Few can boast sponsorship having barely played a live tournament, but that was an honour bestowed on Sam Holden as he waltzed his way through to the November Nine before collecting $782,115 for his close-but-no-bracelet-cigar ninth place finish. If vying for WSOP gold wasn’t illustrious enough, Sam would go on to win a trophy similarly rich in history and prestige when he became the latest Late Night Poker Champion for a cool $150,000. At just 22 tender years, the road remains long, and there’s surely even more to come. Tony clearly taught him well…
How did you prepare for the November Nine?
I looked through all the coverage that was available and took pretty extensive notes, but you've got to realise that the other players are going to be doing the same and will adjust from their previous play because they know that you may know how they used to play. It’s still helpful, and I did it, but I spent a lot of time talking to friends about certain spots too.
Generally speaking, my preparation revolved around finding the right mindset and making sure I was confident in how I going to play. I wanted to be ready for the whole hype of the occasion and just play my best game. I feel as though I achieved this.
Tell me about the days leading up to the final…
I had 40-odd people fly out with me who I knew, and then some friends of friends who came along as well. We ordered 40 wigs before we went out and dished them around, so that was fun. The support was fantastic, and what I was especially happy about was that everyone had a really good time, which made it a really cool experience despite the result. It would have been an absurd trip if I'd done better than I did, but having them out there was great even though I came eighth. It was a fantastic crowd, and I was very grateful for that.
Once I was in Vegas, there wasn’t too much to do. A lot of my responsibilities were taken up by a documentary that will be coming out in about a month or so, which was nice as it took my mind off everything and kept me busy. Other than that, we had a players' meeting where they debriefed us on what to expect, when we were needed, what we can and can't do, and so on - nothing particularly interesting at all. There was a bit of press here and there and I received a few phone calls for random radio interviews and stuff like that. It was cool that people were taking an interest.
I was relatively friendly with the other finalists; they’re really nice guys. We’d bump into each other in the Rio a fair amount during the few days beforehand and would shake hands and make small talk, but I didn’t spend hours and hours with them or anything. I think some of the others were closer, like Anton [Makiievskyi] and Ben Lamb, although I have caught up with a few of them since and shared a few drinks.
Did you have any strategies?
I was just taking it hand by hand, and trying to play each hand as best as I could, which is what I try to do in all poker. Everyone played pretty tight during the early stages, so perhaps I could have pushed the aggression factor a little more, but in the end I didn't have very many marginal hands and virtually all of my decisions were relatively straightforward.
It’s impossible not to factor in the pay jumps and consider laddering, but although the figures are bigger than anything else I’ve played before, it shouldn’t change your strategy too much. If I focused on laddering, then I'd definitely be giving away equity and significantly lowering my chances of winning. Although you make life leafier for yourself by coming eighth or seventh, you're giving away money in the long run, which wasn't really what I wanted to do. I just wanted to play each hand optimally and finish as high as I could. Hopefully I managed to play my stack well regardless of the money involved and didn’t let it affect me negatively.
Any regrets?
My last hand is still marginal perhaps, although I've received way more feedback saying it's standard than I have questioning my play.
[With blinds at 400,000/800,000, Ben Lamb raised to 1,700,000 from under the gun with A-K; Sam shoved all in from the small blind for 11,125,000 with A-J.]
It's entirely dependent on how light Ben Lamb was opening in the hand. The only reason I question it is because he was playing quite tight up until that point, and stack sizes dictated that he should play tight from early position, but as the hand played out, I thought he’d be aware of this image, and people open wider from early position these days. I don’t think it’s ever bad; it’s either marginal or fine.
When I was out, I was certainly disappointed, and initially worried that I’d punted my stack, but in hindsight I’m happy with my play, and also have no regrets on any other hands I played. As soon as it happens though, you can’t help but think, ‘Oh my God, what have I done?’ but it’s hard to think clearly in the moment.
I had to do a few interviews after I busted, but then I went back to my room for an hour or two. It was quite nice to be able to chill out and let it sink in before going off to celebrate/commiserate. At the end of the day, you have to remind yourself constantly that you're very lucky to have come ninth. You just have to be happy with that.
