Legend of the Week Winner Drew Inspiration From the Staples Brothers

Every poker player has a unique story regarding how they got into this crazy game that we all love. Connor Grayson is no different. The former military man discovered poker five years ago while serving in Cyprus, but it was the video content created by a certain Jaime and Matt Staples that spurred him on further.

Grayson topped Leaderboard 1 of our Legend of the Week promotion last week, which saw a $215 Series ticket wing its way to his partypoker account. Before he had the chance to use it, he chatted with the partypoker blog about his poker story.

“I’m Connor Grayson from Stoke-on-Trent in the West Midlands of the UK. I spent five years in the military where I was a driver in the RAF, primarily refuelling all of the aircraft. Left in 2019 as I became a father to my now two-year-old little girl, and moved into our own place with my partner. Now I still drive tankers but instead of aviation fuel, I now drive tanks of milk to dairies around the country. My main hobby other than poker is Stock Car racing around the country with my family, which is what my screen name represents; my class of racing and my race car number.”

Being in the Royal Air Force meant Connor spent long stretches away from home. He and his colleagues helped pass the time with a few low-stakes poker games. Although Connor was a regular donator in those games, he enjoyed the game and rediscovered it through Jaime and Matt Staples’ YouTube channels.

Discovering Poker While in Cyprus

“I first discovered the game when I was on deployment in Cyprus in 2016. A few of the lads would all put €5 in and we would all play for it; it was free money for them back then! Then after a long hiatus away from the game, I rediscovered it through a certain Jaime Staples YouTube channel, which was his vlogging channel. I ended up going through all of his videos and then moved on to his brother Matt and started watching the poker content from there, and decided to return to poker.”

Things did not start brilliantly for Connor as he got to grips with learning the game afresh. However, all the studying has finally started to pay off.

“I started by just playing the smallest sit and go’s and MTT’s, but with very little success. But after a couple of years consuming all of the free content like Matt and Jaime’s Twitch streams, and also making friends in the community well known to Jaime and Matt as the “Donk Squad” in Discord, I’ve slowly picked up my strategy and got some nice scores along the way. It’s all thanks to Matt and Jaime in addition to my friends in that squad who I can refer too about certain spots and hands; you can count on them to rail any big spots, too.”

“I then started playing satellites to get some bigger opportunities as well as playing the numerous home games on partypoker. Now I am trying to continue to build my bankroll by playing micro and low stakes tournaments plus the odd mid-stakes one that I manage to satellite into.”

Winning The Deuce; Finishing Fifth in Another

Everything came into place last week when Connor won The Deuce, which gave him a great chance of becoming a Legend of the Week. A couple of days later, he finished fifth in the same event and managed to hold onto the top spot despite being unable to cash during the final two days of the week.

“I was updating the leaderboard every five minutes on Saturday night to see how things were looking as I only play on mobile so couldn’t watch the tables play out. I’ve always enjoyed The Deuce and had a fair bit of success in it with my first “big score” ever being a second place in it for just over $200, which at the time, with $10 roughly in the bankroll, was huge to me. I don’t really have the same success in the Double Jab, but I’ve learned to expect the higher variance in the bounty tournaments at micro-stakes.”

Juggling a busy work and home life, spare time is at a premium for Connor, as it is for many of this blog’s readers. This is where the Daily Legends come into their own with their reduced late registration, limited re-entries, and a finish time that lends itself to a good night’s sleep.

Daily Legends Perfect For Those With a Busy Schedule

“I have always liked these Daily Legend tournaments; the time fits perfectly for my schedule and never finish too late. As well as different aspects in each one whether it’s starting stack size, or six-max tables, etc. Also being able to satellite into higher stakes Daily Legends that can easily have big potential is exciting even if it’s just seeing the bigger bounty sizes in the PKO tournaments.”

“My best three scores have all come from these tournaments, which I’ll always remember, including that second place in The Deuce as well as the win last week. My biggest score came in the $11 Mini One Shot, where I managed to satellite in for a dollar and finished in fifth for about $430, which has been my bankroll ever since!”

The confidence gained from being crowned a Legend of the Week has got Connor setting his sights on a new personal best score. However, that is not his only 2022 poker goal because he loves the social aspect of poker, too.

“Obviously, a new personal highest cash would be a nice one to beat this year but other than that I would love to play to some live poker, and COVID permitting maybe meeting up with the “Donk Squad” mentioned earlier; playing some live poker with them would be great. Further down the line, I’d love to eventually meet Jaime and Matt as I feel they’ve contributed a lot to my game. And of course, a cash from this $215 ticket I won would make an amazing start to 2022! I’d be lying if I said the dream wasn’t to be able to learn as much as possible to maybe eventually be in the position to try to play poker full time!”

Before Connor headed back to the daily grind of life and poker, he said a quick thanks to the Staples and his beloved “Donk Squad.”

“Again massive thank you to Matt and Jaime for their amazing content, and playing a part in making this a big hobby for me. Also, thanks to the squad in discord: Pete, Nick, Carla, Josh, Jacob, Ed, Spud and Joey.”