The very first online poker Triple Crown of 2012 went to the nation of Australia, as Trent Ahurazor Jones (pictured) took down three $10,000 prize pool tournaments across three sites tracked for the Poker Player Rankings in a week. In actuality, Jones needed all of two days to accomplish the feat, as he won the PartyPoker $10 Rebuy and a $100 tournament on bwin on the same day for a combined $7,800. The next day, his Triple Crown quest was complete with a chop in the PokerStars Big $55 for a healthy $16,000 and first place.Read on to see how he did it…
PocketFives: Thanks for joining us. How does it feel to record your first Triple Crown, also the first one we've had in 2012?
Trent Jones: It feels fantastic. At the start of the year, there was a thread on PocketFives about our goals for 2012, and winning a Triple Crown was on my list. It was definitely something I wanted to accomplish and I’m glad it came so quickly.
PocketFives: After you took down the PartyPoker and bwin tournaments on the same day, was it basically a forgone conclusion that you’d get a Triple Crown?
Trent Jones: After shipping those, I was 1/10 in a $55 tournament on PokerStars, so I was praying to close it out so I didn’t have to spend insane hours the rest of the week going for it. However, it wasn’t meant to be and I finished fourth. But, thankfully, the Triple Crown came the very next day.
PocketFives: What was your mindset during the PokerStars Big $55, which has a $100,000 guaranteed prize pool? How did you approach that tournament?
Trent Jones: It’s a very large-field tournament, with 2,700 or so runners in this case. I did not really take it all that seriously until maybe the final 60. I was one-tabling by the time we hit 30 people and it was one of those tournaments where everything fell into place. My 3bets were getting through, I had a few nice setup hands, and I was flipping well.
The final table was quite soft, with dmond (pictured) probably being the only person I was concerned about picking up some chips. Everyone was playing fairly tight and I just kept leaning on them. Unfortunately, they all knocked each other out and we became four-handed where I was at 2.7 million, while the other three were all pretty well equal at 1.9 million. They were crying to deal and, to be honest, I dealt for the Triple Crown until I realized after the deal that I still had to play it out and win. Thankfully, that fell into place.PocketFives: Your largest tracked score to date came in November 2010 in the PartyPoker $100,000 Guaranteed High Roller for $27,000. What happened in between then and the start of 2012?
Trent Jones: Last year was a big test for me. I went on my biggest downswing ever, and coping with that has definitely made me a stronger person. In September 2011, I came in second in that same $100,000 Guaranteed. Hopefully, it’s full steam ahead now.
PocketFives: How did you get your start in poker?
Trent Jones: Watching “Rounders” for the first time in 2003 or 2004, which led to me losing a lot of money online to kick off the dream. Obviously, I should have stuck to play money games a little bit longer.
PocketFives: At what point did you start playing seriously and how did your friends and family take that decision?
Trent Jones: Two-and-a-half years ago, I started playing full-time. Before that, I was casually grinding a decent side income. My girlfriend surprisingly understood my decision. My parents took it about as well as they could and I’m glad they didn’t oppose it too much, as I would have never taken the chance without their support.
PocketFives: What Australian poker players do you admire the most and why?Trent Jones: To be honest, I’m not too familiar with a lot of the newer guys making their way into the top 10 these days. However, xMONSTERxDONGx, SEABEAST (pictured), BrendonR, and The Spewtard – I have a lot of respect for those guys. I am also thankful I can discuss hand histories with the likes of The Spewtard, Puggy82, and theVisionary.
PocketFives: Do you have any parting words for us?
Trent Jones: I would like to thank PocketFives and wish everyone all the best in 2012. Let’s charge on!
