Tim Adams: 'Experience Trumps Raw Skill Deep In Poker Tournaments'Poker Pro Coming Off Huge Summer At World Series Of Poker |
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In today’s poker world, where players can be cornered into being considered specifically “online” or “live” players, Canada’s Tim Adams looks pretty balanced in both. Adams has $846,656 in live cashes, including a first-place finish in a 2012 World Series of Poker event, and $670,880 in online tournament winnings.
Not bad, coming from a player who considers himself an online cash game specialist.
Card Player listened as Adams gave a look into his carefully calculated strategies. He explains why consistency, experience, and a stable mentality are crucial in the game of poker. Cracking the top 50 in Card Player’s Player of the Year Race was no small achievement, but given his history and temperament, it will be no surprise if Tim Adams is around for many years to come.
Logan Hronis: Early in your career, were you driven more by the online or live setting? Talk a little about this period, and how you built the confidence to play larger tournaments.
Tim Adams: I was driven more with online poker than live poker, at the start. I believe online is a more conducive to building an adequate bankroll, especially if you’re grinding cash. The hours playing live poker are long and treacherous, and I’d assume it’s difficult to maintain a balanced lifestyle while attempting to build a bankroll simultaneously.
Early in my career, I focused on putting in good hours grinding cash and building a proper bankroll. Playing millions of hands of mid-to-high stakes cash [games] against some of the best players in the world, over the years, has allowed me to confidentially play big buy-in live tournaments. It took a few years for me to understand that live poker is much different than online poker. They are very, very different games.
LH: Talk about the differences between the online and live tournament games as they pertain to you, personally. Which do you think plays more to your strengths?
TA: Live tournaments are vastly different than online tournaments. Many online tournament regulars transition to live improperly, and I was one of those players for the first few years. There’s a lot less preflop three-betting and four-betting, and a lot more defending your blind and just seeing flops in general. The structures in live tournaments usually favor players who are proficient at post-flop play, which, in essence, favors cash players. I’m primarily a cash player online and feel really comfortable playing the deep, long structures of live tournaments.
To be able to play deep-stacked for the first few days of a tournament is a huge bonus for players who are comfortable playing with 80 to 100 big blinds, or more. In online tournaments, you are mainly hovering between 20 and 40, where chipping up through opening, three-betting and four-betting is essential. Live tournaments certainly play into my favor much more than online tournaments.
LH: You had a big win in the $2,500 four-handed no-limit hold’em event at the WSOP. Aside from it being your largest cash, can you explain what that does for your confidence, and if it will affect the way you play in the future?
TA: After the win, many of my friends urged me to play as many live tournaments as possible, because so much of live poker has to do with momentum and confidence. Since the win, I have played as many live tournaments as possible and have had some good success, with a handful of deep runs in big tournaments. Essentially, I will continue to play live tournaments, and basically see what happens.
LH: Your 2012 cashes include a number of six-handed and four-handed WSOP events. Is there something specific about these formats that may allow you to be more successful?
TA: Going into the 2012 WSOP, I only planned on flying down for the $3,000 six-max and the $2,500 four-max, flying home, and then flying back for the $10,000 six-max and the main event. I specialize in short-handed hold’em. Most of the time, when I’m trying to start tables [online], I’m playing heads-up, three or four handed, and usually against all very good opponents. Playing short handed is a unique variation of poker that many people are inexperienced with, so I felt comfortable playing these formats. I’ve played millions of hands of short-handed poker.
LH: Do you play a lot of cash games? If so, can you explain how they are factored into your bankroll management strategies?
TA: Yes, I’ve been focused on playing online cash games for about 4-5 years. It was always nice to be able to play anytime I wanted and quit anytime I wanted. To be a successful cash game grinder, you certainly need the right mentality. Not everyone is cut out for it, as there are many ups and many downs. Basically, you can never get too high, and certainly never get too low. The main thing that helped me was [that I played] very over-rolled for the games I was grinding, which basically made everything stress-free. I was never really into taking shots, because I didn’t want to ruin a good thing. I would go weeks without looking at my cashier, since I would tell myself that the wins and losses didn’t mean anything, so why should I look? All I focused on was playing my A-game every session, and after sessions I’d sometimes grade myself. Once I stopped focusing on the money, it eliminated emotion from my game, and I could focus on making the best logical and theoretical decision at any given moment.
So much about being a successful grinder has to do with the mental aspect of the game. People talk about how great their A-games are, but it doesn’t mean anything if you rarely play it. The most important thing is consistency, and I learned that at an early stage of my career.
LH: Identify an important characteristic that a majority of players have? In other words, is there something specific a person must have to “make it” as a professional?
TA: Yeah, I’m certainly a believer in the notion that some people “have it” and some people don’t. I think most players that are consistently successful are generally realistic, logical people. It’s pretty rare to see emotional, irrational types to have consistent success. I say consistent because it is pretty easy for anyone to have short-term success at this game. Most of the people that I surround myself with in poker are all very successful and share similar qualities.
LH: You have played a ton of poker throughout your life. When you’re approaching the end of larger tournaments, how much of an advantage is the experience, as it compares to raw skill? Do you think an experienced player has an advantage over a skilled one, in this sense?
TA: The more experience I get, the more I see how important it is. There were many times in the past where I’d go deep in a tournament and totally punt it due to the pressure I was putting on myself. Experience in poker is extremely important and that’s why you continually see big names put up big results. I never thought I’d say this, but I think experience trumps raw skill deep in poker tournaments. Emotions run high when you’re playing for big money, and it is much more common to see a very-talented Internet player blow up or make a big mistake, in comparison to an older, wiser player who has been there before. I have blown a lot of chip leads with less than 100 people left in big tournaments, due to not being able to control my momentum. Through experience, I have become better at controlling those emotions.
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