Interview with forum member GetTheShades
PERSONAL RELATED QUESTIONS:
Q: Care to share any background or family related info with THF (have any kids? a spouse? etc.)? A: Well I was born in Cape Town South Africa on Valentines Day after my parents immigrated to that country from the former Soviet Union. When I was 15 I moved up to New Zealand and have been living here in Auckland ever since. I'm still quite young so I don't have any kids although I would like to have some in the future. I do have a
girlfriend that I spend a bit of my time with.
Q: What is your profession? Have you had any other professions prior to your current one? A: I guess I play poker for a living now. I'm still going to school though so I'm not really under a significant amount of pressure to get a "real" job at this point. But I think it would be fair to say that at this point in my life I'm a student who plays poker for a living.
Q: Besides poker, what else interests you? A: I used to be an avid Cricket player and was quite successful at it until I got lazy. I still watch Cricket on TV as well as many other sports such Soccer, Basketball and Tennis. I also love playing pool and was very good at it when I was younger but unfortunately poker takes up a large portion of my time now so these days I play it rarely. I also enjoy reading.
Q: What are favorite books/movies/TV shows? A: I don't care what anyone says, I like the damn Harry Potter series! I also enjoy any book written by John Grisham, my favorite being "A Time To Kill" as well as Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird". Some of my favorite movies include: The Matrix, Fight Club, Rounders and many others that I cant remember right now. My older brother is actually a
major film buff and he and I used to watch a lot of movies together, so really I've seen too many movies to mention my favourites. Favorite TV show has to be The Simpsons.
Q: Any particular songs/genres of music that you relate to? A: I used to listen to mostly punk and alternative rock, guys like Blink 182 and Linkin Park, when I was younger but these days I'm more into electronica and house by DJs such as Bass Hunter and Lady Lea. Electronica really puts me in the zone when I'm playing poker, especially in long MTTs where I have to concentrate for long periods of time. Having said that, I do enjoy some old school music like Jimmy Hendricks, Pink Floyd, Metallica and Queen as well as some newer popular R&B tracks by Rihanna and people like that, (not all of it though just a few specific tracks that I think are brilliant). Linkin Park have released a lot of great music this decade, they're defiantly very good.
Q: What are your pet peeves? A: People who constantly complain about bad beats. Once or twice is ok to blow of some steam, but complaints every single day just gets annoying. I also hate losing at poker because of a big mistake that I made as oppose to a bad beat.
Q: Your worst fear? A: Going broke.
Q:What's your favourite food? A: I tried Sushi the other day and I'll tell you, the stuff is freaking amazing!!!!!!!!! But I would have to say my favorite is Subway sandwiches.
Q: Take us through a day in the life for you: A: Usually I wake up about 7:30 AM, go to school 'til 3: PM. I come home, think about how nice it would be if I did some homework, then play poker instead. On weekends though I'm usually out with friends.
Q: Who are your heroes? A: Well…a lot of people may frown at this but Stu Ungar is defiantly one of my heroes. He has a similar upbringing to me and also had many addictions in his life, as I have. But really he is my hero for what he accomplished on the felt.
Q: Are you related to, or do you know personally, or have you met anybody famous? A: No. How depressing.
Q: What's your biggest goal in life: A: I want to win a bracelet. I want to become a millionaire. I want to have a family. If that all happens I will die happy.
Q: Explain what a perfect day would be like for you: A: The perfect day for me would be the final day of a WSOP event, (that I win).
Q: How's life in Australia? A: Lmao. I actually live in NEW ZEALAND, which is like, a completely different country to Australia. It's the same as somebody telling me they live in Canada and me asking them, "How's life in America?". Haha. That would probably piss them off some. Nah but life here is good. It's very green and quiet and the people are very friendly. Although I will tell you, if you're a younger person this country is not the ideal place to live, it can be extremely boring at times.
POKER RELATED QUESTIONS: Q: What is your biggest poker cash or accomplishment? A: I won a $33 buy tournament for $3,999.28 just last month. The tournament had about 712 players if I remember correctly and I took down which was extremely satisfying. However, that poker accomplishment only slightly outweighs my 6th place finish in the $11 30k Guaranteed. I did only win $1,300 in that tourney but the fact that the field was well over 3850 players made it extra special.
