DeVore in the well

DeVore

1. best person and biggest bollix re "names" you have encountered through your reporting

Best people: Joe Hachem, Daniel Negreanu, Chris Fergusson (in fact, most of the Full Tilt guys... who could dislike John Juanda?)

Worst: Phil Helmuth, Humberto Brenes, Tony G

The vast majority of the "names" are dead sound in fact, I could give you ten more "good guys" while struggling to find a fourth for the "bollixes".


2. most/least favorite thing about Vegas

Most: How nuts it all is. The constant poker action.

Least: The constant gambling (non-poker) and feelings of excess particularly when it comes to food.


3. would you ever buy into the wsop main event if your bankroll was under $50,000

No. I might try a 1k satelite though.

4.Whats the strangest thing you have ever seen on your travels involving poker ( I loved that brass band video from Copenhagen i think that was definitely off the wall )

The brass band was certainly weird. If you watch that just remember that the Copenhagen EPT is happening juuust to the left. It was surreal watching them wave to the Poker Papparazzi thinking we were there for them, with myself Snoopy and Jen waving back that them!

The Dunk-A-Stripper in the lifestyle show of the WSOP this year was pretty weird. Then Harrahs told them to take it away because it lacked class. Which is like Freddy Kruger telling you your nails need filing.



5. Did antesup just give up on this years reporting when Sly was knocked because of perceived lack of interest from here or because the powers that be made your job impossible.

A little from column A, a little from column B. After the first year when Mike and I quit reporting in (drunken) disgust at Andy being knocked out, its something of a tradition now with the poker press that we bugger off when the last Irish is out. They couldnt believe that with 4 to go, after 8700 runner we were leaving. Mike and I were both drunk and dissappointed and both had had enough of reporting so we left, giving them all the drunken fingers.

6. something that surprised you when covering an event ( this year at wsop I saw antonious throw a sissy fit after a beat and being surrounded by security which surprised me because of his super cool persona ) anything encountered along these lines.

I saw a HUGE HUGE bloke, really tall and enormous, take a terrible beat early on and he just stood there, frozen. He did nothing when he was addressed by the dealer nor anyone else. Then, with a look of murder, he started to softly but firmly thump his knuckles into the table, about once a second, progressively getting harder and harder. Everyone was totally quiet and the atmosphere was electric because this guy could wreck several tables before anyone would be able to get to him, let alone stop him.

Slowly about 20 security guys forumed a loose circle around him and the table and said nothing. Guy is still thumping the table. Noone says anything to him and finally he slowly turns and leaves with the circle of 20 guards moving with him and keeping his distance.
The atmosphere was absolutely electric...


7. Do you believe in taking shots or are you a bankroll nit

I'm a bit of a nit I think. I grind out money and never really look to move up.
I should but I am not intending on playing poker for every, certainly not as a semi-pro.


DeV.

DeVore

Who would win a fight ???
You or 5Starpool or lafortezza ???

I've done a few years of martial arts and lots of people have taken a swing at me in my life for one reason or another
I'd keep my eye on that 5starpool fella, he's got a mean head on him. Lafortezza is a big gurly man.


Which mod is the strongest ???

I dont know if I've met Ste05 in real life. 5starpool is certainly stronger then Mr Gurly Arms.


What biscuits do you prefer ??? Jaffa Cakes or Hob Nobs ???

Jaffa Cakes are cakes. The clue is in the name.

I prefer them over hob nobs, though possibly not over chocolate hob nobs.

MrPillowTalk

DeVore wrote:

I see you don't drive a car, If you did drive a car who would be your top 5 people you'd like to mow down?

Can I hit Gerry Adams and Ian Paisley at the same time?
George Bush.
The current pope.
Osama Bin Laden.

This is interesting, personally I think the achievements of Adams are quite remarkable and deserving of much praise.

Why was your poker skin set up under GJP when you had a ready made brand in AntesUp that was allready very visible, do you have future plans for another skin for antes, or is antes on the backburner these days?

Where do you stand on the is poker gambling argument? my personal opinion is that the skill argument is fundamentally flawed in so much that for the majority of players there is little difference between playing poker and playing roulette/bj etc and in fact in many cases their ev from house games would be significantly higher than from playing poker against reasonably competent players.

