Jeff Kimber Poker
Posted By admin On 01/04/22The world of professional poker is still shrouded in a little mystery: can a professional really make their entire living from playing poker? How do you keep your cool during long, intense tournaments? What’s your favourite dinosaur?
These were all questions that Reddit users asked our own Grosvenor-sponsored poker player, Jeff Kimber, in a recent AMA (Ask Me Anything).
The Tower catches up with Jeff Kimber during the dinner break here at GUKPT Manchester. Jeff Kimber’s Goliath 2020 Preview Goliath is coming, and while live poker is on a forced hiatus, grosvenorpoker.com will be hosting a huge Goliath Festival online this year. With affordable buy-ins, mammoth guarantees, massive first prizes and fabulous structures, the National Online Goliath is set to be a Festival not to be missed. Total life earnings: $1,754,035. Latest cash: $2,555 on 24-Nov-2019. Click here to see the details of Jeff Kimber's 135 cashes.
Introducing: Jeff Kimber
Before turning his talents to the game full-time Jeff actually trained as a journalist, writing for high-profile publications such as The Guardian and the Press Association. While he does still contribute to journalistic pieces, Jeff’s main focus is poker, a passion which has seen him move from amateur online games to a variety of professional tournaments, both online and on the casino floor.
With such a wealth of experience under his belt, we thought it would be great for Jeff Kimber to join the ranks of Benedict Cumberbatch and Sir David Attenborough by starting his own Reddit AMA.
He took to the /r/poker subreddit to answer questions from users of all poker-playing skill levels. Amateur players, hobbyists, other professionals and users with a simple passing interest all had chance to find out everything they could possibly desire about the world of professional poker, and the results weren’t disappointing!
Having garnered 102 comments in all, it could take you a while to read through the whole thread, so we thought we’d gather together some of the most interesting questions and answers from Jeff’s AMA (and for the record, his favourite dinosaur is a triceratops).
The online world
Jeff Kimber’s very first question actually came from a former Grosvenor employee: ‘Have you had any success online?’
Despite many people considering the world of online poker to be more of a training ground, Jeff’s answer was very interesting indeed.
‘Playing a lot less tournaments online these days, I find it tougher and also think a lot of my success is down to table presence, live tells etc. I won an ECOOP bracelet for about $45k, I can’t remember exactly but was a $1k PLO tournament and I beat my mate Jesper Hougaard, who had won 2 WSOP bracelets that year, heads up, which was fun.’
What was perhaps more interesting, however, was Jeff’s insight in his answer to the question, ‘You seem quite active in the UK live scene, you must have your fingers in quite a lot of pies. Where do you see the industry going next, especially online?’
‘For Grosvenor, being the biggest in the UK, I think continuing and developing the GUKPT, the oldest and best tour, and the Goliath, the biggest tournament in Europe, are at the forefront of live poker,’ he said. ‘Online I think once we move from iPoker things will improve a lot. I think a lot of the smaller operators will either have to combine or disappear. PokerStars will continue to dominate in what is a pretty unhealthy monopoly but there will always be a place for alternatives.’
Tips and advice
Given Jeff Kimber’s reputation and vast experience in the industry, he was only too keen to share lots of tips and advice with curious users. His first skill-focused query was:
‘Do you think it is possible for someone starting to learn poker today to beat low-med stake cash/tourneys by treating it as a hobby? Or has the game progressed to a point where even all stakes need considerably more time and money invested?
‘That said, is it reasonable to expect break even or barely winning play by treating the game as a hobby with minimal study?’
And Jeff’s advice?
‘I think it is, but they’d have to have some natural abilities and qualities that allowed them to learn and develop quickly. It’s definitely not getting any easier and spending time learning and studying, be it training videos/sites, coaching or whatever, is definitely a better idea. Just like anything, taking it up as a hobby and doing minimal work, be it study at poker, or working on your swing if you take up golf for example, it’s pretty hard to get good at it. But if it’s a hobby, maybe that’s not the point.’
The next question came from a Reddit user who was interested in learning how to ensure they were playing at their optimum skill level:
‘How do I know when I’m just not playing optimally or when I’m really just not a good enough player?’
Jeff answered with some incredibly sound advice that illustrates just how shrewd and perceptive professional poker players must be to gain an advantage:
‘Playing live I start making my mind up about players from the first second I see them: how they act, stack chips, post blinds, watch action, concentrate on what they’re doing, then how they play, whether they’re bothered about position, how many hands they play, obviously anything shown down. One thing that often catches you out is online players who are technically very good, but live, look clueless in terms of the way they are at the table, but all their poker decisions are very good. I would normally start chatting to them or anyone who knows them to investigate how good they are. I generally try not to make that the basis of any big decision till I’ve made my mind up fully though (if possible).’
Going pro
It was never going to be long before a user asked Jeff about the process of turning a passion for poker into a profession. After all, this is something that is referred to as a game rather than a job.
