There’s a change of strategy at William Hill and they are going to switch all players from rakeback to their VIP programme on June 1st.

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The stand-alone poker room Unibet and the poker mega star Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom have struck up a partnership where Isildur1 will be playing poker on Unibet and be streaming it live on Twitch.

You can follow Unibet streams and catch ISildur there later on at http://www.twitch.tv/unibetpoker

You can follow Unibet Poker on Twitter @Unibet_Poker

Sign up to Unibet through Nutblocker at get:

• Up to 65% rakeback
• 500€ sign up bonus
• $2,500 exclusive rake race

You can open an account here.

Check out the past Isildur streams here:

• Stream 1, 1 hour long
• Stream 2, 6 hours long

Summer is finally here and Nutblocker wishes all our members and readers awesome summertime For those who have chosen to travel to Las Vegas for the WSOP, may your cards be live and your pots be monsters!

Here are some bits and pieces we had to offer in May:

Poker Player Snapshot

Poker Player Snapshot: Phil “BigAisaOK/Infestus176″ Ward – “Minimum buy-in’s should be increased”

Poker Player Snapshot: Robin “Betrob7″ Lindqvist – “I like the freedom poker gives me”

Poker Player Snapshot: Jason Koon – “I’m fascinated and in love with poker”

Podcast

PLO crusher Ben “Ben86″ Tollerene on Joe Ingram podcast – On the love for learning new skills

News

Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies raps on a new music video

Calvin “cal42688″ Anderson takes down the SCOOP #13 $2,100 Stud Event

888 bids for BWin.Party to take full control of the company

alien slayer wins SCOOP PLO, gavz101 finished 2nd in another SCOOP event

William Hill Ending Rakeback – time to move on to a better deal!

Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom on Unibet Twitch

About You

1. What is your name, age and where are you located? What is your personal twitter account?

Matthew Ashton, 26 for two more weeks, Cumbria when I’m in England, I’ll be in Vegas from tomorrow, I never stay in the same place for more than a couple of months though. twitter = @mmashton

2. What are Your online poker Screen names?

MUSTAFABET, 8+ years ago Thin Tony.

3. How would you define yourself as a poker player? / What poker game(s) do you normally play?  Are you learning any new games?

I’d describe myself as a mixed games player who prefers playing heads up, I mostly play 8 game and if I’m playing one game straight I prefer the split pot games(Omaha 8 and Stud 8) more than the others but I’ve played and thought about every variant available online at least a little. I’d intended putting more time into learning superstud, razzdugi and some of the other uncommon games played live in Vegas before arriving but got occupied with some games online so once I’m there I’ll have to learn as I go!

4. What do you most enjoy about your job?

The freedom and flexibility it gives to the rest of my life. I feel very lucky being able to choose where and what I do every single day. It might sound strange at first to some but I also like how in control of your results you are, even though there is huge variance in poker I feel how well you do in the long term is determined more by your ability compared to a lot of jobs where getting a promotion or job position can be mostly based on who you know or other people’s opinion of you.

5. Who are the top 3 players in your main game from your home country in your personal opinion?

With so many players moving to UK for tax reasons or otherwise it’s hard to know who is actually from the UK! I think Crazy Elior is a solid all round player and battles more players than most and deserves credit for that. I would say the same for Luke Schwartz and he’s improved quite a bit over the last couple of years. I’m struggling to think of anyone else from the UK who plays high-stake mixed games with any regularity.

6. What reg in your game do you respect most? Can you briefly describe why?

I think you have to respect the players who are willing to play anyone at least some of the time and start games even when it’s likely neither of them have much of an edge.
Michael Thuritz fits that bill pretty well and might be the player I’d least like to see in a mixed game.

7. Besides yourself who do you think the most underrated poker player is?

Hard for me to tell how highly rated different players are but I can see people underrating someone with very bad public results like Isildur. He has put in millions of hands against specialists and I’m pretty confident any other player in the world who tried to do the same would have fared much worse.

Past

1. Why and when did you start playing poker?  Do you still play for the same reasons?

I started playing play money online when I was 15, a friend in school told me about it and it sounded like my kind of thing. I enjoyed it and set up a real money account shortly after and started building my bankroll from the freerolls available. I still really enjoy playing now even if the buzz from winning isn’t the same. I’m pretty sure I will play poker forever although the financial incentive is what keeps me putting in as many hours for the time being.

2. What were the best and worst months of your poker career? What happened?

I’ve had a lot of low 6 figure swings in a day but I think only one 6 figure losing month in 2010. It followed my best month ever online and I’d just stopped running good at 400/800+. I think the swings I’ve had in my career to this point are at least as mild as any other player who’s played nosebleeds, I’d put it down to having larger edges in the HU games I play and being smart(or too nitty!) with game selection in ring games as well as some good fortune.

The best month financially came from the tournament final tables at the 2013 WSOP. The best months for me as a player were in June/July 2010, I busted every WSOP tournament I played on day 1 but online I went from having a bankroll I wouldn’t play higher than 100/200 limit to one I’d be willing to play virtually anything online and managed to keep it that way since.

3. Are you satisfied with your 2015 poker year?

The whole year I haven’t been sure where to place my focus between live games, online ring games or online HU. Part of me felt with the slow decline in action online that getting myself better prepared for some big lives games in Vegas would be my best opportunity for a big score this year. I went to Melbourne for the Aussie millions and got some good practice and results in the cash games there and considered continuing to pay more attention to live poker. However HU is what I find more interesting and had my best results in and I got drawn back to that. A new wave of HU action for me came up the last month and having good results in that has left me feeling satisfied with the decision.

4. How did Black Friday impact you? How did you adapt after Black Friday?

Most of all I miss having the red full tilt pro’s in the games! I’d been frantically trying to cash out the few weeks following Black Friday having left way too much money on there. The majority of the funds I’d cashed out from there appeared in my bank 2 days before the whole site went down which left my mind more at ease. I went backpacking for 8 months shortly after so I hadn’t intended playing much in the following months anyway and so it was almost a good thing I wasn’t missing out on as many games.

5. What was the biggest factor in your development as a player?

I’m not sure really, I got a lot out of Cardrunners videos and forums earlier on which brought my understanding of poker forward a lot at the time. I’ve had some smart friends I could turn to for questions along the way too although I feel like I’ve made less use of that than most high stake players and spent a little too much energy trying to figure out things by myself. The mathematics of poker book made my poker theory a lot stronger and more confident to apply the ideas to different games. Propokertools is the software I’ve used more than any other and learnt the most from in the limit games and I’ve had the most success in those so that could well be the biggest factor.

6. What was the biggest mistake(s) you have done as a poker player?

I played drunk when I was 18 and lost a good chunk of my bankroll, it was a good lesson to learn early and I haven’t played online drunk since. Walking out of a Casino alone in Birkenhead straight after busting some guys in the cash game may have been a bigger one though!

7. What’s your biggest prop bet?

I don’t have an interesting answer to this, I guess it’s a 4 figure credit card roulette after a meal. I like to bet on lots of things but keep it small on things outside of poker.

Present

1. How do you prepare for your poker activities?

If it’s a final table or a nosebleed HU match I like to write/type some thoughts down and really drill into my head some ideas I think will work well against them as well as how I think they perceive me and my play. Aside from that, I feel I play best if I’ve got everything else I’d like to achieve that day out of the way, having anything in the back of my mind that I know I’d need to quit for distracts me.

2. If you could pick the brain of anyone in the world for 3 hours, who would he/she be?

If I could guarantee some honest answers, i’d probably want to pick the brain of whoever had access to the most secret/sensitive government information. Not into conspiracy theories like some but sure i’d discover a lot more about whats actually going on in the world.
A more realistic answer might be Layne Norton so I could be more certain of my nutrition and weight training plans in future.

3. What 3 poker pros should PokerStars sign to their team online roster?

Me! I guess anyone who could bring in the most action to the site.

4. What is your favorite way to relieve stress when running bad?

Hanging out with my cats or exercising always helps in the short term. Keeping everything in perspective and being aware I’m running 7 figures above expectation in tournaments makes it hard for me to ever feel stressed by a short period of results or that I’m actually running bad though.

5. How much volume are you playing on Eurosites?

None at all.

6. Why are you not playing mid/high stakes already? If you are, what are the 3 most important things that got you there?

Treating poker like a career on one long learning curve always trying to improve, not just a job putting in hours. Always questioning and keeping my mind open to the possibility of playing a hand differently, not just thinking one hand should always be played one way or seeing something I think is wrong and assuming it’s a mistake or makes someone a bad player if they do it. Putting in a lot of hours studying.

7. What is the most important positive change you’ve made to your poker approach for 2014?

I increased the amount of hours I was putting in and decreased the amount of hours travelling. The consistency of being in one place with a routine has really helped.

Future

1. What are your poker and other goals for the next 12 months?

I’m looking to put in a lot of hours in the cash games in Vegas over the next couple of months as well as learning some new games. My goal is to play in some of the biggest games and feel like I’m getting my money in good. After that unless there feels like an opportunity online that is too good to miss I’m intending doing a ton of solo travelling to everywhere I want to go that I haven’t been yet! Probably covering most continents and Japan is the place I’d like to go to the most. I don’t envisage playing online much over the next 12 months.

