Pro: 6.5 years (husngs - up to $100 - for 3; was a cash game reg before)

Location: London

Age: 26

Charles Hawk: How did you become a poker pro?

Dan "Andrex Puppy" Heskett: I did economics at university, but went to the poker society there and was told about a guy that was in the year before me and quit to become a professional poker player. From then, I decided I wanted someone to say that about me the next year, so stopped going to lectures and spent all my time playing online poker on FTP.

I dropped out of uni as I really disliked the courses and the people I was living with at the time, and went home and worked some jobs as a waiter, etc.

My dad wasn't very supportive of poker, so I decided I had to go somewhere where I could just play hours of poker to get better. So I enrolled in university again, this time in Sheffield, knowing I was going to fail on purpose. I thought I'd be able to live off my university loan and play poker the whole time.

Eventually I got found that I wasn't attending lectures and was told I had a week to leave, but I didn't want to go back home, so I grinded really hard for the whole week, and the last 2 days I spent living in Sheffield were my two biggest days ever in poker: both over 1k each, which was a ton of money to me at the time.

CH: WOW! Sick story:) How did it go from there?

DH: So with the money I had made in the last two days, which was about 2500 USD, I was able to move to Manchester and stay at my friend Adam v2the3's house while he was still at uni, and we played a ton of poker there. One of our housemates referred to us as the NPC, which she never explained, and then one time we asked her, thinking it was something lame, and she replied that it stood for nocturnal poker crew!

CH: Did you start playing husngs after staying with Adam "v2the3" Sykes?

DH: No. Back then I was playing 6 max sngs. Our internet wasn't that good so we used to play at the university computer lab. One day they had a server restart and my computer shut down while I was 12 tabling. I had to sprint the 500 meters home and managed to somehow cash in enough of them to still make a profit that session.

I rememeber the first time I played a husng. It was really low stakes, like 10 USD or something, but this guy was showing bluffs and trash talking saying "ty" when he won a pot. And somehow I just lost it and was going all-in every hand.

After that I decided that I'd give hucash a go. I had a subscription to Cardrunners back in the day and all the big name players like Brian Townsend, Cole South, and Haseeb Quireshi were cash game players, so I'd give that a go.

I was ok at cash and made a living at it for a while, but it was pretty low. Then one day on my brithday, which is in December, v2the3 and I were comparing our years and he had done a lot better than I had, and told me as a birthday present he would give me some coaching, and that I should move over to husngs, and the rest is history!

CH: Which limits are you playing now?

DH: 30s to 100s.

CH: How long ago was that special birthday?

DH: 3 years ago (Dec 2011).

CH: What was the most valuable lesson(s) which you learned not from vids or books but in practice?

DH: I think one of the main things I learnt from practice is sometimes to just go with your gut and not worry what others would say about your call. I used to post questions on 2p2 a lot and sometimes would get laughed at for making a bad call, but if you have a read then it's sometimes better just to go with it even if on paper it looks bad.

CH: What was your reaction after the rake increase?

DH: The rake increase is obviously not great for pros. That being said, it's not all bad. It will force some of the weaker guys in poker to consider quitting, in talking about weaker regs that perhaps were making an OK living and now think it's better to find something else, so perhaps it will effect the reg to fish ratio a bit. I was disappointed to see what Amaya had done and think it's a shame they have such a monopoly on online poker now that they don't have to worry too much on prices of rake.

CH: Do you have a plan B? Do you think it's important to have it, considering Amaya's actions so far?

DH: I have a few things that I'm currently looking at. I think within the next three years I'll have begun the transition out of poker and begin doing something else. That being said, I really enjoy poker, so I'd imagine it will still be a part of my life wheather I become a part time grinder or something I'm really not sure. Also, I think long term it's good to be able to buy a house, as espicially in UK historically house prices go up a decent %, and with leverage if your house is going in value up 15k a year then in 20 years you're a lot worse off if you're still renting. So having a job that I would be able to get a mortgage with is definitely plus EV long term.

CH: Do you think mid-stake players are at risk because of an uncertain future?

DH: It's really very dependent on how the recreational players adjust with this and how increaseing the rake affects how much they play. If they prove to be as price inelastic as Amaya seems to think they will be, then it shouldn't be an issue.

CH: Tell me about your most interesting propbet?

DH: v2the3 and I have been talking about a bet for years. I've got a certain impression that I've been doing for years: the Pokemon Jigglypuff - his power, for those who don't know, is he sings a song and puts other Pokemon to sleep. I originally learnt it to show off to my brothers when I was a kid, as we all went though a Pokemon phase when I was about 12, and for some reason all my friends find it really funny. It's basically a very high pitched voice and when you see a guy singing it it's pretty weird. A couple of weeks ago we were talking at a house party and he laid down a challenge:

If I go on a national talent show such as Britain's Got Talent or X Factor and get on TV in front of the judges for an audition, he will walk from London to Newcastle, a city in the north of England 280 miles away, and to make it better he's not allowed to stay in hotels, so he's going to have to camp at the side of the road.

We looked on Google and it says it's 91 hours of walking, so it's going to take about 10 days to do it. We're both going to do video diaries, get some poker players involved to pledge money if it happens. My audtion is in two weeks. I've been entered as an impressionist!

I've also got some other impressions, all very random and dated like Watto and Jar Jar Binks from Star Wars: Episode 1, as well as some other cartoon ones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjyL2Wooh9Q - there's the vid of the song. It's basically 99% accurate to what I do, except people don't fall asleep, more like a standing ovation.

CH: What have you done outside the game to get better?

DH: I think there a lot of things that players can do away from the table that will help them on the tables. The first think I recommend to anyone that isn’t doing that well at the tables or feel like they can get better is that exercise is key. Gym, run - w/e - it doesn’t matter as long as your sweating. Yoga is good too for calming mind and focus but you need to be working out hard at least 2 or 3 times a week. It’s proven to make you smarter. If you don’t believe me check out a book called ‘Spark’ which breaks down the benefits of exercising on the brain. Also it’s interesting that if you look at all the 1k regs and 500s regs there mostly all in pretty good shape and gym or exercise a lot than the average person in their 20s. This isn’t a coincidence.

another thing I strongly recommend is getting mental game coaching with Elliot Toe I/ve had over 15 sessions and it’s been really awesome effect poker is so much more fun when you don’t feel as bad about the loses and tilt less. Here’s something that you should know: even if you don’t think you tilt you still tilt. Maybe you don’t go crazy and smash a mouse apart after losing with aces but there’s a lot of triggers for people work with Elliot was one of the best decisions I’ve made of my career and I expect to see huge returns over the rest life as a pro poker player.

Lastly after reading about Ike Haxton meditating a lot and talking about it as well as a lot of successful people I respect talk about the wonders of it. I finally decided to commit to a program of it right now I’m doing a free 10 day trial on headspace.com and I think after a while that’s really going to help me a lot. I already feel calmer and my mind is less cloudy.

Finally - and this is one thing that I wish I had been told when I was starting out in poker - have a life outside poker have hobbies that aren’t like poker seriously don’t play video games in your spare time you stare at a screen long enough! Get outside, socialise, exercise and read, you will be a far more well rounded person and your friends/family girlfriends will thank you for it!

On Tuesday Dan wrote me that he had just been shortlisted for Britain's Got Talent to go in front of the judges! Seems that he will win a propbet!:)