{"id":44161,"date":"2017-04-13T08:10:17","date_gmt":"2017-04-13T07:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/?p=44161"},"modified":"2021-06-23T12:19:14","modified_gmt":"2021-06-23T12:19:14","slug":"partypoker-high-rollers-sam-trickett","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/partypoker-high-rollers-sam-trickett.html","title":{"rendered":"partypoker High Rollers: Sam Trickett"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sam Trickett<\/a> is back in the game as a partypoker<\/a> ambassador and loving every minute. We caught up with Britain\u2019s most successful tournament player of all time to find out if he still has what it takes to succeed at the highest level.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Having won bigger than anyone in Britain with over $20m in live winnings alone, the Retford man and tournament winner is also no slouch at high stakes cash games. He is clearly still hungry for success. We started by asking about his desire to make it big once more on his second wind in playing poker at the richest tables in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m 100% aware of the hunger. Doyle Brunson once said that a man with money is no match for a man on a mission. Back when I was young, I thought about winning a bracelet or a World Series event every single day. Because of what I\u2019ve achieved, I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ll ever get that hunger back, but I\u2019ve set myself a goal to win a WSOP bracelet. I\u2019ll play a lot this summer in the World Series of Poker. It\u2019s very hard to get that hunger of youth back when you\u2019ve made something of your life. It might be a good idea for me to talk to someone who\u2019s been through it. I\u2019ve got the poker bug back. Hopefully, I can keep that up and move in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to look back and think \u2018I was the guy who never won a bracelet.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sam is acutely appreciative of the players he admires, those who have been a constant in the game.<\/p>\n

\"Sam

Sam Trickett playing cash games at partypoker LIVE Sochi<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThere are only a handful of players who\u2019ve been able to maintain it and stay at the top of the game. Daniel [Negreanu], Erik [Seidel], there are a few others, but that probably comes from Daniel having to do it because he\u2019s the face of \u2018Stars and Erik just loves poker. Credit to those guys for adjusting their game, and understanding how other people are playing. It\u2019s a lot harder than you might think it would be. When I first got into poker, I wanted to win a bracelet, and then I wanted to win money as well. I became more interested in the money I could make, so I stopped playing so many World Series events and started playing high rollers and cash games. Now that I\u2019ve made some money, I don\u2019t want to look back and think \u2018I was the guy who never won a bracelet.\u2019 I\u2019m going to go for it.<\/p>\n

I hung in there, played tight, then got slowrolled by Daniel Negreanu!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As many of you probably know, Trickett took a break from poker. During that time he got married, participated in charity work and reconnected with what drives him on in poker. It\u2019s clear that Trickett enjoys looking back at how he met his wife, Mieke.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really funny how I met my wife. I played the One Drop [a year after coming second], and I had 15 million chips on Day 2 with Phil Ivey in second who had seven million. I had high hopes having been there and done so well before. I didn\u2019t play well, got unlucky in two big pots early on and it tilted me a little bit. I hung in there, played tight, then got slowrolled by Daniel Negreanu! With it being a million dollar entry, having the chip lead then getting slowrolled was the worst poker experience I\u2019ve ever had. I went to the nightclub to get smashed that night, and I met Mieke, so it turned out to be one of the best days of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marriage changes many in a positive way, and Trickett has attained a new-found peace in his life.<\/p>\n

\"Sam

Sam Trickett in action during World Poker Tour UK<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve calmed down a lot recently. I was in a bad relationship before and going out all the time. I\u2019ve got no interest in partying anymore; I\u2019ve got married and settled down. I can do more things that I enjoy doing such as my charity work, which was always something I wanted to take part in. I never did before because I was a bit more selfish and driven when I was achieving what I wanted to achieve in poker. Now I\u2019ve got a bit more time on my hands, and I\u2019m a little bit older and can do some things that I always wanted to do. I\u2019m in a really good place, and I had a much-needed break\u2026 I\u2019m happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now back at the tables, our first question about the poker he\u2019s been playing is how much the game has changed for Trickett.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d not played tournaments<\/a> or against professionals for a while, so it\u2019s been interesting playing against a new style. Everyone\u2019s playing a GTO optimal kind of way; no-one\u2019s raising flops or turns anymore. Players are trapping me more than they used to. People used to raise me when they had a good hand, and that was fairly easy to play against; I\u2019d bet-fold a lot of the time.<\/p>\n

