Online Poker: Interview with Nick 'FU_15' Maimone

Nick “FU_15” Maimone was living the good life. He was eschewing a personal life and working seven days a week waiting tables to pay for his $30,000-a-year private college tuition. Things were going swimmingly. But then, one fateful day during his sophomore year, he found one of his hallmates in his dorm playing poker on PokerStars, and he got hooked. The ultimate result of his newfound obsession was $323,000 in Online Player of the Year-qualified winnings this year alone. God help him …

In all seriousness, the now 21-year-old Maimone has vaulted into the top 20 of the Card Player Online Player of the Year race for 2008, currently residing in 14th place. Among his successes were three first-place finishes in major online rebuy tournaments last month alone. Those wins netted him more than $160,000 — not a bad monthly salary for a recent economics major graduate.

Considering this is his first of-age year for live tournaments in the U.S., Maimone is currently tackling a slew of events at the World Series of Poker. Card Player caught up with him during the Series to talk about how things are going so far, what strategies he has been employing, and how he got his game to where it’s at today.


Shawn Patrick Green: What drew you to poker in the first place?

Nick “FU_15” Maimone: I was really, really competitive growing up. I’ve been playing sports and everything my whole life; I just love to compete in everything that I do. And I’ve always had a very aggressive, competitive nature, which I think is kind of like how I got sucked into poker, as I say. I actually didn’t know what poker was growing up. All through high school I grew up in a small town, and nobody knew what poker was. I actually headed to college, and I was supporting myself and paying for myself at a private school that cost about $30,000 a year, and I got tons of loans and tons of debt. I was actually waiting tables seven nights a week instead of hanging out with my friends and doing social things.

So, I was doing that, and then my sophomore year one of the freshman guys in my hall was playing on PokerStars. So, I’d go in his room and hang out and watch shows like High Stakes Poker, and I developed a really keen interest in the game and what he was doing. I started watching [Greg] Raymer play on [PokerStars] and watching other different guys play online from all over the world for huge amounts of money. And the competition aspect, and being able to chat and to outmaneuver your opponents, and just the game of playing against other people — the battle, just putting everything on the line — all of that drew me in. It just kind of piqued my interest ever since.

I’ve only been playing for about a year and a half or two. I started out about two years ago playing some limit cash games, which I did horribly in. I also played some basic sit-and-gos and some $24 tournaments, and I was really horrible for a long time. A lot of my friends made fun of me and told me I sucked and all of that. And I decided one day that that I was going to prove myself, that I was going to prove everyone wrong and get good and outdo everyone I knew. I was really determined to do that, and I worked really hard.

I started playing some tournaments, some $109s and $162s, and just taught myself tournament poker really by myself. I didn’t read any books or have anyone coaching me or anything, I just kind of taught myself from experience. I’ve been playing medium- to high-stakes tournaments since about January of last year, and I’ve been playing high-stakes stuff for the past year, since June.

SPG: You said that you didn’t really use many learning tools, other than experience, at the beginning. Are you doing anything more as far as your approach to improving your game now?

NM: Yeah. At first, I simply didn’t know many people. I didn’t have networks and contacts and stuff within the poker community. I didn’t know many other good players, I just played tournaments. And, for me, tournaments were the way to go. I’d see them on TV, and the competition of taking everyone else’s chips and putting the pressure and the aggression on everyone did it for me. And I like that a lot more than sit-and-gos and cash games, where that was never really my mentality, it was more about grinding it out.

So, when I was starting out and just teaching myself, based on experience, I didn’t really have people to ask, and I didn’t use the tools and resources that were available to me. I don’t know if I was lazy or what, I didn’t use [poker video training sites] or read books or any of that stuff. Once I started getting good and winning a lot of tournaments, I made a couple of friends here and there, and I’ve actually met a ton of good players.

So, now the main thing I do is discuss hand histories. I talk about strategies and talk about different things that I can implement in my game to win. My main learning tool now is just communication with other good players. I’ve watched some videos, especially Bax videos — I think JohnnyBax [Cliff Josephy] is one of the best, if not the best, players, especially online, just from the way that he analyzes the game and talks about it. A lot of his videos have helped me a lot.

But as far as books and the like, I still don’t really use those. They just don’t really help me, although I think they help a lot of people, but it just doesn’t really work for me.

SPG: What is the most valuable lesson you’ve learned in poker?

