Breaks in the Big Game were numerous, but brief, and if I were to prise a few words out of any of the contestants, I’d have to be quick. On Day Two, when eyelids were becoming heavy and faces beginning to sag, I spotted Isaac Haxton perched on a nearby couch, likely utilising those valuable minutes to reach a more serene plane, free of any talk of poker or analysis of hands. As a journalist, I had no choice but to scupper those plans.
Just as I was approaching, Dictaphone protruding from hand, Isaac curled up on the sofa and braced himself for 20 winks. I added a spring to my step: “Hey, you look like you’re getting ready for a nap, but I just wondered if I could ask you a few questions first.” “Sure,” he replied, happy to oblige.
“This is actually the first televised cash game I’ve played in,” he confesses, speaking with a swift, efficient tone that I’d become accustomed to with bright, young players. “In terms of value, it would certainly be more profitable to stay online. It’s hard to say that I’m expecting to make much money in the 200, at most, hands, and that I’m going to play enough poker to justify the 10 hours each way on the plane, hotel, and all that, but, I thought it would be fun, and it’s always good to get on TV.
“Now that I’m here,” he continues, “I’m glad I’ve come, because it’s a fun group, and I’ve enjoyed hanging out with them. Funny enough, I actually said to play ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ by Nirvana for my entrance music, but when I got here and started walking in, they were playing Basket Case by Greenday, which I didn’t choose. They did ask me what I wanted, and I told them, but it ended up being something else.”
If you were to outline the background of a young, poker whiz, then you’d probably end up with the story of Isaac Haxton. It could be said that Isaac provides the spine for the plethora of poker prodigies that have ambushed the modern game. To many, he’s a geek: playing chess by four, Magic: The Gathering by 10, and poker by 18. And each one played at to the level of someone both older, and wiser in years. Isaac wasn’t just bright; he had an undeniable talent for strategy-based games and the explosion of poker enabled him to take advantage of that innate skill.
In 2007, Isaac shot to fame when he finalled the 2007 Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure, finishing second to Ryan Daut for an $861,789 payday. One hand in particular caught many an eye: with the blinds at 100,000 and 200,000, Daut limped with 7s-5c and Haxton checked with 3d-2d. On the As-Qh-4h flop, Isaac checked, Daut continuation bet 300,000, and Isaac called. After both players had checked the Kd turn, Isaac led for 700,000 on the Qc river. Sensing weakness, Daut raised to 2 million, a bluff which would normally win the pot. But Isaac had other ideas, and after pushing in the rest of his 6.5 million stack, Daut relinquished his hand.
It’s possible that he simply got lucky with a random play, but Isaac is without doubt one of the most astute, analytical players in the game, and it was his ability to decipher the hand that enabled him to make the play. Aware of this capability, I felt obliged to ask him about a couple of the hands he’d played in today’s Big Game, one against local player Ellis Reuben, a prominent presence in some of the Capital’s highest staked games.
Having raised it up preflop with As-Ac, Isaac and Reuben (limp-calling with 6s-6c) saw a 3c-6d-Th flop. Haxton flat called bets of £1,000, and £3,000 on the 5h turn, before calling, albeit hesitantly, an £18,975 all-in on the Kc river. “That deep, I didn't feel it made a lot of sense to raise and try and get all the money in on the flop,” he explains, “unless he's going to do something crazy: three-bet, five-bet and get it in with a gutshot. I'm not getting it in ahead by raising so I just figured I'd call and let him bluff or value bet a worse hand. My intention was to call it down; the board would have had to have come out really bad for me to consider folding, or he could overbet huge.”
“As it played out,” he continues, “I thought for a bit about folding the river, but made the call. During the hand, I wasn't sure if his range would be polarised on the end or if he was capable of value betting all in on a wider range. I definitely thought I'd see a bluff some of the time, I definitely thought I'd see two pair or a set some of the time, but I really couldn't decide if I'd ever see a value bet from something like A-K or K-Q. It couldn't be much weaker than a king, it would be just ridiculous for the bet to be that size. So mostly, I thought I was beating a bluff if anything.”
Regardless of his reputation, the Big Game IV was a fruitless experience for Isaac. He made some good moves and impressed anyone who entered the commentary booth (he was also considered a danger man and duly voted off the table), but on this occasion, it just wasn’t his day (or days). One hand that contributed to his downfall was A-K versus the Q-Q of David ‘Viffer’ Peat, Isaac four-betting preflop before continuation betting and calling all in on a 10 high flop.
