SpadeClub Poker Winner -- Adriano 'drincampos' de Oliveira Campos

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Adriano “drincampos” de Oliveira Campos recently won SpadeClub’s $5,000 weekly event. Campos began playing poker more than 20 years ago, but it wasn’t until he found SpadeClub that he began to profit on his hold’em game. He owes his recent success to the personalized treatment that SpadeClub offers its members.

Card Player spoke with Campos about his recent win and what it is about playing poker on SpadeClub that has improved his game so dramatically.

Card Player: First off, can you tell me a little bit about your life outside of poker?

Adriano “drincampos” de Oliveira Campos: I work for the federal government in the legislative sector. I specialize in Internet technologies development. I live in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, with my wife and four children.

CP: How long have you been playing poker, and how did you get started playing poker on SpadeClub?

AOC: About 20 years ago I got into contact with the classic poker, five-card draw. In 2007, my wife and I both watched some episodes of the World Poker Tour on ESPN. We started to be interested in hold’em.

In February 2008, I started to play online, but without any experience, I made small deposits of $10 on PokerStars and PartyPoker, and lost it quickly. I had not studied the game and played all hands, hoping to hit something. Then a friend invited me to play a live tournament, and I felt the need to study a little bit about hold’em. Gradually, I began to improve my game.

On July holidays a friend of mine showed me SpadeClub. It was a good experience for me because it reduced the pressure of losing my bankroll, and I started to play more relaxed, being able to test new strategies and experiment with my game.

CP: What was your first experience with poker like?

AOC: It was about 20 years ago when I invited some friends for a barbecue at my place. After lunch, they asked me to play poker because there were only three people who wanted to play, and they needed one more to start. They decided to teach me the classic poker game five-card draw, and this was the beginning of the poker history in my life.

CP: Do you have a story behind your screen name?

AOC: Yes. My name is Adriano de Oliveira Campos, and a dear friend of mine, who moved out of Brasilia, gave me the nickname Drindrin. In a tribute to her, my nickname always begins with “drin.”

CP: Do you consider yourself a recreational, amateur, or professional poker player?

AOC: I consider myself an amateur player. I have no intensions of being a professional, but I also do not see poker as recreational only.

CP: Is there a professional poker player you look up to most? If so, why?

AOC: I love Phil Hellmuth, Patrik Antonius, and Gus Hansen. One of the things I appreciate most about these players in the game is their aggressiveness, which is still one of my weaknesses.

CP: What do you think sets great players apart from merely good players?

AOC: There are many qualities needed for a good player of poker, to know the calculations, aggressiveness, capacity of concentration, et cetera. However, I believe that the main quality to become a good player is the self-control. Poker deals with many emotions; the entire time, players are under pressure, and mistakes often can be very expensive, in every meaning of the word. For this reason, I believe that the main quality for a good player is self-control.

CP: What mistakes do you see players making most often in poker tournaments?

AOC: Usually, I observe players playing out of position, playing with weak hands, and not properly measuring the bets they make. Very often you see these three things together.

CP: Was there a particularly key hand that you played in the tournament that helped lead you to victory?

AOC: It is difficult to choose one hand, because it was a long tournament. I would choose a set of hands that I played after having lost many chips and had a short-stack of only six big blinds to play.

At that time, I had the courage to play marginal hands (like K-6, J-T, and Q-8, all off-suit) aggressively, and, with a little luck, I returned to the tournament.

CP: What is your next goal on SpadeClub? How do you plan to accomplish it?

AOC: I intend to win the $30,000 Mega Monthly tournament and a place in the Caribbean Adventure [cruise]. I will maintain the standard of game that led me to victory in the $5,000 weekly. I reached a solid level, and I have no intentions of changing my style right now.

CP: What is your favorite part of the SpadeClub community?

AOC: SpadeClub gives special treatment to their members. On most poker sites, users are only a number or a nickname. SpadeClub keeps it personal with the player online. The information that appears on the icon of each player is already a great improvement when comparing to other websites. The community allows you to know your opponents better, not only from the game point of view, but also fosters people getting acquainted with each other.

CP: Do you have any general advice to share with our readers about succeeding at SpadeClub?

AOC: I think SpadeClub is the ideal site for those who are starting. The poker rooms allow you to play quality poker, and at the same time you are able to control your investment, as there is a fixed cost. The chances of winning depend solely on the players’ ability to play, and this is a very interesting scenario. Besides that, I think it is very important to be attentive to the information that appears in the icon of the players.

I'm always aware if a player participates in many hands, or eliminated several opponents, or reached the money in many tournaments. This is valuable information to be considered when I have to make a difficult decision on the table. However, in my opinion, the most important thing is to be constantly studying, the game of poker is a very dynamic game, and staying put is a guarantee of defeat.

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