Frank 'Frankie C' Cucchiara is one of the most engaging and prolific content creators on the poker scene today. The all-American boy image is not a façade, as he’s polite, creative, hardworking, intensely competitive, and always a gentleman at the tables, win or lose.
Since leaving his college degrees in the rearview, life has been anything but dull for Cucchiara. He’s fathered a beautiful child with the love of his life, poker pro Kitty Kuo, challenged Daniel Negreanu to a heads-up match for rolls, cashed the 2023 WSOP Main Event for $50K, and continues to foster a bigger-than-life dream of one day becoming a serious filmmaker.
PokerOrg caught up with Cucchiara recently while the couple visited Kuo’s family in Taiwan.
What is the most unusual place you’ve played poker?
At a cash game in Taiwan, everyone was speaking Chinese. In that game, you were forced to take a hand off every time you were under the gun to make it 10-handed, and no one folded. Every hand went eight ways to the flop, and every raise was 10X the blinds. What a crazy and fun game.
What is your favorite go-to food while playing poker?
My favorite food while playing poker has got to be some kind of bowl. Any bowl where you could use chopsticks or a fork. I like to have rice, steak, or a chicken bowl. I try to be as healthy as I can while I'm sitting on my ass all day editing my videos or playing poker.
Given total power, what is the one change you would make in the poker world?
If I had total power, one rule change would be to force every game to be eight-handed or less. I think nine-handed poker is extremely boring.
Name one poker rule you hate.
I think you should be able to vlog and film everything. I think there should be a new WSOP rule that everyone could blog/vlog everything, and we get three cameras at the tables if we want to use that as a setup.
What is the stupidest thing you’ve ever seen at the poker table?
A ‘professional player’ (picture me intentionally using air quotes here) forcing out the amateurs by being a dick and making a rec show his hand after the rec announced he had nine high and tried to muck the hand. Don’t piss off the fish, ever.
Other than poker, what’s your favorite game to play?
The game of life, man. I don't really play any other games. It’s poker. I'm always working and spending time with my family. I was a video game player and a chess player back in the day. I used to play some FIFA and Call of Duty during high school.
What are the scariest and most rewarding things about being a new father?
The scariest thing about being a new dad is missing a milestone and him growing up too fast. The most rewarding thing is seeing his smile light up the room.
You can follow Frankie on X, Instagram and at his YouTube channel.
