Here’s a number for you: 106. That’s how many tracked wins in online poker MTTs we have for Griffin Flush_EntityBenger (pictured), a former #1 playerin the PocketFives Poker Rankingswho, over the first 14 days of December, has logged 10 wins and two Triple Crowns. Yikes. You can find him at #14 in the Rankings worldwide right now, so we caught up with him to learn more about his rip-roaring month.

PocketFives: Tell us about your high-octane December. What do you make of it and what do you credit your recent string of success to?

Griffin Benger: I’ve had a bit of a rough patch the last few months. With the nature of MTT poker variance, sometimes things just don’t go your way for a while, and it’s an inevitable snowball effect that makes you play with less confidence. I felt like I was finishing in the final two tables of the $200 Turbo three or four times a week and could never break through. I just needed a decent score to get me back on track.

Once it finally came, which I guess would be in the $100 Rebuy on Full Tilt Poker on December 1, everything started to click. I was able to use that momentum to play better and with more confidence, especially deep in tournaments.

PocketFives: You’ve wontwo Triple Crowns already in December, your third and fourth lifetime. How are you feeling about those?

Griffin Benger: It’s funny. All I was getting were second places before that, and I’ve never been a particularly good heads-up player, but losing all of those heads-up matches really made me think more about short-handed play. I became a much better heads-up player because of it.

It really helps to have Calvin cal42688 Anderson (pictured) as a coach of sorts. He’s one of the best final table players online and forces me to think about hands differently. Plus, if you win enough tournaments, Triple Crowns are bound to start popping up.

PocketFives: How would you ever lose confidence after having so much success overall?

Griffin Benger: I think it’s nearly impossible not to become a bit complacent when you’re used to a level of success. You expect things to eventually just right themselves and go your way, but most of the time, you need to take a step back and re-analyze your game. You can always get better.

I think that’s what’s holding back a lot of breakeven-type players. There are so many factors to blame in this game. “I get it in with kings versus A-Q with 13 left and he spikes an ace, I just run so bad” is a fallback mentality of so many players. If you’re not winning semi-consistently, it’s your fault, not the game’s fault.

PocketFives: How important have Anderson and other peers been to your growth and development as a poker player?

Griffin Benger: It’s important to have a good support system around you. When you have friends and colleagues who have confidence in you, sometimes you need them to remind you what you’re capable of. Anderson is very intelligent when it comes to game flow and understanding dynamics, and I’m a pretty quick learner, so I can absorb that information and efficiently apply it later.

PocketFives: When are we going to see you atop the PocketFives Rankings again?

Griffin Benger: Ha. I’m working on it and it definitely matters to me. PocketFives has been an invaluable resource to me because it gives me goals to shoot for, whether it’s the Monthly or Yearly PLB, the Rankings, or Triple Crowns. In the grand financial scheme of things, do these really matter? Of course not, but anything that motivates you to be better at your job is very important, especially in this industry.

PocketFives: Thanks for the kind words. How did you find PocketFives in the first place?

Griffin Benger: It was introduced to me through the Toronto MTT community. There’s no other site that really combines your results from the different online poker sites the way PocketFives does, so it was the first community website where I made an account.

PocketFives: How long did it take you, when you came up in poker, to understand that it would be possible to play the game full-time, and what triggered that?

Griffin Benger: I think I discovered pretty early on how possible it was. There are a ton of different disciplines, and before being exposed to MTTs, I was able to make enough money to support myself by playing mid-stakes sit and gos on Full Tilt Poker. I didn’t even know what a light 3bet was back then, but in non-ante sit and gos, it’s really not especially important. It’s all about finding your niche and I’m happy I was able to translate some of the skills I developed on my own with the things online MTT legends like s_dot111 (pictured) and Cal have taught me over the past few years.

PocketFives: We’re talking with you while you’re in Prague. Are you there for the WPT and EPT events?

Griffin Benger: Yeah, I’m here for the WPT and EPT stops. I busted just before the dinner break on Day 1B of the EPT earlier tonight and the €2,000 Turbo after for good measure. I’m trying to take more of these trips so I can improve my live game and hopefully get a big score in 2013. I’ll be playing a bunch of side events out here and I’m super stoked for the PCA next month, which I won my second package to during the heater I had. I had a blast last year in the Bahamas and there are so many great side events too.

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