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 January.

Sac: It was the $500 No Limit Hold'em event of the New England Poker Classic at Foxwoods. There were just fewer than 1000 participants and we started out with 1500 chips. The levels were 50 minutes each and the blinds started out at 25/50. It was my first time at Foxwoods and also my first stop on the PSO Live Tour. I believe there were about 14 or 15 other PSO members also playing in the event.

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

Sac: First and foremost, my beautiful wife and I are expecting our first born in August. We already know it's a boy and I am extremely excited about that because I can teach him all I know about the game and prepare him to win the 2027 WSOP. By then, I definitely plan to have a few bracelets of my own!!!

For the last few years, I have been working as an equity trader, watching and trading the stock market each and every day. In many ways there are quite a few similarities between trading and playing poker, such as having patience before getting involved using high percentage set-ups, watching the price action of a stock much like observing your opponents at the table, and most important of all DISCIPLINE!!! Its like Mike Sexton says on the WPT, it takes a minute to learn and a lifetime to master. This is not only true for poker but trading as well.

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?

Sac: I probably started playing poker back in 1999, shortly after the movie Rounders came out. I had not seen the movie in theatres, but a good friend of mine told me that I should rent it because there was a character in the movie that reminded him of me. Once I saw the movie I knew exactly what he meant. Anyway, I went out and purchased a poker table, some custom chips, and a new deck of cards. I began to hold a weekly game with some friends at work, and for the most part I did rather well. Wanting to improve my game and play against some better competition, I began to go to Atlantic City and play in some of the Limit Hold'em cash games there ranging from 3/6 up to 10/20 and had some sporadic success. Funny thing is, at that point I still had no clue as to how the game was really played, and it wasn't till a few years later, and some really bad beatings I took in the ring games, that I began to take the game more serious. I began to read some books, did research online about the game, and then came across PSO, which really introduced me to tournament play.

For obvious reasons, I do enjoy the convenience of online play but I prefer live play any day of the week as I can get a better "feel" for the game when you get to see other players face to face. I really don't have a favorite casino, but I do enjoy the poker rooms in the Bellagio when I am in Vegas and the Borgata in Atlantic City.

Currently, I prefer tournaments to ring games because I feel that the risk/reward ratio to that of ring games is well worth the investment of time and money, and tournament play better suits my style. As for my game of choice, it would have to be No Limit Hold'em, but I am working on my Omaha and Stud games as well.

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

Sac: I have been a member since February 2002.

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

Sac: This is always a tricky question to answer but I would have to say that my greatest strength in the tourney was my ability to observe not only my opponents tendencies but specific situations where I felt a particular action or non-action on my part would initiate a string of subsequent actions by my opponents that I would be able to capitalize on at that point or sometime later on in the tourney. My biggest weakness would have to be doing everything I stated in the previous sentence, as far as setting up a play to be used later on in the tourney, and not realize that my table would be broken up soon. As a matter of fact, I moved to seven different tables throughout the tourney, which I felt was a big disadvantage to me.

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

Sac: Well I remember early on in the tournament just sitting back, watching my opponents, and waiting for a hand. I noticed two people at my table who were pretty aggressive early on and were not afraid to mix it up. Then this hand came up...blinds were 50/100, and I was in the BB with pocket 5's. One of the aggressive players opened in middle position with a $400 raise, all folded to me and I just called. Flop was 10 7 5 rainbow. I had flopped a set!!! I checked, knowing full well that my opponent would bet. At that point I had approximately $1800 in chips. Sure enough he fired away $500 into the pot, and I raised him to $1100, and he called. Turn was a blank, but I didn't like the board with the possibility of the straight draw out there so I decided to push in with my remaining $700 in chips wanting to take the pot down right there. Sure enough I got a call, and just like I had suspected he had a trash hand of J8, needing the 9 to complete his gut-shot. The river brought a blank and I was fortunate enough to double up.

After that I really never got it going again, as time after time I would get my money in with the best of it, but would get drawn out on. To be honest, I was down to the felt most of the first 8 hours of the tourney, picking up small pots here and there just enough to keep me around. Then with around $4000 in chips left and the blinds were 150/300 and $50 antes, the table folded around to the cutoff, which was a very tight player up to that point and had showed down some solid starting cards, and he went all-in for $1900. I was in the BB once again and this time I had QQ, so it's an easy call being that he is on a short stack. To my sheer amazement, he flipped over 2 3 of hearts and he said he was just trying to steal the pot right there. Needless to say the table got a chuckle out of that one, but when the flop came down 4 5 8, the table gasped and I said no way could I lose with this hand to a 2 3!!! Well the turn brought another 8, but lo and behold the river brought his miracle card, the ace, and he completed his improbable straight. After that hand, to be honest, I felt that it was just not my day, but I stayed the course and just kept playing, and two hands later, while I was on the button, I was dealt QQ again. Everyone folded to me, I raised half my stack and the BB pushed in all of his chips, I called, and he flipped up 88. All I know is that a Q came on the flop and after the hand I had around $5000. Before you know it we were all moved downstairs to the main room with about 190 players remaining.

It was at that point, for the first time during the tourney that I found out there were two other members of PSO still alive in the tourney, Jcastle and some other fellow named Janitor Bob. These two guys are super nice people and I hope to see them again in the near future, just not at my table...lol. At that point, I really wanted to perform well in front of my peers after speaking with them, and just went with the mindset to keep on playing my best game and not get worried into making a move just yet, since I was one of the short stacks left in the tourney. Unfortunately for me, I was moved to yet another table, and this time I was sandwiched in between the chip leader at the time that was to my right with about $60,000 and another guy to my immediate left with about $40,000. I came to the table with around $4,000. Luckily for me, I finally got AA, and that started a rush of cards that lifted my stack to around $38,000 in the next hour of play, which at that time the other two members of PSO had been knocked out and I was in the money as they paid 90 spots.

Unfortunately, they moved me yet again when there were around 40 players left, and after folding for the previous hour as I had completely gone card dead, I made a stand with AK when the blinds were 1,000/2,000 and the antes were $400, for my remaining chips and the chip leader called me down with Q8, and completed a runner-runner straight on the river to knock me out in 36h place.

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

Sac: The biggest difference between the two is that there is "a ton" of bluffing done online as opposed to live play. Don't get me wrong, there will always be some bluffing going on in live play, but the propensity to bluff online is far greater due to the ease of clicking a mouse rather than physically moving one's chips into the middle of a pot.

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?

Sac: I would want to have dinner with Daniel Negreanu and the question I would ask is "what is the single contributing factor to your success other than all the hours of practice at the tables???"

NewJane: What poker books have helped your game?

Sac: As most people would say many of David Sklansky's works are a must, but my favorites are "The Theory of Poker" and "Tournament Poker for Advanced Players". I would also have to include "Middle Limit Poker" by Bob Ciaffone for ring game play and of course Mike Caro's writings are always quite interesting.

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

Sac: I am having a hard enough time still learning Hold'em, but I guess I would like to learn and become a much better player at some of the hi-lo games because they have a tendency to drive me nuts!!!

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

Sac: I just want to say that it was a pleasure to "finally" meet some of the players from PSO as I really do consider this an extended family and I know that someday soon I will be able to wave the PSO banner when I win my first major tournament.

NewJane: Thanks for taking time to talk with me! And good luck at the Live Tour Grand Finale!