blonde poker forum

Today, at the end of this WSOP, Sam is able to go in the Well from Vegas. I've been badgering him for a while :)

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One of the most original characters in UK Poker, a mixture of the irreverent and the profound as evidenced on his twitter feed @SquidPoker

Sam is a very successful MTT player both live and Online, and a star of the recent Sky Sports Cash game on our TV screens

Live Results include GUKPT Grand Final winner in 2012 and three other GUKPT Final tables. Sam has 8 WSOP cashes, including four this year

Online, top 10 UK ranked on P5s with lifetime cashes of over $2m http://www.pocketfives.com/profiles/thesquid/

Fire questions at him, and allowing for time differences I reckon this could be one of the most stimulating wells we've had on here

Hey all,

Tighty asked me to do this a coupla times. I'm currently stuck in Vegas without a passport and been reflecting on poker a lot so seems like as good a time as any. Ask me anything you like about poker or life and I'll do my best to answer.

Lets start eith something simple, why the squid?

IN..

1. Five people (Alive or Dead) you would share Table at your Favourite Restaurant. and Why..
2. Last time you cried and why.
3. Favourite Football Team and why.
4. What honours did you get when you left School/Uni.
5. Favourite European City and you guessed it Why.

PS. Have you ever bought Celtic Dinner?

Favourite UK live poker stop? (not just for venue but also for city/clubs/bars/restaurants etc)

Whats the most common mistakes you see from MTT'ers?

Do you favour less tables and more reads or as many tables as you can click on?

Do you see yourself still grinding MTTs regularly in the next 2-5 years?

Best player you know that nobody has heard of?

Going back to the start, I believe you did a Masters and then are quoted as saying you needed "intellectual stimulation"

Why, at that point, poker?

Does it still give you that challenge of 3-4 years ago?

If you'd gone down a different route after academics, what would your career be?

What's the weirdest situation you've ever found yourself in?
The most balla thing you've ever done / bought?
Do you prefer online or live poker?
You're entering a team competition, you have to pick 3 other English players, who do you pick and why?
Is it true that your 3 betting range is the lightest element on the periodic table?

If you had to be the back-end of a pantomime horse, which poker player would you most like to be the front-end?

Yeah I get asked this a lot and I'm not really sure.

It defo originates from my Party screen-name. When I started playing semi-seriously at The Internationl we used to jokingly call each other by screen names my only one was sammy_squid so people kept calling me that. When I set up my Stars account in 2009 I just kept the name.

So why Squid originally? Since I've learnt that there's a character in the cartoon Rugrats called Sam Squid or something similar and also in Red Dwarf but I'm not a fan of either. So who know?

Oi oi sam, had a fun night out with you, sykes and cody after the monte carlo... hope vegas hasn't been too rough on you this year?

- best day in vegas this year, and ever?
- two things no one on here knows about you...
- biggest tip to an aspiring amateur poker player?
- what are you going to do to improve and in what, in the next 12 months?

Jb

How big is the problem of misogyny in poker and what can we do to solve it? GO!

who is the best conversationalist in poker and or UK poker?

top 3 worst MTT regs that boggles your mind how they win?

are you really as confident and outgoing as your exterior suggests?

how nice a guy is dan quinn out of 1-100?

My question is:

How's it going?

How the hell do you get stuck anywhere without a passport? Did a hooker nick it as collateral?  ;whistle;

Where's your passport?

How much influence has Noonan had on your table banter and one liners?

Current favourite place to play live cash in London?

1. You defo need someone funny like Oscar Wilde or maybe Evelyn Waugh, Shakespeare obv, maybe Noam Chomsky him and Waugh wouldn't get along I suppose, Karl Marx, maybe Rimbaud? Oh Slavoj Zizek. Or Susan Sontag. She's probably to serious.

So Wilde,Shakespeare, Marx, Rimbaud, Zizek

2. I watch 'Truly, Madly, Deeply' maybe once a year and cry my eyes out. End of 'Land and Freedom' also makes me cry.

3. Arsenal fan since watching 1987 League Cup Final. Littlewoods Cup as it was. Probably would have been a Liverpool fan if they'd won. God bless you Charlie Nicholas!

4. Got really good GCSEs, then went off the rails a bit at Alevels but blagged three A's and a C. Got a 2:1 at Sheffield Uni in English Lit, then Nottingham Uni got a distinction for my Masters in Crit Theory. Hence my love for Zizek!

5. Favourite city in Europe is probably Einburgh. Had so many amazing summers there during the festival. Always seems magical and romantic.

Don't know who Celtic is so prob not.

Excellent.

*cracks knuckles*

1. What's your first choice play in Charades?
2. Please post a YouTube clip of or describe your favourite all-time advert.
3. Favourite episode of The Simpsons?
4. Who's the first person you go to for a second opinion about a hand you've played?
5. I saw you reference Martin Amis on the Sky cash game and get some blank expressions. Is he an inspiration? Do you consider yourself a rebel? Do you consider him a rebel?

Will likely have more but that's enough for now.

What were the reasons behind the four bet?

You're a sodding gooner?

::)

Favourite stop is Manchester because I always feel I'm gonna do well there. I need to make Genting Sheffield Leg at some point tho because I really love an excuse to visit my old stomping ground.

There's loads of mistakes. Ummm. Ok firstly people don't adjust to the table enough. Like if there's tough players on there left they don't tighten up enough and if there's bad players on they're right they don't open up enough and start flatting really wide. Basically they just have a range of hands they're comfortable playing regardless of the table.

