07 Nov 08

kennyxx: Snowboarding, Darts and Photography

kennyxx was the man of the day in the latest BOTD, leading the Community Team to victory and Cardbender managed to get hold of him for an interview.

Last week we saw the Community Team dominating the BOTD. It all happened thanks to the combined efforts of all the players, of course, but one of them was the man of the day - kennyxx. Cardbender managed to get him for an interview, so here is what the man had to say.

This interview was conducted by Cardbender

Cardbender: Hello kennyxx, congratulations on your 449th place tournament finish and 1st place BOTD finish this week.

kennyxx: Hello and thanks!

 Cardbender: To start things off, can you tell the readers more about yourself?

kennyxx: I'm 25, single, I'm from Czech Republic and I work as a technician for a notebook manufacturing company.

Cardbender: Do you put those spiral rings in books? :)

kennyxx: You can be sure I do :D
Actually my job is related to the European service centre.

Cardbender: What else is there to do in the Czech Republic, other than poker?

kennyxx: I like going snowboarding, playing darts and photography. In fact we can do almost everything here except swim in the sea - there's no sea in CZ of course.

Cardbender: Great. When the Maniacs get hired to report at the WSOP, we can use you to take pictures :)

kennyxx: Of course, but I need some money to travel there.

Cardbender: No problem, PS will treat us well I’m sure! Snowboarding huh… I know a few Pokerstrategy members that like skiing/snowboarding. Is there a good place in Czech Republic to do this?

kennyxx: There are not that many places here but I found some good snow parks around; however, the best skiing action is in France or Austria. I hope to go there soon! I'm trying to spend at least weeks there every year.

Cardbender: Great! I'll have to check out the snow there! Get a few more BOTD wins and your trip will be paid for!

kennyxx: It would be nice :)

Cardbender: How did you feel about your play during the tournament? Did you have any lucky moments or was it all skill?

kennyxx: As I wrote in forum, I was the luckiest community member last week. I remember I hit runner-runner-flush, then I hit a 1-outer set on the river later on... last hand I lost with AKs against JJ. I think I hit enough of them in a row during the tournament so it occasionally happens that I lose one of them.

Cardbender: It's nice when luck happens and it sucks when you don’t hit those coin flips. Next time then :) When did you start playing poker?

kennyxx: I started in February (twice because I went broke within a few days), then I won some free rolls and started loosing my winnings so I stopped playing until May when I joined PS. I started to play more regularly at the end of August.

Cardbender: Do you ever play live games?

kennyxx: Not yet, but I would like to. I don't know any players nearby, so my only chance to play live games is in Prague, which takes too much time.

Cardbender: You mainly stick to online play - do you have a preferred limit and game type?

kennyxx: I mainly play at Titan and Party, while the MTTs on PokerStars. I’m playing FL right now, I tried NL but I didn’t feel comfortable with the SSS.

Cardbender: What was it that you didn’t like about NL and SSS?

kennyxx: It's only raise/fold or raise/all-in and I like playing with a bigger stack. In fact, I tried and ran for 39BB/100 in the first 1500 hands but I wanted to try something different. I like playing different game types that people don’t normally play like Omaha, Stud and even Horse, which I have to say I didn’t do to bad at.

Cardbender: Omaha is an interesting game. Do you play it often?

kennyxx: No, I just tried it for a few sessions. I need to change the game from time to time.

Cardbender: Is there something in your game you are working on at this time?

kennyxx: Now I’m trying to improve my cash game and finding a way to play limit cash and no limit tourneys altogether. I am mainly working on my cash game play these days.

Cardbender: Sounds like a good combination.

kennyxx: Sounds nice but it is not so easy - switching between FL and NL... I recently made a deposit on PokerStars for BOTD and found some FL tourneys, so maybe that’s the way for me. I have played four of them now and reached one final table :)

Cardbender: Great start! If you enjoy FL, the same will be true for the tourneys. Good Luck :)

kennyxx: Thank You!

Cardbender: Have you set any short/long term goals?

kennyxx: I don’t like long term goals, I like to say I want to have this amount of money at this date etc… So I try to stick to short term goals. At this time, I am working on reaching the next limit, rereading articles this week, that’s hell for me :) I have also started a blog.

Cardbender: Do you feel starting a blog will help you on you poker journey?

kennyxx: I hope so, I hope it will be the place where I can discuss my play with others and cover the leaks in my game. Feedback will help my play progress.

Cardbender: The Pokerstrategy forum is a great place to discuss poker. I’m sure it will help! How has your game improved since you joined PS?

kennyxx: The improvement is huge - before I joined, I didn't care about BRM. Since I played SnG and tourneys only, I found that SnGs are no longer fun for me. I found too many leaks in my play, so I decided to leave them for a while and start playing cash games.

Cardbender: Since you joined PokerStrategy, have you found cash tables to be more profitable than SnG/MTT’s?

kennyxx: Yes, I was afraid of cash games before I joined Pokerstrategy but they helped me improve my cash game a lot. SnGs were a losing game for me, but after joining I started to win. I read some interesting articles about cash games and they have become more profitable for me so far.

Cardbender: Have you attended coaching sessions or have you been involved in the hand evaluation threads?

kennyxx: Last couple of weeks I became more active on the boards and I posted some hands too. I have found coaching sessions to be really helpful. I have to say thank you very much to all coaches and judges here.

Cardbender: Sounds like you're on the road to success!

kennyxx: I hope so!

Cardbender: Do you have any favorite sports teams you want to give a shout out to?

kennyxx: We have best hockey team in the world :D. Yesterday we beat Slovakia 7:0 in a friendly match :) *\o/*

Cardbender: Do you think the Czechs have a chance vs Team Canada in the next world championship?

kennyxx: I’m not sure but we have a new coach now and some players are back in the national team (such as Jaromir Jagr), so we have a chance, but still, it's Canada…

Cardbender: It will be a tough battle! :)
Now for everyone’s favorite, "Pick The Prize" !!! You won 13.38 this week in BOTD. If you had to spend you winnings, which one of the following items would you purchase?

A vintage Batman water pistol.	A can of premium armadillo meat.	One night accommodation at the luxurious Heldon Von Shoehorn Inn.

kennyxx: That’s a really difficult decision to make. I’m going to request time…59…58…57...:) Since I have not much time these days, I will leave the accommodation offer for now. Armadillo meat could be interesting for me because of one of my friends is a really good cook and he can do almost anything you can imagine. But as I have my nephew next to me right now, I will choose the vintage Batman pistol for him this time.
Cardbender: Great choice! Tell him not to get too trigger happy :)
Is there anything at all you would like to mention before the interview ends?

kennyxx: I would like to wish all PS members the best of luck at the tables (but not against me :D)

Cardbender: Thank you very much for taking the time to do this interview, kennyxx. Best wishes for the future and I'll hopefully see you next week in the BOTD : )

kennyxx: It was my pleasure, I wish you good luck also. I will, of course, be in the BOTD : )