The Round Table – Alex ‘AJKHoosier1’ Kamberis Takes it to the Streets
Part time student, part time professional poker play, Alex Kamberis is trying to make it all come
together. Recently turning 21 years old, Kambris has now added live events to his resume. He has won numerous majors online, cashed for over $400,000 and now hopes to continue the same successes live.KL: How often do you play poker?
Alex: It’s usually like an average of four days a week and maybe like 10 hours a session. Something like 40-50 hours a week.
KL: What games and limits?
Alex: Just tournaments, mostly the highest big tournaments on PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.
KL: What have you done in poker that you are most proud of?
Alex: Just the fact that I have been able to balance a full time poker career with a regular life. I haven’t let it dominate me. I am going back to school in the fall and I guess I am most proud of the fact that I have been able to be as successful as I have without letting it totally take over my life.
KL: What is your favorite thing about poker?
Andrew: Just the competition, I guess. For awhile I was trying to find something I could beat all my friends at. Poker was one of the first things that clicked really well. From there I just sort of branched out. I like beating people! It doesn’t matter what it is I just like to win and it definitely is an intense form of competition when you are dealing with money. When you are playing a tournament you are playing for so much, so it’s a really intense and exciting kind of competition for me.
KL: What would you be doing for work if not this?
Alex: I am a finance major at school so I guess it would be something in that department. I really can’t say for sure. I think that is another great thing about poker is that it has let me avoid a 9-5 job because I don’t think I could handle a 9-5 job, it just doesn’t work for me. I guess if I wasn’t playing poker it would be something in the financial area, like a stockbroker or something else like that. Something else with money, I guess.
KL: What do you do in your spare time?
Alex: I have done a lot of travel lately, which I don’t really like, I just kind of like being home and being able to relax. Around here, I live in Bloomington, around Indiana University. We go to the bars out here a lot. Nothing too exciting, but kind of random average college student type stuff that I haven’t really had a chance to do because I have been in class and stuff. When I am here I just like to do the normal sort of thing that most 21 year olds are doing.
KL: You aren’t going to drop out then?
Alex: No, I have taken the last 2 years off so I could do the full time poker thing and travel and all that, but I am definitely going back in the fall. I am already registered and stuff, I just feel like it is something I should do. It is still important to me and important to my family. Yeah, I am definitely going back.
KL: Whose game do you respect?
Alex: A lot of people, it’s hard to pick someone specifically. Online players that I have respect for are Mr. Menlo, I think the amount that he plays and the amount that he wins is just ridiculous. There are a lot of guys, I don’t want to name a few people and then have others think I don’t respect them or that I forgot about them. As for live players, I have played with Negreanu a few times and he seemed pretty solid.
KL: How would you describe your style?
Alex: I am pretty tight aggressive. I don’t do some of the crazy plays that everyone else does, and I don’t go out of my way to try and win hands, I just sort of let the situation I am in dictate itself. I don’t try to force things or try to be the table captain. I play a pretty tight straightforward kind of game. I think I play well.
KL: Do you follow online rankings like pocketfives.com?
Alex: Yeah, I follow it; I know where I am at. I don’t put too much stock in it. There are a lot of factors that don’t really matter, like volume; just playing a lot can get you ranked pretty high and that doesn’t make you a great player that you can play 20 hours a day every day. I do care about knowing where I rank or where people think I rank in the poker world just because of the competition thing, I am trying to be the best or one of the best and that is one way of gauging that I guess. I don’t make too big of a deal out of it.
KL: What’s going on with you now?
Alex: I just signed with pokericons.com and I am looking for a sponsorship deal with one of the poker sites to wear their logo and play the live events. I have a lot coming up before the World Series, I am playing Foxwoods, the Monte Carlo and the Bellagio tournaments, so it will be great to have a sponsor for travel because there will be a lot going on. Right now that is what I am up to and then I will eventually go back to school in the fall.
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