By
Lenny
 The latest addition to the Triple Crown Wall of Champions is Andy McLEOD, a young man from Down Under who has burst onto the MTT scene with a vengeance in the past few months. He has been playing poker online for about two years, and now he is playing with and beating the big boys. His Triple Crown includes a huge win in the UB Sunday major, which netted him $45,000.
The screenname “Andy McLeod” comes from the young man's favorite footballer (that’s Aussie Rules, thank you) who plays for the Adelaide Crows. Wikipedia has this to say about Andrew McLeod: “One of the game's elite players, his smooth skills and blistering pace have made him one of the most damaging players in the league.” The same could be said for P5er Andy McLEOD.
Lenny: What was it like to win a Sunday major?
Andy McLEOD: It was pretty wild. That day I had a massive stack in 6 huge Sunday tournaments. I was struggling to keep up with all of them. .It was very nice to bring one home. I petered out in the others. It got pretty intense for me right after the final table started. I was chip leader and got smashed down with JJ vs AT and had to battle back.
Lenny: Were you playing for the Triple Crown?
Andy McLEOD: After I won the first two tourneys, I started going for it on Stars. I was playing a bit psychotically.
Lenny: Psycho, meaning that you were playing everything in sight?
Andy McLEOD: Yes, and playing even more hyper-aggressively than my normal style. I was lucky that it worked out in one tournament.
Lenny: What do you do to improve your game?
Andy McLEOD: I think the most important thing for me is lifestyle. I think I have a very good A game, but I realized that I am not often playing my A game. I frequently give my stack to weak calling machines in tournaments. That might be because I am waking up at 4am on just a few hours sleep to play with eyes barely open, or because I am talking or doing other things at the same time and missing out on vital observations. I have to work on this.
Lenny: Is that because of the time difference? What is it like playing on the other side of the world?
Andy McLEOD: Actually, it’s a surprisingly brilliant schedule. I can’t say I understand why all the big tournaments seem to start at night for Americans. Only a few tournaments like the 2pm 109r and the 55r start very early for me. I think I am going to cut these out of my schedule. Most of them start either mid morning or around midday and end in the evening, so if I have a clear day, it’s awesome.
Lenny: What do you think of the rankings? You jumped 30 spots in one week after making the list, bringing you closer to your PLB numbers. The new system allows new names to break in, but they are ranked much lower than the established players, do you think this is fair?
Andy McLEOD: I just recently got ranked, and it is very satisfying. There's going to be limitations to every system, but I think it is pretty good. There is no way I am in the bax/apestyles/shaniac/bel0w/imper1um/annette/phatcat league yet, so the Pro Poll element is very important.
When he is not crushing online tourneys or occasionally going to class, Andy McLEOD is rooting on his Crows in the Australian Rules Football League. Just don’t let him catch you calling it Rugby.
PocketFives.com, 2008
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