Jake Abdalla, or “Jake the Llama” as he is known on the Lodge livestream originally hails from New York and the “school of hard knocks,” as he calls it. He has been a poker player for years and can always be found playing the highest stakes poker games no matter the game type! Beyond playing multiple formats of poker, Jake has been the Mixed Game coach at Upswing Poker for years, teaching hundreds of poker players groundbreaking strategies across a variety of game types.
Q&A With Jake
What is your poker nickname and how did you get it?
“It’s “Jllama,” and I got it after a kid in sixth grade called me “Jolly Llama” for absolutely no reason! When I started playing poker online, I thought “Jllama, why not?”
When did you start playing poker?
“I started playing poker in middle school, when I was also playing another card game called Magic: The Gathering. A lot of kids who played that game also got into poker! After that I played with a lot of friends in high school twice a week, and they were all terrible. After that, I started playing online around 17-18!”
When you’re not playing poker, what do you enjoy doing?
“Hanging out with friends, traveling, going to restaurants and bars, and watching good TV shows!”
What’s the best advice you could give to a new poker player?
“Come play at the Lodge as much as possible, and you’ll get really good at poker that way.”