When he called for approval of the bank to accept a transfer of U.S. $ 195.000 from their account in Gibraltar ‘s, Paul Hockin Hamilton was trying to play it cool. “Of course, a push that one to” remember Hockin irreverent, says the banker.
Inside, however, a brilliant 24 year old says it was a fist pumping moment. “I think it was the second largest network in New Zealand was awarded Card Player ever.” September win came just days after his father had a heart attack and win meant he could help his parents a hard time
The fresh-faced former Waikato University management studies student is ranked among the country’s best by respected poker website PocketFives. Playing it cool has helped Hockin amass poker winnings of more than US$430,000 (NZ$535,000) in the past five years.
The popularity of live and online poker, often for huge stakes, has gained momentum in the past decade on the back of televised professional events like the World Series of Poker, under way this month in Las Vegas.
For Hockin, whose world ranking has peaked inside the top 800, earning his place among the tension and spectacle of a World Series’ final table the pinnacle for professional card players remains an ambition.
Hockin says he is determined to make the most of the financial start poker has given him, cutting his poker to part-time while he does his homework on the best way to get the most from his winnings. The money has have bankrolled a growing interest in real estate and property investments.
On the poker front his favoured hunting grounds are tournaments with hundreds of players and a US$20-US$100 buy-in. Hockin has developed a “loose and aggressive” playing style and folds rarely to maximise his chances of taking the pot.
Live tournaments usually run over four days, online they can take seven hours or more with five-minute hourly breaks.
“I only play online one day a week now. Live poker, it’s a lot easier, obviously you can only play one table at a time, and then there’s the live aspect of it where you can read people’s faces and ‘tells’,” Hockin says.
Hockin recalls reading a recent tournament opponent while holding two good pairs and about to push hard. “He was sitting next to me, and even though I couldn’t get a read from his face, his legs were going crazy, and usually that’s a tell, they’re really excited and they’ve got a good hand. The feet are the most honest part of the body and sometimes people forget to hide it. So I folded, and it was a good fold he had the best hand.”
Hockin wears sunglasses when playing live so he can watch other players without them seeing his scrutiny.
He was a latecomer to poker, only picking it up from a mate as a university student in the mid-2000s.
“Every Friday we’d have a game at a friend’s flat. There’d be about nine of us, five bucks to enter and the winner got $30, which was huge cash at the time,” Hockin laughs.
“We never took it too seriously.”
“I was doing a management degree, and two years into that I was making enough from poker to live off.”
Playing cards was more fun than studying: “I’d go into the uni labs to study and before I’d know it there would be four tables of poker up and minimal words written on my essay.” He studied part time then dropped out altogether. What did his parents think? “They hated it,” says Hockin.
Recent successes include the September payday for US$200,000, another two weeks later worth US$13,500, fifth in an Australian tournament worth more than A$33,000 last month and a US$14,300 win in February. Hockin says people don’t realise the practice and hard-graft research that goes into professional poker playing.
“It’s pretty degenerative be a professional poker player who is sitting in your room every day. I want to play online from 12 to 13 tables, as far as 18th just increases your chances of making money if you are a good player. “You must have a logical mind and not too emotional about it. It is possible to poker to make the right decision and still lose. It is also possible to do evil, and win. “
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