Over the weekend, Amanda Musumeci became the newest member of Team Bodog, joining Evelyn Ng. The popular online sports book and poker room happily accepts players from the United States. Musumeci sat down with Poker News Daily to recap her big signing.
Poker News Daily: You were turned onto becoming a sponsored player of the site through a promotion to find a new female pro. Tell us how the opportunity arose.
Amanda Musumeci: My friend John, who has been a regular on Bodog for many years, sent me a link to the contest on Facebook. The link said that they were looking for female pros to add to Bodog. I had played there for years and there weren’t many female players, so I thought I’d have a good shot.
The first step was to send in a one-page bio. Then, there was a mock interview, which was a little video clip you had to make, and from there we stayed in contact. They followed up with a few specific questions and interviewed me a second time.
PND: You’ll be donning Bodog gear this year at the World Series of Poker (WSOP). What events will we be seeing you in?
Amanda Musumeci: All of the $1,000 and $1,500 events, some of the $2,000 events, some of the $5,000 events, and the Main Event. I’ll probably play in around 10 events total. I’ve only been playing poker for three years, so in the past three years, I’ve tirelessly worked on perfecting my No Limit Hold’em game. Now, since everyone knows how to crush No Limit Hold’em, the edge in poker is in Mixed Games. In the next year, that’ll be something I’ll pursue a lot harder.
PND: You’ve been associated with a gauntlet of poker talent. Talk about a few of the players you’ve learned from.
Amanda Musumeci: In the beginning, it was Matt “All In At 420” Stout. He took my game from being very basic to being intermediate. There are so many essential things you realize you’ve been missing when you make that jump and it motivated me more to take my game to the next level. That was in October 2007.
I went on PocketFives.com and looked at who were the top 10 players in the Online Poker Rankings for each state around me and then Private Messaged them for help. Steve “gboro780” Gross, Kenny “Kenny Rap” Weinstein, and Matt “Plattsburgh” Vengrin were all friends with Matt, so I’d always go over to his house and they’d all be grinding. That was a huge step for me.
Eventually, Mark “dipthrong” Herm and Dan “djk123” Kelly backed me. After a session, if I had questions about how I played certain hands, Dan and Mark would sit with me and go over hand histories. That gave me all of the insight I’d ever want.
PND: What did Herm and Kelly emphasize to you?
Amanda Musumeci: When I started playing with them, they emphasized pushing with a wider range in late position. Now, everyone has toned it down. Once you hit that upper level mindset, you can create and form accurate opinions on how to take your game in a new direction.
PND: What vision do you have for the future of Bodog?
Amanda Musumeci: I know the site has gotten a bit smaller. My dream would be to see it become a site with all of those great tournaments and features like synchronized breaks. It’s an issue of the Bodog economy and getting more depositing players in there. They never seem to have had their marketing strategy right, but I feel good about what they’re doing now. In the next year or two, I’d like to see Bodog take on a better reputation with the public and get an influx of new players.
