PocketFives caught up with Ultimate Pokerpro Phil USCphildoCollins (pictured) for an interview. Collins has been a PocketFiver since 2007 and was a member of the 2011 WSOP November Nine. Although he considered a career in law, he found he was successful at Texas Hold’em. This seemed to be a way for Collins to pay off his college loans, and we think it has worked out, as Collins was once #5 in the PocketFives Rankings! Here’s what he had to say.

PocketFives: Are you living in Nevada now or visiting temporarily?

Phil Collins: I moved to Las Vegas in the summer of 2009. I stayed in a house with Brent Hanks (bhanks11), Matt Berkey (berkey11), and a few more friends for the second summer in a row to play in the WSOP. After the summer, I lived with Dan Irisheyes64 O’Brien for about a year until my wife finished grad school and moved out in 2010 after our wedding.

PocketFives: How did you choose the name USCphildo?

Phil Collins: Freshman year at South Carolina, my best friends were Gerardo and John(do). I was Phildo.

PocketFives: How long have you been playing online poker?

Phil Collins: Since sophomore year, August 2004. I discovered poker late in my freshman year and played over the summer with friends in my hometown of Aiken, South Carolina. When I returned to college, I looked for a new way to keep playing and found online poker and freerolls that I could play nightly after schoolwork.

PocketFives: Tell us about being an Ultimate Poker pro. Ultimate Poker is one of three regulated online poker sites in Nevada,

Phil Collins: My favorite part about being a member of Team U is being on a team with my two very good friends, Brent Hanks (pictured) and Dan O’Brien. We already felt like a team and it’s great to make it official. Being a Team Pro for an online poker site has been a dream of mine since I first started playing online. I’m also very happy to represent a company and people that I believe in. I’m proud that we offer top-notch customer service and I believe our leadership has a plan to develop excellent software.

PocketFives: Your success this year on Ultimate Poker has been solid. You have had over 10 cashes for almost $9,000. For many micro-stakes grinders, that would be terrific. We know that you play in many events with buy-ins up to $10,000, so how do you keep your head in the games at the $100 or less buy-in levels on Ultimate?

Phil Collins: Thank you. Keeping my head in the game is not hard for me at all. I am a very competitive person and hate to lose. And there’s nothing I hate losing more than money. I play Madden all the time for $0 and play my A-game. When I play pickup basketball, I usually give 100%. I used to play seriously in freerolls where first place was $5 and the feeling is the same today. I love the game and want to win anytime I play.

My recent success is somewhat expected for me since multi-table tournaments are my strength, but I do think that being able to play four or five nights a week since online returned has been great practice and I’ve gotten better. I like that the tournament fields are small because it gives me a chance to work on my short-handed play. If you’re playing in enormous fields, you are playing eight- or nine-handed the entire time, almost every day, but lately I’ve had chances to practice heads-up tournament poker, or three-, four-, or five-handed a lot.

I’ve also dedicated myself to improving my physical fitness, which has to pay dividends in my play at the tables. I work out for an hour or two most days in the afternoon and enter a nightly tournament already feeling a sense of confidence. My stress levels are lower and I think I’m making good decisions in a game that can become emotional easily.

PocketFives: Is there anyone who helped change how you approach the game of poker?

Phil Collins: The three people who changed the way I thought about the game the most are Steve Silverman (Zugwat), Christian Harder (charder), and Andrew Lichtenberger (luckychewy, pictured). I went to Turning Stone for the first time in December 2007 and met those three guys. I final tabled the first event I played there with Andrew. He was the first really good player I played live.

I was a self-taught poker player and learned the game myself, but hearing them talk about the game did more for the way I think than probably at any other time. I sat next to Zugwat while he played and won a $100 rebuy and he blew my mind explaining his thought process. At that point, I started to understand how the really good players thought and believe I took my game to a new level in 2008.

Today, Matt Berkey is the person who challenges me to think differently about the game the most. He’s a good friend of mine and a fantastic poker player. He had three final tables at the WSOP last year and is playing the biggest No Limit cash games in town. A cash game player is a great person to stretch a tournament player’s mind and I think I’ve helped him in tournaments as well.

PocketFives: What is your favorite game to play?

Phil Collins: My favorite games to play are No Limit Hold’em multi-table tournaments online. I like being in the comfort of my own home with my own music or TV show on. I feel more detached from the money playing tournaments than cash games because the financial value of bad decisions isn’t as obvious and it feels more like a game to me. I’ve realized I enjoy that a lot.

Someone gets first place and, no matter how big or small, it feels great to win. And in multi-table tournaments, you can turn a small investment into a big payoff. It’s no big deal when you lose and incredible highs when you hit a big score.

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