blonde Hero Poster and poker pro Paul ‘Pab’ Foltyn (try saying that five times fast) let me ask him some questions about his Vegas experience and how the world of cards is treating him in general.
The online specialist has only recently been turning his hand to the live game (I am sure there’s a pun of some sort there) but after making the final table of the WSOP Short-handed event, winning $83,402 in the process, he’s clearly enjoying the experience. He’s a Geek Scale 4, but a bankroll realist, and a self-deprecatingly successful one at that. Want to know more?
Jen: First, the traditional openers: How long have you been playing? How and where did you start?
Pab: I have been playing since Summer 2004, but had 6 months travelling when my playing time was limited. I started, like so many, off the back of late night poker on channel 4 and played online. I played exclusively online until this year really and am enjoying playing live more and more. I played my first live event in 2005, the Irish Open. I first met Stuart Fox here, and he will probably tell you I looked out of place - I was incredibly nervous and played like a complete joker. It all comes with experience though and now I feel as comfortable playing live as I do online. Since coming back from travelling, I have been earning my living solely from poker and it’s been going well so far, but no idea how long it will last.
Jen: You seem to be a pretty handy NLHE cash game player before your 10th Corona - is that your staple game? And are you mostly based online? What limits?
Pab: I’d say by best form of poker was NLHE multi table tournaments, and have had considerable success at this format. As you know playing tournaments for a living can be very high variance and I have been working on my cash game play in order to maintain bankrolls during barren spells. David Gent (geeforce1) is an excellent cash game player despite the drunken antics at the Orleans - that isn’t his true game. I’m lucky enough to be good friends with Dave and we have discussed poker till we are blue in the face via msn and I’ve improved my cash game play no end. I’d like to think I’ve also helped his MTT game as well, but you'd have to ask him that, lol.
When I’m playing cash it is always online, and usually is 4 tables of 3/6 or 5/10 NL. I have been trying to get better at Omaha recently but I think it’s too frustrating for me. When we were in Vegas I played some 5/10NL at the Rio with some success and some drunken 1/2nl at the Orleans without success as you witnessed…
Jen: Rate yourself on the geek scale of 1-10 (i.e. do you use PokerTracker, keep spreadsheets, have you read every book?)
Pab: geek scale – 4
Seeing as though I am playing for a living this probably should be higher but... I do use poker tracker for all my cash game play which means I don’t need spreadsheets for that section of results. Until recently I used www.overthegun.com to record all my MTT results as well, which in turn provided me with financial records and negated the need for a spreadsheet. That website recently closed down, and I’m not sure if it’s going to re-open so will have to use a spreadsheet.
Since I started playing I have read quite a few books, Super System was my first book but I think it went a bit over my head at the beginning. I’ve read both Harrington books and would highly recommend them to anyone who plays a decent number of multi-table tournaments.
Jen: Making the TV Final in Vegas - were you apprehensive at all? Have you caught the big buy-in, large field tournament bug? Will we see you on the EPT?
Pab: I never anticipated making the final table and enjoyed every minute of it - I don’t think I lasted long enough to clock up hours. I wasn’t apprehensive at all; I had the mentality that I had nothing to lose and just played my game. I was disappointed after getting knocked out, as I was within touching distance of a life changing amount of money, but never mind.
I will be trying to satellite into some WPT events I imagine as well as some festival events in the UK. I think buying in for big events all the time is a poker financial mistake at the moment as I don’t know how long it will last and want something to show for it when I stop playing and have to get a real job. I think I’ll be playing the Dublin EPT later this year, and have already won a seat for the Ultimatebet Aruba Classic at the end of September.
Jen: Did you play with anyone we'd all recognise at the WSOP whom you'd give special credit as a player- any excitingly illustrative stories on that? If not, who did you rate in general out in LV?
Pab: I got busted by Phil Laak in one of the $1500 events, but I was short stacked at the time. During the $5k SH event I played with Ben Roberts, Robert Williamson III and John Esposito on my first table. I then got moved next to Howard Lederer but he was knocked out soon after in a KK vs. AA situation. A little while later, Joe Beevers (left) took his seat and we talked a little bit, he seemed like a really nice guy. I played for long periods with well-known cash game player on Stars, Hallingoll. He was a very tricky opponent and we had a fair few battles until he amassed a ridiculous amount of chips and I had to take a back seat. On day 2 I played with Tom Franklin, Erik Lindgren and Vanessa Rousso. Vanessa was very aggressive and I was lucky to have position on her when I got a workable stack and used that to my advantage. No real exciting stories to relay, I’m afraid.
Jen: What do you think your particular strengths were out in LV, especially against the Americans who made up most of the fields?
Pab: I play primarily 6-seater cash games, so I am fully aware in the changing dynamics from a full ring which a thought a lot of the field struggled with. I had a lot of chips at the dinner break on day 1, and was playing good aggressive poker and was in control of my table at that time. Straight after the dinner break I lost a huge pot when my 2 pair lost to a rivered flush so was essentially short-stacked from that point until the last 18. With the sheer number of tournaments I play online, I am able to adapt to my stack size and table and utilise the appropriate strategy. I was having to pick my opponents to re-raise and stay afloat, regardless of whether I had the cards or not.
Jen: Do you think you'll be moving up limits or buying into bigger things now you've had such a great result, or are you a slow and steady type who's found a profitable level? Does playing The Big Game of any sort appeal for the purely competitive reasons?
Pab: I don’t think the win will change my poker journey to be honest. At the moment I am making more than enough money online without risking too much. I was playing the biggest MTTs online before Vegas and will continue to do so now. I have no idea how long I will be able to make a living at poker and want something to show for it by the time I’m done. I hope to return to university for another year in September and then go travelling again to Australia next summer. Once I make it back to the UK I will hopefully be buying my own house without a mortgage which would be fantastic!
Jen: Would you wear logoed stuff for money? What about a chicken suit?
Pab: I’m pretty sure I would have worn some logo stuff for money, it wouldn’t have done any harm. The chicken suit, hmmmmm, depends how much, lol
Jen: And finally, the tie breakers:
Comedy hat or vaguely obscenely logoed T-shirt?
Pab: Vaguely obscenely logoed T-shirt
Jen: Short stack + good cards or big stack + filth?
Pab: Big stack + filth
Jen: Limit hold'em or PLO?
Pab: PLO
Jen: Mike Matusow or Phil Hellmuth?
Pab: Hellmuth
Jen: Pick a hand, any hand...
Pab: 68 clubs