mookie99

Congratulations to Jordan at HighOnPoker for winning his first Mookie title.  Here is his profile…

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Champion: HighOnPoker

Blog: High On Poker: The Devil’s Advocate of Poker Bloggers

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Q: What is the background of your online name…HighOnPoker?

HOP: When I started my blog, I wanted a name that was easy to remember and somewhat catchy. High on Poker came to me because it was catchy and said a lot in a few words. I’ll let you read into it all you want, but part of it is the fact that I get a high by playing poker. It’s that moment when you are waiting for your opponent to call your bluff or nuts (either one, doesn’t matter), and that rush of adrenaline fills your body. I love that excitement and euphoria. It’s one of the major reasons why I play the game. Hence, High on Poker was born. Once I signed up for FullTilt, it was a no-brainer to choose it as my screenname.

Q: How did you get into poker?

HOP: I started playing cards with my grandmothers when I was young. When I was in my pre- and early teens, I began playing with friends for whatever money we had. We’d play all sorts of stupid games, the worst of which was 5-card draw with all spades wild. Ridiculous in hindsight, but I guess we were just little action junkies. I stopped playing after high school, but when I was in law school, I stumbled upon a WPT broadcast one day, thought, “Who would watch this crap?” and then watched the whole 2 hour episode. I actually went so far as to tape half the episode because I had to go out. After that, I joined Golden Palace Poker, which was advertising at Howard Stern. That was enough to get me re-hooked.

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

HOP: My secret goal was to win the Mookie, so that one’s off the list. My lifetime goal is to make as much playing poker in a year as I do as a lawyer, and to do both simultaneously. I’ve got a ways to go.

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)

HOP: Results have been break-even for me for the past six months, so this is a tough one. I guess I am re-learning for the 18th time that I have to play my A-game more often. If there is any improvement, it is recent, and it is finding a renewed confidence in a LAGgy style in certain tournaments. As for the future, I need to accept that online poker is not ideal for me because there is too much temptation to play half-assed. I need to either play online like I mean it, or give it up altogether. Most likely, I’ll do neither.

Q: How would you describe your poker style?

HOP: Super tight. HAHAHAHAHA! I like to play a lot of hands, similar to Gus Hansen’s style (as a point of reference).  I want to see lots of flops because I want to concentrate on post-flop play. I am also fairly aggressive, although I’m trying to incorporate more small ball strategy.

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

HOP: Go for it. There are so many ways to go about it, and there are many paths to success. I would recommend that the player get some low stakes under their belt online and try to build up a bankroll the old fashioned way, by grinding. I started out playing $1 tourneys and .25/.50 limit, and it kept me from losing a lot early. Set a budget, too. I would only allow myself $20/month to start out. After that, experience matters most, but it wouldn’t hurt to read some books like Sklansky’s Theory of Poker, Brunson’s Super/System, Harrington’s tourney books (I only got through part of Vol. 1), and if you play live, Caro’s Book of Poker Tells. Final advice would be to play YOUR game, and by that I mean to play the style that feels natural to you. You may admire someone else’s style, but if it isn’t a natural fit for you, you are merely creating more obstacles for yourself and, more often than not, it just won’t work.

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

HOP: Most of my static is self-inflicted. Wifey Kim what we addicts like to call an enabler, god bless her, so she rarely complains about my play. Even so, I do my best to limit it so as to not entirely lose myself in the game.

Q: What was the first poker blog you read?

HOP: The Intrepid Card Player, which no longer exists. I was looking for Card Player’s website when I was just a poker pup, but my job blocked the site. ICP showed up during my search and wasn’t blocked at work. Once I started reading ICP, I was hooked into the blogging pipeline. I found Dr. Pauly through ICP, which is like hitting the main line, which works nicely as a pipeline reference and a drug reference.

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

HOP: I think I’d have to go with players I actually would want to meet, so let’s have the following: Phil Ivey, Gus Hansen, Mike Matusow, and we’ll throw in Gavin Smith and Joe Sebok for fun.

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

HOP: Masochism online. Sadism live.

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

HOP: I just finished reading Gus Hansen’s Every Hand Revealed, which is probably the first poker book I’ve finished in at least 2 years. I highly recommend it for all players, since Hansen does a remarkable job taking you through every hand during his run to the Aussie Millions championship. It’s a real eye-opener, probably even more so for tighter players who do not comprehend the logic behind a LAG style.

Q: Tell us a little known fact about yourself.

HOP: I used to attend a nude modeling class. I was one of the artists, not the nude model. For what it’s worth, nude models are rarely attractive.

Q: What was your biggest “aha” moment (think epiphany) in your poker playing career? (Submitted by Twoblackaces)

HOP: This is a tough one. Frankly, though, I think my biggest epiphany was when I realized that I did not want to play poker professionally. I think it was after my first trip to Vegas. I was there for 5 days with my wife, under the guise of visiting her college friend. While she was site seeing, I was playing a ton of poker. Long story short, I realized then that the day-in, day-out grind of a professional poker player would probably feel like “work,” which was the very thing I wanted to escape in my fantasy version of the life of a professional poker player. That’s when I changed my goal so from going pro to winning enough to make as much playing poker as my day job, and doing both at the same time. I want to be competitive and amongst the best, but I don’t want to make it a job.

Jordan’s question for the next champ…

Q: How many times did you suck out leading up to your Mookie win?

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

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