Introducing Balbomb

Grant "Balbomb" Coombs is a longtime CR member who will be making six-max cash videos. His first video, out today, is a 4-tabling leakfinder at 100NL. He is from Baltimore, but currently lives in Northern Virginia with his wife.



How did you get started playing poker?

I was part of the Christ Moneymaker/Rounders movement. One of the poker sites gave away ten dollars for a signup and I used that to play very small SNGs while going to college at Washington and Lee University. I started to win at those and quickly started progressing until I was playing $200 SNGs instead of working during the summer.

What is your preferred game/stakes?

I prefer 6max 200nl. I love the psychology of 6max because it forces everyone to play a relatively wide range of hands and the better players will be able to exploit and maneuver without just playing premium cards.

What significance do you place on stats, both your own and your opponents'?

On my own, very little, because I am constantly trying to change my approach to the games based on current trends in the regulars, or the table dynamics during a particular session. On my opponents, I utilize stats as a starting off point to understanding their game and how they approach poker, but ultimately they serve as just a piece of the puzzle, not the answer.

How would you describe your style?

Loose to very loose preflop depending on the day and creative postflop while placing the most emphasis on table dynamics and player specific history.

What's the key to being such a big winner at 200NL?

I'm not sure there is one answer, but some combination of work ethic both in playing and studying, understanding tendencies of regulars, analyzing and staying one step ahead of the current trends in poker, and doing things that are counter and unique to most successful players.

Do you play live?

In a normal year I would be playing live on just my 4 or 5 trips to Vegas and my 2 or 3 trips to AC, but now with recent legislation problems I definitely have to be open to playing more live.

Do you play any tournaments?

After graduating college, I was playing tournaments for a living for a year or two, but while in college I probably ran way above expectation, and then variance got the best of me. I did win one decent sized 6max tourney in March, but I really think one of my bigger regrets with poker was disregarding tournaments as complete luckfests and not taking advantage of some opportunities to make huge amounts of money.

Best poker moment/memory?

I believe it actually happened in 2004, I was competing in a series of freeroll tournaments called the college poker championships that lasted all year on the now defunct Royal Vegas Poker. I qualified for the semi finals and finished second in a tournament of about 2000 people and won about $3,000 and beat 500 people in the finals for $15,000. Although the goal of the promotion was to help pay for my schooling, I already was on full scholarship and I just used it to significantly pad my bankroll and it really was the catalyst towards playing for a living as opposed to going to law school.

Does your wife play, and how does she feel about your poker playing?

She doesn't play at all, or particularly like the game, but she has been exceptionally supportive of my poker pursuits: I remember her staying in with me on a big party night in college because I was stuck in the middle of a 3,000 person freeroll for a big screen tv that I ended up winning (thank God), she allowed me to go out and rent a Vegas house with my poker buddies the last few years, and is very encouraging when things aren't going well.

Who/what has been most instrumental in your poker development?

Definitely my three groomsman Alex (Zaitsev) Joe (Rowdy20) and Mike (Elzino). Over 3 years ago, I was completely a self taught (and probably just bad) poker player who was struggling at tournaments and decided to switch over to cash games so I wouldn't have to go to law school. I found CR which was really my first experience with any sort of outside poker thought. Throughout my first 6 months at CR, Mike and Joe contacted me to talk poker and in my stubbornness and stupidity I wanted to keep my poker “secrets” to myself. Alex then contacted me and since he was a CR video maker, I figured he had the best “credentials”. That went great and he told me that there were two other guys that I could learn a lot from, of course those two guys happened to be Joe and Mike. Since then the three of us along with a few of our other buddies have had a never ending skype chat running for the last 3+ years. The difference in their styles and poker philosophies to mine, as well as their dedication to poker and the intensity of our poker debates, has really helped shape and sharpen my game.

How did you find CR?

After playing tournaments for a living for a little over a year, my lack of skills, a terrible work ethic, bad luck at the world series, a dwindling bankroll, and a particularly awful Vegas trip led me to sign up for CardRunners in a hotel room at the Wynn after watching Brian Townsend on FTP win 200k in a matter of 20 minutes. I knew he worked for CR and I immediately watched 6-8 videos that night, had 3 monster cash game sessions in Vegas, and from that day I think I have had 1 break even month at poker and the rest winners since I signed up to CR.

Favorite:

food: Bacon, Crabs, Meatballs
band/singer: U2, Killers
movie: Godfather 1 (Godfather 2 is my second favorite movie)
tv show: Sopranos, The Wire, Jersey Shore
book: Seabiscuit, A Guy's Guide to Being a Man's Man,
place you've traveled: Italy, Caribbean
poker player: 2010 Women's Champion Greg Sessler