Team PokerStrategy.com Interviews: RobbieV

Just yesterday we announced Team PokerStrategy.com. Today we managed to get the Team Manager, RobbieV for an interview to find out more about this new concept. Read on to find out more about Team PokerStrategy.com!

This interview was conducted by vhallee

PokerStrategy: And from Dutch Community Manager you became manager of Team PokerStrategy.com Please tell us more about this project: first of all, how did it all start?

RobbieV: Well when I started out as a community manager for the Dutch site, I felt that there was something missing. I saw how international we were, and how many good players there actually are on PokerStrategy.com    I remember watching a video from Morgoth and to put it simply, I was impressed.
Basically that's what made me think of ways to create a team for PokerStrategy.com giving the talent we have a shot at big cash in the live tournaments. After a lot of thinking and trying I managed to convince everyone it was a good idea and now, a couple months later, we are actually going to the World Series of Poker to start off with a bang.

PokerStrategy: World Series of Poker - that's a great way to start things! So Team PokerStrategy.com will basically represent our community at the largest events in the world. Which other events are you interested in taking part in the future?

RobbieV: Yes the team PokerStrategy.com players will do their best to represent PokerStrategy.com and appear on at least 10 final tables. That's what they promised me anyway.
In the future we are mostly looking forward to big tournaments outside the United States. We don't allow anyone from the United States to sign up, so it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Instead we want to focus on big tournaments such as the European Poker Tour, World Poker Tour in Europe( with venues like Venice and Barcelona), Russian Poker Tour and so on.

PokerStrategy: 10 final tables you say? Let's go to the roster then: which are the players that will represent PokerStrategy.com at the WSOP?

RobbieV: At leats 10! All kidding aside, one would already be fantastic of course, but with our roster I have good hopes. Currently there are four players in the team: Tim "Nazgul" Kahlmeyer, Daniel "Allanon85" Drescher, Moritz "Trader" Schmejkal and Tobias " Pokernoob" Reinkemeier.
These are all established players in PokerStrategy.com all having their fair amount of successes. Daniel won the Sunday Million, Pokernoob managed to win the heads up event in the SCOOP on PokerStars and so on. Nazgul recently ended up fourth in the Sunday Million on PokerStars as well, suffering a massive suck out for a large pot earlier on. Also, they will all be producing English videos every month from now on, which all of our members will definitely enjoy.

PokerStrategy: So currently, Team PokerStrategy.com consists of five people: you and  four players. Are there any plans to add more players to the line-up?

RobbieV: For sure! The plans are there, but as you can realise it's a new experience for us as well. What we want to do is start of fwith a bang, getting these four players to play a whole lot and then go from there. It would be nice if we can expand our team by letting more great talent join. You can definitely expect a news item about this after the WSOP.

PokerStrategy: Sounds great! Looking forward to seeing the roster expand. Speaking of this: many of our members will be interested in joining. What will be the criteria for choosing them? What do they need to know about this?

RobbieV: Well basically everyone can join! After all, like Nazgul and Allanon for example, they became pro with the $50 they got from PokerStrategy.com just two or three years ago and here they are now. There are 'just' two things you have to do. First of all you have to be a PokerStrategy.com member of course, secondly you need to be a very good and profitable poker player, being able to beat the 'high' stakes. Of course some big tournament success will definitely increase your chances.

PokerStrategy: Ok, people, you heard him - that should be an extra motivation to improve your game. Now let's get back to Team PokerStrategy.com's first stop - the WSOP. In which events should we expect to see our players? Would you like to give us a little inside information on their schedule as well?

RobbieV: Gladly, I'm actually really excited about it. The WSOP is held for the 40th time this year and because of that, they are having a special tournament. Tobias “PokerNoob” Reinkemeier is actually going to participate in the $40,000 buy-in tournament, in just six days! (28th of May) This is definitely going to be one of the most exciting tournaments to follow.
Of course all players will play the main event. This is the biggest live event in the world with the biggest prize pool. I just hope that the number of entrants this year will again be higher than last year.
Between this, there are tons of tournaments the players will play. the $10,000 Heads-up championship, the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha championship, the $5,000 six-max and so on! Enough to be really excited about. All in all, I think they will enter at least in 20 different events.

PokerStrategy: Sounds good. We will also keep our members up to date with news. What about other means to follow our players at the WSOP? How can we get to know more about what's going on over there?

RobbieV: Well one thing, like you already said, will be our news. We will have a daily recap with all the inside information, we will have a daily preview and a nightly gossip. Plus the players will be blogging about their experiences, tournament progress and so on in their blog almost daily!

PokerStrategy: Nice, so if any of our players manages to do some crazy antics with the likes of Brunson, Negreanu or Hellmuth, we'll see that in their blog. I can only wish our players best of luck over there in their first event under the Team PokerStrategy.com logo! Is there something you would like to add before we end this interview?

RobbieV: Not a whole lot actually. I just wish the players the best of luck and hope they will make it to many final tables and that all of you will enjoy the WSOP this year more than ever.

PokerStrategy: Yes, I believe I speak for all of our members when I say "Good luck, Team PokerStrategy.com!" Thank you for your time and, once again, best of luck at the World Series of Poker!

RobbieV: You're welcome and thanks ! ;)