Another would be just paying people off in spots that there opponent is never bluffing. They think cos they flatted, or didn't raise flop, or whatever that they are 'under-repped' or there range is capped so they have to pay off. In fact either there against an opponent who is only mediocre and can never exploit them, or against someone extremely good who knows what they have and knows they ain't folding.

An additional leak ttournament players tend to have is just switch of there brains a lot hen they flop a big hand they just want to 'go with it' because this requires the least amount of thinking. Like they flop the nut flush draw so they just raise get it in or whatever. They don't think about the optimal way of extracting value with there hand. Say they have QTcc on KQ3cc they seem terrified that if they don't get it in on the flop then they may have to fold there hand ona later street or make some tough decisions. So they just go for the easiest option, regardless of whether this is best.

Which halls were you in at Sheffield?

favourite places to eat and drink in shef? was there for 4 years.

I try and play as many tables as I can. You definitely need to think of your hourly and these means volume! As edges get smaller tho high stakes players may have to reduce tales at least slightly.

Yh. I do think I'm gonna be in the game for the long run. The only way you can even think about getting out is a huge live tourney score and it's hard to play enough of them to realise your expectation. That said when I was 27/28 the idea I might get into poker was laughable so I'm aware goals can change fast and I like to think I'm open to that.

Best player no-ones heard of: Rhys Jones. Frequently refered to as 'a player' or 'the big blind' or 'player A' in Pokernews reports.

Seems like there are a few UK online guys who could end up being really good.  Aggro Santos, Benjizzle, Bit2Easy all seem to play a great deal of volume and play creatively.

Sorby Halls R.I.P.

Hmmm. Not sure about weirdest I'll give it some thought.

Only balla thing I do is eat out at good restaurants like daily. Also like here in Vegas when I run out of clothes I just buy more rather than wash anything. Like say last night we're out for Pabs and I'm wearing a crap football shirt so after dinner I just went with Jake and Trigg to All Saints and bought a t-shirt and a leather jacket. Costs me a round just cos I've runout of nice clothes, this kinda thing is pretty common.

When I play live I think I prefer online, when I play online I think I prefer live.

Three players is too gross! Depends whether you want it for live or online. Maybe Jake, Moorman, Brammer. Oooof! That's brutal because there's so many that are just sick good. Craig, Toby, Firaldo, Pez all could claim to be top three right now. In fact would prob bump Jake for Pez then we would have a nit free team. Jake could join up with Craig and Toby and they old talk about all the great folds they've made on the break.

I was in Endcliffe Vale Flats, but met a very nice girl who was at Sorby :)

LOL

Yeah I think what I said was that when I left Uni and returned to Leamington there wasn't really anything to replace all the talking and debating I done both with thesps in the theatre community and the lefties on my Masters Course. Poker was that intellectual outlet.

Still challenges me massively. Mixed games, PLO I'm only at the beginning of my journey and MTTs move so fast that you have to (or at least I have to) work hard to stay close to the top.

Think probably another career would have been either some sort of support work. I've worked a lot with adults with learning disabilities and in schools with kids with behavioural issues. Or it would have been political campaigning. I essentially started playing for a living to support an internship I did with the World Development Movement, which campaigned on environmental and trade issues. Definitely something I was interested in working on in a more formal setting.

Needs to be someone with good personal hygiene so rules 80% of poker players out.

Favourite country visited?

Which is top of the list of ones you've yet to visit?

Ever wanted to slap someone at the poker table?

why did you limp AKs 200bb deep UTG1 at a soft table?

do you have any long term goals?

tell the story of the time you broke into an airplane hanger

do you find poker fulfilling?

top 3 poker thinkers?

top 3 poker robots?

Best day was Pez rail by a long way. I think we all needed that release of energy. It's such a frustrating 6 weeks when no one gets a result so it boosts morale no end. Everyone on the rail is so hilarious aswell.

Two things no-one knows? Had my nipple pierced when I was 16. Was considered a pretty out there thing to do in 1996. Errr... I directed Vagina Monologues. Guess that seems a long time ago now I spend all my time with other men.

Biggest tip. Is just play. Every day. Take it seriously. Try and learn something or identify a mistake after every session. The bad beats etc are irrelevant and what's dangerous about them is they take away your focus and you concentrate on them rather than you leaks.

Loads I wanna do in next twelve months. Gonna start watching more vids and playing more live cash. Me ad Jake have said we gonna learn/improve at mix games. Gonna start doing hand reviews more regularly.

Wow! Shit just got serious!

Yh I think it's a massive problem. If you look at the way women are talked about it's continually in reference to the way they look. Annette's recent wait loss, whether she's hot or not is continually mentioned both just in general chat and also in the more formalised poker media. Last year when there was all that ADZ chat about Lauren Kling people just lapped it up. There was real glee about the public humiliation of an attractive girl.

Think two things need to happen. Firstly poker media just need to be responsible with way they depict female poker players and we as a community just need to side step worst excesses of sexist discourse.

This of course is a societal issue that exists outside of poker but it is particularly prominent inside our community.

Don't agree the Lauren Kling thing was misogyny.

If roles had been reversed and she was tweeting that Mariofati (or whatever the punks name is) had a tiny dick and smelt of deep heat, people would have lapped it up just the same.

People love to hear about other people dirty laundry in public. Look at the Liv v McPhee thing, that couldn't be construed as misogyny. Peeps loved that.

Agree with most of the rest though.

cliffs on lauren kling thing?

Best conversationalist is prob Craig. He's happy to just chat bullshit or to talk poker or to talk more serious stuff. It's just important to be able to switch gears. Main problem people have is wanting to chat hands in mixed company or when it isn't really appropriate I can defo be guilty of that aswell.

