PokerSchoolOnline Live Tour

NewJane Interviews OZWALDM, one of the Top PSO Finishers at the Spring Big One event 2005

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.

OZWALDM: I qualified via the big one spring event. I saw that the final table made up another single table event and the top 4 from the qualified for the end of tour event so I decided to play the survival game in both tournaments. The second qualifier was the key one with 9 other very strong players it lasted several hours for 6 people to drop but I figured that with no real gain in winning survival was more important and I managed to out fold the others into the top 4.

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

OZWALDM: Oh god where to start? I live in England and I've just turned 30 (noooooooooo!). I got my degree in International Politics and Theory of War but really I went to university for the sex, drugs and alcohol which I found in abundance (except maybe the sex) and I dropped out a couple of times while I was there because I kept forgetting to turn up for six months at a time while I backpacked across Europe in search of better sex, drugs and alcohol. I used to work writing articles for journals and doing political evaluation work but have evolved into a 'semi-pro' poker player and house husband as my partner has a masters in fluid dynamics and is working on 9 month international contracts so I get to cook, dust, travel and play poker for pocket money. It's a fun life!

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?

OZWALDM: I started playing brag when I was a teenager (for those of you who don't know it its an English 3 card game as seen on Lock Stock and 2 smoking barrels) but only for fun and then I watched Late Nite Poker when it started and nothing would be the same again. Now four years or so later I play both live and online, cash and tournament and almost every variant except draw poker. If ever I had a passion in life it is people and poker gives you a great insight into the working of peoples minds, in fact it is best thought of as a mental contest so I try to study the game and people as much as I can.

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

OZWALDM: Around about a year, I wanted to experiment with different situations and learn from lots of mistakes without dropping a ton of cash onto the tables and the school is perfect for that.

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

OZWALDM: My biggest strengths are my patience and ability to evaluate other players and hands, successful poker is about maximizing profits and minimizing losses from any given situation you find yourself in and is like picking your way through a minefield of possible disasters, which you have to try and learn to avoid. As for weaknesses I often forget that not everyone is a skilled practitioner of the game and I am guilty of trying to be too clever against opponents and getting myself into trouble where I didn't need to.

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

OZWALDM: From the tournament itself, no. I was playing a style to try and avoid conflict with other players and protect my stack so most of the hands I played I either got away from or took down early, survival was the watchword of the day.

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

OZWALDM: Courage. People are protected from their own stupidity online because if they make a mistake they just turn the program off and walk away with very little shame but live if they drop a clanger they have to sit and look at you smiling at them so they tend to play more passively live making stealing and preventing steals easier.

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?

OZWALDM: There are lots of big name pros I would like to pick the brains of but as for dinner I reckon Doyle is a guy who knows where to get a steak that overhangs the plate on all sides.

NewJane: What poker books have helped your game?

OZWALDM: I have read as much as I can on poker because it is always useful to try to understand the mindset of successful players but if I had to recommend books anything by Sklansky for the beginner and as you advance 'Zen and the Art of Archery' and 'The Tao of Poker' are essential for building the mental strength to play the game long term.

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

OZWALDM: Ermmmm I play most poker variants, how about naked female poker. ALL IN BABY!!

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

OZWALDM: For me poker is a beautiful game, a mental contest between players and it seems sad that it is sullied so often by being played for money. The greatest hands most people will ever have are the ones where they out maneuver their friends of 20 years in a Friday night home game and the school reflects this ethos with the right amount of risk/reward to keep the good players honest but without major life penalties for making mistakes. I have just set up my own poker society on very similar lines to the school for players here in Leeds with the season due to start when the students get back for the summer break. I have also built my own poker table with cameras built into it (if anyone else is thinking of doing this don't, its a living nightmare to get right). We will have our own leagues and tour, which we intend to stream on the net so look us up in October.

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