PTP: Tell us a little bit about how you got started in poker and what the experience has been like so far.

AV: After being in college for 3 years and pursuing an Electrical Engineering degree, I stopped going even though I had a solid GPA. I had only been playing poker for 9 months, but I felt ready to play it for a living. I started being coached by one of the best SNG players in the world (jhub3000) in April 2008. I deposited $600 on full tilt and haven’t looked back. I started playing $6.50 SNGs and moved up in stakes through great coaching and good bankroll management. Around September 15th he decided I was good enough to play high stake SNGs and moved me up to $109s. The freedom of the job is amazing. I feel like even though I have played a lot less then a lot of the top regulars I have better emotional control over myself then a huge % of them. I see them complain about beats and berate fish all the time, which are two things I never do.

PTP: You’ve taken a fairly non-glamorous path to good returns in poker – what attracted you to the games you play?

AV: I play SNGs because that is what Hub taught me and that’s what I specialize in. I would rather be a cash game player and hope to be sometime down the road. I have also thought about learning MTTs, but I would hate the long hours without being able to stop when I want.

PTP: There’s a real issue for some people with the grind associated with the games you play. What’s your approach for dealing with that?

AV: When I hear the word grind I think of a few words boring, repetitive, automatic, and brainless motions. That is like a robot. There are a lot of SNG players that play too many tables and become robots. I have fun playing the game if I didn’t I wouldn’t be playing. As for variance, I don’t let myself get too excited about making $5k in a day because you can’t control daily profits or loses. By focusing my energy on making the right plays and on long term results I get through my downswings and stay positive.

PTP: I know you recently won a trip to the Playboy mansion as a result of your volume play. What was that experience like?

AV: Yeah it was a rake race through rakebacknation.com, which I just killed. I think I raked around $13k in like 12 days of playing. It was double second place. The trip was amazing. Here is a story about the trip:

On the Thursday night of that weekend I met Cristal Camden at a club. She is a former Ex-Girlfriend of Hue Hefner. I met her through a guy I met at the Roosevelt Hotel. During the night I met her, she texted Hef to tell him that she wanted to waitress my cabana. So the night of the party I was expecting her to be at my cabana and she wasn’t. She ditched me to waitress Ron Artest’s cabana, which I don’t blame her.

(View some pics from the Playboy trip here).

PTP: What have been some of the more interesting trends you’ve noticed in the games online during the last couple of months?

AV: Every form of poker has been getting harder and harder. I think the games are the hardest they will be for a long time right now. People don’t have as much money to throw around as they use to. A huge % of US citizens also think poker online in illegal, which isn’t true. I am hoping within a couple years the government just starts taxing poker directly because I think that would bring a lot of new players in.

First off, what were your feelings on this year’s WSOP? Did it seem noticeably different from last year’s in terms of the general mood, logistics, etc?

I think the general mood around the poker tables remained pretty consistent with the last few years, but I did notice that my mood and those of my close friends had changed quite a bit. It seemed like everyone was tired and grumpy, and in need of some nap-time.

How’s the experience with bodog been so far? They have a pretty small roster – what do you think attracted them to you?

Bodog has been so great to me and I couldn’t be more thankful for having such a great company and team behind me. Bodog is known as much for their lovely Bodog Girls as they are for their online casino and sportsbook and I think Team Bodog was in need of some babe-ishness!

What’s your favorite live tournament series to play at the moment? How about online?

I’ve really enjoyed playing in Europe, and of course, any sunny beach location is always a lot of fun. I like being able to get a vacation out of a work trip. The fields in Italy and France have been particularly “fun” to play in. I don’t really play many online tournaments outside of the Bodog Poker Open because I enjoy the face-to-face aspect of live events– but it’s really cool to be a “bounty” in some of the tournaments, and the regulars also really enjoy it which is really cool.

Head back in a time machine and give the bracelet to Farha instead of Moneymaker. Do you think you’d still be playing professionally?

Considering that I had already been playing poker professionally for about a decade before Moneymaker won the title, I’m pretty sure that I had already experienced “the poker boom” long before the TV audience had. Most likely, I would still be playing poker, but maybe I would have stuck to cash games more and would be playing fewer tournaments.

How’s the general climate for women in poker these days? Would you describe it as drastically different than it was in say 2006?

There’s definitely a huge difference in the number of women playing, but we’re still only a small fraction of the field. I think that it’s no longer an odd occurrence to have more than one woman on a tournament or cash table, but that doesn’t mean that sexism has quite gone out of style just yet with some of the smaller-minded poker players.

Is there any advice you’d give an aspiring female pro? Anything you really wish someone had told you?

I wish that I hadn’t been as intimidated by tournaments as I was when I first started. I think women’s events can be a good gateway into the tournament circuit to get your feet wet, but I think that diving into open events can give you valuable experience and confidence as well.

Exactly how sick are you of interview questions that focus on the ‘Evelyn as female poker player’ angle?

I’m not sick of it at all, mainly because I get a lot of positive feedback from other female poker players who enjoy or learn from my experiences and insight.

Favorite non-Bodog poker sites currently (blogs, etc)?

I wrote a few blogs for PokerNews.com, and my boyfriend (Lex Veldhuis) has been blogging for their Dutch site for quite a while. PokerTableRatings.com is a pretty cool site for tracking and analyzing online players. I’ve also been known to occasionally check out the NVG forum on 2+2.

Obviously the tournament landscape is evolving pretty rapidly. What’s the biggest adjustment you’ve had to make over the last year?

It seems like every tournament I play, the fields are more and more aggressive. I’ve faced much tougher decisions and had to adjust to being attacked more often. It’s also more difficult to spot-read your opponents– especially when the kid across from you who looks like he got carded on the way in might be some online wizard who plays in the biggest games and already has hundreds of thousands of hands under their belt.

What’s your favorite non-standard poker game? Give us a quick breakdown of how it works.

Rock Band and Guitar Hero are my favorite games by far. I spend practically all of my time away from the poker table frantically pressing buttons and strumming on a fake plastic toy guitar. It lets me live out all my rock and roll fantasies, and it always challenges me to improve just as if it were the real thing. My favorite card game besides poker is a Chinese game called “Choi Dai Di”, also known as “Big Deuce”. It’s like regular (13-card) Chinese Poker, mixed with the game “Asshole”.

