Alan Smurfit is no stranger to making tough decisions. For most of his life he was involved in the coal-face of industry with one of the world's largest paper manufacturers, Jefferson Smurfit. When the firm was taken over in a multibillion euro buyout in 2002, the phone stopped ringing for the globe-trotting executive. That's when he discovered poker.
To be more accurate, that's when he rediscovered the game. "In the late 1960s, I made a living for about three years playing stripped-deck stud against oil-rich Arabs in London. There was just so much money sloshing around, it was unbelievable."
He looks a little wistful and points at the TV. "Then one evening after the company was taken over, I saw people playing poker on TV and thought, 'Hmm … that looks interesting.' I had an incredibly busy lifestyle running the Latin America arm of Jefferson Smurfit, but then the phone stopped ringing and I was still a young man. I didn't want to retire, nor had I planned to, and I needed something to fill the time, so I started studying the game and playing it, and just fell in love with it."
Alan's business background suited the game well. "I think discipline is the greatest skill you can have in either business or poker." By early 2004, he had made his first final table, the $5,000 pot-limit Omaha event at the
Bellagio Five-Star World Poker Classic in Las Vegas, and just three years later he would attain what many perceive to be the pinnacle of the game - winning a bracelet at the
World Series of Poker.
Top o' the World, Ma!
Smurfit had made several big buy-in final tables since his first in 2004, including a
World Poker Tour event at the Mirage in 2005, where he finished seventh. That year he also won the £1,000 pot-limit Omaha event at the
European Poker Classic in London and the $1,050
Palm Beach Celeb Poker Classic, also in London, but he didn't believe he could go all the way when he made his first WSOP final table.
"I was the small stack of nine and was just thrilled, really thrilled, to be there, but I didn't think I could or would win it. It was only after about three were out that I thought I had a shot. I thought all along that Chris Bjorin would win; he was the only one I was afraid of. He's a good friend of mine and someone whose play I really respect, and I was sure he was destined to win."
The final table was certainly not going to be a walkover. It was littered liberally with bracelet winners - Chau Giang had won three, as had Hilbert Shirey, Chris Bjorin two, and Qushqar Morad one - while 10th-place finisher Erick Lindgren had two
WPT titles.
"I was confident when heads up, because my biggest win to date, in Europe, was in Omaha; the end was incredible. Can you imagine that we started the event with $3,000 in chips and finished when the blinds were $80,000 and $160,000? The croupiers were saying they'd never seen anything like it."
Neither man could have suspected that the battle for the bracelet would drag on for 167 hands, and what a battle it was. When the dust settled, Smurfit had won one of the most memorable heads-up battles in
WSOP history, taking home $464,867 and the gold bracelet after the incredible five-hour heads-up battle. Morad took home $279,595 for his second-place finish.
Honesty, Sincerity, and Realism
In the often cloak-and-dagger world of high-stakes poker, Smurfit's honesty and sincerity are refreshing - whether it's discussing his WSOP win, "I got lucky, for sure," his finances, "I have four successful businesses that all generate money for
me," or his homes, "I have a place in Florida and one in Mexico, and often stay at my brother's in Marbella and spend maybe three months of the year on his yacht."
But his forthrightness is almost shocking when discussing one of the most taboo subjects in the game. "If you were to ask me if I was a losing player [I didn't], I'd say yes. After the
WSOP win, I'm doing much better, but I'm still down."
To illustrate how difficult it is to be a winning poker player, he pulls out a copy of the schedule for the
WPT Five-Diamond World Poker Classic at Bellagio in December. "If I play all of these events, it'll cost me about $60,000, so you can see that it takes a lot of money to stay in the game," he says, almost incredulously.
The schedule seems to remind him of how much he loves Vegas. "I'm selling my place in Florida and setting up a base in Las Vegas. Bellagio is the best place in the world to play poker. Jack McClelland and his team are just fantastic at what they do."
I ask if he has ever played in Bobby's Room. He smiles. "I haven't, but those guys would accept me in a shot. I spoke to Barry Greenstein about it, and said to him, 'Why would I do that? Play against you guys?' It just doesn't make any sense to do it."
Manners, Respect, and Loyalty
Despite being a man of independent means and having acquired a sponsorship deal with Victor Chandler, he says, "I'm just a sponsored player, not a pro. This is just a hobby for me." He regularly enters (and wins) satellites for major tournaments. "I won satellites online for all of the
WSOP events before the pot-limit Omaha one," he says, proudly.
Smurfit gets a little exasperated when the topic moves to tournament structures. "Just look at the length of the
World Series of Poker main event. It's ridiculous, and they need to do something about it. And the
World Championship of Online Poker (
WCOOP) - I mean, those events go on all through the night and into the morning."
On the topic of players he admires, there is no hesitation. "Chris Ferguson, Chris Bjorin, and Michael 'The Grinder' Mizrachi; I like the way they play and what they stand for. They all deserve everything they've got."
He's less ebullient about bad manners at the table. "When I was in business, one had to comport oneself properly, and some of these younger players just don't seem to get that. There are plenty of guys out there with whom I have nothing in common, wouldn't want to know personally, and would never hang out with. That's just the reality."
It is clear that Smurfit is very loyal to his sponsor Victor Chandler, and ever the conscientious businessman, he wants to deliver the goods. "I want to be a good investment for them. They've believed in me and I want to give them a good return for that investment. I'll work hard because they took a risk on me. I like fortune, but not fame," he says, grinning, and heads into the evening to register for the London
EPT event at the Victoria Casino.
