Meet Darren Woods of Team 888VIP
Starting from $3 sit n go's I began playing poker six years ago, while working full time in an accountants. While having no real knowledge of the game, and actually reading through the rules of texas Hold'em while playing, needless to say I began by losing. However I was very quickly able to understand the basic math behind the game, and quickly moved onto low stakes cash games.
During a time where Americans dominated the poker sites, I worked on a system where I only played full ring. I would fold 98% of hands, simply raising very big, or shoving all in with a monster, and hoping for a call. When playing 10 or more tables at once, at a $10 max buy'in, the beauty of this system was that people simply don't care much about $10.
Therefore the calls were frequently super weak, and when multi-tabling to such an extent for many hours at end, I soon found myself earning a decent living from poker and building up a bankroll.
After 6 months of this, I decided to quit my 9-5, and go professional with my $10 buy'in games. As absurd as that sounds, it actually worked. Over time I started to increase the stakes in line with my bankroll. However this caused a problem...People care twice as much about $20 as they do about $10. So suddenly the loose calls became less. Needless to say, people care about $30 even more, and so became a problem for my system. Therefore I had to adjust my game, and thus I began to understand more of the phycology behind poker. Steadily as I became better, and built up a larger bankroll, I was able to increase the stakes more and more, and everytime increasing my own ability at the game.
Over the years my game has dramatically changed, as does everyones. Now I find full ring too slow, and prefer heads up or short handed games. I no longer find myself even caring about the maths of a hand, with the exception of all in's, but simply outplaying my opponent. As only such a small percentage of hands reach showdown, it rarely matters what you hold, but what your opponent holds, and can you throw them off the best hand. This of course obviously varies with different types of players, and your play needs to be adjusted accordingly. You can now find me frequently sat at some of the higher stake heads up games in both limit and no limit holdem.
After never really having concerned myself with live games, two years ago I entered the WSOP in Vegas and managed to find myself deepstacked. Unfortunately I did not win, but making the money in my first ever attempt at a live tournament felt amazing. I've entered a few more live tournaments since then, and managed to frequently make the bubble. I am now looking forward to being a part of a Team 888 and entering tournaments all over the world. Already knowing most of the Team personally, I have the greatest confidence that Team 888 will soon prove itself to the poker world, and know that great results are to come!
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