13 Jun 09

Diamond Interview Series: DaPhunk

Another Diamond member has been interviewed, and he is also one of the players that represented our community at the Black Member Party. Give it up for DaPhunk!



Some of you might already know him due to his colourful blog, where he includes ski-related pictures, but even so, you still don't know much about this guy. This is why we got him for an interview in which we talked about poker in general, his daily life, his Black Member Party experience and more.

This interview was conducted by vhallee

Daphunk
DaPhunk

Meet our Diamonds:

Name:Mark Widdowson
Age: 22
Nationality: British
Game types: NL 100 SSS, NL 200 SSS, NL 400 SSS

PokerStrategy: Hello, DaPhunk, it's good to have you here, so thanks for accepting to do this interview. Let me start by asking for a short intro, so that our users can get to know a bit more about yourself.

DaPhunk: Hmmm, Short Intro? That's kind of hard. I guess it goes like this;
I'm a Ski Instructor/ Extreme Skier / Party Animal that resides in various Ski resorts during the winter and basically tries to play as much Poker the rest of the time to make up for it!
I've been playing Poker for a year now and play NL100 and 200 SSS. I've tried 1,000 hands of NL400SSS and some NL50 BSS as well.
Oh, I also like Trampolining, swimming, Downhill Mountainbiking and playing the guitar.

PokerStrategy: So basically, you're like a bear who likes partying, except for the hybernation part, which is replaced by poker. Fair enough. When did you get into poker and how did you come across PokerStrategy.com?

DaPhunk: I was taught the basics of Hold'em By a couple of Girls 2 years or so ago. Luckily they didn't know what they were doing either so I didn't do too badly.
Then last March, a friend of mine came to Verbier to visit and owned it up at a home game of some Swedish friends of mine. I was interested and he told me about Pokestrategy. By the time June rolled around I finally had enough time to play and passed the starting Quiz! The Rest is History :) And yes, I am a bear :D

PokerStrategy: Well, we do have very few Diamond-ranked bears, so that makes you even more precious to us. Also, I suspect this bear is related to you, due to its party-like habits. I can't move on until I ask you about your nickname: why DaPhunk? First thing I think of is that nice song from Rage Against The Machine.

DaPhunk
DaPhunk: Hahaha, the "He was very handsome-looking" bit can't be disimalar ;)
My nickname Is of course derived from the song I rather enjoy: "Daft Punk - The Funk" Those French can actually make good music you know! Sometimes.

PokerStrategy: Let's not venture into your questionable music tastes, as it will make for a painful interview. Now let me ask you something else: what happened last weekend? ;)

DaPhunk: Lol, I like almost all music so maybe you're right about my taste being questionable :)
As for last weekend, well I was at the Black Member Party of course! The English Community were going for the first time as well so I had no excuse not to go. I had an epic weekend, Loads of fun on Friday night as well as Saturday. Epic party, free drinks, thanks Pokerstrategy for this AWESOME rakeback with a difference :D
Oh, Shoutout to awishformore for his spare Drink Tokens. They came in handy!

PokerStrategy: I will make sure he reads this. Also I want to say that it was nice partying with you - bar hopping was definitely worth it. Let's get a little more into poker now: how many hours/tables/sessions do you play in a regular day? Please describe the way you make money.

DaPhunk: Thank you! I don't have a regular poker day though so here goes, something vague for you:
On a poker day I will play 2 to 4 sessions, one lunchtime, one just before dinner time (8PM), one just after dinner time (10-11PM) and one in the morning for those lovely Canadians. (1-3AM)
Tables - I like to play 12 tables for maximum concentration If I can, however, I'm a bit of a multitable whore and often add way too many so I end up playing 18 tables for the first Hour or so of a session.
DaPhunk
As for how I make money? I make large amounts of money breaking up genuine Arctic icebergs and shipping them to ludicrously rich people to chill their drinks with, for ludicrously inflated prices.

