MEET THE LATEST WSOP CHAMPION – TIMOTHY ADAMS
Name: Timothy Adams
Age: 26
Childhood: Burlington, Ontario (Canada)
Education: B.A. Business (Commerce)
Current Residence: Burlington, Ontario (Canada)
Profession: Professional Poker Player
Number of Years Attending WSOP: 5
Number of WSOP Cashes: 6
Number of WSOP final table appearances: 1
Number of WSOP gold bracelet victories (with this tournament): 1
Best Previous WSOP finish: (Round of Final 32 – in 2010 Heads-Up Hold’em Championship)
Total Career WSOP Earnings: $487,285
AN INTERVIEW WITH THE WINNER
Question: Is this what you expected?
Adams: To be honest, like, I always tell my friends that in tournaments—and in poker in general—that I have no expectations. I mean, I don’t ever want to get my hopes up or get emotional, regarding my results. All I can do is play one hand at a time, and just try to make the best decision on every possible street or whatever. So, I mean, my expectations are usually pretty low. And I don’t if that’s like a security thing or…I don’t know. Basically, I play tournaments to hopefully win, and winning is the best possible outcome. And it just happened. It doesn’t even seem like it happened. I don’t even know. It’s all such like a blur right now.
Question: Talk about Four-Handed No-Limit Hold’em.
Adams: I mean, three days of four-handed poker is crazy because most of the time you’re playing deep. So it’s like your playing a deep cash game, four-handed, for 12 hours a day. And I mean, yeah, I have a lot of experience playing shorthanded. Like, that’s kind of what I specialize in online, playing three-handed, four-handed, five-handed, six-handed. So, not once did I really feel uncomfortable during the poker tournament. But it’s an incredible tournament. Awesome. I mean, I hope the World Series of Poker has more four-handed tournaments because I think everyone that I’ve spoke to had great things to say about it. I understand why the World Series may not want to do it because it takes up so many tables. But players just busted so fast that it works out. I mean, at the end of the day—the last few days especially—the tables were extremely difficult. My tables were stacked with just very talented poker players. And I mean, things just went my way, and that’s it. They just went my way. I’m very thankful, and I don’t know what’s next.
Question: You’ve talked a lot about how you play four-handed. It must be pretty cool to win the first Four-Max tournament and have that distinction.
Adams: You just saying that…like, I didn’t even realize that. Yeah, it’s cool. This is like my fifth year at the World Series of Poker, and I usually stay the whole summer. But this year’s a little different. I decided that I was only going to come down for a week—well, I decided before this—that I was coming down for a week just to play the Six-Max and the Four- Max, fly home, then come back for the 10K Six-Max and the Main. And I came down just to play the short-handed tournaments because, like I said, that’s kind of what I specialize in. I mean, it all worked out.
Question: It seems like you have a pretty established rail of supporters.
Adams: Yeah. I’ve been playing poker for a long time now. And I mean, I play primarily online. And like, a lot of these guys, they travel to play all the tournaments and EPTs. And I just don’t do it because, I mean, what I’ve done—the kind of way I’ve made money playing poker—is kind of…I guess I just have less gamble in me, I guess. I’ve gone out and bought homes and stuff. Instead, I’ve kind of, you know…what’s the word? Like say you have X amount of dollars, you want to go build it to whatever. So, you travel to Europe, and you play EPTs, hoping for a big score. The variance is crazy. Expenses are crazy. And I just don’t do it. I come to the World Series of Poker once a year, and I go to the Bahamas usually. So, I go twice a year. And a lot of these guys become really good friends because, you know, they’re all similar age and whatever. And everyone is friendly and partying and pooling, whatever. But I kind of missed out on that because I didn’t get to experience all those experiences that they’re having all together. But luckily, I’ve made really good poker friends over the years.
Question: How did you meet them if you’re not really traveling?
Adams: Because I’ve played online for so long. And, I mean, I keep in touch with some of them. Tristan Wade is one of my best friends outside of poker and obviously my best friend in poker. I’m good friends with Jason Koon as well. It’s nice to have that kind of support from my friends, and it’s good to talk to them on breaks. And I mean, they kind of pump up my tires a bit and tell me, ‘You’re playing perfect. You’re playing perfect. Oh, man, you’re so sick. You’re just playing perfect.’
Question: You said that you own homes, like investment properties?
Adams: Yeah. I’m kind of getting into that. I have two now.
Question: That’s very admirable. Why do you think you’re different from everybody else?
Adams: I think it’s just because I don’t want a job in the future. And some people go broke, and I don’t want to do that. I mean, I have my degree in commerce and everything, and that’s always a back-up. But I don’t want to do that. I want to build a future, and I’m trying to build the foundation. I don’t get rushes from…like, I could play high-stakes cash games and stuff, if I wanted to. But I don’t. I’d rather grind, and that’s what I’ve always kind of been known for. Like, I always play very over-rolled. And it’s good psychologically as well. I don’t want the big swings to affect my mood outside of poker. That’s just not what I want to do. And, I mean, for some people, they like the rush. They like the swings. Some people thrive off self-destruction. I’m not saying everyone does. I’m just saying I don’t. I live in the city that I was born in back home, a suburb of Toronto. And I live really, really simple at home. I play online usually, and I see family, I hang out with my girlfriend, I play soccer. I try to really have a balanced life. You know, I enjoy like the degenerate lifestyle. Just, I don’t like the kind of chaotic feel of it.
Question: Can you give us a little more about your background? Like, what would you be doing, if you weren’t playing poker?
Adams: I went into the university, wanting to go into investment banking. I really didn’t know. I was interested, but I just played poker through school. So, to be honest, I was really focused on poker. But I did my studies, and I got through school. I mean, I was interested in school as well, but I have an addictive kind of personality. It’s like, when I was younger, I was addicted to soccer. I was just obsessed with playing. So, I became really good at soccer at a younger age. And I think that’s…I know everyone says this, the competitive spirit kind of thing, but it kind of applied to poker as well. I looked at this strategy game, and I was intrigued by it. Then I just kept on wanting to learn how to become better. And the only way to get better is to play a ton and have trial-and-error. It’s not through learning from someone. So, no one can tell you how to do something. You have to kind of understand how to do it. You can’t just do something because you saw someone else do something. So, I mean, I think the best players are those kind of players. They’re not afraid to make mistakes or do silly things
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