If you have been around poker for some time now, you are certainly familiar with the name of the 33-year-old Englishman. Stephen Chidwick has had a rich 15-year career, the second half of which has been marked by one success after another. Chidwick's incredible consistency of great performances has been underlined since 2015, when he has been among the best players in the POY race every year. He has been ranked in the top 50 of players from around the world for eight consecutive years, finishing second in 2018.
The past year was no exception, and he managed to reach a total of 25 final tables on the circuit of live events, which resulted in 5 titles and collected more than 6.2 million dollars in total. Currently, the amount of 45.7 million dollars lights up next to his name on HendonMob, which ranks him in 4th on the worldwide all-time money list.
Amongst his many achievements, just a few days ago at the Global Poker Awards, Chidwick took home the PGT Player of the Year award, and in addition, he has now also received the title of Card Player of the Year. He already won this award four years ago, but now he is only the second player in history (after Daniel Negreanu) to repeat it. „It's a great achievement! Due to the huge variance of live poker, it takes a very long time for the results to become meaningful. Also for this reason, a win in annual leaderboards seems to be more important than a win in a single tournament.“
„I play a lot of the most expensive tournaments in the world, which gives me a big advantage. Since I also play events in PLO, short deck or mixed disciplines, I have an even greater chance of hitting the top ranks. I also enjoy the fact that I've played a lot more TV and final tables than most of my opponents, which makes me feel very comfortable and can fully focus on my A-game.“
Although at times Stephen hesitated whether to start playing poker full-time, in the end he clearly made a good decision. „I started taking poker a lot more seriously for a few reasons. I met my future wife, who gave me the support to try to realize my potential as a player. Perhaps the most significant factor was the discovery of advanced solvers, which are already widespread. I was an early adopter of these tools and immediately saw the huge potential they offered for developing a theoretical understanding of the game. The time I spent on these solvers was definitely a huge factor in my success.“
What helps Stephen to do well in live poker is clearly his full concentration on the game and on his opponents. „When I started playing live, I took a defensive stance - mostly looking down and trying not to give my opponents any tells. At some point I realized that this was just an invitation for my opponents to stare at me as much as they wanted. So I turned my attention and looked at my opponents whenever there was action on them. I realized that I was able to notice a lot more than I expected, and this information began to add to the picture of the game that I was gradually putting together.“
Chidwick's year 2022 was full of great wins, which gradually resulted in the trophy from the Triton Madrid festival, where he won in the field of 60 entries in the €100k Short Stack Event and took home the second biggest hit of his career - $1,890,000.„My win at Triton Madrid is definitely the highlight of my year. It was my first win in a live short deck tournament, my first Triton trophy, and my first win in a six-figure buy-in tournament. Just a unique and unrepeatable experience!“
The year 2023 didn't start off the worst either, Stephen had no competition during the record-breaking Paris EPT stop, where he went heads-up three times in a trio of €25k High Rollers, and the result was two trophies and €797,320. Considered by many to be one of the most consistent players in the game for nearly a decade, there is every indication that he will continue at this pace. "I look forward to what the next years will bring. I hope to be competitive at the highest level for many years to come. I suppose I'll start playing less at some point, but I still absolutely love the game and don't plan on changing careers anytime soon!"
Source: CardPlayer magazín
