Poker Tournament Trail Part I -- Arnaud MatternMattern Speaks About His Recent Signing with PokerStars and Playing with Legends |
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Arnaud Mattern is well-known for his determination to get another European Poker Tour title, and he can be found at nearly every EPT event there is attempting to do so. It then made sense to hear that he had signed with the tour’s sponsor, PokerStars.com. Just after the EPT London, Mattern spoke to Card Player about his sponsorship, and also about playing against some of the circuit’s greats.
Rebecca McAdam: How is your deal with PokerStars going for you?
Arnaud Mattern: I’m really really happy to join PokerStars Team Pro. A lot of the players are people I really like a lot like Daniel Negreanu and Peter Eastgate. I respect a lot of the players like Jason Mercier, and “ElkY” Bertrand Grospellier who is also one of my best friends. So it’s going to be cool to play the circuit together, I mean we did already but now it’s a bit different because we’re on the same team, so it’s really cool.
RM: Was it difficult for you to leave a French site and team?
AM: Well the thing is I’m still going to be able to hang out with my friends, like all the French crew, so we still go out and either go clubbing or have drinks and celebrate when someone wins.
RM: So it doesn’t change things too much?
AM: No it doesn’t change the relationship with people who don’t care, with real friends. The thing is it’s more of an international team, like I always want to get insights from a lot of different people not only French players because I think it’s very important to know how other people think from other countries, and people who play tournaments. I think you shouldn’t get too close of a circle, I don’t think you can understand many things, that’s my point of view anyway.
RM: Has it been helping your game then?
AM: Yeah, I mean I’m always looking forward to meet people from Denmark, Norway, Sweden or American and English players, everybody, just to understand how they’re doing. So that’s why really enjoy spending time with people like Annette [Obrestad] for example or Peter [Eastgate], or anyone who’s not French just to see a little inside their mind, to see how they play poker, how they live, everything.
RM: Do you find that people on the table treat you any differently now that you are a member of the PokerStars Team Pro?
AM: Yeah. It’s very funny, a lot of people were really scared yesterday, because I made third place in the side event, the £1,000, and everybody every time I was raising, especially on the bubble, was saying, “Oh yeah, he has a Team Pro logo, we have to be careful”.
RM: Is that good or bad?
AM: It’s good, it’s very good because people are impressed right away when you sit down. I spoke about this in an article I wrote, I said Phil Ivey has a kind of aura that he can sit down anywhere and in five seconds everybody’s already scared and he’s going to get a lot of respect, more than he deserves, even if he’s the best player in the world, he’s going to get away with much, much more, he’s going to steal everything just because people are scared and say he’s the best.
RM: Do you think he gets too much respect?
AM: I mean sometimes he’s going to be called live because people think he’s bluffing and he has been on TV and everything but I think all-in-all people are going to be afraid to play back at someone either like Phil Ivey or someone like me because he has a logo, so it’s good.
RM: What have you been doing?
AM: I played the World Series of Poker Europe. I went quite deep and I played a very big pot against Daniel Negreanu where if I won I would be in the top five stacks in the last 30 people. It didn’t go my way but it was very good to spend time at the same table as Daniel because he’s very chatty and puts a very good atmosphere at the table, and he’s very funny to be around.
RM: In your opinion, is he a good tournament player?
AM: Yeah. He plays a very specific style of his own, very small ball, he’s never going to go crazy with aggression, I mean not some four- or five-bet stuff and bluffs, very different from the Internet kids. But apparently it’s a style that fits well with his personality.
RM: Nowadays, there are such aggressive Internet players around, do you think his style can hold up against that?
AM: I think that you are going to need to get lucky and to hit cards with this style, and a lot of people are getting very smart and aggressive now so if you’re on a table that is not going to play back too much then it’s going to work if you can manage to pick up many blinds, but if you’re at a table with five or six Internet wizards, then you are going to have a very difficult time if you don’t flop big hands because people are not going to let you steal the blinds and they are going to force you to play big pots and you don’t want to do that so basically you’re going to have to fold unless you flop a set, and sets don’t grow on trees from what I know. But apparently he’s doing it very well, he’s picking his spots pretty well.
RM: He came second so he can’t be doing too bad.
AM: Yeah, he got unlucky in the heads up, unfortunately for him, but still a very good result. I also played a bit with Doyle Brunson which was a fantastic experience.
RM: Had you ever played with him before?
AM: No that was the first time.
RM: He’s another person with this aura you mentioned before.
AM: Yeah. He raised 10-2 off-suit under the gun and showed it to the table and everyone was laughing. It’s nice to see someone that old to have some passion for the game, and he’s going to climb the stairs two-by-two just to play a game of poker, so it’s cool for the game.
RM: Is that what you want to be?
AM: Yeah, if I still want to play the game when I’m 80 and I still can and I still have the passion, why not?!
RM: But he has a big family, so he has juggled both, is that what you want too?
AM: Yes, definitely.
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