2. Are you confident that you will meet those goals? Why?

I am feeling confident! Perhaps more so than I should because of recent results but I feel like I’ll have a good mindset and routine in Vegas this year.

3. Do you see yourself still playing poker in 10 years?

I do although probably not professionally or at least as often. Too much fun to stop playing completely!

4. Do you have any ambition to coach/teach other players?

I do think teaching is something that would feel rewarding to me, I do get satisfaction from answering friends questions and get plenty out of it myself even in more simple spots. At the same time it’s simply bad for business to teach other people in your player pool and it also would have to be for a price worth my time compared to other poker playing or studying I could be doing instead. I imagine these two factors pretty much rule everyone out who might be interested.

5. What’s the poker dream for you?

Win the Main event and give all the money to charity.

6. How do you see the poker landscape changing in the next five years?

I see the biggest games available online being played at smaller and smaller stakes, I think the increasing presence of AI’s ability in poker will make people unwilling to play poker for such large amounts as well as edges getting smaller all the time. I think this will result in the best games available being live and the poker pro population/demographic might become smaller and older again.

7. How much time are you putting into studying financial issues like investing. What are your preferred sources for this? What investments are you making with your poker winnings?

After my WSOP results in 2013 I put a decent amount of time into improving my financial awareness and trying to get my money distributed how I wanted. I learned a bit from a couple of friends and research online, my aim is just to have things reasonably diversified and keep up with the market so I’ve kept things simple and not looked toward more time-consuming options or things I’d need to pay attention to.

I do think there will come a point, if my only concern was making money, when my hourly from poker will decrease to the point my time is spent better learning more about finance but I also won’t enjoy it nearly as much if at all and minimizing time spent doing things I don’t enjoy is the main reason for me trying to make money.

To this point I’ve bought one property and put the majority of the rest in different mutual funds.

Other

1. Do you have any regular non-poker hobbies? Whats your favorite way to spend your spare time?

Recently I’ve been taking lifting more seriously and been doing a consistent powerlifting routine, if I do go traveling after the summer I may go back to running because its easier to keep up on the move and try to improve my half marathon time and then run a couple of full marathons.

My favorite way to spend my spare time is either catching up with friends or traveling to a new place see a different landscape or culture.

2. If you could give you from five years ago (make it ten if over 30) one major piece of advice, what would it be?

Put in more volume while the games were softer! Every hour I could of spent on poker then is probably worth 5-10 hours now.

3. What are the 3 things everyone should have on their bucket list?

Safari, Scuba diving, Spearmint Rhino. I’m all about the animals

4. Do you follow any poker podcasts or poker players on Twitch?

Not really at the minute, I listened to the 2+2 pokercast a good amount in the past. I’ll watch Daniel Negreanu if he’s streaming the mix game I’m in!

5. If you could change one thing with online poker, what would that be? What if you could change one thing with live poker?

Some way of being certain you’re always playing against the person you think you are and definitely not a bot would be great for online. There’s more important things but I’d like it if sunglasses were banned from live poker, there is the possibility of cheating using them and I think they’re negative for the atmosphere between players.

6. What is the best place and the best restaurant you have ever visited?

Halong bay in Vietnam might be the best place, felt like I’d gone back in time.
Northern Sole, Sheffield.
7. Who do you challenge to do the Poker Player Snapshot next and why?

Ben Sulsky, think he’d have some interesting views.

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About You

1. What is your name, age and where are you located? What is your personal twitter account?

Zachary Freeman, 35, Los Angeles CA. @ZachPoker

2. What are Your online poker Screen names?

zachucsb

3. How would you define yourself as a poker player? / What poker games do you normally play? Are you learning any new games?

I’m not amazing or close to the best at any aspect of poker but I am very good at most aspects. I guess that means I’d say I’m well rounded. I have good fundamentals, and strong theory understanding in a variety of games. I have good discipline, tilt control, and bankroll management. My strongest aspect would probably be understanding the psychology of people at the table and my deductive reasoning skills. That got me by when my fundamentals and poker theory weren’t as strong.

4. What do you most enjoy about your job?

I enjoy the poker! I enjoy learning poker, talking poker and playing poker. I quit a career as a Aerospace Engineer because I was much happier playing poker. Surely, secondarily I also like that I only need to play 3x week or so, and I enjoy the relationships I’ve made with people of similar interests.

5. Who are the top 3 players in your main game from your home country in your personal opinion?

There are players that I admire aspects of their games but I can’t think of anyone in the games I play that I consider to have the full package. That is mostly a reflection of the quality of games I play in more than my ability to give praise. I admire my friend Matt’s non emotional and consistently tight and solid play. I admire Corp Mike’s good card sense and extreme self confidence and lack of inhibition to make plays. I admire Bryce Yockey’s love for poker, and his understanding of many games. I admire Abe aka Limon for his off the felt poker smartness. He is extraordinarily smart as a gambler. He just doesn’t take the worst of any bet ever while still never coming off as a nit. I have learned a lot from him and whatever I have won off him in poker I have probably given more back in golf. I especially admire those who are really high intensity players. The ones that are always putting you in difficult spots. Those guys at the end of the day don’t win the most because it’s a rare trait to have ability for full throttle aggression while also having appropriate discretion. My goal is to always makes as many plays as i can without overdoing it. I usually wish I went for it a little more.

6. What reg in your game do you respect most? Can you briefly describe why?

I respect and envy aspects of many players, but there isn’t one reg that I would swap my game for his.

7. Besides yourself who do you think the most underrated poker player is?

Michael Basic. He is underrated unless you ask him to rate himself! Well it’s just that he is an anomaly. He is an elite poekr player that only plays small stakes $5/$5 Live NLHE. He could and has beat stakes much higher but he just prefers to play small. It seems illogical but he just loves that game and doesn’t rely heavily on the money he earns from poker. Those who know him know he is great. He so rarely plays tournaments and doesn’t even have a cash on Hendon Mob. He loves the banter with recreational players, he loves the opportunity to exploit players beyond what is normally possible. His game and mind are perfectly built to produce a winrate over a very large sample in that game that you would think impossible. He combines a theory understanding on par with high stakes online winners with a photographic memory and insane hand recall. You know when you tell your friends hands and they usually don’t really listen that well? Well often I will tell Mike a hand, I played from years ago and as long as I told him the hand in the past, even years prior, or if he was at the table he will correct me on the suits of the flop or the turn bet sizing. It’s insane. That all combines to produce a win rate of considerably over $100/hr in a capped slow live $5/$5 game. To put that in online terms its the equivalent of 80BB/100 hands over a large sample.

Past

1. Why and when did you start playing poker? Do you still play for the same reasons?

I moved to Redondo Beach for an engineering internship. I didn’t know many people down here so after work I would play $1/$2NLHE at Hustler Casino. I still have all my notes and records from that time and built up my poker roll at those stakes. I loved the fact that I could win or lose just based on how well I out performed my opponents in a battle of logic, discipline, psychology and knowledge. I still play for the very same reasons.

2. What were the best and worst months of your poker career? What happened?

I have had several bad swings just as any pro does. 2013 I believe, 6 months into the year I was dead even, my son was 6 months old, and I had a mortgage payment that was too large. My increased expenses made my downswing very stressful. Fortunately, I had a very strong next few months and I was finally successful in refinancing my mortgage which dropped my expenses a lot.

The best months would be when I was approached by an aquatance that I played 5/5NL and 5/10NL with at Hustler Casino. He told me he was partnering in a private game of 50/100NL and 25/50PLO. He offered to put me in 100% 50/50 split no makeup! I was naive and inexperienced to the scene.

I ran very well right away. I soon learned that my backer was unstable (manic) and was blowing money in many other ways and staking many other worse palyeres with equally bad deals for him. I told him to stop staking so many people and I told him to charge me makeup. I wanted the situation to last. It was too late, he was in over his head. Before my last session under him he told me, “Zach you always get me out of a jam and I am in a jam, Go get em!” Well, First orbit I play a 4bet pot with AAxx and I am drawing to 1 out when I get allin on a AKK flop. Later that night I found out my backer borowed my buyin at 5%/week from a loan shark. It was all downhill from there for him. That all said those few months allowed me to put together enough money for a downpayment on my house and introduced me to the scene of high stakes poker.

3. Are you satisfied with your 2015 poker year?

Yes. very much so. My results have been medium good but moreso I think I am in a great place in regards to game access/selection. I also have made some really good relationships and connections in the poker world.

4. How did Black Friday impact you? How did you adapt after Black Friday?

Black Friday did not affect me too badly. I was grinding 30% online 70% live at the time. I was in the midst of learning all the mixed games and perhaps was starting to be profitable at them. Then black Friday hit but it might have been a good thing because my son was 4mo. old and I played terribly any time he was crying in the background. Black Friday may have saved me money!

5. What was the biggest factor in your development as a player?

I started with books and read a lot of them. I then did a lot of posting and reading on 2p2 which helped a ton. I subsribed to Cardrunners which helped me learn better fundamentals. Just repeatedly watching Taylor Caby or Brian Townsend fold hands that I was playing helped a lot. Then I dove into Bluefire and watched pretty much only Phil’s videos and Giggy’s. Those were great. I have learned more from Phil Galfond on how to play PLO and how to think in poker than anybody else. I currently watch his and a few others’ videos on Run it Once but I have a hard time finding time with a family of 4 and my obligations of making my own videos. That said I think its important to never be complacent or satisified in a field. We don’t want to become Blockbuster and not see Netflix coming.

