Konasho Monthly | Poker Interviews & Scene Notes
A monthly series by konasho: interviews with players, tool deep-dives, and what is actually happening in the Japanese poker scene — reported straight from the felt.
"Konasho Monthly" is a running series of poker interviews and scene round-ups brought to you by konasho (X: @konasho).
Player interviews, tool tips, and whatever the community is talking about — the real voices from the tables, gathered up once a month.
📌 How to read this series
- These are not strategy articles. They exist to share what players know and what the scene is doing.
- Got a topic you want covered, or want to be interviewed yourself? Reach out to @konasho any time.
What This Series Covers
Most poker writing explains the correct way to play. That knowledge is necessary, but it never tells you what the people actually playing are struggling with, what they tried, or what finally changed things for them.
That gap is what Monthly Konasho follows. The topics change each issue, but three threads run through it.
- Player stories — what someone who broke out of a long losing stretch actually changed, told by the player
- How tools get used — how label features and stats are used at real tables, reported from the people using them rather than from the spec sheet
- The feel of the table — how to conduct yourself at tables that are not full of strong players, without burning out. Topics strategy books do not cover
How to Read It
Each issue stands alone. There is no need to go in order — start with whichever one interests you.
The goal here is different from a strategy article, so this is not the kind of reading that makes you win. But hearing from someone who got stuck where you are stuck, or learning what the people at your table are thinking, often points you toward what to work on next. That is the use we hope you get out of it.
vol.1: How Ten-Four Players Actually Use Colour Labels
The fast-fold poker app "Ten-Four" gives you four colour labels. We went around asking players in the Seeker Start Houou-sen how they use them. By play style, by skill level, by strategy matching — it turns out everybody does it differently.
vol.2: The Man Who Climbed Back from −3000bb, Ten-Four Warrior ako-ao
His first 60,000 hands on Ten-Four left him at −3000bb. Over the next 60,000 he clawed all the way back to the surface. Under two years into poker, ako-ao talks about his company poker club, study groups, and "the singularity" — an interview about a comeback from rock bottom.
vol.3: How to Exploit the "Amyu-Oji" Off the Felt
He looks like a shark at the table, but he plays by his own private theory: the tragic monster known as the amyu-oji. Arguing with him is a waste of breath, so how do you deal with him? Under the banner of "silence is justice," you take your profit with table action instead of table talk — konasho's guide to exploiting the amyu-oji off the felt.
vol.4: On Ten-Four, Stats Are 90% of the Game
How much of an opponent's leak can you actually read from three numbers — VPIP, PFR and 3-bet? The loose caller, the winning nit, the losing nit, the player whose stats look fine but who keeps losing: six real stat lines, read through with three Seeker Start regulars.
Terms That Come Up Often
The series reports from one particular environment, so a few terms recur. Skimming these first lets you start from any issue.
Ten-Four — the poker app that appears throughout. Folding deals you into the next hand immediately ("fast fold"), so you play far more hands per hour than in standard online poker. That format is why a figure like "60,000 hands" appears in vol.2. High volume also means stats accumulate quickly, which is what makes the stat reading in vol.4 possible.
Houou-sen — the competitive poker league Seeker Start runs. Entry is free, and your rank moves up or down on results across a full season. Most interviewees play in this league, and that shared environment is what gives the pieces their specificity.
bb (big blinds) — the unit results are quoted in. "−3000bb" means being down the equivalent of 3,000 big blinds. Results are given in big blinds rather than currency so that they compare across stakes. Fuller definitions are in the poker glossary.
Suggesting a Topic
"I wonder how everyone actually uses that feature." "I would like to hear from that player." Questions like those are where each issue starts.
Topic suggestions and offers to be interviewed are both welcome — reach @konasho on X. If you play in Seeker Start's Houou-sen, saying so inside the league works just as well.
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