Sam Forde spent the past decade in the world of counselling, initially working in high school and then primarily with adults in private practice. In recent years he added lecturing into the mix, leaning into his passion for ideas and communicating these to counsellors-in-training.

No Limit Hold’em Cash has been his passion for several years, but it wasn’t until he began studying HUNL in late 2019, with a group of guys who quickly became friends, that he switched gears with poker. This led to him playing HUNL part-time during Covid — in the chaos of working from home with 5 children under the age of 10 — and then grinding full-time from late 2022 with his main volume being played at 500NL.

As someone who does need some variety in his work, he continues providing on and off input in counsellor education and is now stoked to be able to integrate poker and counselling in producing videos for RIO.

Outside of poker, counselling, and family life, Sam is passionate about Crossfit, craft beer and cuban cigars.

Sam's unique background in counselling provides a completely new angle at dealing with the everyday challenges of competing at the poker tables. His debut video 'Violence at the Poker Tables' gives a look into the type of content you can expect from Sam.

If you can't get enough of Sam, make sure to check out his 4-part seminar series 'Finding New Possibilities' hosted on Run It Once earlier this year. In the series, you'll lean into the counterintuitive, play around with possibilities, and disrupt some of the commonsense approaches we are told to take in the face of adversity.

Welcome aboard Sam!