Poker Articles

By Lenny | Published Oct 12 2006, 08:49 PM
A quiet guy from upstate New York has been making a lot of noise on the tournament scene lately. kwob20 has been a Pocketfiver for some time now, but his one post will give you a pretty good idea of how little self-promotion this guy has done. You may notice "kwob" is the reverse of the first four letters of Kyle's last name but there is nothing backward about this young man's game. He won WCOOP events #5 (Omaha Hi-Lo) and #14 (Stud Hi-Lo), making him the first person to win two events in one year and only the second player with two WCOOP bracelets period! Not bad for a guy who “doesn’t know the hi-lo games very well.” So who is this mystery man?

Kyle “kwob20” Bowker is from Walton, NY a small town of just over 5,000 people. He married his high school sweetheart in September after dating for five years. They did the Honeymoon right, spending one week in the Bahamas. He decided to go pro last year after a win in the Party Sunday major netted him 100k and he followed that up with two cashes at Foxwoods for 49k. In January he made it down to Tunica and cashed in the 2k shorthanded event for 38k. He started playing Pokerstars in March and the majority of his play has been there ever since.

Lenny: So, you won WCOOP event #5 and I hear it was your first time playing a limit Omaha hi-lo tournament. Is this true?

kwob20: Yes. I play the Horse tournament on Full Tilt from time to time, but I don’t know the hi-lo games that well. That’s my experience in high low, about 5 Horse tourneys.

Lenny: You say you don’t know the hi-lo games that well, but your second win was Stud hi-lo, so which is it?

kwob20: [laughs] I really don’t know them that well. I just had good cards and patience. Poker is poker. I watched the final table replay of the omaha8 tourney with one of my buddies who is a great player in every game and I made a lot of mistakes with the hands I was playing but I also picked up on a lot that was going on at the table. I was able to win pots because of different betting patterns I picked up on some players, which allowed me to win many pots with nothing.

Lenny: It sounds like you were playing the table more than the cards, so your inexperience in the game didn't hurt you that much. What were the fields like in the WCOOP preliminary events, especially the non-NLHE games, were they much smaller, or still huge? Donkalicious or tough?

kwob20: They were smaller than the NL obviously and pretty donkalicious. A lot of NL players like me.

Lenny: Well if they were all like you it might have been a little tougher! Did you sit with Greg Raymer much in event #14? (Raymer finished 19th)

kwob20: I never really played with Raymer, but I pretty much busted (Tom) McEvoy and Humberto (Brenes).

Lenny: Do any opponents or hands stand out from event #14?

kwob20: Yeah, about a million with toppobravo, he was a major thorn in my side. He beat me in almost every hand until we got heads up. He took two huge pots off me when we were at two tables. Most of the time I had him in bad shape and he would hit a miracle. I know most people always say that, but he was pretty lucky overall. I felt like if I got heads up with him I would win, no matter what the chip count was. 

Lenny: How about the Omaha 8s?

kwob20: The final tables were very different. I came into the Omaha 8s with a chip lead and never relinquished it. In the Stud hi-lo I never had chips. I just hung around the whole time and went on a huge rush 3 handed. I had 150k and they both had over 600k and I won big pot after big pot.

Lenny: Was 150k very short? I mean, could you get it all in just betting to the river?

kwob20: Yeah, 150 was short. One big hand and you were done.

Lenny: What’s it like playing a split game short handed? Des the low come into play much or is it mostly scooped pots?

kwob20: There are a lot of split pots at a full table. You should really go with a hand unless you plan on scooping, but short handed it’s different. You can play a split QQ three handed but not 6 or 7. I just tried to maintain a controlled aggression.

Lenny: So what is your schedule like? Do you keep it pretty regular, or play whenever you feel like it?

kwob20: I play whenever. I try to play in the rebuys everyday.

Lenny: How do you play them- do you try to chip up the table or more take advantage of the maniacs?

kwob20: Sometimes I take advantage of the maniac sometimes I am the maniac. It depends on the table. 

Lenny: So if the table is playing too tight you’ll get in there and juice it up a little?

kwob20: You have to chip up early. I want to get to 10k by the break one way or another. I don’t care how many times I have to rebuy.

Lenny: You finished 37th in the World Series Main Event for almost $250k, do you have any stories you would like to share?

kwob20: On day four I pulled off the bluff of a lifetime. I had Ah 10h and I was the big stack at the table with 600k other guy was deep as well with about 500k. He raised on the button to 20k and I made it 60k from the big blind. He called and the flop came Q 4 2 with one heart. I bet out 80k with nothing and he called. The turn was a 2h and I checked. He bet 250k leaving himself with only 150k, but I still felt like he was weak and would save his last 150 if I pushed. I put him all in and he thought for about 10 minutes and folded a Queen.

Lenny: I can’t believe that guy laid it down in that spot and that you were able to make that play!

kwob20: That put me over one million in chips and I was the first player in the ME to break a million. I was the chip leader for most of day four. I had 1.5 million most of the day then all of a sudden there was Jamie Gold with 3 million. I came into day 5 second in chips, but I had a bad day and lost most of my stack. I busted in a payout bubble where the next spot paid an extra 95k, but I was going for the win. That’s how I play, what can you do?

Lenny: I wish we had been covering you, 37th out of 8,700 is a great accomplishment. Who are some of your toughest opponents online?

kwob20: apestyles and foshio are pretty tough. Roothlus is as well. Rizen and Johnnybax are very good players. I have never had big problems versus them personally but they are very tough.

Lenny: Thank you for your time Kyle, I hope you’ll continue to stop by P5s and maybe even post now and then. I’d much rather see you on the boards than at my table!