Nick the Fish is back, alongside Dara O'Kearney, to welcome in the New Year with an episode focusing on Sit and Go Double or Nothing tournaments. 

Having eroded most of his bankroll on cash games, Nick has turned his attention to SNG DoN tournaments as a way of familiarising himself with the sharp end of tournaments.

In Part 1 Dara gets all misty eyed as he looks back to his formative years of playing Sit N Go tournaments and how playing thousands of hands of what he describes as ‘final table simulators’ became ideal preparation for moving on to becoming an MTT specialist.

Part 2 focuses on the strategy of the SNG, particularly the contrasts to cash games. Dara outlines the two crucial differences between the two games: ICM and playing short stacked and runs through some of the common pitfalls for cash players making the transition to SNGs.

In Part 3 Nick and Dara look closely at some of the significant hands Nick played during a recent Double or Nothing tournament. Each hand reveals a minor mistake from a different stage of the tournament, mistakes which could easily lead to a far greater ones if not addressed:

Listen to the end for outtake of an impromptu appearance of a very special supporter of the pod, the dog! Ridiculous creature.

After a brief hiatus in production, the Fish to Final Table podcast is back! 

In this episode, Nick is joined by poker pro and Unibet Poker Ambassador Dara O'Kearney who offers his expertise by analysing the way Nick played Queen Ten offsuit from the small blind.

In Part 1 Nick and Dara discuss the value of age and life experience when it comes to playing poker before comparing notes on pre session preparation routines and discussing whether alcohol makes an ideal performance enhancing drug when it comes to sitting down at the felt.

Part 2 sees a discussion of the impact of rake on online play before analysis of the pre flop decisions made by Nick when he was dealt QTo in the small blind following a bizarre min raise from UTG1.

In Part 3 Dara unpicks the thought processes behind the postflop play of the same hand before offering Nick a few pointers in tournament play.

Basking in the glory of his self-proclaimed success during his first online poker session, host Nick Oakley is back with another episode of the Fish to Final Table Poker Podcast!

The episode kicks off with an exclusive chat with Swiss based mid-stakes player and founder of Facebook groups Globetrotting Poker Ladies and Globetrotting Poker, Maureen Bloechlinger. Maureen B, as she’s known on the circuit, is a crucial figure in the world of poker, particularly for her work providing info for players looking to travel the world in pursuit of the ultimate poker experience. Having travelled extensively herself to play poker, Maureen gives us an insight into the how the coronavirus outbreak in March has impacted her poker life. However, with casinos like the King’s Resort in the Czech Republic opening up once again she is hopeful of a return to normal service across the globe as soon as possible. Maureen talks through some of her favourite international poker experiences, including her first tournament outside Switzerland in Monaco, stumbling across a unique variant of poker in Kathmandu, Nepal, and her love of Taiwanese food and the poker culture in Chinese Taipei. When the topic moves on to her Globetrotting Ladies group Maureen opens up about the importance of encouraging women into the game in order to address the staggering 3% of the field at last year’s World Series of Poker Main Event which was made up of female players. Maureen talks about some of her experiences across the world and how she has been treated as a female player and suggests that the gender bias that exists at the tables can deeply impact the mentality of players. With recent results suggesting that women are perhaps performing better with the anonymity of online poker, Nick and Maureen call to action a study on the differences in gender bias between the live and online games!

Parts 2 and 3 see Grosvenor Poker Online Porfessional Andy Hills offering Nick some critical strategic insights into how he played during his session, concentrating on pre and post flop decisions. Now his play has been analysed, is Nick really as good as he thinks he is...? 

So how did Nick's first online poker session go?! Did he fritter away his £20 budget in the first hour? Was he able to keep to Andy's professional advice of patience and discipline? This bonus episode gives an insight into how Nick felt his session went. But will Andy agree? To find out, tune in to Episode 2, coming soon... 

Music - 'The Moon' by Claire Northey - https://spoti.fi/31DKtNu

The opening episode of the Fish to Final Table poker podcast has arrived!

We meet host Nick Oakley, a terrible poker player who dreams of getting to the final table of a tournament. However, to do this Nick is going to need some serious help, preferably from someone who knows what they're doing. Thankfully, Nick is joined by poker professional Andy Hills from Grosvenor Casinos Online who is willing to offer this fish some guidance through the choppy waters of playing the game for his hard earned currency. 

In Part 1 Andy talks through how he was introduced to the game via poker TV programmes in the mid/late 2000s, picking up the rules and strategy behind the game simply by pausing and rewinding the commentary. Andy, now a tournament professional, also tells how he moved from being an online player to travelling the world entering multi-table tournaments for significant amounts of money.

Part 2 sees host Nick Oakley chat about his relationship with the game and how an interest which emerged several years ago has resurfaced recently after playing free-roll games with friends during lockdown. However, Nick faces the same challenges with the game now as he did 15 years ago - his aversion to gambling! Can he really cope with gambling his real money rather than playing the free-role games? Andy and Nick discuss the 'loaded' term of gambling, its negative connotations and how the game of poker relates to other forms of socially acceptable gambling, like investing in business opportunities and playing the lottery.

In the final part of this opening episode, Nick and Andy discuss how many players, Nick included, may find it difficult not to get caught up in looking for short term rewards from the game. Instead, Andy suggests that success in poker involves a lot of study, patience and discipline with results judged over a span of several thousands of hands rather than individual sessions. Nick decides to move on from playing the free-roll games he has been playing recently and start playing for money online instead. Andy offers some basic strategy advice of playing tight and being aware of the different hands to play from the different positions around the table.

So, with his first cash deposit ready to go - how will Nick get on playing for real money? Tune in next time to find out!

Like the podcast so far? The best way to support us is by subscribing to the podcast and even saying nice things about us on a review on iTunes.

If you want to get in touch, discuss a hand you played, or have a question for either Nick or Andy, you can contact us through the podcast Facebook group, via twitter @fishtofinal or email [email protected].

The Fish to Final Table Poker Podcast is an AOATV podcast production. 

Music by D6Bass - https://soundcloud.com/d6bass

Online Artwork by NicethingsbyBella - https://www.instagram.com/nicethingsbybella/

Sounds by Zapsplat