Thedahl: Native Dances Around the Fireplace

The Media maniacs bring you all the latest news about the BOD and its players. This week, Cardbender420 interviews last week's winner "thedahl".

The Media Maniacs, the team of reporters from our Battle of the Donkeys, have taken aside thedahl, who not only achieved the best placement in the first round of Battle of the Donkeys with a 60th place finish in the 200k Guaranteed on PokerStars, but was also the best ranked community member last week.

The interview was conducted by Cardbender420

Cardbender420:

Hello thedahl, first I would like to congratulate you
on your 131^st place tournament finish and 1^st place BOTD
finish this week.

thedahl: Thank you, I registered in the
tournament late- so I was lucky to get a seat.

Cardbender420:
Can you tell the readers a
little about yourself?

thedahl: I currently live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is known worldwide for
the 'Calgary Stampede' which is known as the greatest outdoor show on earth. Of
course, the Calgary Flames are also a main attraction (and my personal favourite
hockey team). I don't like having my name etc. on the internet so I'll leave it at
that.

Cardbender420: Which hand was most memorable during this
week's BOTD?

thedahl: Blinds
were at 200/400 and I was BB at 14k. UTG min-raised at the beginning `and 6
folds followed. I had K10 of hearts and a good read on the one opponent that
raised. He was the chip leader at my table with 32k and had a very loose image.
K10s isn't a very good hand but it seemed playable against him, so I called. The
flop came 3QK rainbow. I bet 1k and he raised it to 2k which really didn't
bother me so I called. The turn was a 4 which did nothing. I bet 3k which he
called. The river was a 6. I had only 8k left and pushed it in. Although he had
called all of my continuation bets, I still felt like I was up in the hand. He
called and showed AQo- a pair of queens ace high. I took down a 28k pot which
was a nice boost to my ITM successes.

Cardbender420: Which
game types do you prefer and where do you normally play?

thedahl: I
prefer no limit hold'em and play 9 tables on Mansion. I like Mansion because of the large quantity of fish and it
doesn't seem to slow down my computer as some have
been complaining about. Within the last month, I've started at NL10 and (although I can only play once or
twice a week) have made it up to NL30 using the
SSS.

Cardbender420: Where
do you see your poker career heading? Do you have any short/long term goals?

thedahl: My
poker career is based on fun. I wouldn't play poker if I didn't enjoy it. I
have a website which advertises
for PokerStrategy and I have a small income of around $50 a month. As far as playing poker professionally, that is not
for me. My goal for now is to make it
up to NL50. Some long-term goals are to make $1000 (hopefully it won't take that long).

Cardbender420: You
have done well in the BOTD in the past few weeks, netting around 340$. What is the secret of your success?

thedahl: Patience,
stealing blinds, and SoyCD. Waiting for the playable cards to come is very key. Once the blinds are getting higher,
stealing is very important. Almost every
time I am in position to steal - I do. In the long run, it benefits you dramatically. I couldn't answer this
question without mentioning SoyCD, who basically
coached me through every hand on my race to 60th place out of 22000 a couple of weeks ago.

Cardbender420: Is there something in
particular you want to spend your winnings on or have you blown them already celebrating your achievements?

thedahl: As
far is this tournament goes ($31.87), I am keeping it in my Stars account for future BOTD buy-ins. As for the $340 I made
from the other BOTD - I withdrew it and bought
a nice sub-woofer for my car. It rumbles the world.

Cardbender420: Which
team are you planning on joining next week? "I know it would be the Media Maniacs if it weren't full" 🙂

thedahl: Ha
ha, of course it would be the Media Maniacs-- but I owe my winnings to Soy and that is the team I would like to
join (even though he didn't let me join it this week).

Cardbender420: Do you have any pre-tourney rituals or
superstitions?

thedahl: I
do native dances around the fireplace, and then I kill a seal - other than that, not really.

Cardbender420: Some
people have certain hands they like to play regardless of their strength. Do you have hands like this?

thedahl: When
playing SSS, I stick to the books, but in tournaments I just love JQs. It's so damn good looking that you just
need to play it.

Cardbender420: Do you have a favourite pro
player? Also, if you were given the opportunity to punch any pro player in the face really really hard, who
would it be?

thedahl: My
favourite player is Daniel
Negreanu. He isn't cocky, he has a
tremendous amount of talent, and he is Canadian! What more could you ask for. My least favourite player
is Phil Hellmuth. Mainly because he is
a <expletive>!

Cardbender420: If you had to pick an item as your card
protector at the tables what would it be?

thedahl: I would have to say a mini ninja. There is no better protection then a
ninja.

Cardbender420: Thanks very much for taking the time to participate in this
interview and best of luck in the future.

thedahl: You
are welcome and thank you.