Interviews
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Poker Player Interviews
Mattias Andersson - 8th at the 2004 WSOP Main Even
In this section we interview various amatuer players who have had recent accomplishments about different aspects of their game. Although reading books written by the poker greats can be inspiring, I find it more inspiring to read about talented up-and-comers because they can give you a real-time story about their learning experiences.
Mattias Andersson finished 8th in this years incredibly crowded WSOP Main Event and won $575,000.
PROFILE
Name? Mattias Andersson
Where are you from? From Sweden now resides in Borås close to guthenburg
Age? I am 24 born 79
Sex? Male
What do you do for work? I quit working in a toy store last year (june) and since that i have been doing poker for a living and I have done very well with that before i went to wsop after winning my seat online. Now it is even more easier for me because i have a bankroll and can afford to play the higher tournament buy in´s. (I prefer tournaments)
What do you like to do with your free time other than poker? I do have a lot of hobbies! One of them is minature golf but it isnt like the american ones´s. I also like to play other card games and I do like to play soccer with my friends. I always try to find soemthing to do because i hate to do nothing (lol) Like to go and play biliard or bowling as well! So when i dont play poker I might sit in front of the tv or pc and play some video games or watch a movie.
POKER PROFILE
How long have you been playing poker? I have been playing poker for about 4 years since i noticed some guys in gutehrnburg play something that i thought looked a bit odd but i have always been so curious about new card games and i started to ask lot of questions while they where playing and then i brought the game with me to my friends and since when they found out poker online I am stuck with it. (Not that i need to play poker, it is just something I enjoy to do but sometimes i dont play at all).
How long have you been playing poker online? Almost since i started, a few months less than the 4 years.
What is your favorite site? and why? My favorite sight have always been pokerpages/pokerschool/bugsysclub because it is the only site now that have good structures on their tournaments. I might get involved in a new site called finalpoker.com and I hope to make that site as good as bugsysclub or even better. I will always play at bugsysclub nomather what but I am trying some other sites out right now to be able to find the games i feel to play at the moment.
Do you prefer playing online or brock & mortar? and why? I prefer to play live because it is much more funnier but I do very well nomather if it is live or online. I have very good reading skills and I also use my intuition a lot when i play. You may call it 6th sense but sometimes it fails, like when greg raymer beated my Ak with his A10 by a runner runner str on the final table at wsop.
Anyway he was absolutely worthy to win that tournament and I am very happy for Greg and wishes him all the luck in his further career. Some players might see how lucky he got at the final table but what they wont see is his great play on the outer tables when he was not on the feature table. There is a lot of things you dont see on tv!
How many hours a week do you play? This differs a lot! When i did poker for a living the hard way I played like 16 hours a day and this is the truth! Some people was thinking there was someone else playing at my acount but it has always been me when i played for the leauges bugsysclub have. The money at their leauges was enough for me to be sure that i would have money for rent/food each month. I also won a lot from playing so it was worth it because it improved my game as well and I would not have been playing at wsop this year if i would not have choosed this way to make a living. Now i play like 10-20 hours a month or more...it differs a lot but i play when i feel for it and try to win enough for rent and food each month so i dont need to play so much.
Where did you learn how to play? It was on pokerschool software but it wasnt because of their study rooms or something, it was because of me who worked hard trying to understand other players. How they play and how they react under different situations to different bettings etc! I played a lot of different styles to learn to play them all so i dont play
the same way in every tournament i play. It depends on how the games develope and who i play against! I do have my own play but if i need to change gear I do it! But i got to give pokerschool credit for my success because their software is the best and therefore i have got a chance to improve my game by play a lot of tournaments etc. I am a fast learner and I always put up very hi goals for myself and i am very happy to have succeed in reaching some of my goals already. I have new goals now and I hope to one day reach them too! Nomather what happens I will stay happy for what i have achieved so far in my life! But nomather what happens you must stick you feet on the earth and if you ask me i dont likepeople with a huge ego.
Have there been any books that helped you learn how to play? No because i have never read a single article on how to play, or book! I developed my game and skills by learning all by myself and I think it is the best way to do it if ytou belive you can do it and have a good plan how to do it. I build everything up in steps when it comes to improve on
different things to finally achieve something.
