It’s seems like only yesterday that a baby-faced JP (John-Paul to his parents) Kelly was sending the veterans into a frenzy at Dunstable Road, Luton, armed with an unrelenting aggression and an incredible ability to detect weakness in opponents and punish them accordingly. The recipients, stubborn to the end, didn’t know how to respond to such a refreshing style of play, but it was one that would perhaps become a precursor of things to come and the induction of a style that would become the norm as the online players grabbed hold of the reins.

Today, Kelly is still fresh-faced, but he’s no longer causing a stir at Grosvenor, Luton. Not only because that venue no longer exists, but also because he has moved onto newer pastures, and pastures where the grass is equally as green. Many young up-and-comers who have, at one time or another, been predicted for great things, have fallen by the wayside, their short-comings in terms of ego, bad bankroll management, and failure to adjust to an ever-changing game seeing them fall at the opening hurdles, never to fully recover. However, JP Kelly is a prolific as ever, and only yesterday bettered his final table performance in last year’s Round of Each event by becoming the UK’s first bracelet winner in two years.

The trigger for “God Save the Queen” being blasted out of the loudspeakers was Event #20’s $1,500 Pot Limit Freezeout, and having collected his $194,434 in winnings, I caught up with a laid-back but elated JP as he basked in the glory of what was a truly impressive performance.

Snoopy: You seem to be a dab hand at Pot Limit? Do you prefer it to No Limit?

JP Kelly: Overall, I play more No Limit, but Pot Limit is a good game because people don’t play it very well. I don’t play Pot Limit online, but I still find it interesting. It’s a lot slower, and people don’t take that into consideration. If you have 12 big blinds in No Limit, your decisions are pretty limited, where as in Pot Limit you can only get a pot sized bet in, so can play slower and see more flops. If I had the choice between playing the $1,500 Pot Limit or $1,500 No Limit, I’d definitely go for the Pot Limit.

Snoopy: What were your thoughts heading into the final?

JP: Heading into the final, I was the chip leader, and my plan was to sit back and see what happened. I didn’t really want to get involved in a big pot, but then I lost a big one straight away when the small blind had threes and I had A-J [K-9-3-A-4 board]. That was a bit of a setback, but I had a bit of luck later on, and from then on it went really well.

Snoopy: Who were the danger men on the final table?

JP: Erik Seidel’s obviously a good player, but I only played a couple of hands with him the whole tournament. Jason [Dewitt], who came third, was definitely a danger man. We got involved in a couple of big pots three-handed. I played him in the six-max No Limit event with him, so I knew he a bit of a crazy side to him and was worried about getting in big pots with him, because if I reraised him, I thought he’d play back at me, so I wanted to have a hand when I played him.

Snoopy: Can you walk us through that final hand?

JP: Obviously I’m happy to get all the money in before the flop with A-Q heads-up, so I reraised him. I hadn’t reraised him at all preflop, and when he called, I just thought he had a weakish hand, nothing strong. It came 8-5-4, and I was not thrilled with the flop, but I had to bet as I’d reraised preflop, so led out for 175,000, and when he just called, I thought he had pretty much what he had, not A-5 exactly, but something of similar strength. At the time, I knew there were a lot of good turn cards to bet, so when I hit a queen, I thought that he’d think I’d bet that card a lot of the time because it’s an overcard and one that I can represent. With that in mind, I bet 300,000, hoping he’d move in, and he did, but I don’t blame him too much because if it were a king, I still would have bet again. There’s no difference in that sense between the queen and a king. but luckily it was the queen that came.

Snoopy: Were there any key hands where you thought you could win this event?

JP: Obviously a few near the end but there was one hand in particular where I got lucky and spiked a nine. I checked the T-6-4 behind him because I didn’t want to get check-raised, then the nine came and all the chips went in with him drawing dead. That doubled me up to 300,000 which, at that point, was a massive stack. After that, I lost a couple of pots two tables out, but then won some nice hands including the one where I busted The Maven [David Chicotsky] with A-Q versus K-Q.

