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This is part of this interview series:
Cardschat Interviews - Online US Poker Players Who Have Re-located
Katie Stone
United States native Kathryn Stone is no stranger to live or online poker, as several years in the game have garnered more than $30K in live tournament earnings and more than $260K online. In live poker, she has several final tables to her credit at the WPT Marrakech events and Borgata Winter Open, though she now focuses mainly on live cash games to earn a living. But online poker has been her great poker passion, with more than $60K in tournament earnings from Full Tilt Poker and over $175K on PokerStars. Online victories include events like the Full Tilt Daily Double and The Walrus, PokerStars Women's Daily Special, and numerous guarantees. She was determined to leave the US after Black Friday and continue her online poker career.
CardsChat (CC): When did you move from the US?
Katie Stone (KS): I moved out of the US about a month after the WSOP last year, about late August/early September 2012. After the Series, I played a few tournaments, like a big guarantee in Arizona and a Circuit event in Rincon, and I went back and forth from Vegas to Rosarito a few times, and I really liked it.
CC: To where did you move and why?
KS: I went to Rosarito, Mexico. I had a few friends like Ben Yu and Clayton Newman, who had already moved there a few weeks earlier. I moved in with them.
CC: Was it a difficult decision?
KS: It was difficult logistically because I had a house in Vegas and was in the middle of a breakup with my boyfriend of three years. I had to get movers for some things, put other things in storage, and I actually walked away from the lease on my house. But the actual decision to move to play online poker wasn't difficult because it had been something I wanted to do since Black Friday. I decided to stay in Vegas to play live right after Black Friday, but I needed to get back online. It was time. I didn't feel like I had improved as a poker player in that time playing live, and the game changes so much that I felt like I was getting left behind. I think a good professional poker player has to be good online and live to be well-rounded and abreast of everything going on in the game. The decision was easy in my mind because it was getting back to my roots in the game, and I was ready to start learning and playing well again.
CC: What did your family and/or friends say about the move?
KS: The past five years, I've had houses in New Jersey, Florida, Texas, and Las Vegas, and now Mexico. So my family is pretty used to me moving. I'm not even sure where I'll end up next, maybe Dublin, as long as I can take Riley (my dog) with me.
CC: How much online poker do you play on a given day?
KS: Generally, I play five days a week, starting at 10 in the morning and finishing around 7 or 8 at night. It's usually eight to 10 hours, depending on how late I register and how deep I am in anything. If I end up having a 12-hour day, I'm not complaining, but it's usually about 10 hours of grinding.
CC: What games (tournaments and/or cash) and stakes do you play?
KS: I only play tournaments online at Stars and Full Tilt. I play low- to mid-stakes, so my average buy-in is about $20. I play everything I can with $55 buy-ins and under, and I'll add in a few $109s and other Sunday tournament. If I satellite into the Sunday Million, I'll do that, too. I play some satellites for tournaments like the Women's Sunday, too.
CC: What kind of online poker setup do you have?
KS: I have one external flat-screen 27" monitor and my laptop. I have a mouse that I've had for about four years; it's a wireless one that looks like a glove. It's the best mouse because it works on every surface. I used to 20-table or 25-table, but the games are much tougher now, so I'm more selective. I scaled it back so that I'm now playing about 10 tables at a time. It's a big drop for me, but my new coach suggested it will help me.
CC: What type of bankroll management do you use?
KS: It's interesting because my backer is a good friend of mine, and I'm his only MTT player. He gives me free reign for what I play, as long as I keep my buy-ins between $15 and $20. He'll give me the money, and he trusts me to pick and choose what I'm playing. It feels like my bankroll, and I try to play things that I'm comfortable in and avoid the bigger buy-in turbos where there's more variance.
CC: Do you practice or study in any way to improve your game?
KS: Talking to friends and have people give me honest opinions about what I'm doing is probably the most important thing I can do for my game. However, most of my friends are way better than I am, so I learn from them, but I feel like I'm in a transition and need a more structured coach. He's really focused on my precise game, and he has a vested interest in me learning and doing well. Friends are great, but I just hired andresoprano, a pretty well-known player and coach. I met him last summer, and he's had really good success with players at my stakes. It's really helpful to have someone new and different take a complete look at my game. He has no personal relationship with me, so he doesn't sugar-coat anything. For me, this is already really helpful.
CC: How do you cope with swings, and is that different from your coping mechanisms before the move?
KS: One of the things that has helped me was trying to really understand variance. I don't think I truly understood it until recently, and some recent conversations have opened my eyes. It took me to really study it more in depth to get it, and it's led me to playing more cash games live to help reduce the variance.
CC: What is the general poker scene like there?
