If you're the kind of poker fan that keeps a close eye on
worldwide tournament results, you'll likely recognize the name Kitty
Kuo.
A fourth-place finish at WPT Malta
last year. Twenty-eighth in the 2012 WSOPE Main Event. An impressive
17th at this year's Aussie Millions Main Event. Twenty-second at last
month's EPT London.
Almost every tournament she plays lately it seems she makes a deep run ... but still falls just shy of the big payday.
We think that might change at the upcoming World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific.
Catching up with her at EPT London last month, PokerListings France's
Fred Guillemot found out a bit more about the lady in pink - and how
she got so good at tournament poker marked cards.
We often see you at the tournaments but we don't know much about you…
I don't normally give interviews, at least until I've won a big tournament.
You don't like interviews?
No, no, I do. But I want to wait until I win something big. I want people to know about me because of my achievements.
So how long have you been playing poker?
I lived in Macau for one year, and I lived in Las Vegas for three
years. Now I'm back in Macau because of the restrictions and play cash
games there. But most of the time I travel and play tournaments.
Would you say you're more of a tournament or cash game player?
I'd say I'm a tournament player 85% of the time. But most of the time
I play online. But since cash games in Macau are very good, I play them
when I don't have any tournament scheduled.
What's playing poker in China like?
Playing poker in China is amazing. If you play at $5/$10 or $10/$20, you can win 5 or 7 thousand dollars, it's very easy.
And since life in general is very cheap in Macau and the cash games
are easy, all my friends live there. Not to mention that you can play
online in Macau and not in the US.
I'd say that I spend 30% of my time in Macau, 20% in Las Vegas and 50% travelling.
How did you discover poker?
I was studying in Canada and went to Macau on vacation. I won a big
tournament while I was there, a PokerStars tournament, and then I just
kept on winning.
I played in Macau for one year. So I figured, oh well, maybe I can
play poker for a living. I decided to finish school – I have a Master's
degree – and then start playing and traveling the world.
What are your goals?
Here in London, I want to make it to Day 5 [ed. note: she finished 22nd and was last woman standing, just ahead of Annette Obrestad].
Otherwise, I always get unlucky at the end and finish third, fourth or
fifth and I haven't won a big tournament – like an EPT or a WPT – yet.
So I really want to win one.
What about the WSOP? Will you be there?
Yes. I will be in Melbourne for the WSOP APAC.
I went very deep at the Aussie Million Main Event, but I was playing infrared contactlenses against Phil Ivey and got really nervous and ended up busting in 17th
place.
I really hope that this time I can go very deep but I tend to get
very nervous when that happens and I have to play against very good
players.
It's hard to miss you since you're always wearing bright pink. Is fashion important to you at the poker table?
Yeah, because last year I went to Malta for the WPT and I was lucky enough to get to the final table.
I was wearing pink then, so I decided wearing pink was my lucky charm!
2013年11月28日星期四
Andrew Pantling: If I Didn't Find Poker, Poker Would Have Found Me
The name Andrew Pantling likely isn't very familiar to most casual poker fans.
Those in the know, though, see the name Pantling on their table draw - either Andrew or his brother Wes - and see a very, very tough out.
Both have long lists of big results both online and live with Andrew, among several impressive scores, finishing runner-up to Phil Laak for a bracelet at the 2010 WSOPE.
He's in the mix for another big score again at the 2013 EPT Grand Final with a massive 943,000-chip stack heading into Day 4, trailing only chip leaders Johnny Lodden and Steve O'Dwyer.
PokerListings Denmark reporter Thomas Hviid caught up with Pantling on the last break of the day to find out more about his boom-or-bust tourney style, his career in poker marked cards and his brother's experience at a now-infamous Partouche Poker Tour final table.
PokerListings.com: You're doing really well here in Monte Carlo this year. You also went deep here last year and the year before you won the 5k NLHE heads-up. Do you have a special relationship with Monte Carlo?
Andrew Pantling: Yes, I just feel really relaxed and comfortable in this poker room. I like Monte Carlo, the nice weather – in other places I don’t always feel that way.
I think that when I'm comfortable and feeling good I play better and get a bit more lucky. And that is the key, I have been lucky here.
PL: You have a bit of a boom-or-bust-style. What is your strategy for an event like this?
AP: I don't play a huge amount of tournaments and never really have. I don't even play much poker anymore.
Usually when I come to these tournaments I’m on business, so I tend to play an aggressive style where I either get eliminated on Day 1 and can get back to work or I go deep.
Fortunately, the latter has happened so far this tournament.
PL: You currently live in London and you used to live in Malta and Australia. How important is poker in your life at the moment?
AP: I used to play a lot of poker, but now I am working at Matchbook, a betting site, so I only get time to play a few tournaments a year.
I tend to go the ones where the big sports bettors are and also the ones I like, so I go to Australia and Monte Carlo and some local tournaments in the London area.
