Tournament Trail Q and A Part II: Noah BoekenNoah Boeken Speaks about Missing Home, Partying, Karma, his Ambitions, and More at EPT Prague |
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One dangerously talented pro often found at various events around Europe and the States is 27 year-old Dutchman Noah Boeken. Card Player spoke to the young gent at the recent European Poker Tour in Prague, where despite feeling unwell, he remained upbeat about his game and upcoming events. Continuing on from yesterday’s Tournament Trail Part I, Boeken speaks about the difference between playing home and away, the highlights of being a young professional, and valuable lessons he has learned along the way.
Rebecca McAdam: Why is it that you always do well at the Amsterdam Master Classics, is it because you’re on home ground?
Noah Boeken: I don’t know. I feel very at home. It’s where I started to play poker and it’s literally 30 seconds from my house. It’s a big advantage that you know the Dutch players. It’s just home turf advantage. I think seven years in a row I made a final table there, and this year again was the last event I played, the €2,500 event. My year hasn’t been good so I was very happy to make the final table, and I was looking for another one here, but it wasn’t meant to be. You see a lot in sports, that when people go somewhere where they had success, they play their best game and do the best.
RM: Do you prefer playing in Europe than the U.S.?
NB: It’s a mix. I like the U.S for a few weeks, I can go to Vegas but after two weeks I’m pretty much done with it, but I love it the first two weeks. I just like Europe a little more. Lately, the EPT is rising — since PokerStars started the EPT, it’s unbelievable. Like the first EPT was a €1,000 buy-in with 200 players and now an €8,000 buy-in gets capped at 600 players. In the States it’s going backwards, people don’t have money, the financial crisis over there is tougher than over here. I went to the Bellagio a few months ago to play some tournaments, but the turn outs were no good, so Europe is where you want to be right now to play poker.
RM: Tournaments are your niche then?
NB: Yeah. Live, I’ve always been a tournament player. Cash games, I play online. I should play live cash games too because when I do, I do real well at them but I can’t be bothered sometimes because online I play — not even that high — but because you play so many more hands, playing one hour online is the same as playing ten hours live. Sometimes it’s tough to sit down and play ten hours live when you know you can do one hour online in your own room, with your fridge, music, whatever you want.
RM: What do you miss most when you’re away from home?
NB: My friends. I really like to go out to the clubs. I’m 27 now, it has been 10 years, but I still really enjoy going out with my friends to parties or whatever, and that’s what I miss the most. That’s probably the thing that makes me still go out after 10 years. When I’m in Vegas I never go out, people are always saying, “Oh, you don’t go out?” Because I’ve done that, it’s not as much fun as going out at home, and that’s where I get my breaks. In Prague, I haven’t done anything because of how I’m feeling now but this is where I relax, everybody’s drinking. Otherwise I’m drinking every week, and you can’t do that. Five months of the year, I’m away, I don’t drink, I try to stay fit, I try to go work out, and I try it at home too, but it happens more when I’m away not drinking and partying. So, it’s a good balance for me — to get away from the partying. Now if I didn’t go out for like a month, I’d really like to see my friends, go out, and have a good time. I’m just a sucker, even like tonight if I stay in and some friends call me, I’ll say OK.
RM: What’s the best thing about your life as a poker player?
NB: I love the independency. If I want to go to Vegas tomorrow, I can go to Vegas tomorrow and I can do my job there, especially because I have a business, and have people working for me, I can decide to disappear for two months. I can do that. So, that’s what I enjoy the most. When I was younger, some days I didn’t even know what I was going to do, I just went outside and saw what came my way. If I met a friend I would hang out with him. Now, it’s a little easier because I have more money than then. It gives you a real feeling of independence, which is also a little bit dangerous especially with poker players because a lot of times they’re lazy. It’s important you have some principles, I don’t say I stick to them but I’m trying. Otherwise you’re just going to be some spoilt kid, and that’s not what I want to be. It’s always been important, now that I have more money, that the people around me have a good time. That’s the way I am. I just like to enjoy life. It’s not like I want everybody to be my friend. I’m cool with a lot of people, but have a few good friends, and they’re the friends I’ve had forever, and I would expect if they had the money I have, then they would return the favour.
