Interview with forum member CardLovinCat
PERSONAL RELATED QUESTIONS: Q: Care to share any background or family related info with THF (have any
kids? a spouse? etc.)? A: I married my very handsome husband 4 yrs ago and have 2 beautiful grown daughters 30/26, and 1 awesome grandson 12.
Q: What is your Profession? Have you had any other professions prior to your current one? A: Licensed Massage Therapist for 10 years and PT Poker Dealer for one year. Have been a Massage Program Instructor and Director, Counselor Indiv/Family/Behavior, Provider Relation Rep for BC/BS Insurance amongst a few other careers.
Q: Besides poker, what else interests you? A: home design/decorating, gardening, cooking, baseball, basketball, beach, boating, hosting parties, and so many other things.
Q: What’s your favorite books/movies/TV? A: Panama Crossing/Ladyhawke/Anything on HGTV
Q: Any particular songs/genres of music that you relate to? A: r & b, ragae, some country, rap and of course massage music…lol
Q: What are your pet peeves? A: People acting like they are better than anyone else. Pompous acting. but of course they are usually insecure weak people, hence the act.
Q: Your worst fear? A: Dying slowly of some terribly painful illness.
Q: What's your favourite food? A: I love cheese…all kinds and lobster! Now I’m hungry.
Q:Take us through a day in the life for you: A: Depends on the day…Let’s say Thursday , my favorite day. Get up when my husband jostles the bed after jogging, lifting weights for an hour, has emptied the dishwasher and made the coffee (yes, I am spoiled rotten) usually about 7:30am. Kiss my husband, drag my butt to the coffee maker, make a cup, grab the computer and head for the screened patio for a 18 man turbo SnG. While I play poker for a few hours I am, also doing laundry, addressing mailings for my husbands business, booking clients for my business, combing the cats and light house cleaning. At noon I wrap things up and start to prepare for my 3:00pm poker game @ a local casino. Hair, clothes, makeup (yes I am girlish that way) have to be styling. When I get there I am greeted by the security guard, waitress, poker manager, girl who sells me my table ticket (always giving me seat 5 or 6 because I tip her regularly) and players, all with huge smiles. It’s like going to visit the family. I usually make the final table where we agree to pay everyone double their buy-in ($20...lol) and play from there. By 5:30/6:00 it’s off to a club my husband and I belong to have beer and chicken wings. He meets me there. After a martini or 2 (did I say beer?) it’s home where we snack, watch a little TV and say goodnight. He goes to bed and I play poker for another hour. This allows time for the snoring to calm down so I can get some sleep
.
Q: Who are your heroes? A: My daughters. It wasn’t always an easy life and they have done awesome as young women!
Q: Are you related to, or do you know personally, or have you met anybody famous? A: I have shook hands with Johnny Carson (was 13 y/o), massaged Al Leiter’s (Yankees/Marlins)wife through her last pregnancy and spoke with Al once or twice (about his pillow),massaged Keith Lockhart (Braves), John Hope (Pirates), Jim Leyritz (Yankees, now notorious for vehicular homicide this past December) and a Florida Panther player I never can remember his name. In the poker room I worked at (Hollywood Seminole Hard Rock) I have seen the likes of Phil Gordon, Michael Mizrachi (The Grinder), Jason Taylor, Zack Thomas and Shaq.
Q: Explain what a perfect day would be like for you: A: Get up looking at the ocean, go out to the veranda for coffee followed by Mimosa’s, then brunch and off to the gym/spa where I work hard and then get pampered. Have dinner out with my family and come home to sit by the outdoor fireplace with my husband sipping American Honey until we get sleepy OR play and win the main event at the 2008 WSOP!!!!
