Frankie 'Frankie C' Cucchiara landed in South Korea with a big dream: to compete in the biggest buy-in of his young poker career at the Triton Super High Roller Series in Jeju.
The popular baby-faced content creator and YouTube star would be battling opposite the world’s top tournament crushers in the opening $15,000 entry event.
In facing the Koons, Foxens, and Kornuths of the poker world, Frankie knew that adopting the right mindset was crucial to give himself the best chance against the stacked competition ahead of him.
In Frankie’s words, the bottom line is, “It’s just poker.”
But it’s ‘just’ poker against many of the very best players in the world. To prepare, Frankie primarily focused on the mental side of the equation and the confidence only the naivete and exuberance of youth can harness.
“I’ve been doing a lot of visualization and meditation preparing for my first Triton Series,” exclaimed Frankie. “I know I’ll be nervous. But I hope my preparation will calm any anxiety heading into my first event.”
Watch the video above to hear more, directly from Frankie himself.
Frankie vs. the Triton GOAT
Frankie had zero plans to shoot for the low-hanging fruit from the recreational players but yearned to face the ‘end boss’ of Triton Poker, Jason Koon, who possesses more than $28,000,000 in Triton earnings.
“I said to myself, I’m going to play against Jason Koon, and I’m going to make it to the feature table. Jason has the most Triton wins and is the coolest guy. So, I visualized it.”
As Day One progressed, Frankie would sit across from Kristen Foxen and Jesse Lonis and eventually, as fate would have it, land at Koon’s featured table.
“It was a pretty sick run of cards. I had a chance to knock out Jason, albeit not a great chance. I had pocket jacks; he had kings. That hand crippled my stack. But I fought back and ended up making Day Two. There were a lot of nerves coming into the money bubble, but I would end up busting 56th out of 370 entries for $24,000 and a profit of $9,000.”
What next?
Frankie took a day off yesterday to mentally and physically rest for another record-setting buy-in today.
“I've played two $10,000 tournaments, the WSOP Main Event and last December's WPT Championship event. Now, I’ll enter the $25,000 event, a new record. I’m feeling comfortable after my first Triton cash and don’t really feel any pressure today.
"It's just mostly excitement. I get to play this tournament, learn from some really good players, and hopefully showcase who I am as a player. I want to carve my own history and story into Triton Poker. The goal today is just to play my best. That’s the plan.”
Additional images courtesy of Triton Poker
