Who is he? John first took up poker in October 2004. He started playing and winning single-table tournaments and reached the final table in his very first multi–table event, which boasted a buy-in. In the last six months, there’s been only one week where John has failed to appear on Ladbrokes’ weekly leader board, despite only playing for five or six hours a day.

What’s his biggest win? He’s just qualified for the Ladbrokes Poker Cruise at the first time of asking, winning a ,500 package.

What’s his game? or 0 MTTs. Some would say that making a consistent income from MTTs is nigh on impossible, but John’s final table strike rate says otherwise. For every ten tournaments he plays in, he expects to make the final table in at least four of them.

Top Tips

Waste not want not
Most people starting off in poker play far too many hands in the hope of hitting a lucky fl op – thereby wasting far too many chips in the process. You have to get used to playing one hand an hour for the most part. Everything can change in one hand.

Follow the leader?
One of the biggest mistakes people make in the fi rst few hours of a tournament is constantly looking at the leader board. It’s irrelevant where you stand when the blinds are so low. Your time is better spent concentrating on every single hand that is dealt, even if you’re not directly involved.

Wood from the trees
What splits the very good players from the good players is the ability to step back from the game. Every time you lose a hand or go out of a tournament, you need to question the reason why. If you can accept you made a mistake and learn from it, you’ll continue to improve and go forward.