Leon "flippetyflop" Louis

 

Charles Hawk: How long are you playing online? Could you describe your profits of each year?

Leon “flippetyfop” Louis: I've been playing poker online for around 7 years now. The first 2 years I was probably down a few thousand $$$$, dabbling in everything from cash to 9 men sit and goes to MTT's.

Initially most of my learning process was through articles that I would find on the internet, but I misinterpreted a lot of the information.

I think I started winning at the start of my third year of playing, making a few thousand dollars a month from 9 men sit and goes/with the occasional MTT bink.

It wasn't until I switched to HUSNG's that I saw a real consistency in profits and from 2010 to now I'm in profit something in the region of $700,000, although I don't have as much of it as I should do!

Charles Hawk: Are you bad with handling money?

Leon “flippetyfop” Louis: My monthly expenses are a big contributing factor. My bills/rent per year = around 20k a year which is pretty insane, but that's the price of living in London.

The best thing for me to do would be to move out of London/grind abroad but I love my city too much to do that.  I've locked most of my money away where I can't touch it for a few years to stop myself from spewing it, but I've got better as time has gone on and I'm looking to invest in a few properties hopefully before the end of next year.

Charles Hawk: How you keep having more and more success with HUSNGs every year? How you manage to stay ahead of the curve and improve to the extent that you are making more money just about every single year?

Leon “flippetyfop” Louis: I think it's because I have a strong balance between believing in my competency, whilst also being aware that there's a big gap between where I am and where I'd like to be....so I'm at a stage where I'm trying new things a lot.

I think that's something that applies not only to poker but to anything in life you want to get better at. It's pretty hard to be self confident enough to have a good perception of your strengths, but at the same time have enough self awareness to be aware of your weaknesses.

I'd like to put a lot of it down to having a strong work ethic, but in reality there are tonnes of harder working regs out there than me.  I'm trying to work towards  the mindset of some regs (v2the3/jackstack) who can grind out 40-50 hours week by week and not get distracted

Charles Hawk: How are you improving besides playing?

Leon “flippetyfop” Louis: In all honesty playing is like 95%+ of how I learn/improve these days. I think for a lot of $200+ players it can be pretty counter productive to spend too much time studying as it's probably not worth it when you take into consideration your hourly.

Asides from that sometimes I watch the games of players who I respect and think about the reasonings they may have for doing things that I'd consider unorthodox

Charles Hawk: How about 4 years ago when you started playing HUSNGs? Did you analyze your own hands? Did you have any poker coaches or study-friends? Or maybe playing was just enough for you?

Leon “flippetyfop” Louis: Between 2010-2012 is when I would say I put in most of the ground work necessary for me to be successful. During that era I was completely obsessed with learning/getting better and many other things in my life took the backburner during that period.

When I first was getting into HUSNG I watched tonnes of videos on husng.com from the likes of Croixdawg/Hokie and then later on Mersenneary. Me and Moca (Ryan "Moca Choca89" O'Donnell) sort of came up at the same time and back then we would discuss situations/watch the same videos of those guys and talk about their games.

I also invested in some one and one coaching from a few different coaches as although I hit the ground running in the games, I was making tonnes of massive errors that needed rectifying.

Charles Hawk: Imagine if you would need to start playing HUSNGs from this year, having same skill level when you started 4 years ago, do you think you would still reach high stakes becoming one of the most respected HUSNG REGS?

Leon “flippetyfop” Louis: In all honesty I'm not sure....the climate is so much different now to what it is then!

The fish/reg ratio isn't as favourable now as it was back then, and in all honesty I wasn't very good! There are also ummmmm...''systems'' in place to making it harder for lower stake players to move up!

The thing that does make me feel like I would have a shot though is that one of the main factors of me trying so hard to make it was that I was disenchanted with life/work at the time and I saw poker as my way out. I had a nothing can stop me attitude so I figure I would still have made a success out of the game, just maybe not on the same scale

Charles Hawk: by "systems" you mean only cartels? Or maybe something else too? :}

Leon “flippetyfop” Louis: What's a cartel? :D

Charles Hawk: :) Pokerstars stated that they don’t care about organized groups of regs

Charles Hawk: "From Pokerstars point of view, we don't see this is a problem as long as players are not blocked from playing a tournament when they want to. If players are forced to move down in stakes because they are not able to hold their own against the other regulars, that is not something we are going to concern ourselves with."

Leon “flippetyfop” Louis: Lol cool

Leon “flippetyfop” Louis: Yeah I mean cartels :)

Charles Hawk: So basically you think that it might be too late to start playing husngs with ambitions to reach highest stakes?

Leon “flippetyfop” Louis: It's definitely possible! Anything is possible with the right application and drive...it's just that it would be tougher today than back then.

Charles Hawk: Did you start as a turbo player? Could you tell me whole story about transitioning to hypers?

Leon “flippetyfop” Louis: I started off as a reg speed/turbo player. When hypers were first introduced I was mad ignorant/strong headed about the game and was like ''nahhhhh you can't make money playing these''....whilst I had that attitude Serk had made himself a few hundred thousand $$$. I watched him play whilst playing WPT Vienna 2011 ( I think?? and it was an eye opener.

