Winner's Circle -- Keith 'DaMurdera3' FerreraFerrera Discusses His 2009 Wynn Classic Championship Victory |
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The Winner’s Circle takes a look at the biggest wins from the tournament trail by the players who made it happen. This series will look at the big hands, toughest opponents, and paths to victory each player took in their most recent tournament win through their own eyes and words. If you ever wanted to know what it takes to win a major poker tournament, this is a good place to start.
By making trip aces on the final hand, Keith Ferrera won the 2009 Wynn Classic Championship. This was Ferrera's third final table of the series, after finishing sixth and seventh in events No. 6 and No. 7, respectively. Ferrera cashed for six figures at the Bellagio last summer, but this was by far his largest score to date, winning $255,000.
Card Player caught up with Ferrera after the win to discuss the final table and an interesting hand he played with runner-up Kyle Wilson.
Julio Rodriguez: How would you describe this final table?
Keith Ferrera: It was up and down. There were a lot of swings, for sure. I went from chip leader to 30 big blinds, then back to chip leader, and then back to thirty big blinds. Then back to chip leader once again before I finally won it.
JR: You're more well known in the online world. How would you say your competition was compared to, let’s say, the final table of a $100 rebuy?
KF: There were a couple players who would be comparable, but for the most part it wasn’t nearly as difficult. There were definitely a few weak spots at the table that I was able to take advantage of.
JR: Were there any adjustments you had to make in preparation for this tournament?
KF: It just seems that in live play, anytime someone three-bets or three-barrels you, they definitely have it. When that happens online, it’s definitely tougher to make your next decision because the ranges are much smaller.
JR: So, online you’d be calling a lot lighter than you would live?
KF: For sure, but that didn’t stop me from making some bad calls in this tournament. I got caught a few times at the final table just because the players are a lot tighter in spots where I probably should have had an easy fold.
JR: Can you talk about a hand you played heads up where Kyle folded trip nines?
KF: Yeah, he limped the button and I checked behind with 9-4. The flop came down 9-9-4, and I led into him for the minimum. He just flatted, and the turn was a 10. I checked, and he bet 50,000. I decided to just flat-call and see what he did on the river, which was a 5, putting a backdoor flush on board. I checked, he bet 125,000, and I shoved, putting his last 900,000 all in.
He tanked for a long time, wondering what kind of hand I would be doing that with, and eventually folded 9-6 face up. It was kind of unlucky, because I think I would’ve won it right then and there if any non-spade had hit the river.
JR: Why not make it like 400,000 on the end and try to squeeze out a little more value from your hand?
KF: Because I was trying to make it look like a bluff. I have a pretty polarized range, and I think that I’d get called by a lot of hands when I make that overbet-shove on the end. He may have called a smaller raise, but I was trying to win the tournament on that hand and end it quickly.
JR: Are you surprised he folded?
KF: Not really, he’s a very, very good player. I definitely thought it would be us two heads up. Luckily I cracked his jacks in the end, otherwise we could have played for hours longer.
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