NM: The most valuable lesson … well, there are actually two things: confidence and staying positive. As far as being positive goes, I preach that to all of my friends all of the time. I see so many people getting bogged down in poker from bad beats and negativity and stuff, and my response is that it is a blessing for you to even be able to play poker for this amount of money, to be able to do this and compete and do something that you enjoy for this much money.

So, regardless, if anything bad happens, you’re still lucky to even be able to be here, rather than working in the fields or waiting tables or doing something else, working a 9-to-5 morning job doing paperwork. So, I think staying positive at all times, not only is it super important emotionally and for your mental well-being, but it makes you such a better player. It improves your game and improves your outlooks so that you don’t get pissed off at all of the stuff that people worry about.

The second thing that is super important is confidence. Now, I don’t want to get confidence mixed up with pride and arrogance and “I’m the best and my way is the way to go,” but rather confidence in believing yourself and saying, “Yeah, I can win. I can do whatever it takes to learn. I have what it takes. And if there’s something wrong with my game, I can fix it and get better.” I hear a lot of people saying they suck and getting negative, saying that they can’t do it and poker is just too hard.

Those are two things that I think so many players are missing. There are so many good, talented players who are not confident and are not positive, and that’s why they struggle and they lose, and that’s why they’re depressed, to be honest.

SPG: The biggest poker-related thing on most people’s minds right now, and likely on your mind, is the World Series. What have you played so far, and what are you planning on playing?

NM: The only game that I have any right to say that I have an edge in or that I have a chance to win a bracelet in is no-limit hold’em. That’s the only game that I’ve really focused on, so far. I know how to play the other games, but I’m just not good enough and I don’t have enough experience. So, my schedule is to play about 12 or so no-limit tournaments at the World Series. That’s the plan, to play every three or four days or so and to schedule them out.

What I’ve played so far is just the $2K no-limit hold’em, event No. 7. That was the first one I played, and it started yesterday [Wednesday, June 4]. I did OK through day 1, I thought I played really well, and then I just ran into a really tough hand, and the structure is not that great.

The next one I’m going to play is the $2,500 this Saturday [yesterday, June 7]. So, I’m just going to play a lot of no-limit hold’em events, maybe the $1K rebuy and the main event, and see how I can do.

SPG: You mentioned that you consider no-limit hold’em to be the only game that you have an edge in, and I would say that probably 90-95 percent of poker players are of the same mind. Not only do they think they have an edge in no-limit, but that’s the only game that they think they have an edge in. So, how much of a stumbling block is that, that the game that you think you have an edge in is the game that everyone thinks they have an edge in and that everyone is playing and knows fairly well?

NM: Well, that’s definitely an interesting question, because I’m sure that some guys can and do specialize in Omaha or different games that other people aren’t putting focus on, and they can work really hard to be one of the best in one of the other games. For me, personally, I know no-limit hold’em is kind of cliché because it’s the most popular game, but it is just the game that appeals to my style and my aggression level, for me to be able to makes moves, three-bet and four-bet, and so on.

I really don’t like limit games; I don’t like the restrictions that are put on the game. No-limit is just an art. No-limit tournaments, to me, are an art form where you can just be so creative and try so many different things and play how you feel. There are so many different styles that work for different people.

Going along with what you’re saying about everyone being confident in no-limit, everyone has different strategies, and a lot of guys play really tight-aggressive at the beginning and then open up their games at the end. Honestly, a lot of times, I’m just the opposite; I’ll play a lot looser in the beginning and then tighten up at the end. There are different strategies to adapt to all of the other players and to try to implement different things in your game than the rest of your table to give yourself an edge against the players who think they’re as good as or better than you are.

So, it doesn’t really scare me, and I actually kind of welcome that, because there are such huge fields in no-limit and there’s so much money to be won. There are so many players who think they’re so good.

SPG: So, you played your first event yesterday [June 4], and it obviously didn’t go as hoped. What happened?

NM: It was actually kind of interesting. It was my second live event ever. I played the PCA [PokerStars Caribbean Adventure] earlier this year. You start with 4,000 in chips, which is not a great structure, especially in the beginning. You start at like 25-50 blinds with 4,000 in chips, so it’s not incredibly deep-stacked. At the end of the first two hours, we were through the first two levels of play, I only had 3,000 in chips from losing some small pots and getting sucked out on a couple times; a guy turned and rivered two pair on my top pair.

