About

BlackRain79


Hi, my name is Nathan. 

You might know me better as "BlackRain79" in the online poker world though. 

I am a 10+ year professional poker player, YouTuber, 3-time best selling poker author and I have been traveling the world for over 10 years now.

But it didn't exactly start out this way...

I thought I would just follow the typical path, become a lawyer, grind the 9-5 for 40+ years and retire with a wife and 2.5 kids in the suburbs.

Then I found poker in my mid twenties. 

And that, as they say, changed everything.


Poker Changed Everything 


Shortly after I graduated from college I found online poker. 

I was absolutely obsessed with the game from the start and I would literally grind the poker tables day and night.

Some people asked me if I even slept!

I would eventually become one of the biggest winners ever at the small and mid limit games online. 

Thankfully I was also making enough money playing poker by this point to say goodbye to my crappy office job forever.

That was over 10 years ago.

I now spend most of the year living in beautiful Southeast Asia and traveling around the world. 

I am able to make a living anywhere on earth from my laptop thanks to this silly little card game :)

Blackrain79 poker thailand
Me recently in Koh Samui, Thailand

How It All Began


I started this blog originally back in 2007 as a personal journal of my success and struggles in the small and mid stakes cash games.

This was a place to track my progress and rant about my downswings in complete obscurity.

I did not reveal my online poker screen name - BlackRain79 - for many, many years because I didn't want any readers. I wrote this blog for myself and myself alone.

But then a few years later a certain infamous (and now defunct) website started tracking and publishing the results of all online poker players without their consent.

I was really mad at first.

Who on earth were they to publish my poker results publicly for everyone to see? The bottom line though was that I could no longer remain anonymous.

When people started to see that I was making tens of thousands of dollars just at the micros alone...

Blackrain79 all time career winnings

I quickly started to gain legions of fans (and a few haters too) almost overnight.

My website suddenly started getting hundreds of visitors a day and so I decided to start blogging about how I was achieving these results.

I also started making videos about how I was achieving these results as well.

For example, here are my 9 PREFLOP Poker Tips For Beginners


Never miss my poker videos, join 100,000+ who are already subscribed.


My Free Poker Cheat Sheet Teaches You How to Make $2000+ Per Month in Low Stakes Games


Are you struggling to beat low stakes poker games like 2NL, 5NL, 10NL, 25NL online or $1/$2, $2/$5 live?

Do you want a simple step by step guide to show you exactly how to start winning consistently right now?
Blackrain79 free book
That is why I recently wrote this free little 50 page no BS guide to teach you exactly how to start crushing these games right now.

You will learn the exact poker strategies I have used as a 10+ year poker pro to consistently make $2000+ per month in small stakes poker games.

Enter your details below and I will send my free poker cheat sheet to your email right now.









Chasing a Dream


It was about 10 years ago that I also decided to sell everything that I own and hop on a one way 17 hour flight to Bangkok, Thailand.

I'm not going to lie, I was absolutely scared out of my mind.

I had never traveled anywhere before except to America, which is basically the same thing as Canada in many ways.

But I knew that I was completely all-in with this poker thing at that point. And since I could do it from anywhere in the world, there was simply no reason not to go.

BlackRain79 poker career traveling the world

I immediately fell in love with Asia, and Thailand in particular, where I now spend the majority of the year living.

Yes, that's me in Bangkok in the pic above by the way. This was the craziest condo I ever rented there with an Olympic sized infinity pool and 2 jacuzzis on the 50th floor!

South East Asia in general has a year round warm tropical climate, amazing beaches, friendly people, great food (especially Thailand and Vietnam).

So it's almost a what's NOT to like kinda thing. And that is why there are so many other online poker pros and digital nomads also living here.

I have also spent considerable time in a few other countries in the region, such as the Philippines, South Korea and Vietnam, which are all awesome as well.

Blackrain79 online poker in the philippines
One of the most beautiful beaches on earth, Boracay, the Philippines (I love this place!)

Blackrain79 online poker in korea
Gangnam District, Seoul, Korea (Gangnam Style!)

nathan blackrain79 williams
My office from the Old Quarter in Hanoi, Vietnam

In short, traveling is absolutely amazing and life changing and I highly recommend it to anyone. The only regret I have is that I did not do it sooner!

And this is truly one of the best parts about being an online poker pro. You can literally make a living from anywhere on earth.

You can also choose to live in a country where your cost of living is considerably lower. For instance my expenses in Thailand are about 1/3 of what they are in my home country of Canada.

This is an absolutely massive help if you are a small stakes poker player like me.

If you want to get an inside look into my life as an online poker pro and all of my travels, make sure to follow me on Instagram.


Expanding Vision


It was back in about 2011 when this website that you are on right now really started to take off.

I write articles every week that give you an inside perspective on what it really takes to succeed in the small and mid stakes games and even turn it into a full time career like I have.

That is why blackrain79.com now gets huge amounts of traffic every day and it is one of the most popular poker strategy websites in the world.

I would recommend checking out my "Start Here" page for a complete list of all my top poker strategy articles and resources.

I have also coached over 100 students to success at the lower limits, I am a lead instructor at a major poker training site and I write for some of the biggest poker publications in the world, including pokernews.com, where I have a monthly column.

Lastly, I have written 3 strategy books on the game now including Crushing the Microstakes which some people have called "the bible" of small stakes poker.

Blackrain79 online poker book

I am glad that you found my website and I hope that my story above was inspiring to you in some way.

Look, no matter how cliche it might sound, I am living proof that you can accomplish whatever you put your mind to in life. 

And it doesn't matter how unrealistic it might seem or what they say.

Also, please understand that it doesn't take some sort of super genius intellect or raw talent to excel in poker. 

I am nowhere near one of the best poker players in the world.

And I really don't care to be either.

Because one of the greatest things about poker is that you don't even need to be all that good at it in order to make a lot of money.

That is, poker is not an ego contest.

You just need to "get good" at consistently playing in games with people who play much worse than you.

And this is the aspect of the game that I really excel at.

I am an expert at separating some of the worst poker players in the world from their money at lightning speed.

This is also exactly what you are going to learn here at blackrain79.com.

Blackrain79 multi-tabling online poker

Everything that I teach here is laser focused on the small and mid stakes, and it draws upon the simple proven strategies that I have developed to crush these games as a pro for over 10 years now.

To get started I recommend that you pick up a copy of my free poker cheat sheet.

This will show you how to start consistently making $2000 per month at low stakes even if you are brand new to the game of poker.

And lastly, if you want to know about my day to day life as a poker pro traveling the world, make sure to follow me on Instagram.

Thanks for reading and I wish you all the best at the poker tables!

- Nathan "BlackRain79" Williams

Nathan Williams BlackRain79 About Me Page