Josh Arieh sat down for Day 1A of the 2024 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Friday morning in good spirits. Having spent most of early April away from the poker tables, Arieh seemed happy to be back in action.
That’s not to say he didn’t have a perfectly good reason to be out of action. Earlier this month, Josh married his wife Rachel down in Mexico, with his friends, including some big names in poker, celebrating the festivities with the happy couple.
Some of Arieh’s closest friends in attendance – Matt Glantz, Shaun Deeb, and Daniel Weinman – have come to be known as “Team Lucky” in recent years.
“As the last few years have evolved, we’ve all just been blessed in our lives and our poker lives and we just evolved into ‘Team Lucky’,” said Arieh.
“Lucky” barely scratches the surface of their collective successes over the last few years. Arieh and Deeb have each become six-time WSOP bracelet winners, Weinman won the 2023 WSOP Main Event (in addition to being a member of the WPT Champions Club) and Glantz, while he’s yet to secure a major title, pulled the $1 million bounty in the inaugural WSOP Mystery Million and has over $8.4 million in career earnings.
The group has collectively gotten into the spirit of the bit to the point where Team Lucky now has their own merchandise – hats commissioned by Glantz – which both Arieh and Deeb were wearing while playing Day 1A at SHRPS.
What most people might not know is that ‘Team Lucky’ wasn’t even the original name of the quartet.
“When we started originally, we were the OMC, but unfortunately in poker, that’s like a bad name,” Arieh said. OMC has become known colloquially as “Old Man Coffee,” a specific type of poker player who sits stoically, plays tight-passive poker, and sips their beverage of choice at the table. “We played Fortnite – me, Shaun, Matt and Dan. We would get up every morning, so we’re the ‘Original Morning Crew.’”
Each of the four players has found their niche within the group:
“Matt has had marketing, he’s the organizer,” said Arieh. “Shaun and Dan are talent, and I’m captain.”
“I’m coach,” Deeb interjected. “I’m the coach, Dan is talent.”
“I don’t know… maybe I’m jester. I’m lucky to be there. I’m on the outs right now…,” Arieh chuckled. “We have a lot of fun with it. We needle each other every day.”
As far as the action goes, Arieh made his annual pilgrimage down to Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood as an opportunity to spend even more time with his Team Lucky compatriots while he sharpens his focus heading into the 2024 World Series of Poker.
“I like coming down here,” said Arieh. “I try to come down like once a year – Matt [Glantz] lives down here so I come I stay with him – me and Shaun [Deeb] are both staying at Matt’s. I’m trying to get some reps in before the [WSOP]. I like it down here, the play, it’s very different than like the high rollers that I play – a lot more fun and laid back.”
For all of the success he’s enjoyed at the WSOP over the years – and there’s been quite a lot of it – Arieh hasn’t yet joined the WPT Champions Club. He’s made a pair of final tables, at the 2004 WPT Borgata Poker Open, and the 2009 WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic, but Arieh has only one WPT cash since 2012. He’ll be hoping to end both of those trends by the time all is said and done at SHRPS.
Regardless of how this particular tournament turns out, if 2023 is any indicator, Arieh’s 2024 WSOP will be a busy one as he looks to add to his bracelet collection and continue to build up his résumé for the Poker Hall of Fame. It’ll be a tough task to match his double bracelet performance of a year ago, but from Arieh’s perspective he doesn’t feel as though setting that high of a bar is an effective way to find success.
“I take every day as it comes,” said Arieh. “I try to bring the best version of myself to the table that I can and see what happens. I just try to keep up with this guy (Arieh pointed at Deeb). I just do the best I can and have fun, and as long as I’m having fun I keep playing, and if it gets miserable I stop.”