I guess they think I\u2019m very aggressive because I used to be, and that I\u2019m going to run big bluffs with a wide range of hands pre-flop. I\u2019d like to think I do a good job of playing against how they perceived.\u201d<\/p>\n

The stakes in tournaments are high, but as so many top players have done before him, Sam Trickett became a big name in playing cash games around the world in glamorous locations such as Macau. It was out in the Chinese province that he played huge stakes that led to a low on returning to tournament buy-ins.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was going to Macau and playing high stakes and doing well, but just before I went on a break, I was rocking up for high rollers, and smashing it in for $5k or $10k tournaments. I realised that I had to stop playing them because I wasn\u2019t trying my best. I\u2019d gamble a bit more or play too many hands, especially pre-flop. That\u2019s when I decided to take a break. It\u2019s difficult to move down in stakes. I was playing in Rozvadov the other week, straddling \u20ac16,000 some hands and sitting with \u20ac1.3m and then I was back on Friday and playing \u00a35\/\u00a310\/\u00a325 on a streamed cash game. It\u2019s very hard to play with discipline at the lower stakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Trickett tells us, decision making is now his focus and to that end, taking pleasure in making the right ones regardless of the result. Part of Trickett\u2019s respect for the youth of poker\u2019s player pool is down to his background in helping them. Before he hit the big time in the Big One for One Drop, Trickett had lost the lot and travelled to South Africa to help friends of his coaching up and coming players.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember going to Cape Town and talking through play. When I first went there, I\u2019d gone broke. I\u2019d won the GUKPT, had some results in the World Series, then I\u2019d lost it all. I had all the talent, but I didn\u2019t have the experience, and I wasn\u2019t technically good enough. I went there half the player I was when I returned. When they first started asking me \u2018Sam, I\u2019ve been check-raised here, what do I do?\u2019 I\u2019d run over to them, and they\u2019d have queens, and it\u2019s come 6-7-8, and they\u2019ve been check-raised, I\u2019m like \u2018I don\u2019t know\u2026 I guess we call this one.\u2019<\/p>\n

I went to the World Series and won almost a million dollars in No Limit Hold\u2019em tournaments. I felt unlucky not to win more.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If volume in poker can build into experience, during his time in the Southern hemisphere, Trickett put in the hours.<\/p>\n

\"Sam

Sam Trickett has travelled the world playing poker, here he is in the Caribbean<\/p><\/div>\n

We played thousands and thousands of hands. Eventually, the players only ever put their hands up and asked for my advice when they had a tough decision. I got familiar with those tough decisions and awkward situations. Moving forward, I was comfortable in those situations and make good decisions based on my time in Cape Town. It brought my game on leaps and bounds, giving me discipline and teaching me to work harder at my game. It was a blessing. My girlfriend broke up with me, and I had no other options. I always think that if she hadn\u2019t broken up with me, I might never have gone there and done what I did.”
\n“I improved so much there, I knew the game, and I knew who to bluff and when not to bluff. I went to the World Series and won almost a million dollars in No Limit Hold\u2019em tournaments. I felt unlucky not to win more. I\u2019d been deep in all these tournaments and felt unlucky. I didn\u2019t get caught bluffing in a medium or big pot, and that filled me full of confidence.”<\/p>\n

