SpadeClub Interview: Robert 'bhuckaby' Huckaby
SpadeClub Has Awarded All Eight WPT Boot Camp Seats, and Exclusive Member ‘bhuckaby’ Got the Final One
Robert “bhuckaby” Huckaby: First off, I am married with three children: two boys, one girl. I own an auto repair shop named Bobby’s Pit Stop Inc. My family and I spend a lot of time camping and boating.
SC: Can you tell me how you won the WPT Boot Camp Giveaway tournament? What kind of strategy prevailed?
RH: I think most poker players will tell you that winning any tournament is a combination of luck and skill. Quickly reading each table as you are moved is a must. The strategy I use is pretty easy: don’t get busted. I believe you need to see a lot of hands in the early stages of any tournament. I did not have good cards during the first five or six rounds, but seeing flops for three times or four times the blinds in the first few rounds is relatively cheap compared to your chip stack. This will allow you to hit flops hard with hands like 8-5, 9-7, 7-6, 9-8 (all suited, of course), and gives you a fairly loose table image. This allows you to play the big hands for a bigger pot size and accumulate more chips than you would have if other players only saw you turn over ace-paint and pocket pairs. During the middle stages of a tournament, I tighten up a bit and try to limit my exposure. I search for races where I may be 70-30 and try to limit each pot to no more than 20 percent of my stack. In the late stages, there are a lot of short stacks pushing with king high and low pairs, so A-6 and up are usually a good call if you have the chips to be able to lose if you’re wrong.
SC: How did the early stages of that event go?
RH: It went well for me. I did not lose any significant pots to speak of, but I did not win any real shockers, either. I stayed in the top 25 for most of the early tournament stages.
SC: Was there a particularly key hand that you played in the tournament that helped lead you to victory?
RH: There were two hands that come to mind, and both of them I had way too many chips in the pot compared to my hand strength. The first was a misclick of the mouse. It was the latter part of the early stages, when I had K-10 offsuit from late position. A player from early position raised all in for about 1.5 times the blind. I decided to call to do my part in attempting to knock out a player. As I was clicking the advance-call checkbox, the player directly in front of me raised to 13 times the blind, and about half my stack. I accidentally called 11K in chips.
The flop came with an ace and a jack. There were three players in the hand at that point, and luckily for me everybody, checked to me. I checked for a free card, and yes, the queen hit the turn, giving me the nut straight. It checked to me again, and I pushed all in, just trying to take the pot down in case anybody holding two pair hit the river for a full house. They all folded, and I more than doubled up.
The second defining hand came as we were three-handed at the final table. Play was pretty aggressive, and I had survived being short-stacked on multiple occasions. I was in the big blind with J-9 suited and the button has raised to four times the blind. I called, and the flop came with an ace, king, and 10. The king and 10 were both of my suit, and I thought this was my hand to win. I bet out about 65 percent of the pot and got reraised the size of the pot. I called and now had about 60 percent of my stack in the pot at this point, about 140K in chips. The turn was an off-suited 4. I checked, and the button put me all in. After as long as I could take, I folded the hand, wondering if I just cost myself a shot at winning. This was a defining hand, because I did not allow myself to get busted.
SC: What is your method to go about piecing together what kinds of hands your opponents could be holding?
RH: You have to pay attention early and watch for betting patterns. Are there any hyper-aggressive players you can allow to knock themselves out by giving you their chips on a draw or with one pair? You also have to watch for the rocks and understand that if they are in a hand, they must have a decent pair with a good kicker or better. As you switch tables, try not to get into any huge hands unless you know you’re ahead, and give yourself time to learn the table.
SC: What do you think is the key to success when a tournament gets down to heads-up poker?
RH: Controlled aggression is the key. If you are the big stack, make your opponent play for a large chunk of their chips. This will put most players on the defensive, and then you can count on them to get frustrated and make bad decisions. If you’re the short stack, you have to understand that the odds are against you, and this should allow your starting hands to open way up. When you do come into a pot, you have to come in strong and show you opponent that you are not afraid to risk your chips. After all, chances are their cards aren’t that strong, either.
SC: Who was your toughest opponent in the event and why? What aspects of their games made them tough to play against?
RH: The toughest two opponents I had were the last two players, (Robbin, and Itsmebkb). Robbin was very aggressive raising most of the pots. Itsmebkb was much more conservative, but when he was in a pot, you could be sure he was there with the goods. It was very clear to me that Robbin was the one I was going to have to risk my chips against. I rerasied Robbin’s preflop raises a couple times and was able to increase my stack size to about 175K. Robbin then got into a pot against Itsmebkb and lost about half of his chips, and then he and I were about equal in chips. I was able to eliminate Robbin a couple hands later.
Itsmebkb was playing a much smaller range of hands, so I figured the tournament was going to come down to a race. The first hand heads up, I was dealt pocket aces (nice way to start). I raised three times the blind preflop and Itsmebkb called. The flop came jack high, and he bet the pot at me. Due to his betting patterns over the last 30 minutes, I was pretty sure he had a decent hand, so I pushed all in and he called. He did, in fact, have a jack, and my hand held up, although just barely. He actually hit his kicker on the river to give him two pair, but the river also gave me a flush. I doubled up and took the chip lead of 700K to his 100K at that point. The tournament ended four or five hands later. I expected a long heads-up battle against Itsmebkb due to his style. I respect both Robbin and Itsmebkb for their playing styles; they were difficult opponents to play against.
SC: What is a common mistake people make when playing heads up?
RH: I think the most common mistake is folding too often. Once you start folding, your opponent will start to feel like all he has to do is raise and you won’t put up a fight.
SC: What got you interested in SpadeClub?
RH: I was referred to SpadeClub by “gmfbowler,” who, by the way, has also won a WPT Boot Camp seat (way to go Greg). Greg advised me that SpadeClub had an alternative to the horrible play that has been plaguing the tables at PokerStars. I decided to try it, and wow, what a difference. I am enjoying playing poker again, something I had lost playing on the other pay sites.
SC: What advice can you give to other SpadeClub members who are looking to go deep in these tournaments?
RH: Be patient! Understand that you can’t win every tournament. Keep practicing and you will get there.
SC: Do you have any general advice to share with our readers about succeeding at SpadeClub
RH: Join now! This is the best tournament club around. The play is very solid. You don’t have to be nervous about losing your buy-in because of one bad play (or one really bad suckout). This is the first tournament club I have played in a couple of years that I don’t have to worry about getting onto a table of nine players with six donks who are willing to call every raise with J-4 offsuit.
SC: What was the most important thing that you did to get your game to where it is today?
RH: Understanding my strengths and weaknesses, then attempting to improve them. This is why I am so excited to go to the World Poker Tour Boot Camp. I seem to have a problem getting past the 9-hour mark at the World Series and would like to find a way to fix that.
SC: What is your next goal on SpadeClub? How do you plan to accomplish it?
RH: My next goal is to win the $40,000 Mega Monthly. I plan to accomplish this by playing the same game I played in the Boot Camp tournament.