6. What was the biggest mistake(s) you have done as a poker player?

Loaning money! Just dont do it to anybody who actually needs it.

Not quiting a poker game when my intuition and clues told me that I was getting cheated. I kept playing until it was abundantly clear it was happening but I was just too inexperienced and naive to realize earlier.

7. What’s your biggest prop bet?

In a private game I played a prob bet where if a 2,3,or 4 comes on the flop I win; otherwise he wins. I had a big edge and ran hot and won a high 5 figure amount. In reflection this may have been the bait. Because the game paid me in cash that night which is non standard. That guaranteed I would be coming back for more. This ended up being the game that cheated me later on.
I also made a large bet on Obama winning the presidential election. My wife trusts my poker and gambling judgment. When I her I made the bet on Obama she said, “What! Why would you make a bet on Obama, you don’t know anything about politics” She was unhappy. I replied, “Correct, I know almost nothing about politics but Abe (Limon) does and more importantly he is betting a lot more than me and he doesn’t make bad bets ever”.

Present

1. How do you prepare for your poker activities?

I study in my off time to always get better. But in pure preparation for a session, sleep is the one best thing I can do to prepare. Being rested is huge for me.

2. If you could pick the brain of anyone in the world for 3 hours, who would he/she be?

I don’t know! I like these hypothetical fantasy questions but this one has never intrigued me. There are plenty of people I would be interested to talk with but none I am dying to.

3. What 3 poker pros should PokerStars sign to their team online roster?

No clue. I play mostly live, I am in the US and I am old. aka I am out of touch

4. What is your favorite way to relieve stress when running bad?

When I come home from a stressful poker session I smell my sleeping kids and my wife and it just cuts right through it all.

5. How much volume are you playing on Eurosites?

-

6. Why are you not playing mid/high stakes already? If you are, what are the 3 most important things that got you there?

-

7. What is the most important positive change you’ve made to your poker approach this year?

-

Future

1. What are your poker and other goals for the next 12 months?

Stay in access to good and big games and to play my best. Nothing surprising.

2. Are you confident that you will meet those goals? Why?

I am confident that I will do what it takes to give me a good chance. There is too much uncertainty in the results of poker to be confident something will happen.

3. Do you see yourself still playing poker in 10 years?

Yes. That said my long term goal is to rely on poker for income less and less each year. I want to continue to add to my investments to provide non poker income long term.

4. Do you have any ambition to coach/teach other players?

I like coaching but its time consuming and if I charge enough to make it worthwhile, the price is usually to high for the student.

5. What’s the poker dream for you?

Dream. Well as lame as it sounds. Winning the F*&^# Main Event. Actually I would be totally happy placing 3rd or something. My dream would be to make life changing money. I could happily retire tomorrow playing poker as I felt like it and just do hobbies and hang with family and friends.

6. How do you see the poker landscape changing in the next five years?

I am not sure. I hope its gotten close to as bad as it will get. Its still quite good in some ways but its a lot worse than it was. To keep good winrates you have to just become really good.

7. How much time are you putting into studying financial issues like investing. What are your preferred sources for this? What investments are you making with your poker winnings?

When I have money to invest I spend a lot of time. I mostly study real estate and I took about 3 months off of poker when I was purchasing an investment property.

Other

1. Do you have any regular non-poker hobbies? Whats your favorite way to spend your spare time?

I took up golf 2 years ago and I am hooked. I play and practice a lot. I still suck, but am getting better. My first goal was to break 100, then 90, and now my goal is to consistently shoot in the 80s. I play with poker friends every week in the AM and it is just the nuts when you add in gambling. I used to play a lot of basketball and it sounds cliche’ but it feels like a little piece of me died now that I don’t play regularly. It has been my passion for most of my life. My free time is in the late mornings and normal people aren’t around then and poker players arent big into bball.

2. If you could give you from five years ago (make it ten if over 30) one major piece of advice, what would it be?

Nothing really. I made plenty of mistakes and I will continue to but none were so devastating that the pain out weighed the lesson. I like making mistakes and learning from them. I just like the process of bettering myself.

3. What are the 3 things everyone should have on their bucket list?

Have fun and feel accomplished or successful at something.
Be nice and have intimacy in your life both platonic and romantic.
Those aren’t really bucket list items but bucket list activities are just so person specific. The ones I listed are what I find most important in life.

4. Do you follow any poker podcasts or poker players on Twitch?

No.

5. If you could change one thing with online poker, what would that be? What if you could change one thing with live poker?

I would just change how much dead money is in there. I would increase it.

6. What is the best place and the best restaurant your have ever visited?

Driving through the little towns of Tuscany with my wife was one of my best vacations. We went to some amazing restaurants there. One in Florence we will always remember.

7. Who do you challenge to do the Poker Player Snapshot next and why?

I would like to see the poker player snapshot from a losing player. I would like to see how they view things. It would be informative and refreshing to hear a different perspective. It would also be hard to implement.

PokerStars is well known for having a continuous conversation with the players in the online poker community through player meetings and conversation on online poker message boards.

PokerStars is planning their WCOOP schedule a few months ahead and they want players feedback on the schedule and the tournaments.

Please find the event list below and give your feedback on the official thread on TwoPlusTwo poker forums  *** WCOOP 2015 – Official Feedback Thread ***

2015 World Championship of Online Poker – Tentative Schedule (all times ET)

Sunday, September 6th

08:00 – $109 NL Hold’em Kickoff [Phase] – final Phase 01 on 06 Sep at 08:00, Phase 02 to follow afterward
11:00 – $215 NL Hold’em [6-Max, Progressive Super-Knockout] (Sunday Warm-Up SE)
12:30 – $10,300 NL Hold’em [8-Max, Optional Re-Entry, High-Roller] 14:30 – $215 NL Hold’em (Sunday Million SE)
Monday, September 7th

11:00 – $700 NL Hold’em [Progressive Super-Knockout] 14:00 – $215 NL Hold’em [6-Max, Rebuys] 17:00 – $700 PL Omaha [6-Max] (Monday PLO SE)
Tuesday, September 8th

11:00 – $320 NL Hold’em [Progressive Super-Knockout] 14:00 – $1,050 NL Hold’em (Super Tuesday SE)
17:00 – $215 NL Omaha Hi/Lo [6-Max, Progressive Super-Knockout] Wednesday, September 9th

08:00 – $215 NL Hold’em [Progressive Super-Knockout] 11:00 – $2,100 NL Draw Championship
14:00 – $320 NL Hold’em [Heads-Up] Thursday, September 10th

06:00 – $320 NL Hold’em [Ante Only] 11:00 – $215 PL Omaha [1R1A] 14:00 – $1,050 NL Hold’em [Progressive Super-Knockout] (Thursday Thrill SE)
Friday, September 11th

11:00 – $700 NL Hold’em [6-Max, 3-Stack] 14:00 – $2,100 7-Card Stud Hi/Lo Championship
17:00 – $320 NL Hold’em [Zoom] Saturday, September 12th

11:00 – $109 NL Hold’em [Optional Re-Entry] 14:00 – $530 NL Hold’em [Progressive Super-Knockout] 17:00 – $2,100 NL Omaha Hi/Lo Championship [6-Max] Sunday, September 13th

08:00 – $215 PL Omaha [Knockout] 11:00 – $215 NL Hold’em (Sunday Warm-Up SE)
12:30 – $10,300 NL Hold’em Heads-Up Championship
14:30 – $700 NL Hold’em
Monday, September 14th

11:00 – $215 PL Omaha [6-Max, Progressive Super-Knockout] 14:00 – $320 NL Hold’em [6-Max] 17:00 – $2,100 7-Card Stud Championship
Tuesday, September 15th

11:00 – $215 PL 5-Card Omaha Hi/Lo [6-Max, 2R1A] 14:00 – $1,050 NL Hold’em (Super Tuesday SE)
17:00 – $2,100 FL Omaha Hi/Lo Championship [8-Max] Wednesday, September 16th

08:00 – $2,100 FL Badugi Championship
11:00 – $320 NL Hold’em [6-Max, Optional Re-Entry] 14:00 – $320 PL Omaha w/Rebuys [6-Max] Thursday, September 17th

06:00 – $215 NL Hold’em [1R1A] 11:00 – $320 8-Game
14:00 – $1,050 NL Hold’em [Progressive Super-Knockout] (Thursday Thrill SE)
Friday, September 18th

11:00 – $2,100 Triple Draw 2-7 Championship
14:00 – $530 NL Hold’em [6-Max, Shootout] 17:00 – $215 NL Hold’em [Rebuys] Saturday, September 19th

11:00 – $1,050 NL Hold’em [Ultra-Deep] 14:00 – $320 HORSE
17:00 – $215 NL Hold’em [Big Antes, Optional Re-Entry] Sunday, September 20th

08:00 – $215 NL Hold’em [4-Max] 11:00 – $215 NL Hold’em (Sunday Warm-Up SE)
14:30 – $2,100 NL Hold’em
Monday, September 21st

