Johnny Chan’s status as a poker legend has long been assured, especially in WSOP terms, but his decision to play in London this week was affirmation indeed that the WSOPE is a seismic event for international poker.
As has been the case with all the top names that entered, Johnny Chan’s enthusiasm for the event was as clear now, as it was before he took to the felt on day one. “It’s been exciting. There are a lot of good players, I love London and I love Poker.”
As major international tournaments go, the WSOP stands alone as the biggest of them all, yet its European franchise has prompted a significant amount of debate as to the merit of the bracelet. Johnny Chan takes a pragmatic approach. “The attraction for players is the bracelet, so if there wasn’t a bracelet you wouldn’t see the big names here. It’s the official bracelet so the importance definitely transfers outside of Vegas.”
Indeed, the bracelet would be the justification for many for the £10,000 ($20,000) buy-in, which in itself may be a factor in the relatively small, but elite field that assembled itself to battle for Europe’s newest and most prestigious event. For Johnny Chan, a smaller field has its benefits in terms of any potential success. “I like all the tournaments regardless of numbers, but for me the lower the better. As the records show in events with 5-600 players, I regularly finish in the top 100, but after that, I don’t know, (laughs) I finish in the top 5,000!”
The rise of Internet qualifiers entering the major live tournaments has been a factor in swelling player numbers, and I asked Johnny Chan whether he had been forced to adjust his game especially in a time when aggressive play seems to be all the rage.
“Back then there was no television and no Internet, and when I made a raise people thought I had aces, but now they watch on television and say ‘hey there’s Johnny, he bluffs a lot!’ I had to change my game a lot, as they know how I play but I don’t how they play so I was at a disadvantage. But that’s poker, what can you do?”
Indeed what can you do? Unfortunately for all of us Johnny Chan is no longer a part of the tournament itself, but his presence alone has been enough to ensure the tournament’s success.
So, we’re heads-up! Annette versus John Tabatabai, after Mathew McCullough parted company with his first World Series event! I spoke to him at the break when he was reflective about a particularly bad half an hour.
“I wasn’t happy with the way I was playing for the last half hour so I was looking forward to getting away from the table to get a little mental clearing period. I’m going to get some food in my belly, get back in there and get back to my game plan which has been working well so far.”
Unfortunately that game plan couldn’t help Matthew as he leaves us in third place with £381,910, which isn’t a bad return for an Internet qualifier!