So, I was down to 3,000, and I played really patiently. After the break, blinds were at 100-200, so I had a re-steal stack with about 15 big blinds, and I played that really well. I reshipped it on a couple of guys and chipped up, and then I got this really aggressive European guy to double me up to 7K, and then I knocked one or two guys out and got up to 10K or 11K. I was really, really confident; I was playing incredibly well, and my table was ideal. They were kind of intimidated and kind of scared, and a couple of guys called me “moneybags” when I had 10,000 or 11,000. I said, “Don’t get ahead of yourself or anything.” But this was just really encouraging to me, because I had 3K just 20-30 minutes prior.

So, I lost a race; I had K-Q suited and a guy shoved on me with sixes. Then, in the blind, I flopped aces up with A-4 on a board of A-9-4, and a guy had a flush draw with J 10. He hit a heart for a 4K or 5K pot. So, that knocked me down to about 7K. And then my bustout hand was in the same level, 100-200. I had A K in the hijack and opened to 600. The big blind defended, and he was a really weak player; he would open for 700, and then, with the pot at like 1,400, he would just open-push all in for like 3,000. He wouldn’t really know what to do.

So, he defended his blind, and we went heads up to the flop, which came 9 8 7. So, I flopped the nut-flush draw with overs, and although it was a coordinated board, he checked to me and I thought of a way to get value. A lot of players check behind, trying to control the pot, but I thought that with a disguised hand like I had, it was better to C-bet [continuation bet] small to kind of induce a raise from a hand like 10-7 or 10-8, or even Q-10, and then actually for me to be the one to shove all in, rather than having to call an all in with a draw.

Sure enough, I bet 800, he raised to 2,100, and I moved all in for 3,100 on top of it. He called, and he had J-10 offsuit, so he actually flopped the nuts. Out of position, he called with J-10 offsuit and flopped a straight, and obviously I had my nine outs, but I didn’t catch up. It was a big pot, around 14K at the 100-200 level; I would have had 70 big blinds, and I think I would have went on to at least make day 2 and to put myself in good position to go deep in the tournament. And that’s what I try to do. I try to get a big stack early so that I can be patient and pick my spots well. Unfortunately, I ran into a tough spot there and got stacked.

SPG: Well, that brings up an interesting point. You’re talking about how early in tournaments you like to play looser and then later you like to play tighter, but how do you use your philosophy towards poker tournaments with a structure like that?

NM: Yesterday, playing live for the second time, I’m really just trying to adjust to my first World Series of Poker events and get used to the structure. Online I think it’s a little bit different, and that’s where I really implement my loose-aggressive play. I kind of just set up guides for future hands for them to play back at me. What I do is I use my loose-aggressive image to play small pots when I don’t have that much and then play big pots when I have a lot. Most guys won’t be able to tell the difference because when I raise they aren’t going to be able to tell what I have.

My goal, really, in tournaments is to double up or triple up in the first couple of levels to have more chips than anyone else so that I have a distinct advantage starting off. This is kind of my mindset, and I know that it’s probably not a widely accepted theory, but I think it gives me a huge edge to become the chip leader to get tons of chips to be able to knock out the smaller stacks as they become desperate and the blinds go up. And I can just keep chipping up, chipping up, chipping up, and putting myself in good shape.

And then, down the road, when I have 20K and the other guy has 5K or 6K, I can lose that big race, A-K to queens, and still be in the tournament with a ton of chips. A lot of guys, if they play a lot tighter and only play their cards, they get into a big race where both players have 5K and they get knocked out because of losing a coin flip. My style has very high variance for me to be able to accumulate the chips, but once I get the chips, it actually reduces my variance down the road in the tournament.

So, that’s my theory; it’s just something that I made up that I didn’t really learn from anyone else. And I don’t even know if it’s right or considered to be profitable. I just do what works for me, and it has brought me great success.

SPG: As of this writing, you’re in 14th in the OPOY standings. This has been an amazing year for you. You took down three major rebuy events online last month. What is your secret for rebuy events?

NM: [Laughs] I don’t know. I mean, I won the $100 rebuy twice and the $200 rebuy once. One of the $100 rebuys that I won was actually the biggest $100 rebuy — the biggest standard daily $100 rebuy — ever on PokerStars. There was something sick like 700 entrants; it was the biggest it has ever been.