I can't really out people I think are terrible any longer! This is the problem with live scene I know everyone now and I can't bad mouth anyone any longer! Pessagno world no 1 seems way off tho, T54 top ten aswell. Have fish reg tag on both.

Yeah I think I'm pretty confident. I can handle most social situations well. Pretty English in the sense that small faux pas' mortifying me tho. So if forget someone's name or make a joke that doesn't go down well I feel completely ruined.

Dan Quinn is a sweetheart. One of the unexpected bonuses of the summer has been getting to know RunItOnce team a lot better. Didn't really have any personal relationship with other instructors or technical team before last few weeks. Has left me a lot more pumped to make good videos and provide top quality content now I know everyone.

Pretty tilted at being stuck in Vegas. Was supposed to go LA and sort stuff today but all buses are full. What a joke! Didn't wanna waste day and promised Tighty I'd do this after GUKPT win, so seemed like a good opportunity.

Had a pretty boozy day about a week ago and lost it. Joke tilting as you can imagine. Rang all casinos I visited and most taxi firms.

Noonan is amazing. He's waaaay the funniest guy in UK poker. It ain't even close. Definitely my way of chatting about poker owes a lot to him and all the gutty regs. Also think Noonan was first person to referring to people as 'punters' which is a phrase a lot of people now associate with me.

Favourite place is The Empire. I like to be on good terms with dealers, floor men etc and this is the place I feel most at home. Good thing about The Vic is seeing Ramey, Prat, Allen brothers etc so do go there sometimes also.

1. I don't really get this question. What do you mean by play?
2. Immediately springs to mind is the 'Uncle Drew' basketball advert that came out in the states a year ago. Not savvy enough to post it using my iPad. Could someone else do it for me? Also, this is SO cheesy I know, but the Full Tilt advert where it's Durr speaking about how he imitated other people and the finally he learnt to play like himself. I know it's just a cleverly scripted advert but there is a little bit of poker truth in it. I think it's the sign of a good player when, say there is a few of you talking strat, they don't defer o the more accomplished player but have a strong independent opinion. If you just develop a style that is just the aggregate of everyone else's thinking its pretty hard to thrive. You need to develop our own style.

Biggest extravagance?

Fave type of food?


Biggest degen story?

3. The one where Bart steals Millhouse's test results and everyone thinks he's a genius.
4. Craig or Moorman. There both incredibly good, of course, but also very open to different lines. I still talk a lot with Nico Protopapas who isn't on the tournament scene as much but who I still trust implicitly. He'd be first person I would talk to about any business matter regarding poker.
5. I don't think I could call him an inspiration and he's certainly no longer a rebel. I've read nearly everything Amis has written, fiction and nonfiction, and I love the early novels Rachel Papers through to Times Arrow. The War Against Cliche is fantastic aswell, page by page and line by line. Having said all that he's produced so many badly plotted and mediocre novels recently and made so many ill considered pronouncements on political issues that I don't consider him of much importance any longer. Indeed McEwan, Rushie and Amis perhaps the three leading lights of English letters in the 80's have all trodden the well worn path from young radical to mature conservative. I mean there political positions are too complicated to be neatly summarised but in general their novels have got worse and worse as there political position has drifted increasingly to the right. Such are the perils of od age I suppose.

When I read through the thread I was really pleased to see you write that you would have taken this as a spot to four-bet light a lot. In fact you might have said you were willing to four bet your entire opening range. I defo thought this was a possibility.

I guess when you are about to three-bet as a bluff your consider the good outcomes. In this instance they where things like picking up the pot now,  or bad players who had flatted your open peeling with a weak range. But you also consider the bad things such as you four-betting and blowing me off a relatively strong hand. Felt like you where opening decently wide utg and that you would four bet bluff enough that a five bet was profitable. Strong blockers etc. so just went with that. Wasn't really trying to pressurise the top of your range.

I used to LOVE the book shop Rare and Racy on Division Street and two or three doors along was a place called Casablanca's with loads of old film stills on the walls. It's closed now but was probably my favourite at the time. There's an Italian also on Division St just down from The Forum that till exists where we used to go for birthdays. Also love The Crucible. Was lucky enough to be there while Grandage was artistic director and saw some fantastic productions. It's just an incredible space when utilised properly.

Feel more at home in Palestine than most places in UK.

I would really like to go to Lebanon, also South Africa, Brazil... Once you start thinking about it there's so many places.

Yh. Whenever someone insists on seeing a players hand unnecessarily.

a) People play badly with initiative. They massively overvalue hands, bluff to much etc
b) Deception. AK ranks as hand that I almost can't have when I limp call. They'll attack my boards a lot and the low boards I'm perceived to have sets or whatever.
c) This sort of comes from the other two, but when you give someone the betting lead and have a deceptively strong hand all sorts of good things can happen. If someone isos KQ they'll generally play for stacks on King high where as when they peel utg open they proceed cautiously.

Only bad thing is your the button and your really good. I often limp strong hands on bad-spewey players buttons. You don't fit that profile.

Extravagance I sort of covered. Food is anything involving cheese. Degenerate stories mainly revolve around the gutty (The International). I've defo played the case money or 90% of my net in a cash game there at least three or four times. Remember having a losing session online then losing money to the dealers playing Legs so I fired up 5/10 off maybe a six thousand dollar roll and won a buy-in off KyleJf or something HU to get out of it. Snap sat out after aswell. That sort of thing definitely wasn't uncommon back them.

Fast becoming one of my favs. We met briefly at DTD, wednesday night before MC, you bounced up to the cash desk loving life and it was both exciting to see and somewhat intimidating!

