Neil Channing: One Year in the Life of a Champion

Ahead of the Irish Open 2009, Card Player speaks to reigning champion Neil Channing about his victory at the tournament last year and life as the current champion.

Card Player: What was your Irish Open experience before your win?

Neil Channing: I had never even been to Ireland before the 2005 Irish Open but I absolutely loved it that year. I was knocked out of the tournament within an hour, but I just had so much fun. I lasted about two hours in 2006 but was mainly struck by how many people seemed to recognise me or remember playing against me in the past. I came away thinking they must show nothing but poker on TV here.

CP: How were you running going into the Irish Open in March 2008?

NC: In about October 2007 I started to play a few more tournaments than usual. I didn't go mad, but one a month was way above my normal average. My October and November shots lead to final tables in Bristol and Blackpool, but I was really disappointed to finish eighth and fifth. By December I improved enough to make my third consecutive final a winning one for £35,000 in the Vic. I remember at the start of 2008 thinking I'd struggle to keep this run up and I was delighted to finish second in a £500 tournament in the Vic in February, as well as having a minor cash in the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour Walsall.

CP: How do you mentally prepare for a four-day tournament like the Open?

NC: I played until 4 a.m. in the Vic before getting the morning flight. Our plan was to sleep all day on arrival and be fresh for the cash games that night. I settled down to a really juicy 25/50 no-limit hold'em game which broke up at around 9 a.m. and I slept until about 30 minutes before play. If I'm at home playing a tournament in London my routine involves waking around an hour before playing and walking to the casino. In Vegas I always wake at 11 a.m. before starting at noon. I'm never normally asleep before 7 a.m., and waking to play at noon is something I hate.

CP: How did the first day of play go?

NC: For over four years now I've had a terrible run in the first two hours of any big tournaments I've played. I remember starting the day determined to play tight, not play small pairs, and flop set-under-set, as I'd continuously done, and wait to get my hands paid. I ended up getting afflicted by the curse of the middle pair, failing to flop any sets and bleeding-off chips, before I was forced to play aggressively and blast my way back into it.

CP: What were the highlights and lowlights of the next few days?

NC: I came back on day 2 full of confidence, and started by running over a table that contained a lot of really good players. After losing just one pot against the excellent Javed Abrahams I was back to struggling. I thought my luck had run out like when my K-3 was called by 6-6, and my A Q under the gun push ran into A K. The key hand that destroyed me was with around 40 people left and blinds of 5,000/10,000, Don Fagan pushed with 9-9 from the small blind for 53,000 and I had to call with 8-8 in the big blind from my stack of 95,000. From there it was a total struggle and it wasn't until I beat Don with 10-8 v K-7 to get back to 150,000 that I had any kind of playable stack.

CP: What edge do you think you have over the average poker player?

NC: Since I started backing poker players in tournaments I've had to give a lot of thought as to what edge people have generally. The tournaments I really like are those with prestige and history like the WSOP, the Irish Open, and the EPT final. These tournaments attract people who would never normally play a big buy-in event and the advantage an experienced player has is enormous. In these kind of events there are usually around one hundred people whose chips are worth double a normal players. Of those hundred I'm probably in the top half so my 10,000 starting stack may be worth 26,000. A lot of the top players in Europe actually underestimate the edge they have over fields like this. Basically the ratio of pros to amateurs is very skewed in events like the Irish Open.

CP: The fact you placed £500 at 100/1 on yourself winning the tournament at the start of play on day 2 when you were placed 64th of the 257 remaining players became widely known after; what made you place this bet?

NC: I've always enjoyed betting on poker. Before the Irish Open I'd visited my local Paddy Power to make some bets on different people to make the money. The biggest bet I had was £1,000 on myself at 11/2. After day 1 finished I noticed the odds had been updated and I felt that there was a little value around. I was particularly happy to get £600 at 66/1 on John Kabbaj and £500 at 40/1 on Sorel Mizzi. I was even happier when they were the two chip leaders with just 52 people left. Having bet John at 66/1, I just had to bet myself at 100/1. His tournament record might have been better than mine, but I had a few more chips. I considered having £1,000 but settled for £500 figuring that the prize money would be quite a lot to win anyway. That was the third 100/1 winner I've ever backed and it was my biggest win on one single bet.

CP: Did you have a strategy going into the final table, and were there any players you were wary of?

NC: I'm quite lucky in that I have the support of a large number of top pros who I can rely on for strategic advice if necessary. John Kabbaj came to speak to me when we were down to one table. With six coming back to play the TV final his advice was to relax and cruise into the big money. I happily listened but I knew I was going to completely ignore him. I knew just how important making the TV six was for the people with short stacks and I felt I could exploit their reluctance to call off their tournaments. At one stage I raised seven consecutive hands and the best two cards I held were J-8. It was the chips I won here that really won me the tournament.

