Player Interview: Alex Fitzgerald – Assassinato

SH: You quit your job at 18 to play poker: in hindsight, do you feel you were at an appropriate skill level to turn pro?

Assassinato: At the time I probably had the actual game skill, but the games were much softer then. Nobody knew anything about SNG strategy, I was just one of the few guys who realized people folded too much and if you kept raising it tended to work out. What I didn’t have the emotional control required. I got depressed very easily when I ran bad then, and I wasn’t pleasant to be around. My immaturity really played a part in ruining some personal relationships too.

SH: I read your very interesting article in August about game selection and lifestyle – it seems you are gravitating more and more towards cash games. What made you make the switch?

Assassinato: A multitude of things. I really just got bored with MTTs. A lot of the time myself and one of 100 regulars are playing a hand we know each other’s ranges and neither of us is doing anything wrong. We’re just flipping to see who gets the dead money that day. I’m still very profitable in them, and if it weren’t for online MTTs I would’ve been way negative in 2008 just from live variance, but its just plain boring a lot of the time. I don’t feel the same thrill I used to feel getting deep as when I started, which used to be the reward for hours of grinding.

Cash games you’re just so much deeper, you get into so many more interesting spots, and the money is just right there. If I win 19 hands out of 20 I get the money from those 19 hands. In MTTs if that 20th hand was at the final table it could cost me hundreds of thousands.

Also, when I lived in Korea, it was impossible to play MTTs. The Sunday Million started at 6:00 AM. I couldn’t wake up that early if my life depended on it.

SH: What levels/sites are you currently playing on?

Assassinato: I don’t play higher than 5/10 typically. I grind a lot at 1/2 and 2/4. I love to multitable and have a ton of spots over several hours.

I’d rather not discuss what sites I’m playing on.

SH: What was your tournament schedule like in your peak MTT days and how many do you play now? Are there certain tournaments that you always play in?

Assassinato: When I started I was living in downtown Seattle. I’d wake up at 7:30 AM, get a shower with my music blaring, usually loud enough to piss off all of my neighbors, take college classes from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM, get home just in time for the Daily fifty grand at noon, and I’d play everything up to the $50.00 rebuy on Bodog, Pokerstars, Ultimatebet, Absolute, and Full Tilt until about 10:00 to 12:00 PM. I’d get a night jog in, sleep six hours, start it all up the next day. Fridays I would take off, and would see my girlfriend at the time. I swear to god I loved every minute of it, as exhuasting as that all sounds.

The sunday majors I try to never skip, because there is just so many soft players in so many big buyins. The $100.00 rebuy gets 900 people on a Sunday, that’s so insanely juicy.

SH: Do you think professional online MTT players can maintain a healthy, balanced lifestyle given the amount of hours they put in?

Assassinato: I think it’s possible but it definitely takes work. Many doctors and lawyers work as many hours as a tournament professional does and they still make it work. I think finding people who work similiar hours is the hardest part in regards to establishing some kind of social life, but when I was in Seattle I met some people that could work with that. I had a friend who worked nights, I had a girlfriend who was a waitress, we all got done working at later times and could hang out. On the West Coast too you can wrap up earlier at night and still go to a party or something.

That being said many MTTers are drawn to tournaments because they are addicted gamblers. You think about a gambler looking at his first options when he plays on a website, do you think he’s going to grind out something at a cash table or is he going to salivate at the first prize in a tournament? He often plays the tournament, runs well, learns some things, and becomes an MTT professional. When the game becomes monotonous a lot of them start smoking marijuana to get over it. It can really be a bad scene. If you separate yourself from that though and make days off for your family and friends I think you can do fine.

SH: Why did you move into the coaching side of the game with Pokerpwnage?

Assassinato: I enjoy teaching quite a bit, and Pokerpwnage had some ideas I believe really would lead it to grow. I liked the vision behind it and the people behind it. I also just love the community now. You don’t see that negative idiocy you see in many communities.

SH: How would you describe your playing style?

Assassinato: I think if you have a set playing style you’re doing something wrong. I try to be well rested and approach every table observant and with an open mind. I take what the table gives me. I’ve played tournaments and cash games where I’ve literally raised every hand. When I was in Dublin for their European Poker Tour event and I had two super aggressive professionals to my left I played maybe four hands over seven hours, and even those I probably should have folded.

SH: Which tournament players do you respect the most? And who are the toughest cash players that you have come across so far?

Assassinato: AJKHoosier just puts in such a sick volume, and plays so solidly. Many guys get their big score and then just lose drive. He’s still grinding $50.00 tournaments. That’s a professional right there.

Everyone is a joke in cash at my levels. CTS, Vanessa Selbst, Stinger, Brian Townsend, DJ Sensei…I’ve learned so much watching them.

SH: You seem very interested in travelling & writing. Do you think one day you may get out of poker and take both of these hobbies more seriously?

Assassinato: I don’t see myself every getting out of poker. It’s just too much a part of who I am. I could see me not playing much for a while though. I have been toying with the idea of just writing and travelling for a bit after a huge live score. I’ve been playing poker pretty much every day since I was 16. I think an extended break would be good for my long term development.

Just a beach hut in Thailand sounds nice. I want to learn how to surf. I love Thai girls. Would love to write on the beach, have a gin and tonic, relax. Do that for six months, finish something, come back to the rest of the world a little refreshed.

SH: Do you have any outstanding ambitions in poker that you would like to achieve besides making money? Are you interested in winning any WSOP, WPT or EPT Titles, for example?

Assassinato: I’d like to win a major title, just to prove it to myself, and just to have some savings. I’m comfortable now but I’d like to have some money set aside for whatever comes. Right now the European Poker Tour is all I’m focusing on. I want to final table and win so badly.

SH: If you could give one piece of advice to a young kid making decent money online who decided to turn pro, what would it be?

Assassinato: Remember you were once a kid watching other people do this on TV, and wondering if you could ever do that. If you’re making decent money at a game you enjoy you are way ahead of what most people have to do in life to make their living. Don’t worry about how others are doing, and don’t waste your time on jealousy. Everybody runs good and bad, you will have turns at each. Worry about yourself, wish others well, study every day, play your heart out, remember that you love this, and success will take care of itself.

SH: And finally, where will be seeing Assassinato pokerwise in 2009?

Assassinato: Doing what I am doing now, getting out to every tournament I can and playing my hardest, hanging out with my friends around the world, grinding online between events, and playing the best poker I can, come whatever may. If I can do that I will be happy.

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