The Winner

Chris: I never thought I would make it to the fi nals. Maybe once every eight years or ten years. I don’t really go into any tournaments with expectations. I am not expecting to win or lose. I take it one match at a time and one hand at a time. Frankly, this year when I made the money I was really happy. If I would have lost there, I would have still been happy. Making the money three out of four years is a great accomplishment. I happened to keep on winning, and kept on getting happier.

Chris: Heads-up is a game that I have worked on a lot. Back between 1989 and 1992, I used to play a lot of poker on the internet, before any of these poker sites were up. I could play about 300 hands an hour or more of heads-up against one opponent. All of that experience was amazing. The amount of hands you could play online just dwarfs that of what you could play in a casino. Maybe if you played heads-up in a casino, you could get sixty hands an hour, but they don’t even deal heads-up poker in casinos. That experience I got online really helped me a lot. Nowadays, a lot of people get that same experience, so it’s defi nitely not quite as unique. I have, however, studied the heads-up game quite a bit.

Ironically, Andy Bloch and I have analyzed heads-up play and studied it in a very similar fashion. He plays as similar a game to me as anybody. We have done a lot of comparable] analysis. In 1994 I was a graduate at UCLA. Nobody knew who I was in the poker world back then; in fact I was a nobody in the poker world back then. I hadn’t started playing a lot of tournaments, but I had been analyzing a lot of poker. I started to do a mathematical analysis of different aspects of the game, and I did one, which analyzed short-stack heads-up play. It took me about six months. I had been doing the work at home and at school.

I fi nally combined all my work into a chart that would tell me the optimal play in these heads-up, short-stacked situations. I was really proud of it, so I showed it around to a lot of people. Quite a few poker players scoffed at it; it’s not that they didn’t believe it — they did believe it — but they just thought they had an even better way to play. My way is optimal playing against a great opponent, but they thought they could do better. I would watch some of these guys play, and I would see some really highly respected players make horrible mistakes. They thought they were playing well. I could literally prove that these players were playing hands wrong. I knew I was on to something, and in these situations I could beat these guys. I fi gured in the long run if I kept studying I could beat the game.

One of the fi rst times I met Andy Bloch, I think we were in a Chinese Poker tournament over at Binion’s Horseshoe. Andy and I had dinner that night and I showed him my heads-up chart, which I was very proud of. He then pulled out a chart, which was almost identical to mine. The numbers were slightly different, because there were some approximations involved. I was stunned, because I thought my work was so unique and I thought I had a special secret. I lost a bit of pride, but I did gain a new friend for life out of it, so it worked out well. So the fact that Andy and I played in the fi nal is no coincidence.

Chris: Pretty much. We really play such a very similar style. We both rarely limp in, but when we do it’s in almost the same type of spots. We usually raise from the button or fold. I had a very tough draw facing John Juanda, Gavin Smith, Mike Matusow, Jonathan Little, and Phil Ivey. So while I knew Andy would be a tough match, I didn’t think it could possibly be any more diffi cult than the path I took to get there. But then again, I didn’t think it would be any easier playing Andy either.

Chris: If I had to pick one, I would have to say that it may have been Mike Matusow. He adjusted very well to my style of play, but he ended up making a pretty big mistake. I made a mistake on the hand as well. He ended up folding fours-fullof- queens when all I had was aces-up. His analysis of the hand was quite good, but I do think he made a bad fold in that spot. I had a lot of success playing against overly aggressive opponents, and I did not see that over-aggression in this match. Mike played great, and I was very fortunate to beat him.

Chris: I expected Phil Ivey to be the most aggressive opponent. I didn’t think he would adjust his style as much as the other players I was matched up against. Of course, Phil is going to be a tough match. In my opinion, Phil is the best poker player in the world, but on this occasion he was playing in my arena, heads-up poker. I thought it was a great match, and again I thought I played well and was fortunate to beat him.

Chris: (laughs) Most of them failed. Obviously in heads-up poker there is a lot of bluffi ng. I know I did have one pretty signifi cant bluff, but you will have to watch the broadcast to see it.

Chris: No, I typically don’t do anything special. Especially if it’s against someone I know pretty well. If I don’t know my opponents, I will try to get a gauge from others on what type of style they play. I usually can get a feel pretty quickly into the match. I like to show up and play.

Chris: It didn’t worry me at all. Two years ago, I went up 1-0 vs. Ted Forrest and he came back to win. I didn’t panic, I played my game, and I knew that I still had a great shot at winning.

Chris: Well, the thing is that there would be a time constraint. I don’t mind at all — it would be fi ne with me as long as they don’t take away any levels of play or chips. To do that, you will need to play a lot longer. You really don’t play that many hands in these heads-up matches. My average is one hour per match, and I played nine matches for probably a total of ten hours. In a real tournament, you may play ten hours for four days straight. But you have to consider in heads-up play you are playing at least twice as many hands, and you are literally involved in every hand. At a nine-handed table, you might be involved in one-quarter of the hands, so ten hours of heads-up may actually be the equivalent of 40-80 hours of play.

Chris: (laughs) I didn’t expect to win this one, and I defi nitely don’t expect to win that event, although it would be a pretty great accomplishment.

Andy: Well, all I was thinking was making sure I got invited back next year. There is defi nitely added pressure to being an alternate. There are a couple dozen people who are in a similar spot who could have been picked. I really didn’t want to let down the producers. I think I did a pretty good job of ensuring that I will get to come back.

Andy: I couldn’t pick an easier opponent to go up against (laughs). I was rooting for Chris. We have been friends for a long time. He was the last person I would want to face, but at the same time someone I would want to play. It’s defi nitely mixed emotions — if I lose, at least a good friend wins. It takes a bit of the pressure off. That doesn’t mean I am not scared of losing, because of course I still wanted to win. I think it probably affected Chris more, as he had already lost in the fi nals twice. He doesn’t want to be known as the guy who fi nished second three out of four years. I played my normal game. Against a lot of others, I would adapt to their styles and be more exploitive. Being that we have such similar style of heads-up play, I didn’t think that would work with Chris.