Previous Best of British Interviews...
#1: Kara Scott
#2: Adam York
Name: Jamie Brown
Position: 89th
Prize: $57,991
BoB Ranking: 4th
Snoopy: Despite your GUKPT success, you don’t make too many appearances in tournaments…
Jamie Brown: I am mainly an online cash game player so I prefer to concentrate on that. I play $25/50 No Limit Hold’em on Party, Stars and Full Tilt. I only really play tournaments at the WSOP or when they are local to me.
Snoopy: Was this your first trip to Vegas? What are your overall views of the World Series of Poker?
JB: No, this was my third year at the WSOP, the previous two years I busted Day One of the Main Event. I think the tournament fields were quite a bit tougher this year, in the side events that is - the Main Event was ridiculously soft as always.
Snoopy: Did you buy in for the Main Event or qualify online?
JB: Bought in direct.
Snoopy: Did you go in with any set plans or general strategies?
JB: My general strategy going in to the Main Event was to play as smallball as possible and to see lots of flops against any weaker players at the table. Because of my cash game experience, I have a big edge against most of the field post-flop, so I want to keep the stacks as deep as possible. Also I think in these deep stacked tournaments you want to minimise your chances of going broke early in the tournament, so should look to control the size of the pot any time you can. I didn’t make a single three-bet on Day One and only started three-betting on Day Two once I had a big stack.
Snoopy: You were one of the chip leaders at the end of Day Two? Were there any key hands that you attribute this to?
JB: At the start of the level before dinner break on Day Two, I was down from around 70,000 to around 40,000, then I played several key hands against some young tournament player with a big stack who was trying to control the table. The first one I ended up calling off almost my whole stack in a three-bet pot when I hit a pair on the river (I called his three-bet in position, he continuation bet the flop, I floated, he check-called turn, I hit a pair on the river and he led out for a big bet - his line didn’t make any sense with how we had played against each other up to that point so I called and was good).
Then I proceeded to take around 75 percent of his big stack over the period of several pots against him, one of which I made a big overbet with top pair on the river knowing he would read my hand as a missed draw/bluff, and because he was a bit tilted he was very likely to look me up with the second/third pair type hand I put him on. I also hit a couple of sets and got paid off each time, and then the whole table just gave up and let me run over it for an hour or two where I chipped right up.
Snoopy: You seemed to find it more difficult to increase your stack from there on in. Did you make some slip-ups or did the cards simply run cold?
JB: For most of Day Three I ran really bad. I got drawn with one of the other Day Two chip leaders and won a nice pot off him early on. He then proceeded to spew off a decent amount of his chips across the table. Unfortunately, I got one-outed all in for a big pot against him which would have put me as clear chip leader of the tournament. I ran pretty bad from there until the end of the day but still had a nice stack going into Day Four.
On Day Four I got drawn with an absolutely nuts player with a huge stack who played like 80 percent of his hands as we were on the bubble - he spewed off chips to the rest of the table but I lost almost every pot we played together and ended the day below average stack. Day Five I grinded the short stack for a lot of the day and after a lot of patience got to one million chips to take into Day Six.
Snoopy: What were your experiences of the bubble period? How important was making the money?
JB: The bubble period was ridiculous. Everyone on my table was playing super tight, apart from the maniac with a monster stack who was doubling up the other guys whenever they had hands. I didn’t manage to build any chips because there was no other way to play that guy than simply to wait for him to spew onto you. Unfortunately I never hit a pair or high card to catch him with! I think it took like one hour or something to lose the last player, we were so bored during hand-for-hand that four of us started playing ‘Lodden Thinks’ for most of it. Busting out on the bubble would’ve been frustrating after playing for three and a half days, but it wouldn’t have bothered me as long as my bust-out hand was optimal.
Snoopy: Who were the best players you came up against? What were your experiences of them?
JB: I got really lucky with my table draws the whole way through and had fairly weak tables for most of the tournament. I played with Antonio Esfandiari for about an hour at the end of Day Four; he seemed to play pretty well.
Snoopy: Are there any pros who you didn’t think played as well as their reputation suggests?
JB: David Benyamine was on my table on Day Six - he played real nitty then did off a big stack with aces in a single raised pot when it was clear the other guy had a set.
Snoopy: What was your final hand, or what led to your exit from the tournament?
JB: Darvin Moon (the final table chip leader) raised in middle position to 80,000, the cut-off, I think, three-bet to around 175,000 (he had about 500-600,000), but he didn’t look like he was too comfortable with his hand to me. I had K-K on the button, and around 1.8 million chips; Darvin had like 6 million or something ridiculous and was chip leader. I ended up making it 375,000 or so, and Darvin was like, “Wow”, thought for a bit and made it a million straight.
It was a real tough spot for me because it was clear Darvin was a home game donk. He said when he came to the table that on his last table he had a hand where he put in the fourth bet or something (which was about 80 percent of the other guy’s stack) with K-K versus some young guy who then went all in, and Darvin folded his K-K when obviously he was completely committed. Also, he was staring me down, which, from real donks, normally means either they are bluffing or have some sort of concern about what you are going to do. Therefore I couldn’t be sure whether he might do this with A-K, Q-Q, J-J, etc, so I ended up putting it all in, and hoping for the best. He had A-A and I was out.
Snoopy: What is the toughest challenge you encounter in the Main Event?
JB: Just staying patient and playing every hand well for hours and hours day after day. I was a lot better prepared for that this year though as I played a lot of the side events and so was used to playing 10-hour days. I think this really helped me towards the end of each day as I was still feeling fresh and able to play my normal game playing lots of hands while lots of people were tiring.
Snoopy: Were you disappointed with your 89th place finish in the end?
JB: Yes, I still think about it every day, coming that close to a big score and busting out is so crushing. My EV before my bust-out hand was probably close to $300-400,00 or something, and to go from that to cashing for $58,000 is just brutal. Also, because I play $25/50 online, $58,000 can come and go in a very short space of time so it doesn’t really mean a lot. None of my horses cashed in anything for the whole month as well so a big score would have been nice!
Snoopy: What is it about your game that has seen you excel in tournaments?
JB: I used to play a lot of tournaments before I started playing cash games, so I have a pretty good understanding of the ABC tournament strategy that most tournament players use. Cash games have made me a much better player though and given me the ability to exploit what the majority of these tournament fields are doing.
Snoopy: Considering your success, will you be playing more tournaments?
JB: I am staying in San Francisco with friends until next summer, so it’s unlikely I’ll be playing any GUKPTs in the near future (which is a shame because they are so soft!) I am flying back in September/October for the WSOPE Main Event and EPT London though, and I’m planning on playing a few WPTs while I’m in the States, starting with the Legends Of Poker at the Bike in L.A. at the end of August.
Jamie Brown is a friend of Black Belt Poker and is a signed member with a profile page.