At the moment I'm grinding small stakes NLHE/a bit of omaha mtts with Mil and maybe up to big 55 most days, I punt a bit on .fr in there sunday stuff and to add some extra volume. I also play virtually every omaha 8 tourney around. Live cash thrown in 2-3 times a week mood/life dependent. Bar playing everyday, reviewing certain hands and chatting on skype what other work would you do? Any schedule advice? Would you look to eurosites for all NLHE play? Play any yourself?

Thooughts on luckychewys facial hair? Cheers for doing this, if you ever have any o8 questions feel free to ask away. Don't have to go beserk with the qns cos i asked a lot but if any take your fancy fire away, you've touched on some stuff already.

- What was the most profound thing you heard Phil Galfond say this summer?

- What tilts you most, both in poker and away from poker?

-  Funniest thing you've seen at a poker table?

Cool.

I kinda feel that the Ladies' Event works too much as a stop gap these days. People assume it helps but I don't think it does. WSOP/EPT/WPT need to give active roles to women/minorities and ask them, "What can we do better?" Then listen and take every piece of advice. Something like actual women's committees and not just including people like Vanessa Selbst, but lower stakes women. It would need to cover a wide range.

As for the media side of things, I know several people who work at places like Pokernews who are still set in certain ways of thinking with no idea of their privilege. Bluff regularly holding their WSOP party at a strip club hardly helps.

It's not just them though, when Iveypoker signed up Lucille Cailly, the very first thing they have in her bio is how pretty she is. I mean fuck you, seriously. This is a woman who came second in one of the toughest events of the year winning about a million euros and had like 90% of her own action after swaps and her looks are the first thing you mention?

Long term I guess kids and family are part of the make up of the next ten years. I really want a family but I feel I need to win a major title first. I can't imagine how difficult it must be too raise a family and still compete on the poker front.

The airplane thing is probably a little controversial to fully get into here. To give an outline I was very heavily involved in the anti-Iraq war protest. I did a lot of organising around that time and was very convinced of the efficacy of civil disobedience. This culminated in me and a friend breaking into RAF Fairford to 'peacefully disarm' the planes there. It's still an action I fully stand by.

Funnily enough the reason I was late out to Vegas was because of the wedding of my 'partner in crime-prevention' Joss. He was only 17 when we broke in and is now head of Political Policy for GreenPeace. Quite a lot of the best man speech centred on jokes to do with that break in and other actions Joss had been involved in.

Good question about fulfilling. I know you've selected that word carefully. Poker doesn't really affect anyone outside the poker world so it's never going to satisfy me fully. That said succeeding in a very competitive environment can be a very rich experience and a lot of the fringe benefits; namely travel and a wide social circle are an added reward.

I think Moorman hand history-wise is one of the best. Im lucky enough to know a lot of good thinkers so it depends what type of hand it is. When i went deep in Deauville every night i told hand histories to Vampy and Jakoon. Pretty boss combo right there. Mickey Petersen in terms of macro issues regarding ROIs game selection, regs tendencies has gotta be one of the best. Whenever im with him i want to know his opinion on every subject. Finally there's Galfond of course. Galfond's Well completely blew my mind when I first read it.

Poker-robots. You mean like volume and results? Toby Lewis and Jake are obscene. Toby's results live and online are ridiculous. Online NigDawg, Cal, Mickey again, all playing lots of tables and playing great poker at almost all of them.

Chewey seems like the greatest guy ever. Super sincere and just ask you something and then attentively listens. Massively under-rated skill. Guess with the facial hair he's just trying to look more grown up. Such a baby face.

Was chatting with Scott Clements about O8 tournaments. We both used to grind the late night/early morning $24 on Full Tilt pre Black Friday. One of the sad things is that now I'm backed for high-stakes its so hard to justify grinding the low stakes Omaha birds that I used to play when I was on my own money.

Galfond kind of refined something I've often talked about which I used to call your 'inner punter' which is like where you have a certain disposition to do bad stuff completely irrationally. Like you've learnt to be good but you still have this atavistic part of you that wants to play a certain way. Like if a decision is close you might always lead towards the most aggro option because deep down that's what You like dng. Or secretly deep down you like to bluff so if its close between check folding and bluffing you bluff too much. Often this 'inner punter' is shaped by the context in which you learnt to play. So a lot of English players are taught early on the importance of 'getting it in ahead' so if a spots close between say four bet jam and fold they fold because their inner punter would feel slightly embarrassed if they were to flip over the worst hand.

Galfond talked about an inner emotional response. Like how he felt completely comfortable making hero call, but when he makes bluffs and they get called he feels tilted slightly. Just to re-emphasise we aren't talking about the EV of the play. We're talking about your emotional response when a play doesn't work and how that shapes your game. Made me think a lot about my own tendencies. I busted almost every timbey I went deep in with a suited blocker. I have almost no emotional response to being all in pre with worst hand but perhaps I don't like 'passing up' spots. If I'm not making decisions completely rationally but giving in to an emotional prejudice that's obviously a huge leak.

Last band you saw? Last festival you went to? Future festival plans? Favourite act from Edinburgh fringe?

I've said this before in other interviews but people who are rude to dealers I find joke tilting. Not only are the majority of dealers super nice people but they are integral to what we do for a living and how we make our money.

5 books that everyone should read?
how much £ would you have to be paid to never play another hand of poker?

As in, you are up to perform a charade]/i]. What are you going yo do? Film? Book? Whatever.

Serious one....Do you have conflict with what your chosen job is as a professional poker player and your undoubted strong values and moral compass, in terms of using your skills and talents to make a difference to society in general?

