Blaine, Minn., is home to the longest running poker podcast in the upper Midwest. The CPL Poker Podcast started in September 2007 as a way for Mark Cardenas and Phil Fuehrer to relay information to their home poker league. They quickly expanded the scope of the podcast, attracting the interest of the general poker community.
Every episode features the Minnesota Music segment, which highlights a song from a Minnesota band and allows Cardenas to honor his legacy as a band member. Each episode also includes three or four segments from a rotating list of about 15 standard features, including poker news, hand of the week, poker history and casino reviews.
Cardenas and Fuehrer have been friends since junior high, and this shines through in their friendly and humorous banter during the podcast. Their rapport is reminiscent to that of Chris Cosenza and Scott Long in the Ante Up PokerCast.
The league that instigated the podcast has dissipated, but these guys have released more than 120 episodes and are still going strong.
“My most fond memory is of Josh Engen playing live for our 100th episode,” said Fuehrer, when asked for a highlight of their podcast career. That episode also featured a live studio audience of about 15 listeners. Additional highlights include two interviews with Andy Bloch, and their several year-end Best of Music shows.
Their show had been migrating to cover more of the online poker scene before Black Friday. Since then it’s been more challenging to come up with content.
“After Black Friday hit it became more difficult to do a regular sort of output,” Cardenas said.
However, they have persevered and plan to release a new episode every other week. You can subscribe on iTunes and find all of the information at cplpokerpodcast.com.
STATE CHAMPIONSHIP: Renee Kessel of Baldwin, Wis., bested a field of 162 entries to win the $40,858 first-place prize and Minnesota State Championship title at Canterbury Park on March 11.
— John Somsky is the Ante Up Ambassador for Minnesota. You can email him at john.somsky@gmail.com.
