Derek  Leach

30 years old

Stakes:  $60-$100 (HUSNGs),  $10-$215 (MTTs)

Charles Hawk: How long have you been playing poker? What are your main successes?

Derek  Leach (dl184): Played poker for about 7 years. 5 years seriously, 3 1/2 years full time.

Main successes are I guess being able to sustain a decent living for a few years in a game that's got really tough over that time.  Also successfully made the switch from turbos to hypers and then MTTs also.

Charles Hawk: How did you make the switch from HUSNG turbos to HUSNG hypers? Was it difficult?

Derek  Leach (dl184): I started to try hypers after the tubos action dried up like most people. I think got some coaching off Cog Dis which was really helpful in making the change. Afer a few months I went into a staking program which did coaching as part of the deal so I think that took my game forward from there.. I think having good players as friends in poker is a HUGE deal which is often never thought of, someone to bounce ideas off. I'm good freinds with Sifosis. We talk every day, share booms, etc. He has helped me a ton in MTTs and HU and a few other guys have as well.

Charles Hawk: What is your ratio between playing MTTs and HUSNG hypers?

Derek  Leach (dl184): The ratio was about 80 MTTs / 20 HUSNGs this year so far but I'm working on it being closer to 50/50.

Charles Hawk: What are your hobbies?

Derek  Leach (dl184): I was doing crossfit until recently, but my back is in poor shape so i had to quit that. Now i just go to the gym, hang with friends, etc.

Charles Hawk: Did you begin playing profesionally from MTTs?

Derek  Leach (dl184): Nah, I started playing 9 man sngs, but they kinda got "solved" and too many regs played them so I started playing HU. I only started playing MTTs last year.

Charles Hawk: How long have you been grinding HUSNGs profesionally? Can you describe how the game has changed comparing with recent days?

Derek  Leach (dl184): I played HUSNGs full time for about 2 1/2 years as I was self employed. Also had done a little work on the side before that.... Generally the game just got tougher as everyone has access to coaching material (videos, strategy guides and coaches etc)... It's hard to say totally as I started in turbos and now play hypers so I have no idea how turbos play now.

Charles Haw: How about hypers? Are you happy with what you are making from hypers this year?

Derek  Leach (dl184): Well since I've seen hypers as a side income of which I have hardly worked on my game at all, then yeah I'm pretty happy with my income so far with rb. The plan was to put all my studying energy into MTTs for the first 6 months of this year then have a more evened out shedule.. and that's what I have done... I do however plan to put a lot more effort into HU in the coming months (volume and studying).

 Charles Hawk: Any reasoning behind why you decided to increase your HUSNGs volume?

Derek  Leach (dl184): That was the plan from the start of the year. As I was just learning MTTs, I had to put in a decent amount of volume, but I feel I'm at a level now where I can now have a good balance of both.. I have been gradually increasing volume over last couple of months.

Charles Hawk: how your standart grinding day looks like? How do you plan to combine MTTs with HUSNGs during the day?

Derek  Leach (dl184): I play a night MTT shedule as thats when best MTTs are, so I play HU in afternoons sometimes or just dedicate a full day and night to HU... I haven't decided on a proper shedule yet... All I know is that obviously Sundays are famous for MTTs and Monday are soft as a lot of the regs take the Monday off after a hard grind Sunday, so my shedule might look like:

Sunday: MTTs

Monday: MTTs

Tuesday: HU

Wednesday: HU

Thursday afternoon: HU off night

Then Friday and Saturday depends on what I'm doing, but that's the great flexability about HU, you're free do things, whereas with MTTs you're locked in to playing until you've out them all.

Derek  Leach (dl184): I will find the right blend at some point.

Charles Hawk: What do you want to achieve in HUSNGs? Do you have any self-improving / self-coaching plan on how to be better against the field year by year? Do you do any self-coaching now (HUSNGs)?

Derek  Leach (dl184): I almost have no aspirations in HU now as far as moving up is concerned. I'm in the $100 group and I am happy enough with that. Like I said, I haven't done a lot of work on my game, I have played a ton of regs this year and I am beating almost all of them, so I think once I work more on my game I should be more than comfortable staying at that level.

Charles Hawk: What are your biggest scores in MTTs?

