Jerome Bradpiece, quiet(ly spoken) London-based cash game player and winner of the Walsall GUKPT leg, answers some questions about his attitude and intentions toward the game of poker. Last spotted in Monaco wiathout Thundercats T-Shirt but with red baseball cap, he dropped off the radar for a few weeks – touring South Africa in search of adventures and new games specialising in ROE and the art of the rubdown…
Jen Mason: You played poker in university as 'the value’... what were you studying and were your eyes on the gambling prize or was there a vocational plan lurking there which never quite arrived? Are you a full time player now? What unrelated field would one be most inclined to give you a job in?
Jerome Bradpiece: The name's Value, Max Value. I was studying PPE - politics, philosophy and economics (mainly philosophy), with no destination in mind. From the second year I was planning to get rich or die trying via the medium of poker, and I'm still alive. Offices/the 9-5 never been my cuppa, but I think I'd have been a good lawyer or trader.
JM: You appear preternaturally calm in tournaments, but are you secretly harboring a desire to high-five your mates?
JB: What mates? In Walsall I think you were the sum of my rail ;) But that's just the way I am, in life and poker. I hate it when people do it to me, and I don't want to do it to them. 'Get it quietly' doesn't seem to translate very well into other languages/cultures: I just got back from South Africa where I saw a guy hit his two-outer, jump up, shout, and then run round the table screaming, without anyone batting an eyelid.
JM: You sort of appeared out of nowhere in Amsterdam, amassing a nice chip stack and making the final, which got you a seat in this year's World Series Main Event too...was that your first outing in the large tournament world? And following from your win in Walsall, have you got your year divided into poker-related travelling?
JB: I played the WSOP and the EPT London last year, without making a ripple. But I'd been killing tournaments online, and played plenty of live cash, so my success wasn't a suprise to me. Having said that, in Amsterdam I played a few big hands badly, and I like to think that if I could play it over I'd come higher than ninth. After Walsall, I treated myself to a seat in Monte Carlo (no good), and have just got back from a few weeks in South Africa, where I discovered a burgeoning poker scene, and managed a 4th in a comp in tTanzania (good for $20k, but had half the chips with 6 left, should have won it for $95k - d'oh). Next is Vegas, then hopefully a break for a while before WSOP London and Amsterdam again.
JM: Are you going to play as much in Vegas as you can stand/afford, or are you going to just take your freerolling shot at the Main Event? What's this I hear about a Gutshot house with a pool?
JB: I'm probably going to set a limit, but I'm not going there just for the main event. The problem is, what to play? Between the Venetian deep stack, the Bellagio cup, and the Rio, there are at least two good tournaments a day, let alone all the juicy side action, mmmmmm. Hopefully will get on a roll of hit-squad sized proportions and play them all. And yes, am renting a house with Simon H, Mikey and Donna of Gutshot fame, which should be a laugh - I hate living out of hotels. Your invite for our rehab-busting pool party is in the post.
JM: Do you consider yourself a gambler – are you one of those playing Chinese until 5am in the Hotel Lobbies of the World?
JB I do love a bit of Chinese, since Nik P. taught me in Monte Carlo. In fact, out of the 10-15 sessions I've had of it, the only one I've lost has been post-rave... So either, there IS some skill to it, or I'm just a lucky gambler: either way, happy days! I'm still tinkering with my roulette system, but try and keep everything else to a minimum.
JM: Where do you most like to play live, and what game is your speciality/do you enjoy most (I know these aren't always the same...)? And I have to ask that 'live vs. online' chestnut...
JB: I don't think I have a favourite venue; socially it would be Gutshot and the Rivercard Club; the Holland Casino/Marcel's for good memories and being in Amsterdam (as well as for being a vortex sucking in Europe's fish). NLHE is my best game, but I love playing PLO and so ROE is probably my fave mix. Recently I've been getting into Omaha/Stud-8, so you'll see me losing at a dealer's game in the not-too-distant.
I started playing almost exclusively online; now I play mostly live, but need to get into the online routine again. For cash, I'm trying to stick to live, because a lot of my game is based on reading people, and I love clicking the bluff/all-in button; but tournaments are easy money online - the standard is generally poor and you don't give up much of an edge by multitabling - the only downside is the horrendous hours. I just wish tribeca had stayed tribeca - I need to find a new spiritual home.
JM: What's the longest you've ever played without a break? Do you play online until you glaze over like so many pro players? Or are you a good time manager?
JB: Hard to say, definitely over 24 hours a few times. I'm rubbish at managing my time, definitely need
to get more professional in that regard. Next big score, the first thing I'm getting is a PA.
JM: Don't you think that lucky items of clothing are silly (don't get me wrong, I like your hat)?
JB: Of course and I'm not superstitious. But in Amsterdam that red hat was magic (I had QQ 10-15 times and won every one) and as soon as I change it for the final table I bust out on the 3rd hand (the mighty 56s). I was not going to make the same mistake in Walsall. I know it sounds silly but if I'd messed up Walsall how could I live with myself, knowing that I'd tempted fate by changing cap. Thinking about what might have been would have driven me nuts.
JM: In Walsall, you backed yourself as a long shot and ended up winning it outright, therefore getting an impressive bonus. Give us three tips for the next few GUKPT events seeing as you count as nearly prescient...
JB: Dave Colclough, Michael Greco and Dave Smith.
Alternatively, James Akenhead, Nik Persaud and Mikey Tse get my vote. All good players overdue a big payday.