by Craig Tapscott, Special to FOXSports.com

FS.com: Online do you use any tools to assist you?

EL: I primarily use Poker Tracker and Poker Ace HUD. I also use Poker Stove, although not while I play. If I get a confusing hand I'll often plug it into Poker Stove against villain's likely range and find out the math afterwards. Poker is a game of many situations, and the more you play the more you'll run into situations you've seen before. You owe it to yourself any time you get in a tricky situation to do the research necessary to be more prepared for it next time. If you keep coming across the same situations again and again and never learn from it, you will never become a better player. As far as ICM calculators and stuff, I've never used them. I should probably look into them, but most people use them to calculate for chops, and I never chop, so I've never felt the need to use one. It could be very useful at determining when gambling a little might be more +EV than other times, I'm pretty good at knowing that by feel though.

FS.com: Great. Okay back to the WSOP. Can you share a big hand at the Final Table of the $1500 Pot Limit Holdem Event?

EL: Well, one of the biggest hands I probably played in I had JJ in the small blind and Rafe Furst was in the BB. I had been raising his BB a lot so I felt like if I raised him again he might come over the top of me with a less than premium hand if he felt I was getting out of lind. So I bet the pot (max bet) and he, as I was hoping, came over the top for the pot again (max bet). I thought about it a few minutes, and re-raised all in (since all in was less than the pot). He thought long and hard, and about 5 minutes later folded what he told me later was A8o (I guess we'll see on TV for sure).

FS.com: Congratulations. What's it feel like to be playing in your first WSOP and be at the final table of the 2nd event you enter? Dumb question we know.

EL: It feels great, but I always felt like if I showed up and played my A game I'd have a strong showing. Playing offline really isn't that much different than online once you get used to handling chips and picking up information. Those are no small tasks by any stretch of the imagination, but the basic game we're playing, poker, is much the same. I can't say I expected to make a televised final table on my first trip to the World Series, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't expect myself to do pretty well.

FS.com: What drags you away from the computer these days?

EL: Most of my focus right now is on my family. Between poker and having a 17-month-old running around (and another child on the way) my life is too busy for much else. I love to read books when I get the chance, and I play on a beach volleyball team here in Kansas City so that I get out of the house on my own at least once a week, for the most part though my life right now consists of poker, my family, and that's about it.

FS.com: Congratulations on 24th and a $494K payday in the WSOP Main Event.

EL: Thanks. It was a very positive experience. Results aside, the atmosphere is different than anything I'd ever experienced before, and with the exception of some problems in some of the early events I felt like it was very well run for such a large tournament. I look forward to next year's series.

FS.com: Can you share your thoughts about the table dynamics as it got down to three tables?

EL: Well, I was really surprised at the play with so few tables. The play was pretty loose/passive for the most part with the exception of Jamie Gold using his chip advantage to muscle his table a bit. I saw a surprising number of limpers and lots of calling, which isn't usually typical for this late play. There was definitely a rift at 27 though, of the players who were just trying to survive versus the aggressive players trying to make a run.

FS.com: Any specific hand from top to bottom that was a turning point for you late in the event?

EL: Well, the AA hand was probably the turning point for me. On the day we went from 45 to 27 I had been playing REALLY well early on and had chipped up nicely. I was in a pretty good spot (top 10 with 36 remaining I believe) when I was dealt two black Aces from first position at 20k/40k blinds with 5k antes. I raised to 130k and it was folded around to Erik Friberg in the big blind who smooth called 90k more. The flop came 4sQc9c and I bet 175k. Friberg quickly smooth called. The turn was the 5s, and I bet 400k. Friberg moved all in for 2.6 million more. With all the action there was about 1.5 million already in the pot, so I had to call 2.6 million to win 4.1 million. I thought about it for quite sometime, and at one point almost mucked my hand face up. I had played the hand so much like Aces I really didn't think I could be ahead, plus I had both the Ac and As, which made him having some pair + flush draw less likely. Eventually I made the mistake of talking myself into the possibility that he had something like JsTs, JcTc, or KsQs and called. I don't think the call is awful, but I think it was an unnecessary risk when I still had 3.4 million behind if I folded, especially given that I had pretty much announced my hand.

FS.com: Any differences in your online style as compared to live this deep into the tournament? Reads, talk, etc.?

EL: I'm more of a table talker live. I also will show cards sometimes and really try and work my table image. Online I never show and I never really worry about my image, other than to be aware of it, since a lot of times multi-tablers online don't even pay enough attention for image plays/talk to work. I also got some pretty reliable reads sometimes live. I made a big river bluff all in on day 2 off a physical read. I also made a pretty big laydown pre-flop against Daniel Negreanu when I picked up on something he was trying to do with his table talk.

FS.com: Any advice for all those players striving to improve?

EL: My advice to you if you're trying to set goals for your poker game, is to keep them very open ended and don't limit yourself or tie yourself to specific numbers. I think goals such as 'play better than last year' or even 'make more money than last year' are fine. I think goals like 'make X # of final tables' or 'make X # of 5 figure cashes' are bad goals, and can actually hurt your growth as a player. Goals should be something that guide your playing and keep you on the right path to improving as a player, not something that constricts you trying to attain a certain number. I've had one hell of a year in 2005, and while I certainly hope 2006 will be a better year for me results wise, the only thing I can assure you is that in December of 2006 I will be a better poker player than I am in December 2005. Only time will tell if that bears out in the form of superior results or not though.

FS.com: We have a feeling that you will achieve all goals you've challenged yourself with for 2006. Good luck from FoxSports.com.

Craig Tapscott is a frequent contributor to FOXSports.com Poker, Card Player & Card Player College magazine. He may be contacted at: ctapscott@verizon.net.