Since you entered the poker world have you managed to sustain a relationship? If not are you one of the many poker players who believe this to be totally unrelated to your chosen pasttime?

You mention on the thread that you dont make any cash from Boards, most people in my social circle frequent boards regularly, why dont you cash in? It seems a terrible wasted opportunity to me, I know the place is what it is because its not littered with ads or forced subscription however sound as it is to have the place like that, principals dont pay the rent and it strikes me as an awful lot of work for no bannanas.

Good luck with the well and continued success with the businesses.

DeVore

Did you play in the IPO?

Yes I did.

If so, please detail your exit hand (unless you won it)

Did he put you up to this?! Bunch of Deise fnckboxes the lot of ye

Nicky Power and I were chip leaders on our table by a long shot. It was folded to me in the SB, Nicky is BB. I raised, he reraise I shoved and he eventually made a great call with A8 and has the added advantage of finding me with K8. In all honesty, the way it played out, I would do it again.

Do you honestly think you are good at poker?

If yes, why

Yes. Too many final tables and deep moneys for it to be coincidence over this length of time. Good, however , is a relative term.

What's your best poker achievement?
Probably splitting it in Limerick at the Limerick Cup. Also I seem to have a record in the Big Slick events in that I have yet to finish not in the final chop when I have played their events


What's your best poker memory?

Not sure I could pick one but almost all of them didnt happen on a table. Stuff like hanging out in Barcelona with mates around the EPT. Going out into the night in Vegas looking for adventure etc.

In terms of memories from the table either winning my first big tournie or something like, seeing Doyle Brunson win his tenth and the respect and applause he got in the WSOP room when it happened.


When you see me at your table, do you think:
A) can I have a refund
meh i might get lucky
c) fix it with your poker buddies to move you


D) Yum yum!!


DeV.

DeVore

You are famous / infamous for your forthright opinions, especially on right /wrong.

I am?? Um, I call things as I see them often but I didnt think I was "famous/infamous" for it. I have a strong sense of fair play and it annoys me when people are getting the short end of the stick. I dont have a boss or anyone to report to so I can and often do, say what I feel like.

I really like your comments on poker players who act the goat. Picture a poker table where you are the dealer. So for my entertainment please fill seats 1 to 9 with the biggest arseholes you have come across on the poker circuit (Humberto Brenes might get a seat).

Brenes would certainly be there. So would Helmuth and Tony G.

More interesting might be who WOULDNT. Mike Matusow wouldnt as he's really not a bad guy. Phil Laak wouldnt because he's like that all the time, he's not putting it on or being annoying on purpose!

People who are bad mannered (both on and off the poker table) p1ss me off because its unnecessary and frankly, rude. I like to get in their faces.


DeV.

nicnicnic

DeVore wrote:

why cant you stop yourself three and four betting me when I'm sitting to your left and and you know I am not capable of folding

I hate you so much.

AND you still didnt make the money even when I dumped chips to you.

DeV.

at about 11 with my super team all gone i asked myself what i wanted to achieve in the tournament and came to the conclusion that knocking you out was my main goal having not let the team down. Consequently I donked my chips and drove home as gratified as if i had won the event:p

DeVore wrote:

The Dunk-A-Stripper in the lifestyle show of the WSOP this year was pretty weird. Then Harrahs told them to take it away because it lacked class. Which is like Freddy Kruger telling you your nails need filing.



DeV.

I found this a bit disturbing myself but great analogy

DeVore wrote:

Did you play in the IPO?

Yes I did.

If so, please detail your exit hand (unless you won it)

Did he put you up to this?! Bunch of Deise fnckboxes the lot of ye

Nicky Power and I were chip leaders on our table by a long shot. It was folded to me in the SB, Nicky is BB. I raised, he reraise I shoved and he eventually made a great call with A8 and has the added advantage of finding me with K8. In all honesty, the way it played out, I would do it again.



DeV.

I honestly didn't put him up to this but why would you play the the hand the same way surely you mean against a much less talented opponent;)




great read so far

DeVore

yeah. I shouldnt bluff the station. :rolleyes:

DeV.

DeVore

If you had never discovered poker and the internet didn't exsist what do you feel you might have ended up doing ?

I am 37, I have done a lot of other things in my life. I am, for example, a trained cobbler and key smith.

