British EPT winners are like buses; you spend ages waiting for one to arrive, and when it does, it’s tailed by not one, but a whole line of the bloomin’ things. 2010 had already seen more UK talent snap up EPT gold than all prior seasons combined (please don’t research that): Jake Cody won in Deauville, Liv Boeree reigned supreme in San Remo, Toby Lewis triumphed in Vilamoura, and, for the sake of diversity, we even threw a Scot and a Welshmen into the mix as David Vamplew and Roberto Romanello took down London and Prague.
In comparison, 2011 was rather more sparse, and despite the sterling efforts of John Eames in Copenhagen, British presence in the latter stages was rarer than a Haley’s Comet sighting. Was it a fluke? Did we just run-good? Well, the madness of poker is that you’ll never know, but just as we were doubting our talents, smiley, impossible-to-dislike Rupert Elder swept in from seemingly nowhere to put the good ol’ U of K back on the EPT map.
Ironically, Rupert’s experience in high-buy – or, for that matter, live – tournaments was far from extensive and despite a colourful and flag-eclectic Hendon Mob entry that would make a rainbow look dull, he could only boast a handful of events over 5K. Yet, armed with a cucumber-cool exterior, and his comprehensive experience/talent amid the online world (yes, at just 24, he’s a near veteran of the virtual felt), he was able to wade effortlessly through the 987-thick San Remo field before echoing Boeree’s achievement of last year and holding that sparkling trophy aloft.
“I want to know more about this Elder chap!” I hear you shout. Well, I think I may be of service.
Snoopy: Wow, what is it with the Brits and EPTs lately? Is it just coincidence?
Rupert Elder: It's really awesome having a group of friends who are all binking. While I think all the young Brits are very skilled players, a lot of it does have to be put down to variance since we are definitely winning more than our fair share at the moment. There is an incredible amount of variance in live poker so even if this streak of British people winning goes on for another year, then I still wouldn't think it proves that we are 10 times better than other nations or something.
Snoopy: Who do you predict to be the next British success story?
RE: I think Chris Brammer is probably due a live score, but I don't think he can be the next success story when he's already doing pretty damn well online!
Snoopy: Do you have a circle of friends within the game?
RE: I have a pretty big network of friends actually. The group I hang around with the most is James Keys, Andrew Teng, Jack Powell and Scott O'Reilly – we’re actually staying together in Vegas and had a house in Australia, as well as sharing at various legs on the tournament trail.
Snoopy: In ways do you help each other out?
RE: We talk about hands and overall strategy a lot, which is obviously important. Andy [Teng], in particular, is an expert on when to stall and can hold a long discussion on how smelling at the table is very plus EV.
Snoopy: That’s one very multi-couloured Hendon Mob. Is travelling important to you?
RE: I love going to different places, the travelling itself, not so much. I think it's important to see different places as well as meet new people; it keeps you well rooted and it's pretty awesome in general!
Snoopy: What is your favourite place you have played in?
RE: It’s an appalling answer, but my fave casino is the G Casino in Coventry! I went to Uni at Warwick so that was our local and I have a lot of fond memories of that place. Also, it's a really nice casino and massive for the UK.
Snoopy: Why have you not played more big live events, and was this lack of experience much of a hurdle at all?
RE: I just can't be bothered really. I don't think the PokerStars satellites are that soft and although I have a ridiculous success rate in the iPoker/OnGame sats, they're mostly for tournaments I don't want to play, like APT Manila for example.
Snoopy: What do you think of the standard of EPTs and how does it compare to online tournaments? Are the dynamics a lot different?
RE: The dynamics are definitely very different. Firstly, you get way more straight up animals who just go absolutely nuts on the three-/four-/five-betting. Secondly, the fish are far easier to read and put on hands, probably because I'm concentrating more. Thirdly, most of the time we are super deep, which suits players with better hand-reading abilities. Overall, I've only played EPT Berlin/San Remo/Madrid and they were all decent value. Madrid was probably the toughest live tournament I've ever played, but that doesn't say too much.
Snoopy: You seemed to have a steady tournament graph. Were there any key hands?
RE: There were lots of key hands. On the direct money bubble, I five-bet jammed A-Q into K-K and won. Early on Day 5, I cold four-bet-called A-A vs. A-K and won for a huge pot. I also flopped a straight with 6-2 suited when I raised the button and the small blind called three streets all-in with A-5 on a 3-4-5-T-x board. Then, at the final table, I won K-K vs. Q-Q.
So, unsurprisingly, yes, I ran really hot in all-in pots in order to win the tournament. At the final table, as Neil Channing says, I just sat around and every now and then stood up and shook someone’s hand. That was pretty much my strategy: wait for everyone to bust then try and own those remaining.
Snoopy: Are there any hands that went pear-shaped?
RE: One that went pear-shaped was when I was three-handed vs. Max [Heinzelmann]. He raised the button and I defended with Q-8 suited. The flop was A-A-9 and I check-raised. He called, the turn was a blank and I barreled. The river was another blank and I jammed and he called.