Snoopy: How focused were you on the bracelet or the money?

JP: Not at all, I didn’t even look at the money and had no interest in laddering up, I just played it like a normal tournament and went for the win, regardless of the bracelet.

Snoopy: Are you sure you weren’t excited about the bracelet?

JP: I wasn’t dreaming of the bracelet when I woke up for the final. I’d played really well on Day Two – didn’t lose any focus; made perhaps just one mistake which wasn’t even that bad – and was just concentrating on doing everything I’d done the day before. Even heads-up I was just focused on winning the tournament. When the bracelet was put on the table, I didn’t even look at it.

Snoopy: You’ve been focusing a lot more on online play in recent years. Are there any online players you admire?

JP: There’s no one player in particular; I admire a handful of players who I look to learn from, but it wouldn’t be fair to name one. I’m certainly not one of these people who think, “Ooh, live players are terrible” - they just play a slightly different game, and one that is based more on reason, whilst the online players are perhaps fundamentally better at playing individual hands. I knew one of the guys on my left in the final was an online player and he only had 10 big blinds, so I tried not raise him with a marginal hand because I knew he could come over the top.

Snoopy: Where does the ‘JP 5-time’ moniker come from?

JP: I’m also known as MavFish, but the ‘5-time’ came from when I was 16. I was wasted on Bacardi at a mate’s house and was rolling around in the garden. There was this wrestler [Booker T] whose catchphrase was “five time!” and we were really into wrestling at that point in time.

Snoopy: How has your game developed over the years?

JP: Looking back to when I was playing live at Luton, I had no idea how I played. If I thought someone was weak or bluffing, I just bet or raised – it wasn’t very well thought out. Then I went back playing online when I was about 20, and I wasn’t very good because I was still playing in a live way, which didn’t work, so it took a bit of adjusting. I hung around with people like Moorman, Pab, Geeforce and Stevie in Australia. They’re all really good players and I learned a lot about online MTTs. Online you need to play more fundamentally, so I went through a really tight phase trying to improve my game.

Snoopy: What do you think your weakness is?

JP: I think I could probably be a bit more crazy. Sometimes I feel out of my depth when I get stuck on a table with good players and they’re raising and reraising each other. I don’t really want to get involved in that kind of game, I’m happy to play it if I have to, but I’d rather just play flops and stuff.

Snoopy: Do you watch online videos and tutorials?

JP: I watch videos on sites like CardRunners just to see what information is out there. If there’s one thing I pick up, then it’s worth it. A lot of people play the way they see everyone else play and you can pick these guys out in tournaments, you know their thought processes.

Snoopy: How did you celebrate your win?

JP: I went to MGN, had dinner at a really nice steak house, bought lots and lots of drinks, and returned today pretty worse for wear. There was no Crystal involved, just had some beers and a bit of wine. I certainly won’t waste the money buying loads of luxuries. I celebrated yesterday, and was happy to do that, and was really glad that everyone came. I’m pleased they supported me on the final too and cheered me on. I felt the majority of people wanted me to win heads-up, which was a good feeling. I didn’t want to let them down.

Snoopy: What are your plans for the rest of the Series?

JP: I’m just going to carry on playing my normal game and enter as many tournaments as possible, including the mixed game events. I have a couple of weaker games that I want to work on, and I’d really like to play a Razz event, as well as a HORSE if there’s one left that isn’t the $50,000. Each time I come to the World Series I do better than the last, and I really feel like I gain in experience every year.

Snoopy: Have you thought about how well received you’ll be on return to the UK?

JP: I haven’t thought how big this will be when I get home. Sponsorship would be nice, but it depends on what’s offered to me. I’m looking forward to the reception, but it won’t change me. I won’t get big headed or anything like some players do after a big win.