PokerSchoolOnline Live Tour

NewJane Interviews bazonkers, Won a Seat in the PSO Grand Live Tour Final 2006

NewJane: Congratulations on your excellent finish at the Live Tour event! Tell us about the event that qualified you for the Live Tour Final tourney next year.

bazonkers: I qualified for the Live Tour Final by playing in Event #22 at the 2005 WSOP, $1500 NLHE. This was my first major tournament so I wasn't really sure what to expect. I had played many tournaments before, both online and live but this was the big time. I knew I had the skill to play but I wasn't sure how I'd do. In the end, it turned out that it wasn't much different from other tournaments I played live and on PSO. Lots of people, some good, some bad, some really bad and some world class. It really drove home the point that anyone with $1500 can enter. There is no poker skill test before sitting down. I managed to stay out of difficult decisions and added to my stack where I could. This would prove good enough to get me a 35th place finish out of 2013 entries.

NewJane: Tell us some interesting facts about your life, such as place of employment, family matters, hobbies, or educational background.

bazonkers: I recently moved up to Sammamish, WA (Seattle area) after living in the San Francisco Bay Area for almost 9 years. Prior to that, I grew up in Kingston, PA. I moved out to the Bay Area in 1996 to work in the high tech industry at several well-known companies including Microsoft, eBay, and Google. I've since retired, and I am pursuing poker as a full time occupation. In my downtime from poker, I enjoy traveling around the world. I've been to 17 countries since 2003 and still have a list of places I'd like to visit. I've seen most of Europe and have visited China, Australia and New Zealand. I hope to spend 2 weeks this winter on a trip down to Antarctica.

NewJane: Give us a little glimpse into your poker background. How long have you played? Do you prefer online play or live? Where is your favorite place to play live? Do you like tournaments or ring games? What is your game of choice?

bazonkers: I've been playing poker since 2002 but I started serious focus on my game in 2004. I don't really have a preference between live and online play except that in a live tournament I have an easier time forcing myself to be more focused. Online play is great for practice but I find that sometimes there can be too many distractions around the house. In a live game, I have nothing else to do but focus on the task at hand. I enjoy both cash games and tournaments but tournaments appeal more to my competitive side. It's a battle of courage and wits where one mistake can have you sitting on the rail. When I do play cash games, I usually play 6/12 locally or a NL cash game in Las Vegas. Cash limit games and tournaments NLHE are two different games. They share the same basic rules but the dynamics of play are quite different. Most of my time is now spent mastering NLHE tournament play.

NewJane: How long have you been a member of PSO?

bazonkers: I joined PSO in March of 2004. I was looking for a way to get lots of practice against people that also wanted to get better. Some of the free sites I tried were terrible but PSO has worked out perfectly.

NewJane: What do you think was your greatest strength in the tourney? Your biggest weakness?

bazonkers: This might sound egotistical, but intelligence was my greatest strength in the tournament. Poker after all is a thinking game so being able to think quickly and make the right decisions are critical to doing well. Luck plays a factor but being able to outplay and outmaneuver your opponents is what wins tournaments. My greatest weakness was having the word survival in my vocabulary. This was my first major tournament so I wanted to be ranked and finish in the money. I didn't have the mindset of winning and therefore I didn't. Poker tournaments require both skill (and luck) as well as the right mindset to win. When we had about 40 people left, Mark Seif said to our table that everyone else was playing for second place. He was going to win. He went on the final table and defeated all of his opponents for his second WSOP bracelet that week.

NewJane: Do you remember any key hands you want to tell us about? Positive or Negative outcomes...

bazonkers: The cards we dealt and after a few hands, I found myself with 22. Asher Derei raised UTG+1 and I calculated my chipstack. Something told me that Asher wasn't strong so I pushed all-in. Raul Paez on my left cursed in Spanish, pondered for a while and folded. Several more folds and another long pause. A muttered curse from across the table and they fold as well. It's back to Asher and he said since he's getting 2:1 to call me he has to. He flips over A4o and I flip over 22. I dodged raindrops and doubled up to 30K. Raul and the other person that gave thought to calling had mucked 77 and 88. Asher was really miffed by my play but at the time I felt it was correct. I was short stacked, the very large blinds were coming and I needed a good hand. 22 wasn't very strong but I figured it'd be the best I'd see before the blinds. I discussed the hand later with Paul Phillips and he said that if I was first in, it was a fine all-in. Since Asher raised first and represented strength, I should have tossed it. Raul and the other person weren't worried about calling me, they were worried about Asher re-raising them all-in if they called. The hand worked out for me in the end but I'm not sure if it was the right play or not. It was certainly the most aggressive play I'd made the entire tourney.