KS: It's awesome. It's like a college campus of poker players. It's probably the most fun 10-month period of poker I've ever had in my life. There are over 200 poker players who live within five miles - maybe less - of each other in Rosarito, and most people live in three or four big complexes. Everybody's doors are always open, and people are coming and going constantly. I've made new friends, some that I'll have for the rest of my life. I've also become a much better player because of the concentrated amount of world-class players there. No matter how much we like to think we hang out and have fun, conversations almost always turn to poker. I think it was a blessing in disguise for me personally and a much needed experience, and I'm very thankful for it.
CC: What do you do outside of poker?
KS: We have a few go-to restaurants, and we have some chat groups on Skype. At many points during the day, someone will announce where they'll be soon, like Charlie's or Ollie's, and people just show up there. You can't go anywhere without seeing poker players there in Rosarito. It's a laid-back, tiny, sleepy beach town with a lot of retired American couples and poker players.
CC: How often do you visit the US?
KS: During the past 10 months, I've only visited the US to pick up friends at the airport in San Diego. I've only crossed the border four or five times for a few hours. I came to Vegas for the summer to play cash games, and my boyfriend is playing tournaments. And I already miss Rosarito. I miss the people. I miss being able to go down the street to buy the bread fresh out of the oven, cooked by the lady who I get my organic vegetables from, and who feeds her family with the money I pay her. It's a small town, and it's a different way of life. We don't go to Sam's or Costco, and we don't spend $60 a day on food. I miss that culture of freshness and cooking.
CC: Do you miss your life in the US?
KS: No. I'll tell you exactly what I miss about the US: I miss my guy who does the highlights in my hair and the lady who does my eyelash extensions, and I miss that there are some hair and food products that I can't get in Mexico. I don't miss the traffic, mean people, and I love the village way of life. I never would have imagined that I would feel that way, but I do.
CC: What would you say to others who are considering a move for online poker?
KS: Have an open mind. Most people who've grown up in the US haven't traveled a lot of been exposed to other people or cultures, but in general, poker players can adapt and understand new situations. Try it and live in a place for a month to see how you like it. It's definitely a slower way of life than in America, and I've had some friends who've visited and found that it was too slow. They miss the fast-paced cities, the nightlife, the busy life. But I would encourage people to check out the northern Mexico beach areas. You're not going to find a better cost-to-quality ratio anywhere else. The quality of life there is amazing.
CC: Do you believe the US will offer online poker that will entice you to return to America?
KS: No. If there was another type of extenuating circumstance like family, I would obviously, move back to the US, but I would otherwise choose Rosarito as my home base. I'd rather come to Vegas every once in a while for cash games and for a change, but Rosarito is my new home, and I love it there.
Cardschat Interviews - Online US Poker Players Who Have Re-located
Katie Stone
United States native Kathryn Stone is no stranger to live or online poker, as several years in the game have garnered more than $30K in live tournament earnings and more than $260K online. In live poker, she has several final tables to her credit at the WPT Marrakech events and Borgata Winter Open, though she now focuses mainly on live cash games to earn a living. But online poker has been her great poker passion, with more than $60K in tournament earnings from Full Tilt Poker and over $175K on PokerStars. Online victories include events like the Full Tilt Daily Double and The Walrus, PokerStars Women's Daily Special, and numerous guarantees. She was determined to leave the US after Black Friday and continue her online poker career.
CardsChat (CC): When did you move from the US?
Katie Stone (KS): I moved out of the US about a month after the WSOP last year, about late August/early September 2012. After the Series, I played a few tournaments, like a big guarantee in Arizona and a Circuit event in Rincon, and I went back and forth from Vegas to Rosarito a few times, and I really liked it.
CC: To where did you move and why?
KS: I went to Rosarito, Mexico. I had a few friends like Ben Yu and Clayton Newman, who had already moved there a few weeks earlier. I moved in with them.
CC: Was it a difficult decision?
KS: It was difficult logistically because I had a house in Vegas and was in the middle of a breakup with my boyfriend of three years. I had to get movers for some things, put other things in storage, and I actually walked away from the lease on my house. But the actual decision to move to play online poker wasn't difficult because it had been something I wanted to do since Black Friday. I decided to stay in Vegas to play live right after Black Friday, but I needed to get back online. It was time. I didn't feel like I had improved as a poker player in that time playing live, and the game changes so much that I felt like I was getting left behind. I think a good professional poker player has to be good online and live to be well-rounded and abreast of everything going on in the game. The decision was easy in my mind because it was getting back to my roots in the game, and I was ready to start learning and playing well again.
CC: What did your family and/or friends say about the move?
KS: The past five years, I've had houses in New Jersey, Florida, Texas, and Las Vegas, and now Mexico. So my family is pretty used to me moving. I'm not even sure where I'll end up next, maybe Dublin, as long as I can take Riley (my dog) with me.
CC: How much online poker do you play on a given day?
KS: Generally, I play five days a week, starting at 10 in the morning and finishing around 7 or 8 at night. It's usually eight to 10 hours, depending on how late I register and how deep I am in anything. If I end up having a 12-hour day, I'm not complaining, but it's usually about 10 hours of grinding.
