New PokerStars pro David "Chino" Rheem is perhaps the most experienced player heading to the World Series of Poker final table, but even he has had to adapt to life since becoming a member of the November Nine. No stranger to the limelight, Rheem has earned more than $600,000 in over tournament career and is still in the running to earn more than 15 times that in two months time.
Rheem is currently enjoying the increased wave of attention and spoke to Card Player about how much action he is getting from his opponents at the tables, especially at this year's European Poker Tour Barcelona main event.
Julio Rodriguez: You came flying out of the gates today and are sitting with a pretty good-sized stack.
David “Chino” Rheem: It’s going great for me. I chipped up early, you know. It’s kind of funny that people just don’t believe me today.
JR: The trend back in America is to load the starting stacks with 20,000, 30,000, and, next week, 40,000 in chips. How do you adjust to the European Poker Tour, which offers just 10,000 to start?
DR: A couple years back, that’s what all of the tournaments started with. We have become used to playing these ridiculously deep-stacked tournaments, and now you come in here and start with only 10K, and you have to change your game up a little bit. In my opinion, you have to chip up early. I was just lucky enough to be able to do that.
JR: Do you advocate starting out hyper-aggressive?
DR: Not really. I kind of just waited for hands and got paid off big on all of them. I made a hero call on a guy earlier with 9-8 on a K-9-5 flop. I knew he had a flush draw, and my hand held up to give me a big stack early. That’s how I got rolling, and so far I haven’t looked back.
JR: Have opponents changed the way they play against you since you made the WSOP final table?
DR: I think the biggest thing is that they don’t believe me. This is, of course, good for me. I can use that to my advantage and just sit back and bet my hands for value. Whenever I have it, I bet big and they pay me off.
JR: We were told that the November Nine would be hyped up and revealed to the public with a never-ending media circus of exposure. How have you and your fellow tablemates handled it?
DR: Speaking for the entire group, I can say that we’ve all put in our time and dealt with the attention in different ways. I don’t mind it; it comes with the territory.
JR: Do you feel like your freerolling for the next two months?
DR: Definitely, I feel like I’m on a complete freeroll right now. Depending on how the final table goes, it could be a freeroll for life. Everyone keeps asking me, “What are you doing to prepare?” This is it; I just keep on playing tournaments, getting ready, doing what I do.
JR: You are now a PokerStars pro. Will we be seeing you at more of these EPT events?
DR: These EPT events are great. This is only my second EPT ever, but you’ll see me taking the trip to Europe more often to play in these.