Before he knew it, Trickett wasn\u2019t just a force in Las Vegas. He was the common British hope at some of the biggest TV cash tables in the world. He was winning in front of millions of viewers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I went into the TV cash games, I repeated that style, and I was getting everything through. I played the partypoker open and won it for around $200,000. I\u2019d just been to EPT Vilamoura and came fourth, and I should have won it. I thought there was no-one better in the world than me; I truly believed that at the time. Looking back, all the guys on the internet were playing better than me, but I thought I had this huge live edge and had a massive amount of confidence which made me go for huge bluffs. No-one was calling me back then because no-one would ever call off their stack. I\u2019d built up this confidence, and if you get a good result every time you make a call in a particular point, it\u2019s so familiar it becomes second nature. Everyone had leaks you could exploit.\u201d<\/p>\n

A keen footballer, Trickett has already fulfilled his ambition of scoring a goal at Old Trafford<\/a>. He draws the parallel between elite sportsmen and poker players when it comes to confidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember playing pool, and if you\u2019re confident, then you get down and you play. You know you\u2019re going to pot it and you do. The second you doubt yourself and the nerves kick in, you might miss. For me, it\u2019s no coincidence that players go on these so-called \u2018lucky streaks\u2019 in poker. There have been a handful of players who have done it. Obviously, they\u2019ve run well too, but it\u2019s the confidence. They\u2019re picking pots that other people aren\u2019t; they\u2019re winning all the small pots and then when they are all-in, they\u2019re not getting knocked out because they have more chips. Every spot counts, and it is the little pots that make the difference. It\u2019s not a case of just being confident, though. A lot of the time, it\u2019s down to you playing well, working on your game and when you make mistakes, trying to learn from them and not make them again. A lot of confidence comes from playing well; you can\u2019t just keep playing poorly and declaring how confident you are!\u201d<\/p>\n

Now the biggest name on the partypoker ambassadorial roster, Trickett is keen to point out just how impressed he\u2019s been with his fellow partypoker professionals. It\u2019s clear that when it comes to poker, Trickett thrives on the team element as well as possessing the necessary individual drive. Not that he feels his advice is needed by the elite stable he\u2019s a part of right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI speak to them all a bit, but to give you an example of just one other partypoker player in Natalia Breviglieri, she fits right into the poker lifestyle. Natalia is always talking poker and working on her game. If I ever felt like someone was doing something wrong, I could advise them, but they all seem like they\u2019re doing a pretty good job, to be honest! I\u2019m always here if they want to ask, but turning up, being professional and respecting everyone is the benchmark. A lot of the players who are ambassadors were offered it because of the way they already acted before they got the deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former superstar of a \u2018Brit Pack\u2019 who took on Vegas and won big, Trickett now has the right balance to make a new run towards greatness. Does a WSOP bracelet beckon? If it does, maybe the new Sam Trickett will appreciate it that bit more.
\n\u201cI\u2019m super chilled now and I know where my life\u2019s going. I\u2019m really excited again about poker. I care about my decisions; I\u2019ve been playing more, watching videos and sharpening up. I\u2019m looking forward to my next trip and have a great balance with my personal and professional life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone starts somewhere in poker, and for Sam Trickett, it was putting in the volume. With rewards for players across all formats of the game on partypoker, you own journey to greatness can start today.<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

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If you already have an account with us, click here to open partypoker and hit the tables<\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sam Trickett is back in the game as a partypoker ambassador and loving every minute. We caught up with Britain\u2019s most successful tournament player of all time to find out if he still has what it takes to succeed at the highest level.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":44323,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1308,1309,2182,1219],"tags":[1199,119,730,374,184,1424,877,1440,1009,360,73],"yst_prominent_words":[2578,6671,6664,6672,2620,6667,6669,3599,4355,2582,5719,6670,6665,6668,5726,6673,4345,4737,6666,6663],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44161"}],"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\/86"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44161"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135881,"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44161\/revisions\/135881"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44161"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.partypoker.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=44161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}