Poker News Daily: How did you get started in poker?
Baldwin: Like a lot of guys, when the movie “Rounders” came out, it got me into poker. My high school friends and I started playing small home games instead of doing homework and it built from there.
PND: When did you start playing online?
Baldwin: After high school, when my friends that I played with and I all went to different colleges, I didn’t really find any games. I started missing it, so I ran an internet search for “poker” and realized that you could play for money online. I deposited $50 and started playing.
PND: Did you experience success immediately online or did it take a while?
Baldwin: I had to reload $50 three or four times. Then, I got upset and knew I was better than that, so I ran a Google search for “poker tips.” I found starting hand requirements and things like that, printed them out, and taped them to the outside of my computer monitor. I started following all of these tips that I had found on the internet and thought, “Wow. This actually works.” That was the base and I expanded my game from there as I gained experience.
PND: You won a bracelet in a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event during the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP). During your run, you kept being seated at tables with really aggressive players like Cody “thugmoneymkr” Slaubaugh and Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier. Did you have a game plan against aggressive players like them?
Baldwin: Against aggressive players, you have to pick your spots better. You can tell before the hand is dealt if they’re likely to play back at you and so you prepare. If you think there’s a good chance that they’re going to re-raise you that hand, don’t open unless you’re going to go with it if they re-raise you.
PND: Did you feel like you were in control of the final table or was there someone you were concerned about?
Baldwin: I was pretty confident at the final table. I felt like I had a good game plan against each opponent. The guy who was the chip leader, Jonas Klausen, was an aggressive, excellent player who has a lot of success online and live. He was going to be so aggressive that I was going to have to make a couple of hands, but I knew that if I could make a couple of hands, I could manipulate them to get paid off. There were a wide variety of different playing styles at the table, but I felt like I had a good game plan against each one.
PND: Does the bracelet win change what events you’ll be playing in during the 2009 WSOP?
Baldwin: I’m going to keep at the grind and might as well ride it out while I’m hot. I enjoy it. It’s not like a job and it’s so much fun playing live poker, especially here at the WSOP, where it’s like a circus.
PND: Now that you’ve won a bracelet, is it more pressure or less pressure?
Baldwin: I’ve never really felt too much pressure, but I would say less. The thing I have to be worried about is having a hangover, not from Miller Lite, but from experiencing success. It’d be really easy to get complacent and stop trying to improve my game. That’ll be a challenge for me: Playing my “A Game” even though I could easily just coast and still have a great WSOP.
