Poker Writer
Poker pro Charlie Carrel revealed on Monday that he was once within €5,000 of being stone broke before bouncing back to grow his bankroll to as much as $3 or $4 million.
Another player, Derek Kwan, asked his peers to share a piece of “poker lore” about themselves. Carrel, who has more than $10.2 million in career tournament earnings according to the Card Player archives, described a highly fortunate turning point in his career with a post on X.
I accidentally put my last 5k into a 5k tournament. I thought some people owed me money but they didn’t. I was wildly disorganised back then.
I won the tournament for 180k, and then went on a 3-4mil upswing.
I definitely ran too good at points in my career.
Based on the criteria he mentions, the upswing likely refers to the €5,000 EPT Monte Carlo 8-Max in May 2016. It’s his only outright live win in a €5,000 that paid out six figures.
That win started a very prosperous two-year stretch wherein Carrel piled up multiple large scores. That includes $1.2 million in a PokerStars Bahamas tournament for second place in a $100,000 event. Carrel cashed for right around $4.5 million across 2016 and 2017, so the math roughly checks out, depending on buy-ins.
His comment about running too well at certain points in his career indicates he’s well aware how fortunate he was in key moments. He acknowledged how things could have easily gone the other way.
One responder asked Carrel what his plan was if he had lost that final €5,000. Carrel replied:
I could charge 400/h for coaching back then so I had a backup to get me back to 5/10 live
Pivoting Outside of Poker
The 32-year-old from England has had an eventful poker career that has included coaching, big tournament wins, high-stakes cash, and plenty of controversy as well.
After taking a step back from playing, he remained visible in the poker community with regular activity on X that often had little to do with poker. He made a habit of posting polls regarding politics, philosophy, and more. His viewpoints rankled fellow poker players at times, and Carrel engaged in some memorable online spats.
In 2023, he and Doug Polk had a series of heated exchanges. Carrel extended an olive branch to Polk after many piled on Polk’s accused bullying, but after more back and forth, he and Carrell continued the dispute.
Eventually, the two resolved their issues, but the personal attacks left a lasting impression on Carrel of the poker world.
The outspoken pro also appeared on GGPoker’s “Game of Gold” YouTube series. Carrell was a prominent player in the poker reality show for several episodes, as it got close to half a million views.
Today, Carrel still coaches poker but also focuses on fighting homelessness in the UK. He is less active than he used to be on social media but still chimes in from time to time. The financial freedom he’s earned can be traced at least in part to the incredible 2016-2017 bounce back from his final €5,000.
