Interview with Phil Gordon - Best question wins Signed DVD - Ends 13th Dec 2005

The successful World Poker Tour player has been kind enough to answer any questions that members may have for him

Post your questions in this thread. I will collate them and then email Phil Gordon with them in about 2 weeks....say monday 13th December.

Only post interview questions in this threads. I rarely delete posts but ill delete any off topic posts to keep the thread clean. Its a pain to have to go through a 10 page thread with only 10 questions with the rest of the posts not being related If you have a question or suggestion about her interviews please post them in a new thread.

Not only that. The question that Phil picks out as the best one will win a signed copy of his new DVD Expert Insight

About Phil Gordan

You can find out more about Phil at his Official Website

In addition to his DVD, Phil also released a book recently called Little Green Book

Attached Thumbnails

 

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Hello Mr. Gordon. Being a great tournament player, what would you emphasize mostly to someone wanting to improve their tournament skills, or wanting to move from cash games to being successful tournament players. What would you suggest for players to work on the most to improve their tournament game?

Does writing books and doing other things, such as being a commentator, help improve your poker skill? What sort of aspects of the game might this improve better than just playing?

Also, do you think your large stature intimidates any players, and do you ever try to use that as an intimidation factor? Thank you very much Mr. Gordon.

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cky12 - PokerStars
cky12 - FullTilt

My Poker Journal

just a heads up fonz, his name is spelled "gordon"...i know its not a big deal, but we dont want to offend phil

p.s. his celebrity poker showdown is great, you can tell how angry he gets at some of the terrible play sometimes, but he just has to bite his tounge lol.

I am wondering what kind of direction you and other fellow poker pros think your career is gonna go within the next 5 years considering how much the whole poker world is growing ?

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The only thing worst than getting a bad beat is getting outplayed...

As one of the hosts of Celebrity Poker Showdown I notice alot of the celebrities seem to have only a basic knowledge of the game if even that much and make bets and calls that are not typical. I hear some of the celebrities commenting as they play that you are questioning their play.

Do you spend time with each celebrity before the show watching them play and giving advice to each individually or as a group? Or do you give no tips at all?

What would you say is this first thing you try to instruct the celebrities, or any individual, that has the basic concept of poker but has never played in a tournament before?

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I OWN THE PERSON THAT BEAT RIVERLOSER!!!


I AM GONNA BE ALL OVER YOU LIKE A RAT ON A CHEETO

My question is more just asking you, your opinion on some or all of my views and which one you think is the most important for the NLHE tournament game. My view and rules are follows:

1.) NLHE is a 80-90 % mind game and only a 10-20% card game
2.) I like to use the phrase “NLHE is about everything except the cards”.
3.) I feel that the most important aspect of the game is timing followed very closely by position.
4.) The pre-flop bet is a very tricky bet…on the one hand, you want to drive out opposition and on the other hand you do not want to be too committed to the pot, because you might have a very ugly flop.
5.) The turn bet is probably the most critical bet.
6.) Starting hands are critical and nice…but they are only nice, if the flop likes them.
7.) Any pocket cards and almost any hand can be beat with just one more card hitting the board…therefore getting a good read on your opponent is essential and taking down the hand now is most important.
8.) Anyone can beat your great hand…but no one can beat the uncontested hand that you just took down….they may be able to hand you a bad beat or they may suck-out on you…but they can do neither with an uncontested hand.
9.) Playing your opponents hand instead of your own hand is essential to winning pots.
10.) I am not interested in getting monster pockets or monster flops…they can
deplete your bank…you are willing to risk more and then you find that your
opponents hand is slightly better…however J8 will take down 62 in a flash.
11.) There are very few stupid plays…instead it is stupid timing.
12.) Don’t get hooked on drawing good hands…instead look for opponent error!
13.) Bets , raises and re-raises are good aggressive offensive play….but the proper
bet , raise, re-raise and check should be used to solidify your read on your
opponent….they are much more than just an offensive tool.
14.) Change of play style is important within a game so that, an opponent can’t label
you with a pattern.
15.) Slow playing is very dangerous….I would rather take the pot down now, Thank
You….I will only slow play if I am above 90 -95% sure that I will win the hand.
16.) Pot odds are not as important in NLHE as they are in the limit game…taking
down the pot uncontested is what is important.
17.) Bluffing is a very important part of the NLHE game, but you want to set them
up with perfection and excellent timing…you would like a table image that you
are almost incapable of making a bluff play.
18.) Most play should be done from the cutoff, button, small blind and big
blind…other positions are very risky positions.
19.) Unless you are in a desperate situation, make your all-in bets and calls only
when your stack is larger than your opponents.
20.) Look at your opponents, not your cards when they are being dealt.
21.) Stay away from wars…instead, win small battles.
22.) Timing and mind play is more important than hand selection.

With the obvious potential of collusion, and the inevitable poker bots potentially getting folks off of their online play, do you feel that poker as a whole could have the "bubble burst" anytime in the near future?

If not, what do you see as the potential hazards to the popularity of the game, both live, and online?

Thanks for your time, Mr. Gordon.

Hi Phil,

Thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions here at THF. I really liked the website. It sounds like you experienced quite a bit during your 5 year road trip around the world. I enjoyed looking at the various pics from around the world. I also enjoy watching you co-host the Celebrity Poker Showdown. I always get a few laughs watching this.

My questions center around the WSOP Main Event....

The WSOP Main Event in 2005 had over 5600 entrants. Next years WSOP Main Event will probably have between 6000 & 7000...maybe even more.

1. With the popularity of this event increasing over the last few years and the ever increasing number of online qualifiers, do you think a well known professional poker player will ever win this event again? If so...who do you believe has the best shot at it in a field of 6000 to 7000+ players. Mike M came close in 2005, making the final table.

2. Do you think the buyin for this Main event should be increased to (15k or 20k) so as to try and reduce the amount of entrants or do you think doing this would even make an impact in the total number who register, what with the increasing number of online qualifiers these days?

3. Who is the friendliest Pro you have met while playing? Who is the funniest...cracks you up? The most serious? The loudest?

Thanks again.

PKR

First of all, thank you for taking the time to join us here at Texas Holdem Forums.

A recent debate came up lately here at the forum and a few of our members chimed in with their thoughts. I wanted to get a proffesional players point of view. I will be asking this question to other proffessionals as well and will post the results along with the responses from our forum members. So heres the scenario:

Its the very first hand of the WSOP and your in the Big Blind and you look down to see Pocket Aces. Everyone folds except the Small Blind ( an obvious rookie ) who announces "ALL-IN"!! . The question is.. Do you call? and why or why not?