Poker Tournament Trail Q and A -- Thomas Marchese

Thomas Marchese was primarily an online high-stakes cash game player before 2010. He found success early this year when he cashed in third place at the Borgata Winter Open $2 million no-limit hold’em championship event in February and won $190,027 and 960 Card Player Player of the Year points. That was his first live tournament cash ever and his second gave Marchese his first major tournament title. He won the $5,000 no-limit hold’em main event at the PokerStars North American Poker Tour stop at the Venetian in Las Vegas. He won $827,648 and 1,920 points and found himself right in the middle of the POY race from that day forward.

Marchese has sustained his lead in the race with cashes at the World Poker Tour Bay 101, Wynn Classic, European Poker Tour Grand Final, and this summer at the World Series of Poker. Marchese currently leads the way to the 2011 POY crown with 4,766 points.

Card Player caught up with Marchese recently in Los Angeles and he talked about playing live tournaments full time for the first time, and making the most out of his opportunity this year.

Ryan Lucchesi: You have had very consistent success all year long. You scored big at the NAPT Venetian event and sustained that with cashes at the World Series. What has been the key for you to keep things going this year?

Thomas Marchese: I think I’ve been playing a good consistent style, and I’ve been fortunate enough to run good in a lot of tournaments late. When I’ve been able to cash and go deep I’ve had stacks and I have been able to make final-table runs.

RL: Would you say that deep-stack strategy is a strong point of your game?

TM: I think I’ve played pretty great in most parts of the tournaments this year, but when the money seems to matter a bit more for people I’m able to play more open minded with my game and not worry about the money as much. I’ve been able to do well and build stacks late.

RL: Does your natural inclination for aggression at those stages in the tournament throws less experienced opponents off their game?

TM: Definitely, and I think against better players I’m good at mixing up my play. I’ve been fortunate to win a lot of big pots against players that didn’t have strong holdings. I’ve been able to get people thinking slightly off.

RL: Are you starting to feel burned out by this point, playing in this many tournaments in one year?

TM: Up until this year I really hadn’t played very much live so this is way more than I have played in the past. I’m not burnt out as of yet, it’s easier when you’re final tabling tournaments pretty consistently. I haven’t had a 0-15 stretch this year where it really starts to wear on you.

I’m not burnt out as of yet, but up until the end of the year I will be trying to win Player of the Year. I will probably playing a tournament or two every week. We’ll see what happens with that.

RL: Since you have been able to avoid the 0-15 stretch you are leading the Player of the Year race. What tournaments do you plan to play this fall to keep adding to your lead?

TM: It’s definitely a prestigious thing to win so I’m definitely going to do my best to win it. I’m heading to Europe right after this and I’m definitely going to play the full circuit and a lot of prelims at the end because it is pretty important for me to win it at this point.

I don’t know how many years I’m going to play in a lot of tournaments so this might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get it. I’m definitely going to give it my best shot.

RL: How has the adjustment from online to primarily live play been going for you? The results would suggest it is going well.

TM: It’s been good for me. In previous years I have had issues with patience and things like that. I finally ironed it out and I have a more consistent and patient game. For me, since I come from cash games online and then going to tournaments where there is a lot of deep stack play I have an advantage over online tournament players, who are used to much shorter stacks. I feel like I have a good skill set for live and it has worked out so far.

RL: Since your deep-stack experience gives you an advantage during the later days of a tournament, is the hardest part getting through the long initial days of an event where your patience is truly tested?

TM: In tournaments the adrenaline gets rushing and you’re really trying to play your best game possible, and that’s what I have enjoyed about tournaments this year. Coming out of playing high-stakes cash originally it’s hard to have an opportunity to win a lot of money these days without risking a lot. Tournaments are a good opportunity for that.

RL: The NAPT event you won came with a $5,000 price tag. Do you think that it is a good thing for poker to lower buy-ins to $5,000 in order to attract larger fields?

TM: I think it is for the best. The economy is obviously not that great right now and less people are putting up $10,000 for a buy-in. I’d rather have as many recreational players in the field as possible. It seems like most tournaments are shifting this way and it is probably a good thing.

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