mookie99

Congratulations to Kickyourace for winning The Mookie on his first try.  With the win he also picks up a seat to the BBT4 TOC.  Here is his profile…

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Champion: Kickyourace

Blog/Website: Kickyourace

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Q: How did you get into poker?

Kick: My grandfather taught me the game back in the 60’s. Gin Rummy,  5 card stud and 7 card stud. Grandpa it turned out was a gambler and pretty much wrecked his family with it. Horses, betting, sound familiar to anyone else?  My father doesn’t gamble. I can’t remember him ever betting on anything. With Chris Moneymaker getting hit by the deck plus some nice play, that jump started me playing again.

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

Kick: My poker goals are to just get better at my game and to help grow Poker Players International as much as I can. When I look back at my first $10K WPT tournament in ‘05 and now, I laugh that I thought I was any good at the game. I’m sure I’ll do the same in ‘15.

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)

Kick: I had the pleasure of sitting for the final table of the 2008  Main event final table in the pit and watched Ivan and Peter play out the 2 and half minute final table, I mean the four  and 1/2 hour slugfest that ESPN didn’t show. Watching that event caused me to become more aggressive in my game and the first week back, I cashed in four events in a row on Stars including the nightly 80K rebuy at 5th place. Since then I’ve opened my playing style to more cards and being more aggressive with my game then in the past. My number one priority is learning when to lay a hand down and not tilting in my game.

Q: How would you describe your poker style?

Kick: It depends on who I’m playing. For the Mookie event, I didn’t know anyone. Sometimes TAG, Sometimes LAG. And my perception of how I play may not be the other players perception of how I play. Each table requires different styles at different points of the tournaments.

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

Kick: Read Poker books from players that are successful at their game. Join poker rooms, learn from online players that have set up training sites. Play at a level you can afford with proper bankroll management.

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

Kick: From my business partners?? It blew up one business on me already. I’m better off since I’m doing something I love doing and I’m making money at it. From family relatives, that lived through my Grandfathers gambling habits, a decent amount because they don’t see what I see and what benefits come from it, and from my wife, none since again, I’m cash positive for my playing.

Q: What was the first poker blog you read?

Kick: Dr Pauly’s Tao site. What a great writer. I spend more time reading magazines like CardPlayer and Bluff though. Just a time issue for me. Every since a blogger wrote that I was a wanna be professional poker player as I went down the final three tables at a 2007 championship, I think I’ve stopped reading blogs LOL.

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

Kick: Great question. I’d like to sit down with Bill Clinton, Obama, Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin and George Bush Jr. We need at least one fish at the table. Make this a 10 handed table. I’d add a bunch more players.

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

Kick: Masochism used to come to mind as I made more and more plays knowing I was behind to pay off the other player. I watched Jeff Madsen make a mistake at an event and when the other player got sucked out and started cursing out Jeff, Jeff make a very funny statement to the player, “I didn’t curse at you, you got sucked out, accept it”, then leans to me and says “I played that so bad”. There is one player that has a very Yen feeling for poker and I like the idea about once the cards are dealt, you get to play them as they come. Sometimes it just doesn’t matter how you play them, that you’ll win or lose the hand no matter what. It’s very much like life. And yet we continue to shuffle and redeal our hands daily. Looking for that Royal flush or even to get ahead on small percentage points….

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

Kick: Gus Hanson’s Every Hand Revealed. He lets himself hang out a little explaining why he does what he does, when he makes mistakes and luckily he won the event so the book sells better.

Q: Tell us a little known fact about yourself.

Kick: No one cares. Really. That’s a fact. I’ve been told it all my life.

Q: If you win your seat in the BBT4 TOC will you play the 2009 WSOP Main Event or will you take the money and run? (Submitted Smokkee)

Kick: I’m planning on playing this year. I won my seat last year on the Stars Steps running 1 to 6 in 7 games straight. But I won it on flight C so I’d have had to jet that night and miss my daughters birthday on that Sunday for flight D. I thought spending Sunday with my 3 year old daughter for her Birthday would be more fun and more important in the long run. Besides, I could always play the 2nd chance on Stars after the party.

Kickyourace’s question for the next champ…

Q: Which online site do you like better for tournaments? Poker Stars or Full Tilt Poker and why?

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

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