Capture the Flag -- Ashton Griffin

Ashton “theASHMAN103” Griffin is a Full Tilt Online Poker Series winner and a heads-up champion, but more notably, he is one of the few high-stakes regulars who can say they’ve taken on the likes of Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, and Tom “durrrr” Dwan and won.

Griffin is known for his high-variance, aggressive style of play, and he has dominated the games recently and is one of the biggest pot-limit Omaha winners on Full Tilt Poker.

Card Player caught up with him just before he went on to win the PokerStars.net North American Poker Tour $25,000 high-roller shootout championship and its $560,000 first-place prize.

Julio Rodriguez: When did you discover that you had a knack for pot-limit Omaha?

Ashton Griffin: Not for a while. When I first made the transition to heads-up pot-limit Omaha, I told myself that it would be easy, because I already had proven myself in heads-up no-limit hold’em games. I immediately jumped into $2-$4 games, and I quickly realized what a big mistake that was. No matter what table I joined, I was easily the worst player.

People were hunting me because they knew that I was so bad and willing to get it in with pretty much any hand preflop. If anyone reraised me, I just couldn’t bring myself to fold. I was totally clowning it up at those stakes.

Then, I really turned the corner when I discovered the fold button. I started to pick my spots better, and I soon realized that I was also able to read my opponents for certain types of hands. I made a complete change and started to nit it up, making sure that I never got it in bad. It was a challenge for me, but it really helped me to learn the game properly and prepared me for better competition.

JR: You mentioned folding. What other aspects of the game did you pick up?

AG: There were a lot of little things. I learned the percentages, learned to slow down and make adjustments, and learned to sometimes limp preflop and not have to three-bet as much. I almost completely stopped four-betting kings preflop, and started checking behind on the flop for pot control.

JR: What about your opponents?

AG: I would say that there’s a good 50 or 60 players in the $25-$50 games. I’m not exactly on the grind right now, but when I was, it was very important for me to know my competition and their tendencies when I sat down at the table. You play enough with someone and you begin to notice patterns within their play. Not only that, but you also start learning about who is willing to get it in bad and who might be on tilt or tired from a long session. Game selection is not always about who you play; sometimes it’s about when you play them. It makes all the difference in the world, and can turn losing players into winners.

JR: Is there anybody you won’t play?

AG: It really depends on the stakes. If I have 100 buy-ins for a particular game, I’m pretty much down to play anybody in the world. I feel like I’m good enough at adjusting to counter anyone’s playing style. At the highest stakes, there are about 10 players I try to avoid, unless I know that they are tired or on tilt. It’s not because I feel like I can’t beat them, but because I know that there are better spots out there.

JR: Is tilt really an issue at the higher stakes?

AG: Pot-limit Omaha is probably the worst game in which to tilt. You can easily lose five or six buy-ins before you realize what’s happening. The high-stakes players have a couple of flips go the other way, and all of a sudden they are betting when they should check and checking when they should bet. It happens a lot, and it’s something that good players have to keep an eye out for, because there’s not a lot of edge in the game.

JR: In all of the high-stakes reports out there, it appears that players are prone to going on big heaters or downswings.

AG: Yeah (laughing), most of the time that’s me you are talking about. Frankly, I know that I’ve run really good at pot-limit Omaha, but I’ve also run pretty bad in other areas of my life, especially staking other players.

JR: Are you playing any other games?

AG: You know, I’m not really playing much else these days. I’m not playing the mixed games like some players are. I’m really just trying to win all the money at pot-limit Omaha. I know it sounds crazy, but there’s so much to be made, and I want to get my hands on as much of it as possible before the games dry up.

JR: Isildur1 is back. Do you plan on facing off against him?

AG: Who knows? Maybe I’ll give Isildur1 some action in no-limit hold’em, but I need to make sure that my bankroll can handle $200-$400 and maybe take a $2 million downswing. If he’s up for pot-limit Omaha, I have no problem throwing my entire online bankroll on the line.

JR: He seems to have trouble drumming up action in no-limit hold’em. Is he really that dominant in the game?

AG: There are some players giving him action in no-limit, but … actually, I don’t want to speculate on other players and their bankroll situations. I think that when Tom [Dwan] sorts out his game and builds up a little more, he’ll be willing to get back in there. I’ve talked with many of the regulars about [Isildur1], and some of us have come to the consensus that he might be the best in the world right now at hold’em. I mean, he played 50,000 hands with Tom and pretty much buried him. It wasn’t even like he just ran good. He was making plays that nobody had even considered, and was making sure that he stayed really balanced throughout. He won pretty convincingly.

JR: The swings in these games are pretty ridiculous. Are these games even sustainable?

AG: It’s scary, really. I’m scared that people are just going to get really good, or, even worse, that those who aren’t good will realize it and will quit playing altogether. People are becoming increasingly better at quitting games in which they don’t have an edge, thanks to all of the software out there. If the players in the high-stakes games ever realize that they are out there just to gamble, you won’t see as much action at those limits.