Player profile - Rocafella

Home to a seemingly endless cast of big name PKR regulars, she managed to drag 31 year old Norfolk resident Rocafella (real name Dan) away from the bar, pool table and PS3 to grab a quick chat.

PKR_Erika: Hi Dan, thanks for talking to us!  So to start, when did you start playing poker?

Rocafella: I've known the rules of poker for about 10 years but never really took it seriously until about 5 years ago when I started watching it on TV. I then started playing freerolls on the net and soon after, found out PKR were looking for beta testers. I signed up at the beginning and have been mainly playing here ever since.

E: What’s been your biggest win so far?

R: My biggest tournament win on PKR was the Christmas deepstack special a couple of years ago for about $4.5k.  As for the most satisfying, anytime I win feels satisfying but the bigger fields feel really good, so I count a couple of 700 runner freerolls right up there as I think they are pretty difficult for anyone to win.

E: You are out in Las Vegas during the WSOP.  Did you play in the World Series?

R: I didn't play in any of the WSOP events as it would have been over a quarter of my Vegas roll on one event! I am however in Vegas for a couple weeks while it’s going on and I’m staying in a house with people that did play events. I managed to go to the Rio one day to rail James666 and take in the atmosphere, it was amazing and it has given me a real hunger to play next year.

E: Were you star-struck by any of the big pros? 

R: I don't really get star-struck with poker players. I was fortunate enough to meet and chat with a few, mainly at the PKR Party but I was fairly drunk so I was probably a bit braver chatting with them than if I was sober!

E: Who was the person you would have most liked to sit down and have a chat with?

I've always said the poker player I'd most like to sit and chat with is Mike Sexton. I think he's a true gentleman of poker; he seems to really care about the game, image and people in the poker world and has been around it all his life. Iit would be great to listen to some of the stories that he could tell. I could always imagine sitting down with Mike and a beer, playing heads up, smoking a pipe and laughing as he reminisces about the good ol' days of poker. I got to meet him at the PKR party when I was drunk and the conversation went like this; -

Me: "Yo Mike" (I never normally say "yo" and was immediately cringing)
Mike: "Yo"

That's where the conversation ended as I kind of went blank and had to walk off, so I suppose you could class that as being star-struck!

E: What did you think of the PKR Party at the Hugh Hefner Suite?

R: Truly amazing!! One of the best parties I've ever been too. Great venue, brilliant atmosphere, everyone was in good form and it was cool rubbing shoulders with the poker celebs. My memory goes slightly hazy after about 1am that night but I have pictures in my mind of being in the pool in my boxers and also standing against the Perspex looking down at over 50 floors high which seems crazy to me now as I hate heights - that's why god made me small!

E: What would you say to anyone thinking of going to the WSOP next year?

R: I don't think I could answer this question anywhere near as good as Piratenation did in his interview on PKR TV for the PKR Party at the Palms! His answer was so good that some of the guys in the house we stayed at had it on continual loop and even Danski described it as "words of wisdom". Check it out - genius!

E: Back to PKR, who are some of your favourite players?

R: I've got absolutely loads! I have been to quite a few meet ups over the last few years and have spent a lot of time with quite a few of the players (and staff) from all over Europe and have yet to met a PKR player who I've truly despised (although I am jealous of anyone that wins more than me!). I would literally be here all day naming them but my friends list is a pretty good indication of my favorites. 

Chivalrousgent, Azurecoil and Galwaysontilt22 are three guys I met when PKR first started and who I now class as good friends.

The two guys I speak to the most regularly these days are the two I enjoy railing the most. Thomasinder - He's an UTG PRO who has helped me a lot with my game and hand selection for that position :) and XxMikeyJxX - who's a chat PRO. Whenever I have a taken a few bad beats or am feeling low, I go and rail Mikey and watch his chatbox, it always guarantees a smile.

E: Which PKR players would you say are the toughest to play against?

R: I have the toughest time playing against friends and people I know. Most of my friends on PKR are pretty good players and I have a hard time playing my 'A' game against them as there is also a leveling war going on which I'm not very good at - YET!

E: What do you do to chill out when you’re not playing poker?

R: I've helped bring up a little girl from birth so spend a lot of time with her when I'm not playing which is a nice release from poker. I also play football and guitar.

E: Do you have a favourite place to be when you’re playing?

R: I've always had visions of playing on an open porch on the decking with a sea view and the sun beaming down.  The nearest I have got to this is when I took my laptop to Hunstanton caravan park, but my laptop is so old now that it only lasts 7 and 1/2 minutes without being plugged in, which isn't quite the vision I had, but it's a start!

E: What is your ‘day job’?

R: I work part time helping my brother-in-law renovate flats and houses. I play low/mid stakes poker the rest of the time. I consider myself to be a playmoney pro :)

E: What are your poker goals?

R: To play in more live events next year including at least one WSOP event. I'm going to spend the rest of this year really trying to make more of an effort building a nice roll to allow me a bit more freedom in how I play, so I can concentrate on maybe playing a few more satellites for live events etc.

Whenever I've had a string of decent results in the past, I have just withdrew the majority and thought of the rest as "free money" and taken shots higher up when I've been under-rolled, which isn't a great way of doing things. I always found it difficult building a big roll in the past as I found it hard to justify having over a certain amount to play poker with when there are other things I could spend the money on, especially having a little girl. But now I'm a bit older, wiser and balder I think I have a much better idea of how to handle building and maintaining a poker bankroll that will help me achieve my goals next year. Unfortunately this probably means a lot of beans on toast in my girl's diet but hey, it will be good character building development for her!

E: Thanks for that, Dan. Enjoy Vegas and good luck at the tables!