mookie99

Congratulations to cmitch for taking down The Mookie last Wednesday and winning his first title. Here is his profile…

* – * – * – * – *

Champion: cmitch

Blog: O-Poker with Cmitch and Loopy

* – * – * – * – *

Q: What is the story behind your ID, cmitch?

CM: No brainer there. First letter of my real first name+my nickname.

Q: How did you get into poker?

CM: I started playing poker with some guys in my fraternity every Sunday night in college (early ’90s). Looking back, I was definitely an average (at best) player among the group. I was a marginal winner, not because I was good, but because there were a couple of really bad players with rich parents. Thank god for rich kids!!

Fast forward to Jan 2003, I was betting on football at World Sports Exchange (WSEX) and they started up a poker client. I would play limit poker with my winnings and lost the first couple of times. I started doing everything I could to figure out the best way to play the game. That is when I came across 2+2 and RGP. I read everything I could and eventually got a little better. A few months later I luckboxed my way into the Aruba Poker Classic and have been hooked ever since……

Q: Do you have any poker related goals and if so what are they?

CM: LOL – Do you mean my poker related goals as of today? 2 yrs ago? 1 yr ago? 1 wk ago? yesterday? It seems like I have had a million poker goals and they have changed with the wind. As of right now my main goals are:

1. Earn enough money to help with tear down/rebuild of our house.
2. Return to being a consistent winner at 5/10 NL and move on to beating the 10/20 then 25/50 games. It is amazing how much tougher the games are than they were pre-UIGEA. (I set playing 275k cash game hands this year as a goal, so hopefully that will help things fall in place.)
3. Break my highest online tourney score ($29k)
4. Final table a WPT/WSOP main or prelim event (a little lofty but still a goal)

Q: What are key improvements that you’ve seen in your game over the last six months, and what is one priority you have for improving? (Submitted by CC)

CM: Number 1 improvement and Number 1 thing that I need to improve – Don’t Tilt/Don’t Play when I can’t play my A game (tired, while watching TV, etc)

Stopping when tilting or playing low-mid buy-in tourneys when I know that I can’t be focused enough to play my “A” game in the cash games. I used to have sessions where I would become a spew monkey after a bad beat or cooler. I’ve really worked on getting this under control and think I tilt a lot less and quit or don’t play when I know that I am not playing my game.

Q: How would you describe your poker style?

CM: I really try to vary it depending on table conditions, but in general.

MTTs – TAG; I, also feel like my short stack game is better than most. Hmmmm…..Maybe I let myself get short way too often. I really fell into the TAG style after I was seated next to TJ Cloutier in my 1st live tourney and he said, “You play way too many hands.” I thought about it and I did – the worst part was I was playing loose-passive. I started playing TAG and it was amazing how well you could do in mtts playing TAG back in 2003 and 2004.

Cash Games (6 max) – This one is hard. I don’t like to try to fit my cash style into a specific category because I play so differently depending on the players at the table and position. There are times when I am running at 35/28 on one table and 12/9 on another. I would say it is somewhere between TAG and LAG, but closer to the TAG side.

Q: What would be your first piece of advice for someone wanting to learn to play poker? (Submitted by Maudie)

CM: Read everything you can and then sit behind a poker friend while they play and have them explain everything they are doing. Tell them to explain it to you like you are 5. Do this as many times as you can. When you are finally ready to play have them sit behind you and tell them why you are doing what you are doing.

Q: Which online poker training site (Cardrunners, StoxPoker, etc.) would you recommend to someone who was a low limit cash and MTT player (50NL – 200NL, $5-$30 MTT buyin)?

CM: I have memberships at Cardrunners, Stoxpoker (thanks to Willwonka turning me onto them), and PXF. Anyone that reads my blog knows that I credit most of the improvements in my game to Cardrunners, so this may be a little biased.

50-200nl – Definitely Cardrunners. Brymstar has low limit instruction guide series on there that everyone raves about. I haven’t watched any of the vids in that series, but have watched some of his other vids and he explains everything in great detail and knows what he is doing.

MTTs – PXF. Bax, Sheets, Belowabove, BRSavage, a few I’m missing – how can you go wrong.

Q: What level of static do you get over your poker habit? (Submitted by Drewspop)

CM: My wife is great, so not much static from her.

My Dad is funny. He used to be so worried that I would quit my job to play poker for a living. He told me after I came back from the 2003 Aruba tourney that he was glad I didn’t have a big win because I might have wanted to quit working. LOL!!!

Q: What was the first poker blog you read?

CM: I’m not really sure. I used to read anything and everything on the internet about poker, so I probably read a few blogs before I even knew what blogs were.

Q: Who would be at your 6-handed SNG?

CM: Would have said Phil Ivey, but I didn’t have such a great experience last time I was at a table with him.

Jamie Gold, Tiffaney Williamson, Jennifer Tilly, Robert Varkoyni, and Shannon Elizabeth. If I am playing a 6 handed SNG, I want a chance to win.

Q: Between Nihilism and Masochism, which do you think better describes why you play poker? (Submitted by Iakaris)

CM: Masochism is how it feels most of the time.

Q: What’s the last book you have read?

CM: In the middle of Professional NL Holdem.

Q: Tell us a little known fact about yourself.

CM: I count to 60 in my head every time I take off in airplane because I once saw a show that said 95+% of plane crashes happen in the 1st 60 secs of takeoff or last 60 seconds before landing. After I get to 60, I feel safe.

Q: Ginger or Mary Anne? (Submitted by wwonka69)

CM: Ginger if I didn’t have to see her/talk to her the next day. Otherwise, Mary Anne. I can’t stand high maintenance.

Cmitch’s question for the next champ…

Q: What would you do with all your extra time if online poker was suddenly made illegal and there were no work arounds to play?

* – * – * – * – *

Congrats again to cmitch and thanks for participating in this profile.

Popularity: 1% [?]