By
Dan |
Published
Dec 28 2008, 08:23 PM
Recently, Justin lockdownpokah Allen was among 103 players who entered the Winter Bayou Poker Challenge held at Harrah’s New Orleans. The $5,150 tournament awarded a $158,000 first place prize and when the smoke cleared in the Big Easy, Allen emerged victorious. It was the Texan’s first six-figure cash and a milestone for his transition from the online poker world to the live arena. Ironically, he was joined at the Harrah’s final table by fellow PocketFiver Jeremy thechemist83 Gaubert, who has mentored him in tournament poker. Allen sat down with PocketFives.com to discuss his big Winter Bayou Poker Challenge win as well as reveal how he got started in the game.
In October, Allen took fifth in the $5,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Championship Event of the World Poker Open at the Gold Strike Casino in Tunica, Mississippi for $35,627. That event was ultimately won by Clonie Gowen, who grabbed nearly $200,000. Two months later, he was back at another final table of a $5,000 buy-in event, this time in New Orleans. He told PocketFives.com, “I was definitely excited for my first six-figure score. It feels better to win live than online. There are a ton of people around you and you actually get cash rather than wait to get the money.”
A handful of PocketFivers have successfully made the transition from online to live poker. Take Cliff JohnnyBax Josephy, who is well-respected online and also holds a World Series of Poker bracelet. Many would also point to Annette Annette_15 Obrestad, who like Josephy was formerly ranked number one on the PocketFives.com Online Poker Rankings. Obrestad took down the Main Event of the inaugural World Series of Poker Europe in 2007. Allen commented on how his transition is coming along: “Most live players are easy to read because it's so basic. Live poker is an easier game for sure. Live tournaments have deeper stacks, so you can make more plays. You can talk to people at the table and it is more fun.”
Allen chopped the PokerStars Second Chance for $44,000 in October. He won a $109 buy-in $50,000 Guaranteed tournament on Stars two days earlier for just over $9,600 and at the beginning of December, raked in $12k for taking down the $200 buy-in Turbo $40K Guaranteed on Full Tilt Poker. In the month of November, he piled up 45 cashes in tournaments that count for the Rankings for a grand total of $62,982. Still, he has further aspirations and told PocketFives.com, “I want to get a big score online. I was a student last year and started playing multi-table tournaments this year.” He currently plays poker full-time.
He got his start by competing in home games with friends. Eventually, he was lent $100 to deposit online and began to build his bankroll from there. He revealed what about the game has struck such an accord with him: “It’s the competition. There's nothing better than winning a poker tournament. You have to use your mind and be strategic.” During his rise through the ranks of poker tournaments, he’s been mentored by Jeremy thechemist83 Gaubert, who pocketed $233,000 for chopping the Sunday Million $1,050 buy-in tournament one year ago. Gaubert also has a win in the Warm-Up to his name for $80,000 as well as a first place tally in the $150 rebuy ($80,000 Guaranteed) on Full Tilt Poker in November for $61,000. He took sixth in the Bayou Poker Challenge for $24,427, joining his protégé Allen at the final table.
Like others we’ve spoken to for PocketFives.com, Allen commented that while his peers would likely label his play as “aggressive,” he feels his style doesn’t fit that description. He commented, “I open a lot of pots, but when I get post-flop, I play a lot of pot control. Pre-flop, I play a little loose. A lot of the players you’ll find online are pre-flop players.”
Allen receives tips on his cash game play from PocketFiver _advanced, who plays under the name aka_advanced on Stars and Full Tilt. On what aspect of his game still needs improvement, he confessed, “Adjusting. When a tournament starts, players evolve into different styles. It's hard nowadays online and even the bad players aren’t that bad. In live poker, for the most part, there was never a time when I was short-stacked in the tournament.” Heads-up, Allen was behind Larry Price in chips. However, he managed to double up when the two were nearly even in chips holding pocket sixes against Price’s A-2. The win in the hand, which saw both players shove their chips in pre-flop, gave the PocketFiver a 20:1 chip lead. On the final hand of the Bayou Winter Poker Challenge, Allen’s pocket nines withstood Price’s Q-4.
His non-poker friends are, by and large, jealous that Allen spends his days on the virtual felts of the world’s largest online poker rooms. However, winning his parents over has been a more cumbersome task. He explained, “At first, my parents weren’t too into it. When you don’t know anything about poker, you think it's just gambling. I started winning online and had the score in Tunica and they started to come around. Now, they're all for it.”
Congratulations from all of us here at PocketFives.com to Justin lockdownpokah Allen for winning the Winter Bayou Poker Challenge at Harrah’s New Orleans.
Image courtesy of Harrah's.
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