Show Notes
Kane Kalas grew up near Philadelphia where his father and baseball hall of famer Harry Kalas worked as the play by play commentator for the Phillies for nearly 40 years. He could have joined the family business like his brother Todd, who broadcasts for the Houston Astros, but while he was in college he got bit by the poker bug.
Kalas was particularly aggressive building his bankroll online, and only took a few months before he was playing at Rail Heaven on Full Tilt for stakes as high as $500-$1,000 no-limit. The baritone opera singer ventured into the live arena after Black Friday and found success on the tournament trail, including a runner-up finish at the WPT Borgata Poker Open for more than $500,000. Then in 2018, Kalas won the biggest cash game pot in televised poker history, banking $2.18 million in a hand against Jason Koon at the Triton Montenegro series.
Over the years the hedge fund manager has also done broadcasting work for a number of poker shows and tours including the WSOP, Triton, WPT Deepstacks, HPT, Hard Rock Poker Open, Poker Night In America, Hustler Casino Live, Live at the Bike, and PokerGO. Although he doesn't work in baseball, the 32-year-old still lends his voice to the Phillies every season on opening day to sing the Star Spangled Banner.
Highlights from this interview include performing for stadiums, an operatic voice, his movie role, battling Tom Dwan and Phil Ivey, a strategically chosen online name, winning a record-breaking pot, poker broadcasting, launching a hedge fund, comparing poker greats, saying no to dancing in Footloose, High Hopes, losing a $60,000 tennis prop bet, the noticeable absence of Nate Dogg, Rick Rolling, and challenging everyone to Final Fantasy Tactics.
More from Poker Stories
Dylan Weisman spent the pandemic "in the lab," pouring over numbers that few had ever bothered to look at before when it came to the game of PLO. While solvers had been in use for years by high-stakes pros for no-limit hold'em, pot-limit Omaha had been largely ignored, and Weisman saw an opportunity.
Scott Seiver called his shot in 2024, making it known that he intended to win World Series of Poker Player of the Year honors. After 17 cashes, nearly $1.5 million in earnings, and three bracelets, he accomplished his goal and will have a banner hanging at the Horseshoe/Paris for future generations of poker players to see.
Matt Savage was Tournament Director for the World Series of Poker during the poker boom, and has since spent more than a decade as the Executive Tour Director for the World Poker Tour. But the perennial Poker Hall of Fame nominee is also a co-founder of the Tournament Director's Association, which helped to standardize poker tournament rules.
Victoria Livschitz jumped head first into the shark-infested waters of the high roller scene in late 2021, having spent her pandemic lockdown studying all she could about the game. While others may have been intimidated by the talent at the very top of the pyramid, in an environment with very few women, Livschitz had already seen it all before, having found success with a number of different business ventures in male-dominated industries.
Barny Boatman spent much of his youth traveling the world, living in numerous countries and working a variety of jobs that included factory worker, bartender, journalist, English teacher, computer programmer, board game inventer, and even movie reviewer. But it was in the poker world that he found his true calling.