Carl “The Dean” Sampson.

 

 

The people who are close to me know full well that 2026 was not a good year for “The Dean” in the world of online poker. Losses in the region of $100,000 almost totally wiped out my previous year. But I was the instigator of my own downfall and I betrayed myself and my beliefs so many times last year.

 

I normally switch sites at least every couple of weeks and mostly every week and I have done this for quite sometime. But I got incredibly idle last year and I cannot understand why. I also put on a few pounds as well and the bottom line was that my head wasn’t right and I just wasn’t in the game. Two family bereavements didn’t help matters but I am not going to use that as an excuse.

 

But I am well and truly back in 2026 and it has been a great start to the year so far with winnings over $30k. I am doing things far differently this year and I now have three financial backers so I actually only have a 25% share in anything that I win.

 

This has given me a tremendous responsibility but I really do have to thank those people for believing in me. Two of them actually thanked me for my honesty in not attempting to conceal my results when they asked. But one of my backers is also a very serious NLHE player in his own right and regularly plays limits from $2-$4 to $5-$10.

 

He is also working for me in other capacities as well and he is using the latest software from Poker Office which is Poker Office 5 to analyse the $25-$50 games in which I am playing, my results this year coupled with the transformation means that I really cannot recommend this software enough.

 

Another part of the deal is that he is carefully selecting the games that I play in and the targets that I am aiming for. Most of the time I haven’t even been playing poker at all and this just underlines that I was not only playing bad last year but I was also playing too much.

 

We have built up a nice little database of players at these levels and I know who the professionals are and who the value is. For the first time in a while I am feeling professional again as I was very much on the verge of packing the entire thing in last year. Also, getting sponsorship from Cake Poker was also another big plus and this has really straightened me out with regards having a track to run on and knowing what I should be doing.

 

But the Poker Office 5 software for me is the best there is. But I also feel that it is important that I also point something else out as well.

 

I joined Cake Poker last year because I don’t like the overall situation with regards online poker where players are becoming too software dependent. I feel and always will feel that this is getting away from how poker should be. But I also have to earn a living as well and I simply cannot play in these $25-$50 games without backup of some kind.

 

So my situation is far stronger in 2026 as I am no longer playing on my own and “Team Dean” is doing very nicely thank you. I have also been playing some heads up no limit as well and been doing very well at this form of poker. I have upset a few people recently who have found out that I have been hitting and running at this…needless to say that these players who were complaining were heads up specialists.

 

My argument is this…do these people expect other players to sit there and allow themselves to be picked to pieces by PAHUD Pro’s who know more about their game than they do themselves? If they think this, then they really are deluded. You simply don’t fight battles on your enemies terms and I would never do this in live poker but I am not up against PAHUD’s in live play am I.