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Neil Dewhurst, aka Cybrarian
Our overseas friend plays anything from $3-$6 up to $25-$50

Name Neil Dewhurst

Age 29

Where are you from?
Southampton, England

Are you married? Children?
Not yet, and no, none.

What do you do for a living?
I'm an Information Developer, which is a slightly fancier way of saying Technical Writer.

How long have you been playing Internet poker?
I opened my first play money account about two years ago, and started playing real money games towards the end of 2002

What limits do you play? Anything from 3/6 to 25/50. My bankroll doesn't properly support play at the higher levels, but I like to mix it with the big stacks from time to time...

What is your favorite site and why?
Although I haven't played there regularly for a while now, my game of choice would be a 5/10 at pokerroom. I find it easier to find the right level of aggression there than at other sites I've played, and the level of play tends to be more consistent, which means I find close decisions easier to make. The pool of players used to be relatively small (seems to be growing now though), so I'd often be playing familiar faces - which can be useful if you know their betting patterns.

What has been your biggest poker thrill or achievement up to now? Any time where I've made a good read and played the player rather than just focusing on my own hand, and it's worked. I don't mean plain old tricky or fancy play when holding a strong hand, but trusting in my ability and being proved right. Second to that would be after my first big cashout, when I set a target for the next month and nailed it - I started to believe that I could be a winning player after that.

What area of your game are you currently focusing on?
A couple of things. I'm sometimes too aggressive when I might be better off holding back, and on the flipside I'm often too passive when holding a strong hand. The result is that I end up overplaying good hands, and underplaying very good hands.

If you could go back in time and start all over again on the Internet, what would you do differently? With the marvel of hindsight... When I first started playing online it was just a bit of fun, and I didn't think of it as any different from any other online games I was playing at the time. By the time I started playing real money games, I don't think I'd really bothered to learn the game much, beyond what seemed like simple common sense, and I was switching constantly between limit and no limit. My first real money games were no limit, because that was where I'd had my success and it was only a while later that I got back into limit.

But realistically, how can you get experience of playing online holdem for money, other than by playing online holdem for money? It doesn't take you long to realise that the play money games are a different world altogether, and won't help you improve your game much. You can read all the holdem books in the world, but they won't by themselves turn you into an instant holdem genius. You've got to get out there and try it for real.

Sometimes I think I'd have been better off managing my bankroll better, sticking to low limits for longer - I do have a habit of dipping my toes in deeper waters than perhaps I should, but the upside of this is that I've played at, and feel comfortable playing at, a wide range of limits, at different sites, against a wide variety of players and their different playing styles. I've been through the phases of wondering whether I can compete at the higher levels, wondering whether I've got the stomach for making a decision on the turn when being raised to $100, wondering whether I'll play scared because of the amounts involved, wondering whether all my opponents will be poker geniuses. I've been through all that, and I've not come out of it too badly.

What’s your favorite poker saying or phrase?
Not so much a saying or phrase, but...

Floyd: Doyle, I KNOW I gave him four THREES. He had to make a SWITCH. We can't let him get away with that.
Doyle Lonnegan: What was I supposed to do - call him for cheating better than me, in front of the others?

Who is your favorite poker player (if you have one)?
I've got to go for Dave Colclough on this one. His eyes may look like they're being controlled by a little lever at the back of his head, but that doesn't seem to stop him, on his day, making some very good lay downs, and avoiding trouble. Vicky Coren should also get a mention too...

Oh, and Henry Gondorff (see above)

What are your other interests outside of poker?
After being incredibly lazy since leaving university, I've finally got back into playing football regularly, with two or three games a week if I can. Music's always been another passion, and I try to get to as many gigs as possible - in fact as I write, I'm feeling slightly sleep deprived after a long night trying to get hold of tickets for this year's Glastonbury festival.

Feel free to add anything else you would like to say.
Well, obviously I'd like to thank Matthew for running ITH - there's a definite community growing here, and I'm looking forward to finally, one day, actually being able to take part in a forum tourney!
Look Neil up in the Poker Forum!