Tom Dwan: Face Of Paul Phua Poker
7 years ago09 Jan
(Photo: Paulphuapoker.com)
Itâs been a long-time coming, but now Paul Phuaâs slick new poker website is up-and-running â and who better for him to have as a guest in his first two videos than Tom âdurrrrâ Dwan, a regular sidekick in the high-stakes game the Chinese businessman loves to play!
â The Paul Phua Poker Site offers tips and strategies from one of the best poker players in the worldâ, reads the blurb, Phua keen to pass his own hard-earned poker knowledge on to other keen enthusiasts of the game. âLearn how to play poker and improve your game on poker night!â he states, and Dwan âthe missing manâ is a good place to start.
âIn conversation withâ brings us a brief discussion between the somewhat unlikely bed-fellows â Phua is the billionaire businessman while Dwan was the darling boy of the USAâs poker boom before heading east to seek fame and fortune in the Macau high-stakes world, populated by the likes of Phil Ivey and countless Chinese businessmen.
Trapping
Part 1 of the chat with Dwan focuses on âtrappingâ but itâs Dwan who is firing the questions, asking Phua about the favorite trapping hands of amateur players, Phua explaining that even pre-flop Chinese amateurs âdonât like to 3-bet with aces or kings".
The discussion is fairly basic stuff â as is most of Phuaâs content â but itâs well-enough produced and Dwan seems relaxed enough chatting away at the table, the talk touching on players they obviously both know bluffing way too much.
Part 2 of âIn conversation withâŚâ â also filmed at the Triton Series event in the Philippines this past November â finds the pair talking about ânationalitiesâ and âcareersâ and how knowing where someone is from or what they do for a living might give an indication as to their playing style.
Stereotypes
"A lot of people seem to fit into a sort of stereotype", says Dwan, âlike finance guysâŚtend to play a certain way when starting out.â
Phua, once described as âthe worldâs biggest bookmakerâ - a title he opened up about last year in an interview - explains that players have to be able to change their style âin an instantâ to avoid such predictability.
On the ânationality factorâ Phua says âGenerally, Scandinavian players are more aggressiveâŚâ which is a stereotype which has been around and well-earned for many years, but he also explains that Chinese amateur players âlike to see a lot of flopsâ.
The learning curve for the Chinese players is longer says Phua, partly because of their love for taking risks at the table, with Dwan chiming in that âthe fish in the US seem to care a bit more about getting better.â
(Photo: Paulphuapoker.com)
Itâs a short but reasonably interesting chat, and Phuaâs site itself isnât the worst place a newcomer or beginner at the game could start out, with rules, strategy articles and information about the man himself, where you can âRead about his incredible journey from a small town in Malaysia, to the biggest poker games in the world.â
Whether his website will take off the way Phua hopes might depend on how many other famous players he can persuade to chat to him, but with access to the biggest names in the game that might not be a problem!
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