Some poker partnerships were meant to be and in a week where many players dreams could hang on the turn of a card, we spoke to two players who are already living the dream. Lexy and Bob Mather aren’t an ordinary married couple. Both adore the game of poker and have travelled to The Bahamas this week for the WSOP Super Main Event among other bracelet events.
Selling some of their action on PokerStake, both Lexy and Bob took time out from their hectic schedule of enjoying stunning beaches, five-star food and the best poker experience of the year to tell us what it means to them to be married to the game of poker as well as each other.
Preparing for Paradise
“I took a lot of concepts that I learned from players who I consider masters.” ~ Lexy Gavin-Mather
When it comes to any poker trip, being prepared is paramount, from packing the beachwear and sunnies for WSOP Paradise and the golden beaches that sit just yards from the cardroom or putting in that study time for those marginal poker spots. So who’s the better prepared from PokerStake players Lexy and Bob?
Lexy: That is so easy, it’s me! We both know it’s me, so don’t even pretend.
Bob: That’s….
Lexy: …true.
Bob: I usually do all the room stuff, cars and lights. I don’t do what you do – she panics.
Lexy: ‘She’ doesn’t panic, she’s a normal female who packs a few days before the trip. He packs the morning of.
Bob: You pack the week before and spend three days yelling at me that you’re not ready!
Of course, planning in advance of a big game is something Lexy has had a lot of practice at, having played cash games as well as tournaments for many years, streaming her successes and failures on YouTube where she has 116,000 subscribers. She also penned a popular poker book.
Lexy: I wrote a book called Mastering Small Stakes No-Limit Tournaments: Strategies to beat small stakes poker tournaments and I really enjoyed the writing process. It was kind of stressful, but I got to work on my game and study as I was writing and researching the book. I took a lot of concepts that I learned from players who I consider masters in the space. It’s a good fundamental book for the beginner or intermediate player and you can buy it on D & B Poker or Amazon.
Bad Beats and Social Media
Playing a poker tournament as a married couple is different than playing it with a friend. You can obviously be way more supportive of the other person when you’re their life partner.
Lexy: I am supportive. We’re so supportive of each other.
Bob: It’s not supportive when you’re like (baby voice) ‘Oh you found chips for Day 2!’
Lexy: The thing with Bob is when he has a hand or a bad beat he wants to talk about, he’ll try to tell me the hand history and he’ll leave out all the important details I need like stack size or table position. I’m like ‘I can’t help you without that information.’ He’s not trying to get my strategy advice, he wants ‘Poor baby, what a bad beat!’
Bob: See, this is not supportive.
Lexy: He just wants emotional support.
OK, let’s move on. During any given tournament, the new WSOP rules prohibit friends on the rail helping the other player out at a final table. In the wake of ‘Laptopgate’ where Dominik Nitsche and others assisted Jonathan Tamayo in winning the 2024 WSOP Main Event, the guidelines are stricter than perhaps even The Mathers comprehend.
Bob: You can’t come up and give me advice.
Lexy: I can give you advice. I just can’t do the GTO work on a computer.
Bob: No, you can’t talk to me.
Lexy: Is that your rule?
Bob: It’s mine.
Lexy: That’s a Bob rule.
Bob: I think the rules need to be done with phones. I’m on the phone all the time but my rule would be not phones in the building
Lexy: In the building?! Says the player who watches and scrolls TikTok while he’s playing. You couldn’t survive without your phone! I think it’s a fair ruling not to use solvers.
Bob: Or live coaching?
Lexy: Yeah, but in a boxing match don’t they go and talk to their coach. I think that’s OK, but solver work at the table is not.
Taking on the Super Main Event
In case you have been living in a remote cave without WiFi for the past month, PokerStake have been running a pretty amazing promotion, guaranteeing to buy up all the unsold WSOP Super Main Event action for the first 100 players to buy-in via PokerStake. The Mathers are ‘all in’ on the event and cannot wait for it to get underway.
Bob: We both made it into that top 100 and both sold action.
Lexy: We’re both extremely excited
Bob: And grateful.