I used to variously, run my own company, employ 12 people, earn 1k a day and shift boxes for a living. Not all at the same time admittedly.

Favourite film and why ? Few of your Favourite Albums ? Favourite Drink ?

I dont have a favourite film, it depends on my mood. In my top list would be titles as varied as:
Blues Brothers
Truely Madly Deeply
Alien series (I liked all 4 films, prefering the first two)
Clerks
The Holy Grail
Fight Club
Serenity
Reservoir Dogs / Pulp Fiction.

There's another 2 dozen films I could name.

Favourite Albums would also be vary varied. I listen to tons of different stuff.
Massive Attack, Jameraqui (?), Rage against the machine, Greenday, Korn, Orbital, Jazzmatazz, Eminem along with pseudo classical stuff (like Requiem for a Dream) and classical stuff like Beethoven. It depends on my mood and what I want to change that mood to sometimes. I think about the only types of music I wont listen to would be heavy opera and experimental (freerange) jazz.

I drink Guinness by preference, and love a high quality single malt whiskey. Scotch or Irish doesnt really matter but Scotland has a wider range to choose from.
I like White or Black Russians and Mudslides! mmmmmmmmmm


How did you first get into poker?

This is something I wrote which I'm still working on as a blog entry.

I'm sitting in a dark room watching the final table of the world series on the television, the difference between me and 50 million other people is that the game is happening right now, 10 feet away. There are 5 players left, my countryman Andy Black has half the chips on the table and I'm crouched over my laptop in a worn and faded Rage Against The Machine t-shirt, hammering out updates on each hand as it happens. This is the biggest poker game on earth, ever.In what alcoholics refer to as a "Moment of Clarity' I stop typing and consider how the hell I got there.
But this is not the start of my story, this is the end of it.

Skimming backwards, I had a life before this. I was in business. Yes, I used to be a respectable businessman. The managing director of an award-winning company. I *employed* people for christ's sake. Was that me? I wore 400 euro 3-piece suits and was a paper millionaire. It seems like someone else. It *was* someone else. A different life, a different person. Computers, I made a killing from computers during the boom. I negotiated deals for millions of dollars and took a slice off the top for my help.

Then the downturn hit and we tried to ride it out, put the entire company on the bet that the market would turn before we went under. Millions of euros worth of intellectual property, contracts, equipment not to mention 12 peoples jobs went on the line.

Ironically it wasnt until later that people would call me a gambler.

Let me explain the path that led me to being a professional poker player, that made me a member of a vibrant and long standing subculture.

The week we liquidated my company, my father had a catastrophic quadruple heart-bypass that nearly killed him. Not the best week of my life. But I had no end of people offering to snap up my services and so I put on the suit again, slapped on a fake plastic smile and went back to doing what I did. I'd been the boss for so long and tasted freedom away from a desk that I couldnt stand being reinserted into the Matrix but I didnt have choice. I had to work. I owed a fortune to the banks and I was broke but I hated it and my clients complained and my boss couldnt figure out what had happened to his star hire.

I took the last 2,000 euro from my bank account before the creditors came looking for it. I owed them half a million so 2,000 euros wasnt going to help either way but I needed a holiday and so I decided for my 34th year on this earth, to treat myself to my dream trip and went snowboarding in Canada. On the second day I took a jump wrong, smashed into a tree, snapped my thigh bone clean in half and fell 6 feet into snow like a rag doll. When I woke up in hospital, high as a kite on morpheine, they had drilled a hole in my shin, put a metal bar through it and I was in full traction. Happy ****ing birthday.

My mates had grabbed everything they thought I might appreciate for an extended stay in hospital including Sklansky's Theory of Poker. The bible of No Limit Holdem. As I recuperated I read it from cover to cover over and over and over again. The docs drilled, pinned and screwed my leg into some semblance of normality and told me I had a long recovery ahead. As soon as I had relearned to walk I hobbled to the souvenir shop and bought one of those tiny packs of playing cards they sell. The kind gnomes might play with. I whiled away the hours, days and weeks dealing hand after hand, playing them all and studying my one and only book. I used my pills as chips and the container as the dealer button.

The complex odds and probabilities didnt bother me much but as I studied I realised how much of this game I had missed just watching Late Night Poker. I got absorbed, addicted and compelled by the beauty of this deceptively simple game.

