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Interview with Mark Vos

Posted by jgreenspan | Filed under Uncategorized

Mark Vos finished Day 1 of the World Series of Poker Main Event with over 70,000 in chips. He is among the chip leaders. I chatted with Mark about his Day 1 experiences and his strategies for the coming days of play.

JG: Tell me how you accumulated so many chips.

MV: It was quite weird, really. I started off slowly. At the end of the first level I only had 6,000. But after that, things went really well for me and I won a lot of pots in quick succession. I managed to get up to 38,000 without any real hassles, and then I got into a massive pot with Norm McDonald.

Norm was the chip leader, and with blinds of 100 and 200, he raised to 800 from the button and I called from the big blind with Queen-Jack suited. I flopped top two-pair. I checked, he bet, I check-raised to 4,000 and he moved in for 47,000. I was in a little bit of a spot. I was pretty sure I was good but I didn’t know how to react in a situation like that. I decided to call. It was slightly a gamble. He had Aces. My two pair held up and I was the massive chip leader at that point.

JG: In the run up to 38,000, did you have to do anything fancy? Or were you pretty much playing your hands?

MV: I moved tables and I got put on the left of two really aggressive players. One had a 35,000 stack; one had a 25,000 stack. They were raising a lot and calling reraises a lot with not very much. I eventually caught some cards and they paid me off pretty much every time.

JG: So you were waiting for some really good spots?
MV: Yeah, I was waiting out some spots, and also in one hand I induced a guy to bluff. I had an underpair. I had Kings and the board was Ace-Queen-Queen. I called off bluffs on a number of streets because this aggressive player couldn’t stop firing at the pot. He called a re-raise pre-flop, and he’d been doing that with suited-connectors. I didn’t think he had an Ace, so I decided to check to him and let him bet.

JG: Now you go into Day 2 among the chip leaders. You’re stack isn’t far from the chip average where people will start cashing. How are you going to approach Day 2?

MV: I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing. I’m going to look for spots to pick up chips. I don’t need to rush anything, cause I have triple the average. If I have [the same amount] at the end of Day 2, I’ll still be average.

I’m going to play it fairly safe but try to find spots to build up chips. To win this tournament you’re going to need to get 100 Million chips, so I need to keep finding spots to collect chips.

JG: Do you expect the tables to get a little tougher?

MV: Definitely – and they have. The opening table I was at there were some players who were amazingly weak, and that sort of filtered down and things got a little tougher. But there are still a lot of players who are fairly new to the game.

JG: What kind of players were you seeing?

MV: There were calling stations – players who see a pocket pair and can’t get away from it. One guy called bets on three streets with pocket 7s with a King and Queen on the flop. He showed his pocket pair in disgust and was amazed that someone caught two-pair.

In one hand, a lady bet 1200 into a 300 chip pot on an A-K-Q-J board. A guy called her. And then on the river, the board paired and she bet out 900, and the guy called her. She had 7-6 off; she was on a complete stone-cold bluff. She overbet the pot on the turn; the guy called four times the size of the pot, so obviously he has the Ten. Then she fires a sixth of the size of the pot when the board pairs.

JG: Are you surprised to see this quality of play?

MV: No, I’ve heard about it. There are so many players who come here, and this is their shot at the big time. They don’t really follow the logic of the game. It’s not their fault; they just started the game. It’s an experience for a lot of these people. If I was an amateur who had the money, I’m sure I’d do the same thing.

JG: Good luck in day 2.

MV: Thanks.

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