By
Dan |
Published
Jul 23 2008, 03:59 PM
It’s not every day that I have the privilege of writing about a PocketFiver taking down a major live tournament, but members of the online poker community have excelled in live play in recent years. PocketFives.com is home to bracelet winners Cliff JohnnyBax Josephy, Scott BigRiskky Clements, and Annie Duke. It’s also home to World Poker Tour Bellagio Cup IV winner Mike SirWatts Watson, who is just a few days removed from his victory in the first tournament that will air on Fox Sports Net as part of the WPT’s new television agreement. Last year, Kevin BeL0WaB0Ve Saul won the Bellagio Cup tournament, meaning it’s been dominated by PocketFivers. We sat down with Watson to learn more about his WPT win.
Watson is ranked #90 in the world at online tournament play on PocketFives.com and has several marquee cashes on his online tournament resume. In June, he took sixth in the Full Tilt Poker $750K Guaranteed, cashing for $23,025. He took second in the $200 rebuy on PokerStars for over $30,000 just a few weeks ago. He made the final table of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series $300 rebuy event in February for $42,000. His World Poker Tour win was worth a healthy $1.7 million, his largest by far to date. Watson commented, “I've always been primarily a tournament player and I think it's every tournament player's dream to take down a huge score like this. It has certainly been my biggest goal since I started playing big live events.”
In the live poker scene, Watson has logged seven lifetime World Series of Poker cashes for a combined $48,313. He finished 10th in the WPT’s L.A. Poker Classic in February for $61,000. Heading into the final table of the Bellagio Cup, Watson’s game plan to record his largest poker cash was simple: “It was a really tough table, so my only real plan was just to play my normal A-game. I don't really feel like it was a situation where having the chip lead afforded me much leverage at all.” His A-game prevailed in the end, padding his pocket with $1.7 million.
WPT Live Updates Hostess Amanda blondechick20 Leatherman and several others in attendance noted the boisterous cheering section Watson was armed with. He talks about the presence of railbirds at the Bellagio and how they affected his game: “It was so much fun having those guys back there cheering and screaming for me. I was a bit nervous when things started, but it went away as the final table progressed. I had to stay focused on the game, so I told them that they had to do all of the yelling and screaming for me. It was just amazing having so many people supporting me.”
The $15,000 buy-in Bellagio Cup tournament attracted 446 players. The final table included second place finisher David Benyamine, third place finisher PocketFiver Luke IWEARGOGGLES Staudenmaier, and poker pro John Phan (who finished fifth). Although Watson hasn’t decided what he’ll do with his nearly $2 million bounty, “I'll keep a lot of it in my poker bankroll.” His roll has helped him progress in poker ever since he started playing four years ago. He began by competing with his friends at lunchtime while on an assistantship in Newfoundland at Memorial University’s Math Department. Although the games were low stakes, he stated, “I was really into the game right from the start and began reading books, playing online, and posting on forums.”
Watson discusses what it takes for an online poker player to experience success in the live poker arena: “All the successful online tournament players have the necessary skills to crush live poker too. Most of us play so much more fundamentally and theoretically sound poker than our opponents do. At the same time, I think a lot of online guys have a hard time adapting to the more passive play you find in live events and to the slower pace of the game.”
The grind of live poker can be a drain on a newcomer. At the World Series of Poker, play begins around noon and finishes up in the early morning hours. Matt mattg1983 Graham endured 17 hours of poker to win his first WSOP bracelet in Event #53, defeating Bodog pro Jean-Robert Bellande heads up. Watson comments, “I feel like having played tournament chess growing up and having the patience to endure six or seven hour games helped me a lot in that respect, but the adjustment is definitely trickier than I thought it would be. On the other hand, some online players over-adjust, and get out of doing some of the things that made them so successful in the first place.” It’s a fine line to walk.
Congratulations once again to Mike SirWatts Watson, champion of the World Poker Tour Bellagio Cup.