Jamie Burland is one of Black Belt Poker's success stories. A product of the Grading process, Jamie fast-tracked his way to Blue Belt and joined the likes of Gavin Hall, Owen Robinson, Kevin Williams and Simon Mairs as part of Black Belt Poker's latest batch of sponsored pros. Together, they set their sights on the live circuit, using their combined knowledge and team spirit to improve their game and bring home as much bacon as possible. Despite their gusto, results were mixed, a few final tables here and there, but no major titles. Then, one sunny day in Brighton, and only days after returning from Vegas, Jamie set the benchmark when he toppled the Czech Republic's Tomas Cibak to become the UKIPT's latest Champion.
A 25-year old former student, Jamie picked up the game in sixth form where he played for pennies at lunchtime and free periods. At Brighton University, he teamed up with friend and future housemate Ollie Noonan, who, together, ambushed the local £10 rebuy events and £1/2 cash games at the Grosvenor and Rendezvous Casinos. From there, they developed their game, moving onto virtual pastures and making their presence felt on the now defunct Tribeca network where they 'claim' to have made the $2 freezeout their own. Forward wind to 2010, and after just four months as a sponsored pro, Jamie had a trophy to place in the cupboard and a comedy cheque worth £65,400 to show his mum. As someone who had begun his poker career lugging around bags of change at college, Jamie was now the subject of the camera's flash and the latest entrant into the poker magazines.
Following his victory, and after the celebrations and hangovers had finally concluded, I decided to probe Black Belt Poker's latest hero with various questions about his victory, as well his experiences of Vegas and the Grading period:
Snoopy: Why did you sign up to the Grading process and what was your experience of the process?
Jamie Burland: One of my goals for 2010 was to get a sponsorship deal of some kind. I have a lot of friends who are pros, some who play completely for themselves and some who are staked for every tournament they play. I knew I had to find a deal which struck a balance and would make it a little bit harder to go broke. I enjoyed most parts of the Grading and feel that, through my own play and from the feedback from Neil and Nik, I was able to spot leaks in a way that wouldn't have happened in my usual routine of playing. The process really does test most of the disciplines you need to make it as a poker player. I've made some good friends out of it too which I guess is priceless... sometimes.
Snoopy: How did your Vegas trip come about and what were your feelings at the time?
JB: I was at home grinding some MTTs and as they fell by the wayside one by one, I found myself playing one $10 rebuy and browsing the news feed on Facebook. Neil's status that evening was interesting, something along the lines of: "If anybody wants me to put them into the Main Event that's no problem, you just have to be a Blue Belt or above on Black Belt Poker," so I texted Kevin [Williams] and basically asked if he thought Neil was serious. It turned out he was, and we spent the next 10 hours desparately trying to a) find a flight that could get us there in time, and b) get some scratch together so we weren't just living off our case while out there. 36 hours later we were hunting for Neil's table in the Amazon room at the Rio to pick up our buy-ins and give him a hug. OK, we didn't give him a hug, but I for one really wanted to. (By the way, I cashed for about $270 in the $10 rebuy - braaaagggggg)
Snoopy: Are you happy with how you played in the Main Event?
JB: On the whole I was happy with how I played in the Main Event. The only disappointing thing really is that I spent two and a half days grinding up from the 30,000 starting stack to my peak of 115,000, only to lose the whole lot in two hours. Along the way I think I played some spots really well, some not so well, dodged going broke in a couple of hands and missed bets in others.
Snoopy: Did the World Series meet your expectations?
JB: The event as a whole totally surpassed my expectations and was quite overwhelming. I think I managed to keep my cool but it is kind of surreal playing side by side with your poker heroes.
Snoopy: Did you play any famous players? What were your experiences of them?
JB: Speaking of poker heroes, I have a new one now: I had the pleasure of sitting with Layne Flack for the best part of Day 1. The guy is an absolute crack-up and completely changed the mood at my first table. I hope I get to play with him again, although watching him down five glasses of wine in the dinner break on Day 1, I doubt he'll remember me much.
Snoopy: What are your thoughts about the UKIPT events and the Tour as a whole?
JB: I've played two now, Nottingham and Brighton, and I think they are run really well. It's very hard to pick a flaw with anything from the starting stack, to the structure, even the amount of play each day seems pretty sensible. I think that's a good word for the people behind the Tour, actually: sensible.
Snoopy: What was the standard like?
JB: I would say from my two efforts, and from the reports I hear from Killarney, that the standard on the Tour isn't too overwhelming. You have to remember that for every travelling poker professional that goes to these events, there are probably two locals who are just happy to be there. I loved my starting table and was able to chip up quite early on. I did make quads twice in the first two levels, getting paid with both, which is obviously nice. I ended with 29,000 and spoke to Neil after his Day 1 who said his table was pretty tough and it was hard to find good spots. He finished with 74,000. Different class.
Snoopy: What was the key turning point in your Brighton win?
JB: Around half way through Day 2, with an average chip count of around 100,000, I had about 250,000 and got into a pot with Liam Flood. He had been very aggressive all day, way more than you'd expect from one of the old school players, I thought. He started the hand with about 105,000 and blinds of 1,500/3,000(300) and raised my big blind from the button to 8,000. I found pocket jacks and wanted to give him a chance to hang himself so made it 21,500 and was a little surprised to see him flat call. I really was expecting a shove or a fold but was pretty happy to see a 2-5-6 rainbow flop. I bet around 23,000 and Liam shoved with 4-4. I managed to hold and from there I felt comfortable and had a lot of room to manouvere.