Honestly, my rebuy strategy is to double up as quickly as possible and to put pressure on the people and get guys to open up their games to create a lot of chip-movement on the table so that once the rebuy period ends, I can outmaneuver people to get a ton of chips. I want to get a lot of chips at my table so that when I get moved I’ll have a lot of chips in comparison with the average stacks at the other tables. Sometimes it works really well, and I’ll have 20K or 30K after the rebuy hour, and sometimes even 40K, when the average is usually around 7,000 or 8,000, so that gives me a huge advantage.

Actually, I read [Daniel] Negreanu’s blog yesterday, and he was talking about how him and [Phil] Ivey were planning on throwing a ton of money down [in the $1,000 no-limit hold’em rebuy event]. Even if they doubled up guys at their table, they believe that they have a big enough edge later on to take those chips back after the rebuy hour. So, that actually improved their chances, even if they didn’t have chips after the rebuy period, it improved their chances of getting a lot later on.

SPG: It’s interesting that you bring that up, because there are all of the stories about Negreanu rebuying after every single hand during World Series events, or whatever …

NM: Yeah, I think he was in for $33K in the $1K rebuy.

SPG: … and people online are doing that, as well. They’ll play in the $100 rebuy and plunk down thousands of dollars. I’ve heard from a lot of people that one of the obvious keys to rebuys is to never drop out during the rebuy period. Does that still make sense if you’re eight or more rebuys deep, though, and only a final-table finish will break you even?

NM: The thing that’s always tough about it is knowing when to get up and walk away. That’s the tough thing about cash games, as well, for me; I rarely know when to get up and leave. There’s a fine line between spewing off money in rebuys, which I’ve definitely done many times before, and having an ideology that allows you to … you know, even if I spew $1,000 here and $1,400 there in the $100 rebuy, if I can win a couple $100 and $200 rebuys, which I’ve done in the past couple of months, for $40K, $50K, or $70K, it makes up for it.

But you need to make sure that if you’re going to spew that money, that you can close them out later during the times that you do run well and do put yourself in good spots and things go the way you want them to. It’s almost like, if you choose this aggressive style and you’re putting a lot of chips on the table, you have to be confident that you’re able to take those chips back in the future the few times that you’re given the opportunity to, and to use those to close out the tournament and win to make all of that money back that you’re putting in on a daily basis and not winning back.

SPG: So, have you ever dropped out during the rebuy period, then?

NM: I definitely have. There have been a few times that I have, and usually it’s based on emotional or mental stress, and I try not to get pissed or tilted, but there are times during the rebuy hour when guys are really gambling at your table and you lose like six flips in a row and don’t feel like playing anymore. I’m just kind of off my game, not necessarily tilted, but just kind of disheartened and bothered. I’ve actually gotten up and left and said, “There are plenty more days and plenty more rebuy tournaments to play. I don’t have to win this one.” There have also been a ton of times when I should have done that but I didn’t, and I lost way too much money when it wasn’t worth it.

SPG: You’re living with Phil “USCphildo” Collins, who I recently interviewed, and Brent “Bhanks11” Hanks, both of whom are in the top 10 in the OPOY. What has that been like?

NM: I am. Bhanks and I are actually watching 21 in our hotel room in the Rio, and USCphildo is actually deep on day 2 of the $2 ,000 event from yesterday, which I played. Starting day 2 he’s in the money; he was like 22 of like 130 players left. We’re hoping to do down and cheer him on later as he approaches the final table if he runs pretty well.

SPG: What’s it been like living together during the Series?

NM: It’s been great. We’re just kind of messing around and chilling. Phil is incredibly talented in his game. I’m really talented, but he blows me out of the water, in terms of confidence. So that’s really refreshing, being around two guys who are really good and know that they’re really good, but at the same time they aren’t jerks about it. Some guys are like, “Yeah, I’m better than you,” and it’s not like that. We all know that we’re all really good and that we can all learn from each other.

So, we just discuss hands, strategies, different things that we can implement in each other’s games, what our strategies are for live tournaments, our table, what the structure is … . It’s just helpful to have someone there if you have any questions or concerns, and just to get support from. We’re all doing really well in the online realm, so we’re just kind of trying to take it out here and see what we can do.

SPG: Thanks for doing this interview, Nick.

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