It took a serious knee injury for Canada poker community member Carter cswidler Swidler (pictured) to become hooked on poker. The incident occurred in 2004 and caused him to undergo two operations. However, the time spent rehabbing wasn't a total loss, as he found a brand new career path. Swidler told PocketFives, "I played lots online that year when I was recovering. I won a freeroll to the Aussie Millions and cashed for $33,000, so that got my bankroll started pretty nicely."He has banked just over $1.8 million in tracked online poker MTTs, $68,000 of which came by virtue of finishing second in the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up late last month. He had a strong start to 2012, with a win in the site's Big $162 and a fourth place in the Super Tuesday for a combined haul of nearly $60,000. However, a downswing was in store, beginning with the World Series of Poker.
Swidler explained to PocketFives that the runner-up finish in the Warm-Up, despite not being a win, helped right the ship: "I'm very excited, as I was on a bit of a downswing since the WSOP started. I just moved into a new condo and it feels great getting a score of this size. It takes a lot of pressure off."
Swidler has over $800,000 in tracked cashes on PokerStars and had nearly $1 million on Full Tilt back when the site was in operation. He final tabled the latter's Monday Million in March 2011 for nearly $100,000, his largest tracked score to date, and told PocketFives that he usually has plenty of tables open. Therefore, "I play pretty A-B-C at the beginning of tournaments like the Warm-Up and try to chip up in certain spots."After he chips up, a change of gears is in store: "Once I have chips, I try to take lots of blinds because most people in a huge field like this are playing scared and trying to move up the pay ladder." In this particular tournament, a unique challenge presented itself: "There was one guy at the final table who seemed to be very good and was smashing everyone, so I had to let him run over the table and try to move up the ladder myself."
The Canuck recorded back-to-back deep runs in the WSOP Main Event in 2009 and 2010, finishing 160th and 246th, respectively, for over $80,000 total. He called the experiences "fun" and gave an insider tip to succeeding in the Main Event: "Lots of patience. Live poker takes so much longer than online poker and I made it to Day 6 both years. Not going on tilt at how slow the pace is helps, but the Main Event is always super deep and the field is super soft, so it's safe to say I ran very well, made hands, and got other players to overvalue their holdings."
Patience is key both live and online, especially in tournament poker. We asked Swidler whether patience is a quality that can be developed or is instead innate. He responded, "I think it's primarily innate, but in certain situations, an experienced player can learn to be more patient. I'm not usually a patient person, so I'm a good example."
This year, the November Nine of the WSOP Main Event become the October Nine (pictured) due to the U.S. Presidential election. Swidler said he would rather see the final table take place in July, not after 100 days of rest, a sentiment we've heard from plenty of other poker players ever since the concept was introduced in 2008.Speaking on the delayed final table, he opined, "Like most poker players, I'm not a fan of the delayed final table, but it's all done for the general public and recreational players, so I can definitely understand why they do it that way. I don't like waiting to see who is going to win and don't think it's fair that the players have three months to get coached and study their opponents. It's a pretty huge disadvantage for the better players."
He wanted to send a shout out to his father, "who taught me everything I know in life, a lot about bankroll management, and poker in general," as well as fellow Canadian players Griffin Flush_Entity Benger, Shyam s_dot111 Srinivasan, and Jeff YoungSupremacy Hakim. He saluted the group "for helping me with my game."
Sign up for PokerStars today if you don't already have an account.