My table broke and I was seated at a new table with Greg Raymer, Mark Seif and Toto Leonidas. Mark had an absolute obscene amount of chips, somewhere around 350K and he was the overall chip leader of the tournament. He was beating people over the head, which intimidated me a bit, and caused me to make what I felt was a mistake in hindsight. Toto is UTG and limped in. I found myself holding KQo UTG+1 with about 25K in chips so I limped in to see a flop cheap as well. A third player does the same. Mark made a minimum raise from the BB, and Toto called the raise. I called the raise to see a flop and so does player3. The flop came 8AJ all rainbow. Mark checked, Toto checked, I checked and player3 checked. The next card was an 8. Mark bet the minimum and Toto called. At this point the pot had roughly 27K in chips (of which I contributed 5000) and it's T2400 to call. I held the chips in my hand and thought for a bit. I needed a 10 to make the nut straight giving me 4 outs, or roughly an 8% chance of making it. I know I'm beat at the moment so my best chance was to improve. At this point, due to a combination of long play, intimidation and my subconscious telling me to survive, I totally blew the pot odds calculation and laid down my KQ. My brain said better to save chips to fight a battle when you are in the lead. Player3 called. The river was the 10. Ugh. Mark made a huge bet and everyone folded. I know that if I re-raised all-in, Mark would have been forced to call me due to the odds he would have been getting. Most of the time it's not the hand you bust out of the tournament with that cost you a shot of winning. It's usually an earlier misplayed hand. This was mine.

NewJane: What are some of the differences you notice in online play as opposed to live play?

bazonkers: There are a definite lack of tells online vs. a live game. There are more stare downs, trying to get someone to talk etc. at a live table. I find that online play is more about the cards and how the person played previous hands. At the WSOP, I found myself staring at my chip protector anytime I was all-in and either wanted or didn't want a call. I had to make sure I didn't give away any information. Online, I could be dancing around the computer and no-one would be the wiser.

NewJane: If you could have dinner with any current poker tourney pro, who would it be and what would be the question you would ask first?

bazonkers: I don't have a particular pro I'd want to have dinner with but I'd welcome the opportunity to pick the brain of any successful tournament pro. I had dinner with Paul Phillips the evening I busted out of my WSOP event and it was a very enlightening conversation. I had the opportunity to discuss a few hands with him and got some new insight on how I played. I used to think that I'd ask people how they got to be world-class players but I've learned that everyone takes their own route.

NewJane: What poker books have helped your game?

bazonkers: The recently published books by Dan Harrington are the best books on the market. I have both "Harrington on Holdem, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2" and have read and re-read both several times. There are lots of books out there, some good, some bad. These two are great. Another must read book is Sklansky's Theory of Poker.

NewJane: What new poker games are you interested in learning?

bazonkers: Eventually, I'd like to learn 7-card stud and it's variants but for now, I'm content with mastering NLHE. After I find myself consistently competitive in major events, I'll probably branch out to playing more PLHE before trying my hand at 7-card stud.

NewJane: Here is your chance to address anything I neglected to ask that you are dying to share.

bazonkers: I just want to add that I had a wonderful time playing in the WSOP and in all, it wasn't nearly as scary, tricky or painful as I thought it would be. There are honestly as many or more bad players in the field as there are good players and pros since anyone with $1500 can play. I would recommend anyone that does well on PSO seriously consider playing in the WSOP. It was a fantastic event and it really isn't out of our league. Play a solid game, practice, study and think about your game and you'll be cashing in sometime soon.

NewJane: Thanks for taking time to answer the questions, and GOOD LUCK in the LIVE TOUR GRAND FINAL!!

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