GPInterview: Kevin MacPhee | Fantasy Guru

He’s currently the #1 ranked Fantasy Poker Manager. He’s Kevin MacPhee (GPI#69) and he’s a Fantasy Sports freak – so it’s no surprise to see MacPhee take the FPM world by storm.

We sat down with MacPhee to pick his brain in the hopes of helping all Fantasy Poker Managers field better teams … and with the WSOP Main Event league locking within the next 24 hours, what better time to speak to the #1 man in Fantasy!

Before we get into FPM, how has your WSOP season gone?

It’s been a pretty fun World Series so far. I’ve played a lot of events; I’m pretty lucky that I can sell action for a lot of events. I believe I’m at 31 or 32 now and I’ve had seven cashes which is a pretty good rate but no final tables. But I feel I’m playing well.

You’ve been one of biggest cheerleaders for Fantasy Poker Manager. What have you liked most about the game?

I’ve always been into Fantasy Sports. My first introduction to gambling was when I was 13 years old. My dad has a Fantasy Football league and I got to draft one of the teams for a guy who couldn’t show up. I won the league and won a bunch of money so I’ve always been into Fantasy Sports. That was 19 years ago so as you can imagine it was in the infancy of Fantasy Sports.

When FPM came out as an App I thought it was a really cool idea. Fantasy Poker Manager is a great idea. I play Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Football and when I started travelling around Europe I sort of stopped playing those so it was really fun to get back into a Fantasy game where I knew everything about the players.

Not only do I have a good knowledge base of the players, which can give me an advantage in the game, but the game also helps me advance my knowledgebase on the players, which is extremely helpful.

Let’s expand on the advantage you may have over others being on the live tournament circuit, what sort of edge do you have?

You know what’s going with the players personally, someone that may look like a good buy may have been out drinking the night before or may have just broken up with his girlfriend or a gazillion other variables that you know just knowing the person and being on tour with them.

But the most immediate advantage is being able to submit me team at the last possible minute with the maximum amount of information. The phone app has helped me quite a bit because before the phone app, I would bring my laptop to the tables so I could submit at the last minute.

Also I can have a live look at table draws. I often pick players due to their table draws. Joe Serock for example didn’t have a lot of chips in the 5K (WSOP Event #57) but he final tabled that event.

We’ve heard rumors that you’re actually doing a fair bit of scouting. I noticed text messages sent to a player while covering the WPT event at bestbet Jacksonville a few months ago, confirm or deny? 🙂

Yeah, I mean I sell a lot of action to many of the top GPI players, those who play high roller events so I’m in daily contact with them anyway so I can send them a text to like Igor Kurganov and ask “hey, how’s your chip stack right now” and can ask him how the Germans are doing, for example, so if you my German-teams a lot it’s because I know how they’re doing and what their seat draw is.

But I’m actively scouting, I’m sending out tweets and ask who has chips in the event. I think I may take it a little too seriously but I want to compete and have fun and get bragging rights.

As a top FPM Manager, what one piece of advice do you have for your fellow FPM Managers in order to help them field a better team?

The #1 mistake that I see is people submitting their teams far too early. You want maximum information. There is a wealth of information out there with the poker media, live streams, etc.

You can be such an interactive poker fan these days. You can be at home watching a live stream from across the world, reading Twitter feeds and feel like you’re part of the poker community.

Trying to submit your team at the very last minute is key.

Finally, why should Fantasy Poker Managers keep an eye on Kevin MacPhee when putting their teams together for upcoming events?

I think I’m a good buy. I have a wealth of experience playing deepstack tournaments with a good structure. I’ve been incredibly focused on poker these past three months, I’ve had a huge upswing online so I think I would be a good buy although I’ve only bought myself a few times in FPM!

If you’re not following Kevin on Twitter, you’re missing out on free info re: poker player chip counts as FPM deadlines loom. Be sure to  follow Kevin on Twitter: @KevinMacPhee

Head on over to Facebook and signup to play the GPI Fantasy Poker Manager – lineups for the next World Series of Poker Individual League event lock soon! … FPM is the OFFICIAL Fantasy Poker Game of the World Poker Tour and the World Series of Poker!

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