In the Grading, Simon Mairs performed admirably in all categories, with articles (one yet to be released), continual contributions on the boards, and a steady poker graph that only dipped at the very end of the six-week period. He was continually making efforts to improve his game, and following analysis from former Vegas 8 member Sida Yuen, was considered to be a “strong player who had a good understanding of the game.”
36-years young from Bradford, Simon has been living with his girlfriend for the past three years, but plans on moving to Leeds in the near future where he’d be located just over the road from the Alea Casino. Technically, he’s on a sabbatical from his old job and is currently playing poker full-time.
Snoopy: How did you get into poker and what attracted you to the game?
Simon Mairs: I used to work offshore and somebody used to bring Card Player Magazine onboard. I remember reading all the strategy articles and really enjoying them, and thought it all seemed to make sense. I was living in Dubai at the time so couldn't play, but I bought Harrington and a few others, and just kept reading. I bubbled my local £10 rebuy the first time I ever played after losing two 70/30's in my favour, and that was me hooked.
Snoopy: What is your experience so far? Are you a tournament or cash player?
SM: I've been playing about three and a half years, maybe two and a half online. I started playing STTs but the market really got tough at the higher buy-ins. I was grinding the turbo MTT SNGs on Stars before I took on the Grading.
Snoopy: What are your goals in the poker world? Will you always play poker?
SM: My real goal is to be the best player I can be. Whatever else happens will pretty much come through that anyway. I can't see myself ever not playing, I just enjoy it too much.
Snoopy: If you could steal the skill of one famous poker player, who would you choose and what skill would you steal to strengthen your own game?
SM: I think Ivey's focus when he's on his ‘A’ game. His thought process seems so clear, he never seems to make rash decisions, and always seems to know where he's at.
Snoopy: Tell us something about yourself that we don't already know...
SM: I used to fly remote controlled submarines for a living.
Snoopy: What was your overall experience of the Grading?
SM: I thought it was a really worthwhile process, and it definitely improved my cash game a great deal. I met a lot of nice people, and I discovered the joys of TeamViewer sessions, which I can't recommend enough.
Snoopy: A lot of people struggle at $0.25/0.50. How did you find it and what were your observations?
SM: I did OK at $0.25/0.50. I found it wasn't as aggressive as most of the cash I'd played previously, so I played fairly loose preflop then generally found I wasn't being put into too many tough spots post-flop other than by a few good LAG regs.
Snoopy: Were you confident heading in? How about at the end?
SM: I was unsure about my cash game really. I started with STT's where I'm fairly happy, but the grind got to me quickly. I moved onto cash after the first week and did really well. By the end I was getting hammered playing $0.50/1, it just went terrible for the last 20,000 hands. I was playing a fairly high variance style and everything that could go wrong did.
Snoopy: What do you think the Grading revealed about your game?
SM: I need to work on my ‘B’ game, and make sure I am not getting into robotic patterns whilst multi-tabling.
Snoopy: What was the toughest challenge in the Grading?
SM: Having to do the hands. When everything was going wrong at the end, I still had to play. Tilt, bad plays, cold decks, etc all had to be forgotten about, I just didn't have the time to take a break. I think it was a valuable experience though, you learn a lot about your game under pressure.
Snoopy: Have you been to the Irish Open before? Do you have any strategies heading in?
SM: This is my first time. No real strategy, I think it's just table specific. I'll be trying to see a lot of flops early, but who won't?
Snoopy: What's more important to you - the Irish Open title or the money? What would you do with the money if you won?
SM: The money. It would be great to win, but at the moment the money’s more important. Hopefully, some day, that will change. If I win I'll probably be incredibly boring and invest most of it, it's nice to have a decent security blanket in a game as swingy as this.
Simon’s articles:
Exploitation Vs. Exploitability - Part One
Exploitation Vs. Exploitability - Part Two