Tournament Trail Q and A Part II -- Arnaud MatternMattern Speaks About His Attempts at Making Poker History |
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Rebecca McAdam: You won in Prague, so if you win again you’re going to go down in history. Is that putting pressure on you or is it on your mind at all?
Arnaud Mattern: It’s on my mind as in I wish it could happen. We have this running joke with “Elky” [Bertrand Grospellier], like, “Man, no way you can win two EPTs!” So, I just would really love to win this one so I can say, “Man, no way you can win three EPTs!” That would be really nice to bust him over this. The second point is that last year when I won Prague, just a month after — Elky won the PCA. I was like, “Come on! It’s been two years since any French guy won an EPT, and now, back-to-back three weeks after ... No interview, no cover, no nothing! He won the WPT about two weeks ago, so it would be really nice if I win this EPT, and nobody speaks about him! [laughs]
He’s a good friend of mine. We really get along together, we hang out a lot at the poker stuff. It’s a good battle.
RM: How do you feel about representing France? Is it something that you are very aware of as a player?
AM: I feel like I am representing France. I spend a lot of time in London right now, that’s where I’m living with some of the Winamax team. I really love Paris; I’m really in love with the city and everything, and all of the French spirit. So, I’m really happy that team Winamax is representing the new generation in the French people pretty well, because most of the players in the team are awesome. They have made terrific results — like in 11 months, almost a triple, an EPT title, almost a WPT title, and a bracelet ... It’s like we have a final table every two or three weeks. I’m very, very proud of representing France with all of those geniuses.
RM: Do you prefer playing in Europe rather than America then?
AM: Actually, I like both. I really like Europe for the food, the weather, and the culture, but I like America too. Sometimes when I spend a month and a half in Vegas, of course I go crazy. It’s really hard mentally and physically. But otherwise I take much more interest in who Im going to be with and what kind of people I’m going to see there or meet. If it’s Vegas, fine, if it’s Monte Carlo, super fine. But it doesn’t make that big of a difference for me.
RM: Are you going to play many more EPTs?
AM: Yeah, I mean, right now, as you mentioned, I’m going to play all the EPTs because I want a second title. That’s why I haven’t missed an EPT yet for the past two years. If I win a second one, then I’ll see about the structure; they were talking about putting a 15K starting stack, and if they do, I will for sure play all of them. Otherwise, I will probably look at the structures and everything a bit more carefully, because day 3 was a bit of a crapshoot at the end.
RM: What are the differences between the EPT and, for example, the World Series of Poker?
AM: It all depends on what kind of events you play, like all of the $1,500s in the World Series, they were really crapshoots. I mean, you really need to get big hands and get paid off in the first two levels, otherwise you can’t do anything. For the larger buy-ins it’s a bit better, but still, after two hours if you don’t build a stack, it’s pretty much over. So, I’m really careful about the structure and which events I want to play. It really depends on the buy-ins and everything in both the World Series and the EPT events.
RM: In the meantime, do you play a lot online, as well?
AM: Yeah, I do. A bit less now, because I’ve been more focused on the [live] tournament scene for the past year, but I play online cash games and tournaments, most of the time cash games. I play $5-$10, $10-$20, and $25-$50 short-handed no-limit [hold'em]. Sometimes I play $50-$100 when the tables are nice.
RM: You used to play backgammon. What skills do you find transfer over into poker?
AM: The guy who taught me how to play backgammon correctly — I didn’t take any lessons, but he was my mentor — his name is Francois Tardieu. He is probably the best backgammon player in the world today. He’s rated at No. 3 of the giants. We travelled the circuit together for a couple of years doing all of the major backgammon tournaments. This guy taught me with all this competition, how not to let go, even when you’re really down or everything goes really unlucky, just keeping your game, and doing your best. It’s just about making the right play and not getting affected too much by the results. Analyzing how you played before, also; not to say, “OK, I got unlucky or I got lucky,” but what could I have done better. Can I improve some part of my games? And [I also spoke with him] about backgammon positions or other hands with other people afterwards just to check what I could have changed, because the luck factor is not that important.
So, firstly, he taught me to be really focused on the skill aspect, and secondly, consistency, to always give your best game every second, and I think very few people are capable of this. Phil Ivey and [Patrik] Antonius, these guys really give their best game at every second. If they don’t, they just don’t play the tournament or leave the cash game, and I think that’s very important. Like you don’t call just because you’re angry, or you say, “Hmm, I don’t know exactly the right move,” but you push all in. I mean, that’s a big part of the game, and that’s what I got from backgammon.
RM: So, your main goal now is to win a double?
AM: I don’t think it’s my main goal, but I would say that obviously it would be nice, and I want to do as many performances on final tables and maybe titles, if I get lucky, as I can, but I think that’s a narrow vision. I think what you can do, because you cannot control luck, is play the best you can, improve as much as you can, and just try to be the best yourself at every second, and that’s my goal.
Stay with CardPlayer.com for live updates as Mattern and his eight opponents take to the felt for the final stretch of the EPT Polish Open in one hour.
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