Black Belt Poker's Search for Sponsored Pros Part IINeil Channing and Joel Ettedgi Speak about Black Belt Poker on Eve of Sponsorship Announcement |
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Tomorrow is deadline day, and will see the man behind Black Belt Poker, Neil Channing, and Nik Persaud select eight out of their 31 Graders to represent the company as sponsored professionals.
One of these “Brown Belts” hoping to hear his phone ring tomorrow as the calls are made live on air on The Poker Show is Joel Ettedgi.
In part II, the two discuss how the process has been going and what the workshops entailed, and finally Joel Ettedgi says his final words before the decision is made tomorrow.
Rebecca Mcadam: Are you satisfied with the way the grading process and everything has been going with the site?
Neil Channing: We have definitely made some errors. My calculations on how much rake we’d generate were way off, and where we thought we’d lose a little money we’re now doing our brains.
Joel Ettedgi: Until someone has a big cash in Vegas, Neil!
NC: Also at first I was terrified by the rate of drop-outs. After just a few days our 50 was down to 41 which was really dissappointing, as we had turned over 50 potential Graders away. I can’t possibly be disappointed now though. We have really got a strong 31 now and the decision on Monday is going to be really tough. What it does mean is that we’re going to take a really strong team to Vegas and hopefully we can bring home a bracelet.
I’m also personally delighted by the reaction to the workshop days and to the way The Graders have developed into a team, with a great sense of camaraderie.
RM: How did the workshops go?
NC: I was worried at first that The Graders would resent having to travel to the workshop days to listen to some old-school grinder try and tell them how to play Internet poker. We had one guy fly from Sweden, three from Dublin, one drive from Wales, one from Lincoln, one from Durham, and one from Leeds. I was terrified they’d think it was a waste of time.
RM: Now to the disciple for an inside view, how did you find the workshops, Joel?
JE: The workshops were great for us all in regards to the learning aspect of things. I think there were many people that thought they knew everything there was to know about poker, but after speaking with each other and also much more experienced players like Neil, Nik, and Phil Laak, we all learned a lot. We also had presentations on software to help with the online game that some of us were completely oblivious to. But in general it was great to get together with fellow poker players, make new friends, and be part of a community at the workshops and on the site.
NC: It was lovely to get Phil Laak to pop into the session where we were discussing a couple of his high stakes poker hands, and Marty Smyth flew in in the last one just to show The Graders his bracelet and inspire them.
RM: Joel, how are you doing with the grading and how has your experience of the whole thing been?
JE: I think the grading process has been very important in starting everyone at the lower stakes and working themselves up. It has been much harder than people thought and it has brought us all down to earth — re-learning the important parts of the game.
RM: What would it mean to you to become a sponsored pro?
JE: I’ve been playing professional poker for around four years now and to become one of the sponsored pros means everything to me, and is everything I’ve been striving for the last few years. Poker has been quite an individual thing for me, but since the grading, I feel like part of a team that can improve each other’s game. It’s one thing going to Vegas backing yourself, but it would mean a whole lot more experiencing the highs and lows with fellow Brown Belts.
NC: Joel has definitely embraced the concept and is a very strong candidate to be a Brown Belt. His main problem at the moment is that there are so many candidates who are also very strong.
JE: I think we all knew that it was a very tough field from the beginning, and that has pushed us all to try and perform to the best of our ability.
RM: Anything else to say before crunch time?
JE: Hopefully I’ll be hearing from Neil on Monday, otherwise just to say it has been a great, worthwhile experience, and either way I will be seeing you in Vegas.
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