Is the jacket you bought in All Saints last night  a "classic" Vegas purchase that will never see the light of day again?

What were the three biggest "key points" or events in you becoming successful at poker?

Good catching up last few weeks; shame about the ID and Coyote...mind you you had a lucky escape after reduc shooters. Safe trip home, hope the passport issue is sorted in LA

do you pay voluntary tax?

You talk hands, strategy and situations with your peers.

Does this "academy" approach to learning offset them knowing more about you/how you play/your ranges/apporaches at the table, assuming you cross swords (especially in the UK live, and online) events with the likes of Cody, Lewis, Perrins, Trigg, mcCorkell etc quite frequently?   

First 3 old skool garage tracks that come to mind?

Sick question.

 ;popcorn;

Anything except TV I guess.

Was there a defining moment from which you turned pro?

Only band I really fanboy hard is Foals. Last band I went to see waf Freddy and the Hoares who are really small at the moment but really good.

At the fringe saw so many great acts. Guess the best known one is Daniel Kitson, his stand up is really great and his one man show is fantastic. I'm not saying anything particularly original here as he's literally the darling of the festival. Noel fielding lived in flat below me first Summer I was in Edinburgh before he was big and I saw him a few times live, that was memorable. Also remember 'Def Poetry Jam' first summer and also 'My Name is Rachel Corrie' from my last summer there. It made me absolutely bawl from like half way through until the end.

£850k. Enough for a nice house and to go back to Uni and it's gg.

Would miss the cards SO much though.

Kele Le Roc 'My Love'
That track where the hook is 'I don't smoke the reefer'
MJ Cole Crazy Love

This is something that's got massively bumped of the agenda since poker took over my life and it's a real shame. I remember the year before I played my first WSOP  I went Isle of Wight festival and then to Bestival two weeks later. Saw Jay-Z, Strokes, Dizzee Rascal, Florence and the Machine. Was so good, but now Vegas just dominates the Summer completely.

Wow. Im shocked I thought figure would be £3,500,000 bad read.

This track just started playing on my ipad as I read this......freaky......

Good job you weren't the brain for this.  I would have taken the under at 1.5 easy.

hey sam (i lost my old account but am a long time lurker)

yeah to follow up, a post above. where do you stand on tax? like, i'm not a video maker yet or a winning player. but hope to be. i live in the uk, but have no idea about financial stuff like that. are you self-employed? do you only pay tax on runitonce vids? if you coach (how much btw?), do you have to pay tax on that? do you have an accountant who handles all this while you get on with the tweeting?

another q: any innovative vids lined up for a rio series? i suppose you're a bit constrained due to the structure of mtt's (although that maybe an incorrect assumption in addition to this), as well as there being a more wide variety of potentially winning playing styles in cash games than mtt's.

cheers 4 doing the well bro

at least you chose an EXCELLENT new name!

Given you spent a lot of time at the International/Gutshot, where there were a mixture of personalities shall we say, did you ever have any bad experiences?

Hey Sam sorry we didnt meet up for drinks in Vegas ! Somehow it didnt happen however :

Fav hole cards you just hate passing and not seeing a flop ? 67s the nuts ye ?
Mojitos with cuban rum the nut cocktail ye ?
Is there a case for missing the wsop action to stay at home and grind online the now 'much softer ' tourns ?
Is it possible to stay in vegas and do nothing but just grind poker during the wsop .ie. no nights out ,no rails ,drinking etc ( i think this is a good prop fwiw )
November 9 short stack or win any EPT ?

Gl in the future & please lose the Timmy Mallet hat  : )

I don't think i can entirely blame poker for my lack of contribution to society. I mean it would b much easier for me to take time out to do voluntary work or or activism at this point in my life than it was when I was younger. It's just that now my political impulse is in competition with my ambitions in poker and I prioritise that.

If i reflect on the amount of my energies I've put into poker it is a little disappointing when compared with my earlier life goals. However, poker has allowed me to live outsides the constraints of a lot of the institutions and bureaucracies that I abhor. I am part of a network and a community that is very pluralistic and  diverse and most importantly is largely free from formal hierarchies. The is something that sits very well with my political sensibility.

Surprised you would ask a question like that

(http://i454.photobucket.com/albums/qq267/ppokerfan/8b110b5b3a33438bde0a3418d0db0e65_zps42914368.jpg)

You describe it like a colony. Do you think poker should be so separated from reality? I can't help thinking it gets closer in some ways but then I see a thread on late payment, grimming or thefts and I am left scratching my head again.

Although you're very much on the inside looking out, I've no doubt from how you have come across ITT that you are intelligent and perceptive enough to be able to answer objectively.

+1 until I remembered what Ralph liked being done to him. lol

Guess books everyone should read are like the supreme works of literary fiction. So 'Ulysses' would top that list, guess your looking at 'Crime and Punishment' next, then 'Anna Karenina' and the like.

The novels that really switch me on to reading in my late teens though were more contemporary. John Updike's Rabbit Quartet is perhaps the greatest literary work of the post-war period. Also novels like 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being', Paul Auster's 'New York Trilogy' and Delillo's 'White Noise' opened my eyes to the ways in which the novel could explore and depict human experience in ways that TV and film just aren't capable of.

Judging from how much people seem to have enjoyed 'The Wire', 'Homeland' and such-like it really surprises so few of my peers are avid readers. The most successful TV series are very novelistic both formally and thematically.

This hadn't occurred to me until just now. Siggggh if it is I can't afford to be dropping $700 on items I wear just once.

No. I didn't even think there was a system for doing such a thing. I would think that if your concerned about the money you earn it's best to just increase the amount of money you give to charities and campaigning organisations.

