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Tony Pillinger, aka Pilchard
Pilchard is a regular contributor to the Forum who shares a lot of his advanced knowledge in analyzing hand examples. He contributed his first article to the site in December.

Age: 29

Where are you from?
West Midlands, UK

Are you married? Yes (recently)

What do you do for a living?
I'm a lawyer by profession and although I still practice occasionally (for technical/back up reasons I need to keep my practicing certificate until April 2004) I am almost fully reliant on poker for my income.

How long have you been playing Internet poker?
Since December 2002

What limits do you play?
15/30 at party/empire or 25/50 at pokerroom. I need to open a pokerstars account in the near future because I fancy a shot at the 30/60.

What is your favorite site and why?
I like pokerroom because it's a relatively small site with a number of friendly players.

What has been your biggest poker thrill or achievement up to now?
I used to get excited by winning big pots or big winning sessions. Thankfully that thrill has now gone because the flip side of getting upset when losing was a nightmare. In hindsight, my biggest achievement was realising and beginning to accept that you don't have a divine right to win.

What area of your game are you currently focusing on?
I'm hoping to get involved in writing articles, some coaching and one day I'd like to write a book (although Matthew has already written the book I wish I'd have written so I'll have to think of a different angle).

If you could go back in time and start all over again on the Internet, what would you do differently?
I have a bunch of friends who have all got involved in playing internet poker. I was the first to take the plunge and play for real money. I'd played a little bit of play money and watched some poker on TV. I was awful. I hadn't read anything. I made every mistake in the book (not that I'd read the book to know the mistakes were in there). I got lucky initially and thought I was the best player in the World. I was the type of player I now actively seek for when I join the tables. Anyway, I turned my $60 into 1200$ after a couple of weeks (how I don't know) and I was playing 10/20 at pokerroom. After about 5 hours I'd lost the lot. So I rebought, but this time I needed to rebuy bigger because I knew I could beat the high limits??? I lost it pretty quickly and this happened over and over for about 2 months until I was about $6000 stuck (so much for putting $60 in for a bit of fun).

During this time, I was watching good players make money out of the game and so I knew it could be done. So I stopped playing for a while and I read and read and read. Internet articles, books, anything I could get my hands on. I then rebought for another $60 and started from scratch at the low levels. I haven't looked back from that moment on.

So would I go back and do that in December 2002 rather than February 2003 when I was already $6000 down? Well when I advise my friends and brother I always say to them read lots, stick to low limits at first, play within your bankroll etc.. However, I don't think I would be the player I am today without that beginning. I learnt an awful lot in that first two months, a lot more than I would have from playing .5/1 with my $60 and perhaps being on $93 by February 2003. (Please note I am not advocating what I did, the stress level was extremely high in January 2003)

What’s your favorite poker saying or phrase?
"A great player will beat you with your cards not his own". This is true and highlighted my next step up in about June/July 2003. Come June 2003, I was playing by the book, good opening hands, knew all the odds etc... However, I was still focusing on my holding. If I had ATo and a player raised in front of me I'd fold (as per the book). But what if that player was loose in his raising requirements OR respected my raising standards too much. If so, why not 3 bet and isolate him. I started concentrating on playing the player a lot more. Tight aggressive play will take you so far and mean that you can beat most games. However, to make that next step you have to increase your edge further by playing upon your opponents' weaknesses.

Who is your favorite poker player (if you have one)?
My friend Steve Robinson. When we play home games he has a god given ability to defy the laws of probability

What are your other interests outside of poker?
All sports (especially football (or soccer for you in the US))

Feel free to add anything else you would like to say.
I've won 6000$ in a day at pokerroom. I've had similar losses too. The key is not caring about a particular hand, daily results etc... You just need to concentrate on making the right decisions and learning from your mistakes. This includes learning from the mistakes you make in hands you win not just the ones you lose. At first, I couldn't stop playing if I was stuck for the session but now I don't care. As long as you keep making the right decisions, the bankroll will take care of itself in the long run.Look Tony up in the Poker Forum!