There aren’t many players out there quite like Scott Palmer. Palmer has faced off against almost all of the biggest names in poker on the online felts of Full Tilt Poker. No matter how you look at this 22-year-old, he’ll surprise you.
After Black Friday, many players moved out of the US, others migrated to live poker. Palmer chose to simply go back to playing StarCraft for fun.
A lover of the early morning, and already accustomed to the time, Palmer said that in both poker and StarCraft you must be ready to stay up all night at the computer.
Playing under the nickname “URnotINdanger2” on FTP, Palmer will tell us a little about his life before and after Black Friday.
The big question is of course, what have you been up to in the last six months? We saw you briefly at the WSOP, but after that it's been really quiet on the urnotindanger front. You mentioned StarCraft, is that one of the things you've been spending your time on?
Well, basically I was on my computer a lot, even before I played poker. After playing poker it's very complicated and you have to really stay on your PC. So StarCrat was cool because it's very similar in a lot of ways and it was something I was used to doing. Also, about the WSOP, I went back to Canada for a month and a half and played a little bit online. I didn't do much in the game really, I was basically break even.
This must have been a big decision, going from playing poker full time to suddenly playing StarCraft for fun. Has StarCraft or video games in general always been your passion?
Let's say yes, it's something I did a lot. I always liked computer games, and it was very simple. Then I found poker, and I realized that it was very similar to video games. So I just stopped playing video games and started playing poker. When poker went away, I went back to gaming. I kind of look at poker as a video game, the same way I look at StarCraft.
Would you say that losing at StarCraft has the same effect as losing a big pot at the nosebleed tables?
I wouldn't say this, but I get really angry when I lose in games. Not necessarily as angry as a bad session or losing a pot I shouldn't have. It's pretty close if you think about it, but it's not the same thing.
What do you think your situation would be like right now if Black Friday had never happened?
It's hard to say anything about this because in poker anything can happen. When Black Friday happened I was playing a lot with Gus Hansen at the $500/$1,000 PLO Cap tables, and there was also some action at the $200/$400 and $300/$600 PLO tables because Guy Laliberté was playing there too. So basically if I had a good run during that time I could have made a lot of money. The games were very good, but I don't think they were as good as they are now. If everything had continued the same way, I think everything would have been great and I would still be playing nosebleeds. It's very hard to answer this question because I have had some big heaters in my career. Even after playing nosebleeds I had three months where I was break even even though I considered myself a big favorite in the games I had played. In poker it's really impossible to predict what could happen.
Do you believe that this time you are taking away from the game is a good way to recover your energy for a long new phase of online poker?
I definitely don't believe that, to be honest. When I went to Canada about six months ago I had a brutal three weeks to start with. It was crazy how bad I was and how bad of a run I had, so this really didn't help. I could definitely tell I was making mistakes, I could even see them, but I wasn't able to correct them quickly. I had trouble adjusting and thinking quickly between hands. I felt a lot slower than usual, so no, this break doesn't help at all.
Before Black Friday you played a lot alongside Daniel “jungleman12” Cates. What was that like?
This was definitely one of the best parts of my professional career. This was my high point, my peak. It's hard to say otherwise. I used his knowledge very well and learned a lot from watching him play. So I watched him a lot because I knew he was better than me. We didn't play PLO until much later, and I watched him most of the time when we were playing NLHE. Not only watching him play, but his mindset really helped my game take off.
Do you consider Jungleman to be the most talented player in the world? Did he teach you a lot before you became one of the best high stakes poker players in the months leading up to Black Friday?
He is an extremely intelligent person, the smartest person I have ever met. I helped him a little with his game too and for every five things he taught me I probably taught him one in return. I also learned a little about the game on my own since I played a lot and experience helps a lot.
If there was something like a “durrrr Challenge” where you would play against Phil Ivey in No-Limit Hold'em, would you consider playing him, and do you think you would have an edge?
I think so, but I'm not sure. Ivey in my opinion has a better chance of adapting than durrrr. Even if I had an edge against him at the beginning, I would still be worried. I've played against durrrr enough to know how he reacts to certain things. So I feel like I have an edge over him no matter what the situation. Against Ivey I would be worried for 10-15,000 hands. If I had that opportunity I would probably take it, even though I haven't played against him that much.
So durrrr isn't as good at adjusting as you are?
I don't know what his game is like now, but back then he didn't seem to be very aware of his mistakes, that much I can tell you. As for Ivey, when I played with him, I noticed that he was trying to "cheat" by avoiding doing the same thing consistently, and that made him a tough opponent.
If you could set realistic and unrealistic goals for 2013, what would they be?
A realistic goal would be to go back to playing well at the $25/$50 tables and win somewhere between $200,000 and $500,000. That would be pretty easy, I think. Something out of the ordinary would be to go into superheat mode, win four bracelets and the WSOP main event (laughs). Playing consistently in the nosebleeds would be an unrealistic goal, but it would be really cool.
So can we expect your return to the nosebleed tables soon?
We hope so (laughs).
Interview kindly provided by //www.pokerreviewlist.com/.
Check out the full interview here (English).
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