11:00 – $530 NL Hold’em [Optional Re-Entry] 14:00 – $215 NL Hold’em [Knockout] 17:00 – $2,100 PL Omaha Hi/Lo Championship [6-Max] Tuesday, September 22nd

11:00 – $530 PL Omaha [6-Max, 3-Stack] 14:00 – $2,100 NL Hold’em (Super Tuesday SE)
17:00 – $2,100 Razz Championship
Wednesday, September 23rd

08:00 – $320 PL 5-Card Omaha [6-Max, 1R1A] 11:00 – $530 NL Hold’em [Rebuys] 14:00 – $2,100 PL Omaha Championship [6-Max, Optional Re-Entry] Thursday, September 24th

06:00 – $530 NL Hold’em [Ultra-Deep] 11:00 – $215 FL Hold’em [6-Max] 14:00 – $2,100 NL Hold’em [Progressive Super-Knockout] (Thursday Thrill SE)
Friday, September 25th

11:00 – $700 NL Hold’em [1R1A] 14:00 – $530 PL Omaha Hi/Lo [6-Max] 17:00 – $2,100 FL Hold’em Championship [6-Max] Saturday, September 26th

11:00 – $700 PL Omaha [Heads-Up] 14:00 – $700 NL Hold’em [6-Max, Progressive Super-Knockout] 17:00 – $2,100 HORSE Championship
Sunday, September 27th

11:00 – $215 NL Hold’em [8-Max, Optional Re-Entry] (Sunday Warm-Up SE)
12:30 – $10,300 8-Game Championship
14:30 – $5,200 NL Hold’em Championship Main Event – $10,000,000 Guaranteed
18:30 – $1,050 NL Hold’em Wrap-Up [Zoom, Optional Re-Entry]

Ben Sulsky, best known as “Sauce123″ on PokerStars is an elite NLHE and PLO player. He’s known for his GTO approach to the game and has won millions of dollars playing both HU and 6max games at the highest stakes available online. Joey Ingram managed to get him to his podcast which has already featured an impressive list of guests. Ben makes videos for Runitonce.com, a video training site run by Phil Galfond. He is known to walk on his treadmill desk while making videos and on this podcast, he fails to disappoint the listeners and once again we get to see him walking during the over 3 hour conversation.

Some of the topics on this podcast include:

• PokerStars Bot problem
• Ben’s recent marriage
• WSOP plans and live poker in general
• Strategic thoughts on poker
• GTO strategy for pretty much any topic discussed
• On making poker videos
• High stakes games
• Prop bet with WGCRider
• Approach to poker – degeneracy
• Living in Canada
• Playing Isildur1 and the swings that come along with it
• Women in poker – Open HU challenge to all women in poker
• Listener’s questions
• Ben’s staking experience
• Online Poker Hall of Fame

Check out the episode here:

About You

1. What is your name, age and where are you located? What is your personal twitter account?

My name is Dylan Linde. I am 34 years old. I split my time between living in Spokane, Wa, USA with my girlfriend and Playa Del Carmen, Mexico to play online. @DylanLinde is my twitter

2. What are Your online poker Screen names?

ImaLucSac on Pokerstars and InvisibleEnigma on Full Tilt

3. How would you define yourself as a poker player? / What poker games do you normally play?  Are you learning any new games?

I just love gaming in general, so my approach to poker has been to learn all the games and try to compete. Probably I am best known for being a high stakes online MTT player, but I also play a lot of high stakes 8game and other variance limit games. I am constantly trying to improve at all of the games and currently am trying to get more experience playing some of the variants that are not available online such as Super Stud and Badeucey

4. What do you most enjoy about your job?

I love that poker is an endeavor where I have more or less infinite ability to improve and compete. I’ve never been much of an athlete but have always tried to play some sort of competitive game throughout my life.

5. Who are the top 3 players in your main game from your home country in your personal opinion?

Well in MTTs as far as US players go I would say that Brynn Kenney, Elio Fox and Scott Seiver are 3 players that I respect greatly. In the realm of mix games, I dont really get to play vs US players very often. I have a ton of respect for ChaoRen180, Joiso and Enon for players whom I have played with online.

6. What reg in your game do you respect most? Can you briefly describe why?

I have a huge amount of respect for Elio Fox. He is one of the few players I know who had a huge amount of success and made a lot of money early in his career and then used that as a reason to work even harder to improve and become the top player at whatever format he chooses to tackle. Typically it is the opposite.

7. Besides yourself who do you think the most underrated poker player is?

Tough question. Most of my friends I wouldnt say are underrated, but there is this guy I play with in MTTs and cash online called CMOOSEPOWER. Think he plays fantastic across the games but I have no idea who he is.

Past

1. Why and when did you start playing poker?  Do you still play for the same reasons?

I started playing poker while I was in college. I was playing Magic the Gathering very seriously at the time and saw all of the Party Poker ads on TV during the Moneymaker era. They offered 100% deposit bonus. I didnt know how to play at all, but I knew I could fold and get free money. Eventually my competitive ego outweighed my risk aversion and I started to learn how to play instead of just exploiting the bonus. The more I played the more I fell in love with the depth of thought it takes to become a good player and the boundless possibilities for improvement. Certainly I still play for those reasons, making money is good too.

2. What were the best and worst months of your poker career? What happened?

Well just recently I final tabled the PCA main event. Was my biggest final table and 1st place was well over $1m. The worst moment was losing a flip to finish in 8th. So both were kind of tied together. My hopes were soaring and then came crashing down around my ears. Im sure there have been other moments that were similar in emotional trauma or excitement in my poker history but I dont really like to dwell on them.

3. Are you satisfied with the last 12 months of your poker play?

Absolutely, this has been one of the best years of poker I have had. I am happy to say that I feel like I improve greatly every year and this year has been no exception. I have started taking shots at some of the biggest mix games successfully and have had great mtt results.

4. How did Black Friday impact you? How did you adapt after Black Friday?

Black Friday was devestating. I had quite a bit of money wrapped up with Full Tilt(whcih I still have only recieved 20% of) and had been planning to move to Portland, OR before it happened. I was somewhat lucky during the aftermath as I had already been playing abroad quite a bit, so I was quite comfortable in relocating outside the USA.

5. What was the biggest factor in your development as a player?

My biggest factor was definitely having my best friend Kevin MacPhee also be avidly interested in the game. Having another brilliant mind to bounce your ideas off of is invaluable in your growth as a player.

6. What was the biggest mistake(s) you have done as a poker player?

My biggest mistake is probably not padding variance enough and selling to some higher variance events. If I feel like Im a winner sometimes I choose to gamble a bit too much on one buyin.

7. What’s your biggest prop bet?

Im not much of a prop bettor. The funniest one I can remember wasnt really a bet, but was someone offering me money to jump in the ocean naked when a group of us were in a club in Barcelona in the winter.

Present

1. How do you prepare for your poker activities?

I like be up a bit before I play and either go for a walk or read a bit. I think that either jump starting my mind or my body is key to winning. Would rather feel fully awake and ready to play when I begin than just jump right in.

2. If you could pick the brain of anyone in the world for 3 hours, who would he/she be?

Warren Buffet would be pretty interesting to talk to.

3. What 3 poker pros should PokerStars sign to their team online roster?

Stephen Chidwick, Max Silver, and Dominik Nitsche

4. What is your favorite way to relieve stress when running bad?

Either video games or cooking. If I cant win at poker I want to beat people at something! So I have played a good amount of compettive online games such as DOTA2 and Hearthstone. I also love to cook, if I wasnt a poker player I would try to be a restaurant or bakery owner.

5. How much volume are you playing on Eurosites?

Not really that much. I had gotten involved with this wallet MuchosPoker a while back that ended up scamming people so a few of my accounts on various Eurosites were blocked and I have been a little lazy about reopening them. I do put a good amount of volume in on PartyPoker.

6. Why are you not playing mid/high stakes already? If you are, what are the 3 most important things that got you there?

In my various fields I frequent close to the highest stakes. As to how I started playing them I attribute it to a few things. First is volume, there is hardly anything more valueable than just seeing all the situations you can and analyzing them. Second was doing off the table calculations, taking time outside of playing to work out how to react to given scenarios or to figure out perfect ICM play is critical to performing well at higher stakes. Lastly I would say that becoming an instructor for Run it Once really catapulted me to the top. Having a reason to look at my play under a microscope and have to actually articulate my thought processes outloud was very beneficial.

7. What is the most important positive change you’ve made to your poker approach this year?

I have completely changed the way I feel about losing sessions. I no longer spend so much time lamenting the what ifs and take more solace from the concept of playing well and letting the rest take care of itself.

Future

1. What are your poker and other goals for the next 12 months?

I am trying to find a good place where my girlfriend and I can live together and still play online on Pokerstars. My biggest goal is to win a big live MTT title, has eluded me for a long time.

2. Are you confident that you will meet those goals? Why?

My confidence has never been higher. I feel like I am the best version of myself that has ever played poker.
 
3. Do you see yourself still playing poker in 10 years?

I doubt I will ever not play poker. Certainly I wont always been playing as much as I am now and in 10 years I doubt I will be a full time professional, but I plan on playing the WSOP Main every year until I cant move.