“In the A-K hand,” he starts. “I thought his range was pretty wide as he’d been playing aggressive throughout the game. I definitely wasn’t folding, and I was confident I had overcards, so I made the call. I thought there was a chance that I even had the best hand a decent amount of the time. I’ve played with Viffer in the past, and I’d more or less say that he’s lived up to expectations. He can give off an image of being more reckless than he actually is, but I think he's quite good, underrated for sure.”
Being his first game in front of the cameras, it’s easy to assume that Isaac’s experience at this level and against these type of opponents is severely limit, to an extent, perhaps, where he could be described as an ‘underdog’, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Planting an initial seed of $50 into Ultimate Bet, Isaac’s account blossomed into a monetary behemoth, online profits in cash games alone showing above the one million mark. He currently plays under the moniker ‘luvtheWNBA’ (WNBA, I can only assume, being a reference to the Womens National Basketball Association), making his primary living at the $25/50 and $50/100 heads-up No Limit Hold’em stakes on Full Tilt with occasional jumps up to levels as high as $500/1,000. According to PokerTableRatings.com, Isaac Haxton is ‘on fire’.
Although Isaac has played with the likes of Viffer, Neil Channing, and Phil Laak before, one Big Game IV participant who he has perhaps clashed with the most is friend and fellow online phenomenon Justin Bonomo. “Playing against Justin is always an interesting challenge,” divulges Isaac when asked to identify the trickiest player at the table, “mainly because we talk about poker so much and we've played a decent amount against each other. We both really know a lot about each other’s games and the way we play, which makes any pots we play together much more complicated.”
Like Bonomo, Isaac has established himself as much more than just an ‘online pro’, and his PCA score was far from a fluke. In fact, in less than three years, Isaac has collated circa $2.5 million in live tournament winnings from a small pool of live appearances, including sixth in the 2008 EPT High Rollers event and four WSOP finals, one of which was second place in last year’s one-off $40,000 No Limit Hold’em freezeout. Of course, he’s still only 24.
I ask Isaac how he’s coping with the different stipulations, assuming that it might be something more suited to the live pros: “They started the seven-deuce rule right after I left the first day,” he replies, “and it hasn't been on today. They must know how good I am at the seven-deuce game, so they're dodging me. The extra £1,000 that goes into the PokerNews hands has to make a difference as the pot is 10 times as big or whatever. I think people have actually been handling it very well though. It's not too hard to adjust and understand and play differently. It's a game full of smart players, and I think people are adjusting well. There's a lot of limping, if someone raises, it'll be a big raise. It's very much like playing a game with a big ante.”
“I could probably be bluffing a bit more in this game I reckon,” he digresses. “I haven't really had a lot of spots to make big bluffs. There was that Q-J hand [Isaac was all in on the river with four to a straight despite there being a flush on the board] where I moved in for a big overbet, but it's not that big a play because I have the queen of hearts blocker, so he never has the flush with the queen. I chop all the straights, so I just think I'm almost never behind.”
On that note, the players were called back to the tables, and despite his nap being stolen before him and fellow players still wiping the sleep from their eyes, Isaac leapt from the sofa like an epileptic salmon to rejoin the game, mustard keen to recuperate the minor losses he’d suffered thus far. These days, Isaac no longer bears the long, brown locks that conquered the Bahamian felt, instead transforming his image into something more reflective of his talents: from grunge-like rock star to reservedly cool guitarist, John Lennon to Graham Coxon, unpredictable rebel to computer geek. But whatever his appearance, Isaac has always been one of the most calm and collected young players in the game, ruffled by nothing, and always capable of maintaining his discipline and making decisions unhampered by external distractions. From watching the action in the commentary booth, he rarely makes a mistake.
Isaac might be labelled by the old guard as just another ‘Internet kid’, but he’s mature beyond his years, and despite following a familiar route - a teenage wonder kid who took time off school to earn his millions – provides a good role model for young, up and coming players looking to follow in his footsteps in both the way he plays, and the way he presents himself as a person. When asked if he thought someone was a good player, the late Chip Reese once said, “Ask me in 20 years and I’ll tell you.” If he keeps playing poker, then Isaac Haxton might be one of the few to fit that mould.