World Poker Tour Bay 101 Q and A -- Victor RamdinRamdin Talks about his Recent Win at The Big Event and his Intentions to Chase the Player of the Year Award in 2011 |
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Victor Ramdin won The Big Event at the Bike last week to earn $500,000 and his first major title since 2006 when he won the World Poker Tour Foxwoods Poker Classic. He defeated fellow Team PokerStars pro Joe Hachem in the heads-up final and continued the hot streak he is on to start 2011. The win gave him 1,920 Card Player Player of the Year points, which combined with his win in a preliminary event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and his final-table appearance at The Big Event bounty shootout tournament give him 2,248 total points. He is in sixth place on the overall leader board.
Ramdin is just 752 points behind the current POY leader and he is capable of winning an event each time he takes a seat in a tournament field. Card Player caught up with Ramdin at the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star in San Jose, California and he talked about his recent victory and his new approach to poker in 2011.
Ryan Lucchesi: You beat Joe Hachem heads up to win The Big Event a few days ago. How did it feel to win another major title?
Victor Ramdin: This year more than ever, and I don’t know why, I’m a lot more motivated. I think I’m a much better player than a lot of the field. I’m not saying I’m a great player, but I think I’m above the field. I think I need to do better. I know I can do better if I put my heart and my mind into it. That’s what I have tried to do this year.
I got a great start in the Bahamas. I got deep in the main and I won a side event. What I give a lot of credit to is that I have been playing a tremendous amount of hours on PokerStars. I’ve been playing a whole lot of hours and it has paid off for me. I have won six tournaments on PokerStars in the last two months, many small events, but a win is a win. Any time you’re beating a field of 200-500-600 players it is pretty good if you win these tournaments.
RL: Has all of that extra work online really helped your confidence in live events?
VR: My confidence level is through the roof. That tournament The Big Event was one of those tournaments where once I got to Day 2 with the chip lead I said to myself, ‘Why don’t you surprise everyone and maintain this chip lead for two days.’ Which I did, and people didn’t expect that because that’s not me. I think I changed my game a whole lot by playing a lot online and I have seen a few different things and I have been doing some new stuff that is working for me well. The bottom line is practice, practice, practice. There is nothing else for that, and I will get to where I want to be.
RL: Do you feel as well about things as when you went on your impressive run of results in 2006?
VR: I think that even though my last three years were winning years, I had no major win to talk about. But anytime I win a dollar it’s a win. I have not done anything major and I have been challenging myself this year. Actually, you guys are going to see a lot more of me this year because I’m going to be playing in a lot of tournaments. I’ve got a couple of positive people in my life who are really good friends who cheer me on and I get a lot of support from my wife also.
I just want to go out and play this year. I want to play a lot of poker this year. And guess what, I looked at Card Player and I’m in the top 10 for Player of the Year. I have just won two tournaments and I’m there. I’m going to live off of that stat and see if I can maintain a spot in the top 10 all year. I will make a run at winning it. Of course we would all be happy to be the Card Player Player of the Year but it’s really not that easy. What I would like to do is finish in the top 10 for the second time in my life. I’m really going for it, that’s what I plan to do. I’m playing good solid poker.
RL: One last question about your heads-up match against Joe Hachem at The Big Event. What were your thoughts on playing someone who you know so well in a high pressure situation?
VR: What happened at the final table was when Joe won the first two hands and he had me down to 3 million against his 9 million I thought I was playing for fun before that. But that was when it hit me that I’m playing for a title against one of the best players in the world who is also a really good friend of mine. If I’m going to shine this is the place to do it. I really decided to try and overpower him and sometimes you need to decide when to make a stand.
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