Returning to Dublin I couldnt go back to my flat. It wasnt that I didnt have the rent for the landlord (I didn't), my flat was on the fourth floor with no lift and frankly I needed some tender loving care so I did what any good Irishman does when he's sick. I headed home to the mammy.

With 100 pounds left in my bank account the rent wasnt going to go away, I didn't have the heart to burden my poor mother further with my financial problems and truth be told, my pride baulked at the idea. She had enough to worry about between a convalescing husband and a bashed up son on crutches. There was only one thing for it, I told her I was going to meet some friends in town, took the last 100 euros I had in the world and went to play the 20 euro game in the Fitz. Crutches and all. The tournament was played on Sundays and Wednesdays and I won it three times in a row netting 2000 euros. 2000 untraceable, untaxable, much needed euros. Even if I had wanted to I couldnt even get to the bank because of my leg so I stuffed the filthy lucre in my jeans and hobbled home.

Mammy's are great. They are always there when you need them. And sometimes when you dont. Food is produced from magic cauldrons, pixies make the bed and clean the rooms and clothes are whisked away to be washed. But first they are checked for valuables in the pockets. So when my mother came into my room, sat on the bed with *that* look on her face and put my nascent bankroll between us, I knew this was one game I'd lost.

"So, I can only presume you're dealing drugs".


In general from being involved heavily in poker do you think it has a positive or negative impact on most peoples lives ?

I've seen it have both to be honest. Often it exposes stresses that are there anyway, especially in a relationship. I dont think the game has a positive or negative impact but I do think there are people who shouldnt play it.

Do you agree with alot of people on this board that if you can make money playing poker you should be able to make lots more money doing other things in life ?

Yes, thats probably true though not universally true. If it wasnt for poker, I dont know that Helmuth wouldnt be getting fired from burger flipping job after burger flipping job.

Poker for me, is a great game but its not my life. I am enjoying mucking about with the poker industry at the moment. I took a recent diversion into the medical industry and had a ball learning about that and setting up a new company. Next month it could be something else. Who knows....


DeV.

DeVore

Last reply for a while; lets finish with a doozie...

Name names and say something controversial and personal about posters on the poker forum, thanks.

Hector isnt as good as everyone thinks he is. He is, ironically, as good as he thinks he is.

LuckyLloyd needs to agree with people less and believe in his own opinion more, oh and decide on a nickname permanently.

Dave Murray hates my guts with avengance. I havent really worked out why yet. It bothers me less now then it used to.

M@ms (who posted this) posted it from the Fitz IP. And isnt Paul Byrne. The second post on this thread is the only other thing he has ever posted here.

It was the pirat who dropped cacks and went for a dive with the Bodog gurls.

Reggie doesnt look as wealthy as his burgeoning talent should lead him to be.

Mike snores, really loudly.

Marq is too beardy for his own good. By far.

Nicky O'D probably shouldnt have gone pro even though I think he's a reasonable player. I think he's smart enough to have worked that out without my help.

Oscar is a big gossip.

Doc Farrell has gone from "mildly excentric" to "dont leave him alone with the kids" in the last 10 months. Your guess is as good as mine.

Lafortezza is a big gurl, with pigtails and Dom hasnt realised that shaving stops at the locks. And no one has told him yet.

There, happy now?

Lets leave it at that for today, kinda like the end of a series finale...

DeV.

RoundTower

Hi Tom,
good work doing this well

you occasionally say things like "boards doesn't really make any money for the admins". However your profile here gives you an easy way to hawk sites like Antes Up and GJP, or to get involved in other profitable business endeavours. Do you feel that if you didn't own boards, you would have had a harder time turning a profit from these businesses?

I rarely see you criticise someone's play on a hand of poker. Do you think that there is usually no right way to play a hand, and it's all about your individual style?

You seem to think I hate your guts with a vengeance. This is obviously silly. What genuine criticisms do you think I have of you?

Wisesmurf

1q: How sweaty was that Elvis impersonator who was swooning the hooker in the Cleopatra bar in Caesars Palace?

Scummyscousers

JAYSUS! :eek: Ok on reading your little story (including the broken leg) I'll be cheering on some positive varience for you.

Fair play, not a trace of bitterness in your writings. (those young fellas should take note)


Good luck....I mean that

LuckyLloyd

This post has been deleted.

