Interview with a Poker Club Owner
Last week, I partnered with Pocket Poker, a club on ClubGG that offers cash games and tournaments online. The owner, who goes by @StoleYourSpot on Discord, agreed to a written interview. These are the questions I asked.
What made you want to start a poker club?
“I always try to build an online community for it with whatever I'm interested in because in today's world, you can connect with so many people that you share interests with just through making these communities, and I enjoy building those places for people to play and talk together. It is pretty easy to get started once you know what you are doing,”
How did you start playing poker?
“My family always would throw a party for Super Bowl Sunday and we always ran a turbo tournament before the kickoff. So with that, I learned over the years how to play the game, and about when I was 15 or 16 all my friends and I began playing cash games when we would hang out. I always was drawn to poker though because I enjoyed the fact that there was something at stake it wasn't fake and it made people play to the best of their abilities. For example, if you have ever played poker for no stakes just fake money people will be going all in because they don't care they can just go grab more fake chips and sit back down. I also like the game a lot because it does have a factor of skill it's not all luck there are a lot of ways that you can win without even having the best hands and that's truly what makes it different from other card games. Even if you are dealt bad cards if you know how to make it work by playing the game in other manners you can win.”
Would you ever want to open up a physical cardroom someday?
“I’ve never really thought about taking it that far but I definitely could be interested in it one day. I do love the game and helping people get together to play. Especially because I know how hard it can be to play/learn the game if you don’t have friends to play with. Helps to have a place for you to go.”
What is the easiest way to teach someone poker, assuming they have no idea about it?
“I would say there is no easy way. The best way to learn is to play and gain experience in the situation because you learn tendencies. Even those though are not enough because the game changes every new table you sit on. Each player plays differently and has their way of processing information and thinking about things. This can all factor in their decision making which could make them do things that someone else wouldn’t. This can throw a lot of people off especially when they are new and just learning common tendencies. But all that is a part of the game and comes with experience.”
Do you play anything besides hold‘em or PLO at your home games?
“Hold’em typically and tournaments but that’s hold’em as well”
Lastly, I know there was a cheater in your online game recently. Was that tough for you?
“Yes, it wasn’t something I originally thought would be an issue but thinking about it after the fact there are clear reasons and capabilities to do it. Now we have learned off that and developed security better so that everyone has an even fighting chance.”
Once again I want to thank @StoleYourSpot and if you would like to be a part of his game check the partnership tab on this site.
