When you’ve been on TV raising with deuce three or whatever, it’s easier for them to put you on nothing.
We caught up with GUKPT Walsall winner Jerome Bradpiece, minus his lucky cap, for an interview in the run up to the Grand Final…
It’s the London GUKPT in October, and I’ve been trying to track down all previous GUKPT winners. I spot Jerome walking away from the tables at the back of the crowd and join him on the terrace at the Vic as he smokes a breaktime cigarette. And it went like this…
Lucy: Have you found the London event to be different to any previous events?
Jerome Bradpiece: Not really. It’s a little bit bigger. I think as the year’s gone on it’s maybe become a bit tougher because more people know about it. But not really, same faces, same structure. For me it’s a little different because more people know who I am. The leg I won was on TV last month so you get played with a little differently than when you’re unknown. Some people will play more pots with you and others give you more respect – it works both ways. When you’ve been on TV raising with deuce three or whatever, it’s easier for them to put you on nothing.
Lucy: When you did win your title, which was more important to you, the status or the money?
Jerome Bradpiece: The money, the money! I was pretty broke then, I had a couple of grand online and that was about all I had in the world to my name and I think that’s mainly why I played well. I was really focused. I focus more when I need to money – when you need to pull it out you can’t make silly bluffs. You’ve gotta guard your chips with your life.
Lucy: I’m going to ask you something I expect you’ve been asked countless times already – where has your cap gone?
Jerome Bradpiece: I left it at home. I’m not really a superstitious person but last year I wore that cap for three days, made the final table, changed caps and went out the first hand – and it was like; no way, that’s awful. But I can’t always wear the same cap – I wanna see if I can do it without the cap.
Lucy: So do you think there’s a lot of luck involved in your game?
Jerome Bradpiece: There’s luck involved in everyone’s game. I mean, you try and minimise it as much as you can but of course there’s always luck in poker. In cash games, you get a bad beat and you reload. In a tournament, you get a bad beat and you’re out. So, you’ve definitely gotta be lucky. It’s a combination of the luck and skill.
Lucy: So then, who’s the most skilled player on this tour (excluding yourself)?
Jerome Bradpiece: I wouldn’t say me! You got the obvious guys like Ram(Vaswani) and away from the established names there are people like Praz (Bansi)and Karl (Marhenholz) who are mates of mine who play really well. Karl has especially been impressing me recently. His game’s come on, he’s played really well. There’s a lot of good players but to tell you the truth there’s quite a bit of value on this tour as well compared to the field at an EPT or WPT – maybe not a WSOP because they’re pretty fishy fields. There are lots of good unknowns though, like this guy over here (he points to Scott Reilly close to where we are out on the smoking terrace).
Lucy: Well talking about up and coming players, I’d see you as a young rising star. Would you say your game is still developing?
Jerome Bradpiece: Yeah. I’ve been playing online so much now that I really know what I’m doing. I’ve got areas I want to work on but I’m pretty confident!
Lucy: Cheers Jerome, good luck with everything.
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