Welcome Back Oranges

Lets see what our friend Oranges has been up to.

1) What have you been up to in the last year?

About 12 months ago I had only just started to play MTTs regularly. I had a pretty good and lucrative run at them for the last few months of 2006. The CPC at the back end of the year was again a great experience and I’m really looking forward to this year’s event.

The 1st 3 months of 2007 were pretty awful but then I had a good and profitable spring on Crypto and a host of other sites. This was followed by a short and profitable (just!) trip to Vegas.

Over the summer I’ve not played as much as I would like mainly due to things you can relate to – pressures of work, family, lots of social stuff etc.

2) Are you still doing the same thing - IFA

Yeh, the day job continues. In recent months it’s also taken up a lot of time in the evenings as well. I’m also in the process of launching a new company which means it’s a pretty hectic but exciting time.

3) Have you had any big successes in the last year?

Depends on your definition of big! Compared to some of the other guys you have interviewed
the answer is a resounding no. However, in the context of this game being a self-financing hobby I’m pretty pleased with how it’s gone. As far as Crypto is concerned I did ok in the early leaderboards on Crypto ( I simply can’t play enough to have a chance at the current fomat) and I’ve had wins and decent places in pretty much all the regular tourneys albeit there have been lots of new ones launched lately.

4) Have you learnt any lessons in the last year?

Oh God yes. I was a bit of a one-trick pony in 2006 as far as MTT’s were concerned – very very tight. My MTT game has evolved since then and I’d like to think I’m far stronger. This is subject to the most important lesson of all – to play well I have to be totally concentrated and focused on the game at hand. Too often, I have played for the sake of it with a million other distractions and they don’t help!

5) How has the world of poker changed over the last 12 months?

As far as the world of the Crypto MTT it seems pretty much the same but the gap between the good and weaker players seems to be widening.

6) Has your approach to poker changed during this time?

Not really.

7) Your ambition last year was to make a final table in a live event. Did you get anywhere near this? Do you have a new ambition?

I think I said I would love to make the final table of a “big” live event and that would be a dream. It still is. But at this moment very, very unlikely! I’ve only played 2 big live events since last year and achieved zilch. I did make the FT at my first live event in Vegas. It was a 180 runner $120 MTT – does that count?

8) Are you still playing as oranges or psorange on Littlewoods

Oranges has just about gone into retirement and psorange is only occasionally seen on pokerstars. I’ve now got about 15 other accounts on crypto skins and other sites.

9) Are you still playing as much poker?

No. During the week it is difficult to play much before 9.00pm at the moment so unfortunately I usually miss out on the $20K. The only tourney I play regularly is the 10.00pm $4500G. For some reason this tourney has been golden for me pretty much all year and as I write this I have had 5FTs out of 10 attempts this month alone.

10) You asked for improvements to crypto including observer chat and time improvements. These have happened- Whats the biggest improvement required now?

Hmm, a $100 buy-in starting at 10.00pm. It used to frustrate me that the 2 highest daily buy-ins were just the $100 and the $50. This has improved recently I know so we are getting there.

11) Your best players were Azimut, Animal, ClintonO, 007apr, Noseyboy and Leonarch has this changed?

Well, I’ve not seen Leonarch for ages. Andy obviously continues to score well in his several guises judging by the leaderboards. Of course you Clinton continue to report successes on a regular basis albeit you are not playing as much due other commitments. As for Nosey, he seems to have returned to MTTs and he beat me HU in the $4500 earlier in the month Simply, he was the most dangerous player on the FT.

Azimut and Animal? I can’t believe I said they were my best players!! Seriously, they both continue to murder on-line games.

Others? Loads – too many to mention but there are so many playing different accounts its hard to know who is who nowadays

12) Anything else you want to tell us?

Yeh, I look forward to seeing everyone in St Kitts for the great Crypto gathering.

Thanks Pete, see you in St.Kitts
ClintonO