Lee Davy sits down to talk to Andrew “BalugaWhale” Seidman just moments after he busts from the Millionaire Maker with just four tables remaining.
I couldn’t have arrived at the table at a worse time.
Andrew “BalugaWhale” Seidman had just had his aces cracked by pocket nines, with 32 players left in the Millionaire Maker, and along comes Johnny Nobhead to ask him for an interview.
Swallow, up, me, the, in, hole, you, ground, twat…make a sentence out of that.
Then to make matters worse, as I rail the young man, he gets his chips in AJ VS QJ only to see the queen pop out of the deck, on the river, to end Seidman’s run with around 30-players left in the contest.
He doesn’t sulk. He doesn’t shout. Instead, he wishes everyone the very best, walks over to me and says, “Come on then let’s talk.”
I follow him into the payout area and watch as he cuts a lonely figure on a chair. He runs his hand through his hair and fiddles with his water bottle. He seems charming on the outside, but I bet he is feeling like shit on the inside.
I don’t even know how to open the interview.
“It still feels like a win. It’s good,” says Seidman, after he has been handed four green bricks worth $40k.
“The crazy thing about tournament poker is the stakes just get so high all of a sudden. I ran aces into nines, and lost, and then ran ace jack into queen jack, and lost; and both of those pots are worth 100k or more in tournament equity; on one hand, it’s great you are in that position, because I did the best that I could possibly do, but on the other hand it still hurts. But I feel good, I have just have the sting of losing a giant pot.
“I think what makes it a little easier is having high-stakes-cash experience. I have lost big pots before. I get it. It’ll be okay, life will go on and I will get another run in the future.”
I wonder if it becomes more than just money at this point. We started with 7,977 players and now there are 30 left. Surely, it’s not just about the money. Isn’t this tournament a part of him now? Has he left a little bit of himself in that tournament?
“I guess there is the prestige of winning the whole thing? But I think, if you are playing in a tournament and are not focused on doing the best that you can do and worrying about the results, it will eat you alive even worse than a cash game would. In a cash game you can rinse and repeat and try again, and get back at it, but I may never be in a spot like that ever again, and if you let that get to you, you might never be the same.
“I also try to remember how many people I busted on my way to where I was. I won maybe three flips to bust people to build my stack. I had some coolers in my favor and I sucked out. You have to remember that it’s give and take. You have to run really hot to win these things and with four tables left, aces versus nines is a crazily important situation, but you also got lucky a bunch of time to get there.
“Maybe two or three pay levels ago I got AK in against AQ and I won. As human beings, we are conditioned to expect to win in that spot, but no, you should only win 70 percent of the time, and so you forget all the times you win when you are running good so I try to keep it into perspective. It still sucks though.”
I bet it does. It also shows that no matter how talented you are, a big chip stack can be decimated in just a few unfortunate hands.
“Or the other way around. I was really low before I got a big stack. I was down to like 10bb earlier and I picked up Kings, trapped a guy, and was able to double up. Then I had the AK v AQ hand, and was able to double up again…so I just try to keep it in perspective.”
The last time I spoke to Seidman he was my guest on Life Outside of Poker where we discussed his business ventures as an entrepreneur. I wondered if the $1.3 million first prize was in his mind, and how helpful it could be towards his businesses.
“{Laughs} More than anything, having extra money just gives you additional freedom to things that you don’t have enough money to do. You still have to operate in that poker mindset – that these are just chips – none of this is real. If you start thinking, “Oh my god I lost aces v nines and all my dreams have gone,” you will go crazy.
“I am going to go upstairs and take stock of all this. What does $40k cash do to change my life, not much, but perhaps I will go out for a nice dinner or something.”
You deserve it, Baluga, you really do.
