Poker Player PROfile: Andrew BrownBrown Discusses New York Private Pot-Limit Omaha Games |
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Andrew Brown has been one of the most successful Omaha specialists in the game during the last six years. The New York City resident burst onto the scene in 2008, winning a World Series of Poker bracelet in a Omaha eight-or-better event along with $226,483.
In 2009, he won a PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) pot-limit Omaha event for $166,400. In 2010, he took third in the Sunday Million for $121,800. Then in 2012, he finished runner up in the WSOP $10,000 buy-in pot-limit Omaha event for $408,393.
Despite playing a very limited tournament schedule, Brown has amassed over $1.25 million in earnings. Since Black Friday, Brown has focused more on private pot-limit Omaha cash games in and around New York City, but he still makes the trip to the WSOP each year in an effort to pick up his second bracelet.
Most recently, Brown made a deep run in the $10,000 buy-in Omaha eight-or-better event, finishing 14th for $28,176.
Julio Rodriguez: You had an amazing 2012 run at the WSOP, but picked up only a small cash in 2013. Did you play a lot of tournaments last year?
Andrew Brown: I played almost a full WSOP schedule in 2013, but I had some personal issues off the tables which really distracted me. This year, I’m much more focused on poker. I love the WSOP, but I don’t really play too many tournaments during the rest of the year. There might be a decent tournament near me at the Borgata that I’ll go to, but even then I prefer to play cash games.
JR: Is that because the tournament circuit is so heavy on no-limit hold’em?
AB: Yeah. I prefer mixed games and pot-limit Omaha and those are games you have trouble finding in tournament form outside of the WSOP. Fortunately for me, most of the games you find around New York are pot-limit Omaha.
JR: Can you talk about those private games in New York? A lot of the clubs that were made famous a decade ago are now gone.
AB: There were some clubs that got shut down, but that was a while ago. New places have sprouted up and there’s always a good game to play in. The environment has definitely changed. It’s not the club atmosphere anymore where you walk in and there’s 10 tables in the room. Now it’s one or two tables that run a solid game each night, mostly filled with people who don’t play poker for a living.
JR: Why would a private game filled with amateurs, that can exclude anyone, invite a professional to play?
AB: I don’t really think of myself as a mean or nasty person, which can happen with poker players. I try to be nice and respect the people that run the game. If a fish is on their way to play, I’ll offer to get up from the table and go get dinner for a few hours until another spot opens up. I don’t press it. I’ve become friendly with a lot of the game runners and can pretty much weasel my way into most games, but it starts with being a nice guy.
JR: What kind of stakes are being played in these games?
AB: There’s an interesting system in place for New York games. There’s a lot of straddling on the button and the blinds are usually very small or even nonexistent. There’s a fantastic game that I play in Brooklyn where people will buy in for $1,000 or $2,000 and there are no blinds whatsoever, just a mandatory button straddle for anywhere between $25 and $100. By the end of the night, each player will be sitting with $10,000 or even sometimes $20,000. It gets really big, really fast.
JR: Speaking of cash games, have you played in any games at the Rio? The most popular Omaha game at the WSOP seems to be Big O. (Big O is played with five cards and an eight-or-better split.)
AB: When I come to Vegas, I’ll focus on just tournaments. I’ve tried to play both in the past and found that there just wasn’t enough time to really be successful in both. It’s a recipe for disaster really. You might bust from a tournament early and all of a sudden you have time to sit in a cash game, but you might not be in the right mindset after busting from a tournament.
As for Big O, they can keep it. They can play their Big O, and I’ll stick with my pot-limit Omaha. Three or four years ago, when Big O first made its debut at the WSOP, I heard rumblings that it was created by a group of west coasters who were working together in the games. I don’t know if that’s true, obviously, but it was enough to make me shy away from the game. I play enough games as it is, there’s no need to add any more.
JR: You are obviously going to play in a lot of pot-limit Omaha events while at the WSOP. How does your approach differ in the tournaments from your style in cash games?
AB: You have to be a little more conservative just because you are playing basically Russian Roulette. In a tournament, you only have the one bullet and in a cash game you can always reach back into your pocket. The pot-limit Omaha tournaments, whether they are a $1,000 buy-in or a $10,000 buy-in, proportionately play pretty much the same way. Yes, the stacks are bigger in the bigger buy-in events, but so are the blinds.
I play so much pot-limit Omaha, practice makes perfect, that I’m not too worried about the difference in skill level between a $1,000 and $10,000 event either. In the small tournament, there will be a lot more players who telegraph their hands and in the big tournament, there will be a lot more players taking forever to make each of their decisions, but that’s pretty much the only differences between the two.
JR: Because of your edge, will you ever pass up a small plus EV (expected value) situation early in a tournament in favor of finding a better spot?
AB: That’s the famous question in hold’em. Some guy goes all in and shows you his A-K. Do you call with your pocket queens and take your chances with a marginal edge or do you find a better spot? The answer is yes, at least you are supposed to call in that situation. A pro will take any edge he can get. Of course, I feel that my edge in a tournament is much bigger than being a slight favorite in a coin flip, but there is so much variance in tournaments that you might not ever get a better opportunity. The goal is to win all of the chips, not just survive a little while longer.
JR: What are you plans after the WSOP is over?
AB: I’m moving out of New York at the end of the summer, but I honestly have no idea where I’m going. The options on the table are California, Florida, Nevada or maybe even Connecticut to pursue something else other than poker. No matter what I do next, I will be at least playing poker on the side. It will always be a profitable hobby for me, so if I ever need cash, I can always bring $1,000 and get myself to the nearest casino.
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