Name one poker player you’re pretty sure you could drink under the table and one you’re pretty sure you couldn’t.

I can’t drink anyone under the table, and I don’t want to try either. I’m allergic to alcohol and drinking usually makes me fall asleep or feel very sick and uncomfortable. I’m missing that enzyme that a lot of Asians don’t have which helps metabolize alcohol, and just one drink or a shot, and I will turn bright red all over and probably itchy too.

Any other projects you’re currently working on?

All projects (besides rocking-out) are currently on hold as I begin the search for another new apartment. My landlord just informed me that my place is getting foreclosed-on. This will be my third move in the last 2 years. Just when I had everything in the right place!

You can play with Evelyn and other pros at Bodog Poker.

PTP: So when did it become more serious?
Rook: I saw a buddy on PartyPoker, he said he won $50 in an hour and I thought “Wow. That is pretty sweet.” I was working full time, college part time, so I didn’t have much room to play but what really sparked my interest was the fact that David Williams got 2nd in the WSOP and I used to play Magic with him and he wasn’t even good at the game. Other people he played Magic with also went to Vegas and started making a living and I just thought that was incredible. See, all of my jobs I just hate people. The average person I look down on, and I think that in itself is terrible, but it just pisses me off that some people are so stupid, but I was managing twenty of these guys, and then go to college and take classes that I had no interest in, no spare time… And I have other people planting seeds about poker and I knew there were several things related to poker, psychology, math and MONEY. Perfect balance.

So I started going to Greektown in Detroit to play once I turned 21. Quit the job. Three months after turning 21 quit the job and started playing 10/25 cent NL 4 tabling on PartyPoker for a guaranteed $100 profit a day which was more than enough to keep me happy, well fed, and away from dealing with ignorant people all day. I was living the dream.

I mean, I went to these local casinos and saw how everyone else was so bad and how tight-solid play would be profitable and make at least $10/hr, so that compared to a normal job? There is no comparison. Its actually enjoyable, a rush… real jobs suck.

PTP So how did you get into MTTs?
Rook: Another grinder from Ohio and a friend of mine who made a long drive to Detroit everyday to play, took down a $10 rebuy for $12,000 and I watched it go down, it was so sick, and that’s right about when I moved to PokerStars. I thought, “maybe I’ll try these multis”. I watched Scott “Bates35″ Bateson play and saw how he was just super aggro, and I picked up other things and stopped playing cash in favor of MTTs altogether.

I was given a quick false sense of security about the easiness of money from tournaments though. PartyPoker had these single table satellites into the $640 Sunday Tourney; winner take all sattys $7 to win $70, then $70 to win the $640 seat. I binked both step sngs quickly, but could not unregister from the $640. So I played, was in first place at the first break, just running like god. Wound up running super deep and finished about 22nd for $8500 which was a huge amount of money to me at the time. This was also the first time for the mixed emotions of a blessing score, but not feeling good about it because finishing a few spaces higher would have been worth so much more. So anyway, that score got the bankroll started, Party closed, I started the MTT grind on Stars.

PTP: So you’ve recently moved to Vegas about two years ago. Good/bad?
Rook: Casino’s are run much better than in Detroit. Just the small things like free drinks, dealers actually care because they get their own tips. At Greektown the tips are pooled so there is no incentive for them to do well. There are better tournaments out here, and just better opportunities in general. The roads are smoother too, Michigan roads are all messed up and fuck with my ride. I hate snow, I hate the rain, total life downers. I hate humidity and bugs and Vegas doesn’t have any of those. Lastly, in case the internet (poker) gets banned, can grind out live cash and make a living. Nice plan B.

PTP: Any books or other recommendations? Poker training sites?
Rook: Best two pieces of advice I ever got were from training sites. Realpokertraining.com, the original training site way back years ago, Todd (Arnold) said: “In any given hand your list of options should go in this order, raise, reraise, fold, sitout, call.” And from the same site for Omaha, Seal said “Don’t ever play a hand with a hanger, EX QTJ3″. Just play tight in omaha, other people will make mistakes, don’t defend blinds. Johnnybax videos make me laugh and are purely for entrainment purposes. Harrington on Hold’em is good.

PTP: Playing backed? Not playing backed? Advantages/disadvantages?
Rook: I played for a year backed by mttbacking.com. Great people, great site, never a problem. I made them alot of money. Icallseat3 and WhatarunAA continuously called me an idiot and a loser for burning 45% of my profit and convinced me to quit before my upcoming down swing so they could back me on my upswing, lol. But I basically just started winning from the moment they stopped backing me. Something like five profitable Sunday’s in a row.

To anyone playing backed, I say just keep winning till you have a br big enough to sustain the levels you are winning at. So if I’m averaging a buyin of $100, I’d want $20,000 to play those stakes and handle the swings. Playing backed helped me become more desensitized about money and only looking at the long run. It sucks to lose $50 in reality, but really sometimes you make $5000 so it makes up for all those times you lost, so being desensitized about the money is pretty important.

PTP Multiaccouters and other various cheating methods… thoughts?
Rook MA’s, sucks, wish there was a better way to police it. But there isn’t. If people want to gain the edge of anonymity then so be it, not much you can do about it. As of now I’m not too worried about it, if I was on a big downswing maybe I would be but it doesn’t seem to affect me. I don’t care who you are, I can adjust, you’re a person with two cards, and I can adjust to who you are, think you are, want to be, etc. I don’t care- its just a game. In fact, I think its an advantage that people know who I am, because I know that they know who I am, and I can react to what they have seen me do in the past. I set things up for the future, think three moves ahead, etc, etc.

PTP Breaks from play, socializing, etc?
Rook I look forward to golf once a week, very relaxing. Breaks definitely add to the bottom line. You can’t just login, register, register, register, register, register, eat granola, register. Hour to wake up and start grinding, its just not right. Definitely need to get up, wake up, eat right, can’t just roll out of bed and into the chair. A healthy diet is also very important.

