European Poker Tour Madrid Q&A -- Eugene YanaytYanayt Makes PokerStars EPT Grand Final Main Event Final Table |
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Eugene Kanayt is many things; a high stakes regular, a triple-draw hero, a computer science major, and a FIDE ranked chess master. Another title he can now add to that list is EPT Grand Finalist as the online cash monster takes his place on the main-event final table today fourth in chips with 2,420,000.
Kanayt, who grew up in Moscow until he was nine and then moved to Boston with his mother, now lives in Los Angeles, and he will return there with at least €130,000. He has the chance however to walk away with €1,500,000. He spoke to Card Player about his unbelievable trip to the final table, his thoughts on his opponents, and his poker preference, triple draw cash games.
Rebecca McAdam: Can you start by telling me about the rollercoaster ride you’ve had to the final table?
Eugene Yanayt: Well I started the previous day with 64,000 chips, so I was one of the short stacks. On my first table I got A-Q all in against pocket sixes on a 9-9-8 flop and then I hit an 8 which counterfeited the sixes. Then I got nines all-in against pocket tens a couple of tables later and I flopped quad nines. He actually hit a 10 too!
On the table before that I doubled up with 6-6 against A-Q when Alex Gomes opened, the gentleman to this left three-bet, and I pushed all in from the big blind. The guy called me with A-Q and I held up. Then I had a pot against Ben Wilinofsky, the winner of EPT Berlin, I opened, he three-bet me, I called. I was in position, I had 9-8, I flopped a straight, 10-7-6, and he just check-called me down. He turned an ace, he had A-J, and he wound up calling all-in on the river for a lot less than pot, and that really crippled him and gave me about 800,000 chips.
Then I had a big pot much later in the day against Ole Kristian Nergard where he made a big reraise preflop and I called after opening with threes, and the flop came A-Q-10 and he checked behind after I checked to him, and then I turned a 3. So I bet and I called a min-raise. The river was just nothing, I checked to him and he went all in for more than the pot I think. I had to call because of how aggressive he plays. So I guess those were the key hands.
Today [day 4] was a lot of ups and downs. I was really comfortable with my previous table, just felt great there and was kind of bullying people a bit, but right before we were down to nine players (when we were down to 10) I got moved to this table [feature table] and I was getting bullied immediately. I think I had 2.7 million in chips or something and I went down to 1.5 right away. To not get 10th I had to survive against Andrey [Danilyuk], the Russian guy. He three-bet me with nines when I had K-Q suited and I pushed all in, I was hoping he would give me credit for a big hand because nobody wants to get ninth or tenth, but he wound up calling me with nines and I wound up hitting two pair with my K-Q.
After that I think I tried to three-bet Alex with some crap and that didn’t work out for me at all so now I have 2.4 [million] instead. It’s right where I started the day, but at the start of the day I was chip leader, and now, not so much.
RM: How do you feel about your opponents on the final table?
EY: It’s a pretty tough table but I think the chip leader plays sort of unorthodox so it’s kind of promising, it’s good that he has that stack and not somebody like Alex.
RM: Do you think you have a feel for the players now?
EY: A decent feel, yeah. I think I’ve played them all at this point, so I’ve a pretty good idea.
RM: Is it true that you are the world’s top player in triple draw cash games?
EY: Yeah, I think I was recognized as that some months ago but I wound up losing all my money so now it’s unclear I guess (laughs).
RM: Do you largely play cash or do you play a lot of tournaments as well?
EY: Pretty much only cash, just a couple of tournaments like this a year and that’s it.
RM: Did you just decide that you wanted to play the Grand Final or did you qualify online?
EY: I’m SuperNova Elite on PokerStars so you get two packages with that, so this is one of the ones I chose because it’s the most expensive one [laughs].
RM: And have you been to Monte Carlo before?
EY: No, I haven’t been basically outside of the Americas.
RM: Really! And what do you think of Madrid?
EY: It’s pretty nice here. I haven’t really gotten the chance to see Spain because I’ve been playing every day.
RM: Do you have any kind of strategy for the final or are you going to just feel it out at the time?
EY: I think I’ll feel it out when I get there but, yeah, just any kind of aggression I’ve tried to show recently just hasn’t gone well, and you know there’s a big pay increase with every bust. I’ve a comfortable stack relative to some others, I think there’s a lot of guys on 1.6 million, 1.8 million, 2 million, and I got a little bit more than that. I’ll try to play for first place too but hopefully just pick up some hands to do that.
RM: Is the live tournament scene an area you want to build up stats in?
EY: I’ll have to see. I mean I can’t play online poker right now being in America so it’s worth a thought. Ultimately I just want to be playing triple-draw cash games [laughs].
RM: Well if you win you will have plenty of bankroll to play!
EY: Yeah exactly!
Catch Yanayt and the other finalists on the live stream today from 2 p.m. (CET) or read the action as it happens via the live blog feed. Don’t forget from 11 p.m. (due to a two-hour delay) you will be able to see the remaining players’ hole cards on the live stream. If you miss out however, Card Player will be bringing you a recap with all the day’s play.
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