It’s not very often that you hear about a PocketFiver who got his start in poker by mastering Seven Card Stud and then went onto dominate in Razz and HORSE. I’m talking about Zac Zacpacker Fellows (pictured at right), who took down Event #21 of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP), a $3,000 buy-in HORSE event. Heads-up, he defeated Team PokerStars Pro member James Van Alstyne after blazing through the 452 player field. Fellows had finished as the runner-up in a $1,500 buy-in Limit Hold’em event during the 2008 WSOP for $165,000, but got his start by learning Stud six months before anyone knew who Chris Moneymaker was. The Vancouver native sat down with PocketFives.com to tell his story.On the final hand of Event #21, Van Alstyne put himself all-in after a raise during the Hold’em round on a board of 6-5-3-J holding A-5. Fellows, however, had pocket sixes for a set, leaving Van Alstyne drawing dead to the river, which was a meaningless three. Fellows complimented Van Alstyne’s game, telling PocketFives.com, “I think the power of his HORSE game is that he is constantly putting you to the test. If there is a chance you will fold, he will bet. People think that in fixed limit tournaments, aggressiveness doesn’t work as well, but deep in a tournament it does because people have so few big bets left and are very cautious of what hand to get it in with.” Fellows’ win was worth $311,000, while Van Alstyne pocketed $192,000.
In the last four years, Fellows has mastered the five games that comprise HORSE. Over the course of two months, he turned $16,000 into $250,000 at the $200/$400 HORSE tables on PokerStars. He explained, “I was able to learn a lot from some of the regulars that played in it like Doyle Brunson (pictured at left), Barry Greenstein, Ted Forrest, and a bunch of well-known high-stakes online players. Despite his success in Hold’em, he considers Razz to be his best game overall after surrounding himself with some of its top minds.Fellows now has three WSOP in the money finishes to his name, including two top two efforts, for nearly $500,000. He told PocketFives.com how last year’s runner-up showing affected his mentality at the 2009 WSOP: “It kept me grounded when I ran bad. When I was heads-up last year, I ran really bad and lost several big pots on the river. It made it hard to stay on my game. This year at the final table, I just told myself that no matter how bad I run, I will keep playing my game and not let myself get rattled.” Online, Fellows hasn’t gotten rattled either. In March, he banked $24,000 for finishing second in the $100 rebuy on Full Tilt Poker.
After his big bracelet win, Fellows did what any young up and coming poker player would do: he headed straight for the All American Grille at the Rio (home of a superb Sloppy Joe sandwich). He noted, “It was really late when we finished that night, so my friends and I went to the only place that was open. We ordered as many drinks as we could before we were ready to pass out.” The next day, Fellows returned to the felts in search of bracelet number two, a journey he’ll continue during the 2010 WSOP.When he was 18, Fellows worked at a gas station and was searching for ways to pass the time. He eventually found “Super System” and headed straight for the Seven Card Stud section written by the late Chip Reese. He made a $25 deposit online, bought into the $1/$2 Seven Card Stud tables, and started grinding. Hold’em had not yet become a worldwide phenomenon and Stud was all the rage. Fellows explained, “It seemed like more fun to me since you could study a person’s up cards to try to figure out what they had and you could bluff based on how scary your board was.”
Fellows is a class act and wanted to send a shout out to those who have supported him throughout the years: “Thanks to everyone back home in Vancouver who has been so supportive of me and all of my friends in poker that have helped me learn and get better. There are a lot of guys that deserve the success I’ve had. I feel really lucky that it happened to me.”
To check on the progress of online poker players in the 2009 WSOP Main Event, head to PocketFivesLive.com.
