books will be entitled ‘The 50 States of Poker’.

We’ll be pleased to let you know about its publication date soon.