What’s the payment process?
They wire you the minimum amount before the final, and we received that in July effectively, although it took a while for me to sort mine out as I had to set up some different bank accounts. In November I didn't have any banking issues to worry about [smiles].
It’s strange for sure, and completely bizarre to go into a bank and talk to people about those kinds of numbers. They couldn’t believe it, let alone me. I also had quite a few backers, so making those transfers was interesting. I paid those guys before the final, otherwise I might have spent the money. [laughs].
How has life changed?
Life's certainly more comfortable, and trips like the one I'm currently on in Australia are much more feasible. Playing the bigger tournaments regularly is a big change, otherwise I'd be grinding a lot more online. I’m recognised a bit, mostly around poker tournaments and casinos and such forth, but sometimes on the street too, which is cool. I think that’s probably more to do with Late Night Poker than the World Series though. It’s all pretty crazy. I’ve even signed a few autographs, although I’m not too sure why people would want it.
I don't think things have changed too much overall, except now I have a bit more money. I moved to London in September, and it was nice to be able to afford somewhere decent as it’s a pretty expensive place accommodation wise. I'm living around Canary Wharf at the moment, which is very nice, but it's just a temporary move and I'm looking for somewhere more permanent.
What other tournaments have you played?
I've had a sort of a medium schedule. I played the World Series of Poker Europe in Cannes, WPT Paris, and EPT London, and then I played the GUKPT Grand Final after November Nine. And WPT Ireland earlier this month, and now Australia, so I've played a decent amount I guess.
The only good result I had was in Late Night Poker. Other than that, I haven't cashed in any big tournaments, but I definitely feel like I've held my own having come from a background of not playing many of them, which has been encouraging. It's been a lot of fun, and a great experience.
What was Late Night Poker like?
I think my first contact with poker was seeing it on TV, and I'm pretty sure it was Late Night Poker, so it was very cool seeing all the names on the trophies, the clips from previous series, and so on. I try to be laid-back about the cameras and I guess I’m more used to it now. I don’t like the idea of doing it, but once I’m in the moment I just roll with it. Poker-wise, I never feel too nervous, and don't worry about how I play just because other people are going to see it.
It's a shootout format, and in the first round the top two went through, so I didn't have a game plan or anything, and I try not to do that too much in poker. My strategy is very dependent on what other players do, so I went in with a pretty open mind and not completely knowing what to expect. Although there were no antes, the structure was pretty quick, and the levels short, so there wasn't too much play, especially in the first round. But that played to my strengths in a way as I'm pretty confident of my push-or-fold game.
On my first table, I had Toby Lewis on my right and Matt Perrins on my left, and I figured they'd be my toughest opponents, being online guys, with what I’d imagine are very good fundamentals. I was lucky in that they were the first to bust from my heat, and I think that was a massive break that enabled me to sort of control the table a little without having them causing me trouble. They were the people I was looking out for in the first round, but in the second round, there were several strong players. Anyone who got through to the final had obviously done something right.
Luke [Schwartz] had one moment of frustration towards me in the final where we were both short and I kept three-bet shoving on his opens, which annoyed him a little. He was happy playing me at deep-stack poker - and I'm sure he'd have quite an edge - so he said something along the lines of: ‘Have you ever played post-flop before?' and I just laughed. After the game, he was very gracious and said well played, and we got on pretty well. I don't tend to pick fights with anyone, so it was all good fun and part of poker.
How do you motivate yourself for the smaller tournaments?
It's not too hard. And The £500 or less tournaments are still a decent amount of money, so I try to be relatively realistic. To be honest, I never play live poker unless I'm likely to enjoy it, and it's about enjoying the game, and embracing the competition. I don't play much live poker, so if I was grinding £100 tournaments every week, then I think I'd feel pretty unmotivated compared to what happened last year, but playing them now and again and having fun with it is what poker should be about.
Do you feel any pressure as a sponsored pro?
[Sam signed with 888.com after making the November Nine.]