PTP Well, thanks for your time man. Good luck in the Series.
Rook Thanks alot, anytime!

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With over 7500 MTTs tracked on FTP (Liveswithmommy) and Stars (WhatarunAA), and another 5000 SNGs totaling $500,000.00 profit on those two sites alone, TJ has been putting up consistent results for the last four years. He agreed to share some of what has made him successful and his thoughts on the game in general. Enjoy!

PTP: How did you get started with poker?
TJ: Well I started playing during the moneymaker era when I was in community college back home. I remember we would play for 5 bucks and there would be no blinds or antes because we didn’t know how to even do it. I would always try to bluff and thought I was so good even though I was awful.

I moved to Milwaukee to attend college there and that’s when my friend Jordan started giving me money on party poker for cash. Probably the first 20 times I deposited 50 bucks I would run it up to 2-300, think I was gods gift.. and then lose it all before I went to bed. The first check I ever got in the mail I didn’t think I would be able to cash it cuz I couldn’t believe that you could make money playing poker.

PTP: What changed? How did it become serious?
TJ: I guess it changed when I realized that there could be money to be made… I remember working some shitty painting job for 7.50 an hour 40 feet in the air having bees swarming around my head, thinking there has got to be something better for me. I remember I quit the job and drove up to Minnesota to play 2-4 limit with my whole bankroll( 300dollars) .. obv lost that all but I was determined to get better.

I started to play party sngs and make 100 bucks a day was the goal.. I started doing OK and was able to buy myself clothes, food drinking money.. I eventually won 9k in a tourney that I didn’t deserve to win and I thought I was the best ever. Bought a big screen tv, a laptop.. clothes.. and was broke 4 months later.. I think that was the best thing to happen to me.

By this time I was failing out of school because all I could think about was poker, I saw poker as an escape from some shitty job making 30k a year.. I felt that if I put my mind to getting better at the game that even if I made 25k a year, id still enjoy doing what I was doing. I continued to focus on sngs, some small mtts.. but I was decent at sngs and they were paying the bills. I think when I got serious about poker was when I chopped the Sunday Million on Stars.. I really felt like I was overdue and I realized that I could really start to make good money.. more then I could ever make at any other job
I guess it was serious from day 1 when I realized I could pay the bills playing poker…

I become completely submerged into poker.. couldn’t sleep because I was thinking about poker and when I did sleep I was dreaming about poker.. I remember waking up and replaying a hand in my dreams that I thought I played poorly. I was sickly addicted for 2 years straight playing probably 12 hours a day and it took a toll on my social life, health, etc. I would never go out drinking anymore.. I used to party alot, but I started seeing Friday nights as a way to make a couple hundred bucks instead of going out and getting wasted.. I guess I didn’t realize the health aspect of it til I was 40 lbs overweight.

PTP: So was the SM chop “life changing”?
TJ: Well I remember the day I took down the Sunday Million because things were deteriorating with my ex gf in the months proceeding it and she actually moved out the day that I won it. I got like 98k or something after I split percentages and all of that. guess my goal was to just keep playing the mid stakes cuz that’s where my success at.. I don’t like playing the 100r or bigger tourneys because I feel like I don’t play well vs good players.. I think that I play well against bad players and that’s where I need to stay to maximize profit.

PTP: She moved out the same day? That “W” must have been pretty satisfying then.
TJ: Yep, she was moving out her stuff while I was playing that tourney. It was great.. it was pretty much saying ” hey ,I’m going to be alright.. I don’t need you”

PTP: So after the Million you win the FTP 750k the following month for another six figures…. what has happened since 2007 to this point today?
TJ: Well I tried buying a house back home, 2 of them actually.. got outbid.. decided I should move to Vegas and Ive been here a year now. I play 5 days a week.. trying to start earlier in the week because I’m trying to get re ranked on p5s but I usually start at 4pm pacific time and register til about 9:pm.. so its usually a 10 or 11 hour day.

PTP: Moving to Vegas away from home- good or bad for you in the first year?
TJ: I think moving to Vegas really helped my game and my mindset.. I was suddenly surrounded by a culture that was much more acceptable to playing poker for a living. Also, surrounding myself with other Pros really made me feel good again, because for a while it was hard to relate to some of my friends back home. Two totally different lifestyles.. me often staying up all night, them working all day, me usually sleeping all day.. Its good to surround yourself with people that do the same thing as you. My Milwaukee friends are some of the best people I’ve met though, and they will always be a part of my life in some way.

PTP: Any books or other recommendations?
TJ: I haven’t read many books really, Ace On The River.. Harrington On Holdem.. that’s about it.. didn’t really read too much , just substitute reading for constantly playing.. and when I say constantly I mean that was literally all I would do every day.. probably unhealthy. I think taking days off is very important.. but if you are playing really well I’d advise you to keep playing.. If I have a good few days in a row, id take a day off and then come back rusty, and I felt like it cost me alot of money

PTP: So you see alot of great players being backed now… It is almost trendy. Thoughts about that from the player standpoint?
TJ: If you are a professional poker player and you are getting backed I just think you are doing it all wrong. If you are good enough to play for a living, there should be no reason to be backed. Money management is more important then technical skills in poker anyways. If you cant grind up a decent roll playing mid/low stakes, then you are probably in the wrong boat. The thing with backing is it is like a high interest credit card.. You build up all this makeup( credit) and then you eventually get a big score and have to pay off ur credit card( which is fine)and then give them 50 percent on top of that.. Just think about how much profit you are losing long term.. if you can make 150k a year.. and then have to give 75k of it away.. just seems counter productive if you play for a living. The only exception I can see for getting backed is if you want to play big live tourneys where you clearly have an edge but obviously not the bankroll to play those tourneys.

PTP: Thoughts about poker training sites?
TJ: I wish that there would have been poker training sites back in 2003 or 2004 when I was really bad.. I just think that they help an inexperienced player improve so fast, I think once you get to a certain skill level training sites cant help you as much.. because 95 percent of winning players play pretty much the same.. its that 5% that separate the good/ from great.