What is your favorite game? I oonsider myself very alround, yesterday i won a mixed game tournament and I am now trying to improve my 7 card stud game because i have not been successfull in that game before but i think i have learned how to play that game. So now i might try out Razz as well, so maybe you will see me play the razz event at wsop next year. (even if i think it is more luck than skill in that game) Oh my favorite game would be if i have to pick one....heads up no limit texas hold em but i love to play omaha hi as well (lol)
Who is your favorite poker player? I only look up to one player and that is Desmond Portano more known as JCastle
online. He finished around 40-60 something at wsop and we also played agianst each other at wsop one level or something before i had to move again to a new table. My favorite player that i have seen on tv would be the guy they call KAMIKAZE...he is enjoyable to watch.
What was your biggest poker accomplishment before making the final table at the WSOP? Winning my wsop seat but before that it was in my first major tournament, the $500 buy in with a field of 950 players in Tunica january this year. I finished around 60-90 after a terrible play in the end! (The reason i lost was because i was not focused on one single hand and totally got brain dead and went all in on a odd dumb bluff). That lesson got me far at wsop because when i ended up at a similair situation and needed a pot and decided to bluff the guy i saved myself 5.000 in chips and that got me back into the tournament with some luck on two hands this day. (Day 2) He told me later that he would call another 5.000, he where holding A10 vs my lower pocket pair and the flop was Q 10 X and no help on turn and no help on river, i kept betting in to him...
What goals do you have as a poker player? I have hi goals now and it is to hopefully get on the tour and take home more bracelets than any other player. I know this sounds silly and it isnt because i was successfull at this years wsop. It is because i belive in myself and always out up hi goals. It motivates me and i encourage everyone to put up hi goals because without goals you have less things that push you forward. Nevertheles i dont think it would be wise to pay 10 k for another wsop seat because nomather how good you are their is no guarantess and I still value money like i did before wsop. I will buy in to 3.000 or less entry fees and try to keep building my way up before i can afford to pay thoose entry fees. Money i won from this years wsop is what i call life money and that is more important than glory. I am happy for what I have but I dont know what i will get...
What limits & games do you typically play? I used to play $5 and $10 dollar tournaments because i have always been a very poor guy and have always played by my first rule...not to play for more money than you can afford to loose without "killing" yourself. Now i play $50 dollar and up and I usally end up in the money so i dont need to play much to make a very easy living.
What is your style of play? My style is maybe uniqe, i play my opponents and mix my game up a bit. I try to not do silly stupid things that usally gets on or another at some stage of a tournament. LIke when mike matusow got beated out from wsop, I am not saying that it was bad play, it was a great call by him but did he really need to play that hand? When i for example decided to call for my inside royal str flush draw against Frank and Gus at the feature table I valued the situation and knew that if i would hit my flush and win this pot I would with my game probably reach final table later on. I might not get that chance again without a flip coin so i valued the situation and thought it was maybe my chance and i took
it and got lucky to catch the 3 of spades on the river. It is in the game and sometiems poker can be a very cruel game!
What are your strengths as a player? value the situation and read other players Live and online! I have a great feeling for other players and after 10 minutes of play i usally have a very good feeing about everyone at the table how they play and what they probably will do if I play like that etc.
What are your weaknesses? My weakness is both a strenght and a weakness, it is people like to reraise my often small raises and I usally have something and i read them well and with that knowledge I usally do the right thing. (not always like when i folded my QQ at final 10 at wsop) but i had this 6th sense about me loosing in the end that hand...And i also
put him on kings but he told me later he had 8´s so we will see later on on the espn show. Sometimes i missread people and there is many reasons for it, some people think better of some cards like pocket eights and therefore you put them on kings.
Do you play poker mainly for the money, entertainment, or for the challenge? I play for both but most for the money. That was the only reason i played for so many hours online before but I love the game as well so i have to say both. It would be sad to say something else (lol)
What advice would you give to new players? There are a lot of things i could say to them! Never give up nomather how far it seems to be if you believe in yourself that you can improve. Try to watch how other players play and always think and try to figure out what the reason was that you did not succeed this time. why did i loose? Try to learn from all your play and try to figure out why other players did play like they did and try to find out what style suits you. One important
lesson is to not be overconfident with a huge stack! I have seen so many chip leaders gone dead just because of it!