PL: Your brother Wesley is also a talented poker player. Is he also in London?
AP: My brother lives in the Far East, he is in Hong Kong and Macau most of the time. He is a very talented cash-game player and a bit younger than me, so he really loves poker and is doing really well.
PL: How did you guys start playing poker?
AP: We didn’t come from a poker family at all infrared contactlenses. My parents aren’t card players; my dad is a musician, my mom is an artist.
I like to say that “if I wouldn’t have found poker, poker would have found me." I was always inclined with math and gambling and I like to at least think that I have an edge when I gamble.
That's what drove me to poker and when the online poker boom happened I was there to be the beneficiary of that.
PL: Your brother was on the famous final table at the Partouche Poker Tour where two players were eventually caught cheating. Did any of you have any suspicion about that at the time?
AP: You know, it's funny. He might not want me to say this, but he probably wouldn’t mind.
The final table was delayed two or three months, which gave people time to prepare the cheating. Wesley went there to play, and I went there to sweat, and when he got knocked out, he came to me and said 'These two guys are working together. I can’t prove it, I don’t know what they are doing, but they are working together.
'Every break they were talking and whispering, they had awkward pauses, awkward stares. I don’t know how, but I think they are cheating.'
We had forgotten about it and a few years had passed, so when that video came out we weren’t totally surprised. But we can't be bitter about it.
It cost him a lot of money and a lot of equity, but he is a gracious kid and he has let it go and moved on to bigger and bigger things.
PL: You have made quite a few cashes at the WSOP, including a second place at the WSOPE. Are you going for a bracelet this year in Las Vegas?
AP: I don’t intend to play this year at all. We have my first son on the way, so I’m going to be home in Canada preparing for that.
I also don't feel as comfortable in Las Vegas as I do in Monte Carlo. The huge heat, the Rio isn’t the nicest place to play – I just don’t really enjoy myself. So I don’t see myself playing the WSOP in the foreseeable future.
It cost him a lot of money and a lot of equity, but he is a gracious kid and he has let it go and moved on to bigger and bigger things.
PL: You have made quite a few cashes at the WSOP, including a second place at the WSOPE. Are you going for a bracelet this year in Las Vegas?
AP: I don’t intend to play this year at all. We have my first son on the way, so I’m going to be home in Canada preparing for that.
I also don't feel as comfortable in Las Vegas as I do in Monte Carlo. The huge heat, the Rio isn’t the nicest place to play – I just don’t really enjoy myself. So I don’t see myself playing the WSOP in the foreseeable future.
Those in the know, though, see the name Pantling on their table draw - either Andrew or his brother Wes - and see a very, very tough out.
Both have long lists of big results both online and live with Andrew, among several impressive scores, finishing runner-up to Phil Laak for a bracelet at the 2010 WSOPE.
He's in the mix for another big score again at the 2013 EPT Grand Final with a massive 943,000-chip stack heading into Day 4, trailing only chip leaders Johnny Lodden and Steve O'Dwyer.
PokerListings Denmark reporter Thomas Hviid caught up with Pantling on the last break of the day to find out more about his boom-or-bust tourney style, his career in poker marked cards and his brother's experience at a now-infamous Partouche Poker Tour final table.
PokerListings.com: You're doing really well here in Monte Carlo this year. You also went deep here last year and the year before you won the 5k NLHE heads-up. Do you have a special relationship with Monte Carlo?
Andrew Pantling: Yes, I just feel really relaxed and comfortable in this poker room. I like Monte Carlo, the nice weather – in other places I don’t always feel that way.
I think that when I'm comfortable and feeling good I play better and get a bit more lucky. And that is the key, I have been lucky here.
PL: You have a bit of a boom-or-bust-style. What is your strategy for an event like this?
AP: I don't play a huge amount of tournaments and never really have. I don't even play much poker anymore.
Usually when I come to these tournaments I’m on business, so I tend to play an aggressive style where I either get eliminated on Day 1 and can get back to work or I go deep.
Fortunately, the latter has happened so far this tournament.
PL: You currently live in London and you used to live in Malta and Australia. How important is poker in your life at the moment?
AP: I used to play a lot of poker, but now I am working at Matchbook, a betting site, so I only get time to play a few tournaments a year.
I tend to go the ones where the big sports bettors are and also the ones I like, so I go to Australia and Monte Carlo and some local tournaments in the London area.
PL: Your brother Wesley is also a talented poker player. Is he also in London?
AP: My brother lives in the Far East, he is in Hong Kong and Macau most of the time. He is a very talented cash-game player and a bit younger than me, so he really loves poker and is doing really well.
PL: How did you guys start playing poker?
AP: We didn’t come from a poker family at all infrared contactlenses. My parents aren’t card players; my dad is a musician, my mom is an artist.