PokerStrategy: I meant to ask you how you make money in poker, but thanks for sharing that with us anyway. And speaking of money, let's do an exercise in imagining: if you would win a trillion dollars at a final table heads-up vs. Phil Hellmuth (which will then accuse you of not even being able to spell 'poker'), what would be the first thing you would buy and why?

DaPhunk: Hmm, That's a hard question to answer. There a lot of cool things you can buy with that much. Quick list of things that spring to mind: boats, planes, cars, houses, islands, some companies, power to work your will with governments etc. However, I think the first thing I would do would be to buy myself a plane ticket to Verbier so I could buy a house there and set up my dream permanent base in the Alps. God I would lead such an extravagant life If I had that much cash. I would constantly be inviting friends over for big houseparty's and buying all the booze.

PokerStrategy: Looking forward to leech off of your winnings. I did some very accurate calculations with my robot, General Unit Engineered for Scientific Sabotage (G.U.E.S.S.) and I found out it will take you about 400 years of grinding on Full Tilt Poker (500 on PokerStars). Unfortunately I went ahead and made fun of Hellmuth before asking you something else: live poker vs. online poker?

DaPhunk
DaPhunk: Lol @ Phill Hellmuth. I heard Dan Negrenau talking about him recently on whateveritwasradio. Very funny. Live vs Online poker Is hard for me to answer since I havn't played Live much and was drunk when I did.
I appreciate that they are different games of course and you have the whole tells thing Live, but the sheer fact Online Pro's can get in experience so much faster through Multitabling just tips me answer in favour of Online.

PokerStrategy: Live poker + being drunk? Alright, no comment there. After all, you're Diamond. What do you want to share with the lesser players, oh great Diamond? How can they get to play from laptops made of gold (like we all presume you do)?

DaPhunk: Hahaha! Lesser Players? Feels weird to me to think of other member as being lesser to me. All I do Is try to stick to the stuff I read in the articles, watched in the videos and picked up on the Sample Hand Forums. I don't think many people will have their work too cut out to catch me up as a player. I'm just a normal guy after all :)

PokerStrategy: Normal guy... at day! Am I right? Don't answer that. Judging from your introduction, you're a pretty much outdoor kind of person. Is there something else that you do when you're not playing poker or trampolining? If so, why? Dear God, why?

DaPhunk: hmm, I like to chill with friends basically, Do a Barbeque, have fun playing PS2, going Bowling, watching Films, going to the pub, You know, Normal stuff. Since I already mentioned Downhill mountainbiking, swimming and guitar.
Oh, I'm actually really into guitar I really like to play pretty much any Guitar solo I can get my hands on. Pantera solos and Steve Vai are some of my favourites. First Solo I ever learned was Nothing Else Matters by Metallica.

PokerStrategy: You combined poker with sports and partying so far, which is definitely why many people envy/hate you. Where do you see yourself in, let's say, 5 years' time?

DaPhunk
DaPhunk: That's a very hard Question to answer and there are two possibilities;
I may be stuck in the Ski Lifestyle trap and doing the same old thing. Possibly competing in the Freeride World tour which is basically my dream Job.

OR

DaPhunk: I shall have finally gone to and possibly finished university like I've been planning since I cancelled my place at Leeds. (I want to go to North America near some mountains with lots of snow to study)
I don't have any plans on playing Poker for much more than fun. I enjoy getting a bit of extra money, but I don't see it as being the key earning power in my life even though that would be fun.

PokerStrategy: Hmm, I think that's about it. But just to make sure I haven't forgotten anything, this is your chance to add whatever you want to add before we end this interview.

DaPhunk: I'd like to apologise for my slightly sparse updates on my Blog recently. I've kinda run out of Ideas on what to post. I think I'm gonna make some Poker and Non-Poker videos to post to keep things interesting in the future though!
Not much else to add, other than we need a PokerStrategy Party in London! I guess that's a bit of a long way off though lol.

PokerStrategy: We'll see about that party then. Thanks for your time and best of luck in the future!