Poker Interviews

Greg Raymer: Full Tilt Ponzi Scheme?

Recently US Department of Justice made a statement that Full Tilt’s operations were basically a running “ponzi scheme”. CNN contacted Greg Raymer (attorney before he became a professional poker player) to shed some light on the whole situation.

Greg, who knows most of Full Tilt’ management personally, his opinion is clear: many mistakes were made, but he believes none of those were intentional. He blames massive mismanagement as the source of the current problems, not a “ponzi scheme”.

Watch the interview for yourself:

John Pappas interview on Black Friday

I assume if your visiting this website you are aware of what happened last Friday (15th April 2011). If the words Black Friday don’t ring a bell, you can check at this story.

John Pappas, the executive director of the Poker Players Alliance (a membership company with a mission to “establish favorable laws that provide poker players with a secure, safe and regulated place to play”), has now publicly reacted about with happened last Friday.

He rightly so states that the real problem right now is that the players can’t access their money. Regardless of what crimes the CEO’s of the poker companies are charged with, the players shouldn’t pay the price for it.

Watch the interview.

Natalia Nikitina, the first female WPT winner (or not?)

Natalia Nikitina might be the next big thing in poker, especially on the female side. The following interview was made a few moments after her victory in the WPT Paris Main Event, cashing €243,830 ($330,570). A number of websites are crediting Natalia as the first female WPT winner, but mind you that the event she won is a regional event, so technically it can’t be considered as a real part of the WPT tour. Regardless, it’s always nice to see a young female win a big poker event. Congratulations Natalia!

Phil Hellmuth is “full-time and back, baby!”

Cardplayer interviewed Phil Hellmuth at the WSOP 2010 about his poker career in the recent years. Hellmuth-interviews are always very entertaining, mainly because Phil takes himself way to seriously (see also this post over at barroompoker.net: Why so serious Phil Hellmuth?).

In this interview he talks about his goal in poker: to leave behind a legacy that can’t be topped, to be regarded the greatest player of all-time. He also speaks about the advances he has made in being able to keep his composure whenever things don’t go his way. Phil is proud of what he has accomplished the last couple of years and takes great care in always putting his family first. However, he wants to become a full-time poker player again and warns his opponents and viewers that he’s “full-time and back, baby!”.

The funniest thing in this interview (beside the usual Hellmuth shenanigans) is how Phil tries to explain how to mix up your game in tournaments, by making a strange analogy which involves a kind of meta-physical “bag” and being able to “grab into them when the time is right”. Such a strange and wonderful man.

The old days of poker – Doyle Brunson

In this interview Dolly mostly talks about the old days in Texas. The beginning days of poker weren’t as romantic and exciting as the tales want us to believe, as a matter of fact it were pretty dangerous times, with armed hold ups of poker games being a frequent phenomenon. This interview shows the present day poker player how good they have it to practice their hobby or job, compared to where poker comes from. The interview goes on with some bad beat stories and a pretty funny tale about a player called Pasquale.

With only 10 minutes long this is definitely an interview you can’t afford to miss.

Inside the poker mind of Daniel Negreanu

Pokerroad’s Inside the poker mind is a great series of video interviews. Daniel Negreanu is probably one of the best known -if not THE best known- professional poker players out there. In this talk with Amanda Leatherman he speaks about his poker career, as well as his private life.

In part one Daniel talks about his first WSOP bracelet, his teenage years and how he got into poker and his dating history with Evelyn Ng. (Yep, that’s right, he dated her…)

Part two’s about his miracle year 2004 and the difference between online and live poker.

The highlight of this interview is obviously Daniel’s impersonation of an online player. He really is a very likeable and funny guy.

Also, his new idea for the WSOP Main Event is very interesting. I agree with him it would make skill a bigger factor in winning.

Poker Interviews

The poker pro's are speaking out.

Greg Raymer: Full Tilt Ponzi Scheme?

John Pappas interview on Black Friday

Natalia Nikitina, the first female WPT winner (or not?)

Greg Raymer: Full Tilt Ponzi Scheme?

John Pappas interview on Black Friday

Natalia Nikitina, the first female WPT winner (or not?)

Phil Hellmuth is “full-time and back, baby!”

The old days of poker – Doyle Brunson

Inside the poker mind of Daniel Negreanu

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