Drakar

DeVore wrote:

How did you first get into poker?
......

I want to buy your book!

Fatboydim

Ah Tom... That's a bit unfair on the Doc now. I'd leave him with my kids any time.

Do you think that Poker has already had it's golden age? Whilst the regulations in the US certainly had an impact on numbers in this years WSOP - It also seemed a far more lacklustre affair. I also feel that there is less buzz around major tournaments now. So is it a case of we're all settling down - or have we seen the best of it?

Has the skill element gone out of the game or is it just different now?

You raise with AK preflop in mid position and get called by the cut off. A flop comes 5 9 2 rainbow. Do you make a continuation bet?

Would you consider going into politics? As I think you'd make a great TD. And it would certainly liven those stiffs up.

RasTa

I remember sitting in your apartment one night after one of the first boards beers and having a chat with bubbles on how he ordered a russian bride to clean his house. I always wondered was that true?

pok3rplaya

DeVore wrote:

Dawkins,

Richard?

Jesus Wept

LuckyLloyd wrote:

2) What age are you?

I believe he said 37 years old.

RiggeR

LuckyLloyd

This post has been deleted.

connie147

Hi Tom, Good luck in your "well"

Couple of questions

What level of tourney buy-ins do you prefer playing?

Because there are now so many quality card rooms in Dublin offering players good value for their money,what kinda tourneys will us folk outside the pale have to put on to attract the "Dublin card player".Its ok for us cause we travel a bit and mix with the better/more experienced players.But as in snooker, I think its very important for my club players to see the standard they need to aspire to.

Do you think the EPT entry fees are gone too high?

Do you think entry fees in Ireland seem to be creeping up all the time? For instance,Jan 2006 IPC--€1,000. Jan 2007--IPC--€1500 Jan 2008-IPC-€2000.
Is this good or bad for the long term future of the game here?

Did you ever play a madder cash game than the one with Maggie"flopitis" and John the farmer?If so, where?

Continued good luck in the future.And if you go into politics,you can have my vote.

DeVore

This is interesting, personally I think the achievements of Adams are quite remarkable and deserving of much praise.

In fairness since the power sharing agreement I think that things have moved along (albeit grudgingly). I'm not sure I lay this at the feet of either of those two sh1tes to be honest. After the ceasefire, when Mr Adams went to talk to the IRA Army Council (of which he is reportedly the chairman), and after rewards like speaking rights in the Dail.
I wrote a comedy piece about my thoughts on that whole thing entitled

I went all day yesterday without killing anyone!



Why was your poker skin set up under GJP when you had a ready made brand in AntesUp that was allready very visible, do you have future plans for another skin for antes, or is antes on the backburner these days?

Antes is very much not on the back burner, its just had a reworked front page and we are motoring along with the Antesup Irish Rankings.
We havent done as many trip reports because frankly they cost a fortune and dont really pay a penny back. Vegas cost us the guts of 7k in expenses alone. So, for the moment we are focusing back home and on domestic news and reports.

We chose GJP out of the two simply because we had a base of players in Drogheda who were happy to sign up and we liked the name and logo better.


Where do you stand on the is poker gambling argument? my personal opinion is that the skill argument is fundamentally flawed in so much that for the majority of players there is little difference between playing poker and playing roulette/bj etc and in fact in many cases their ev from house games would be significantly higher than from playing poker against reasonably competent players.

That is true, but its still a game of skill. If I play Kasporov in chess for money, does that make Chess a gambling game?

It IS a game of skill, it simply cant be denied. That said, there are people who lack those skills and shouldnt play the game. That can't be said truthfully about roulette.


Since you entered the poker world have you managed to sustain a relationship? If not are you one of the many poker players who believe this to be totally unrelated to your chosen pasttime?

No, but comparing that with my previous decade reveals a steady trend. I am not particularly interested in a relationship because I like the freedom to do as I please. For most people that means going down the pub after work to watch the footie and not having the "mot" annoyed about it. For me it can mean not coming home from Malta after a week because I'd picked up an offer of a bed in Barcelona for a week. That sort of freedom is selfish to expect from any other human in a relationship so I generally don't start relationships because they can only end badly.


