Generation Next -- Tom Marchese

Tom Marchese savors a challenge. So, when 2010 rolled around, he decided to give a little more time and effort to his curiosity about live tournaments. He’d already made his mark in the nosebleed cash games, playing an aggressive, balanced, and mistake-free style that baffled opponents. Conquering tournaments seemed like a logical progression.

What appealed to Marchese was the deep-stack play of the early stages of a live event. He could target the weaker players and apply pressure post-flop, and use discipline and patience when facing tougher, more aggressive opponents when out of position; these were two of the skills that he brought from cash games.

“I think I’m a better post-flop player than the majority of players on the live circuit,” said Marchese. “I can take advantage of that in many situations by seeing a lot of flops in position, and hopefully make fewer mistakes than my opponents. In the early levels of live events, you will see players make too many mistakes that have them stacking off much too light. It’s just not worth getting A-K all in preflop with 80-100 big blinds. They need to respect their deep stacks and be patient for the right situations to come along.”

Marchese’s personal challenge has paid off so far this year, beyond even his expectations. He is currently the Card Player 2010 Player of the Year points leader, and has more than $1.4 million in tournament winnings this year. Back in February, his hot streak began with a third-place finish at the Borgata Winter Open. Brimming with confidence, he would three weeks later hoist the champions trophy at the North American Poker Tour’s Venetian main event. Before the end of May, he would march to two more final tables, with fourth-place finishes in the Wynn Classic and the PokerStars EPT Grand Final high-roller event, for a combined total of $423,478.

There is no denying that Marchese has brought the skill set that made him one of the most feared online cash-game players to the tournament circuit. Card Player recently sat down with the online high-stakes pro to pick his brain about his transition to live play and to discuss how a professional handles the huge swings of the nosebleed cash games.

Craig Tapscott: I’m so glad to finally catch you at home, Tom. You’ve been all over the globe in the last few months, going deep in tournaments. Did you have any help with your transition from cash games to live tournaments?

Tom Marchese: My friend and former roommate, William Reynolds, helped me learn some tournament strategies. He’s a successful cash-game and MTT [multitable tournament] player. He opened my eyes more to the tournament preflop style of play, which also can be applied to cash games. One of the strategies is the idea that your hand doesn’t matter in a lot of spots if you’re going to three-bet, spots in which your opponent will most likely four-bet or fold. Another idea is picking spots where you expect to receive credit for having a hand. They’re pretty standard ideas that a lot of cash-game players are not accustomed to, because they don’t play many tournaments.

CT: I read that you’ve really improved your hand-reading skills. Can you give our readers some advice?

TM: For me, it was a ton of analysis of my own play. It’s mostly spots where, at the time, you may have thought that you played the hand fine, but then you look at the hand your opponent showed up with, and what his actual range turned out to be. It’s also about breaking down the hand all the way. At first, you look at the preflop range; that’s when it’s at the widest. From an opponent’s flop action, and continuation-betting or checking, you can narrow his range even further. Street by street, you will use the information that you pick up to narrow his range and improve your play against that range. The key is, as your opponent’s range becomes narrower, you have to adjust better than your opponent will. So, pay attention and really analyze your play.

CT: Before we let you go, tell us how you handle the devastating swings that occur in the nosebleed cash games.

TM: There was a time when I was swinging probably $50,000 to $100,000 a day, which is never fun. It can be pretty difficult to deal with at times. But I do feel that I can handle the swings better than most people. I found that you can’t let the swings affect your normal game when you’re taking shots at the nosebleed stakes. Sure, you might be on a $200,000 downswing, but you have to realize that you’ve lost only around five buy-ins; but at your normal stakes, it would be a downswing of 40 buy-ins. So, you have to rationalize with yourself and risk only what you’re willing to lose when you play that high. You have to have realistic expectations.