I eventually saw the money people were making from hypers and made the change start of 2012.....My 25bb and below play was very weak at the time but that time watching Serk/Mers Vids + help from Moca Choca made the transition easier.

Charles Hawk: Are you watching them playing as ordinary railer (without Teamviewer or Picasa)?

Leon “flippetyfop” Louis: Just as a railer, I like watching 1k reg wars whilst eating Butterkist Popcorn

Charles Hawk: Are you doing it more for fun or are you actually learning something and growing as a player? Should all who want to learn do that too?

Leon “flippetyfop” Louis: A bit of both tbh...to reach the upper echelons of the game it's important to have a very strong reg against reg game. I personally think I'm one of the best at making adaptions against weaker players, but against some of the better regs I have a lot of work to do...it's challenges like this that make the game fun for me !

Charles Hawk:  You have very solid profits in $100, $200, $300 and $500 hypers. Any plans to move permanently up to $1,000?

Leon “flippetyfop” Louis: I had a few months with very little volume last year due to some personal issues, and since then haven't been playing $500's so my short term goal is to get back playing them!

1k's are an incredibly tough nut to crack as the 1k regs, not only because they are very good players but they have incredibly large rolls and can sustain hits that most of us mere mortals cannot! Credit goes to Chadders for trying to take them on, I can't personaly foresee myself giving it a go anytime soon

Charles Hawk:  Yeah, chadders0 is very stubborn to become one of them :) Do you think he will succeed?

Leon “flippetyfop” Louis: I'm not really sure of the policies of the 1k players/or their perception of Chadders so I can't really give an answer......he seems pretty determined though so the best luck to him

Charles Hawk: Your most profitable opponent is the best HUSNG player today - Daniel “mrGR33n13” Colman. How much have you won from him?

Leon “flippetyfop” Louis: I had no idea about that actually...I just checked on Sharkscope and it's $31,000, but the sample size is so small (264 games) I'm not going to delude myself and think anything of it.

A funny story about him actually, I remember he started playing 1k's on Stars round about the same time I used to dabble in them myself and I didn't have any idea who he was...I think I won the first few matches or something and he began trash talking in the chatbox and he said:

''When I learn the ranges to these you're all fucked!!!!''

Guess he was right.

Charles Hawk: Hahah :)

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Charles Hawk: You publicly stated that you have some issues with drinking. How alcohol influence your grinding routine? Do you need to cut hours because of being drunk?

Leon “flippetyfop” Louis: Loooooool I wouldn't say problems with drinking!!  Haha I hope I haven't made myself come across as an alcoholic! I took a month off drinking in January for Charity just as a way of raising some money, but I'm a long way off having to go to alcoholics anonymous meetings or anything

I don't actually go out that often, but when I do I probably drink a little too much a little too quickly and then wake up at 11am the next day with no recollection of how I got home...but in general there's no way alcohol affects my grinding schedule

Charles Hawk: Oh, ok:) Long time ago you told me: "I probably drink a little more than I should. I'm thinking about taking up a semi friendly no drinking alcohol for 2013 prop bet with millz_uk but I'm sitting on the fence at the moment."

Leon “flippetyfop” Louis: Haha that didn't materialise in the end........the main reason why I do want to curb drinking a little is from a health perspective. I lost 6 pounds in January from not drinking, but have put them back on in February already :(

Charles Hawk: Tell me about your social life. What are your spare activities besides clubbing/partying?

Leon “flippetyfop” Louis: I organise a 7 a side footy team every Sunday where trying to make sure people turn up each week is more tiring than the match itself ! I also watch a lot of football in my spare time

I love eating out in restaurants and spending time with friends

Charles Hawk: Do you have girlfriend?  :)

Leon “flippetyfop” Louis: No, I am dating somebody at the moment but there's no plans to label anything and we're both free to do as we please

Charles Hawk: Let me ask you a silly question: are gamblers able to feel such things as love, joy, happiness, responsibility for other human beings in the same amount as other random people? Can they grow as a human beings together with their successes in cards?

Leon “flippetyfop” Louis: I don't think there's any reason why poker players/gamblers can't share the same emotions as other people at all.
The game is ostraciziing in many ways,the hours that most players grind means that we are not at one with most people on society in terms of lifestyle, but I don't think this is linked to human emotion in anyway.

I do think that however that it must be very hard for those who have families with children to maintain a professional poker career. I found it hard enough juggling playing poker professionally and balancing it with a relationship, so who knows how anybody who has children as well manages to keep sane.
In my opinion the key to ensuring growth as a person whilst playing poker professionally is life balance, and doing things socially that don't evolve poker.

Charles Hawk: If you were Pokerstars owner, what would you change?

Leon “flippetyfop” Louis: If I was Pokerstars owner I'd make sure that that the television productions of shows such as the EPT were designed more in a way so that they appeal to the recreational player as well as the pro....I think this sort of thing is important for the long term popularity of poker.

Charles Hawk: Whats your goals/wishes for 2014? Both poker and non-poker related?

Leon “flippetyfop” Louis: For my goals I want to have a $400k year post bonuses/become a $500 reg again + I'm doing 4 months travelling from April… going to Canada/Vegas/ and Brazil for the world cup so it should be a fun year :)

 

ALL-TIME STATS

 

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