{"id":19145,"date":"2012-03-22T16:08:42","date_gmt":"2012-03-22T15:08:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/?p=19145"},"modified":"2021-06-23T10:18:59","modified_gmt":"2021-06-23T10:18:59","slug":"henrik-hecklen-aka-the-first-man-in-the-bar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/henrik-hecklen-aka-the-first-man-in-the-bar.html","title":{"rendered":"Henrik Hecklen AKA the first man in the bar tells us to \u201cPlay tight and bet big when you have the cards, people bluff anyway\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Despite being only 22 years, Henrik\u00a0Hecklen has played more live tournaments than most of us. And it\u2019s not always worked out the way he\u2019d like them to, hence he\u2019s often been referred to as “the first man in the bar.” Card games have always been a large part of Henriks\u00a0life. When you come from Hj\u00f8rring in North Jutland, there are not many alternatives to soccer he tells us. Therefore, the choice of online poker<\/a> was not a difficult decision for an 18 year old Henrik.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s paid its way since then for Henrik, since September 2010, where he took down a \u00a3300 side event at the EPT London cashing for \u00a311,400 and he\u2019s cashed in some pretty nice locations like Dublin, Cannes, Gran Canaria, Barcelona, \u200b\u200bMalm\u00f6 and Valencia.<\/p>\n

You Better Czech Yourself Before You\u2026<\/h3>\n

It was the Unibet Open which was a real thorn in his side, they of course opened their arms to Henrik\u00a0on numerous times, and every time he finished outside the money. For his loyal friends and family back home they\u2019d see his regular updates on his Facebook and know his curse was still yet to be broken: \u00a0\u201cSee you at the bar\u201d<\/strong> it would read. However Prague proved to be the turning point for this Dane where he placed 12th at the Unibet Open Prague, for \u20ac5,330.<\/p>\n

Cash Is King<\/h3>\n

When asked Henrik\u00a0views himself more as a cash game player than a tournament one any day:<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve lived on poker since I was 18, so I\u2019ve never needed a “real” job. When I started with poker, I started like many others playing 1\/2, 2\/4 and 3\/6, the cash game has changed so much over the last few years that I just play 1\/2 now. It is a level I can handle myself, so there is no reason to challenge fate\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

And for Henrik\u00a0this is not just a random game here and there, his whole day revolves around the game. \u201cI like to get up somewhere between 9 and 11, depending on how late I go to bed. Then I train, which since New Year I\u2019ve done six days a week. I like to relax in the late afternoon before dinner and then I hit the tables, I play between 6 to 10 tables until 1 or 2 in the morning before getting some rest.<\/p>\n

Henrik\u00a0is like many other players who have spent too much time in front of the screen in the night and he\u2019s well aware that you’ll need to exercise and think about what you put into our body.<\/p>\n

We asked him if it makes sense to play 1\/2, for example can you pay your bills plus buy-ins to live tournaments that he plays, and suddenly economic sense rises to the surface.<\/p>\n

“There are not many of them I have paid for myself. All the Unibet Opens I have for example. I think the most expensive I have paid so far was the DM. I\u2019ve played an EMOP, 5-7 side events at EPTs and WPT Vejle plus Malta It’s not because I’m stingy, but I simply cannot bring myself to pay \u20ac5,000 to play an EPT when I don\u2019t think I can beat the other players. The level is too high and so for me the money is better spent elsewhere. If I had to I\u2019d buy in somewhere like San Remo or Deauville”<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

A Danish Summer<\/h3>\n

Unlike many others who use the summer to enjoy the sun, beach and travel, Henrik would much rather stay in Denmark.<\/p>\n

\u201cI travel so much the other months of the year, which is when it\u2019s gray and cold here. When our summer finally comes, I’d rather be home to enjoy it. Right now I have nothing else on the program than a Unibet Open in Paris, but when we get there, my friends will probably try to convince me to go somewhere else!\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

And for those of you at home considering if this is a viable career Henrik gives the following advice:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want to try, commit fully to it. Get a coach, watch videos, get yourself a network, keep up with how the game evolves and be critical of yourself. Look at those hands you play and learn from your mistakes. Put a plan and follow it!\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

And for those who just think it’s fun to play just once in a while and do not have big ambitions, but who just want a good advice for cash game:<\/p>\n

\u201cPlay tight and bet big when you have the cards, people bluff anyway\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Got what it takes?<\/h3>\n

If you feel liking taking on the best of the best this weekend marks the final chance to qualify for the WPT Vienna Main Event with PartyPoker.com. Each prize package for the event which takes place between the 10th \u2013 15th April at the Montesino is worth $7,000 and includes the $4,700 main event buy-in, hotel accommodation for six nights and $900 spending money.<\/p>\n

The mix of freerolls, qualifiers and weekly satellites run until Sunday 25th March with the main $375 online satellite with one package guaranteed taking place at 15.20 ET (21.20 CEST). For more information visit our\u00a0WPT Vienna promotional page.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite being only 22 years, Henrik\u00a0Hecklen has played more live tournaments than most of us. And it\u2019s not always worked out the way he\u2019d like them to, hence he\u2019s often been referred to as “the first man in the bar.” Card games have always been a large part of Henriks\u00a0life. When you come from Hj\u00f8rring<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":19150,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2182,300],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[17444,2592,2615,2826,2620,17438,15558,17439,2371,2647,4730,17443,2588,17440,2582,9491,17442,17437,3003,17441],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19145"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19145"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135715,"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19145\/revisions\/135715"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19145"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=19145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}