‘What tips can you give to someone who has a stable job but is looking to go full-time?’ Jeff was asked. To which he replied, very honestly:
‘I did it in a very slow and drawn out way to make sure I was ready to go from full-time journalist to poker player. I would try and make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons, and that the lifestyle will suit you. It’s easy to think that it’s all trips to Vegas and five star hotels but that’s not the reality. Make sure you have a big enough bankroll to absorb variance and worst case scenarios, and make sure you have a plan if it doesn’t go well (like going back to work). Ideally, try and live the life of a poker pro without giving up work first (I negotiated 12 weeks unpaid leave with my boss so I could travel and play for a few months, then come back to work and think about what I really wanted to do).’
What would you ask Jeff Kimber if you had the chance? If you missed his Reddit AMA, why not direct your question via his Twitter account?
Photo credits – Play Among Friends Paf / Flickr.com, CC BY 2.0, emma.kate / Flickr.com, CC BY-ND 2.0
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Goliath is coming, and while live poker is on a forced hiatus, grosvenorpoker.com will be hosting a huge Goliath Festival online this year. With affordable buy-ins, mammoth guarantees, massive first prizes and fabulous structures, the National Online Goliath is set to be a Festival not to be missed.
Starting on August 1st, there are 15 events spread over nine days, with buy-ins ranging from £5 (Event 5 is a £5 freezeout) to £560, the buy-in for Event 13, the two-day High Roller.
The Goliath Main Event falls on the second weekend, with only one starting day for the two-day £125, £100,000 guaranteed unique tournament.
And for the grinders, there’s a Goliath ‘Player of the Series’ Leaderboard, with £2000 in added prizes for the most consistent players over the whole Festival, ranging from £30 tickets for 8-10th to £1000 worth of tournament tickets for the top performer over the week.
The Online Goliath starts on Saturday August 1st at 4pm with The Opener, a £50+£5, £20k Guaranteed two-day comp with a FANTASTIC structure that matches the normal £1k GUKPT online main events, with 20,000 starting stack and 30 minute blinds.
There are five events over that opening weekend, with a £30 PKO with £10k Guaranteed rounding out the action on Saturday. Three events on Sunday August 2nd – the two-day 25/50, with a £225 buy-in and massive £50k Guarantee, Event 4, a £30 £10k Guaranteed, and the £5 entry £2k Guaranteed.
At a recreational player friendly time of 7pm each night from Monday 3rd to Friday 7th there’s a Goliath side event, ranging from heads-up, to PLO, to 6max, before the big one on Saturday August 8th.
The Goliath Main Event itself starts at 4pm on Saturday afternoon, with a £115+£10 buy-in and a massive £100,000 Guaranteed, and there’s only one day one!
In what promises to be one of the best online events ever held, players can compete for the kind of prizepool, and enjoy the kind of structure, usually reserved for £1000+ tournaments for only £125.
With a 25k starting stack and 30 minute levels, there’s plenty of scope to play some proper poker as Grosvenor look to crown the first ever winner of the Goliath Online, and follow in the footsteps of the likes of live winners Lee Reynolds, Florian Duta and Elliott Marais.
Play is due to finish on day one at 1am, before those that make it through resume at 2pm Sunday.
If it does go wrong, there is the option to re-enter.
For the Goliath, there are five re-entries available, with three re-entries for most of the other week’s events (not for Tuesday’s £55 heads-up, or Sunday’s £5 rebuy or £30 Freezeout Finisher).
While of course the Goliath Main Event is the one we all want to do well in, there are five events again over that second weekend of the Festival, with a £30 6-Max PKO on Saturday evening and Sunday’s line-up of that £530 High Roller (run over two days), and the fiver rebuy and £30 Freezeout Finisher.
As ever, it’s important to budget for which events you want and can afford to play, and bear in mind any circumstances where you might want to re-enter too. This makes it much easier to stay in control and play within your means.
Personally, I will be trying to play every event if time permits, but am well aware that it’s possible I’ll brick them all and win nothing!
I’ll want to re-enter Goliath if I bust out of that so will have a couple of bullets ready, and may have another bullet if I exit early in some of the sides too.
Re-entries can cause some controversy, but look on the bright side, the prizepools are bigger, you may benefit from someone playing looser and gifting you chips, and if you’re dead against playing against someone who can buy back in, entering at the very end of late reg still gives you plenty of play and everyone is then on a level playing field.
This is an amazing week of poker that the online team at Grosvenor have moved mountains to come up with in response to a unique time for the world of poker and the world in general.
Jeff Kimber Poker Trainer
The Coronavirus Pandemic has changed the way our favourite game has to be played in 2020, and all of us will miss meeting up in Coventry and enjoying the buzz of the biggest and best tournament outside of Vegas.
But, as one door closes, another opens, and probably (hopefully) for the only time ever, with the live Goliath Festival cancelled, we get the opportunity to enjoy a unique Online Goliath with eight (and hopefully nine if you make day two of the High Roller!) days and 15 tournaments of great action from the comfort of our own homes.
Get your diaries out, work out which days you can play (hopefully all!), rearrange your responsibilities, consider late ragging if you’re busy some nights and get ready for a fabulous festival of poker with amazing structured events that suit every pocket.
Jeff Kimber Poker Game
Full information on Goliath can be found here.
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