Online Poker -- Interview with Adam Junglen

Notable online poker pro Adam “AJunglen7” Junglen recently turned 21, and it didn’t take long for an online poker site to snatch up the popular player. Full Tilt Poker recently signed Junglen just before he tore into the recent Caesars Palace Classic main event, and Junglen didn’t disappoint, moving onto the final table of the tournament before eventually finishing in sixth place ($148,000).

Junglen was already an established pro before he made big waves by taking down the PokerStars Sunday Million on July 15, 2007. He earned nearly $200,000 for that win. He surpassed that score, however, with a sixth-place finish at the European Poker Tour Barcelona main event later that year, earning $261,000, his biggest score to date.

Card Player caught up with Junglen after his final table at Caesars to talk about his new sponsorship, how to play extremely deep-stacked poker, and what it takes to consistently go deep in tournaments.


Shawn Patrick Green: First off, congrats on getting picked up by Full Tilt. Which of your accomplishments do you think was most influential in your getting sponsored?

Adam Junglen: I was officially signed on day 1 of Caesars [Palace Classic main event], so I guess it was just a matter of turning 21. As far as marketability, there’s not much use for having someone under 21 being signed. I guess the World Series of Poker Europe final table helped solidify things a few months ago. It wasn’t like after Caesars they decided to pick me up, it was right on day 1.

SPG: What about as far as you’re concerned, personally? What do you consider your greatest accomplishment in poker?

AJ: Winning the Sunday Million, because that was a win. Final tabling major events is obviously a big accomplishment, but winning the Sunday Million, that big tournament win, still means more to me than all of the final tables.

SPG: You got sixth at Caesars and in the two other most recent major live tournaments that you cashed in, but you haven’t yet taken down a live major. Have things just not gone your way in that respect, or do you have leaks that you’re conscious of that need plugging?

AJ: The final-table distribution doesn’t have anything to do with anything, it’s a really small sample size. I lost big flips at two of those final tables, and I was short at Barcelona when I busted in sixth, so it wasn’t getting short-handed and me imploding or anything, it was just how the cards were dealt.

SPG: In the Caesars Palace Classic, players were given a ridiculous amount of chips in their starting stacks — 100,000. What effect did that have on play in the tournament?

AJ: We started 500 big blinds deep, and antes didn’t start until the last level of the day, or something like that. So, it was a really slow structure with no antes until late in day 1. There were some weaker players at my starting table, but most of them were weak nitty players, they weren’t the kind that would stack off with bottom two against a straight on the board or anything like that. So, I really just played pretty tight and value-bet my good hands and waited for the antes to kick in until I started loosening up a little bit.

SPG: So, you were saying that the rest of your table was playing tight, but that you were playing tight, as well?

AJ: Well, at my starting table I had Steve Sung and Justin Bonomo to my right. We were playing pots, but none of them were anything significant. Most of them were just trying to get the weaker opponents into the pot to try to get their chips or get them to stack off or value-bet them when they’ve made second-best hands. The difference between an 80K stack and a 120K stack … there really was no difference at the end of day 1. Actually, the blinds were at 1,500-3,000 at the end of the day; it skipped some levels, like 1,200-2,400. So, I was conscious of those jumps and wouldn’t be opening quite as light during 1K-2K, because there was going to be a lot more in the pot preflop during the next level. So, I was very conscious of the structure?

SPG: Were you involved in any interesting hands from the event that you can talk about?

AJ: Yeah, actually. During the second-to-last level of day 1, with blinds at 1,000-2,000 with a 300 ante, and an opponent opened from late position for 5,100. Dan Heimiller called from the cutoff, and Steve Sung called on the button. I called from the small blind, with about 150,000 behind, with pocket sevens. So, I’m in the small blind and out of position against three opponents.

SPG: So, is your primary concern here set-mining?

AJ: Yeah, pretty much. I was mostly just trying to flop a set, here. I feel like if I would have squeezed and then someone moved in on me, I’d have to fold, and I didn’t want to turn my hand into a bluff here. So, there was about 25K in the middle, and the flop came J-5-5. I checked, the original raiser checked, Dan Heimiller checked, and then Steve Sung bet 10,000, a little less than half of the pot. I had a really strong read that, for one, the original raiser or Dan Heimiller would have led out with a jack on that flop, and second that Steve Sung would have bet more on that flop with a hand that beat two sevens. So, I called, and the other two players folded. The turn was a 6, I checked, and Steve checked behind. Oftentimes, I’ll lead this turn, but I was out of position against Steve, who is a tricky player, and I thought that he could take advantage of that. The river was a 10, and although that does hit a part of his range that that was bluffing the flop, I think a lot of times he just has A-Q high or twos, threes, or fours, just nothing, really. I bet 16,000 on the river, he called, and I confidently showed down two sevens, and then he mucked. That was a pretty interesting hand, I thought.

SPG: What is your bet on the river designed to do? What part of his range is he calling with, and what part of his range is he folding, and how does that factor into both whether you bet and how much you bet?

AJ: It was somewhat of a blocking bet, but I also had a strong feeling that I had the best hand. So, it was a small value-bet, I guess would be the best way to put it. He’s calling with twos, threes, fours, and A-Q. Most likely he has a small pair, there.

SPG: So you were pretty confident that he may even call with as little as ace high?

AJ: Yep, I was confident that he’d look me up with ace high.

SPG: What does it take to consistently go deep in tournaments?

AJ: For the big multi-day events, you have to realize that — and it sounds so cliché; just being a younger player, you automatically somewhat dismiss a lot of the old clichés you’ve heard for a long time and that other young players disagree with — you can’t win a tournament on day 1. You have to be prepared for a long four- or five-day grind, pretty much. There’s nothing wrong with going into day 2 of a tournament with just above the starting stack, as long as you’re comfortable with the situation at hand. The structure is very good, especially compared to what most Internet players are used to online, with the final table of a $100 freezeout and the average stack being 15 big blinds. Most people online are extremely comfortable playing with that kind of stack.

Just because you don’t have a lot of chips doesn’t mean that you don’t have a chance. You just need to become comfortable with accumulating slowly and picking your spots. The structures are very, very good, so you don’t have to get overly involved, specifically on day 1, when the antes don’t start until a certain level and everyone is deep-stacked.

SPG: What aspect of playing good poker do you still have to work on?

AJ:  Playing pots out of position. It’s something that I think I should be doing more, especially when deep-stacked. I rarely play pots out of position, which is, in general, a very good thing, but I feel like I’m missing a lot of value playing against weaker opponents in pots from out of position. So, I should be taking advantage of that more often.

SPG: You’re friends with quite a few poker players, of course. What are some of the most important lessons they’ve taught you, and who did you learn from?

AJ: I would say, specifically, Shaun Deeb has helped my mentality toward tournaments a lot. He’s such a grinder and has that grinder mentality. I’m still kind of trying to improve my mentality in going into tournaments and treating it as if it’s just another tournament. There’s always going to be more money to be made. You’re going to be losing a tournament most of the time, just busting out and being disappointed. He has helped me out by getting me not to be so disappointed afterwards and realizing where my edge is and attaining that grinder mentality.

SPG: Thanks, Adam!

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