POKER RELATED QUESTIONS: Q: What is your biggest poker cash or accomplishment? A: $600 1st place at a single table tourney at a local casino
Q: Are you more of a tournament player or ring games? What buy-in/stakes do you play at? A: tournament, micro right now. Use to play bigger
Q: Do you play competitively or for recreation? How much time per week do you spend on poker? A: Recreational 30 hours +
Q: Do you have any favorite poker pro’s? If so, why are they your favorites? A: Daniel Negreanu. He has a great personality. Also, Phil Gordon. He is very ambitious about many things, not just poker and a nice guy.
Q: Briefly explain how you got into poker (Possibly include age, influences, and location) A: Card games were always played after Sunday and holiday dinners while growing up. I am the oldest of 7 children so we played in teams and had to “call next”. I played everything except pinochle and bridge. I started playing poker online (PokerStars) about 5 years ago (play money). I started playing real money after a couple of years. I started playing live about 2 years ago.
Q: What is your favorite poker site to play on? A: PokerStars hands down.
Q: Do you have a favorite (Hold'em) hand? A: no, but AA does get my heart racing.
Q: What’s your favorite tourney format? (Possibly include ideal # of entrants, blind level timer, type of game, buy-in, etc.) A: I would have to say NL 9-10 player, 15-30 min blinds, preferable live $100 buy-in and when I am bored Omaha H/L in any format.
Q: In live games, do you have a good pokerface? A: I think so. I try to always look worried…lol.
Q: Do you have any superstitions or rituals for a live poker game? A: I wear something lucky (can’t mention), drink a Redbull at the start of each game and always have the same spinner/card protector with me.
Q: Are you a better live or online player? A: live
Q: What is your weakest point playing online besides not drinking? A: lol…who says I don’t drink? Not folding when I should and not calling when I should. Ok, ok, seriously it would be in my betting. I want to learn to maximize my hands when I have the nuts. I think I am shorting myself a better pot by betting inappropriately, amongst all the other things members have me working on.
Q: As of today, what are your poker ambitions? A: I would like to have a nice cash in a MTT, something with a “k” behind it.
Q: If not for poker in your life what would you do in your spare time? A: Probably do more volunteer work like I use to.
THF RELATED QUESTIONS: Q: How did you find THF and why did you join? A: I found them in the Private Tourney Tab on PokerStars. I was just exploring all the tabs at the time.
Q: Whose poker related posts on THF do you find most useful or most agree with?A: Everyone’s post give me something to think about, but I have to give kaart much credit for really helping me out. He went above and beyond by studying my histories and giving me very specific areas needing work and he did it all in such a way not to be offensive. I can’t thank him enough.
Q: If you could choose one player on THF to play heads up against for $1000 who would you choose? A: It would have to be kaart. We have been there twice now and I almost got him the second time. Is three a charm?
Q: If you could send one player on THF to the WSOP to win you cash who would it be? A: It’s so hard to answer that because I would want to send the best at large MTT’s. From what knowledge I do have (and it’s limited) of the members experience at that I would have to say bryan.
Q: Who in the future on THF do you think is most likely to be successful in their poker? A: mars, bryan, kaart and many others
Q: What do you think would improve the THF? A: More scheduled games whether it be a league with money added or not. A place where we can play against good players to make each other even better players. I liked having the freerolls. It brings in new players and helps them jump start a bankroll so they can play regularly scheduled games.
Q: What was your favorite THF moment? A: The 2007 THFSOP Main Event. I went HU with kaart. It was the biggest buy-in I had done in a long while and taking 2nd wasn’t too bad. I was really new and so nervous….lol.
Q: What was your least favorite THF moment? A: When I asked to be critiqued it was hard to hear some of the things that were said, but that was out weighed by the benefit I got from it. Some members are better at phrasing criticism.
Q: Who on THF do you think is most likely to be the next person banned? A: Me, if you ever cut into my poker time with one of these interviews again!!!!
Q: Who are your top 5 players on THF: A: kaart, rocketplayer, rw, dudley54, bryan not in any special order.
Thanks very much to CardLovinCat for taking the time to answer our questions 
Weekly Member Interview: CardLovinCat 
Real poker players don't cry....