4. Do you have any ambition to coach/teach other players?

I do actually, I am an Elite Pro for Run it Once.

5. What’s the poker dream for you?

The dream for me would be to make enough money where I can open a small bakery or restaurant that at least breaks even and play poker on the side to supplement.

6. How do you see the poker landscape changing in the next five years?

I think we will see a large resurgence in poker as daily fantasy sports takes off in the USA. I doubt that daily fantasy can legally exist in the USA too long without the gambling/skill game comparisons being drawn between it and poker. Given how powerful the current companies who are investing in DFS are I see this happening soon.

7. How much time are you putting into studying financial issues like investing. What are your preferred sources for this? What investments are you making with your poker winnings?

Not much time at the moment. My first priority will be to buy a house. Right now I invest everything into myself and poker.

Other

1. Do you have any regular non-poker hobbies? Whats your favorite way to spend your spare time?

I have always been a huge gamer and enjoy playing some still in my freetime. Travel is my secondary passion and love to see and experience new things.

2. If you could give you from five years ago (make it ten if over 30) one major piece of advice, what would it be?

Cashout from Full Tilt the day before black friday. On a serious note, I would tell myself not to take things so hard and to believe in myself. I spent a long period of my career in self doubt and depression when things were going poorly.

3. What are the 3 things everyone should have on their bucket list?

Bungie jumping, travel somewhere alone and immerse yourself in the local culture, and to defy at least one of your biggest fears.

4. Do you follow any poker podcasts or poker players on Twitch?

Not particularly, I follow Negreanu on twitch and occasional watch Jason Sommerville.

5. If you could change one thing with online poker, what would that be? What if you could change one thing with live poker?

I wish that there was more competition for the online poker market. I feel like it would be better for all of us if there was another titan of the industry out there to compete with Pokerstars. I really dont have any issues with live poker at the moment besides specific things about specific venues or different rule sets for different tours, maybe having all the tours follow the same rules.

6. What is the best place and the best restaurant your have ever visited?

Two extremely difficult questions. I have done a lot of traveling in my life and my biggest vice while traveling is food. I would say that Australia was one of my favorite places to visit, my first trip to Sydney really sparked my love for wandering the world. I am terrible at remembering names of restaurants, but Tamarind in London (a 2 michellin star Indian place) is definitely up there.

7. Who do you challenge to do the Poker Player Snapshot next and why?

I’d like to see Ben Tollerene do one. Ive never met him but he is a gamer like myself and would like to see a bit more inside of his head as I greatly respect his game.

About You

1. What is your name, age and where are you located? What is your personal twitter account?

Jack Mitchell, 22, Liverpool UK. My Twitter is @JackMitchell14, I barely ever use it though.

2. What are Your online poker Screen names?

Fresher65 on Full Tilt, JackTheLaddd on Stars.

3. How would you define yourself as a poker player? / What poker games do you normally play?  Are you learning any new games?

I’ve played almost exclusively PLO online for the last two years. Within PLO I like pretty much any shorthanded/hu format. Anything except full ring. As well as 100bb and shallows that still run, I used to enjoy the CAP and deep ante games but Full Tilt scrapped those recently which sucks. I often go through phases of liking a particular game type and so focus on that a lot before switching over to something else. So that usually results in me being rusty in one area or the other but means I have to keep working on my game and keeps things fresh.

I’ve been playing some PLO6 lately, that is a naughty game! I also occasionally flick in some MTTs for fun, only turbos though as I’m not very patient and really dislike Hold Em these days.

4. What do you most enjoy about your job?

I still really enjoy playing the game; whenever I’m online it’s because I want to play. If I’m not in the mood I just do something else; I can do things on my own schedule and never feel obligated to do anything I don’t want to.

5. Who are the top 3 players in your main game from your home country in your personal opinion?

I honestly don’t know too much about what is going on in the PLO world other than the specific players that are in my games. I think Isildur is living in the UK now, does that count? Got to have respect for him, he’s always fighting the good fight.

6. What reg in your game do you respect most? Can you briefly describe why?

Feliceko and MadSickoHead are two names that spring to mind given I’ve probably played the most hands with them. Both are willing to play pretty much anyone. Feliceko does some interesting short stack stuff. MadSickoHead plays lots of tables but still adjusts to individual table dynamics rather than just playing ABC which is an impressive skill. He also runs so, so pure!

7. Besides yourself who do you think the most underrated poker player is?

As I said I don’t really know too much about what is going on in the PLO world…Probably somebody I don’t know about that I should be paying attention too.

Past

1. Why and when did you start playing poker?  Do you still play for the same reasons?

Before me and my friends were old enough to go to bars and clubs we’d get some drinks in and play at someones house. When I was 18 I stumbled across High Stakes Poker and Poker After Dark, set up a Stars account and went from there. I still really like the social aspect of poker when I’m playing casual games with friends. When I’m playing online the stakes tend to be significantly higher so the focus there is more on the financial aspect.

2. What were the best and worst months of your poker career? What happened?

Last summer I had a solid few months which peaked in like a 3/4 day period where I made like $35k. Given that I was playing predominantly midstakes shallow games it was a pretty sick heater in terms of buy ins.
After that, I spent a lot of money and had a stretch of break even and losing months. To go from making a few k a day to struggling to break even hurt, especially given that I thought I was a genius and would be printing money like that forever! Although I was struggling it really motivated me to improve. That’s when I started studying up, watching videos and taking things more seriously. Looking back now I was lucky to make any money in that period, I was far too inexperienced to be playing the games I was in.

3. Are you satisfied with your 2015 poker year?

This year so far has been great for me in poker. Due to other stuff I had going on I didn’t really put in much volume until around March but since I’ve jumped back into the action I’ve played a lot of hands and it has been very profitable.

4. How did Black Friday impact you? How did you adapt after Black Friday?

I started playing online about 4/5 months after Black Friday so it didn’t have any impact on me directly.

5. What was the biggest factor in your development as a player?

Talking to other people and talking onboard different points of view has helped me develop a lot.

6. What was the biggest mistake(s) you have done as a poker player?

My game selection and bankroll management has always been pretty terrible. Poker can obviously get pretty consuming and I’ve been bad at balancing my time with other more important things. I regret that a lot. The days of going out drinking and then punting 25/50 hu are also behind me!

7. What’s your biggest prop bet?

I don’t really tend to bet on too much. A good friend once bet me £50 (laying 1:1!) that I couldn’t go without playing online for a week. It was completely pointless; it wasn’t going to happen and I wasn’t going to gain anything from it, I think I was just trying to prove a point. He let me buy out on the first night for £40. I then went online and lost $3k (about £1900ish) playing midstakes shallows in less than 3 hours. Paying him the 40 stung so much more than the loss though!

Present

1. How do you prepare for your poker activities?

I’d like to say I have a really good fitness regime, I’m a big advocate of healthy body healthy mind, but recently my lifestyle has been really unhealthy. Food and water is essential for me. If I’m hungry or dehydrated my concentration is just shot and I get frustrated very easily. So food before and water during sessions.

2. If you could pick the brain of anyone in the world for 3 hours, who would he/she be?

I guess poker-wise it’s pretty obvious so I won’t go that route. Probably Jason Derulo, what is he thinking…

3. What 3 poker pros should PokerStars sign to their team online roster?

I don’t really know about specifics, just someone marketable and good for the game! I think their recent signing of Jason Somerville and taking onboard the whole Twitch thing was very well played by them.

4. What is your favorite way to relieve stress when running bad?

Doing something completely unrelated to poker helps take my mind off things and de-stress. A good curry makes any situation better. Rum to take the edge off on really bad days…

5. How much volume are you playing on Eurosites?

Currently none. It is something I’ve thought about doing a bunch of times, especially for heads up action given how fickle the games can be on the bigger sites. I get kind of put off by the horror stories I hear and read though, I’m not sure how much I trust them. Bad software also really tilts me. The general consensus is that the games are soft though so I’d never say never.

6. Why are you not playing mid/high stakes already? If you are, what are the 3 most important things that got you there?

I’ve currently settled in the mistakes games and I’m happy with the way things are going at the moment. Although my bankroll management has always been pretty questionable, I think having that disregard has allowed me to take some guilt-free shots. Likewise I never really practiced game selection, but getting owned, paying my tuition, considering what was working and what wasn’t, then rebuilding gained me a lot of experience. That also ties in with just putting in a ton of volume, I guess the more spots you get yourself into the easier they become to navigate.

7. What is the most important positive change you’ve made to your poker approach this year?

Definitely having a more professional approach. I used to try and not take it too seriously as I’ve had hobbies in the past that I got pretty into and then kind of burnt out. Poker seems to have stuck more though. The more work I put in the better my results tend to be which equals more enjoyment. I’ve also been working on mental game stuff; I’m still a million miles away from being zen but I feel more focused and my fuse isn’t as short as it used to be!

Future

1. What are your poker and other goals for the next 12 months?

Within poker I just want to keep putting in good volume and working on my game. Outside of poker, I need to improve my general lifestyle and fitness, eating and sleeping better, as well as just having better structure and balance in the things I’m doing. I also want to finish university and get my degree, I’ve been here long enough now! I just need to put the extra effort in and focus, my education has really taken a backseat in the last year or so which isn’t good.

