SpadeClub Poker Winner: Larry 'Redman41' RedlerSpadeClub Has Awarded Another Exclusive Member with $1,500 For Taking First Place in Sunday's $5,000 Weekly Eventby Lisa Anderson | Published: Aug 14, 2008 |
 
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SpadeClub.com, the total poker experience, offers more than 2,500 tournaments and $100,000 awarded every month, all for just $19.99 a month. No entry fees, no deposits, no risk. Find out more
Larry “Redman41” Redler beat out 1,285 Exclusive members on Sunday, Aug. 10 to receive the first-place prize and take home his share of the $100,000 awarded monthly on SpadeClub. Redler started playing poker when he was in the military but was never very good at it until he started attending college at
Redler enjoys playing on SpadeClub and plans to use the money he won to take a trip to
Redler spoke with Card Player about his recent win and gave SpadeClub members some tips on how he plays the game of poker.
Card Player: First off, can you tell us a little about yourself?
Larry “Redman41” Redler: At 41 years of age, I’ve been around and seen a lot. I spent six years in the U.S. Navy traveling the West Pacific and visited many interesting places. I worked on electronics while in the service but decided that was a little boring. After getting out, I went to college at
CP: What’s the most money you’ve ever won in a poker tournament?
LR: This would be it, my winnings at the weekly $5K. If I could ever convince myself to start investing in some higher buy-in events, perhaps that would change. I’m kind of a tight-wad [laughs]. I’ve had good success in the games that I have played in. Earlier this year, I won my way into a WSOP event qualifier. I did it through my local bar’s free Texas no-limit hold’em games and earned enough points to get into the “Big Game.” There are numerous bars in my area that participate, and every two months, there’s a “championship” game. It was a live game with 157 entrants. The winner would get a $1,500 buy-in to a WSOP event along with airfare, lodging, etc.
After more than 11 hours of play, it was down to me and one other guy. Before even the first hand of heads-up, the tournament director asked which bar I earned most of my points at. After I told them, I was immediately disqualified. I was told that that particular bar did not participate in the canned food drive. After explaining to them that not only did I have nothing to do with this, I even played at other bars bringing a total of eight cans of food, I was still told I was disqualified.
A couple months ago, I finally settled with them for $1,000. The entire episode left a sour taste in my mouth. After winning the weekly $5K, I consider myself fully recovered!
CP: What is your general strategy going into a tournament?
LR: It really depends on the blind structure. The weekly $5K on SpadeClub has blinds that are slow enough combined with a generous starting chip stack where I can sit back and be patient. I don’t care much for turbo structures. I like to feel out the players at my table before formulating a game plan.
CP: Do you think your game is stronger preflop or post-flop?
LR: Tough question. I know my post-flop game needs some work, so I’d have to say my preflop game is stronger.
CP: What kinds of really big mistakes did you see people make in the event?
LR: I saw a few players completely ignore pot odds and call off all of their chips on flush draws. I seem to see that same mistake time after time.
CP: What was the most important thing that you did to get your game to where it is today?
LR: In 2005, I was an online junkie but only played in $5 and $10 tourneys. I won a lot of money, slowly but surely. I saw thousands of hands and gained a lot of experience that year.
CP: What is the one thing that you wish you knew about earlier in your poker career?
LR: Calculating pot odds, for sure. When I finally realized math was huge in poker, my success in the game changed for the better.
CP: What do you think is the key to success when a tournament gets down to heads-up poker?
LR: Aggression works best for me. I like to keep the pressure on and take the lead.
CP: Who was your toughest opponent in the event and why? What aspects of their games made them tough to play against?
LR: Probably “Toter.” When it got down to the final table, every time I wanted to play a hand, he pushed his large chip stack around and made me fold. It got frustrating until I turned the tables and gave him some of his own medicine.
CP: What is a common mistake people make when playing heads up?
LR: I’ve played against quite a few people who have a heads-up strategy of going all in frequently instead of raising, even when they still have a chip stack many times the big blind. I just sit back and let them chip away at me until I wake up with a monster and make them pay.
CP: Do you have any general advice to share with our readers about succeeding at SpadeClub?
LR: Please don’t go all in preflop on the first level with no raise on the board. Not only is it annoying, but you will only be called if you are beat.
CP: What is your favorite part of the SpadeClub community?
LR: Hmmmmm, I haven’t been playing on the site long enough to answer that one. Although I like everything SpadeClub has to offer, I’ll need some more time here to develop a favorite part. That shouldn’t be a problem, though, as I intend to stay and play!
CP: What is your next goal on SpadeClub, and how do you plan to accomplish it?
LR: I’d like to play at the same table with Barry or Jeff Shulman. I was hoping you could help me with that!
CP: Anything else you would like to add?
LR: Thanks to SpadeClub for finding a way to keep online poker up and running with something other than “play-money,” despite the government’s attempt to ruin our fun!