Poker Articles

By Lenny


From the beginning Pocketfives has attracted people passionate about poker, and that passion more often than not translates into talent at the tables. This is often put on center stage in the weekly tournament review when several P5ers get their name in lights in recognition of their successes over the weekend. It is always exciting to see, and a great part of this community that we can cheer each other on, and revel in fellow P5ers big wins. Well the Pocketfives poker talent was on display in a big way this past Sunday in the Full Tilt 200k. After qualifying 45 Pocketfivers in the $5400 added Satellite Blowout, the field might have been slightly stacked in our favor, but nonetheless, having SIX out of the nine seats at the final table is nothing short of Amazing.

88inthepocket (playing as All You Can) took first place, and runner up was a newcomer to Pocketfives ennzo, playing as Jake Liddell. In addition MrTimCaum, Danielk86, Craiggers64, and JohnnyGstaks finished 4th, 6th, 7th, and 8th respectively. Out of the $220k prize pool, Pocketfivers went home with over 120K!

88inthepocket, seen here enjoying World Cup fever with some buddies, certainly had reason to celebrate this weekend besides Germany's convincing victory over Costa Rica. As one of 45 P5ers to win his seat in Pocketfives Satellite Blowout, it was off to the races on Sunday, against a field of over 1100. Almost 8 hours later he was able to sit back, take a deep breath and watch his name go up in first place. It probably didn't take him long to start jumping up and down to celebrate his win, and a cool 50K sliding into his bankroll.  

Lenny: Your profile says you are mainly a cash game player, are you planning on taking up more tournaments with this big MTT win?

88inthepocket: Well, to be honest I don't do well enough in tourneys to justify playing them all the time. I have more fun playing cash games and they are more profitable. That being said, I am a tourney junkie- I try hard and sometimes I get lucky.

Lenny: This wasn't your first win was it?

88inthepocket: No, I've won some of the big tourneys on stars like the 100 rebuy and the 50 rebuy. I've won a tourney on most sites, only two above 20k though in four years, not great.

Lenny: I'd say that would be pretty great to 99% of players.

88inthepocket: Actually, a couple months ago I won the  100 rebuy and final tabled the 10R&A 55k on the same day. That makes playing fun. I love cash games to make money, tourneys are my guilty pleasure.

Lenny: Do you have a FT/PT job, or are you playing professionally?

88inthepocket: I just graduated from law school up here in Canada, I'm taking this year off to reevaluate and play cards. so for now I guess its my profession, but law/business are options I like having open to me if this doesn’t keep going as well as it has  for the year and a half.

Lenny: How many hours do you play a day/week would you guess?

88inthepocket: I am lag cash game player, I play 4-5hours a day 5 days a week. I keep a tight schedule, because sitting in front of the computer all day is , although this may sound stupid, is actually really tough sometimes.

Lenny: It sounds like you've really got a good system. There are a select few who can grind out 12+hour days and still be profitable, but I think most people are just not playing optimally after that long.

88inthepocket: I completely agree, that’s why I find tourneys that take 8hours very tough, but this FTP experience has sure got my attention back on tourneys.

Lenny: Do you ever take breaks? I mean other than sitting in front of your computer waiting for the 5 minutes to tick down. What do you do to stay fresh and keep your concentration up?

88inthepocket: I have an English Bulldog puppy that I'll take for a walk, go to the store grab a drink, getting outside, fresh air or whatever, is helpful in general I think.

Lenny: Is that something you'll do in a tourney, or more during cash game sessions?

88inthepocket: Just in tourneys really. In cash games, I play 2hrs straight early in the morning, and 2 hours late night.

Lenny: So it is a pretty strict time limit? Do you ever find yourself pushing it back when winning or losing in a session, or do you stay pretty disciplined?

88inthepocket: I'm very disciplined. I am very happy with the average money I make in those four hours, no reason to mess with what works. I don’t play a lot during the day because I find that’s when a lot of the "regulars" are playing, and quite frankly, I'd rather play the guy who’s coming home from his day job than a semi pro or outright pro.

Lenny: Are you planning on doing anything special or fun to reward yourself with the big win?

88inthepocket: Oh, yeah. I already took my girlfriend and two best friends to dinner at Morton’s, and bought drinks for 10 of my friends last night, which was fun to be able to do. I also plan to buy myself a Breitling watch. The rest I'm saving for boring stuff- a house.

Lenny: It sounds like you really enjoyed yourself, while still being very disciplined with your money. That's a good mix. Do you have any WSOP plans?

88inthepocket: I plan on playing some smaller events. I haven't qualified for the ME yet, but that's my next plan. I'm going to give the 160 Double Shootouts on Stars a try.

I’m looking forward to meeting up with 88inthepocket in Vegas to congratulate him in person, and besides, he promised to buy me dinner, so I can’t turn that down! The second place finisher, Jake Liddell is also a Pocketfiver, but unfortunately slipped under our radar as he is registered under his Party screenname “ennzo”. A hearty congrats to ennzo, aka Jake Liddell on FTP, sorry I didn’t get a chance to talk to you. Hopefully we’ll hear more from you in the future.