Q: Are you more of a tournament player or ring game player? What buy-in/stakes do you play at? A: Well recently I've been playing a lot more MTTs so I would probably say I'm more of a tournament player. I play mostly medium stakes tourneys ranging between $33 and $77 buy ins. I also enjoy the odd high stakes tournament; I recently went quite deep in the Nightly Hundred grand but unfortunately was unable to take it down. However I do play some $0.50/$1 and $1/$2 ring games every now and then if I'm running bad in the MTTs.
Q: Do you play competitively or for recreation? How much time per week do you spend on poker? A: I play poker to win money, period. I love the game so sometimes I play more than 30 hours a week.
Q: Do you have any favorite poker pro's? If so, why are they your favorites? A: Stu Ungar is the best poker player that ever lived. I also enjoy watching Phil Hellmuth because of all the bracelets he has won unfortunately he also has a similar personality to me when it comes to sitting down and playing. Everybody knows he's a great poker player even though not many like to admit it.
Q: Briefly explain how you got into poker (Possibly include age, influences, and location) A: I had played card games my whole life when a family friend named Andre introduced me to the game when I was 11. I was still living in South Africa at this time and the greedy bastard won all my lunch money of me.
Q: What is your favorite poker site to play on? A: PokerStars, without a doubt. I also enjoyed my time at Sun Poker.
Q: Do you have a favourite (Hold'em) hand? A: Red Aces.
Q: Whats your favorite tourney format? (Possibly include ideal # of entrants, blind level timer, type of game, buy-in, etc.)? A: Well at this point I'd have to say that my favorite tourney would have to be the NLHE Nightly Hundred grand. It's got a 3k starting stack, 15 levels, $162, 950 entrants and a huge pay day for first place. I'd love to take that one down at some point.
Q: In live games, do you have a good pokerface? A: I have the most amazing poker face on the planet. All I do is get the shades, put my hands over my mouth and stare. (sorta like Hellmuth except cooler)
Q: Are you a better live or online player? A: Well tbh it really doesn't matter to me, there's not much of a difference in it for me personally. I'm an equally good player in both areas.
Q: Q: What is your weakest point playing online? A: Probably just misplaying or misreading a situation and giving all my chips away. Lucky devil has seen me do that a couple of times and I just look so horrible when it happens.
Q: As of today, what are your poker ambitions? A: Win a bracelet at the WSOP, win a bracelet at the WCOOP, win a WPT event and win a million dollars playing poker.
Q: If not for poker in your life what would you do in your spare time? A: Probably play pool. As I said I was really good at it and I probably would've ended up doing it professionally if poker wasn't in my life.
THF RELATED QUESTIONS: Q: How did you find THF and why did you join? A: I typed "Poker Forums" in Google and randomly clicked on your link. I joined THF because I really liked the green lay out and the members seemed friendly as oppose to other bigger forums where almost everyone's a jerk.
Q: Who's poker related posts on THF do you find most useful or most agree with? A: cat5Cane's thread was very useful although I don't agree with some of his strategy for MTTs. JayC has also made some very nice threads and generally anybody that posts a hand history and asks a question, I find those threads very useful.
Q: If you could choose one player on THF to play heads up against for
$1000 who would you choose? A: cat5Cane.
Q: If you could send one player on THF to the WSOP to win you cash who
would it be? A: Olysports.
Q: Who in the future on THF do you think is most likely to be
successful in their poker? A: cat5Cane, bambos, JayC, Lucky Devil, 7Letters, KaartKeizer, Olysports and CrapShoot if he could stop bitching about bad beats and concentrate more on improving his game. There are some other people that I'm probably forgetting.
Q: What do you think would improve the THF? A: Less bitching about bad beats and more strategy discussion, more talking about how to improve your game. This is very important in my opinion and I'm not seeing enough of it on the forum. Also we need more members. loooooooool
Q: Who are your top 5 players on THF: A: Cat5Cane, Bambos, Me, Olysports and Lucky Devil. There are many others who deserve to be there though such as KaartKeizer and JayC, wish is was a top ten.
Q: What was your favorite THF moment? A: Losing to 7Letters in the HU title match when he hit a two outer against me for a pot equal to 90% of the chips in play. That was extremely…memorable.
Thanks very much to GetTheShades for taking the time to answer our questions 
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Member Interview: GetTheShades 
Real poker players don't cry....