PTP: Thoughts about multi-accounting?
TJ: Ive been deep in tourneys before and feel like the person that I’m playing against ( who has played 8 tourneys in their lifetime) plays reallllly good.. It sucks that they may know who you are but you don’t know who they are.. but you just gotta adjust and assume that they are a well known player.

PTP: PokerTracker or Hold’em Manager?
TJ: Well I thought it would improve my game, but it seems like I do alot worse with stats on the table, I really don’t know why.. maybe I rely too much on the player and not enough on the cards.

PTP: So, what’s next? Plans for the future, goals, importance of goals… I know you have read books like The Secret and Donald Trump’s motivational book…. What is your motivation now that you’re not worried about the rent? How do you stay hungry?
TJ: I think attitude is everything, Having a positive attitude going into a poker session is almost as important as the cards you get because its how you are going to react when the tourney is over, session is over… day is over.. I try to keep an optimistic approach to the game and to life and I think its helped me have some success. I really want to make some noise at the WSOP this summer, I will probably be hungry until I win a bracelet, and hopefully ill be just as hungry for the second one. I’m not really sure what drives me, I would say its competition, I hate losing more then anything .. Goals in the next year or two are to pad my bankroll and buy a nice house.. hopefully eventually go down the road of real estate investment.

PTP: Thank you very much, Teej.
TJ: Anytime. Add me on xbox live- liveswithmommy.

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PTP: First, let’s start off with the obvious question – why Foucault? Why not Derrida or some other (relatively) obscure critical-theorist-type?

AB: It’s nothing to do with who’s more relevant to poker (though actually Foucault writes a lot about understanding power relationships through a “strategy” framework). Foucault was just one of my favorite writers as a philosophy student and college. In some sense, though, he was responsible for my getting into poker. I graduated from college with a philosophy degree, and, naturally, had trouble finding a job. While I was looking for work, mostly in the non-profit sector, I was playing $5 sit-and-goes to make a little money on the side. I soon realized that if I took poker seriously, I could make more money playing part-time than I would full-time at any of the terrible entry level jobs I was applying for. Ultimately, poker gave me the time and money to launch the non-profit organization that I wanted.

PTP: Here’s another favorite: I’m a reasonably intelligent person with a grasp of poker fundamentals and a good amount of free time – let’s say 20 hours a week. How long would I have to work to have a shot at beating 5/10 NL 6 max online? How long would I have to work to beat 5/10 live for the same net hourly win?

AB: There’s a lot of caveats here, but supposing you were to do it solely by playing and analyzing your own game, I’d say it would take you a year or so. That might be overly optimistic these days, but you could also speed it up considerably by watching instructional videos or especially by hiring a coach. That’s just to beat it with good game selection, which I think almost any reasonably intelligent person could eventually do. To be able to sit down and beat any 6-max game going would be a lot tougher.

Learning to beat 5/10 live would be a cake walk. Beating it for the same hourly rate would be impossible, assuming you are multi-tabling when you play online. Live poker sucks.

PTP: In an online poker world largely populated by specialists, you’re a bit of a hold out insomuch that you seem willing to compete in various formats of cash and tournament play at fairly high buy in levels. Discuss.

AB: I don’t know, I unfortunately do think of myself as a NLHE specialist. I’d like to become more well-rounded, and especially to get better at this PLO thing all the kids are playing these days, but that’s just never how I feel like spending my poker time. I really admire players like Anthony Rivera, Terrence Chan, Vanessa Selbst, and Tom Chambers, to name a random few, who maybe have a favorite game but can compete at the highest levels of other games as well.

It’s true that I do play a variety of NLHE games, from 6-max to full ring to tournaments. I guess that’s my compromise. I started off my poker career as a tournament player, so it still pains me to miss a Sunday. It’s just hard to shake the feeling that, “Maybe that was going to be my week!” But that’s also what I hate about tournaments.

PTP: You’ve written tons of articles for 2+2 strategy. I’ve read a handful, but save us the time and pick the two that people should absolutely read above all others.

AB: I’ve been shamefully bad about updating the article archive on my website. It would depend on where you are in your skill development, but overall I think the best articles are those that help you to see the whole game in a new light. Most people focus far too narrowly on how to play this or that situation and miss the interconnectedness of decisions from street to street and hand to hand. So I guess I’d choose the two-part “Your Opponent’s Arsenal” series (Part 1 and Part 2). Profitable Mistakes is a good one too- that realization was a real eye-opener for me and saved me a lot of frustration.

PTP: Your blog is (with the exception of the 7-11 vignettes) fairly impersonal. Is that part of a philosophy you have regarding what a blog should be, or just a natural outgrowth of how you prefer to write?

AB: I would love to write about myself, I just don’t think anyone would want to read it. There are people with really interesting lives who can fill a blog with great personal stories. Shane Schleger and Tony Dunst come to mind. For the most part, I don’t think I’ve got enough interesting stories to tell about myself to support a more personal blog. My work in the Boston Public Schools introduces me to a lot of characters, but often they are either people I still need to work with or young people whose stories I’m not going to share in a public forum. But I do write about that stuff occasionally, when something both appropriate and funny or interesting comes up.

PTP: If you spend any time on poker forums, you’ll hear a lot of pining for the “Party Poker (i.e. pre-UIGEA) Days”. Do you think there’s a tendency to overstate how soft the games were in that era, or have the games – especially the mid stakes cash games) really gotten that much tougher over the last few years?

AB: I think the games have gotten much tougher. As fortunate as I consider myself to be making money at this game at all, I do wish that I could have been as good as I am now a few years ago, or at least had the bankroll and stomach to play in bigger games. I feel like I could have been making two to three times what I am now with a lot less stress.

PTP: If you could magically banish any single player from ever sitting on your immediate left again …

AB: David Benefield is probably the biggest pain, because he understands how to exploit position better than almost anyone and it’s a huge part of his game. Thankfully he very rarely plays down in the little leagues where I am. Recently Dani Stern has been sitting at a lot of 5/10 deep tables, and I would love to wave a magic wand and send him back up to 25/50. But he’s a beast even when he’s out of position, so I’m not sure that just moving him to my right would be enough.

