5 things we learned from BBZ on the Robin Poker Podcast

BBZ Poker founder Jordan ‘bigbluffzinc’ Drummond recently appeared on the Robin Poker Podcast, hosted by his very own student, Lukas ‘RobinPoker’ Robinson.

A deep conversation between BBZ and the GGPoker Ambassador ensued, ultimately clocking in at more than three hours, during which we learned a lot.

Here are 5 takeaways (you can watch the full podcast at the bottom of this article).

BBZ started staking as soon as he started playing poker

“I think I’ve always been entrepreneurial-minded,” says BBZ. “I was on vacation with my stepdad once and they lived on a golf course. I went outside and collected all the golf balls then started selling them back to the golfers at the front of the course.

“So as soon as I started playing, I also started coaching and staking. As soon as I was making more money than my friends working jobs, I was coaching them for profit deals and staking them so they could do the same thing I was doing.”

How did the name BBZ come about?

“It just meant: big bluffs incoming,” he says. “I might have written out ‘bigbluffsinc’ first but I didn’t like the way it looked, so I changed it to a Z. There was no smart reason for it! And I was a nit at the time, by the way! I wasn’t bluffing. I was stupid, I didn’t know anything, but I thought people might give me action.

“It ended up being a really expensive screen name throughout my career because I now have a reputation for not being particularly tight, but in the beginning, I’d just fold pocket nines under the gun. I wouldn’t even open it.

“Other people started calling me BBZ, so it ended up making sense to call it that.”

Does BBZ prefer running BBZ Poker and coaching others to playing poker himself?

“Playing was amazing,” he says. “It’s like playing a video game. The most meaningful video game ever.

“You go from zero to $7; $7 to $20; $20 to $100; $100 to $200; $200 to $1,000; $1,000 to $2,000; $2,000 to $10,000; $10,000 to $20,000; $20,000 to $100,000; $100,000 to $200,000.

“There’s a constant climb, things are getting better. I have more options. I can do more. If something happens to me I have more money [to handle it]. I can get a car. I’m closer to being able to take a break and breathe because I have more money.

“It was just poker, poker, poker. I loved that part of it. But now I have a family. I have a wife and a daughter. I still play enough to stay sharp and get hands to have things to figure out. I’m in a very good spot and I couldn’t be happier with the way things are organized.”

BBZ lives modestly

“My house is pretty small, man. I live in a modest house. It’s three bedrooms, two baths. The reason it’s three bedrooms, two baths is because I bought a house after thinking about what we needed as a family. There’s me, my daughter, and my wife. Two bedrooms for each of us and I need an office. That’s just a fact. If I’m going to work from home I’m going to need an office. That’s what we needed, so that’s what we bought.

“I didn’t buy somewhere with 16 bedrooms where I’ve got to scream ‘Hey, where is everybody?’ and yell to find my kid. Some people want that shit and that’s cool. It’s fun to take badass trips and stay in nice hotels and spend lots of money on it. I’m not a nit. But I don’t think having 16 bedrooms will add EV to my life. So I don’t do it.”

What are your BBZ’s aims and ambitions?

“The thing I’m reminded of is this guy Henry Singleton, a very successful businessman. When he was asked that question he said: ‘I just want to steer the ship.’

“There comes a point when you’ve built something where it’s kind of like that. BBZ Poker is my business–my boat, if you will–and I’m on it. It’s got my name on it. And I just want to make the best decisions that I can make for BBZ Poker in every context.”

And he has no plans to retire anytime soon.

“Let’s say I work for 50 hours a week. If I retired, I’d have to find a way to fill those hours. What am I going to do? Take up golf for 50 hours a week? Are you crazy? Even my kid doesn’t want me around for 50 hours a week!

“It’s nuts when I think about what I’ve got and where I’m at. I didn’t think I was going to get here.”

Make sure you check out the full podcast over on YouTube. All of these takeaways come within the first half of the podcast alone, so there’s plenty more to learn.