Yesterday was part 1 of our 4 Part Special of A Week in the Life of Lil David Nicholson by Lee Davy and here’s part 2:
Why don’t you guys ever run out of money?
If only that were true! Credit is good I guess, but it shouldn’t be for much longer! It is something me and my friend Jamie Sykes have talked about e.g. if we thought we couldn’t make money out of poker – which has entered my head during long losing spells – how long would it take us to say, “Ok, we are not profitable playing poker anymore and should just quit and do something else?” We would both like to think with the personalities we both have, we would be able to do that. In reality, we both say we would never quit, we would just keep playing until we were in a huge hole.
Is that because you love the game or love the life that the game exists in?
It is a combination of both really. It’s something I have done for a while that I have been successful at. It would be hard to admit that we were ‘passed it’ so I guess it is entirely down to ego at the end of the day.
So you are on a terrible downswing. Who do you talk to about your game when this happens?
I live with JP Kelly and I am very lucky to have him sitting next to me when playing online, so I talk to him for sure. It is impossible to be a better poker player than JP. I also speak to Rob Woodcock, Dave Burn, Karl Mahrenholz and Cos Greekstein. Those are the only people I can talk about poker to. You can’t really say to them, “I’m really annoyed that I’m losing,” as its just part of the game. If you are unhappy of the fact you are going to lose sometimes, perhaps you should just get a job? Luckily, they are my friends, so when I am a little low on confidence they help me out a bit more. I may ask their help on a few more hands than I would ordinarily, a few more simpler spots they wouldn’t normally expect me to need opinions on, and they usually humour me and remind me I am playing ok and just getting a bit unlucky; or if I am playing badly they tell me so.
Is talking through hands with your peers your main source of education?
Talking through hands and playing a lot is how I study.
Do you remember a hand that hurt?
There was a really big pot where I lost two nut flush draws and a wrap after we got it in on the turn against two pretty weak hands for a really big pot. That was at a time – if I had won the pot – I would have had a lot of momentum. Often it’s not the size of the pots that counts, it’s how it affects your game e.g. your mood, your momentum, your flow, etc. Now you are disappointed at a loss and having to reload, other players are loving life as they have won and I am a little deflated. Those kinds of hands can have a huge effect on your sessions; it is hard to play without that momentum.
So your live cash games sucked balls, but you did win the DTD Deepstack for £37,000?
A few years ago when DTD really took off I used to play the £300 all the time, I think for less experienced players who really do like poker – who are competent but are not experienced – these tournaments are unbelievable. Firstly because they are at DTD, which is the nicest and best environment, you can ever play poker in. The standard of play is there, the players are good and it does get the juices flowing. It is not intimidating or overwhelming. The price tag is not a huge outlay and you can satellite really cheap and the potential to win quite a lot of money is there. I used to go all the time and learnt a lot, but never really cashed one. I played 20 over a two and a half year period, and never cashed one, but definitely learnt a lot from the experience.
Who were you with?
I was with my best friend in poker, Stu Barnett. He said there was going to be a good dealers choice game, so I went round to play that and he said it didn’t start till 22:00 so I may as well play in the tournament. I had no intentions of playing it until I walked into the building.
Coming Up In Part Three…
If you want to learn more about the exploits of Lil Dave Nicholson, then check out his blog at Lil Dave’s Life. In Part Three, Lil Dave dissects an interesting hand from his DTD victory.
About the Author
Lee Davy is a writer from Ogmore Vale in South Wales. You can follow his views and opinions through his blog at or on Twitter
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