Last month, England’s James Finigan (pictured), better known on jimbomber, finished second in the 888 Poker Whaleand earned $36,000. He just passed $1 million in tracked winnings in his PocketFives profile and is ranked #3 in Essex. He has grasped bankroll management the hard way, as he told us, after hitting rock bottom on PokerStars, but he has rebounded in full force. We caught up with Finigan to break down the 888 final table and talk about his career so far.

PocketFives: Awesome job on 888. Walk us through how the tournament went and how you’re feeling about getting second place.

James Finigan: I started off very well and got to a very nice stack early on. Then, I took a few beats and coolers and went down to a very short stack after about two hours. I was on the verge of throwing the towel in, as I was losing stacks in every tournament I was playing at the time.

I remember one hand where I got very lucky. I was all-in pre-flop with A-J versus K-K and hit an ace on the river to get me back to a playable stack. From there, I played very solidly and felt I didn’t make any mistakes at all.

I felt like I was sort of freerolling, especially since I qualified to the tournament from a $22 satellite. I felt very calm the whole way and really never really imagined I’d get to the final table, as I was below average with about 20 players left, but I stayed patient, won the major showdowns, and got to the final table with a smallish stack.

It was all a bit of a blur, but I managed to get up to a nice stack, felt in complete control at the final table, and played very well. I can’t remember making one mistake, which was pleasing, and was absolutely delighted with second, as I was on a bit of a downturn. I finished at 5:00am and had to get up for work at 7:00am, but it was a nice day at work.

PocketFives: What do you think of the structure and flow of the Whale in general?

James Finigan: I liked it very much. I’ve only been on 888 Poker a couple of weeks and actually think it was my third tournament on that site, the first one being the PocketFives Open, which my friend Spraggs (pictured) told me about. The Open was the reason I started playing on 888, but now I will be playing there a lot more.

PocketFives: You final tabled the PokerStars Super Tuesday in May and did the same in the Full Tilt $250Kin July. Tell us about the run you’ve been on this year.

James Finigan: I started playing again this year after not really playing properly for a couple of years, as I had a massive downswing and wasn’t very good with bankroll management. So, I sort of fell out of the game, but started with new hope this year just playing smaller stakes. I final tabled a $33 MiniFTOPS event for $11,000, which gave me belief again.

I played a lot of events during SCOOP with a lot of hope, but had no luck and my Stars bankroll was back down to zero. A week after that, I played FPP qualifiers to the Super Tuesday on Stars and managed to get into that. I was hoping to cash in for T$, but couldn’t, so I had to play and ended up chopping it for around $55,000. From then on, I’ve had a lot of confidence and have been doing a lot better than I ever imagined. I think losing my bankroll has helped me in a massive way. It was a major lesson learned.

PocketFives: How did you get started in poker?

James Finigan: I have always loved everything number-related. I started betting online on football, horses, etc. That obviously didn’t go too well and I was in a small bit of debt. I came across online poker one day and gave that a go. I learned the game pretty quickly and started winning instantly.

PocketFives: Are there any words of wisdom you’d like to add?

James Finigan: To anyone new, I can’t stress enough how bankroll management nearly ruined my poker career. Also, I would like to give a special mention to fellow PocketFiver Spraggs. We are always discussing hands, which has helped me a great deal.

If you don’t have an 888 Poker account, you can sign up through PocketFives’ links and make a deposit to get one free month of PocketFives Training, a $30 value. You’ll also get $8 free and a special 100% up to $600 deposit bonus, which is enhanced from the regular 100% up to $400 bonus. Click here for PocketFives’ 888 link.

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