I don’t ever want to be the guy who used to be good ten years ago. I love the fact that everyone got better. For me it’s like a videogame, and if you beat level three you hope there is a level four. In 2004 nobody played better than I did. Nobody came close to having tournaments as figured out as I did back then, and now everybody is playing that style of smallball poker today. I used to raise 2.5 times the big blind back then and people would mock me.


Q: Do you think poker tournaments have changed for the better?

I think we’re heading in the wrong direction. The WSOP was much more serious and boring this year. It was much more fun with guys in chicken suits being jerks. That’s what the public wants to see. They don’t want to hear, ‘Well, he’s raising UTG+1 and polarising his range with a 31BB effective stack.’ The diehards love that, but they watch anyway. To bring in average people you need to dumb it down a bit more and make it more fun.


Q: Why do you think poker is not as interesting to the general public any more?

When poker became popular you had people like Devilfish, Sammy Farha, Doyle Brunson and Phil Ivey. Today the story is: ‘I dropped out of college and I grinded 20 tables to build my bankroll.’ The story isn’t sexy. People won’t care about them, because they are not interesting. You can count on your hand the number of people who could make mainstream people care about them. We had all these stories that were fresh and interesting, but what are the new stories?


Q: How do we fix the problem of boredom and waning interest in poker?

Televised poker needs to address it. If you want to create the best show you need to create poker personalities. Audiences like Phil Laak and Antonio? Then okay you invite them. TV ratings is what drives the industry to some degree and you can pick and choose who appears on there.

I’m not saying young players can’t be on the TV, but they need to realise they have to stand out in some way. A lot of these young kids think if they win three WPTs they will get all these sponsorship deals. Not if you’re boring. If you are good looking or you have a cool name or you’re funny or an asshole it’s good. The majority though are just the same person and they are not interesting to regular people.


Q: Surely the game has moved beyond poker ‘characters’ like Mike Matusow though. Are they really good for poker?

Yes, because they are names people remember. It’s stupid and it’s crazy, but it’s memorable. A lot of these young guys don’t realise you need to make an impression if you want to get invited back.


Q: In what ways do players behave differently these days?

You would see the old pros make the players feel comfortable. Online there is none of that,  it’s cutthroat. They don’t learn the social skills. You don’t instantly sit out when a big fish leaves. Even stalling in tournaments has been frowned upon like crazy, but when they do it online they just say it’s better for my overall ROI. They are being dicks, but it’s more acceptable online. A lot of the old-school etiquette is lost on these young kids who grew up in an antisocial online world.


Q: How much effect will the failure of Full Tilt have on the poker world?

In the short term it’s brought a lot of negativity on the game, but in the long run we will get past it.