After a refreshing trip to Nevada, Stuart Fox rejoins the slower lane back in the UK, and answers yet more of my interview questions. Returning $142k better off, and with a third place WSOP finish under his belt, there will surely be more seen of Foxy around the UK and European circuit. But who wants to wait for answers when you can find out through email what he thinks about his Final Table, American opposition and famously aggressive style of play?
I must just add that when he mentions his Fan Club around the final (Gwibbo, bullitpete et al.) he in no way does justice to the amount of noise they were making for him. His popularity belies his self-admitted ruthlessness at the poker table, and it’s a rare combination of friendliness and aggression which combine in Stuart, who barely looks old enough to compete on US soil. This year might have seen his first WSOP final appearance, but most likely won’t have seen the last.
Jen: Straight to the tough part - the Final of the $5k WSOP PLHE- did you play any differently on the final day as the days leading up to it?
Stuart: It was a pretty fast-paced final - I did in fact play differently in this final as I had the massive chip leader sitting to my left; he was a vampire after my blood. This was a fast aggressive table so I chose to just let them fight for the chip lead and I will make my move when the blinds get bigger, the field thins and the bar opens.
You were yo-yoing in chips on that final and had blonde biting its collective nails - do you think you've played so many of these events now that there's no feeling of tension or pressure any more?
Yes a little pressure was felt of course, the half a million 1st prize is 50% of a million which is a lot of money in anybody's TSB current account. I had a lot of support from the UK players who were playing in other tourneys while checking up on my progress. My mates bullitpete and Nottingham Nick Gibson where like a couple of kids in the crowd, cheering every time I won a pot or even just when I made a raise - this surprised me as we had not swapped our normal 5 or 10 % before this tourney (shame). 
Jen: As for your style of play, what do you think made it work against the large, mainly American, field out in Vegas? Do you reckon the UK's penchant for Pot Limit gives the Brits an advantage?
Stuart: I don't think American players are better than us at pot/no limit hold’em or Omaha, there's just more of them. Pot limit to me is much the same as no limit as it’s rare to bet more than is in the pot when playing NL hold’em - only on the turn or river you can say “all in” but in PL you say, “I bet the pot,” which normally would commit the rest of your chips to this hand in later levels.
Jen: Who did you play with whom you'd rate over there - any interesting stories on those lines?
Stuart: I rate a lot of players out there but I don't know their names, just faces. I remember moves they made in the past, but of the players I know of, rate and did battle with there was Kirill, Greenstein, Shipley, Beevers, Brunson and womble.
Jen: What do you play online, and have you any insights about the differences between that and the live game?
Stuart: I play online NL cash short handed or heads up and single table tourneys. Online is poker just the same as live poker; in my opinion you need to keep hitting the raise button and sometimes fold but never call. Internet poker you need position to win pots and also aggression: these two can be a great winning formula if used correctly, wisely and when sober.
Jen: If you had to clone yourself (your style of play) from composite parts of 3 other poker players, who would they be and what aspects would you take from each?
Stuart: They would have to be UK players… I would be Tony Bloom (he's got a great game and I love how intense he looks when he's involved in a hand), Dave Colclough (he can spot a bluff a mile away, reads the game so well and is always looking for tells from players to use later on) and Ram Vaswani - maybe the best we got - I would like his aggression, gamble and money.
Jen: Do you notice any major differences between the way you play (especially cash) now from back when you started?
Stuart: Yes, my game has changed, people tell me I have an aggressive game, but I just think it’s normal or it’s how to be a winning player. Three years back when I was playing 2/4 NL online (at the time this was the biggest no limit game on the site), I used to run over these games. James Dempsey will tell you I raised every hand pre flop - this was the winning way to play but you can’t do it now as 
the standard has got better with higher stakes and TV shows like tikay’s telling the new players how to beat the likes of me (which is a good thing).
So I'm trying to bring this aggression to my live game but it’s not as easy as doing it while watching EastEnders. Now these guys are real, I don't enjoy knocking players out of tourneys - I try to make it as easy as possible for them to leave the table with ease and grace and never get up in their face: I normally say unlucky and you played well even if it’s not the case. I have stopped playing live cash games as I find it hard to bluff a huge pot from a friend that just brought you a drink at the bar or seeing a losing player run to the cash machine to get more funds that he needs to get his kids new shoes but will soon be yours to buy a new Breitling. This happens on line but at least you don't see it and you can sleep a night.
Jen: And finally, the tie breakers:
Comedy hat or vaguely obscenely logoed T-shirt?
Stuart: pass, don't get it.
Jen: Short stack + good cards or big stack + filth?
Stuart: filth
Jen: Limit hold'em or PLO?
Stuart: PLO
Jen: Mike Matusow or Phil Hellmuth?
Stuart: Phil
Jen: Pick a hand, any hand...
Stuart: Q-Q