GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 14 - October 2010

games at that. Most people are only good at one or two games, so if you sit at a table with four or five games in rotation and you know them all, you have a greater edge against your competition. My favorite games to play are Hi/Lo Split (Stud and Omaha) because so many people are just awful at these games. They tend to overvalue their high hands that are super vulnerable (e.g., they have two pair but no low and I already have a low, thus I have 50 percent of the pot locked and I’m freerolling them for the other half since I can outdraw their high hand bymaking a better two pair, three of a kind, a straight, flush, etc.). I also enjoy games like 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball, Badugi, Razz (yes, I’m that sick I actually enjoy playing Razz) and others. For other people playing poker out there on a regular basis, what are your key bankroll management tips? Most people will not be playing for a living, but if you aspire to this then you have to be cogni- zant of good bankroll management. This includes keeping track of your results and being realistic about your profitability. Don’t gamble with money you can’t afford to lose; don’t play when you’re drunk, tired or stuck; stay in games when you’re win- ning and don’t be ashamed to quit down for a session. Even the best can go a day, week or month and post a loss. Also, don’t approach poker with the thought process that you want to earn X amount of dollars each session. Poker is a long-term game, so focus on putting in the hours and practice good table selection and the end results will take care of them- selves. On any one day you can beat play- ers that are better than you and lose to the mouth-breathers. What lessons do you take from the poker table and apply to real life? Life is not “fair.” You are not “due” or “owed” any- thing. Deal with it and suck it up. Some days you’re the fist and some days you’re the face. How much time do you devote to your site on a daily and weekly basis? I’m on PokerNations seven days a week. I love interacting with the members of the com- munity and watching themgrowas players.We recently had a few mem- bers final table and even win some events online for really nice scores. It’s always great to see your friends succeed on the felt, and I like to think that perhaps our site helped them along their path to success. How did you get former WSOPMain Event champ Tom McEvoy blogging for your site? And how often does he do it?Who else do you have blogging for you that we might recog- nize? Who would your “dream blogger” be? I attended the WSOP Poker Palooza a few years back and started making con- nections with players in the industry. We have a variety of pros on our network, in- cluding: Tom McEvoy, Chris “Fox” Wal- lace, Kenna James, Susie Isaacs, Todd Brunson, Perry Friedman, Eric “Rizen” Lynch, Jennifer “Jennicide” Leigh, Beth Shak, Young Phan, Ed Miller, David “The Maven” Chicotsky, Jonathan Little, Tommy Angelo and more! My dream blogger would be Barry Green- stein. He’s not only an amazing player, he’s a wonderful person as well. He carries himself with class and his philanthropy ef- forts are inspiring; the guy has personally donated millions to charity! What’s been the most difficult aspect of operating PokerNations? What’s been the easiest aspect of running it? The most difficult aspect is stepping away from the site. It can be difficult to disconnect when the project is your passion, but it’s impor- tant to do so to avoid burnout. The easiest aspect of running it is the people. We have a wonderful community of friendly play- ers from all walks of life, from a variety of cultures and of differing skill levels. One of the trickiest aspects to running a forum is moderation. What’s your “mod- eration philosophy”? How many people do you have moderating your forums? And how much time does it take? A lot of gaming communities feature person- alities that border on sociopathic-narcis- sism. Some of the highest-level thinkers in the game unfortunately lack basic so- cial skills. And even regular players can have ego issues. What we wanted to avoid with our community was the common issue of trolls, where people just insult one an- other back and forth. It’s so prevalent in many communities today, and it’s really unnecessary. Insulting someone when they ask a ques- tion related to poker strategy or share a hand doesn’t encourage members to grow. It can scare off newcomers from getting involved at all, and too many sites permit these antisocial trolls to run the show. If you are a newcomer to the game and post a question and the first ten responses are all insults, it doesn’t encourage you to return or to grow as a player – it’s a huge turn-off. AGE: 33 HOMETOWN: Gardner, Mass. LIVINGIN: Conn., USA FAVORITEFOOD: Chicken MUSTREAD BOOK: If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor by Bruce Campbell SITES: PokerNations.com AFFILIATE INTERVIEW SERIES SAluting Our Global Community 53 GPWA Affiliate Interview Series