Player Interview: dmmikkel (Part 2)

A young Norwegian guy called Dag Martin Mikkelsen aka "dmmikkel" has been dominating the Sit 'n' Gos (SNGs) on PokerStars for a while now. Poker Verdict caught up with him to find out what his story is and why he decided to concentrate on this format of the game. We ran Part One last Friday and you can click here to read it.


Read part one of the "dmmikkel" interview here

What proportion of poker is luck and what proportion skill?

It depends on the time frame obviously. A bad player can win and a good player can lose, time is the factor which makes this less likely.

What do you consider is your biggest accomplishment in poker?

I would say rising to these stakes in this short amount of time would be a pretty good accomplishment. Some might say it’s luck, but my results show just as many upswings and downswings as anyone else. I stress good bankroll management a lot because this is what got me here. I have never had to drop down in stakes because I've taken shots at levels that are too high. I took each new level when both me and my bankroll were ready.

My two final tables at the PokerStars Sunday Million rate pretty highly too.

Do you have one memorable hand you would like to share?

The only one I can think of is this one that I posted in my blog a few months ago. It was a $500 regular SNG on PokerStars. We were four-handed when this hand came up: The blinds are 75/150 and I'm in the big blind with 6,700 chips and was dealt T-9 offsuit. l[Ja_Cks]l raised to 450 under the gun, he had 2,100 chips. Enecoman on the button goes to 1,350 with his stack of 4,100 chips. legggggggggy has 610 before posting the small blind and folds. Without even thinking much I just pushed my hand. Ja_Cks folded instantly and Enecoman folded after thinking for a while. This is not a play I do very often, but sometimes you just get the feeling. In this case my feeling just told me that none of the players were strong enough to call it, especially with the shortstack in the picture. Obviously I couldn't know this, but I've learned to trust my gut instinct – it plays better poker than my brain. It's not a super-interesting hand, but I suck at remembering hands and players :)

Which online poker players do you consider to be the best? And why?

For SNGs I would have to put Sheets very high up on the list. He is probably the best at SNG theory. Gigabet was one of the best, as well as ZeeJustin. At multi-tables I have to put Annette_15 as my favorite because I don't know much about the big players and she is as good as anyone. I've played with her live, online and also discussed hands and theory with her a lot.

As for other games I don't really know.

What are some tips and tricks you can give out to the readers that might improve there games/build a bankroll? What do you suggest is the best ways to improve?

Reading books and theory only gets you 10% of the way. You need to study the game for yourself and explore your own theories and ways of playing. You will probably be inventing the wheel twice a lot of the time, but you will learn better.

Which one poker book/video, if any, revolutionised the way you play poker?

I read very few books when I started, and they were all pretty bad. What I know I've mostly learned from fellow players, discussing key hands and strategy with them as well as thinking for myself. Poker is a game of logical thinking, not memorizing charts. But if you want to learn the basics I like Sklansky’s ‘Theory of Poker’ because it will teach you the basics without pushing charts and telling you how to play Ace-King on the turn.

Do you want to say 'Hi' to anyone?