Martins Adeniya Interview
Friday, 8 November 2013
We catch up with Full Tilt's new UK pro.
Age: 27
From: London
Career Highlights: 3rd in the FTOPS Main Event for $180,000, 7th in the 2011 UKIPT Main Event for £86,350.
Previous screennames?
PartyPimp on Fulltilt. No deep thought really went into my screenname. I like to party and I like...
How did you get started in poker? When did you decide to go pro?
I started out playing with friends at university in home games. I quickly fell in love with the competitive nature of the game and started playing online freerolls and playing for play money. I eventually made my 1st deposit online when I got my 1st paycheck from a work placement I was doing at university. I quickly built up my roll playing online cash games and by the end of my internship I had gone from playing 0.25/0.50 NL to multi-tabling 10/20 NL.
After finishing University I went straight into a job as a trader; however, continued to play a lot of online poker on the side. I finally decided to quit my job and pursue poker full time after I had consistently been earning more than my salary each month. A 3rd place finish in FTOPS Main Event on Full Tilt for $180k gave me the bankroll boost I needed to be able to start travelling the tournament circuit.
Have you ever set yourself a poker ‘challenge’ of any kind?
I always set myself targets and challenges each month and quarter. These generally involve focusing on improvements I can make to my game. I remember last year I realised that I had been playing so much PLO, that my NLH game had gotten a bit rusty. I wanted to put in more volume at NLH as there was an FTOPS coming up and wanted my Hold’em game to be sharp. I set myself the challenge of playing 50k hands in 1 month. I achieved this quite easily however playing mainly Rush poker, completing the challenge in 2 weeks with a small profit.
Have you ever made any interesting prop bets?
I had a prop bet with a friend of mine who was a high stakes player at the 2010 Aussie Millions main event. It was a $5k last longer and a $5k most chips at the end of day 1 bet. He wanted to do a straight last longer but knew he played a lot tighter than me so I added the most chips at the end of day 1 to make it more fun and encourage action. I remember having a big stack all day 1A but lost a huge pot for the chip lead to Patrick Antonius at the end of the day. Luckily I managed to win a few pots before the end of the day and made day 2 with just below average. He played the next day so I got to sweat the action. On the dinner break he texted me saying he had double average so I thought I would be playing to break even day 2. Fortunately for me he got a bit unlucky towards the end of the day and ended up busting :)
Which variant of poker do you specialise in?
I have been playing mostly online PLO cash games recently. Although I do love travelling and playing live tournaments, especially UKIPT's.
Where is your favourite location to play poker?
It's really hard to choose one. I love travelling to Barcelona and Monaco for the EPTs. I really like the Playground in Montreal where Full Tilt recently hosted a $1m Gtd tourney.
Who is your poker idol?
Phil Ivey. He has dominated the highest stakes for such a long time and has been by far the best player in all variants of the game. I don't think anyone will be able to dominate poker like he has over the past decade. He is a true legend.
Can you tell us a strange fact about you?
I'm not sure if this counts as a strange fact but I used to breakdance a few years ago.
Join Martins at the Full Tilt Poker tables with a 100% first deposit bonus of up to $600 as well as entry into freerolls where £50,000 can be won.