PTP: With a screen name like yours and a blog title like yours, one begins to suspect you’ve got a few books on your reading list that aren’t directly poker-related. What are some of the non-pokercentric texts that have had the largest impact on your game?

AB: I actually don’t read much philosophy any more, or many poker books for that matter. I mostly read literary fiction or non-fiction stuff related to public education and/or urban poverty.

I don’t think they’ve impacted my game much, but they do influence the way I think about the relationship between poker and society. On the one hand, the game is wonderful training for decision-making in the real world. On the other hand, it’s absorbing a lot of great minds entirely and pretty much wasting their talents. I would love see more poker players get involved in something outside of poker. We’ve seen recently how badly people, even so-called professionals, manage risk and make financial decisions. As a result, a lot of other decisions are being made now, decisions that will affect our country and in some cases the world for generations to come, with frighteningly little forethought. Which businesses will survive and which will fail? Who will work and whose skills will be wasted? What will the role of government be in American life? I wish I had more confidence in the people making those decisions. Successful poker players are great decision makers, and that’s a talent that’s badly needed right now. At least we’ve got one in the White House.

PTP: Any plans to one day go the “Tao of Poker” route and write a book that views poker through the lens of a particular philosophical prism? If not, any plans for any sort of book?

AB: I’ve been threatening to write a book for a while. Recently I’ve been kicking around some more concrete ideas, but I don’t think I want to say more than that right now.

PTP: Why PokerSavvy+? Why not distribute videos on your own?

AB: I have no interest in learning how to produce or market instructional videos, and even if I did, I’m sure the people at PS+ would do a far better job. I really contribute only the poker content. Everything that looks and sounds good about the videos is added by the PS+ production staff, and they’re working very hard to tap new markets as well. I could never do any of that on my own. Not to mention they are just a very enjoyable outfit to work for, with a great approach to teaching poker and to working with their pros.

PTP: A little revisionism: let’s say that sites like PS+, Cardrunners, et al never existed. By what factor are current online games easier to beat?

AB: It’s impossible to say, but frankly I don’t buy into the “don’t talk about fight club” approach to poker skill. For one thing, as I said before, I look at the social role of poker as training for better decision-making more generally. So in that sense, training sites are 110% consistent with advancing the broader objectives of this little sector of our society.

But even from a strictly pokercentric perspective, I don’t see them as a negative. Poker is a “trickle up” economy. A lot of the people who lose money in my games are winning it in smaller games. Something needs to give them the skill to beat their current games and the confidence to move up to where I am waiting for them!

In “The Elements of Poker”, one of my favorite poker books, Tommy Angelo emphasizes that winning at poker requires making better decisions that your opponents not just at the table but with regard to sleeping, eating, play schedule, etc. Virtually everything you do is an opportunity to do something better than your opponents, and thus an opportunity to find an edge. Instructional books and videos are just another opportunity to “outplay” the competition. I’m going to try to make the best decisions I can about which sites to subscribe to, how much time to spend watching videos instead of playing, etc. If I balance these things better than the other players in my games, then that’s another source of profit for me.

PTP: A little honesty: how rampant do you think cheating in online poker really is? What format strikes you as most vulnerable to the colluders and multi accounters?

AB: You’re asking the wrong person. I am not tapped into the larger poker community to anywhere near the extent that a lot of others are. When it comes to multi-accounting in tournaments, at least in the huge field ones that I play, I’m more concerned about the damage to poker’s image than I am about harm to my bottom line, which is probably minimal (though it’s a far bigger problem for those who play a lot of small field, big buy-in tournaments like the weekly 1K’s or daily 100 rebuys). I’m personally most worried about high stakes NLHE players playing under other names to get heads up action from people who wouldn’t otherwise play them. I have no idea how often it happens, but it’s probably the thing that would most affect me.

Lee Jones made an interesting suggestion a while ago to allow everyone the option of playing under a new username every time they sign in. I don’t know that this is the right solution- game selection is another one of those “meta” spots where smart players can find an edge, and the opportunity to rail celebrities like OMGClayAiken and Durrr is very good for the game- but it’s the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that will help to solve the problem. Unenforceable prohibitions are better than nothing but far from an ideal solution- just ask the recording industry. Ultimately, we’ll probably need to make a compromise new technology instead of trying to force the square peg of a hundreds-of-years-old game into the round hole of the internet.

Come to think of it, this is an interesting application of Foucault’s thought to the game of poker. A lot of his work was towards an understanding of subjectivity: what an “individual” is and how people come to think of themselves as selves in the ways that they do. He would probably be fascinated by the ways in which internet screen names and avatars problematize our understanding of the individual and by our crude attempts to force a one-to-one correspondence between physical bodies and a collection of digital pixels.

Thanks to Andrew for his time. Check out Andrew’s blog here.

SS: I had a fixation with gambling (like pit games) in my early 20s, learned the rules of poker soon after (this all took place in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where my earliest childhood friend had moved). I played losing $1-5 Stud and Stud HiLo for a while. Hold ‘em was still wild and exotic to me. (No limit even more so–like, you can bet any amount at any time?!?!). Sometimes I say, “I took a wrong turn at Albuquerque” but the Looney Tunes reference is often lost on the “younger” crowd.

In 2002, I met someone who was attached to the New York poker scene right around the time 14th St. Playstation was opening. Lot of trial and error and losing and finally by 2005 I was competent and confident enough (at least superficially) to make the move from day job (I was waiting tables) to full time poker. In my fifth year as a full time player, there is still a lot of trial and error.

PTP: You’re well-known for your rebuy success – do you feel like you have to make big adjustments when moving between rebuy and freezeout tournaments, or is it kind of a moot issue after the rebuy period closes?

SS: I feel my aptitude for rebuys is almost like a random occurrence, or at least I can’t properly explain it. Perhaps the rebuy period just puts me at ease and engenders the right relaxed mindframe to carry me through the rest of the event. Strategy-wise, the only significance after the rebuy period closes (that I can think of) has to do with stack depth.

PTP: Speaking of rebuys, what’s your take on the logic behind the WSOP decision to remove rebuys from the bracelet schedule this year? Were you surprised at all by the decision?

