In 2014, Mark wsopfreezerJohns (pictured, image courtesy PokerNews) played in 18 WSOP.com events in which he cashed. This year, he has cashed in at least 100 events to date for over $37,000 total. At this rate, he can easily exceed $100,000 or more online this year. He lives in Nevada, having moved from Fort Wayne, Indiana almost eight years ago. Visit PocketFives’ Nevada poker community for the latest news and discussion from Nevada players.

PocketFives: You have been living in Nevada now for almost eight years. What brought you here?

Mark Johns: I have lived in Nevada for almost eight years now by way of Fort Wayne, Indiana to chase the dream of being a professional poker player. I first started playing poker in the summer before my senior year of high school in 2001. Some of the other guys on the football team played $0.25 ante dealer’s choice, which consisted of games like low in the hole, roll your own, guts, kings and little men, spit in the ocean, and others. I think I lost the first time I played with them because I didn’t quite understand all the rules, but I caught on fast and won just about every time after that, often being the big winner on the night.

We didn’t really start playing Hold’em until sometime in 2002 and even then it was just a few times a night when it was the game of choice. Soon we realized how much fun Hold’em really was and then most of our poker nights would either begin or end with a Hold’em tournament.

After high school, I attended Purdue University. Freshman year, I would play a couple times a week, mostly with friends from high school who also went there. By second semester, I had found a lot of different people who liked to play and there would be a game almost every night. Sophomore year, I stayed in the dorms and poker more or less became my major. It was all I wanted to do and each day I was on a mission to put a game together. Those two years were by far the most fun of my life.

The final three years of college, I lived in an apartment and it was more of the same. Every night I would either be in a home game or playing online, which I discovered sometime in 2004.

PocketFives: Talk about the beginning of your online poker career.

Mark Johns: I first discovered online poker sometime during my sophomore year at Purdue when I saw one of the guys from our home game playing in his dorm room. Soon, I created a
PartyPoker account and would play for play money when I was bored and eventually made a small deposit and started playing sit and gos.

I started small at the $5 level, ran it up a bit, and started playing $20 games. I soon hit a bad stretch and, at the time, I totally remember thinking, “This has to be rigged.” There is no way my luck this could be this bad for this long. After losing nearly all of my profits back, I started a Full Tilt account, deposited $100, and lost $60 of it in two days with more of the same bad fortune in sit and gos.

Seemingly out of anger, I put my last $40 in play in four $0.05/$0.10 PLO cash games and couldn’t believe how easy they were to beat. From then on, full ring PLO cash became my game of choice and I put in a ton of time multi-tabling on Full Tilt and soon after on PokerStars as well. I moved up limits very slowly. I eventually started mixing in some MTTs and did well with those too. I played online every opportunity I had when classes and homework didn’t get in the way.

On nights when we had a home game, which was still my preference, I would immediately jump online as soon as the game ended. During times when my friends were out at the bars, I was grinding. I think it was sometime in my fourth year that I made living in Las Vegas and playing full-time for a living my goal. So, I graduated and had what I felt like was enough to make the move. I racked up plenty of student loan debt, but I don’t regret finishing up and graduating.

PocketFives: Have you played any WSOP events at the Rio before?

Mark Johns: I moved to Vegas in the fall of 2007 and played daily tournaments most days while still playing online at times. I started playing live cash in early 2008 and that became my game of choice. Cash games seemed like the easier way to make consistent money, but my love for tournament poker has always remained.

My first WSOP was in 2008 and I had a nice run in my first tournament, finishing with a small cash. I have had three more WSOP cashes since then, including a 23rd place finish in a $3,000 HORSE event that Phil Ivey won. I have not played in many WSOP events while living here because of my sleep schedule and feeling like my time would be better spent in cash games.

This year, I’m ready to give the WSOP tournaments my full attention, as for the first time I have put together a package of tournaments that I am selling action on. I have thought about doing this is in the past, but my ego got in the way.

PocketFives: What have you been doing to prepare yourself for live tournament play?

Mark Johns: I started playing online again around the beginning of the year on WSOP.com and did well. I still sit in second place in the OPOY race. The last few weeks, I have jumped back in the live cash arena because I truly believe that is the better way to prepare for live tournaments than playing online even if it’s tournament play. You have to keep those live reads sharp, right?

PocketFives: Do you have any mentorsor players who will help you get ready?

Mark Johns: I have no poker mentors or advisers or anything like that. I have always done things my own way. I truly believe No Limit Hold’em is a highly individualistic game and one that cannot be learned from reading books or watching videos beyond very basic concepts that only beginners should find useful.

I feel listening to what other people are saying and doing clogs my head with stuff that takes away from my ability to stay in the moment and decide the best move in real-time. Being in tune with yourself and how other players is vastly more important. Experience is the only way to improve, in my opinion, as far as No Limit Hold’em is concerned.

PocketFives: Is there anything else you would like to say or tell us that has not been covered by the above?

Mark Johns: I make a point to be in a good mood when I play. A good trick I picked up is to watch or listen to something that makes you laugh before playing. It will put you in a relaxed mood. Also, staying in good physical shape is also important for the long days that tournaments bring.

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