I guess if I wanted to look at my career in terms of 'three points' it would be the three poker communities I've identified myself with.

Firstly there was my time in Leamington playing in snookerhall's and pubs. This is where my interest and passion for the game developed. Discussing hands with my brothers and best friend Huw gave me my first sense of how complex and rich the game was. Obviously at the time I didn't get a lot of the games nuances but I can remember the sense that I was improving almost every time I played. I remember how pleasurable it was to go home and look o the calculator on hendonmob to see what equity I had in certain hands and then mull over whether I'd played correctly.

Then there was The International. This is where I first came into contact with professional players and I learnt and incredible amount from watching other players and imitating there demeanour and conduct. Aslo I owe a great deal to the dealers and staff who always encouraged me in my pursuit of playing professionally. They'd seen other players like Praz and Laurence emerge from the club and they gave me the sense that if you could become the best at the Gutty then you would become one of the best in the UK.

Then there's all the online boys. I met Marc and Brammer at GUKPT Manchester and then Pab, Nicky, Middy at GUKPT Brighon I guess a year or so later. All the lads were very open with me from the word go and I'm very grateful for that because most of them were already pretty close and in some ways I come from a very different background. It's really credit to people like Pab and Moorman that they make people comin up through the ranks feel so at ease. Because they're not 'big time' after having achieved so much it means that no-one else can be. Having a peer group of British pros who are so talented has proved invaluable of course. I wouldn't have made the progress I have over the last couple of years if I didn't have these guys to be able to talk with.

Thankfully I don't have to battle with these guys too much. There will normally always be softer spots at the table than having to go after those sharks. Sometimes I regret being as public as I am about absurd hands I play on twitter and on breaks as its really not to my advantage to have people know how absurd I play. Discussing hands with such a great group of players really has no downside tho.

1. This is the sort of thing that I get asked at RunItOnce and I really have no idea. I'm not qualified to talk about online cash and in timbeys it really depends on table, stack size, blind structure etc.

2. I think it's really worrying that such a respected and almost iconic pro is choosing to publically go after mid-stakes pros gaining a small edge in the marketplace. Players MU is always gonna be slightly inflated because people buy for slightly irrational reasons such as enjoying a sweat or liking a particular player. The people selling on forums are mainly mid-stakes trying to take a shot on their own and avoid being staked. There a very vulnerable group who've been hit hard by the contraction in the poker economy and they deserve the support of fellow professionals.

The group of pros who were in the public eye when I first started playing (Ivey, Lindgren, Matusow) have badly led down the community both in there role as spokespersons and through their conduct. My hope is that the next generation of icons (Chewy, Selbst, Timex) will serve the community better. When I see Timex, Pius and Sheets discussing LFMagic's MU on twitter rather any number of other important issues the community faces I feel a little worried. As things get tougher for poker players i think it's important that we don't dissolve the ties that bind us together for the sake of regaining small edges for ourselves.

As a coda to that little diatribe I should say that it may be a little unreasonable to expect so much fromTimex he's a young lad after all and has every right to pursue his own interest/agenda. I just think that poker is very short of visible and vocal leadership. When your as admired as Timex you wield a lot of influence in the community and that carries with it a certain responsibility.

3. When I started playing online I won an incredible amount on Cake. My ROI in there timbeys was otherworldly. I used to grind all the $24 comps on Full Tilt aswell. There was a $24 PLH 6max I won like 8 times.

4. Best learning resource is of course talking with friends. Since working for Run It Once I've really got back in to videos tho. Jason Koons are fantastic for MTTs.

5.  Guess I haven't been asked cos I'm a vegetarian and just always order Halloumi.

I don't have a accountant but maybe I will have to consider it after I get paid by RIO. First time I've had formal income in a long time.

As I said I'm really pumped to do more vids after getting such good feedback from subscribers in Vegas. Plan to look at just 'key hands' from SCOOP chop. So that'll be something a little different.

Very early on had to hold a guy back while he tried to hit this kid who was threatening him with a chair. No lie! In general things didn't spill over in that way very often. Certainly a huge mix of people hanging out at the club. Miss it more than I can say.

Do you think there's a long term future for poker? (Particularly unlimited hold thems)
What's the biggest downswing you've had £££ wise?
Have you ever been / are you staked? (Don't have to answer if you prefer to keep it private)
Do you agree that there would be more of rain forests left if the vegetarians weren't eating them?

Poker players job isn't recognised by innumerable governments as a legitimate source of income, it isn't understood by our financial institutions and in many cases it isn't comprehended by players family and friends. This does mean that in some key ways we are separate and are more reliant on each others more than most communities. If we operate with care concern for each other this can be a source of strength for us, if we prioritise self-interest then it becomes even more of a problem.

97 spades is the nuts and I also I have a soft spot for suited Jacks with a dangler they make up more of my three bet range than I would like to admit.

Mojitos are great. Spent a month in Cuba when I turned 21 and spent a full Summer drinking them.

I couldn't do a full month with no outlet. Think your poker would suffer. Staying home might be more sensible but I'm all about the romance.

Last question is really good btw. Hmmm it's close but win an EPT I think. Tough one.

See you soon I hope.

Hey Sam,

How many tables do you play at once online during peak?

What are your usual reg times from start-finish?

What's your online set-up like (monitors, chair etc.)?

Always nice catching up with you m8, good luck at the tables!

Hey Sam , don't think u know me but hi anyway . My questions are :-
1) what's your best moment in life beside poker win?
2) what do u rated yourself as a poker pro comparing to the like of Phil Ivey ?
3) what are your biggest strength in poker ? Is it live MTT , online MTT or live cash or online cash ?
4) if u not playing poker , what do u think u will do for a living ?

