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NewJane Interviews Wildbill41, Top PSO Finisher at the Bay 101 Open

NewJane: First, let me congratulate you on your fine finish at the Bay 101 Open, a PSO LIVE TOUR event. Tell us a little about the qualifying tourney.

Wildbill41: This tourney was a 100-player 'shootout'. I had never played in a shootout before. The idea is, they play 10 single table sats. The winner of each table advances to the final table. Another interesting twist was that the first 3 levels at both the starting and the final table were limit. After that it was pretty much no limit (or at least high enough limit that you were playing 'big bet' poker.

NewJane: Tell us a little about yourself. Where you live, etc. Any interesting facts about your life would be appreciated!

Wildbill41: Heh, Jane, you should know better than to ask ME an open ended question like that. I am a single heterosexual male, who will turn 45 on 6 Nov 04. I have never been married and have no children. Someday I will figure out my flaw in my personality that prevents me from meeting a woman who can put up with me for longer than 3 dates. Until I was 34 I had never lived in the same state for 3 consecutive years, although I cycled through a couple of states twice. In my youth I attended 6 elementary schools, 2 jr highs 2 high schools and 4 colleges. None of them were successful in teaching me to spell, as my various trip reports will attest. I recently moved to Bremerton WA, where I plan to stay until I get a better offer. I work for Exide Technologies, mostly doing technical assistance to the US Navy on Submarine Batteries, however every once in a while they farm me out to assist other customers in DC Power applications. I spend about 200 days a year on the road, traveling to Submarines in dreary locations like San Diego, Pearl Harbor, or even Guam. I have spent significant time on jobs in Japan, Spain and even Alaska. Sometimes I even get to meet PokerSchoolers on my travels so please don't tell my boss how many beers for these folks have found their way onto my expense reports. I am a pretty happy person overall, so I don't know what has caused all this gray hair.

NewJane: Share with us some of your poker background, such as how long you have played, games of choice, limits you like when you play live, other tourney successes. And anything else about your poker background that you want to share.

Wildbill41: Wow, another excuse to write a few pages. You should have learned after the first question. I started playing poker in high school, and it came pretty easily to me. My paternal grandfather was quite a player throughout his life, although the gene seems to have skipped a generation as my father has less than no interest in the game. Part of the reason I flunked out of or quit so many colleges was that if I wasn't out drinking and drugging, chasing the loose women who were so prevalent in those fine late 70's early 80's days I was in the basement of some fraternity house, beating the brothers out of their allowances playing 1-2 7-card stud. I played throughout my 8.5 year Navy stint, and when I decided to get out of the Navy spent a year playing professionally in San Diego. Playing 10-20 (sometimes 20-40) hold-em with occasional side trips into the 5-10 and 10-20 lowball games, I made enough money to pay my rent, car payments and support a few vices, but finally became mature enough (read: finally realized mom and dad were right) to want a 'real' job. Since then I dabble, playing in live games whenever my travels take me near card rooms and I have spare time. I never played tourneys in the olden days, but since I came to PSO I have had a lot of success in low buy-in (<500) tournaments, finishing in the money far more often than I deserve.

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

Wildbill41: Finally. A question that only requires a one-sentence answer. I will, however, use four. I joined in November 2001.

NewJane: Where is your favorite place to play poker, both live and tourney action?

Wildbill41: Tunica is absolutely amazing. In all my travels I have never seen a place that treats poker players so well. Room and food comps, easy games, professional floor staff and dealers, name it and Tunica is the best. I hope to never miss a PSO meeting there, and will continue to travel there recreationally when I get the chance. Heck, if I ever lose my current job I may apply to be a PR person for the chamber of commerce there in Robinsonville :

NewJane: What were some hands you remember from the tourney, both won and lost ?

Wildbill41: My trip report details a lot of specific hands. As a member of the Society to Stamp out and Abolish Redundancy, I will direct you to the forum to read about specific hands.

NewJane: What did you feel was your strength / weakness in the tournament?

Wildbill41: I tend to keep the table a little of balance with my chatter during tourneys. Which allows me to occasionally control the game even when I don't have the big stack. Once I have the big stack, look out. All modesty aside, I play a big stack pretty well. If the players (or my stack) allow me to control the flow of the game, I tend to do well. :

NewJane: If you could play one hand over, which one would it be and why?

Wildbill41: The last hand I played was a total brain-fart. I stupidly allowed the fact that I had been playing a short stack for so long to convince me that 4th place was a good enough finish. I will be losing sleep over that hand for a while. My ego continues to berate me, telling me that I was the best player left at the table and that I should have just continued to play solid poker, instead of putting my money in a situation where I was likely (in fact, actually) behind. That was honestly the only asshatted move I made all day.

NewJane: What are some of the differences you see live and online play?

Wildbill41: Boy. If I had spent even most of the hours this has been discussed between some of my friends and I doing research into something like a cure for the common cold, I am sure that sniffles would be a thing of the past. Suffice it to say, that there is a huge difference between the two. Having enjoyed modest success at both, I think the main difference goes back to the control thing I talked about earlier. I think it is easier to 'control' a game live. When I am face to face with someone in a game I can occasionally 'manipulate' them into weak play. When on-line it is all about solid poker play.

NewJane: What are your feelings about what is going on with poker now, the incredible growth? Do you see it as a positive thing?

Wildbill41: I have played through a couple of poker 'booms' in the past. When hold-em was legalized in CA. When Foxwoods opened. Now, the television fueled national breakout. I think we will have 3-5 years of this incredible growth (and we are about 1.5 years into the cycle) and then poker will fall back into relative obscurity. Lets all enjoy this while it happens and learn to play well, because right now it is as easy as it is ever going to be.

NewJane: What new poker game are you anxious to learn?

Wildbill41: Doggone it; I have taken this thing far too seriously so far. Must. Control. Base. Impulses. Too late... I am way out of practice in Strip Poker. I think we need to convene a table of hot women to help me practice. Jane you are definitely invited.

NewJane: Wildbill, trying to keep you on task is always a challenge. Maybe that is why we love you so much! Back to the interview, and no, I won't play strip poker with you:! What poker books might I find in your home library?

Wildbill41: More than at your average bookstore. A partial list: SuperSystem, Everything Sklansky has published. Some Cappelleti, some Ciaffone, Mike Caro. Tony Holden. I have a LOT of poker books. Heck, I even have 2 copies of Helmuth's piece of crap. (one I bought, one someone lent me. He didn't want it back) However I am saving shelf space for Jane's book, and even Oil Doe's future bestseller;

NewJane: If there is anything I didn't ask you that you want to say, now is the time!

Wildbill41: I have made more friends at PokerSchool in the last three years than I have made at any time in my life. If you have never come to Tunica, come. If you can form (or join) a group of PokerSchoolers in your area. Do IT. The CHAPS, PIG's and PAPS are all good starts. The Minnesota folks are getting there (although they do need a catchy name). I really enjoy every chance I get to hang with PSO'ers and hope to continue. I hope I see you at a final table soon. Thanks for reading through this.

NewJane: Good luck to you at the Grand Final in Tunica, and we will be keeping our eyes on you!!

PSO Live Tour
Schedule 2006 | Schedule/Results 2005 | Results 2004	About | Live Tour Rules | Interviews
About PokerSchool Online	Join PokerSchool Online
What Students are Learning Now	Download the Free Software