The Road to the Bracelet
Morad and Smurfit's heads-up match started with Morad sitting on $2,125,000 and Smurfit with $1,300,000, while the blinds were $30,000 and $60,000. Play started cagily, with little action for the first 30 minutes. Smurfit was playing tight against Morad and bleeding chips; at one point he had less than $900,000.
The first major action occurred when Smurfit bet $100,000 on a board of A
8
8
8
. Morad raised to $400,000 total and Smurfit mucked his hand, losing more than $300,000 on the hand and putting Morad firmly in the driver's seat.
Shortly thereafter, a short-stacked Smurfit re-potted a pot-sized raise from his opponent, putting himself all in. He showed the A
5
5
3
and Morad flipped over the A
K
K
8
. The board was dealt 10
9
4
9
5
, and Smurfit had hit one of two remaining outs in the deck, ensuring his survival.
After this improbable win by Smurfit, he still had a dangerously low amount of chips. He dug in, and Morad seemed unable to find a way through. The blinds jumped to $40,000-$80,000, making the first pot-sized raise $240,000 at this point, and approaching 50 heads-up hands, it seemed that the blinds were certainly going to force action. But, nothing could have been further from the truth.
Smurfit began to spar, and on a flop of Q
8
3
, he bet the pot for $480,000. Morad called and they saw a turn of the 7
. Smurfit moved all in for his last $185,000, which Morad called, showing the A
A
J
9
. Smurfit showed down the Q
9
9
8
. The river brought the Q
, the second time that the river card had catapulted him to victory in the heads-up battle. He was now the chip leader with $1,840,000, with Morad holding $1,675,000, but only a few hands later, Morad was back in the lead with more than $2 million in chips.
After a 15-minute break, the blinds jumped to a staggering $50,000-$100,000 and Smurfit was showing a dogged tenacity. He made a pot-sized $600,000 bet and Morad called on a board of 9
7
6
8
. The river brought the K
and Smurfit moved all in. Morad called, and Smurfit flipped over the A
and the 2
for a flush. Morad mucked, and Smurfit had doubled up again, taking the chip lead with $2,300,000 to Morad's $1,100,000.
Chips began to seesaw violently between the two valiant foes. A few hands later, going into the 100th heads-up hand, Morad was in dire straits with $400,000.
With the heads-up battle now lasting longer than the entire final-table play, and the blinds at an eye-watering $60,000-$120,000, Morad fought back to even in chips, then almost $1 million ahead, then behind again, so that Smurfit had him covered, and they were all in.
On a flop of A
K
10
, Smurfit flipped up the A
Q
J
6
for a straight, and Morad turned over the A
K
10
7
. The turn gave Morad a full house when the 10
was dealt. The river brought the non-threatening 9
and Morad doubled up to reclaim the chip lead.
In the next hand, Smurfit moved all in for $253,000 on a board of K
5
3
A
and Morad made the call. Morad showed the 8
7
6
4
, and Smurfit revealed the K
10
9
5
and doubled up when the 10
hit on the river. Smurfit must have felt like a cat with nine lives.
Indeed, play continued as if the players were wild cats circling each other, waiting for the slightest sign of weakness in each other, and when that weakness was displayed, the boss cat would pounce.
The blinds continued skyward, hitting a staggering $80,000-$160,000 with only $200,000 in chips separating the pair, but quad fours for Morad saw him take a 2-1 chip lead and it looked like the battle had entered its final stage. Smurfit fell to only eight big blinds but won several pots in a row, either getting a walk or forcing Morad off his hands, and incredibly retook the chip lead.
Finally, Morad made a move from 2-1 behind in chips. Smurfit tells the story in his own words with glee: "The final hand was magical. It's a shame it wasn't on TV, because it was just made for it. The flop came down J
8
6
, giving me top two pair, as I had the Q
J
8
2
. Morad bet into me and I came over the top, all in. He came with me, holding the 10
9
9
6
, giving him sixes and a possible up-and-down straight. The turn brought the 6
, giving him three sixes, and I'm thinking, 'Now I'm dead.' But the river was the 8
to give me a full house to win the tournament. I mean, you couldn't write a script better than that, could you?"
Bad Beats and Going Deep
Since returning from Vegas, Smurfit has played in three major tournaments. "I hadn't planned to play so much initially, as I was feeling a little tired, but my main motivation was to add to my bracelet, so I pushed myself."
He flew into London for the
World Series of Poker Europe, full of confidence and ready to play poker.
"I kept saying to myself, 'Just take it easy. Don't get involved early on.' And then I picked up aces. I ended up with all of my
money in the middle and the other guy showed aces, as well. So, we smiled at each other and we're saying, 'Well, it's a split pot,' but the flop came all diamonds and he had the ace of diamonds. Of course, a diamond came on the river, and that was it. I left depressed, my head almost spinning. I was sick. I flew all the way from Spain for that, and it cost me £10,000 of my own money."
His trips to Baden and London for
EPT events were much more successful affairs, where he finished 20th for €12,860 and 16th for €16,307, respectively.
"I got to the TV tables in both the Baden and London
EPT events," he says, "but I was unlucky - particularly in London, where I got it all in preflop with A-Q suited against A-7 offsuit and got outdrawn when four hearts hit the board. Had I won that hand, I think I definitely would have made the final table, and would have been in great shape. But overall, I'm chuffed with the results."