Good luck in poker dude and hope u win lots

OiOiii

Spent some time with Sammy pingpong, TLD, elliott and JJ for Jerome's bday on Sunday evening mate, so so good to see them again. Miss the Int muchly.

My question. Do you find that you have a better ROI or worse when in a relationship? Like when you have someone you care for greatly, you obv aren't able to spend as much time grinding and working on your game compared to times of singledom, so in theory it would be -$EV. Yet somehow when someone's there who actually cares/takes an interest in your results that you maybe play better than you could when alone? So because of the big boost in +LifeEV, it maybe ends up as +$EV too?

What does it to take to become a strong, steady online player?

Surprised there's no Chomsky in there. Or Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine

Hi Sam,

I'm well out of touch with the 'celebrity' (for want of a better word) side of poker and the professional game, so I hadn't actually heard of you before opening this thread, and am afraid I am still none the wiser as to your poker achievements (although I shall look them up).  I just wanted to say, having read your posts on here, that you come across as a top bloke who would totally get along with me and my friends (I rarely think this of people so it's a high honour indeed, and one I'm sure you're going to treasure as much as your poker successes) ;D

Be lucky!

I get accused plenty often on this forum and beyond of being a pedant, a know it all, even a snob. So let's dispell some of that with an honest question:

I started Ulysees and, after my first reading session, never went back to it. You know a book is sometimes described as unputdownable? Well this was the opposite; I couldn't pick it up. It was like eating 500 ryvitas without even a glass of water or a slice of cheese.

Convince me Joyce is worth another go.

I think just as the economy has got worse in recent years there so know reason to think it can't get better in the future. Whether that's because of the emergencies of knew personalities, better television coverage or innovations in the game I don't know.

I do sometimes worry about increased rake. There is no reason that casinos, or Stars for that matter have to provide a game people can beat for a living wage. Pros need to continually make the case that having career poker players and narratives of success are good for everyone in poker.

what is your stance on currency vigging?

Hey Sam,

Ross from PokerPlayer here - thanks for all the great work you have done for us in the magazine over the last year.

My question/thought...

I think poker is a brilliant way for young people to make money - sometimes a lot of money - in a relatively short space of time. However, I always worry about the future for 18-25 year-olds that have never had any other form of income outside of poker. If you're beating $200NL (or higher) for a decent rate when you're that age it's a really good wage but if you suddenly lose that capacity to earn at the same rate - whether it's through losing your edge, not being prepared for a downswing or whatever - then these people are screwed. Nobody is going to employ a 25-year-old with no employment history in a decent job. And it's very hard to start from the bottom money-wise when you are used to the daily swings of poker.

So, as someone intelligent and with tangible skills that got into poker relatively late, what would be your advice for youngsters coming into the game? Dedicate themselves to it completely and worry about the future later? Or try and secure a fall-back option from the start, perhaps at the expense of some poker experience?

I just worry there will be a lot of busto former 'pros' in the next few years that are basically restarting their lives from scratch in their 30s.

Cheers!

 ;ifm;

Biggest downswing is like 45k dollars. I've been quite lucky in that respect. I grind quite hard between series and liveaments but I'm still running above expectation. It's likely that in the future I can expect a 80-100k downswing without doing a helluva lot wrong.

I played by myself until Janurary 2012. I then got backed by Mickey Petersen (mement_mori). I was then backed by Toby Lewis and I'm now backed by Pius Heinz and Pratyush Buddiga.

I play 16-20 during peak time. Think 16 is prob ideal number. Have a Mac desktop for which I'm gonna get a second monitor. I grind peak hours big 109 through to Big 162 an either reg from a coupla hours before this period or for a few hours after. Normally I start by reging early at say 3pm and my body clock get's later and later until I'm starting with the Big 109 and playing into the night.

1) all probably to do with theatre I took great pride in the work I did as a director. I was best man aswell at my friend Dean's wedding and that was a great thrill and an honour.
2) I've never played with him but I imagine I'm still a long way behind.
3) online MTTs or sure
4) Probably a teacher or some kind of support worker.

How has the standard of the opposition improved over time?

Do you play much non-holdem games? At the same levels?

Do you have a pre-game ritual? An album, exercises, a meal, check your emails, anything?

I think we should avoid it and try and do it at spot at least for bank transfer if not for Stars. As I've already alluded to elsewhere in the well, poker players don't have a lot of institutional support and we have to look after each other as much as possible.

With reference to David and 'VigGate'. I feel pretty sorry for him. I'm pretty sure that travelling on the circuit so much he's probably been charged vig in Australia or somewhere and is just doing something that outside of the UK poker community is pretty accepted.

I'm quite sympatheic to an ethic of concerning yourself with the present moment, following your instincts and worrying about the future later. I always did what seemed the most interesting and enticing through my twenties. I made myself quite unemployable as a result but I don't regret it. Poker is a fun career and if you think you can make it your living then pursue it with all your energies.

As a small caveat to that. I do worry about people that get stuck in a lot of MU. It's sort of accepted that you might have to work for someone for a year or two for no income and without any rights or benefits and there are ethical and practical dilemmas that result from that.

Obviously opposition is getting tougher and tougher. Everyone agrees on that.

I can hold my own in Omaha MTTs no problem, but cash games not so much. I played a big mix game at the Interntional for a few months consisting of Padooki, London Lowball, Super Stud, Triple Flop Omaha. They were all pot limit though so they don't have much application for MTTs. Hopefully I'll be able to work on my mixed game skills more this year.

