Isaac Haxton Interview with Poker News Daily
Poker News Daily: You finished as the runner up to Ryan “Daut44″ Daut in the 2007 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, banking $861,000. Critique Daut’s play during that tournament.
Haxton: I thought he played really well. Going into the final table having played against all of those guys, he was the one who I knew the least about and was the least concerned with. He seemed to be playing pretty tight and straightforward and continued to do that until we got heads-up. I think he’s maybe a little bit too ABC in terms of playing, but he knows what he’s doing and played well.
PND: How did you get started in poker?
Haxton: The first time I played poker was with friends in high school. I started going to the local casino in upstate New York, Turning Stone, and played a bit in some home games in college. Then, I started playing online. When I put money online, I started taking poker more seriously.
PND: Was there a moment you realized that poker could be more than just a hobby?
Haxton: I started taking it seriously because it was something I could make money in. I took a summer to play full-time. In that period, I moved up from playing $3-$6 Limit Hold’em to $30-$60 and occasionally bigger. I ran really well. In all honesty, I wasn’t good yet and I don’t think I’d be beating $3-$6 with that kind of skill level today. I thought I would get my degree, go to graduate school, and become a professional academic. I changed my mind about three years into college.
PND: Have your parents been supportive of your poker career?
Haxton: They have been supportive. It’s mostly been one less thing to worry about. It’s nice to have the support of your parents regardless of what you’re doing. I know a lot of my friends have to put up with a lot of crap from their parents who think they’re wasting their lives being professional gamblers. My parents understood it right off the bat. They’re both bright, mathematically inclined people. They had no trouble understanding that skill predominates in poker and the best player is a big favorite to make money in the long-term.
PND: Whose tournament game do you respect the most and why?
Haxton: All of the standard answers I agree with. In terms of players that people might not have heard about, there’s a guy who has been crushing $25-$50 on PokerStars, Deldar182. His real name is David Eldar and he’s from Australia. He was a teenage Scrabble champion and has been killing PokerStars over the last few months. Phil “Jman28” Galfond would also be near the top of the list.
PND: What advice do you have for beginners?
Haxton: Don’t go broke. Almost no one practices good bankroll management when they start out in poker. That’s why most of the professional players I know were very successful in the first six months when they started playing. In small-stakes games, you should have 40 buy-ins for a No Limit Hold’em game and 500 to 600 big bets for a Limit Hold’em game.
PND: Does being computer-oriented give you a leg up on the competition in poker?
Haxton: It’s helped. I have a reputation as a math guy that I don’t 100% deserve. It’s not like I’m sitting in front of my computer running simulations and crunching numbers all night. I play as much by feel as just about anyone else does, but at the same time, I think I understand the math more than my peers.
Related Poker News:
- The PokerNews Profile: Isaac Haxton
- Seat Open with Isaac Haxton
- Viktor Blom Defeats Isaac Haxton in $1 Million SuperStar Showdown
- Isaac Haxton to Challenge Isildur1 in the SuperStar Showdown
- Viktor Blom Takes On Isaac Haxton in $1 Million Winner-Take-All SuperStar Showdown
- isildur1 vs Haxton Highlights – Part 4 of 5
- Haxton ‘08 amasses $1.3 million playing poker
- isildur1 vs Haxton Highlights – Part 5 of 5
- The Nightly Turbo: Blom Versus Haxton Part II, U.K. Firm Interested in FTP, and More
- isildur1 vs Haxton Highlights – Part 3 of 5
- The Nightly Turbo: Isildur1 and Isaac Haxton Talk About the SuperStar Showdown, Devilfish Gaming is Sold, and More
- PokerStars SuperStar Showdown: Haxton Makes Comeback to Edge Out Blom
Useful poker terms:
- WORLD SERIES OF POKER - A series of several different poker games with relatively large buy-ins, culminating in a $10,000 buy-in no-limit Hold'em tournament, the winner of which is crowned the World Poker Champion. Sponsored by Binion's Horseshoe Club in Las Vegas.
- THIRD STREET - In Stud, the third card dealt to each player.
- LOOSE - Playing more hands than the norm. Antonym: TIGHT.
- UNDERDOG - Before all the cards are dealt, a hand that does not figure to be the winner. Ant: FAVORITE.
- FIXED LIMIT - A betting structure where the amount of each bet is a specific fixed quantity. Usually specified as A-B, where A is the amount to bet in the first few betting rounds and B (larger than A) is the amount bet in the later rounds. Related terms: FLAT LIMIT, NO LIMIT, POT LIMIT, SPREAD LIMIT.
- BACK DOOR - Applies to a hand that was made in the last card or two, specifically not a hand the player was originally planning on having. Most often applied to straights and flushes.
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