You mention on the thread that you dont make any cash from Boards, most people in my social circle frequent boards regularly, why dont you cash in? It seems a terrible wasted opportunity to me, I know the place is what it is because its not littered with ads or forced subscription however sound as it is to have the place like that, principals dont pay the rent and it strikes me as an awful lot of work for no bannanas.

If we covered it with ads or forced subscriptions we wouldnt have the place you want us to cash in on (as you pointed out). Its not that we DONT want to make money but we have other priorities and considerations. Bananas come in many different kinds... Personally I get a lot of reward from seeing Boards form and shape things... like this poker forum for example. Or the Ireland Offline forum and the effect it had on broadband arrival.
Now that the site is pretty huge, we are beginning to make a few bob from it, but thats all being sucked up by new hardware (eg: a new database server goes in on Thursday, kiss 4k good bye...)

Ultimately I may end up working for Boards for a living from a beach in Thailand, that would be cool.


Good luck with the well and continued success with the businesses.

Thanks, I'd take a first "success" all the same. One thing being a "paper millionaire" has taught me... its not the kind of paper they take in shops.

DeV.

DeVore

you occasionally say things like "boards doesn't really make any money for the admins". However your profile here gives you an easy way to hawk sites like Antes Up and GJP, or to get involved in other profitable business endeavours.

When have you ever seen me "hawk sites" on Boards any more then any other site own/tournie organiser does? In fact I do it considerably less then say the IPO-athon we have just gone through or the Big Slick Events or ... etc etc etc.
This to me is another example of the less then rose tinted glasses you wear when you come to view just about anything I do or write. The test is if other people agreed with you that I pimp my sites here. I contest that I do not and you simply want to see it that way in contrast to most rational people.


Do you feel that if you didn't own boards, you would have had a harder time turning a profit from these businesses?

If I didnt own boards I would have on average 2 hours a day more time to spend on these endeavours. Ask Mike if having me as an admin on Boards is a benefit or a detraction from GJP. He complains to me often that I let people away with stuff we would NEVER do for fear of being accused of exactly what you are accusing me of.


I rarely see you criticise someone's play on a hand of poker. Do you think that there is usually no right way to play a hand, and it's all about your individual style?

There is of course an optimal way to play every hand even without the full information of all the cards. However it varies GREATLY depending on the previous history with the player, reads, situation etc etc etc.
I dont think style has much to do with it at all in fact.

I do occasionally criticise peoples play but I use phrases like "I dont think I would just flat call" or "if I were playing I would do X". I veer away from phrases like "horrendous" "stupid" "awful" which seem to litter a few players "constructive criticism".
The arguement that one doesnt have time to write the extra few sentences it would take to make it tactful or civil is bollocks. If you are too busy (all the time?) to be civil then you are too busy to reply and I'd rather not see such replies. Amazingly such terse time-constrained responses seem to coincide with hand histories from people who are "not liked".


You seem to think I hate your guts with a vengeance. This is obviously silly. What genuine criticisms do you think I have of you?

We've had this out in PM Dave. You believe and (I understand) have publically stated that you think I am dishonest. You seem to constantly snipe at me on these forums on every topic from my qualifications to capacity to play poker to my honesty and beyond.
You as much as admitted to me that you are jerking my chain because you felt I was "cavalier" about debts I had after you read this.

Ironically its this very month that I finished paying off the last of my debts from the company I was CEO of. I paid every penny I owed to the banks in the end.

What any of this has to do with *you*, I am at a loss to understand. Frankly I dont care either. You have an issue with me, you deal with it.


DeV.

DeVore

Wisesmurf wrote:

1q: How sweaty was that Elvis impersonator who was swooning the hooker in the Cleopatra bar in Caesars Palace?

Extremely sweaty!!

But not as sweaty as the big mama Karl and I were trying to prop bet each other 100 USD that the other would dance with and snog her, on the dancefloor.

DeVore

1) From what you have seen in Vegas over the past few years, would you say that, in your opinion of course, Irish poker players are giving a fair account of themselves on the International stage (properly rolled, focused, etc, etc)? Are some bigger culprits than others - repeat offenders so to speak? (Name me no names on the final part - yes or no will suffice) Could you care less?

Irish players are uniformly awful for preparation for the WSOP. We drink, party and basically burn the candle at both ends right up until the event and then go and try to play 16 hours of pressured poker?
Some are obviously bigger culprits then others but there are a lot of them

We have not done as well as we should on the international stage but this is only one of the reasons for that imho. (the others including, entry numbers and practise at the structures of such tournies).