No real rituals, but I do think its a good idea o leave the house and not just go from bed to computer to bed. Think that's a bad idea psychologically.

I was grinding low stakes cash at The Int just to pay rent. I really didn't see myself as a professional though. There  was a tournament festival called The London Poker Masters at the club, but I didn't really play tourneys, so was just gonna grind cash. Anyway just before the first event a reg called Irish Noel who I played cash with said he'd put me in on a 50/50 free roll and I ended up finalling. That weekend was a £500 Main Event and one of the dealers, Wilson Leung, put me in. It was a two day event and at the end of Day 1 I was chip leader and I remember going home that night with my mate Huw and talking with him about the idea of doing poker as a job. I guess from that moment on I've been a professional.

Think that's all the questions taken care of, so my time in 'The Well' is at an end. See you all at a live bird sometime soon.

cheers Sam.

Don't be a stranger, I am sure I speak for everyone when I say its good to have your input on the forum.

thanks for your input sam.

of all the uk poker personalities, youre the only one I know personally who is so opinionated inside and out if poker.
Yet also ab absolute p**shead!

Seya soon hopefully...
xx

Very kind!

It's a tough read for sure. You shouldn't approach it to reverentially tho as it's also very funny in parts. Maybe start by reading 'Dubliners' first. Or there's avery faithful film adaptation.

Great stuff Sam. Don't know you at all either, but you come across well.

See you at the blonde bash :)up

I've had a girlfriend the majority of the time of been playing and it definitely helps. It serves to balance against the compulsive nature of the online grind. Brings you back to reality and face up to real world stuff.

My Mrs don't half moan sometimes too.

Cheers 4 doing the weill. Best of luck Sam. And remember (and this is the sole reason why I lurk on blondepoker) the cream ALWAYS rises!

Lovely article, Sam, & a great "Well", thank you.


http://www.pokerplayer.co.uk/news/features/13462/the_daily_grind.html

Thanks Sam was a good read, always good to have another Sheffield University graduate around here, there are quite a few of us on here.

So you do still grind the big 22 everyday? Or near enough :P Pretty sick, love the heart, the guys at the top-end seem so far and away to other grinders!

Who have we got in the Sheffield Uni Alumni:

The Squid
Longy
Kinboshi
DMorgan
Philthepower

Who else?

:dontask:

Hmmm there was a thread a while back when loads came out of the woodwork, sure can remember who they were.

Didn't you lot do any work?

 ;scarymoment;

Sammy one of the top guys in UK poker atm without a question.

You can throw bricks at groups of poker players from every part of the world and it'll be a while before you hit one with a bad word to say about him...

Who have we got in the Sheffield Uni Alumni:

The Squid
Longy
Kinboshi
DMorgan
Philthepower


You can add me to the list....Sorby Hall, great days!

Thoughts on Bitcoins?

Thoughts on the Rehtaeh Parons/Audrie Pott?

Why do you think the media in America reported the Steubenville case how it did? CNN in particular

"Incredibly difficult, even for an outsider like me, to watch what happened as these two young men that had such promising futures, star football players, very good students, literally watched as they believed their lives fell apart...when that sentence came down, [Ma'lik] collapsed in the arms of his attorney...He said to him, 'My life is over. No one is going to want me now.' Very serious crime here, both found guilty of raping the sixteen-year-old girl at a series of parties back in August."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/20/poppy-harlow-cnn-steubenville-rape-coverage-criticism_n_2914853.html

Aware the well was "closed" but my previous questions had a poker slant and this is much more interesting.

Ah man, one more question? :P

I remember when u finalled the full tilt ftops I think it was when gutty was still open, they had u on the big screen there railing u. How do u keep yourself grounded & in control now u r playing for bigger stakes and have won more money over the years?

Also what advice would you give to people who have gone broke and trying to get back in the game?, I.e do u think its possible or has there time passed?

You are a top guy, so down to earth and always happy to talk about hands with others and give advice which I really admire.

Gl for the rest of the year Sammy x

^^^ So when did the gutty close then? (I should've asked Sam a timeline of his career. Am personally trying to make some plans for me in this game and it's taking a lot longer than I had hoped. If Sam has been playing for years, it makes me feel a bit better as to why I can't make a quick buck out of this game. And not return her phone calls ;) )

Don't quite understand who this post is aimed at & what's your point?

I'm asking a q.

When did the gutshot club close?

And the related q: When did Sam final table the FTOPS?

And I suppose after re-reading dreenie's original comment. This q is either aimed at dreenie or somebody slightly more intelligent (as dreenie claims that Sam was on the big screen at the gutty when it was still open. He can't remember whether it was before or after the club had closed ;) Well, if it was after, then it was somewhere else wasnt it? Yet this was only ~6 years ago.  If you can't remember the incident from that shorter time period AND you're a winning poker player, there's hope for all of us)

I meant 'The International', I used to call it the gutshot as it was same club just down the road & different name?!

Poker players- so predantic !

He finalled FTOPS when the international was open, they had him up on the big screen railing him OK.

Thank you, thats what I was asking for.

I wanted to try to work out how long Sam had been playing for. If he had played at the gutshot (>6 years ago), then it'd would've been a long time.

I know, it would've been easier to ask him in the well. But i forgot.

"Quick Bucls" are much easier to make when your sole intention isn't just to make them.

Grats on yet another triple crown Sam! Great run of results post Vegas

Stephenson Halls FTW!

1 and 2 in the hot 75 today, TheClaimer and SamSquid! vwp guys

Nice to see the good Brit guys doing so well. Thanks for the well Squid. Great read. Keep up the goood work.

Great bump, good read this thanks :)

Top bloke Sam, get the lot.