Tom ‘Tom_Poker_NL’ Talboom about what it takes to make 6-figure cashes

In the shadow of the world’s most famous poker streamer Lex Veldhuis, another Dutch talent is racing towards the top at the online poker tables. Tom Talboom, a 24-year-old business student from the Rotterdam area, started showing his skills on Twitch where he streams under the moniker Tom_Poker_NL. After years of trying to find the right formula, he finally seems to have cracked the code. It resulted in a cash of $141,000 in of the big tourneys during the APL series at GGPoker.

We were curious to hear his story and reached out to Tom.

Tom first of all, congratulations of course on your 3rd place in the GG APL Main event (Buyin 300$). We venture to guess you just bought a boat in the harbour of Rotterdam?

Haha no. I talked to my girlfriend an hour after the tournament and told her I really couldn’t think of anything to buy. We did buy some t-shirts today, which is quite something for me.

A lot has happened in the Dutch poker world lately regarding regulated poker operators. You can only stream on bet365, HC Online and GGPoker. How do you experience all this?

The first few weeks were difficult, of course. My accounts had to be registered and verified and this always takes a while. Because of this I could not play for some weeks. It is still a bit strange that the sites you have played on for years are suddenly no longer accessible. This is a bit scary, because this way you find out how vulnerable your work/passion can be. But overall, it went reasonably well and I quickly got used to GG Poker’s new software. They are also one of the biggest clients and there is plenty of tournament action all day long.

The Main Event of the APL series at GG Poker had multiple starting days. The finale was scheduled for Sunday, the main grind day for online players. For you, it has been a normal “day at the office”. Is it a lot of preparation work for such sessions and for the stream?

Not really. The most important thing is that once I start the grind, I know that nothing else needs to be done. Everyone at home is informed and I don’t have to do things like walking the dog on such a day. I also find it nice to have already arranged the evening meal, for example, so that I don’t have to pay too much attention to it during the session.

Looking too much at the big prizes will just drive you crazy.

During the tournament you were dealt Aces dealt 3x in a row – a chance of 1 in 10,793,861. It happened for you when there were 32 players left in the tournament. While enjoying “Fries and a frikandel special” you made it to the final table quite easily. What did you think your chances were of getting your first six-figure cash?

I think a good poker player doesn’t worry too much about this. I look at it from moment to moment, because it could be over any hand. The chip leader has been sitting on my left for a long time and all he has to do is pick up aces against my kings and it could be over and done. I try to focus on the decisions I have to make and make sure they are the right ones. I think looking too much at the big prizes will just drive you crazy. I have to say that I was short for a while and after consecutive Aces I was suddenly second in chips. That’s when you start to secretly look and think about the big money.

Is there any tension involved in playing for so big amounts?

When there were 100/200 left, there was a fair amount of tension. But as the tournament progressed, I calmed down. And again, it helps just to think about the decisions you make and do the right thing. Like making the bluffs you would make without the big money on the line. It doesn’t matter what buy-ins or how much money is involved, as long as I make the decisions that I agree with, I can finish the tournament feeling good. No matter where I finished.

At the final table, you were joined by fellow streamer ‘Beriuzy’ from Canada, who you stayed in touch with afterwards via Facetime. Did you know the other players too? Do you research the players you don’t know at these moments?

There are many players who look up information about the other players at such times. I personally didn’t really look anything up. Through experience, I can often estimate what kind of player someone is. You can look for example at nationality and the total number of winnings of a player. And for many players, you’ve already got a good idea from sitting around the table with them for quite some time during the tournament. For example, I knew that Nick Maimone was a well-known pro and there were a few other players I had a good idea about.

After a daring but thoughtful bluff, you found yourself fairly short at the final table. Were there any other standout moments during this period?

Unfortunately, there are moments like that. At the time it seemed like a good move to make and unfortunately it didn’t work out. But earlier in the tournament a lot of bluffs worked out and that was one of the reasons why I was able to start the final table with a nice stack. Especially on the bubble before the final table, some nice bluffs came through.

Besides a well-deserved Curacao holiday with your girlfriend, hopefully there will be some opportunities for live poker soon. Is there anything else on your schedule?

Besides the holiday, I have some exams coming up in March. If I pass these exams, I will finally have completed my studies. So, this is where the focus will be for the next two months. After that I have the ambition to play some nice series and make some nice (poker) trips. Fortunately, with this achievement there will be enough room for this.

It took me 8 years to get to this point.

What message would you like to give our readers to take their poker to the next level?

Don’t look too much at how much others win. I get a lot of messages from people who say they would like to do the same. Or from people who say they must work for 10 years to earn such amounts. Compared to two days for me. What people often forget is that this does not come from nowhere, it took me 8 years to get to this point. 

In the past, I used to look a lot at what others won, and this could sometimes be very irritating. Why are they lucky and it’s just not my luck every time? But always looking at others will not make you happy. It will always be the case that there are people who have longer winning streaks or who make higher cashes. But it is important to focus on yourself and just do your thing.