Lexy: And humble. This is such a great opportunity
Bob: I’m not humble.
Lexy: The best of the best fly out for this.
Bob: These players have no idea what’s coming from me.
Lexy: I’m just excited to play with the top players in the world. I’ve only played one other $25,000 tournament and it was here in Atlantis.
Both Lexy and Bob can’t wait to get their Super Main Event action on and have been selling well since it went up on PokerStake official WSOP Paradise page. But do they see WSOP events in The Bahamas the same as they view Las Vegas bracelet events?
Bob: I don’t think so. I think its great what they’re doing but it’s a different type of style. There’s nothing like playing the Main Event in Vegas.
Lexy: If I had to choose one tournament to win, it would be the World Series Main Event [in Las Vegas] but if I had to choose a second, it would be the Super Main Event for sure. I can’t imagine another second-best tournament than this.
Lexy cashed in her first ever event in the Ladies Event of the 2013 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure at this very venue of Atlantis Resort, where she finished sixth for $3,200. She has very fond memories of her breakthrough event.
Bob: How old were you then, 30?
Lexy: Excuse you! Early twenties. I believe Maria Ho was there too with Xuan Liu (7th) and Jamie Kerstetter (4th). It was awesome. That was my first ever live tournament and I was such a live fish because I’d only played online. I was very concerned [about] putting out a 12,000 bet with a 25,000 chip as to getting my change back! The ladies were so supportive, especially Maria. After the event she reached out to me on Facebook messenger and was like ‘Hey, I’d love to hang out with you.’ She’s such a great ambassador.
Overall, bob has the greater amount in live tournament cashes between the smitten married couple, but that is largely down to Lexy focusing on cash games for many years. So is there still real competition between the pair?
Bob: The short answer is Yes!
Lexy: I primarily played cash games for the majority of my career – that’s why he has more live tournament earnings. He’s also very good but not as studied as I am.
Bob: When you look at tour earnings, there are a lot of nuances to it. The amount of money you’ve won doesn’t equal how well you’ve played. If I do a min-cash in this $50k tournament it’ll be one of the top 20 cashes of my life. But if I do a min-cash next week in a $400 WSOP Circuit it’ll be cash #250-something and won’t add much to my title. You can play bigger and win more but you can also lose more.
Lexy: I don’t think the phrase is ‘do’ a min-cash. You get or make.
Bob: We ‘do’ lots of bets, she doesn’t pay her non-monetary bets!
Lexy: That’s not true!
Selling Action and Realising Vacation Dreams
“In this amusement park, you could win a lot of money. It’s the best of both worlds.”
When The Mathers travel for a poker trip, their hopes and dreams are often laid bare on Lexy’s YouTube channel, but what constitutes a successful trip, money or fun away from the felt?
Lexy: Results! No… some kind of score, a final table, but also did we have fun? Poker is a game, you’re supposed to have fun. If we have a trip where we lost every tournament but we had a good time, we chalk it up as a win. It’s a life experience but of course we’d love some results.
Bob: Poker tournaments are like going to an amusement park. You want to go to a fun place that’s a rollercoaster ride of emotions.
Lexy: That’s so true.
Bob: Except in this amusement park, you could win a lot of money. It’s the best of both worlds.
This trip includes the Super Main Event for both players and while both are excited to play, Lexy outlines just how important selling action on PokerStake is for many players considering entry including herself.
Lexy: For me it’s essential. Despite what people think we don’t mix our poker finances. He doesn’t back me or stake me. I can’t just afford to take a chance on a $25k myself because of the variance. The staking is crucial for me.
Bob: This is the first event I ever sold to. I would do this if I was going to move up and play higher events. So far this tournament feels like any other but we’ll see how I do with it!
With that, we let Lexy and Bob head back to the poker room, via the beach, the superb cuisine, and the upcoming Super Main Event. Do you have FOMO? You still have time to stake PokerStake players in the biggest WSOP Paradise events right here.
Headline photograph by Rachel Kay Miller for the Rungood Poker Series.
