"I Wanted That Chip Lead Really Badly" - SonicXT about His Tourney Victory

Our Diamond SonicXT is celebrating his biggest tournament success so far. He won the $20k Guaranteed on PartyPoker worth $5,616. He was kind enough to reply to a couple of questions.

Last Tuesday, our Diamond member SonicXT won the $20k Guaranteed on PartyPoker. After he fought his way through a field of 208 opponents he was able to take the tourney down and with it $5,616.
You can read his thread Won 20k Guaranteed in the "Our successes" forum.

Interview: TribunCaesar

 

PokerStrategy: Hello SonicXT! Congratulations on your tourney win! Please tell us something about yourself!

SonicXT: Hi, I'm 23 years old and I'm from Belgium. I got my first master degree at Leuven University last year, but plan to add one - or perhaps two more - years to my student life. 🙂

PokerStrategy: A lot of PokerStrategists are students. It looks like poker is a nice diversion from studying. What makes poker so attractive for you?

SonicXT: It's just the game itself that's so appealing. Poker combines rationality and intuition, math and psychology ... there's no right or wrong in this game, but in some ways there is. I appreciate this infinite complexity of something so simple. I played my first freerolls three years ago, but only started at PokerStrategy last November. I guess that the money is an attractive factor as well. 🙂

PokerStrategy:
How did you come across PokerStrategy?

SonicXT: Actually, I don't remember. I guess I was looking for free money again. I signed up already in July 2007 but forgot to send a copy of my ID. At a certain point, Timor83, a close friend of mine, asked us to join you so he could get TAF money. I then remembered this site and finally sent the ID - and he didn't get TAF money for it, hehe.

PokerStrategy: Please, tell us a bit more about your poker career!

SonicXT: Well, in the beginning, I was a losing player, of course. I guess I was better than those who only played it for free money or the €5 ring games at home. Yet, I was far from being a decent player. PokerStrategy's articles, videos and hand-judging forums helped me to make the initial jump from a newbie fish to a somewhat respectable low- and mid-stake player. I still make the occasional beginner's mistakes at times though and I know that I have a long way to go before I'm as good as I'd like to be. Yet, I'm happy that I've already gotten "somewhere" in the poker world - something which is a great deal thanks to you guys, too.

PokerStrategy: Please, tell us about the tournament you won this week. What where the keys to winning it?

SonicXT:
If I have to be honest, 90% of it was luck. I was lucky to cash in a MTT played outside bankroll management. At the start of the tournament, I played relatively tight. Then the bubble burst and my stack continued to be in the Top 10, so I started to make risky moves. Those could have easily made me go broke at rank 15 or lower. Luck was on my side. I wanted to go for a top spot, so I tried to push people around a little and got my money in (being first-in) with basically coin flip situations ... I wanted that chip lead really badly. 🙂

PokerStrategy: So you got the chip lead? Do you remember a certain key hand?

SonicXT:
The decisive hand came when we were at five-handed play. There were three players with well over 100k in chips, I was fourth with merely 70k. I got in the big blind and CO raised to 20,000. The button called and the big stack at the time tried to squeeze a pure bluff with 70,000. I pushed my remaining chips in. He called with and my overcards held up. After this hand I was a close chip leader with over 180k in chips.

Later, I pushed 44 UTG and got called by AJo, it held up again, to get me a huge chip lead. I played that risky because the Top 2 spots were getting a lot more money and positions 3 to 5 didn't really make a difference.

PokerStrategy: Very nice. Congratulations again! What advice would you give other players who also want to become more successful?

SonicXT:
For poker in general, I'd say the best thing to do is to analyze your game after sessions. Experience and learning from your mistakes is simply the best learning process.

I can't really give any advice with regard to tournaments though. This is my first real success and I ain't gonna be that arrogant to state I can give advice in that department, yet. I'll save these for a future interview. 😉

PokerStrategy:
What are your future goals regarding poker and your life?

SonicXT:
Right now, I'm playing NL 100 SH with a very, very conservative bankroll. I just want to reach my full potential someday, the highest limit I can possibly handle.

But I also refuse to let poker take a central part in my life, so a professional future is out of the question. I want it to remain a hobby for me, but a really profitable one. 😉

At the moment, I'm more focussed on other goals in my life, but I can't disclose all of those to the general public. 😉

PokerStrategy:
Is there anything else you would like to say as a closing remark?

SonicXT:
Well, what I've learned here is that poker is truly unpredictable. I guess it's more important than I even imagined to not get over-excited after a serious upswing or get depressed by a downswing. It can change around so fast, or it has for me in all directions recently. 🙂

Finally, I guess I'll have to thank PokerStrategy for giving me the chance to start this career. Kind of obligatory. 😉

PokerStrategy:
Thank you very much for the nice interview, SonicXT! We wish you all the best in your poker career and in life! We hope, that you'll keep us updated about how you are getting along!

The Final Hand

Hand History for Game 7258552433 *****
NL Texas Hold'em Trny:41294154 Level:16 Blinds-Antes (6,000/12,000 -200) - Tuesday, July 29, 23:14:10 ET 2008
Table $20K Gtd (1481924) Table #1 (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 2
Seat 4: SonicXT ( 457,182 )
Seat 8: theW00t ( 166,818 )
Trny:41294154 Level:16
Blinds-Antes(6,000/12,000 -200)
SonicXT posts ante [200]
theW00t posts ante [200]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to SonicXT [ ]
SonicXT raises [42,000]
theW00t is all-In.
SonicXT calls [118,618]
** Dealing Flop ** [ ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ ]
** Dealing River ** [ ]
SonicXT shows [ ]two pairs, Sevens and Twos.
theW00t shows [ ] a pair of Sevens.
SonicXT wins 333,636 chips from the main pot with two pairs, Sevens and Twos.
Congratulations to player SonicXT for winning tournament $20K Gtd.
Player theW00t finished in 2 place and received $3,390.40 USD.
Player SonicXT finished in 1 place and received $5,616 USD.