2) What age are you?

I'm 37... Jesus didnt make it this far.


3) Do you vote? Who for? Or do you simply switch off when you realise a politician is talking? Would you agree that politics would be infinitely improved if more people 18 - 35 didn't simply switch off and bothered to keep informed about current affairs to some degree?

I dont vote generally. I have voted in both the presidential elections but I cant recall ever voting in a general election.
I am engaged in politics as a rule but not Irish politics so much. I believe people should keep up to date about current affairs. I grew up reading the Times from cover to cover most days (my grandfather was head printer), and read a lot online these days.
I dont vote because I dont feel I have any meaningful choice nor anyone who represents my views on things. I dont vote because I have a limited choice of tosser, right wing tosser, ineffectual green tosser, hard-core leftwing tosser, another right wing tosser and some anarcho-communist smash-the-state SWP ... tosser.

When they introduce a "none of the above" option, I'll go vote. Or if anyone ever takes up the baton of law reform in this country to take us out of (literally) the 1800's with our laws, I'll vote for them.


4) How would you assess the blow up of the domestic poker scene in terms of long - term stabillity? Given the fact that the calendar is becoming ever more packed with €500+ events and live games like the ones you are involved in running are suffering as a result; and considering the strong possibillity of an impending slowdown in the Irish economy - will the whole thing just blow up? Or do you believe that the ground gained over the past two years will never be fully conceded and Ireland will continue to be the "second best" place in the world to play for quite some time to come?

Poker is booming in Europe. I believe its still booming in Ireland but that like the Universe, the rate of expansion has slowed down.

I think what will happen is something akin to what happened to Snooker in the 70s and 80's. Or Bowling. Or Quasar. There will be an expansion phase, a competitive phase and a retraction phase. We've had the expansion phase and are heading into the competitive phase. This is very good for players as we have seen. Quality improves and players desires are listened to. Most of you wouldnt remember when there was almost no freezeout tournies in Dublin. Suited Aces had to run them for Boards people to play. We got treated like muck by everyone but Luke Ivory and our business was spurned.
You wouldnt see that happening now!!

So, there will be an improvement in standards but if the player base contracts, we will lose locations as a result of simple economics.

There has always been a sustainable base of players in Ireland. 25 years and still going strong. It may quieten down but its not going to go away.


5) I remember reading an excellent blog entry by you in which you discussed the fact (in an interesting way!) that it can be near impossible explaining poker to the uninitiated. Currently, you live with some poker players. How many close friends do you have that have no interest whatsoever in the subject and consider it "silly gambling"? Are you always honest with those who you are important to about the levels you play at and the amounts won and lost?

I have a lot of friends who are/were very very surprised when I moved into poker but simply shruged their shoulders and occasionally ask me about it. I would say my friends are about 60/40 in favour of poker players.

6) Something completely unforseen happens, and you decide to set up a straight laced business dedicated to making money as priority number one. Do you bin a CV that lists poker as a hobby? Why? Why not?

When I was hiring for my old company I was attracted by the freaks and the weirdos. My kinda people
I remember hiring Talliesin and Lucutus and my sister (very straight laced business woman) was aghast. She had dismissed both for various non-IT reasons. (ok, Talliesin is 6 foot skin head who made it clear he was bi-sexual and into leather before we were 15 minutes into the interview). My standing declaration was that I wanted to hire the "guy with the bone through his nose".
Programmers who are a bit mad may not be the best at being in at 9am sharp but they are the ones who will debug that database anomaly at 4am when the project goes live that afternoon.
Hence I may not be the best person to ask about putting it on your CV. I would certainly NOT throw it away because of that, in fact it might attract me. I would put it on my CV if I were going for a job outside the poker industry.


DeV.

DeVore

pok3rplaya wrote:

Richard Dawkins?

Yes, he's written some of the most astounding books I have read.

DeV.

DeVore

RasTa wrote:

I remember sitting in your apartment one night after one of the first boards beers and having a chat with bubbles on how he ordered a russian bride to clean his house. I always wondered was that true?

No. It was a long convoluted joke Bubbles was playing on everyone (well everyone who believed him, which was a lot of people)!

DeV.

