I have been asked numerous times “What podcasts do you listen to?” For those who do not know, I spend a TON of time listening to podcasts. While most people spend their time listening to music, I try to learn things to better my life. I usually listen to podcasts while traveling, working out, and occasionally at the poker table, although that is not recommended because it makes concentrating on the game nearly impossible.

For those who don’t know, a podcast is a digital audio file made available on the Internet for downloading to a computer or portable media player (such as a smart phone). Podcasts are typically available as a series. New installments can usually be received by subscribers automatically to their devices.

For example, you can listen to (and watch) my podcast, Weekly Poker Hand, on this website but you can also download it automatically through iTunes directly to your phone. Podcasts cover in a wide variety of topics. There is at least one podcast for pretty much any subject you can imagine.

Personally, I listen to podcasts through my iPhone’s Podcast app. I simply subscribe to the podcasts I want to listen to in the iTunes store and they download automatically to my phone whenever I am connected to wifi. When I finish listening to a podcast episode, I delete it from my phone. It is that easy!

I always listen to podcasts at either 1.5x or 2x the normal speed, which is a setting you can enable on most podcast programs. This will allow you to quickly devour the content. Remember, time is the only resource you cannot get more of! I keep my notepad open on my phone where I write down anything I hear that I may want to implement into my life. When I have free time, I go through my ever-growing list and start adding the concepts to my life. Some of them stick and some of them don’t, but either way, I am constantly growing and learning.

You will notice that I listen to podcasts on various subjects. Some of these may be interesting to you and others may be irrelevant. I hope you find this list to be helpful. If you find any of these to be useful to you, let me know!

Poker Podcasts

You may be surprised to discover that I don’t listen to many poker podcasts. Honestly, I think most of them are bad. I have tried listening to almost all of them with no luck. Most of them either cover poker news/gossip, which I don’t particularly care about, or have people discussing poker strategy who aren’t actually good at poker. That being said, there are a few amazing podcasts I listen to on a regular basis.

The Mindset Advantage Podcast

My Positive Poker co-author, Dr. Tricia Cardner and my mindset coach Elliot Roe teamed up to bring you this amazing weekly podcast. They interview world-class poker players and athletes, allowing you to see how they remain at the top of their games. This is by far my favorite poker podcast. I was honored to be one of their first guests. For more from Tricia and Elliot, be sure to check out their sections in my book, Excelling at No-Limit Hold’em.

 

The Mental Game of Poker Radio Show

Jared Tendler, author of The Mental Game of Poker, interviews people in the poker world and discusses topics not relating to the actual playing of poker. I love this type of content because it shows you who these poker players actually are. When you only encounter someone at the poker table, unless they are overly loud, you often don’t know much about them. It is easy to think someone who is quiet at the table is either a machine or a jerk. After an interview with Jared, you realize they are almost all kind, loving humans. For more from Jared, be sure to check out their sections in my book, Excelling at No-Limit Hold’em.

 

Weekly Poker Hand with Jonathan Little

Yes, I listen to my own podcast. I have to be sure I don’t say anything silly! In this weekly podcast, I review a hand I recently played. I try my best to pick fun but educational hands. Do not expect any bad beat stories. If you like my podcast or if you have other format ideas you would like me to try out, please let me know. I am willing to give anything a try! If you haven’t checked out Weekly Poker Hand, please do so and give me your honest feedback. You can watch the video version each week on this site, JonathanLittlePoker.com. 

 

Business

I am having a difficult time actually classifying the following podcasts because, in my mind, they are only somewhat related to business. To me, they are related to life. I have learned a TON of what I know from these podcasts. I am always excited when a new episode is released.

The Tim Ferriss Show

I discovered Tim a few years ago through his book, The 4-Hour Work Week. He put out the 4-Hour Body, which I diligently followed and lost over 40 pounds. He then put out The 4-Hour Chef, which taught me to cook better than I ever thought possible. He recently started putting out a podcast where he interviews influential people from all walks of life. Tim asks perhaps the most perfect questions to get actionable information from the brightest people in the world. It is amazing.

 

The School of Greatness with Lewis Howes

This is another interview-based podcast. I learned about this podcast because he had Daniel Negreanu on it and I decided to give it a listen. Ever since then, I have been hooked. He has interviewed lots of people who are at the top of their chosen craft. If you like inspirational stories from successful people who worked hard to get to the top, this is the podcast for you.

 

The Smart Passive Income Podcast

Pat Flynn, who I learned about from Tim Ferriss’ podcast, is an online marketer who has made lots of money through affiliate links. He gives away a TON of content for free. In each episode, he either discusses a specific topic, such as How to Start a Podcast, or interviews someone who has been successful at an internet business, usually using somewhat unconventional strategies. I actually designed this website, JonathanLittlePoker.com, shortly after discovering Pat’s podcast. He also inspired me to start writing this blog.. If I didn’t stumble on this podcast, this site would not be here. “No one ever got poor by giving.”

The James Altucher Show

I discovered this podcast when he interviewed professional poker player Ylon Schwartz on. I coached WSOP November 9’er Steve Begleiter with Ylon. This podcast is a series of interviews where James Altucher, who has had too many successes and failures to count, interviews fun people from all walks of life. This is quite similar to the Tim Ferriss podcast in terms of content. I learn a ton from this podcast, not only about things I should be doing, but also about things I should be avoiding.

 

Educational Podcasts

While these podcasts are all educational, you are probably not going to learn a ton of actionable information. However, I find all of these to be thoroughly entertaining and highly insightful.

Freakonomics Radio

This is a podcast by the guys who wrote Freakonomics, which was one of the first books that got me thinking about using math/economics in everyday life. They always have fun stories discussing various aspects of life that often leave me wanting more, which is a good thing. I actually emailed one of the authors of the books looking for life advice and he told me his wife was currently reading my poker book. How cool is that?!?

 

NPR: Planet Money Podcast

This podcast is quite similar to Freakonomics but is put out on a more consistent basis. The episodes are roughly 15 minutes long, compared to Freakonomics’ 30 minutes. They cover lots of stories on various topics, usually involving the economy, but not in a mainstream, fear-driven way.

 

Magic: The Gathering podcasts

I play a marginal amount of Magic: The Gathering online as my primary hobby. As with everything I do in life, I make a point to study it at least somewhat diligently. If you don’t know how to play Magic, these podcasts will be relatively useless for you. That being said, if you currently play or played Magic in the past, these are great.

 

Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast

Mark Rosewater, the head designer for Magic: The Gathering discusses numerous aspects of game design and being the head game designer of the best game in the world. Quite a few of the concepts discussed in my blog, including 10 Aspects of a Successful Game and Understand the Three Player Types came from knowledge I gained through his podcast.

 

Limited Resources

In this podcast, Marshall Sutcliffe, who is a poker player and commentator for the Magic Pro Tour, discusses the only format of Magic I play, Limited. With a cohost, he discusses each new set of cards and various strategies used to improve your Limited skills. Even though these podcasts tend to be quite long, there is never a dull moment.

 

That is all of them!

If you found this list to be useful, please let me know. If you fall in love with someone’s content, let them know I sent you. If you listen to any podcasts that you think I would enjoy, please share them with me. Thanks for reading!