CC: What games (tournaments and/or cash) and stakes do you play?
KS: I only play tournaments online at Stars and Full Tilt. I play low- to mid-stakes, so my average buy-in is about $20. I play everything I can with $55 buy-ins and under, and I'll add in a few $109s and other Sunday tournament. If I satellite into the Sunday Million, I'll do that, too. I play some satellites for tournaments like the Women's Sunday, too.
CC: What kind of online poker setup do you have?
KS: I have one external flat-screen 27" monitor and my laptop. I have a mouse that I've had for about four years; it's a wireless one that looks like a glove. It's the best mouse because it works on every surface. I used to 20-table or 25-table, but the games are much tougher now, so I'm more selective. I scaled it back so that I'm now playing about 10 tables at a time. It's a big drop for me, but my new coach suggested it will help me.
CC: What type of bankroll management do you use?
KS: It's interesting because my backer is a good friend of mine, and I'm his only MTT player. He gives me free reign for what I play, as long as I keep my buy-ins between $15 and $20. He'll give me the money, and he trusts me to pick and choose what I'm playing. It feels like my bankroll, and I try to play things that I'm comfortable in and avoid the bigger buy-in turbos where there's more variance.
CC: Do you practice or study in any way to improve your game?
KS: Talking to friends and have people give me honest opinions about what I'm doing is probably the most important thing I can do for my game. However, most of my friends are way better than I am, so I learn from them, but I feel like I'm in a transition and need a more structured coach. He's really focused on my precise game, and he has a vested interest in me learning and doing well. Friends are great, but I just hired andresoprano, a pretty well-known player and coach. I met him last summer, and he's had really good success with players at my stakes. It's really helpful to have someone new and different take a complete look at my game. He has no personal relationship with me, so he doesn't sugar-coat anything. For me, this is already really helpful.
CC: How do you cope with swings, and is that different from your coping mechanisms before the move?
KS: One of the things that has helped me was trying to really understand variance. I don't think I truly understood it until recently, and some recent conversations have opened my eyes. It took me to really study it more in depth to get it, and it's led me to playing more cash games live to help reduce the variance.
CC: What is the general poker scene like there?
KS: It's awesome. It's like a college campus of poker players. It's probably the most fun 10-month period of poker I've ever had in my life. There are over 200 poker players who live within five miles - maybe less - of each other in Rosarito, and most people live in three or four big complexes. Everybody's doors are always open, and people are coming and going constantly. I've made new friends, some that I'll have for the rest of my life. I've also become a much better player because of the concentrated amount of world-class players there. No matter how much we like to think we hang out and have fun, conversations almost always turn to poker. I think it was a blessing in disguise for me personally and a much needed experience, and I'm very thankful for it.
CC: What do you do outside of poker?
KS: We have a few go-to restaurants, and we have some chat groups on Skype. At many points during the day, someone will announce where they'll be soon, like Charlie's or Ollie's, and people just show up there. You can't go anywhere without seeing poker players there in Rosarito. It's a laid-back, tiny, sleepy beach town with a lot of retired American couples and poker players.
CC: How often do you visit the US?
KS: During the past 10 months, I've only visited the US to pick up friends at the airport in San Diego. I've only crossed the border four or five times for a few hours. I came to Vegas for the summer to play cash games, and my boyfriend is playing tournaments. And I already miss Rosarito. I miss the people. I miss being able to go down the street to buy the bread fresh out of the oven, cooked by the lady who I get my organic vegetables from, and who feeds her family with the money I pay her. It's a small town, and it's a different way of life. We don't go to Sam's or Costco, and we don't spend $60 a day on food. I miss that culture of freshness and cooking.
CC: Do you miss your life in the US?
KS: No. I'll tell you exactly what I miss about the US: I miss my guy who does the highlights in my hair and the lady who does my eyelash extensions, and I miss that there are some hair and food products that I can't get in Mexico. I don't miss the traffic, mean people, and I love the village way of life. I never would have imagined that I would feel that way, but I do.
CC: What would you say to others who are considering a move for online poker?
KS: Have an open mind. Most people who've grown up in the US haven't traveled a lot of been exposed to other people or cultures, but in general, poker players can adapt and understand new situations. Try it and live in a place for a month to see how you like it. It's definitely a slower way of life than in America, and I've had some friends who've visited and found that it was too slow. They miss the fast-paced cities, the nightlife, the busy life. But I would encourage people to check out the northern Mexico beach areas. You're not going to find a better cost-to-quality ratio anywhere else. The quality of life there is amazing.
CC: Do you believe the US will offer online poker that will entice you to return to America?
KS: No. If there was another type of extenuating circumstance like family, I would obviously, move back to the US, but I would otherwise choose Rosarito as my home base. I'd rather come to Vegas every once in a while for cash games and for a change, but Rosarito is my new home, and I love it there.
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