The finale of the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Venetian Main Event featured Sam KingKobeMVP Stein (pictured at right) squaring off against Tom Marchese. In the end, Marchese emerged victorious and banked $827,000 from the $5,000 buy-in poker tournament, while Stein walked away with $522,000. Stein finished fifth in the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Legends of Poker last August and was the runner-up to Stefan IamSound Huber in a $5,000 No Limit Hold’em event held during the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure for another $168,000. All told, he’s recorded three six-figure live cashes in the last seven months.

PocketFives.com: Talk about the hand where you doubled up Marchese with J-5 against K-9 on a board of 6-K-5-4-10. Marchese pushed on the river and you called with a pair of fives. What was going through your head in that hand?
Sam Stein: Early on, he min-raised the button. Normally, I wouldn’t defend, but I felt like I was outplaying him post-flop, so I was defending with any playable hand. I had a big chip lead then and felt like that was pretty standard for my overall plan. Heads-up, any pair is decent and I don’t think many people would check-fold that flop.

It was read-dependent on the turn. I played with him a bit online and knew he was capable of anything. I had a solid read throughout the tournament, but don’t know if he was using reverse tells or anything like that against me. I check-called the turn and thought he maybe had a draw or just nothing.

On the river, everything bricked. I checked and he went all-in. For that kind of money, I usually don’t make a decision that quickly, but there was not any way I was folding with the read I had. I was stunned to see that I was beat. I thought he was bluffing. Overall, I was winning the majority of the hands I played against him. When he won that hand and took the chip lead, I didn’t know if he had talked to friends or happened to be doing something different.

PocketFives.com: Talk about the final hand of the tournament. On a board of 4-5-9-3-10, you called all-in with 2-4 against Marchese’s set of tens. Did you think Marchese (pictured at left) was bluffing?

Sam Stein: He also min-raised the button and I defended with 2-4 of spades. I called on the flop and turned an open-ender. On the river, I checked, he overbet the pot with an all-in, and I took at least eight or nine minutes to call.

There was a lot going through my mind and I was thinking of all of the hands we played during the tournament. Everything on the J-5 hand was going through my head too. I wasn’t going based on read, but on how often I saw he was bluffing in the other hands we played. I leveled myself to calling and regret both of those hands.

Earlier, I was chipping away at him and had good control of the heads-up match. I felt like I played the best poker of my life and have been playing well recently. There were 872 players and I ran well, but to accumulate chips without showdown, I was playing really well too.

PocketFives.com: You’ve been on a live poker tear to open 2010 coming off your fifth place finish in the WPT Legends of Poker last year. Are you in the zone right now?

Sam Stein: It’s gone well for me recently. I’ve been playing live tournaments for slightly over a year. I don’t take my success for granted. I really want to keep riding this wave for as long as I can. A lot of friends have been saying to keep doing what you’re doing. Not many people have had a year like that in their lives.

PocketFives.com: Talk about your online game. How are you balancing your very successful live game with a solid online game?

Sam Stein: I’m mainly focusing on live poker right now. It’s been a good start to the year. There’s some chance I could go for the Player of the Year and I’m planning to play in a ton of live tournaments. I’m still going to play online every Sunday, but I’m definitely willing to skip some to play live.

PocketFives.com: How did you get started in poker?

Sam Stein: I played poker when I was 16 in home games, never putting that much time into it. I didn’t get hooked on it until I was 18 or 19 and playing online. I played cash games at first and didn’t get into tournaments until later. I had a good group of friends who were all playing tournaments and told me not to get in them because of the variance, but they were doing really well. I play live cash games in Las Vegas and feel so much more comfortable when playing them. You can win consistently, but can’t win the money that you can in a tournament.

PocketFives.com: Are you looking forward to the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP)?

Sam Stein: That was my big downswing last year. I played in the big No Limit Hold’em events other than the $40,000 one. I felt like I wasn’t running well at all. I definitely want to win a bracelet this year.