They think they can call other players all in´s just because they can afford to loose but you better call when you think you have him. But sometimes I do that too and call the other players but most of the times when i do that I value the situation and if you know that there will be a coin flip it might be worth the odds but dont wast a good stack away in vain. That is a very important lesson for everyone. I see lot of pros do that and it might be because the only go for the win but you can never say that you are not going for the win even if you dont take risks. You can always decide to play another hand and when you have a great stack you have likely a better chance to pur yourself in the better position another time because you can see more hands and not have to worry about the blinds like the other players who will bet all in sooner or later in a desperate chance to double up and this is the time there you have to value your situation and decide to call or to fold.
It helps to be a good reader!
I wont say much more but i promise that someday i write my own poker book and I will put everything down there. I was going to do this even before wsop but i knew people wouldnt probably buy it beside some of the players who knew me from pokerschool and bugsys. My game is not inflicted by other player because i have developed my game by my own and I belive
that is soemthing that will help me on my way.
TOURNAMENT
Did you buy in directly or through a satellite (if so how many times did you try to get in)? I had 3 chances on bugsysclub and thats all! You need to win the tournament to reach wsop so i tried my best but in the first of these
3 tournaments i started to play late in the tournament because i was late home. Day after i said for myself that I will go for it and do my best to reach my dream and later i was the only one at the table left with chips and one of my little dreams had become true. Second goal was to reach final table at wsop and what can i say... I was not allowed to play in the third tournament because i already had a seat. By the way these tournaments was a final round tournament so you had to
qualify to enter them.
How did you feel before the tourney started? Did you feel like you had a good chance to do well? I knew i had a very good chance to succeed because i know myself and my knowledge about the game and there was lot of people who where rooting for me so i felt that I was not alone beliving this. I was very very focused and the reason I leave the chair and walk around when i am not in a hand is to prepare myself for another hand and I think if you sit down at the table too much you relax too much and forget to concentrate and one misjudge and you might be out, like when i got "brain dead" in tunica this year.
Tell me about how the tourney went? I was most of the times about average but i dont put too much effort in this. I know that nomather what i can always win with what i have and i dont fear the blinds like most of the players. This does not mean that I don't play any hands but I don't do stupid things because I fear the blinds are coming. But at one point in the tournament on day 2 I decided when I got down to 5k to gamble my way into the tournament. I was not feeling very well after that last hand and I went all in on a str draw on flop to be called by pair of kings and with the 8 outer I hit the
neccesary 9 on the turn to win the pot. Later on another table I was going to put another blind and I figured that
I needed to double up NOW to get the neccesary 30k plus to be able to mix my game up and do well. I did not want to double up at 7k to get only 14k again and then be dead anyway so I decided to keep gamble and with AJ, I moved all in and a guy on
his BB calls my bet with AQ and I hit on the river a miraculous 2 outer (3 clubs on turn giving him a flush with Jc)
So who says poker is only skill? Poker is absolutely not about luck but sometimes you put yourself in trouble and sometimes you might need this kind of luck. I try not to put myself in thoose positions and with 2,576 players in a tournament, sooner or later you might end up in this kind of situation there you need a miraculous card. Dan harington for example hit a runner runner flush against glen hughes PP Aces.
Tell me in detail about some of the keys hands that you remember or big decisions you had to make: When i beated gus hansen out from the tournament and when i call dewey tomkos AQ with my 2´s...It was nice to see him watch his cards twice because i felt he did not have the higher pocket pair looking for the suits.
Now having the experience, how would you have played differently? Nothing really! I will go more for the win instead of reaching final table next time...
Do you plan on playing in the WSOP in future years? Do you think you'll ever have a better money finish than the 2004 WSOP? I have new goals and I think that I might end up better than 8th sometime. I have all my life ahead of me and I keep improve when it comes to read people so we will see what the future has for me when it comes to poker.
What do you plan on doing with your winnnings? It is life money so i wont gamble them away! I have what I need and with the money i can do the things i want to do...it helps to have some money.
Ten years from now would you like to be playing poker professioanlly or do you think you'll be doing something else? I will for sure play professionally and will start my career very soon. I hope to make lot of friends from poker and I always love the excitment it gives.
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