No, I don't. I guess the whole being patched up thing has very little to do with your ability; it's more about marketability. At the end of the day, I’m going to play to win regardless, so all I can do is try my best. There’s a little pressure in terms of being a face for the site, but I’m pretty chilled out and like to think that my natural self is a good representative of the brand.
How’s life in Australia?
I've been sort of wandering around Melbourne really. I went to the cricket for a Twenty20 competition. It was at the MCG [Melbourne Cricket Ground], which is a massive ground, so that was pretty cool. I'm going to the tennis tomorrow and have got tickets for the ladies' semi-finals. I would have loved to have seen a Murray match being British, but the tickets are pretty hard to come by. I've never been to Australia before, so it's a new experience for me, and I must say I've been more impressed than I expected. It's a really fun city.
In terms of poker, I’ve been grinding out some money in the cash games, but the tournaments haven’t gone well. I busted out of the Main Event on Day 1, which was annoying, but I had a tough starting table with Sebastian Ruthenberg, David Vamplew and a couple of online guys who seemed pretty good as well. Given the weakness of the field in general, it was a little frustrating, as there’s a lot of value over here, which surprised me.
There’s a lot of variance in the table draw, and in Vegas I had very soft tables for the first couple of days. Having said that, I think I got myself in some spots in this one that were a bit unnecessary, when I could have waited it out a bit and not taken the difficult lines I did. If you’re in a tough situation with players, or in spots when you’re card dead, there's nothing wrong with waiting, especially if the tournament has a good structure.
What do you have lined up for the immediate future?
I leave here [Melbourne] on the 28th, and get back on the 29th. I don't have any plans really. I'm playing a lot of the 888.com Superstacks, and I'm going to go to the Super Poker event in Dublin, and that's the weekend after UKIPT Galway, so I might go to that as well and spend 10 days in Ireland.
Most of my day-to-day poker will be online with a live tournament here and there. I might play live cash if I really feel like it, but I’m not much of a live cash game player, so will focus on online MTTs, which is what I was doing before. I don’t plan to travel as much as other guys; I’m content with just taking the occasional shots and trying to get back to making a living online, which I haven’t really been doing over the last six months.
How about Vegas?
I'll definitely be going back. I reckon I’ll go for three or four weeks, maybe a little longer. I don’t fancy spending the whole two months over there. Maybe one day if I get a craving for live poker, I’ll go out for longer, but playing the whole Series is too much for me at the moment, especially if things start going badly.
I’ll play a lot of the side events, mainly No Limit as I’m not very good at the other games. My main objective is to have fun and enjoy the trip, but I’ll also take some shots and can hopefully run well again.
What would make you content in 12 months' time?
If I felt like I was playing better than I am now relative to every one else then I’d be happy. Obviously there's a natural grain of improvement amongst all winning players, but if I feel like I'm more profitable in every tournament I play - which is very difficult to quantify – and have a bigger edge on the fields, then I’d be satisfied. I don't like to set targets like winning a big live tournament because there’s so much variance involved in that. A lot of my goals surround doing well online and making sure I still enjoy the game.
I want to put quite a lot of work into my game still because I feel like there are a lot of guys who I can learn from and are better than me, frankly. Right now, I'm really keen to get back and improve my game.
Any aspects in particular?
Perhaps consistency. I think my thought process is decent a lot of the time, but I make a few errors. Right now I feel a bit rusty, and I've barely played or even thought about poker over the last few months since November, so I'm a little out of practice. In general, deep-stack play is always my least experienced aspect and I know my all-round game can be improved.
I think I’m good at staying levelheaded, not tilting and thinking things through relatively rationally. I’m able to process information without being influenced by other factors. Having said that, I’m pretty self-critical and quickly realise when I'm making mistakes or playing badly, so hopefully I can do something about improving some of my weaker areas.
Our New Year Reviews will continue throughout January and appear every two days.
#1 - JP Kelly
#2 - Roberto Romanello
#3 - Daniel 'jungleman12' Cates
#4 - James Keys
#5 - Julian Thew
#6 - Jerome Bradpiece
#7 - Rupert Elder
#8 - Barny Boatman
#9 - Jake Cody
#10 - Sam Razavi
#11 - Sam Trickett
#12 - Zimnan Ziyard