SS: Surprised and annoyed yes, even more annoyed by the lack of a proper explanation. Negreanu’s stated reasons were ridiculous, but I’m not going to harp on that anymore since I realize he was probably just trying to put a positive spin on the situation.

My understanding now is that they felt it was necessary to eliminate them based on concerns about “collusion” but I am not satisfied with this explanation either, since I feel the type of collusion they were trying to prevent (like going allin blind) does not really adversely affect random players in the field, and also that they should be able to police collusion without having to eliminate an entire form of poker wholesale.

PTP: Why a fixed gear bike? Why not just a single speed with a freewheel?

SS: For starters, an experienced fixed gear rider has much more control over the momentum of the bike than a freewheel rider. It’s also kind of like “the zen of riding,” you are “one with the bike.” Also, there are fewer movable parts, fewer things to maintain on the bike. No brake cables that might snap at a traffic light (that happened once in my pre-fix days). You just get on and ride. It’s just cooler and more fun overall (once you have the mechanics of the riding down). I didn’t find out until recently, when a NYC messenger friend visited me here in CA, that a whole hipster subculture has built up around fixed-gear bicycles. He says he feels embarrassed to be seen on his track bike when he rides around Willamsburg now and sticks to his road bike. Ha.

EDIT: (14 hours after this interview and the intro I wrote above, Scott took down the Sunday Warmup for $111,000. Currently he is the 15th ranked player in the world according to OfficialPokerRankings.com… might climb a few spots by the time they update that list IMO.)

PTP : First, just generally sum up how you got into poker and online poker to begin with please…

Sitron: Sure. I started at 14 years old, playing 25 cent between the sheets. Moved up to $2 max bet dealers choice, and then I watched Rounders and started playing only Hold’em. I played live $20 SNGs and tourneys and then I noticed my friend playing on PartyPoker. I started playing around with $5 SNGS, read Phil H.’s book, then all the books, and moved up playing mostly sngs and the occasional MTT.

Then Party got stolen, so I went and played live 2-5 NL for a year at a casino. Got burnt out pretty quickly, but still made $60k in 6 months and then I went back to online.

PTP: Was there a key moment that sticks out to you as when it became a serious game to you? More than just throw $50 online and play around?

Sitron: Always serious, but I first realized I could make a living from it my junior year in college. Quit my job Senior year.

PTP: Did you always practice good BR management? Or did you learn it from trial and error?

Sitron: I was really good about BR management because I only played $109 sngs. Variance isn’t too bad. Would lose like 3k most in a downswing, roll was 20k.

I did flush my entire $15k bankroll over the span of two nights on Party Blackjack though. Wanted to die. Got my $2300 rakeback and that’s all I had. I ran that back up to 20k, and pretty much never looked back, other than when I had 2/3rds of my bankroll suck in Neteller for about 6 months which was a bit of a worry.

PTP: That is pretty sick. Did you have some time between the rakeback payment and the big loss to clear your head and set a plan for the $2300 because you knew it was coming? What did you play to get back to a comfy roll for the $109 SNGS?

Stiron: I just jumped back in the $109s. Ran good early luckily. They were so soft though, the swings weren’t that bad. Rarely have losing sessions and averaged $100/hr 6 tabling. And the Neteller debit card was an atm.

PTP: So how did you perfect your sng game? The icm and stuff, was it prevalent then?

Sitron: I just played really nitty. Then with four people left lossen way up. See, I still don’t even know what ICM is. Never was a pokerstove guy, just played super tight and on the bubble loosened way up. The players were so bad. The would call raises with A9 off, flop A and stack 100 bbs off. If i knew then what I know now I’d be a millionaire for sho. (Don’t have to add that last part)

PTP: lol

Sitron: Did you play back then? Online?

PTP: Just the $50/$100 deposit degen, one tabling $3/$6 fixed limit full ring. I’m laughing right now just thinking about those days.

Sitron: Haha. Was so much fun. I played the $25 NL on Party, one table, was life or death lol.

PTP: Ok, so Party shut their doors in 03-04, whenever it was; what did you do from that point?

Sitron: That’s when I grinded live for 6 months at a casino in Milwaukee. $60k at 2-5nl.

PTP: What kind of hours were you putting in? Setting a schedule or would you just play when you felt like it?

Sitron: like 40-50/hrs a week max. 5 days a week, 10 hrs a day. I’d leave early/late sometimes if the game was good or bad. Always had to keep a schedule especially with a lady friend. They like knowing you are setting time apart for them.

PTP: Words to live by. How important do you think relationships are for poker players, like do you feel Amanda makes you a better player?

Sitron: Actually… Kinda funny cause I was always kinda break even till I started dating her. Like two months into it I build up a 15k roll and quit my job. I think you have to have a good mindset to be a good player. You need confidence and you need to be happy with where you are and what you are doing. I’ve definitely had my down moments like everyone else, I get depressed and shit too. Everyone does it doesn’t matter how successful you’ve been.

PTP: What do you do to fight out of it? How do you know when you’re at a point when you need to fight out of something, and how do you know when you’re “back”?

Sitron: Well, poker wise if I’m in a downswing I can usually tell. I can tell when I’m not playing winning poker so either I take a break and watch a video, or take a break and just come back two days later. By that point I’m itching. Also I watched a Jon Turner video on PokerXFactor.com when I was in a downswing about a year ago, completely turned my game around.

PTP: What are your thoughts about poker training sites in general? And your response to critics of training sites who argue the sites are bad for the game?

Sitron: I dislike that they are so easily available, because it will make players better quick and they don’t have to read like I did. But….. I also feel you have to have an indepth knowledge of poker just to comprehend alof of what players say in the videos, so a beginner might misunderstand a play or something and donk out of their tourney. Poker is alot of feel so a video can’t be there iwth you in the moment. Still the player has to put in the time and watch the video so I don’t think they are all that bad.

PTP: So if a break-even MTT player came to you and asked for the short version about how he could improve his game, what would you tell him? Is there an a-b-c, a one single tip, or impossible to summarize?

