With $2.2 million in live winnings on his résumé, including a win in the 2006 WPT MandalayBay Poker Championship, tournament grinder Joe Tehan has been one of the more recognizable faces on tour for the past four years.
Tehan is no stranger to the wear and tear of the summer tournament schedule, and he managed to get through a grueling two-month affair with five cashes and $100,000 in earnings. Still, the possibility of what could have been lingers after Tehan final tabled the WSOP $1,500 pot-limit hold’em tournament as one of the chip leaders and finished in a disappointing sixth place.
Card Player caught up with Tehan shortly after he cashed in the Bellagio Cup IV main event to discuss the ups and downs of tournament poker and to find out how he copes with near misses.
Julio Rodriguez: Joe, you had a pretty solid summer, but would you go as far as to say that it was a success?
Joe Tehan: It wasn’t too bad of a summer. I played like 16 or 17 events, and I cashed four times. I also bubbled twice, so I was definitely getting deep in a lot of them.
JR: I know it’s a sore subject, but can we talk about your final-table appearance in event No. 3, the event that short-stack David Singer eventually went on to win?
JT: That was really frustrating. I had a lot of chips going in, and I never really won a hand. I mean, whatever, that’s how poker goes, sometimes. I started the day feeling good about winning a bracelet, and the next thing I knew, I was out.
I also went deep in event No. 44, and that one paid about $700,000 for first, so that stung to just miss the final table.
JR: How do you cope with coming so close and falling just short?
JT: Sometimes I’m really hard on myself, but other times I just say f--- it and move on to the next tournament. When you play a bunch of tournaments, you really learn to get used to the failure. You’re not going to win every tournament you play, so you just have to pick yourself up and think about the next one.
JR: What’s the rest of the year going to look like for you? Are you going to give the WSOP Europe a shot?
JT: I’ve never been one to travel. I’ll probably just stay here in Las Vegas, for the most part, and maybe make one or two trips elsewhere later in the year.
JR: Thanks Joe.