During the final two tables I was most worried about Donal Norton. I'd played with him earlier in the tournament and felt that although his inexperience could lead to massive errors, his fearlessness made him a really dangerous opponent. When we started the final I was glad that he wasn't one of the people whose blinds I'd be focusing on. With that in mind I decided to keep up the aggression with constant stealing, but to avoid large confrontations with Donal.

CP: Were you confident of victory heads up and did local man Donal Norton's vocal support base affect you in any way?

NC: There were a couple of key pots with Donal which left me a little rattled. I had generally kept out of his way and was happily gaining chips from the other players, but I could see his stack and confidence growing so I decided to take a couple of quick pot shots at him. In the first I raised under-the-gun with K-Q off-suit, a hand I would often pass in this sort of position. Donal immediately put in a large reraise which I just knew was a move from him. I thought for a long time about moving-in and I was very confident of my read that he was weak. The more I thought though the harder it was. I kept coming back to the fact that Donal could be somewhat erratic and stubborn and might just call me with a substandard hand. I was also managing to do OK in the final generally and could easily fold and find an easier spot. When I did fold the crowd went wild. I wasn't surprised to see later that Donal had A-4.

In the following hand when Donal raised my big blind, I looked down at Ad9d and reraised. If he wanted to play the hand now he'd have to move all-in. I just didn't think he had any hand. I found out later that Donal had 10-9 here. He called a third of his chips before pushing a 10-high flop following my check. I hate his play in this hand, but I hated the reaction of the crowd even more. They were very loud and I started to really feel that it might be slipping away. In the end I was relieved to get to the heads-up with a 2-1 lead.

CP: Do you remember much of the heads-up play?

NC: I looked at the prize-money breakdown for the first time since we started playing and I suddenly realised the enormity of the event. It may have frozen me a little bit. I'd already decided to try and settle in for a long grind and to keep the pots small. I was just hoping that Donal would do the same. I felt his best chance would be to switch to a massively aggressive pre-flop game and I concentrated on chatting to him and keeping things very friendly in an attempt to avoid that.

The key heads-up pot was when we both turned trip eights after a three-clubs flop. If I wasn't trying so hard to keep the pots small we would have got it in there, but actually he did well to survive.

On the final hand he raised with 5-5. I was absolutely certain that he'd found a hand to make a stand with and wouldn't be passing, but A-9 seemed too good to pass up, especially as I'd have a few shots at him. When he turned his cards over I really felt confident of winning the race.

CP: How did it feel during and after your victory?

NC: I felt a little strange. I felt sure it was expected that I would go mad, scream, and jump about, and I'm just not really like that. I was conscious of Donal standing there, he seemed a nice guy, I'd just beaten him and I didn't want to rub his nose in it. After a few moments of looking dazed, I was aware of attempting to smile and look happier in case people thought I wasn't that bothered about winning. I ended up making a few gestures that were a little bit forced for the camera. It wasn't until several hours later that I developed a permanent grin that stayed for at least 24 hours.

CP: Did you splash out on a sports car or anything like that with the €800,000 prize money?

NC: I've owned two Ford Fiestas in my life. Both did well over 200,000 miles before collapsing, and since the second one went, I haven't had a car. I did think about buying a sports car, but settled instead for a new coat, a jumper, and some CD's.

CP: Has your life changed since?

NC: Life has gone a bit mental since the win. I followed it up with taking a place in the winning Great Britain team in the Poker Nation's Cup, finishing second in the World Poker Open, cashing nine times in the World Series, making my first World Series final where I finished fourth, and ending the year number 1 in the UK and number 4 in Europe. Consequently the phone just never stops. I'm doing interviews, giving advice, staking players, putting people into contact with each other, lending-out money, and listening to bad beats. It got to the stage where I was seriously considering hiring a secretary to give me my life back. I've chosen instead to start a poker related business project and delegate a lot of what I'm doing.

Most people realise that I'm basically just the same person and I really haven't changed. I often check with one or two people who can judge it, and they tell me I haven't. A couple of people seemed to struggle to deal with the win and I think it did cost me one or two friends. Obviously that's very sad.

Generally though the reaction I get from people is great. I think I'm quite normal, very talkative, and definitely approachable. I hope I'll never disappear up my own arse. I find it quite funny, as well as nice, when people recognise me in the street or away from a poker setting.

People are much keener to try and knock me out now and call me with all sorts of rubbish. I just need now to remember never to bluff again.

CP: What would it mean to you to win the Irish Open for a second time? Will you have any money on yourself to win this time?

NC: I'm going to be sad when I get knocked out of this year's Irish Open and I'm no longer the champion. I'm very proud of the win and have really enjoyed my reign. If I was to win it again I think I might be so overcome that I would drop dead on the spot.
I shan't be backing myself at the start as Paddy Power has got the odds about right I think. However, if after day one I have a few chips and they want to make me 100/1, I'm sure I'll be trying to get a few grand on.