Squid's In: In the Well with Sam Grafton

[GreekStein]

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?

[treefella]

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  : )

[The Squid]

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?

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.

[FUN4FRASER]

do you pay voluntary tax?

Surprised you would ask a question like that

[pokerfan]

[Tal]

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?

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.

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.

[bobAlike]

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

at least you chose an EXCELLENT new name!

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

[The Squid]

5 books that everyone should read?

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.

[The Squid]

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

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.

[The Squid]

do you pay voluntary tax?

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.

[The Squid]

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

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.

[The Squid]

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?   

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.

[The Squid]

1. What do you consider optimal vpip/pfr/3b stats for:

(online) cash
(online) tourneys

2. Whats your view on the whole Timex staking debate?

3. What did you find was the best bankroll builder when you first started out?

4. What do you find to be the best poker learning resource?

5. Why does the question 'favourite Nandos order' usually get asked in the well? (kinda tilts me). More to the point, why do you think you have not been asked 'favourite Nandos order'?

ps. please do more PHA, the ones I have read have been really good!

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.

[The Squid]

1. What do you consider optimal vpip/pfr/3b stats for:

(online) cash
(online) tourneys

2. Whats your view on the whole Timex staking debate?

3. What did you find was the best bankroll builder when you first started out?

4. What do you find to be the best poker learning resource?

5. Why does the question 'favourite Nandos order' usually get asked in the well? (kinda tilts me). More to the point, why do you think you have not been asked 'favourite Nandos order'?

ps. please do more PHA, the ones I have read have been really good!

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.

[The Squid]

1. What do you consider optimal vpip/pfr/3b stats for:

(online) cash
(online) tourneys

2. Whats your view on the whole Timex staking debate?

3. What did you find was the best bankroll builder when you first started out?

4. What do you find to be the best poker learning resource?

5. Why does the question 'favourite Nandos order' usually get asked in the well? (kinda tilts me). More to the point, why do you think you have not been asked 'favourite Nandos order'?

ps. please do more PHA, the ones I have read have been really good!

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.