Arnaud a Go-Go

Arnaud Mattern is a PokerStars.com European Poker Tour champion. He was the victor in Prague during season four for €708,400, and has made continuous attempts since at repeating this achievement. His performance at this season's EPT Polish Open was his best effort since. Mattern attempted to do something that has never been done before - win a second EPT.

Taking skills from his background in backgammon (in which he also is a champion), the 29-year-old Frenchman brings focus, calculated skill, excitement, and, indeed, fun to each and every table. Here he talks to Card Player about his background, his ambitions, playing the U.S., and his journey to the final table at the EPT Warsaw.

Rebecca McAdam: You won the EPT Prague in 2007, so if you win again you're going to go down in history. Does that put 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 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. 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 a World Poker Tour about two weeks ago. 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 all of the French spirit. So, I'm really happy that team Winamax is representing the new generation 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 I'm 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 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 $1,500 events 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 in events 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. I play online cash games and tournaments, but 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 number three 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 is really unlucky, just keep your game, and do your best. It's just about making the right play and not getting affected too much by the results. Analyzing how you played before, and to not say, "OK, I got unlucky or I got lucky," but what could I have done better, like can I improve some part of my game? [I also spoke] about backgammon positions or other hands with 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 double EPT titles?

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.

RM: Tell me about your journey to the final table in Warsaw; the highs, the lows, and the key pots.

AM: On day 2 I was feeling better [than day 1], I changed table. I knew everybody on the first table then you change so you don't know anyone anymore. I doubled up with queens against eights at this moment so I got pretty comfortable with about 33 or 34,000. Afterwards I got transferred to the table with Antony Lellouche. I bet a hand from the blinds where it didn't go very well. I had 8-7 suited and the guy hit a nut straight on the river. So, I had like 10 or 11 big blinds which isn't great. I had to push with deuces. I got called by Antony Lellouche with eights, and I spiked a deuce on the river. Phew! After that I won a big coin flip. A guy raised from late position and I shoved all in. He called with nines, I had A-10 of spades and I flopped a straight, so that made life easier. From then on, I was big, so I played more pots.

I began day 3 with 140,000, the fourth biggest stack which was really good out of 24. The table at the beginning was ok, there was only Dario Minieri, but he was sitting directly across from me so we didn't really go at each other.

I raised pocket jacks under the gun seven-handed, and an Italian guy who was a bit tight-ish, but sometimes made some moves - reraises and I cover, and I can still push. That was my plan because I thought that jacks were above his range. But now the small blind, a Russian guy, he calls, so it was like "raise, reraise, call." Sick! He covers obviously which means a big decision, a very big headache. So, I took an aspirin, thought a little bit, and I just called. It was a three-way pot, it was massive like 80,000. The flop came king high, and now the Russian guy checks pretty fast, and the Italian looks at the king, and looks like he's going to collapse. I know he doesn't like this king too much, so I just bet 23,000 which is a pretty small bet, and he mucks instantly. Now I just have to get rid of the Russian guy. He calls, so I know I'm pretty much behind, unless he has a draw, which was unlikely. The turn comes, it was a blank, he checks, I check. The river comes a 10, which is a big part of his range - if he has two tens I don't beat anything, two queens I'm beaten, K-Q, A-K, aces, I lose to everything. Now he bets 25,000 on the river. It's pretty sick odds, like 5-1, because it's a 125,000 pot. I just made the fold to keep 82,000. The average was like 115,000. The guy showed K-Q off-suit. That was a good fold. I don't understand how he'd call this preflop, but still it's ok.

I didn't have that big a stack. The Italian on the big blind had about 12 big blinds left, and I raise on the button with K-J suited, and I cover him. I know that if he re-shoves, or tries to steal, I'm going to cover him no matter what. So, I make it 12,500 to clearly send a message - I'm committed and I'm going nowhere - he has 52,000 and the blinds were 2,000/4,000, and he calls. The flop comes 8-7-5 with one diamond, so I had the backdoor straight draw, the backdoor flush draw, and two over cards, and he checks. There's 31,000 in the middle, and he has 40k remaining, so I just shove and he calls with 9-6 for the nut straight. That was pretty bad to call with only 12 big blinds. It doesn't make too much sense. The turn was full of suspense, because it was the 10d, so I need a nine to win the pot, or all the diamonds. That was a funny card, probably the best card for me, and the river was an awful three of clubs - very crappy. A lot of emotions were there. I got pretty crippled on this hand.

Then, I got moved to the other table and I had like six big blinds, and the button is two to my right, so I'm going to have two hands before I can shove with full equity, otherwise the blinds are going to eat me up and I can't make anyone fold anymore. The first hand I see is Q-4 off-suit which, with six players, isn't that great. So, I took the gamble to play the next one all-in blind. I folded it and it got raised, reraised, shove ... I was like, "Damn! Good fold!" Great instinct, I was lucky. The next one was 9-5 offsuit, it's more connected so it's good. I ship it all-in and Isabelle Mercier called from the cut-off and she had eights, and I got lucky and found a nine ... oops!

I doubled up and after I have 11 and a half big blinds and I'm on the cut-off. I shoved from the cut-off with A-J offsuit and Isabelle insta-called on the big blind. I think she was a bit frustrated, because the first hand was obviously very important - whoever wins is going to double up and whoever loses is going to go out of the tournament. So, that was pretty unlucky for her. She had K-Q offsuit, and she found the king, but I made a back-door straight.

In the last very big hand, one guy raised in late position, he just lost a very big hand against Ludovic [Lacay], but he was not the type to tilt. I'm on the big blind, I've K-Q suited, he has 90,000, he makes it 15,000. I don't think he's tilting, I think his range is very tight. I decided to defend because they were suited, and broadway suited is good, otherwise I would have probably folded against this guy. I don't think I would have committed on just a one pair hand, I would have got rid of it. The flop came Q-Q-5, which usually helps. That's called running hot! I check, he checks. The turn is the jack, which is not the perfect card but it's ok, so I bet 18,000 so he can shove the 75,000 remaining, and he just calls, so I know he has something, probably aces or kings. Maybe he has a jack but I'm not sure. The plan was to shove any river which was not an ace or a king, because even a king is giving me a full house, but I think it's going to give him a better full house. So, I shoved for value and he called with aces. That was it for his tournament. I finished with 328,000. I was in the middle of the pack, there are four or five people with pretty much the same stack, and one or two short stacks.

Mattern went on to finish in fifth place for €72,724.