Sitron: Well, I never had a mentor, so I don’t think it’s necessary. I’d say just log tons of hours. And I used to watch good regulars play, and just rail them. It helped to get a feel for how they played live.

PTP: Best moment of the career so far?

Sitron: Best moment was bluffing Fazadi at the WSOP final table. I was bb, he was sb. 5 handed. He raised the sb 3x, I flatted 9Tcc, flop A67 one club. He c-bet, I floated. Turn was a 5, he checked I bet 1/2 pot and he calls. River is a 3 he checks, I move in and he snap folds. Showed bluff and his face turned pale. Very big pot. Two hands later he spewed out to me with a9 for like 30 BB’s into my TT.

PTP: That’s awesome. So the WSOP score, life changing?

Sitron: Super life-changing. Validated it for my family, people that used to judge me now are on the bandwagon. I still remember who supported me though, before the score; and they are held higher in my mind. Felt like I had been grinding so long and finally was rewarded for hard work.

PTP: Well this is for a poker staking website, thoughts about backing and playing backed in general?

Sitron: Well I’ve never been backed. Personally I’ve sold pieces of myself and kinda don’t like the pressure of playing for someone else. I sometimes feel like it makes you afraid to spew because you want to get it in good. But I think it can be good too, for the player it may be good. Like if they aren’t thinking about the money and just playing good poker. If the backer finds a good horse its like free money because once they make them money its a freeroll for the backer. But; if they get deep in makeup might put a strain on the relationship and make the backer feel more fearful of continuing, and with the extra pressure its hard for the horse to play good poker. But for the guy with bad money management its very good.

PTP: You mean forced to play a certain schedule?

Sitron: No, that would be bad. I never put pressure on my horses to play.

PTP: You’re talking about the guy who scores for 4k and goes out to buy a big screen tv then…

Sitron: Exactly. Or wins a $30 freezeout and starts playing $100+R.

PTP: So you mentioned not putting pressure on your horses to play, what do you do to keep their heads up during a downswing?

Sitron: Well I only back people I know personally. They are friends, so it’s just like any other thing in life. When shit goes bad, just gotta be happy with what you’ve got, realize the good things you did in the session, and that Sunday will be back next week. The big misses are starting to hurt less and less and will the more you play. Can’t win every tourney you play, etc.

PTP: Well sir. That is about all I’ve got. Best of luck tomorrow, get some rest the Warmup starts in about 6 hours.

Sitron: Thank you for doing this with me. GL tomorrow, sir.

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PTP: How’s the new year treating you so far? Any poker resolutions and, if so, how are they working out for you?

DR: It’s treating me great, I don’t really have any resolutions for the new year except to grind as hard as I can. Setting goals in poker is probably the hardest thing to do because it’s such an up and down game.

PTP: Your videos on PokerPwnage have been pretty well received. Talk about how you got involved with PP and how the teaching process is developing for you.

DR: I got involved with PP through a friend telling me about it. The teaching process is just like anything else, I was shaky when I first started but it’s a skill I’ve developed. I’m at the point now where I’m pretty confident in my teaching abilities.

PTP: What’s your response to critics of training sites who argue that such sites are bad for the game?

DR: I say it’s great for the game, it’s fair to have the information available to anyone. Another argument is that people will improve but a lot of the players that are interested in improving will get there anyway. I also feel like it’s good for the game because it can at least give people a starting point to figure out how they can improve.

PTP: What are your can’t-miss tournaments online at the moment?

DR: I love the 1k’s and the 100 rebuys. They have great structures. Especially 1k Monday now that it has a better blind structure and a 5k starting stack.

PTP: You have a lot of online success but a pretty thin live record. What are your thoughts on live play, and what accounts for your lack of volume live?

DR: Well I just turned 21 last March. I also am still in college, I’m a senior at John Carroll. I hope to get a lot of live experience within the next year.

PTP: What’s your advice for decent but recreational players who are trying to keep up with the ever-changing state of online MTT play?

DR: Keep grinding, experience is the most important thing for someone trying to improve. It also is a good idea to review your own hand histories or hand histories from friends. This gives you the ability to see where you break down when the pressure is on.

PTP: Rebuy or freezeouts, and why?

DR: Rebuys. You have the ability to get more deep stacked which I’ve always enjoyed a lot more. I feel like that aspect of the structure allows more skill to come out.

PTP: Online poker suddenly ceases to exist tomorrow. What’s your plan?

DR: Well I will be graduating college with a marketing degree so I have that to fall back on. I would pursue some type of marketing or sales career. I also have always had an interest in owning my own business so that would be a possibility.

PTP: Multi-accounting (in all of its forms) is obviously a huge issue for tournament poker online. Do you feel like the rooms are doing enough to check abuse? How about the poker community itself?

DR: I do. I think that the sites are all over that and have banned a lot of players that are doing it. I feel like to an extent their ability is limited because players can always find a way around being caught. The poker community has also outted several Multi-Accounters.

PTP: Have you noticed any difference in your results or in the play of your opponents against you since you started making videos for PP?

DR: Well I have been in a downswing recently but in regards to my opponents I do feel that they have a better look into my head which definitely gives me a slight disadvantage. I feel that overall it is something that can be overcome though.

PTP: Thanks for your time, David.

DR: Thanks, it was my pleasure.

Read our review of Poker Pwnage here

PTP: You’ve had a pretty incredible year. Has it all sunk in yet, or are you still processing everything that’s happened?

AO: I think it has all sunk in at this point, it was very surreal in the beginning but I understand now how huge my win was and how much it meant not just for me, but poker in general.

PTP: How did the deal with BetFair come about, and how’s it working out so far?

AO: To be honest, I had no idea what I got myself into when signing the contract lol… but I’m very happy I did cuz it has exceeded all my expectations and some more. Betfair is a great site to be with and they take care of me extremely well. They are also very flexible and easy to work with. Before signing with BF I didn’t even know who it was. I had never heard of them. Thankfully my manager got in touch with them before the event and they threw an offer at me right away that was too good to turn down.

PTP: How does being (relatively) famous in the online poker community impact how people play against you? How does being a woman impact how people play against you?

