Meet the Mod: Interview with English Community Moderator 'RasTweet'

Today we chat to a PokerStrategy.com forum hero who has just completed a milestone at the tables, our moderator RasTweet.

"Of course my straight was higher than his flush"

PokerStrategy.com: Tell us about how you got started in poker.

rastweet: In 2007/2008 I was an exchange student in South Africa, where they had a TV channel dedicated to poker.

I was shocked to be honest. I had heard about poker but I didn’t really know how it worked and what it was all about.  Anyway, when I was watching TV that channel was on and I really loved to watch poker.

During my stay I only played poker once with people who knew even less about the game. Needless to say, it was very easy to cheat and I won the game (of course my straight was higher than his flush).

PokerStrategy.com: How did you discover PokerStrategy.com?

rastweet: Shortly after my return, my little brother introduced me to PokerStrategy.com. He just said that some site was crazy enough to give us $50 to play poker. At first I was stunned but shortly after that I clicked on his referral link and signed up.

"Everyone was nice and prepared to help each other"

PokerStrategy.com: What prompted you to become a moderator?

rastweet: Well in the beginning I didn't even know there was a whole community at PokerStrategy.com, but after a while I found this out and started to read stuff on the forums. When I noticed that everyone was nice and prepared to help each other I decided to post on the forums as well.

I started posting more and more until I was spending more time on the forums helping people than I was playing poker - and I was enjoying it more. After a while I contacted Ingrid and asked her how to become a mod. Shortly after that, I got integrated into the awesome mod team!

PokerStrategy.com: What is the day to day life of a mod like?

rastweet: Well since I'm a teacher, it depends. Haha, that must be the most used sentence in poker! If I don't have work, I just sit behind my computer studying poker, playing poker, and reading/posting the forums all day.

When I do have a job though, I'm not such a degenerate. I get home and spend some time on the forums. Then it's dinner time and I do my work for school. After that, I either play poker first and then spend some more time on the forums, or I just spend time on the forums and don't play poker at all. 

"I like the poker look-a-like thread"

PokerStrategy.com: What do you like best about the PokerStrategy.com community?

rastweet: The love! That might sound weird but everyone is just so nice, from the headadmins and the people that work in Gibraltar to the basic members that just joined the community.

Everyone is there to help a fellow poker player. I don’t have to be scared to ask a newbie question on the forum, people will not laugh with me but try to help me!

PokerStrategy.com: What are your favourite threads in our forums?

rastweet: This is a hard one. Currently I like the "poker look-a-likes" thread a lot! It's so funny what some people come up with. I also like the "had a good day" thread because when I'm feeling down and think "I can’t beat this game", this thread will help to show that it is possible!

Then I just love the evaluations board. I don't post many hands myself because I don't spend enough time on my own game to be honest, but this board is my reading material for when I'm in bed.

"I haven't spent one cent of my own money"

PokerStrategy.com: You recently turned your free poker money into $1,000; can you tell us about that?

rastweet: I started playing NL2 and moved up in stakes and always playing No Limit. Two years later and I've hit a four-figure bankroll having never spent my own money on poker!

I could have deposited but I didn't want to; I always wanted to start with that $50 and keep playing with that money. I've bought a couple of things for poker with the money as well!

PokerStrategy.com: What did you learn about yourself and the stakes you played along the way?

rastweet: Well, life-wise my maths improved a lot. Now I look at money in a different way I guess. Two years ago I was happy if I made $10 after grinding three hours. If I now look at something I think "it’s x amount of buy-ins". Since I played micros for such a long time, those couple of dollars are much more valuable to me.

Poker-wise, I learned something from every stake. At  NL2/NL5 people are so bad! That said, believe them - if they raise you, they have it! It's a bit different at NL10/NL25. The people are still very bad,  but there are some regs that play there. I never said those regs were good though; they are aggressive but in a bad way. It seems like they are just clicking buttons.

PokerStrategy.com: Thanks very much rastweet, we'll see you on the forums.