For over a year now, there’s been one player on Black Belt Poker who we’ve been watching with the keenest of eyes. We knew little about him and he’d never graced the boards with a single post, but from the day David Gentry opened an account, he has ambushed the cash tables with more gusto than anyone, playing almost daily and showcasing a level of discipline and consistency that few can boast.
Each and every month he seemed to climb another rung, gradually progressing through the Belt-Up Rewards System like a rock climber fighting off adverse weather conditions to reach the top of the mountain. For David, his goal was to join the likes of Kevin Williams and Jamie Burland as a sponsored pro, and at midnight, October 1, 2011, and after a near 18-month ascent, he finally plunged his flag into Mount Blue Belt to become the latest member of the team.
Furthermore, David reached his destination with his bankroll not only in tact, but flourishing, and armed with a graph that would make Dusty Schmidt look inconsistent. It was clear that unlike many successful players of his generation, the Gentry head was firmly screwed on, and he’d been able to develop a winning formula unhampered by mad monkey tilt or uncontrollable urges to take unrealistic shots.
Armed only with facts and figures, I decided to hunt down Black Belt Poker’s enigma and learn a little bit more about his ascent. The basics are as such: David is a 26-year-old dealer-turned-poker-pro from Broadstairs, who has a degree in English from Leicester University. Right, now you know as much as I did - time to try and delve deeper into the mind of our mystery man.
Snoopy: Can you just give us a bit of history on your poker background, and how you found out about Black Belt Poker…
David Gentry: I began playing poker about two and a half years ago, around the same time I got a job as a dealer in my local cardroom. Initially, I only started playing to help me learn how to deal, but I began to take it reasonably seriously quite quickly.
I honestly don’t remember how I heard about Black Belt Poker. I used to deal some of the major UK tour events and have dealt to Neil Channing and one or two other Black Belt pros before. Perhaps it was that that made me aware of the site, though it may just have been TV advertisement or word of mouth.
Snoopy: Do you have a daily routine? Tell us a bit about your every day life.
DG: I left my job around May, and have been playing full-time since. Working in a casino for two years and playing a lot of online poker is quite an antisocial combination, and I’ve got into a pretty nocturnal routine as a result.
I generally get up early afternoon, take care of any bits and pieces during the day and perhaps go out for a bit in the evening. I'll usually start playing around about midnight, and am generally up most of the night. Occasionally, if the games are super soft, I'll literally stay up all night, and go to sleep at about 10am.
Snoopy: How did you find the journey to Blue Belt, and what levels do you need to play to reach the threshold?
DG: It's taken me about one and a half years and I’d guess roughly 250,000 hands to reach Blue Belt, though for much of that I was only playing part-time. I was already playing on iPoker through a different skin, but decided to switch to Black Belt Poker as it appeared to offer more in terms of rewards. I figured Blue Belt would be about the apex of what I might be able to achieve here, but now that I’ve got there, I'll obviously try and continue progressing.
I started out playing $50 No Limit, but I really play a huge range of stakes now. During the same session, I could potentially be sat at a $0.25/0.50 table and a £2/4 or £3/6 table. I think it's a good idea to be aggressive with your bankroll and take stabs at bigger games when there's clearly value there.
Snoopy: Do you watch DeucesCracked videos?
DG: DeucesCracked is actually about the only training service I use at the moment. I find the high stakes cash game videos interesting, though they have limited relevance to what I do. Obviously, the low-to-mid stakes content is of most value to me. Even if you don't choose to incorporate all the concepts into your own game, the videos are still useful, as they give you an insight into how other decent regs at these stakes are thinking.
Snoopy: You seem to play more full-ring than six-max, which is unusual. Why is this?
DG: I initially played a fair bit of six-max, though over time I felt that my results were noticeably better playing full-ring and so made the switch. Full-ring regs are generally less aggressive than short-handed players and force you to gamble less, which suits my inner-nit. I guess statistically speaking too, if you're sat around a table with nine other guys instead of five, it's more likely there'll be a huge fish at the table, which is obviously always a big plus.
Snoopy: Do you play other formats and games?
DG: I used to deal Omaha, but I don’t play it seriously. I don't touch SNGs, and I'm finding MTTs increasingly frustrating. I used to play tournaments almost exclusively but they've really been a disaster for me this year. Now that poker's my only income, I’ve really cut down my play considerably. Aside from a few Sunday Majors a week, I'm not playing tournaments much at all right now.
Snoopy: If you could give any advice to other Black Belt Poker players looking to become consistently winning low-to-mid stakes players, what would you tell them?
DG: The biggest key to beating cash in general is probably game selection. I'm stating the obvious really, but in the long run, the way you make money from poker is by playing against people who are worse than you. It's a pretty straightforward idea, but I don't think a lot of people fully appreciate how important this is.
Most low-to-mid stakes full-ring regs are either TAGs or Nits, so even if you do have an edge, the table dynamics are really not conducive to you making much money. This is why I think it's good to be flexible with your bankroll management, as some nights you'll find much worse players playing 200 or 400 No Limit, than you will playing 50 and 100.
Snoopy: To what extent do you believe your game has improved over the last few months? What parts of your game do you still feel need work?
DG: My results have improved a fair bit recently but I think that has more to do with the increased volume I'm playing rather than any great change of approach. I could probably do with being more aggressive, particularly preflop. I'm trying to improve my red line (Non-Showdown Winnings) by one via c-betting less, barrelling more, avoiding playing passively out of position, etc. I'm fairly comfortable with my cash game at the moment; it's my tournament game that's a bigger concern.
Snoopy: What is your live experience?
DG: The last time I played live was the DTD Grand Prix weekend, and it wasn't a huge success. I managed to get through Day 1 first time online, but busted Day 2 within the first few hours when a guy called off a pretty playable stack with a double-gutter against my top two and got there.
My playing experience live is pretty limited, and it's still something I need to work on and get comfortable with. As an ex-G Casino employee, I'm going to be slightly handicapped in terms of the events I'll be able to play. The Fox Poker Club Main Event might be a decent option, and I imagine a few more trips to DTD will be in order.
Snoopy: What are your goals going forward in poker?
DG: Going forward I’d obviously like to keep getting better, and making a decent living off the game. What I’d probably like more than anything else would be a tournament win, either online or live. Just making a final table would be a Kodak moment quite honestly, as it feels like I’ve barely min-cashed a tournament since January.
Our congratulations to David for making Blue Belt. He'll now receive $1,500 per month in live tournament backing as one of our sponsored pros.