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Forums, Player interview, Player profiles
How long have you been playing?
I've been playing poker online for about 5 years or so. Unfortunately I didn't take it seriously during university and just played off and on - I look back now and realise those were clearly the easiest times to make serious money. I built a lot of my bankroll playing at an incredibly soft live game at my local casino. It was player dealt, rake free and pretty much no-one had a clue! Eventually the casino shut it down because me and two other regulars were winning too much money off their customers without ever giving them a penny in table games. In February 2008 I quit a very boring marketing job [ED. There’s no such thing!] and played as a prop for a few small online sites and living off the 110% rakeback. Eventually I found PKR in September 2008 and have been playing there full time ever since.
What do you like most about ring games?
Deep stack poker. It can be scary but if you're properly bankrolled you can turn it into an art-form. If you have the button in a deep stacked ring game you can create plays that exist nowhere else in the poker world.
What’s the most frustrating aspect of the game?
Variance. That is to say negative variance. The term is widely misunderstood in the poker community. When people are winning they think it's a skill game and when they are losing curse ‘variance’. I made a post in the PKR forums about it. For about one year at PKR with my win-rate and standard deviation there is potential $100,000 spread between the most I could have won and the least. In other words, you can run bad for a long-long time.
Who is your ring game hero?
At PKR? Obviously Beyne. Anyone who can disregard all sensible bankroll advice, run hotter than an electrical Jesus at the centre of Death Valley at noon in midsummer and turn $211 into $100,000 gives hope to anyone who's looking for a heater of their own. My other heroes are the guys who deposit $50 a month and have fun with it. Without them none of this would be possible.
Who is your nemesis?
I try not to take things personally. I wanna be like Micheal Corleone from the Godfather, "It's not personal, Sonny. It's strictly business." That said, about a month ago I made a forum post about wanting to get into coaching some $25 or $50nl players, just to improve their games, see if it was something I could be good at and make a bit of extra cash out of my skills. I got a lot of support from the regulars but strangely quite a few people came out of nowhere and were incredibly hostile towards me and the idea. Nonetheless, If I could make a dent in their bankrolls a bit that'd be nice.
What’s the least understood aspect of ring game play?
One that is understood but not followed is game selection. Some people seem to have no concept of it. I'll be sitting in a game with two empty seats playing vs three absolute donks and I'll open the lobby and see three full tables of pretty much all regulars, all with waiting lists of more regulars to get on [ED. I’d take that as a sign of R-E-S-P-E-C-T!]. Sometimes I'll log on in the morning, see the tables that are running and ask myself, “who thinks they've got the edge in that game?”. For a lot of people poker is about freedom. Some days I close the client and go for a jog or read a book or something rather than beat my head against the wall of people I'm not even sure I'm better than.
What’s the most overrated skill/move in the game?
In the games I play it seems to be the light preflop 3 bet squeeze. We get it, you've watched a cardrunners video. Now learn to play postflop, flat sometimes and exploit your massive edge against the fish rather than your tiny or non-existent one against the experienced players. (Not to say that it's not a good move that you should definitely have in your arsenal.)
Please rate the following in order of importance for cash game success.
a. Bankroll management
b. Game selection
c. Technical knowledge
d. Stamina
e. Strategic skill
A, B, E, D, C
Any special reasons for putting things in that order?
Bankroll management is the curse of many a ‘great’ player. If you're too prideful to move down when you run bad or you take too many shots at nosebleed limits, things are generally going to end badly for you. For every Beyne there are 50 broke guys whose names you'll never hear. Game selection is clearly more important than skill. If you're the 10th worst player in the world but you regularly sit with the other 9 you're going to make money.
If you had one tip to players struggling to make the jump from MTTs to cash games what would it be?
Start playing a lot lower than your pride/bankroll implies. If you're as good as you think you are, you should be crushing the low limits in no time at all and then you can start moving up. I shouldn't really be saying this as a big chunk of my profits come from guys who have luck-boxed a few big tourney scores and think that means they are ready for mid-stakes deep stack cash poker. They usually aren't.
Which describes you best – ‘feel player’ or an ‘analytical/math’ player?
I hate this distinction. It's nonsensical to me. The human brain is an incredibly complex piece of kit. Any halfway decent poker player is clearly both. You use the conscious analysis and clear mathematical reasoning to inform the more hazy subconscious pattern recognition part of your mind. There is nothing mystical about a ‘feel’player. Your brain has evolved over millions of years to be able to spot a tiger hiding in the long grass. You think it can't see a check-raise coming?
How do you spend your winnings, or do you reinvest to continue building your roll?
I keep my roll at between 60-75 buy-ins. That way I feel immune from most swings that are going to occur. I'm just about to buy a flat with my poker winnings. All cash no mortgage. It's not as sexy as a flash car but I think in the current economic climate it's a pretty smart investment. I'm probably one of the least ‘balla’ 2/4 players around. I do spend a lot on travel though, because what's the point of poker if you can't enjoy the freedom? But even then I fly economy and stay in modest hotels.
What is your cash game goal? What do you hope to achieve over the long term from cash games?
Sustainability. Boring, but true. I'm not sure if I want poker to be my life but right now I'm making far more money than I ever could in an office job just sitting in my pants clicking buttons playing a silly 3-D computer game. I'm my own boss, I have no commute, I pick my hours and I can take days off at a time to travel the world as and when I choose. That's pretty much what keeps me going through the downswings.