Generation Next - John “Eames” for the Top

Every now and then a poker player comes along who is quietly intriguing — this, as you can imagine, doesn’t happen very often in a world where loud and over-the-top sells, and diva-like behaviour is abundant. Many of these intriguing players of late happen to be British, and this includes 22-year-old John Eames. Born in Southport near Manchester, Eames began playing poker professionally at the age of 19 and has many good results to his name. However, his poker skills have clearly matured with him, as in 2010 Eames experienced a string of fantastic results such as €123,500 for first place in the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Vienna €2,000 no-limit hold’em side event, €78,300 for second in the same side event at EPT Barcelona, and €75,000 for first place, not even two weeks later, in the Full Tilt Poker Series Grand Final €10,000 High Roller.
Grinding away in both the online and live arena, it is clear Eames is a young man with a good head on his shoulders, and if he keeps going in the same direction, this “quietly intriguing” player could soon be a star across international felt. Card Player wanted to find out more…
Rebecca McAdam: How did you discover poker?
John Eames: I always had some interest in card games, I used to play different games with family occasionally. I think the first poker games I knew were stud and five card draw. As soon as I turned 18 I played small stakes online, and in local casino tournaments, just developed gradually building a bankroll and improving from there on.
RM: What did you like about it?
JE: Initially, when it was more of a hobby, I liked the social aspect of live poker, as well as the competition of it. Online, I was improving all the time and starting to consistently make reasonable amounts of money.
RM: When did you decide to go full-time and why?
JE: It’s hard to say exactly when I turned pro, I drifted into it over a period of a few months. From around March 2007 I was playing very seriously online and won a satellite to a live tournament in Aruba, which I finished 19th in. I’d say it was that experience that made me realise poker wasn’t a phase and I was going to take it very seriously.
RM: How would you describe your style?
JE: I play mostly tournaments, a lot of live tournaments as well as online, so I’m experienced playing with different stack sizes as well as different opponents, all with varying ability levels. I think it’s important to be able to adapt to play most effectively against your opponents, particularly in live poker where there is more information, relevant history, and interesting, deep-stacked hands where more thought is required. So I like to think I can adjust to do whatever style is necessary at any one time.
RM: Do you find you have to change your game depending on whether you’re playing online or live? If so, what changes or adjustments do you make?
JE: Online, there are so many more straight forward situations that you become accustomed to, generally due to shallower stacks and less information. In live poker, there are more situations where you have to think about hands a little bit differently due to many factors. Also, both live cash games and tournaments generally play out with much deeper stacks and usually much looser, so certain strategies have to be reconsidered as they may no longer be as effective.
RM: Which do you prefer, and why?
JE: I think I will always prefer live. Most of the time I enjoy the travelling, and it’s rare I go to a place I don’t enjoy. The social aspect is great, as I always have a group of British, European, and American friends to have fun with. More than anything, I love the prestige and personal satisfaction of doing well in live tournaments — it’s tough to recreate that online. Online poker is just a source of income that fills the brief periods when I’m not travelling to live tournaments, but I do still enjoy it.
RM: What has been your best poker moment so far?
JE: Hard to say really, I haven’t had any major tournament victories. I’ve recently had success in side events and although the prize money has been excellent, the tournaments lacked prestige and atmosphere. With the volume of live tournaments I play, I’m hopeful there are many better moments to come!
RM: You have been consistently doing very well live recently — what has been going on with you?
JE: I don’t think I’ve been doing anything different, just running above average. I can’t recollect being excessively lucky in many spots, but tournaments I’ve done well in recently have gone smoothly throughout. I’m sure, even without realising it, my live game is getting stronger each time I play, so that probably has something to do with it too.
RM: Back to online, what games and tournaments do you play and at what stakes?
JE: I mostly play tournaments, I enjoy them more than cash games as they feel less monotonous. I play the biggest buy-in tournaments available online, although being awake until 9 a.m. is only for Sundays these days.
RM: Do you have a monthly target or anything like that?
JE: Not really, I don’t put as much volume in online as I used to, so it’s hard to set something like that, and as for live poker it’s easy to have dry spells much longer than a month, and that also depends how busy the live schedule is at the time. You just have to be patient with live tournaments, a lot of people get easily frustrated with them and play less.
RM: How do you balance your live/online schedule?
JE: I now only intend to play online on occasional days and weeks when I’m not travelling the live circuit, so usually I’m playing live. I’d say I give 75 percent of my time to live poker, and 25 percent to online.
RM: Looking back at 2010, how was it for you?
JE: 2010 started off poorly, then my results improved leading up to Vegas, which I’d been excited about for years as you can imagine. Vegas was a terrible disappointment for me, even though it was fun to see several friends make final tables and win bracelets. I managed only one cash out of over 20 events. Since returning from Vegas I’ve been doing really well, and 2010 couldn’t have ended better for me, with several nice results.
RM: Have you any goals for 2011 and beyond?
JE: I will be doing the same as 2010, playing as many live tournaments as I can, including a full WSOP schedule. It’s hard to set specific goals but some deep runs in EPTs, WPTs and WSOP events would be fantastic, and to win a major tournament would be so satisfying.
RM: Do you see yourself staying in poker for long?
JE: At this moment in time, I can’t see a point where I won’t be playing poker professionally. I’m enjoying travelling the circuit, and don’t intend to stop any time soon. I have such a strong desire to achieve as much as possible, and I definitely have some long-term aspirations in the game.
RM: 2011, another good year for the Brits? What’s your prediction?
JE: I’m not sure if we can expect to repeat 2010, we may have overachieved as a group. But it’s difficult to tell because we have such a strong group of players; some that still haven’t made their mark but will. I hope we have continued success as I have a number of great friends through poker and we all support each other and work hard. I certainly think British poker players will be a major threat in all tournaments they play for many years to come, as the generation we currently have are some of the best players in Europe for sure. ♠