| IPN: We know magicians never divulge their secrets but if we promise to buy you a coffee and bun will you give us a clue as to how you’re becoming the daddy of online poker? Mafews: Forget what Matt Damon says, it’s a game of luck not skill. I just got lucky (Mafews and pro poker mate EHRounder burst into a fit of hysterics). I’m not the daddy though. Actually it was a total fluke – I was having a crap time at uni, was on the verge of dropping out and then busted my knee playing football. I started playing online but lost £100 through small deposits, probably because I had never played poker before. IPN: Nice to know that not everyone wins first time. Mafews: Yeah, it takes a bit of getting used to. I studied hard though – I hit the forums, surfed the net, read a bunch of books and then popped in some more money and won a hundred pounds and just never really looked back. IPN: That sounds too good to be true. Mafews: It took effort. If I lost I analysed my play and tried to make improvements. I interpreted the information. When I first started out I enjoyed all aspects of the game. It wasn’t a chore to read books or study. IPN: Was there a bench mark when you thought – hey this is cool, I’m making money. How long did it take? Mafews: It took about a month to win my first thousand, playing twenty five fifty cents over four tables. I played randomly at first but after I won my first thousand I started thinking about doing it for an income. IPN: That’s good going. Did you find it easy? Mafews: I found it fun. After the first thousand I thought it was quite easy – probably naive but it still seemed easy. I knew I was good compared to the players because the players were brutal. I was probably quicker than most at understanding certain aspects. IPN: Did you just decide that this was what you were going to do for a living? Mafews: No, it just sort of happened. I had nothing to do for a year, I just played and won some and played some more. It was gradual. I moved up to fifty cents one dollar and I destroyed it as well. Within three months I had about £10k and it felt brilliant. Sometimes I played about 40 hour weeks it depended upon how I was feeling. IPN: That’s a lot of money, didn’t you want to go out and buy a bunch of stuff? Mafews: I started to buy things that I usually had to save up for over a month. MP3s and stuff. It made me stop having to worry about money for the usual things which was a good feeling. IPN: What made you decide to step up a level? Mafews: I was taking stabs at the higher games now and again, playing no higher than $10/$20 NL even though I only had twelve thousand. It wasn’t really great poker playing – but at that time I didn’t’ know any better. I guess I mostly played two four no limit. I guess I hovered there for about two months – it took me a bit of time to adjust to that – the players were better. I was making ridiculous calls, didn’t understand all the angles of the game. I didn’t find it difficult but I had to think about the play of other people a lot more. I gradually made it up to 3/6 then 4/8 in about three weeks spells. To be honest, when I started to get to that level I started to understand it a lot more. IPN: Is it just a case of winning more and more money? Was your bank roll in good shape after a year? Mafews: I love poker and I like the money. I like winning. I like beating people, I like out thinking people, I like calling people fish. I think it’s pretty sweet. After about seven months my bank roll was at forty. That was just before Christmas 2004. I was pretty proud of myself I was 19 and had forty thousand pounds. I qualified for the poker million about this time and started to become a bit of high roller on some sites. I played the million – I’d only played 3 or 4 times live before so I was quite nervous – I made a good account of myself but got knocked out – even though I managed to knock out three players. I’m a tournament fish but I am working on it that side of things. IPN: With all this cash floating around has your perspective changed on its value? Mafews: I don’t really think of it as money when I’m playing. It’s just bets and raises of a certain value. Your perspective has to change. You can’t be crazy with money at the table – unless you’re doing for it a reason – everything you do has to have a reason. IPN: Can we be cheeky and ask you what’s you biggest loss and your biggest win? Mafews: Always cash and glory isn’t it! I had to have a long sleep one night after doing in thirty five thousand in one day. The most I’ve won is probably about a hundred in one week. IPN: Ever splash out and treat yourself? Mafews: Yeah, I like to buy nice things. I’ve got a real soft spot for Hugo Boss at the moment. I bought a hatchback sports car when my bank roll hit one hundred thousand. I think it is fun, I have lots of fun. I’m going to start travelling the circuit soon so I guess we can add luxury hotels to that list. Oh and room service – I really love the idea of room service. IPN: We heard a rumour that when the young pro players go out on the town it can get messy and expensive. Mafews: Funny, I heard that same rumour. We must talk to the same people! Some of the players get together and book out clubs, executive apartments and basically just live it up. In a city like London, there are lots of ways to spend money. I think most of the guys, who are all under 25, have a pretty cool time. IPN: We have to ask. What kind of shape are you in just now. At this point EHRounder pulls himself away from an online game and says to Mafews that he doesn’t have to answer that. They chat about the value of money in various places and then agree that ‘seven figures in certain currencies’ is an appropriate answer. Don’t you just love it? |
