The event had a $100+9 entry and attracted 400 runners. In addition to the standard payouts each player had a $20 bounty on them which makes this event a lot of fun as it advocates aggressive play. Ken took some time out to talk to us after his win...
Card Academy: How does it feel to take down your first MTT win?
Ken: To be honest, I am relieved that I was finally able to break through and take one of these down. I have been close often and have taken down 2nd place a few times so it was satisfying to have everything come together for me at the right time in this event.
Card Academy: How has your game evolved leading up to winning this event?
Ken: My game has really developed in the last year or so since I started talking strategy with Nick Nicolaou. Watching the video on Card Academy has given me the opportunity to understand that different styles can all be effective and because of this I have been able to think about the game on a deeper level that I had been able to in the past. I had a lot of leaks back then and through some proactive work and more focused play I have been able to implement a lot of the things we spoke about into my game and the results are now starting to show. Previously I would open limp with marginal hands hoping to hit a flop and this kind of play has been eradicated from my game. There are a lot of things I do differently now and my play is certainly more aggressive than it used to be. Even when dealing with the weak fields in online MTT's I find that by being aggressive I can usually maneuver myself into a position to go deep in most of the events I play.
Card Academy: Did you make any big lay downs in this event?
Ken: I don't recall any HUGE lay downs I made however I did avoid going broke early in the event when I held AA on an ATJ board in a multiway pot. I managed to lose the minimum in this hand after the villain had flopped the nuts and this is certainly a spot where I would happily gone broke in the past. I was not prepared to go broke this time and positioned myself to get to showdown as cheaply as possible and avoid playing a big pot by getting my stack in drawing to a boat. I figure to have an edge on the field so I prefer playing a lot of small to medium sized pots whereby I can accumulate chips with a small amount of risk.
Card Academy: How did you find yourself at the final table?
Ken: One of the things Nick has taught me is when to be aggressive and how to adjust to table dynamics. I found myself at a weak table with a tight passive chip leader and I decided that this was a great opportunity for me to start stock piling chips for my run to the final table. I stole stole stole and took control of the table. I didn't play any big pots and just chipped away while I was in total control. With 45 players left I was 3rd in chips and cruising all the way to the final table without risking my stack once. I took some small hits when we were down to 2 tables and ending up at the final table 7th in chips with about the average.
Card Academy: What was your strategy once you got to the final table?
Ken: I ended up with a terrible seat as I had 3 guys to my left with over 70k in chips while I had around 25k so I had to adjust and tone down the aggression for a while. The strategy that got me here would not get me far with the monster stacks having immediate position on me so I had to sit back either waiting for a hand to double up with or see a few players take each other out. I felt that if I could get it short handed I had an advantage even with my diminished stack. The big stacks did their job and took out all the short stacks and I avoided some sticky situations with hands that I would have played because of this. By playing this passive style I was able to steal my fair share of blinds to keep me alive while others were dropping off and I found myself Heads Up not long after.
Card Academy: Tell us about the HU battle.
Ken: When we started HU play my opponent had a 3-2 chip lead on me however I felt confident because I had a pretty good idea of how this player operated after spending some time with him during the event. I was aggressive from the offset and caught him off guard as I quickly took over the chip lead with pure aggression. He was starting to get frustrated with me and begun playing back to me. I started limping on the button to confuse him and he begun pushing any 2 cards when I did this and showing me. It was at this point that I knew I had him exactly where I wanted him and I limped again when I picked up AQ on the button. I was of course hoping for him to push again and had every intention on calling him. He obliged and showed me KJ which I was happy with even though I was only a 60% fav. The board read KKxJx and he now had a 4-1 chip lead over me. I was a little gutted after I executed my plan well and got somewhat unlucky not to win it right there but I kept fighting. I had 150k in chips and with the blinds only at 2k/4k there was plenty of play left and I knew that I could outplay him. I buckled down and grinded my way back to the chip lead an hour later. I picked up KK and raised the button and he 3 bet me quite big for one third of his stack and I had a feeling that I could end it on this hand. He had shown a tendency to do this with weak hands so instead of pushing I decided to flat call the raise with position let him hang himself on the flop. The flop was raggy and he insta pushed with KQ at which point I was victorious after a 1.5 hour HU battle.
Card Academy: Well congrats again Ken and we look forward to seeing some more great results from you.
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