2. Are you confident that you will meet those goals? Why?

Yeah, I think my work ethic is really good when I’m doing this I find interesting and enjoy. On the flipside, when I feel forced into doing something my brain tends to switch off (hence the prolonged stint at uni!).

 3. Do you see yourself still playing poker in 10 years?

As long as I’m enjoying the game I’ll be playing it one way or the other.

4. Do you have any ambition to coach/teach other players?

I currently make videos for runitonce.com. That has been a really cool experience so far; the community is really intelligent and constructive, and I’ve received positive feedback from my content so far. I’ve been asked by various people about 1-1 coaching; due to other stuff I have going on at the moment I don’t think I’d be able to take it on and give it 100% of my attention. I wouldn’t be happy doing that if I felt like I wasn’t providing good value for the money… potentially in the future though.

5. What’s the poker dream for you?

To earn enough to always be my own boss and have the freedom to do and see interesting things. It would be cool to do something entrepreneurial and/or charitable with a decent chunk that would make a big difference as well. Perhaps investing in start-ups and try to build something from the ground up would be a decent challenge. To be able to sit in a 500/1k PLO game with 100% of myself and a couple of bullets would be quite a rush also!

6. How do you see the poker landscape changing in the next five years?

I guess there will be a pretty big shift, it certainly won’t get any easier to make money. The games of choice might change; it seems trends seem to follow the higher stakes so to see a bunch of mistakes 2-7, 8game and various mixes running would be interesting. America coming back online would obviously be huge as well.

7. How much time are you putting into studying financial issues like investing. What are your preferred sources for this? What investments are you making with your poker winnings?

Currently none. I’ve spoken to people briefly about things like property but it’s not anything I’ve seriously considered at this point. I consider poker as an investment in myself; given I’m at a stage where I’m comfortably rolled for the games I’m playing I don’t want to funnel a load of that money into something else. I also don’t know too much about business, it’d be like learning a new game from scratch. I would definitely have to consult in other people and I know people/have heard stories about various deals that have gone wrong and been far more trouble than they were worth. As I said though I would like to eventually do things besides poker so I’m sure the grown up stuff will happen when I’m ready. For now though I’m still having fun in my virtual poker world.

Other

1. Do you have any regular non-poker hobbies? Whats your favorite way to spend your spare time?

All the usual stuff really; I spend a spend a lot of time with my girlfriend. Likewise with friends. A good film, decent meal out, a few drinks, things like that are always fun. Pretty soon I’m hoping to do a decent amount of travelling. I used to play lots of sports but not so much anymore, I need to get back into something active like that…

2. If you could give you from five years ago (make it ten if over 30) one major piece of advice, what would it be?

Try and get 8 hours of sleep a night, it will do you good!

3. What are the 3 things everyone should have on their bucket list?

I guess everyone is into different things. For me personally I have a thing about going to space, seeing the Earth from a few 100 miles up would be ridiculous! In the same vein as that, experiencing 0 gravity would be cool. Anyone I know who has ever skydived says it is amazing so that’s my cliche one. I’m not sure about a third…Thinking about bucket list stuff makes me realise how little I’ve done up to this point, I need to get out more and stop playing so much online poker!

4. Do you follow any poker podcasts or poker players on Twitch?

I really Joe Ingram and the things he’s doing, he’s a very funny guy. Given that a lot of the focus is on PLO I find it entertaining, especially his ‘Poker Life’ podcasts where he chats to highstakes guys; they’re very interesting people to listen to, and not just about things poker-related things. I occasionally watch some poker Twitch streams, but it tends just to be on in the background while I’m playing a session or something.

5. If you could change one thing with online poker, what would that be? What if you could change one thing with live poker?

Obviously bumhunting and the general predatory environment is killing the game online somewhat, but there are people way smarter and who have more first-hand experience with it that are trying to come up with solutions, I wouldn’t know what to suggest. There is such a fine line sometimes between the rules and then the degrees of what people consider to be fine from an etiquette and moral standpoint. Some people do some things that really tilt me!. The game definitely brings out a selfish side in a lot of people, me included sometimes. Having some kind of optional straddle button in online cash would definitely spice up some games abit!
I actually have very little live experience; I’m not a massive fan if the game isn’t friendly given how slow paced it all is and how much interaction you have to have with the people sat around. Where I’m living at the moment there isn’t a PLO game that runs; I don’t think I’ve played a live hand of PLO in a casino which is pretty crazy given how many hands I’ve played online lifetime. I could travel to some but when I have the option of doing that or playing online, there are a ton more pros to playing online. So for me personally some kind of saucy local PLO/PLO6 mix would be amazing. If I was to make a change to live poker in general, it would probably be something to do with the way it is policed. I don’t think anyone should feel uncomfortable or intimidated when sitting down to play. Just because people might not be aware they are being angled or something scummy is going on, doesn’t mean it should still be allowed to happen. Likewise I think belittling someone for making a ‘bad’ play, call etc. should just get people snap banned! Nothing worse than having to listen to someone trying to give lessons at the table.

6. What is the best place and the best restaurant your have ever visited?

I really like Italy; Lake Como and the Amalfi Coast, they are amazingly nice places. I’ve been away recently to some of the Greek islands, they’re a cool place to go and get away from it all. I’m not really well travelled though, there’s still loads of places I want to visit and that will probably be happening fairly soon. Vegas is high up on that list! Best restaurant is too tough, totally depends on my mood.

7. Who do you challenge to do the Poker Player Snapshot next and why?

Feliceko or MadSickoHead.

Podcasts are fast becoming a popular way for people to share their views and ideas on important or entertaining topics. While Mark Maron, Joe Rogan and Tim Ferriss podcasts have been popular for years, there hasn’t been many poker podcasts with longevity apart from the TwoPlusTwo podcast and lately with Joey Ingram podcasts.

The Mindset Advantage podcast is an interesting newcomer in the poker podcast world. Elliot Roe and Dr Tricia Cardner take a psychological view on poker and other competitive domains such as MMA. They break down players preparation for sessions or tournaments, tilt control, handling variance and much more. The guests include some notable names in the poker world such as Chris Moneymaker, Jonathan Little and Ike Haxton. You can find the podcast on Itunes and the episodes are uploaded on Youtube as well.

You can listen to the Ike Haxton episode here as they discuss Ike’s mental game and more:

Alexander Petersen won his first bracelet at the WSOP Event #54: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship. Alex is a well-known high stakes PLO player who plays under the screen name “AlexKP” on PokerStars. Alex was rewarded a handsome $927,655 for his efforts. He beat the tournament beast Jason Mercier in heads-up, Jason was awarded $572,989. Dan Smith finished 3rd for $369,564.

We interviewed Alex a few months ago for a Poker Player Snapshot, you can read it here: Poker Player Snapshot – Alexander “AlexKP” Petersen 

Event #60: $25,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha is already under way too, you can follow the updates on the WSOP.com website here.

Congratulations Alex!

Summer is at its hottest and the WSOP is picking up steam too with the Main Event approaching fast. True grinder won’t rest in the during summertime and keeps pushing ahead.

Check out our July articles, especially the four interesting snapshots:

Poker Player Snapshot

Poker Player Snapshot: Matthew “MUSTAFABET” Ashton – “I’ve had a lot of low 6 figure swings in a day”

Poker Player Snapshot: Zachary “zachucsb” Freeman – “Black Friday may have saved me money!”

Poker Player Snapshot: Dylan Linde – “My confidence has never been higher”

Poker Player Snapshot: Jack “JackTheLaddd” Mitchell – “6c PLO, that is a naughty game!”

Podcasts

Ben “Sauce123″ Sulsky on Joey Ingram Podcast – “Open HU challenge to all women at any poker game”

The Mindset Advantage podcast, guest Ike Haxton

News

WCOOP 2015 tentative schedule – PokerStars wants your feedback

Alexander Petersen wins the PLO 10k WSOP event

Anthony Zinno of Boston, MA survived the Final Table of the WSOP Event #60 - $25,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha to ship the tournament and the bracelet. The event was the richest PLO event in history as it gathered 175 entries for a total prize pool of $4,156,250. Along with the bracelet, Zinno takes home $1,122,196. It was already the 5th Final Table appeance for Zinno in this year’s WSOP and he has a good chance to win the Player of the Year award. He has already won that in WPT.

Second place went to Pakinai Lisawad, from Bangkok, Thailand. Lisawad became the highest finishing player from that Asian country in WSOP history and biggest cash winner with a prize of $693,553.

The third place finisher Christian Usterud from Norway took home $456,522. It’s his first cash in a WSOP event.

Nutblocker congratulates Anthony!

Source: WSOP.com

About You

1. What is your name, age and where are you located? What is your personal twitter account?

Jamie Kang / 25. Sheffield, England. No active twitter.

2. What are Your online poker Screen names?

Jamie_KK / ChuckBass on 2p2

3. How would you define yourself as a poker player? / What poker games do you normally play? Are you learning any new games?

