The WLD Show

Sean Reed. How Online Poker Led Him to the Philosophy of Bitcoin | Will, Lee, & Andrew Learn Web3: #53

Episode Summary

Sean Reed is a former professional poker player who got into Bitcoin and crypto in 2011, after online poker was banned in the U.S. He helped start OpenNode, a Bitcoin Payment Processor that allows companies like Shopify, Substack, and McDonalds accept Bitcoin payments. We talk about the different waves crypto has experienced and why he’s such a big fan of transparency, autonomy, and Bitcoin.

Episode Notes

Sean Reed is a former professional poker player who got into Bitcoin and crypto in 2011, after online poker was banned in the U.S. He helped start OpenNode, a Bitcoin Payment Processor that allows companies like Shopify, Substack, and McDonalds accept Bitcoin payments. We talk about the different waves crypto has experienced and why he’s such a big fan of transparency, autonomy, and Bitcoin.

In this episode we discuss

• How Sean became a poker player
• Sample size and result required to give Sean confidence that he could quit the prescribed path for poker
• How poker brought Sean freedom
• April 15th, 2011: Black Friday which shut down all online poker in the US
• How Sean searched for a location and method to maintain his livelihood
• Bitcoin poker games
• Why Sean turned to Bitcoin
• Moving to Costa Rica
• How Sean tracked his poker games
• “EV” - Expected Value: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-is-expected-value-in-poker#how-to-use-expected-value-in-poker
• Bitcoin - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin
• The bad and the good Sean saw on Silk Road
• How buying, selling, and competition changes when a transparent market is created
• How Sean chose his next job after poker
• Why Sean believes in Bitcoin so much
• Opennode: https://www.opennode.com
• Who Michael Saylor is and his Bitcoin beliefs: https://www.michael.com

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