We’re on the verge of awarding our 150th Triple Crownof 2013. To recap, in order to get one, a person needs to win three $10,000 prize pool tournaments across three sites tracked for the PocketFives Rankings within a week. As our old Podcast commercial used to say, “If you think it sounds difficult, you are right.”

Claiming an award earlier this month was England’s Liquid_Eyes(pictured), who took down tournaments on Winamax(Tie Break), Winner Poker ($18,000 Guaranteed Rebuy), and PokerStars ($22 No Limit Hold’em) in one week. PocketFives caught up with him to break down his three tournament wins and get some background to his poker career.

PocketFives: Congratulations. Tell us how you’re feeling about the Triple Crown.

Liquid_Eyes: My friend and poker buddy Allan bigal37 Peers won his first Triple Crown last year, so it’s great to follow in his footsteps. The thing about Triple Crowns is they are hard to get. This was maybe my fourth serious attempt at winning one. The other thing is I love short-handed and heads-up poker, so the fact that two out of my three wins were in six-max tourneys makes my Triple Crown extra special.

PocketFives: Which of the three tournaments was the toughest and why?

Liquid_Eyes: The tournaments were difficult to win in different ways. Two of them had huge fields (735 and 1,040), so naturally I had to run and play well. While the €10 six-max on Winamax had lots of dead money, as you’d expect in a low-stakes game, the final table was perhaps surprisingly aggressive. But, without question, the PokerStars game was the toughest despite a field of only 120 players.

As can be seen from the list of players who cashed in that tournament, it was something of a reg-fest, so I had to play my A-game and run well. I had to beat a very competent player heads-up, plus I had the added pressure of the Triple Crown hanging over my head. Although nobody wants to run into a strong player heads-up, it makes for some interesting hands.

I’ve been within one card of a Triple Crown several times in the past, so I must admit the PokerStars heads-up battle was a little more stressful than usual. So, it was all the more gratifying finally to accomplish my mission.

PocketFives: Where did you get the name Liquid_Eyes?

Liquid_Eyes: That goes back to when I was heavily into house music and did a little semi-professional DJing. LiquidEyes was my would-be artist name. It doesn’t really mean anything, though; it’s just a fun spelling of Liquidize. I actually had some music published under the pseudonym LiquidEyes many years ago.

PocketFives: How did you get started in poker?

Liquid_Eyes: I always liked card games as a child. I played games like Whist and Rummy, but even though I have always been good at mathematics, I never even learned the rules of poker until my late 20s. I caught the poker bug by watching poker shows on TV such as the PartyPoker– and BlueSquare-sponsored programs. I made my first real money deposit in 2006 and tried out micro-stakes cash games on Party.

I used to work as a computer programmer and developed artificial intelligence software, which was a great job. Poker and programming both suit my personality in similar ways: logical deduction and patience.

PocketFives: What did your friends and family think of your poker career?

Liquid_Eyes: My friends have reacted extremely positively. Most of my friends don’t know much about poker and understandably a few people initially didn’t even realize it’s a game where you can have an edge. Overall, my friends seem to perceive what I do as quite glamorous, which in many ways it is. Having said that, I do sit and stare at a computer screen for most of my life and get my kicks from doing geeky calculations and spreadsheets. It’s not a world apart from being a software developer.

PocketFives: Is there anyone you’d like to recognize before we let you go?

Liquid_Eyes: I’ve been a full-time poker pro for nearly five years now and a fairly consistent winner, but I wouldn’t be where I am without two other PocketFivers. So, I have to mention THEKID_88 first.

When I started out dabbling in poker tournaments online in 2008, poker was just a solo activity for me. It didn’t even occur to me that poker players might hook up, talk strategy, and share ideas. THEKID_88 – a guy named Marco from Glasgow, Scotland – was the first guy who ever gave me some poker tips. Until then, everything I knew about poker was gleaned from reading every poker book I could get my hands on and watching poker shows on TV over and over.

I also have to mention bigal37 (pictured), with whom I discuss poker hands nearly every day. He has really helped me raise my game in recent years and his poker success has been inspiring to me. Unlike a lot of poker players, I’m not a hyper-competitive guy. I’m more interested in bettering myself than being the best, but I’ll confess that ever since Al nailed a Triple Crown, I had to get one too.

Visit our Triple Crown Wall of Championsfor more details on how to land your own!