I like to say that “if I wouldn’t have found poker, poker would have found me." I was always inclined with math and gambling and I like to at least think that I have an edge when I gamble.
That's what drove me to poker and when the online poker boom happened I was there to be the beneficiary of that.
PL: Your brother was on the famous final table at the Partouche Poker Tour where two players were eventually caught cheating. Did any of you have any suspicion about that at the time?
AP: You know, it's funny. He might not want me to say this, but he probably wouldn’t mind.
The final table was delayed two or three months, which gave people time to prepare the cheating. Wesley went there to play, and I went there to sweat, and when he got knocked out, he came to me and said 'These two guys are working together. I can’t prove it, I don’t know what they are doing, but they are working together.
'Every break they were talking and whispering, they had awkward pauses, awkward stares. I don’t know how, but I think they are cheating.'
We had forgotten about it and a few years had passed, so when that video came out we weren’t totally surprised. But we can't be bitter about it.
It cost him a lot of money and a lot of equity, but he is a gracious kid and he has let it go and moved on to bigger and bigger things.
PL: You have made quite a few cashes at the WSOP, including a second place at the WSOPE. Are you going for a bracelet this year in Las Vegas?
AP: I don’t intend to play this year at all. We have my first son on the way, so I’m going to be home in Canada preparing for that.
I also don't feel as comfortable in Las Vegas as I do in Monte Carlo. The huge heat, the Rio isn’t the nicest place to play – I just don’t really enjoy myself. So I don’t see myself playing the WSOP in the foreseeable future.
It cost him a lot of money and a lot of equity, but he is a gracious kid and he has let it go and moved on to bigger and bigger things.
PL: You have made quite a few cashes at the WSOP, including a second place at the WSOPE. Are you going for a bracelet this year in Las Vegas?
AP: I don’t intend to play this year at all. We have my first son on the way, so I’m going to be home in Canada preparing for that.
I also don't feel as comfortable in Las Vegas as I do in Monte Carlo. The huge heat, the Rio isn’t the nicest place to play – I just don’t really enjoy myself. So I don’t see myself playing the WSOP in the foreseeable future.
Sam Trickett Victorious at Party Poker's Road to Old Trafford
Sam Trickett, the UK's leading all-time poker money winner,
came out on top in Party Poker's inaugural Road to Old Trafford charity
tournament this weekend.
An innovative new format introduced by Party Poker, this special tournament not only gave qualifiers the chance toplay poker in the home of the Manchester United FC, but also watch Rio Ferdinand's testimonial match against Seville.
Trickett pocketed £10,000 for the win marked cards, a large part of which he reportedly donated to Ferdinand's Live the Dream Foundation.
“I am really happyto win this event,” said Trickett. “I played for fun but I felt I really had to win at Old Trafford – I made it my mission!”
With more than $19 million in career earnings Trickett certainly wasn't in this event for the money, but the die-hard Manchester United fan said coming to play poker at Old Trafford was something special.
“I am happy to make a contribution to Rio’s charity, it is a very worthy cause,” he said.
“This has been a great fun weekend and so much different and more relaxed than any other tournament I have played marked cards contactlenses. I am totally made up for winning at Old Trafford, it has been an amazing experience.”
Before playing poker Trickett was a semi-professional footballer himself, until an injury took him out of the game and set him on a course for pro poker.
Also in attendance for the tournament were football legends Bryan Robson, Dwight Yorke, Quinton Fortune and Norman Whiteside.
Robson, the longest-serving captain in Man U's history, felt the event was a smashing success.
“It seemed like everyone really enjoyed the event – Old Trafford really is a magical place,” said Robson.
“There was a great fun atmosphere and I was happy to be part of it.”
An innovative new format introduced by Party Poker, this special tournament not only gave qualifiers the chance to
Trickett pocketed £10,000 for the win marked cards, a large part of which he reportedly donated to Ferdinand's Live the Dream Foundation.
“I am really happy
With more than $19 million in career earnings Trickett certainly wasn't in this event for the money, but the die-hard Manchester United fan said coming to play poker at Old Trafford was something special.
“I am happy to make a contribution to Rio’s charity, it is a very worthy cause,” he said.
“This has been a great fun weekend and so much different and more relaxed than any other tournament I have played marked cards contactlenses. I am totally made up for winning at Old Trafford, it has been an amazing experience.”
Before playing poker Trickett was a semi-professional footballer himself, until an injury took him out of the game and set him on a course for pro poker.
Also in attendance for the tournament were football legends Bryan Robson, Dwight Yorke, Quinton Fortune and Norman Whiteside.
Robson, the longest-serving captain in Man U's history, felt the event was a smashing success.
“It seemed like everyone really enjoyed the event – Old Trafford really is a magical place,” said Robson.
“There was a great fun atmosphere and I was happy to be part of it.”
订阅：
博文 (Atom)