Poker News Daily: How did you get into poker?
Kevin Saul: I started off playing pool and everyone wanted to have the stone nuts and so the pool action dried up, so we started playing poker. We created more action.
PND: Who introduced you to Omaha?
Saul: My best friend George introduced me to gambling in general and all sorts of poker. Pot limit Omaha was the game. We started off with quarter ante and went from there and the stakes rose.
PND: How did you transition from Omaha into Hold’em?
Saul: We started playing Omaha at people’s houses and I would ditch school to go play because [George] lived three blocks from my high school. I’d go during my lunch and study hall. If I was winning money, I’d go back for Spanish class. If I was stuck, I’d miss Spanish. In the pool halls, we started playing $6/$12 and $8/$15 limit. It was probably three or four years until I knew what no limit was.
PND: When did you start playing online?
Saul: Four or five years ago when I finally moved out of my mom’s house because I wasn’t allowed to do it at her house. I wasn’t allowed to use her computer for it. Once I decided I was going to do it, I was told by my parents that I wasn’t welcome to live with them anymore. I was 23 years-old and had to be on my own and support myself. They support me in what I do now when they see all of my hard work and I’m sure if I needed to stay with them, they would let me.
PND: How do you improve your game?
Saul: Mostly talking to friends about hands. I’m living with four poker players, which means there is constant poker talk all summer and on messengers when you’re back home and playing online. I’ve sent hands to friends to have them look them over and discuss whether it was the right play, [whether] I should have done something differently, etc.
PND: Whose opinion do you value the most when you get advice on hands?
Saul: There are a lot of friends. It’s been four years of making new friends. You go in phases in who you talk to. There are some people that I used to talk to a lot more about hands that I don’t talk to so much now. In the beginning, Ozz87 and I were close friends and he helped me learn about re-steals and fold equity. AJKHoosier1 and gboro780, two of the guys I’m living with, talk hands all of the time whether when we’re at the house or all back home.
PND: What do you do to relax?
Saul: I play pool. I like sports.
