Last year, James Hopkins shot to poker fame not by binking a major title, but by an astonishing lay down live on the feature table at the 2018 Aussie Millions on his way to finishing 42nd for A$25,000.

Both Hopkins and opponent Duy Ho turning a straight, with Ho holding the nuts. Ho check min-raised, putting Hopkins to the test who agonized before eventually folding, to the adulation of Twitch chat watching the live stream.

Twelve months on from the 2018 Aussie Millions, Hopkins says that he has been working on his game off the tables while playing online poker in Toronto.

“I’ve been hanging around with Benny Richardson, Corey Kempson and Steven Chew. That’s helping my game progression. I’ve started doing a lot more studying and work on my game. I actually met Matt “mjw006” Wakeman at the 2018 Aussie Millions. He had a spot free for a new student so I think I’ve progressed quite a lot.”

Looking back, Hopkins says that in his opinion he played “terrible” twelve months ago compared to now.

“It’s like when you look back at yourself in a lot of things in life. You always grow better. But my game’s been helped by life choices; getting me into the gym, eating healthier. Other more poker-related things like bankroll management, and what tournaments I have an edge in.

Another thing that has helped Hopkins is structure which he hopes will have a noticeable effect on his poker performance.

“On poker trips like these, it’s easy to just get lazy, sleep in and just eat crap food. Then come down and late reg tournaments at five, but now I’ve got much more of a structure and I make sure that I’m up, breakfast sorted and get a work out in before playing.

“It’s only a few days into the Aussie Millions and I definitely feel a lot better. People like Martin Jacobson always say that a big part of how you play is how you feel off the poker table. I think this year I’ll start to see some better results live.”

Hopkins says that he gets sent the hand from last year’s Main Event by a lot of people.
“When it gets posted, someone new will see it and be like ‘Oh my god!’ I suppose it’s a proud moment; it’s cool to be recognized a little bit.

“After all that happened with it getting shared and the people talking about it, it’s just driven me to get better at my game. It just motivated me to keep on getting better and to one day be known not just for a fold, but for winning something big.”

This year's Aussie Millions livestream kicks off on January 31st with commentary from Jason Somerville, Kevin Martin and Ricky Guan over on runitup.tv!

Tags: James Hopkins