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

just a quick thing DeV, you should definitely write that book(s).

I read your 'my really small adventure' articles that are in your signature just the other day and sincerely thought of Bill Bryson in the style of writing tbh (don't be insulted, i mean it as a compliment!)

DeVore

Do you think that Poker has already had it's golden age? Whilst the regulations in the US certainly had an impact on numbers in this years WSOP - It also seemed a far more lacklustre affair. I also feel that there is less buzz around major tournaments now. So is it a case of we're all settling down - or have we seen the best of it?

The tournies dont have that carnival atmosphere quite so much any more. Their newness is wearing off, the novelty isnt there any more but I dont think we have seen the best of it, I think we're just moving along the phases of most subcultures that turn mainstream. (I've seen it before with online gaming and Magic the Gathering)

Has the skill element gone out of the game or is it just different now?
I think a bad player can claw back some disparity in skill by forcing his opponent to gamble with him. I dont think the skill element has gone but the skill-chasm that was once there and very apparent, is now a lot more blurred as new players read up and get experience a lot faster then before.

You raise with AK preflop in mid position and get called by the cut off. A flop comes 5 9 2 rainbow. Do you make a continuation bet?

I dunno! What sort of question is that?
Do I know this guy? What are our stacks? Is he aggro? Passive?

Often I will lead again, I may check with the idea of either getting a free card (on which I push, regardless) or I'm looking for an opportunity to CRAI.
It depends on lots of things. Its possible I check-release the hand on a read etc...

Would you consider going into politics? As I think you'd make a great TD. And it would certainly liven those stiffs up.

I have often thought I'd like to be a TD but realisitically I hate politicians too much and since I have admitted to having smoked weed for years (and by God did I inhale till it came out my ears) I think that boat has sailed. But never say never.

I have given some thought to being a barister in a few years time. Dunno about that yet, its another industry I might go and muck about with

DeV.

DeVore

Roundtower2 wrote:

just a quick thing DeV, you should definitely write that book(s).

I read your 'my really small adventure' articles that are in your signature just the other day and sincerely thought of Bill Bryson in the style of writing tbh (don't be insulted, i mean it as a compliment!)

I really must upload the last two of them. I would take any likeness to Bill Bryson as a compliment.

After my singing, writing is the next most personal thing I put out there though I am a lot more confident in the latter then the former. MS-Word has an undo and a delete button where as live performances dont
None the less its taken me this long to build a writing style I'm happy with. Boards has done a lot to improve my writing too!


DeV.

DeVore

What level of tourney buy-ins do you prefer playing?

€50-€250 is my preferred range.

Because there are now so many quality card rooms in Dublin offering players good value for their money,what kinda tourneys will us folk outside the pale have to put on to attract the "Dublin card player".Its ok for us cause we travel a bit and mix with the better/more experienced players.But as in snooker, I think its very important for my club players to see the standard they need to aspire to.

I dont think you can attract players just on tournie structure etc any more.
A certain kind of player will always be up for a "weekend on the tear playing poker with the lads". For that kind of thing, I can think of no better location in the world to do it then The Cue Club in Kerry. Honestly!


Do you think the EPT entry fees are gone too high?

For me, yes! For the EPT, obviously not as they are killing each other for tickets still...


Do you think entry fees in Ireland seem to be creeping up all the time? For instance,Jan 2006 IPC--€1,000. Jan 2007--IPC--€1500 Jan 2008-IPC-€2000.
Is this good or bad for the long term future of the game here?

This is a bad thing as it collects all the money into a few individuals and that money is unlikely to recirculate and trickle back to the bottom of the "pyramid". The GJP event has been 1k from the start and will remain 1k for that event for the forseeable future. We think thats a good position to pitch an event at.

Edit: and with that Mike announces the Euro Deep Stacked event for 1.5K.... oh well, he's the boss


Did you ever play a madder cash game than the one with Maggie"flopitis" and John the farmer?If so, where?

No, I think your club holds the record for the most barking cash players in all of Christendom. The only other cash game that comes close would be the recent drunken game in your place with Halfbaked, OCallagh, LuckyLloyd, Vinnie, you me and that poor local! Talk about game selection... Oscar might have a point


Continued good luck in the future.And if you go into politics,you can have my vote.

Dont start me on Jackie Healy Rae!

DeV.