Capture the Flag -- Todd Brunson

Todd Brunson may be the son of the legendary Doyle Brunson, but he has earned a reputation of his own as one of the most talented high-stakes poker players in the world. He has nearly $3.4 million in tournament winnings, but that's crumbs compared to the money he's made playing cash games, including the "Big Game."

Kristy Arnett: When you first started playing cash games, what games and stakes did you play?

Todd Brunson: I first started playing in casinos in California when I was 19 or 20. I played $1-$2 limit hold'em. I was not a winning player in California because it was really not possible to win with the amount of money that the casinos would pull off the tables. They had a $3 rake and they took a dollar for the jackpot, so it was basically impossible to win in those games.

KA: As you moved up in limits playing cash games, did you get advice from fellow players?

TB: Yeah, a lot of the players who play in the Big Game now came up at the same time. I used to play $10-$20 and $20-$40 with Jennifer Harman, Minh Ly, and Ralph Perry. When the Big Game started, it was like $150-$300 before it got all the way up to $4,000-$8,000.

KA: What games and stakes are you playing on a regular basis?

TB: Well, the Big Game in Vegas is very sporadic. I've been saying it for a couple of years that the game is just too high. You need a $10 million bankroll to play $4,000-$8,000, and most of the guys don't have that. They'll be sitting with their entire bankroll in front of them, which is stupid. I've been playing pretty consistently in L.A., usually $400-$800 up to $1,000-$2,000 mixed games.

KA: Have you seen an influx of young Internet players taking a shot at the live high-stakes mixed games?

TB: Sometimes, and they aren't very good. Obviously, these guys are great at no-limit hold'em, but when they try to play other forms of poker, they are just terrible. The game is usually real good when they try to cross over.

KA: How have you had to change your game as you've had to compete against the young, aggressive Internet players on a more regular basis?

TB: If you are a good poker player, your game is always changing and evolving. If you are playing against those guys, you usually want to start with a good hand, and you generally just don't want to fold if you have anything. Let them bluff their money off. You'll get maximum value that way, or if they happen to have a good hand, you'll lose the least amount of money.

KA: What is your preferred game, and why?

TB: Right now, it is probably either badugi or triple-draw. This is because they are newer games to me, so I haven't played them as much as I have played some of the other games. I guess that makes them a little bit more fun for me.

KA: What is your least favorite?

TB: It would probably have to be the game that I have played the most in my life - hold'em. I think that I have seen everything there is to see … well, maybe not everything, but I have seen so many hands of hold'em that nothing surprises me anymore. In badugi and deuce-to-seven, I get to see unusual hands that I have never seen.

KA: What are the highest stakes you have played?

TB: I played $50,000-$100,000 against Andy Beal. Actually, I think we may have played $100,000-$200,000 at one time.

KA: What was the outcome of your heads-up match against him?

TB: I won $20.5 million.

KA: How were you able to maintain your composure with so much money on the line?

TB: You can't completely put the money out of your mind. Of course there was a lot of pressure, especially since a lot of people had a piece of it. Somebody actually said to me, "I don't want to put any pressure on you, but if you lose, I'm going to kill myself." That was probably 95 percent a joke and 5 percent that it might happen. I play well under pressure, though, so it might have made me play better.

KA: For beginning players, how should they determine when they are ready to move up in stakes?

TB: It is always based on your bankroll. When you have enough money in it, you can move up. It is really a difficult question to answer, but I think the basic answer is that you are ready to move up when you are winning money consistently. By consistently, I mean months, if not years. You should try to take shots at the next level when you are a consistent winner at the level you have been playing. If you do well at the next limit, you should stay there, and if you do not do well, you should move back down.

KA: What is the most common mistake you see from inexperienced cash-game players?

TB: It is probably that they move up too fast. If you don't have a big enough bankroll for a certain game, you cannot play correctly in it. The fluctuations are too big and you will wind up going broke. Even good players run into this problem, because they are too eager to get up there, and then the normal fluctuations of the game make them go broke. Another big thing that inexperienced players do wrong is that they try to bluff too much. If you are a beginner, especially, bluffing should not be a part of your game. Even semibluffs should be made minimally. You should be playing ABC poker if you are just starting out, and shouldn't do anything fancy. People try to get too fancy too quickly, and they don't know how to do it correctly. They wind up getting themselves into trouble. If you are wondering if it is time to integrate bluffing into your game, you shouldn't do it. You will know when you are ready.

KA: What skills are more important in cash games than they are in tournaments?

TB: Well, discipline is everything to a cash-game player. It is not as important to a tournament player, because the most that he can lose is the buy-in to an event. A tournament player can't lose his entire bankroll in one day like a cash-game player can. I stay disciplined because it makes me sick to lose. I don't like to lose money because I am a competitor, so I stay disciplined.

KA: What advice would you give a successful tournament player if he wanted to move into the cash-game arena?

TB: I would tell him not to start off in games that are too big, and not to get frustrated if he loses. In order to be successful, you need to keep playing to gain experience, because experience is everything.

KA: What characteristics do great cash-game players share?

TB: They all have discipline and a disregard for money at the same time, which is contradictory. You kind of have to love money and have a disregard for it. Unless you have that, it is very hard to become a really good cash-game player. You also have to know when to quit. You see a lot of people come and go because they just don't have what it takes. A lot of people in the Big Game have talent, and they all are really good players, but some of them will just sit there and lose $2 million or $3 million in one day, and I basically never do that. If I lose a certain amount, I'll just quit. And on the flip side of that, if I'm winning, I'll stay there for a long time and try to maximize my win.

KA: Who has most influenced your game?

TB: I think that I have to say my dad [Doyle Brunson]. If my dad were a postman or something, I would probably be doing that.