Derek  Leach (dl184): I won the Bigger 162 for $38k last week which was nice as I had been on a bit of a bad run before that.

Derek  Leach (dl184): That was my biggest score to date. Previous biggest was $20k... so it was just a collection of smallish scores before I went cold.

Charles Hawk: Did you play hypers at 60-100 before divisions were created?

Derek  Leach (dl184): I played 60-200 but I pretty much played all 200s vs rams85, which was tough to be honest. He didnt beat me up but the fact I didn't think I was ever gonna shake him off maybe put me off playing them more, so once the 100s were created, I never played any more 200s.

Charles Hawk: Do you think divisions is a fair system? Do you have any ideas on how to improve it? Would you change anything if you were a division leader?

Derek  Leach (dl184): Yeah, I think it's a fair system.  If you're good enough you will get in. Only thing I would change is that anyone trying to get in has to play 20+ guys to show thier true skill vs the group. Them just targeting 1 or 2 regs doesn't work that well in my opinion.

Charles Hawk: Do you think games could be beatable with decent hourly rate all your life?

Derek  Leach (dl184): To be honest, I don't plan to find out. Pretty sure I only have a few years left in online poker, then I will be doing something else. I'm pretty keen to get into property development, so I think that will be my next "job".

Charles Hawk: What do you think about Dan Colman's statement after winning One Drop?

Derek  Leach (dl184): I kinda agree with him in some of the stuff he said. I honestly think that he didn't wanna get used as a poster boy for winning that amount of money so that stars could intice more players in. I definitely kinda get that, cos in actual fact he prob had like 10-20% of himself and got a couple of mil out of the 15m... Some of the other stuff I sorta found hypocritical, as I've seen him trolling fish to get them to play high many times, so I think he's just a rich confused young man to be honest.

Charles Hawk: Do you try to save as much as possible? Any specific ideas or aims for what to do with your winnings?

Derek  Leach (dl184): I've always been pretty good with money. I saved up enough to go travelling in Australia and Asia with my then girlfriend (now finace) and when we came back I saved up, bought a house and paid half of it off, then rennovated it, etc. So I never really waste money ever. I always have a plan for it. My faince is now pregnant and is due in January, and I'm getting married next Septemember, so I guess that will eat up some money haha.

Charles Hawk: Do you tilt? Any specific methods for how to handle the frustrations which come with running / playing bad?

Derek  Leach (dl184): I can honestly say I don't tilt too bad ever. I definitely occasionally feel a little fustration and possibly start playing my B game, but I've never been a mouse breaker or anything. I did  some sessions with Elliot Roe about a year ago and since then I'm pretty chilled with the variance in poker. It's gonna happen whether you like it or not. Even in real life, I tend to worry much less about the stuff I can't control.

Charles Hawk: Would you advice for new young players, who want to start playing poker from 0, aim that or do you think there are not as much money these days and that quiting university would be a mistake?

Derek  Leach (dl184): I would 100% say don't quit Uni unless you are already completely crushing the game. The game has a shelf life and I don't see it as a career at all. The game is getting much tougher every year, there's more regs every year and less fish every year. Unless America comes back in it will just continue on like this until only the beasts will beat poker.

Charles Hawk: Do you set any short-term/long-term goals?

Derek  Leach (dl184): I pretty much just set myself volume aims in the short term. I do set money goals long term though.

Charles Hawk:  What are your volume aims in the short run? How about money goals?

Derek  Leach (dl184): The volume goals have changed as I have been changing my HU to MTT ratio, so they change every month right now.

Derek  Leach (dl184): Last money goal I made was to make 10k in a month from HU. Didn't work out :/

Charles Hawk: Do you think it's reasonable to set money goals in such a short time?

Derek  Leach (dl184): Nah, my money goals are more yearly things to be honest. I sometimes just see if I can get to a target in a month or whatever, but I don't really care if I hit it or not. I only really care if I hit the goal on the yearly one though.

Charles Hawk:  Do you think the USA market could be opened soon?

Derek  Leach (dl184): I'm more hopeful than anything, but honestly, I think that it might play like Spain and be US-only or something, and be heavily taxed, which would be pretty shitty... We will see what happens with that, fingers crossed anyway.