I’m a PLO player, at the moment only really playing 5card and 6card regularly online. Sometimes like to dabble in mixed games although I’m not really very good at any of them so it’s mainly for fun. I play “Dealer’s choice” live occasionally where the button picks from 7 or so games including 4/5/6 plo / hi lo, superstud, irish, padooki etc. I think I’d get too bored just sticking to one game. Btw Padooki is a sick action game that I’m sure most PLO guys would love.

4. What do you most enjoy about your job?

The flexibility and freedom definitely.

5. Who are the top 3 players in your main game from your home country in your personal opinion?

I’m struggling to think of many UK guys playing a lot atm, though i don’t really follow the 4c action too much. Flong seems to have been crushing and branching out from PLO to mixed games also. Not sure who else.

6. What reg in your game do you respect most? Can you briefly describe why?

Probably doorbread, he seems to have experienced the highest highs and lowest lows and come out of it all stronger. Also his “getting my groove back” thread on hsplo helped me a lot with my own mental game.

7. Besides yourself who do you think the most underrated poker player is?

Rather not say

Past

1. Why and when did you start playing poker? Do you still play for the same reasons?

When I was younger I spent a lot of time gaming online, so I think I was always suited for poker. I remember playing for the first time on a school trip with some friends when I was about 17, and as soon as I was 18 I made an account online on PKR I think. I mainly enjoyed the blend of problem solving with a competitive edge, and obviously the potential for profit. Nowadays I still enjoy a competitive match, but with games being as tough as they are I would take a nice soft game over a competitive one Although I do still like the occasional HU battle.

2. What were the best and worst months of your poker career? What happened?

I think back in 2011 when games were amazing I won 100k on betfair in about 10k hands of 500 – 2k, I think that month was my best. I definitely haven’t come close to a heater like that since. I didn’t miss a single flop.

My worst was probably sometime late 2013(?) when I lost 60k at the 5c tables and another ~30k on online roulette over 2 weeks. That was pretty catastrophic at the time.

Although really my worst stretch was a ~2 year period during which I ran pretty bad. It was relentless. I will include the graph from my computer at the time. A couple of tourney scores kept me going but I ended up needing a staking deal at the end of it all.

3. Are you satisfied with the last 12 months of your poker play?

I would say so, I’ve been running pretty well, especially live. I’m on a 50ish buyin downswing online atm which isn’t ideal but overall I think it’s been pretty good. I’ve improved my volume slightly which is always a goal of mine so I’m happy with that too. There’s always room to improve though.

4. How did Black Friday impact you? How did you adapt after Black Friday?

I managed to get my money off FTP and there were still really good games on the euro sites after that so I felt it didn’t have too much of a negative affect on me personally.

5. What was the biggest factor in your development as a player?

I learned a lot from the strategy threads on HSPLO back in the day. From there I made adjustments and went from being a breakeven player to having a decent winrate. EV-wise at least.

6. What was the biggest mistake(s) you have done as a poker player?

I used to tilt a lot. I would play whole sessions on tilt just because I’d been running bad. If i was 5k below EV I would justify a bad/tilting play because I would feel I somehow “deserved” to run good. Obviously it was fallacious thinking, and I didn’t really believe it, but I would still find it hard to control. I still tilt sometimes, but not as much.

Also playing roulette online was obviously a huge mistake. I think shortly after that bad month I requested my profit and loss from the casino games and when seeing it was mid 5 figures down I insta banned myself from the casino games on all the clients.

I also used to play poker and casino games when I came in from night’s out, which probably wasn’t advisable.

7. What’s your biggest prop bet?

Haven’t done any.

Present

1. How do you prepare for your poker activities?

I don’t really do anything to prepare, apart from quickly checking i’m not too tired or tilted.

2. If you could pick the brain of anyone in the world for 3 hours, who would he/she be?

I guess if we’re keeping it poker related, Lefort, as he could teach me how to be good at poker and how to make some sweet sweet gainz.

3. What 3 poker pros should PokerStars sign to their team online roster?

No idea, whoever would bring in the most new players I suppose.

4. What is your favorite way to relieve stress when running bad?

I always found it cathartic to share bad beats / graphs with people. At one point it felt like I was spamming the BBV thread on HSPLO almost daily with my graphs, I’m sure it annoyed some people, but as I didn’t really have any poker friends outside of the forum at the time I felt I had to post them there to show people who truly understood.

5. How much volume are you playing on Eurosites?

None at the moment. For a long time I was playing almost exclusively on the euros but I’m just on stars/ftp for the 5/6c action now.

6. Why are you not playing mid/high stakes already? If you are, what are the 3 most important things that got you there?

Learning from others, game selection, and finally running well when I needed to.

7. What is the most important positive change you’ve made to your poker approach this year?

Probably accurately assessing I’m just not that good at 4card at the moment, and staying away from it. It has likely saved me a decent amount this year. And better controlling my tilt.

Future

1. What are your poker and other goals for the next 12 months?

Don’t really have any poker goals, my main life goal atm is to get in good shape.

2. Are you confident that you will meet those goals? Why?

Yes, I really have no excuse not to. I live right next to my gym.

3. Do you see yourself still playing poker in 10 years?

I think I’ll still be playing, but it would be nice to be financially secure so I don’t feel obligated to play. I’m a uni drop-out so I don’t have many other options job-wise.

4. Do you have any ambition to coach/teach other players?

I’ve been approached a few times before but I wouldn’t have felt comfortable charging someone for coaching when I wasn’t confident in my ability to teach or to articulate my thought process. Also now I’d only really be qualified to coach in 5 or 6 card, and as the player pools are so small it would really make no sense to do it.

5. What’s the poker dream for you?

A 7 figure score would be nice I suppose.

6. How do you see the poker landscape changing in the next five years?

Barring some sort of miracle I can only see it getting worse.

7. How much time are you putting into studying financial issues like investing. What are your preferred sources for this? What investments are you making with your poker winnings?

None. A fair few of my friends work in the financial sector so they’re always there to give me advice. My next investment will most likely be a property as at the moment I’m renting which really makes no sense.

Other

1. Do you have any regular non-poker hobbies? Whats your favorite way to spend your spare time?

I watch a lot of TV and movies. I like anything comic book related so I’m enjoying all that stuff, and looking forward to all the upcoming marvel and DC films.
I like going to the gym, although I go through phases being really consistent with it for a few months, then I’ll miss one session my routine will completely break down. I’m planning on starting a consistent phase…soon.
I’d like to play more sport, I used to play tennis a lot but haven’t played in a while, so i’d like to start that up again. Squash maybe as well. I’m only good at racquet sports.
I no doubt spend an unhealthy amount of time trawling the internet for lulz.

2. If you could give you from five years ago (make it ten if over 30) one major piece of advice, what would it be?

Play as much as you physically can. Games won’t be like this for ever…

3. What are the 3 things everyone should have on their bucket list?

Own a pet. learn a 2nd language. watch Airplane!

4. Do you follow any poker podcasts or poker players on Twitch?

I’ve watched some of joey’s podcasts. I checked out jcarvers stream once when he was on my table in a tournament. He subsequently knocked me out -_-

5. If you could change one thing with online poker, what would that be? What if you could change one thing with live poker?

I guess in light of recent events it would be nice to wave a magic wand that got rid of all the botters and multiaccounters forever.
For live poker I wish everyone would just hurry the fuck up.

6. What is the best place and the best restaurant your have ever visited?

Ooh tough one. As I’ve been recently i’ll mention Dallas. Everyone there was so friendly and welcoming and the weather was lovely. A stark contrast from England in both regards. We went to a Wolfgang Puck restaurant at the top of the reunion tower called Five Sixty. The food was amazing and the restaurant revolves so you get a 360 degree view of the city which was pretty cool.

7. Who do you challenge to do the Poker Player Snapshot next and why?

As I’ve already mentioned him, doorbread.

Alexey “Shuller_A1t” Altshuller, 28 years old Russian from Nizhniy Novgorod proposed a challenge to the poker worldat the Twoplustwo poker forums. His goal: make 100 buy-ins in 31 days playing PLO100 Zoom on PokerStars. Many people accepted and put their money up against him. After all the best were played, Alexey had bet $16,350 of his own money against the bettors $32,700. This means that Alexey gets 2-1 odds to complete the challenge and wins the total pot of $49,050 should he win the bet.

You can follow Alexey streaming his play on Twitch at http://www.twitch.tv/shuller_a1t

Check out Alexey’s Poker Player Snapshot – Alexey “Apo5tol / Shuller_A1t” Altshuller

The people who bet against him have a reason to have sweaty palms as Alexey has crushed the games during the first 3 days of the challenge.

Crushing at its finest

His expected value in the games so far has been a tad over $5,000 with total winnings slightly over $4,500…in other words, he’s already won 45% of the $10,000 that he needs to win the challenge. PLO is a high variance game so anything can happen but so far it looks like this bet will be a walk in the park for Alexey.

We asked Alexey a couple of questions:

Nutblocker: What’s your strategy going into the bet when it comes to volume, session management and sleep schedule as this can in theory be a very long, psychologically demanding bet?

Alexey: Just trying to play 3 2000hand sessions a day with hour-long breaks in between and maintain a healthy sleep schedule.

Nutblocker: Seems like you are off to a hot start, what do you think about the games so far?

Alexey: The games are pretty much as I expected. A lot of fish tho, but maybe its just the weekend.