I definately thought at that stage that I could go far in the tournament, although I think it deserves a mention that upon returning from Vegas my Facebook status read: "Unfortunately I didn't win $9MM in Las Vegas. Thanks to Black Belt Poker for the chance though. Back down to Brighton today for the UKIPT, I can't see myself not winning it tbh." Best status ever?
Snoopy: Is there a hand that you feel you played particularly well?
JB: I think I played two key hands in the heads-up pretty good. The final hand went to plan but it was a large pot a few hands earlier that I felt really broke my opponent. There were 3,500,000 chips in play and I had about 1,700,000, with blinds of 25,000/50,000. Tomas [Cibek] made it 105,000 from the button and I called with Q-8 off-suit. We both checked a 9-7-3 rainbow flop and I led 170,000 when a queen hit the turn. Tomas flat callled and at this stage I'm thinking its getting a bit wierd. He had been so aggressive until this stage and I was really surprised to see him check back the flop. I have to assign his range to monsters or small showdown value really as you'd be expecting him to bet all his air and value hands.
When he calls the turn, some drawing hands come into that range too and I think the 7 on the river is a pretty safe card if I was already ahead, so I elect to check to call. When Tomas reached deep and fired 700,000, all of a sudden those small showdown value A-7, K-7, 7-x type hands start to look like a big part of his range. I dwelled up for a while, as I was essentially calling off the tournament if I was wrong, but when I made the call and saw the anguish in his face it was a pretty good feeling and I felt I was a big favourite after that. Tomas turned out to be a great guy and partied with us until the early hours. He later told me that he had a J-T in that hand.
Snoopy: Who was your toughest opponent?
JB: There's no doubt that Tomas was the toughest opponent and, in my opinion, played better than anyone else with five tables to go down to three players. He took out all the other dangerous players one by one, it was really impressive to watch. Ollie Noonan, was watching from the rail and was particularly impressed with Tomas' relentless aggression. Rick Dacey commented that, "If you had a HUD on this guy, his three- and four-betting stats would be off the scale."
Snoopy: Did you just avoid him or modify your game to counter his game?
JB: I had to operate with Tomas directly to my left for most of Day 2 all the way down to the final and it was a great relief to draw good on the final table and have Tomas seated two seats to my right. With position on the most aggressive player on the table I was able to modify my game and kept my stack relevant by attacking the players clearly raising the two players on my left who were laddering in a big way.
Snoopy: What was going through your mind when that final card hit? How did you celebrate?
JB: I had to fade a few cards on the last hand, but when it bricked out I was really happy with what I'd achieved. I have friends who make a lot of money out of this game and they all refer back to that first major win as a big cornerstone. We celebrated pretty hard, I put Claire and Laura (Ollie and my girlfiend) in charge of champagne selection and we got through a fair few bottles before all heading back to my old housemate Dave's new Brighton pad. It was cool to have old friends, my girlfiend, Neil and my new Black Belt Poker brothers, and even Tomas come back to toast a job well done.
Snoopy: Has being part of a team assisted you in any way?
JB: It's certainly made it a lot easier to decide what to do with the money! In all seriousness, I owe this success entirely to being part of this team. My game has improved so much more in the last year having been a member of Black Belt Poker than in the three years before then, in the poker wilderness. Having people like Kevin and Owen [Robinson] as constants in every event I play in is invaluable as we cant help but learn from each other all the time. Neil's pretty useful too, he will reguarly spot something from the rail, and pull me over for a quiet word and give some priceless pearls of wisdom. This team is going places, mark my words.
Snoopy: How important was this win and does it change anything? What are you goals for the next six months?
JB: This win has changed everything. Aside from keeping the wolves from the door it now gives me a platform to build a proper poker career. I can now do things like bankroll management, instead of always playing with my case, which is nice. Judging from the amount of offers for backing and inquiries about selling future action I shouldn't have to worry about potential takers for a little while either. The next six months is simple, I'm going to work hard on my six-max online cash game and have already started talks with Heilko from DeucesCracked about a coaching program. My live tournament goals are easy too: get into the top three of the UKIPT leaderboard and talk to Vicky Coren about how to ship a million at the London EPT in October.
Brighton UKIPT Report
Brighton UKIPT Photos
For more interviews see:
Phil Ivey
Patrik Antonius
John Juanda
Tom Dwan
Ian Frazer
Annette Obrestad
James Akenhead
JP Kelly
Jason Mercier
Richard Ashby
Sammy George
Roland De Wolfe
Marty Smyth
Jake Cody
Karl Mahrenholz
Paul Zimbler
Kara Scott
John Kabbaj
Jeff Lisandro
Freddy Deeb
Barry Greenstein
Phil Laak
Shaun Deeb
Chris Moorman
Lex Veldhuis
Johnny Lodden
Isaac Haxton
Blue Belts:
Gavin Hall
Simon Mairs
Owen Robinson
Rob Jarrett-Smith