AO: At my current stage, I don’t think being a woman makes any difference, because most people treat me like one of the boys at the table. They know I’m capable of the craziest things and they’re not afraid to play back at me anymore. It was more of an advantage in the beginning when most people didn’t know me. At the moment it feels like wherever I go, people just want to outplay me and show me that they won’t be bullied around by a girl… which I guess is understandable, and it has forced me to slow down a little. I do try to keep up my aggression but I’ve toned down the ‘too obvious steals’ because people don’t bite anymore. I have my ways though .

PTP: What’s the single hardest thing about playing poker for a living?

AO: For me its being away from home so much. It’s not like I miss them that much, it’s more just being able to sit down on your own couch in your own living room, watching TV and doing nothing if you’ve had a stressful day, and just relax. Hotel rooms gets kind of boring after a while, and all the airports and flights aren’t exactly fun either. I do love seeing all the different places I go to though and meeting so many great people, so all in all, imp living the dream for most poker players, and it certainly feels like it too!

PTP: Is it hard to separate a personal life from a professional life when you’re playing poker for a living?

AO: Yes, definitely. I don’t see my friends at home at all anymore which is really sad. Maybe couple of times a month and that’s not enough in my opinion. But I’ve met a lot of really nice people through poker and I always have someone to hang out with when I’m traveling.

PTP: What’s your favorite event to play online at the moment?

AO: It’s always been, and will always be the $100r on stars, but I really like the Sunday tournament on Betfair as well and my own tournament on there. They both have really good structures and not so big fields. Suits me perfectly

PTP: How much cash game play do you put in a month?

AO: Hmm… like… not at all…. I don’t play cash unless imp extremely bored and have an hour to kill. Then I might sit at a plo table somewhere. I also play some cash live, but very rarely.

PTP: What’s your view on the impact that the UIGEA has had on poker, both live and online?

AO: Cant comment, don’t know enough about it.

PTP: If someone had $100 and wanted to get better at poker, how would you suggest they use that $100?

AO: I wouldn’t even start playing for money in the beginning… you’d just lose it. Try some play chips or freerolls in the beginning to learn the game. When you’re starting to get a hang of it, play some small one table sng’s, $1s or $3s and then move up when u start winning some. If u don’t care about the money sign up for a $109 tourney and hope to get lucky lol

PTP: How do you keep poker fun? Is it a struggle, or does it come easily?

AO: I always hear so much about people getting burnt out after a couple of years, but for me the game is getting more fun for every day. The better I get, the more I want to play and it just doesn’t seem to stop . Some breaks now and then does wonders if you’re having some bad weeks. I’m so competitive that it’s hard for me to stay away!

Read Annette’s blog at BetFair

PTP: There seem to be a lot of legislative initiatives regarding online poker and online gambling floating around Congress in one form or another. In your opinion, what’s the number one legislative initiative poker players should keep an eye on?

JL: HR5767 is the most promising at the moment, but the iMEGA lawsuit may have the best shot of overturning the UIGEA, because they’re attacking it on Constitutional Grounds. Although a Judge in the case initially disagreed with iMEGA’s arguments, the organization has been granted standing to sue, which is a very important first step.

PTP: We’ve seen several states move on the issue of online gambling; is it your sense that this issue might ultimately be decided on a state-by-state basis instead of a federal one?

JL: I’d like to think that it could be handled by the Federal Government, but it might turn out otherwise. I can’t quite figure out how each individual state could work around the UIGEA though. Say California makes online gambling legal. Does that mean that a Bank of America customer in Los Angeles can use his bank account, but a Bank of America customer in Las Vegas can’t? How would Bank of America be able to identify the terms of transaction, the merchant involved, and other critical information? The banks are having enough problems already with credit woes and a struggling economy, which were the reasons for the introduction of HR 5767.

PTP: What do you think the online poker landscape would look like currently if the UIGEA had never been passed?

JL: I think at this point there would be fewer online poker sites, due to mergers and acquisitions, and that every casino in Las Vegas would be running an online poker room.

PTP: As a result of the UIGEA, the average American seems to have an idea that playing poker online is illegal. How can the industry educate those people about the legal reality surrounding online poker?

JL: I think that as long as it’s a hardship to fund your online poker account, it’s irrelevant whether it’s legal or not. Most Americans will try to use their credit card, and when that fails, will give up. As for the “average American”, I don’t think they’ve ever heard of the UIGEA and could care less about the law. Needless to say, there is a lot of ignorance on the current state of affairs in the online poker industry.

PTP: What’s your take on rumors of Party Gaming reaching a settlement with the DOJ?

JL: I think the rumors are true. The owners and management would love to travel freely around the world without looking over their shoulders and they have the money to pay whatever fine the U.S. Department of Justice imposes.

PTP: Poker seems to be waning in terms of popularity in the US. Do you think that’s a result of the UIGEA at all, or simply a part of the natural ebb and flow of popular interest?

JL: I think it is waning in popularity in the US, partly due to overexposure on television and the struggling economy, but is still growing in many parts of the world. AT PokerSourceOnline.com, for example, we’ve translated the site into German, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, French, and Swedish to keep up with demand across the globe.

PTP: Do you view the online poker market as fairly mature at this point, or do you still see a lot of opportunities for growth?

JL: While I don’t think that online poker has peaked, I do see it starting to level off. The roadblocks that have been put up by governments around the world have slowed its progress. Making depositing on online poker sites in the U.S. difficult has cut out one of the largest markets on the face of the Earth.

PTP: What’s your take on the usefulness of the iMEGA lawsuit?

JL: I’m sorry that IMEGA wasn’t around back in Sept 2006. Maybe if we’d had someone lobbying on our behalf back then, we could have had poker carved out of the UIGEA as well. I think that any organization that is pushing for the legalization of online gambling is a good thing in the long run, whether it is successful or not.

PTP: If you could offer three simple steps for poker players looking to impact the legal status of online poker in the US, what would they be?

JL: 1. Register to vote (politicians only care about “registered voters” and only those from their own state)

2. Call all of your representatives in Congress and tell them your stance on online poker

3. Join the PPA. There is strength in numbers, especially in Washington