I’m just lucky I could make my money in a way like poker, but I mean, I used to work all kinds of jobs. Back in the day I used to work in a snack bar, I used to work as a telemarketer, I used to be a salesman. I enjoyed everything. Some people think the money changes you, but for me I feel I haven’t changed over the last 10 years. Things have been easier because you have some more money, and you’re less responsible because you have your company or if you’ve had a big win.
RM: You’re obviously one of the sensible, down-to-earth ones then?
NB: It’s weird though because on the other side over the last ... I don’t know how many years, I’ve spent money — I don’t event notice what I spend — I don’t care, but I’m still not spoilt and I’m still not thinking I’m better than anyone else because I have money. It’s just money. It’s just a gift I have that I could play poker. But the most important thing is just to stay down to earth and remember where you came from, and stay like that.
RM: Do you like playing high stakes cash games?
NB: Online, I play 100/200, 200/400 limit hold’em which is a pretty swinging game, and pretty high for limit hold’em. The problem is if you’re used to that, it’s really tough to play smaller again, but you have to do that just for the love of the game because if you’re used to making 2,000 a day and you step down where you can make 500 a day, it’s totally different. I don’t play that much. The last three weeks have been bad, but before that the month was real good, so I just try not to rely too much on my cash game winnings ... just to do well with my businesses, do well for PokerStars as a PokerStars pro, and travel to all the tournaments and try to get them some titles. I’m just really happy because PokerStars are like a family. There’s something about the EPTs — because it’s PokerStars, everybody has a good time, everybody’s cool with each other, it’s good fun times. It’s different in the US — you have fun times with your friends but it’s different than this. Most EPTs everybody’s hanging around together. If you look at the U.S., everybody plays the tournaments and then goes to their house and that’s it. It’s not like this. Here in the poker room, it’s not so strict, people can watch, it’s more fun. It’s what poker should be when it’s not the final table of a tournament, and this is what I really like.
RM: What’s the best lesson you’ve learned over the past ten years?
NB: That’s a tough one. Poker-wise or life-wise?
RM: Both.
NB: Something especially in the poker world you see a lot — how to treat each other with respect. In the poker world almost everyone has a lot of respect for each other. There are just some younger kids that don’t know how it should be, and some older guys who are like, “Who are those young punks?”, but that was a few years ago, now everybody’s used to it. Overall, there’s a lot of respect for each other, and that’s something some people don’t always look at. Especially here because they’re playing for so much money, and a lot of people are rich, and a lot of people could be like, “Who are you? I don’t have anything to do with you. I run my company and have this and that...” but I just see a lot of respect in this environment, and it’s something I really enjoy. It’s also that you see those people give respect to the people who are not in this environment. It’s a little skewed maybe because we’re all doing so good, so we don’t have that much to worry about, but I think you learn a lot about ... that respect is a good thing. And also karma for me is something I have seen, it’s a big thing. I’ve seen some people that don’t have respect, and you see that the karma comes back to haunt them. Like — Oh something bad happened to him? Yeah that’s because this guy did ... whatever. So, I always have a lot of respect. It’s good at the poker table to have enemies but always have a lot of respect.
RM: What’s your main ambition now?
NB: My main ambition is to live the life I live now, and make friends along the way. My best friends are the ones from home, but I’ve made so many good friends from all over the world, and before I played poker, I used to play this card game, Magic, a trading card game, for like seven years, so I was already travelling the world, learning so many different things, and finding new friends, and that’s what I really like ... Trying to be successful with the business I do ... I want to be successful as a poker player, but I’ve had so much experience and played so much that I know you can’t expect to win because it’s a game of skill, but there’s still a lot of luck involved — especially in tournaments that have to end in four days, there’s going to be a lot of gambling going on, so luck just has to come your way. I hope that I can keep playing tournaments and travel because it’s nice to be home, but it’s also nice to travel sometimes.
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