Interview With Justin Smith, aka “Boosted J”

Justin Smith talks about online poker, tv donkaments, donating to charity, and players getting “booosted.”

Photo courtesy boostedj.com.

Let me say, when I first heard of this guy, Boosted J, I was skeptical. When I heard more about him, I was more skeptical. But when I watched him play, I knew he was special. And after spending an hour on the phone with him, I was even more impressed. He’s a soft spoken, well mannered, poker guru, mature far beyond his 19 years. He’s got all the confidence in the world, but backs it up at the tables. I was really pleased with what he had to say, and pleasantly surprised at his high maturity level.

A little background, courtesy of Boostedj.com:

Justin Smith was born in Hartford, Connecticut on January 8, 1988. Although he lived in New York for two years, he did most of his growing up in Kissimmee/Poinciana, Florida. During his senior year of high school, he was involved in a near-fatal motorcycle crash that left him handicapped in a wheel chair for the remaining four months of his senior year. As a “bagger/clerk” at a grocery store, he was forced to quit his job and find a way to make money elsewhere. After talking to a long-time friend on the Internet, it was decided he would learn micro-limit online poker to start making a few bucks here and there.

Besides becoming one of the most feared high stakes short handed cash game players on the Internet, Boosted J has made himself seen in the tournament world. He chopped 1′st place in the Full Tilt Poker FTOPS III Main Event for $232,000. Although just a couple days before that, he final tabled FTOPS III Event #6 $216 Omaha Hi/Lo for a 5′th place finish. With these two strong finishes he was awarded the FTOPS III Player of the Year Award for most points collected throughout the series.

I started watching boosted j a few weeks ago, and he really impressed me. He has played at the highest levels, including the “big game” on fulltilt, the $1k/2k horse mixed game.

Click below for full interview

JP: Ok, you’re only 19. Have you considered moving to another country like the Bahamas, where you can play legally in a casino?

Boosted J: No. There really isn’t much poker in the Bahamas, so Europe would probably be the only option, and I don’t see myself going there.

JP: Are you just DYING TO turn 21? I mean, for most people here that means being able to have a drink legally, which is no big deal. For you, it means being able to go to WORK at Bellagio, Borgata, Wynn, etc.

Boosted J: [Laughs.] Yeah, pretty much. (He’s cool about the whole thing.)

JP: I did a little research about you, and read about your accident. Let’s talk briefly about your injuries. Are you feeling ok physically these days?

Boosted J: I still have scars and may need some surgery, but I’m recovering well.

JP: I read on your website that you are selling shirts and donating to charity, which I think is awesome. What inspired you to donate your hard earned money?

Boosted J: It doesn’t take a lot of time, effort or money to do this.

JP: Do you play with the shipithollaballas?

Boosted J: I’m friends with some of those guys, I have played against them. My 50,000 hand match vs. Gman will be detailed in the big upcoming issue of Bluff magazine.

JP: How did you become friends with Mike Matusow?

Boosted J: I played tons of hands with Mike online, a lot of 25-50 no limit, which was high for me back then, and one of the highest limits online. We played heads up a lot and talked a lot of trash. Now we are friends and don’t really play each other any more.

JP: Do you read a lot of poker books?

Boosted J: I read some Sklansky and Harrington books, but there are no books out there on no limit cash games. I think reading books can make you a winner at the lower limits, but not at the higher limits.

JP: How did you develop your style of play?

Boosted J: I kind of developed my own style. I’m one of the loosest players online, probably the loosest player pre flop. I call pretty much everything before the flop, and in a six handed game, I can see 40% of the flops. My style is aggressive, a lot of continuation bets I will bet the pot on the flop and maybe 75% of the pot on the turn and river.

JP: What do you think of the poker legislation?

Boosted J: Obviously I am biased, but if you can bet on horses and sports, and everything else, why not poker. And it is a skill game.

JP: Who is your favorite player to watch on tv, and why?

Boosted J: I don’t think most of the guys on tv are that great. A lot of online players are better than most of the guys on tv. I think if most of the guys who play online were to play in the live games, it would be totally different.

JP: Do you think tv poker is still good, and what about the future?

Boosted J: I do like High Stakes Poker, not tournaments on tv. If they put more cash games and mixed games on tv, it would be much better.

JP: What are the major differences between playing live, and online?

Boosted J: When playing live, I can think about the hands a lot more. I try to listen a lot, and I am a good reader of players. Online, I could be playing twelve tables heads up, so there’s not as much time to think about the hands. Playing live gives me the chance to think, and that is nice.

I think a lot of guys make some big mistakes playing online at the highest level. There are guys playing five or six tables of mixed games, holdem, and omaha, and I have seen hands being timed out where the guy raised, and got re raised, and it was a thousand back to him, and his hand was mucked. That’s just an awful mistake, and I’ve seen it happen a lot.

JP: If you see guys playing too many tables, will you try to jump in and take advantage?

Boosted J: Oh yeah!

JP: Do you really say “you got boosted?”

Boosted J: Yeah, it’s kind of a joke though.

Keep your eyes out for this player, for more information read boostedj.com. Good luck Justin, hope to see you in the casino soon!

Article courtesy of http://joepro.livejournal.com