Peter “Apathy” Jetten is primarily a force in the online poker world, but he has been increasingly making his presence felt on the live tournament poker circuit. Jetten has already garnered respect from many players on the tour, young and old, and he recently recorded a high finish in the 2007 World Poker Tour Doyle Brunson Classic, where he finished in 18th place. Card Player caught up with Jetten at the event, and the young star talked about a number of poker strategy topics, including the craziest live hand he’s ever played.
Ryan Lucchesi: How do you keep your patience in a tournament when your stack is hovering around the average?
Peter Jetten: I’m pretty patient in live tournaments … I don’t mean that I’m necessarily tight or solid all the time, but I don’t really tilt too much.
RL: You were able to grow your stack many times above the average late yesterday. Was there a pivotal hand involved in that rush you can tell me about?
PJ: There was probably one of the sickest live poker hands; definitely the sickest one I’ve ever played. I raise J-10 of diamonds and get called by the cutoff. I’m in the hijack [two seats to the right of the button], and I get called by the cutoff and the big blind, which is this older British guy. The flop is 7-4-4 with two diamonds. He [the British guy] checks, I bet 65,000, the cutoff folds, he calls. The turn is the A
, and I thought he had a hand like ace-high on the flop, or maybe like sixes or 8-7 or something, so that’s a pretty bad card for me. He checks, and I check behind. The river is the K
, and he bets 70,000. So, the pot is 230,000, and he bets 70,000. He has 150,000 left, and I go all in, and he tanks for like five minutes and ends up folding the nut flush. I couldn’t believe it; I mean, nobody else in the world would have folded that to me. Obviously, I was shoving for value, but it was a sick cooler, and I still ended up winning a huge pot, which was unbelievably lucky.
RL: Do you feel that after you spend so much time establishing reads on all the players at your table, that all that work is erased when you redraw for a new table?
PJ: It’s not just that, I know almost everybody left in the tournament. It’s more about the way the table dynamic changes. So many players who are good but not great, who have some success in these tournaments, will react in crazy ways if I see one hand go down. They’ll be like, “Oh my God, this guy’s totally insane because he had this hand,” and they won’t put a lot of thought into it. When that dynamic doesn’t get created, you’re all sort of starting from the same base level at your table. I think that as a table goes on, better players are able to adjust better than mediocre players are, and I like to think that is an advantage I have.
RL: When you get deep into an event, how much does stamina play a factor?
PJ: I hope it’s not that important, because I have been partying like crazy. The last couple days, though, I’ve actually just had a drink at dinner and gone home, so I’ve been in bed before 4 a.m. The day before day one, I was up until … . I know everybody in these interviews likes to say they ran a mile before they came into the tournament, but I hope [stamina] won’t play too much of a factor. I’ll tell you what preparation I have been making; I have been wearing the same boxers every day — lucky Canadian boxers. I did wash them today, which is a little against protocol, but definitely a necessity. I’m going to stick with them until the conclusion of the tournament, for sure.
RL: Are you normally superstitious, or are you just running with it this time?
PJ: No … I’m jokingly superstitious, but I thought I had to work on my luckbox.
RL: How do you fight the excitement or anxiety as you get close to a final table in a tournament?
PJ: I think I’ll play very well, but I’m definitely getting excited … I’m not sleeping as well as I should and stuff like that. I would like to say, “oh I’m not nervous at all,” but I don’t really play a ton of huge tournaments. I think this is only my fourth or fifth WPT [event] this year, other than the cash at L.A. [the LAPC], where I had like 10 big blinds going into the money, you know. I feel like I have a good shot at this one, so I’m a little nervous about it.