Nutblocker: You have been producing excellent PLO videos for Cardrunners, do you plan to keep on doing them after you finish the bet?

Alexey: Yea, planning to do more videos if they still want me to

Check out the rail thread on Twoplustwo here:  PLO prop bet: 100bi in 31 days playing plo100 zoom

And you can find Alexey’s Cardrunners videos here.

Alexey “Shuller_A1t” Altshuller has been a man on a mission with the prop bet he proposed to the poker world a few weeks back. His goal is to make 100 buy-ins playing PLO100 Zoom on PokerStars within 31 days. Read our earlier article for more info.

After 6 days he has already won about 51 buy-ins! According to the Twoplustwo poker forums thread where he updates daily on the progress of the bet, this day took all the mental willpower he had in him. He started the crueling 14 hour grind day down 20 buy-ins but made it all the way back. here’s the graph from that day:

The overall result at the moment is +5147bb so slightly over 51 buy-ins with 25 days to go!

You can follow the prop bet on his dedicated thread and on his Twitch channel.

About You

1. What is your name, age and where are you located? What is your personal twitter account?

Sascha Alexas/ 32/ Germany / Twitter: __xaxa__ but I rarely tweet…

2. What are Your online poker Screen names?

I guess the only one people might recognize is xaxa which i had at UB

3. How would you define yourself as a poker player? / What poker games do you normally play? Are you learning any new games?

I am half German half Greek so there is a thin line between a genius and a total psych^ I guess that describes my behavior at a Poker table pretty well.
I switched from NLHE to PLO couple years ago and never ever went back. So PLO Cashgame is my main game. Unfortunately I had to drop in limits.
no I love PLO too much!

4. What do you most enjoy about your job?

I do have a fulltime job / poker is just a hobby for some extra money. If I were a poker player, I’de enjoy the freedom the most.

5. Who are the top 3 players in your main game from your home country in your personal opinion?

Tough one… there are so many MTT beasts (Reinkemeier, Gruissem, Ruthenberg, Holz (CrownUpGuy), . “George Danzer” is the best allrounder imo. But obv I have to go with M.O.P.

6. What reg in your game do you respect most? Can you briefly describe why?

I recently switched to Stars so not too much history with the regs there.

7. Besides yourself who do you think the most underrated poker player is?

Dave Burn instead of SNE chaseing he crushed all the European sites in the past (midsatkes & highstakes). I was super excited railing him (at PLO10k and PLO20K) back when they had those stakes.

Past

1. Why and when did you start playing poker? Do you still play for the same reasons?

I guess i was victim of the Moneymaker boom. Started playing SnG back than with friends at home for 5 or 10€.
I played at PartyPoker for playmoney. One day I won a MTT with >50k entrants. I was like, damn If I ever could bink a real money MTT. So that’s when I decided to deposit.
Today I still play for the fun & challenge.

2. What were the best and worst months of your poker career? What happened?

September 2010. I made $8,5k from PLO200 adding the bonus the total was ~$11,5k
I don’t think I ever had a month where I lost more than $3k.

3. Are you satisfied with the last 12 months of your poker play?

Not really but I like how I improved the last 3 months.

4. How did Black Friday impact you? How did you adapt after Black Friday?

Black Friday was the beat of my life. I had 90% of my Bankroll at UB/AP (Cereus Network) I was about to play Poker as a fulltime job. I never came back to rebuild a roll to play PLO Midstakes comfortable.
For those who don’t know players from UB/AP still haven’t seen a single $ since black Friday (basically because there is none or just 10% of it but the case gets handled differently as FTP)

5. What was the biggest factor in your development as a player?

Plomaha.com
It was a site where i met guys like Dave, Gavz101, GodlikeRoy. I got really good advice there. There was absolute no trolling in the forum. The owner of the site scammed Gavin though and the site fell apart.
Also the site DeucedCracked had some nice PLO content.

6. What was the biggest mistake(s) you have done as a poker player?

OBV playing at UB/AP instead of FTP / Stars / Euro Sites

7. What’s your biggest prop bet?

Never done any or took part

Present

1. How do you prepare for your poker activities?

definetly only play when i feel like it. Usually take a break after ~2 hours. Work out (TRX training).
When i am done for the day i go through some hands and make notes.

2. If you could pick the brain of anyone in the world for 3 hours, who would he/she be?

hmm ben sulsky maybe and run up my roll?!

3. What 3 poker pros should PokerStars sign to their team online roster?

Joey Ingram, Magnus Carlsen, Max Kruse (german football pro) whos fav game is PLO.

4. What is your favorite way to relieve stress when running bad?

Cash out… (joke) usually just tell myself it’s only money.

5. How much volume are you playing on Eurosites?

Like 95% till april. iPoker changed there rakeback and i got sick of all these bots anyways… (good thing I moved to Stars lol)

6. Why are you not playing mid/high stakes already? If you are, what are the 3 most important things that got you there?

I am working on it due live expenses (wedding) I cashed out my roll at Ipoker and going to rebuild at Stars.

7. What is the most important positive change you’ve made to your poker approach this year?

Decided to quit being a rakeback whore, studied a lot, analyzed and worked on my game.

Future

1. What are your poker and other goals for the next 12 months?

Building a roll to play comortable PLO100 & PLO200

2. Are you confident that you will meet those goals? Why?

I hope so I am going to put more volume in studying and improveing. Also maybe cash out less…
3. Do you see yourself still playing poker in 10 years?

As a hobby sure.

4. Do you have any ambition to coach/teach other players?

If I am broke maybe… no srsly I don’t think that I would be good in coaching, also i hate cutting my winrate.

5. What’s the poker dream for you?

That Phil Hellmuth pays back all players who have/had money on UB.
Other than that binking a Scoop PLO Event would be nice.

6. How do you see the poker landscape changing in the next five years?

It will be still around. People will still cry that the games got so tough but there will still be lots of money out there.

7. How much time are you putting into studying financial issues like investing. What are your preferred sources for this? What investments are you making with your poker winnings?

I started about 2 years ago. My dad is my preferred source because he has shitloads of experience. There are so much information out there, I guess you need to filter all those.
I am going to invest in a house.

Other

1. Do you have any regular non-poker hobbies? Whats your favorite way to spend your spare time?

Sports: Football & TRX. I just love spending time with my future wife, friends. BBQ & drinking good german beer!

2. If you could give you from five years ago (make it ten if over 30) one major piece of advice, what would it be?

Get your ass up and grind. Just avoid UB

3. What are the 3 things everyone should have on their bucket list?

Eat sleep plo?!
1. Travel as much as you can
2. learn a foreign language
3. be open minded for new things

4. Do you follow any poker podcasts or poker players on Twitch?

I watched Shuller_A1t playing the micros and one or two of GodlikeRoy’s vids
I like Joey Podcast obv

5. If you could change one thing with online poker, what would that be? What if you could change one thing with live poker?

Online: No scams/bots/MA/Colluding etc…
Live: 4 colour deck!

6. What is the best place and the best restaurant your have ever visited?

Places:
Ask me again after the honeymoon.
I have been to California with my GF in 2012. We made a roadtrip and saw lots of cool places. As a half Greek I can recommend Greece! So many beautiful islands.
Restaurants: Tough one.. there are so many good restaurants. I loved the Tommy Bahamas in Naples, FL but I guess eating the same steak at home would not have tasted that good.

7. Who do you challenge to do the Poker Player Snapshot next and why?

Dave Burn aka mrbiond / super inspiring

Bloomberg reported a couple of days ago that “888 Holdings Plc agreed to buy Bwin.party Digital Entertainment Plc for 898.3 million-pounds ($1.4 billion) in cash and shares, winning over the online gaming company that’s been at the center of a takeover battle.” This concludes another takeover in the poker world.

Alexandre Dreyfus, the owner of GPI (GlobalPokerIndex) sees this as great news:

• We can assume that 888 and Party will merge their poker offer by April 2016, which will allow 888 Poker to increase its market share of 50%.
  
• It will still be 4 to 5 times smaller than Pokerstars, in term of liquidity, but it gives a proper foundation to re-invest in marketing
• With a PartyPoker/888 cross selling, we are poised to see more casino and sports betting in Pokerstars too.
• In US, it is a real opportunity. In NewJersey, merging liquidity/platform should allow to create a very solid alternative offer against Pokerstars 2016 NJ launch.
• The acquisition mechanism, with only $600m out of the $1.4b being debt and with the cost synergies that will results of the acquisition, gives a lot of hope that 888/Party will be able to invest more heavily into poker in 2016/2017/2018. It is good for the poker industry.

He ends: “My conclusion is, I’m thrilled by that deal, for the sake of the poker industry, for the current ecosystem and for what it will bring on the table in 2016/2017. It will help poker to be more regulated in US – including Amaya/Stars, it will help poker to have more offer for the players, it will help poker industry stakeholders to have more competition in their partnerships. I’m very confident in the ability of 888 to do what they’ve done with most of their acquisitions,  a great integration, bringing a lot of value. We, as poker industry stakeholders, should embrace that and hopefully grow the industry all together.”

You can read Alexandre’s entire post here: Why 888 acquiring  PartyPoker is a great news for industry, including Pokerstars where he goes on to list some of risks involved in the takeover as well.