This was by far the worst hand I played all tournament. My exact thinking at the time was that I'm going to get him to fold kings or worse by the river, which might be true, especially with the dynamic at the time where I had a pretty tight image and had always shown down strong hands, but I’m just repping very few hands and have very little pot equity anyway. So, yeah, that's the main hand I regret about the tournament.
Snoopy: On the flip side, was there a hand that you think you played particularly well?
The best hand I played was probably heads-up and it was a super interesting hand. I raised preflop with K-8 suited and Max called. The flop was Qh-Jc-Js, one of my suit, and we both checked. The turn came the Kc and Max bet 175,000 into around 600,000. I raised to 650,000, he reraised to about 1.7 million total and I called. The river was the Ts and Max bet like 3.2 million into 4 million, I called and he mucked.
The flop play is relatively standard; sometimes I c-bet, sometimes I check back. The turn play gets pretty absurd though as he can be bluffing some hands as well as value-betting a king or queen thinly, and possibly a jack, although I’d expect him to bet bigger. I think the standard line is to call and reevaluate on the river, but it makes my hand fairly transparent as a weak king or queen, so I raised. First of all, I'm repping pretty much nothing; secondly, I can have so many draws/complete bluffs if I just think he's weak.
So, I basically raised to induce a spaz, which came when he three-bet the turn. On the river, it's actually a pretty bad card for me since he can definitely be three-bet bluffing with a lot of ace highs, but I just felt the fact that I was repping such a bad hand, and that it is a good card for him to bluff, led me to call.
Snoopy: If you don't mind me asking, how much of yourself did you have in the event? Was it just to lower the variance?
RE: I had 34 percent. It's very simple: I could afford to play a €2,000 tournament but not a €5,000 tournament, so if I didn't sell 55 percent and swap 11 percent then I wouldn't have played. It's not especially to lower variance; it's just that there's no way I was rolled for the tournament without selling.
Snoopy: What did you think of the final table line-up and who were you wary of the most?
RE: Well, Max was on my direct left and we both had the chip lead, so that was definitely a bit annoying. But he's a smart guy, so he knew I'd have to tighten up because of this and we didn't really get in many battles until we were three-handed. Xuan Liu and Max Lykov are also good players. Lykov never really got going, so didn't become an issue, but Xuan chipped up pretty early which was a bit annoying.
Snoopy: What were you thoughts and strategies heading into the final table? Were you nervous at all?
RE: I wasn't especially nervous for some reason; it was more at the end of each Day when I was pretty nervous and I didn't sleep too well for the last couple of days. My main strategy was to wait for people to bust since I had absolutely no reason to play a big pot without a strong hand.
Snoopy: This was Max Heinzelmann's second consecutive runner-up finish. How did he play and what were your strategies against him?
RE: He plays very well and is very aggressive. My main strategy was to try and run good. This strategy worked well when I binked the ace on the river. I just did my best to try and exploit him and there were at least three pretty sick hands where I was really happy with how I played.
Snoopy: What do you intend to do with your winnings? Are you baller?
RE: I'm a massive baller if squirreling most of it away is ballin! I'm a fairly big nit when it comes to large purchases. Some days I'd comfortably spend £1,000 on clothes - which is still pretty absurd for me - but there is no chance you will see me paying a load for a car.
Snoopy: Will what you play online change?
RE: What I play online will remain the same, although I might play a few bigger tournies. The cash games are so ability-based that I'm going to stick with $2/4 to $5/10 for now.
Snoopy: What changes have you witnessed since Black Friday and has it had any effect to your day-to-day at all?
RE: It's business as usual for me. The games are still there, there's just less Americans and the tournament fields are smaller. It definitely sucks for everyone, but the games are a touch softer now so I'm not complaining much at all.
Snoopy: What are your plans for Vegas? How do you think Black Friday will affect the WSOP?
RE: Six weeks of trying to win a bracelet! Numbers will probably be down but I don't know if it will be hurting too much as the US guys have no option but play live, so I don't see why they'd miss this.
Snoopy: I read that you wanted to be a "computer programmer or trader". Is this still a goal, or is poker now your full-time career going forward?
RE: No, I'm happy with poker. I never really wanted to be a computer programmer; I don't think anyone does, and trading seems awfully stressful compared to poker. If I reached 60 and was still playing poker and enjoying it, I'd be very happy. I love the challenge, the mind games and the strategy, as well as all the awesome people on the tour.
You can follow Rupert's progress through the world of poker via his ever-popular blog : http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/relder/
Other Interviews:
Phil Ivey
Patrik Antonius
John Juanda
Tom Dwan
Ian Frazer
Annette Obrestad
James Akenhead
JP Kelly
Jason Mercier
Richard Ashby
Richard Ashby #2
Redmond Lee
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
Toby Lewis
Isaac Haxton
Yevgeniy Timoshenko
Jon Spinks
John Racener
Nik Persaud
Michael Piper
James Keys
Alan Hansen
Dusty Schmidt
BBP sponsored pros:
Gavin Hall
Simon Mairs
Jamie Burland
Owen Robinson
Rob Jarrett-Smith
Adam Unwin
Tom Drew
Sam Razavi
Adam Stoneham