FULL TILT POKER BLOG

#789 – 2009 WSOP #47 – Seen and Heard #14 – A London Werewolf in Vegas, Part I

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Invariably, the first thing you notice about Roland de Wolfe is his sense of humor. It’s sly, active, and always deadpan. He sneaks up on you that way, seeming shy and low-key at first, until he zings you enough times that you realize he is an outgoing cut-up.

Shauna and I caught up to Roland during the first week at the 2009 World Series. At dinner at Sinatra, the superb Italian restaurant at Encore, Roland’s trademark humor was still in evidence. Over a leisurely meal, the three of us shared personal and poker histories.

When I mentioned how difficult it was for me to get tournament poker experience living in Chicago in 1992, he asked, “What about online poker?” I started to say, in a voice I’d use with my kids if they asked why we didn’t watch DVDs in the Sixties, that there was no online poker, he added the obvious: “I’m kidding.”

THE JOURNALIST, THE JOKER, AND THE POKER PLAYER

The first time I met Roland de Wolfe was at the Fontana Bar at the Bellagio, at the WPT Championship in 2007. Even though he was sitting at a table with his back to me, he recognized me before I recognized him and said, “I thought The Professor, the Banker, and The Suicide King was a wonderful book. I find Andy Beal such a fascinating character; you did a wonderful job of introducing him to readers.” As I started accepting his thanks, he added, “It was because of your book that I decided to get into banking.”

“Thank you – well…that’s an unusual reaction,” I stammered, adding some nonsense about how Andy Beal’s bootstrap success story was inspiring.

Then Roland added, as he returned to his table, “I was joking.”

If he was embarrassed, it was for me in being so slow in picking up the joke.

Had Roland told me it inspired him to get into poker journalism, I would have instantly known he was joking. That, however, wasn’t far from the truth. In late 2003, de Wolfe, fresh out of school, didn’t know what he wanted to do and found that writing for a U.K.-gambling publication called Inside Edge was a good place to start.

Inside Edge asked Roland to write instructional poker articles to capitalize on the upsurge in poker readers after Chris Moneymaker’s World Championship. The problem was that de Wolfe knew betting parlors, not poker. So he immersed himself in poker, both live and online.

After about six months, his bosses at Inside Edge called him into the office. “You’re not doing anything” but playing poker, they told him, and he was fired.

It’s not that I am his only easy target. Roland is an excellent mimic, and his spot-on impression of John Juanda is hilarious. He has also made a regular game at the Series of sneaking up behind Chris Ferguson at tournaments. Altering his voice and accent, he will ask for an autograph or shout “You da man, Jesus!” His success rate at fooling Chris until he turns to face his “fan” is near 100%.

Roland’s firing from Inside Edge became his de facto start as a professional poker player. He cashed four times in London tournaments during the second half of 2004 and once at the 2005 World Series.

During the eighteen months between the 2005 Series, Roland de Wolfe hit international tournament poker like a tornado. In July 2005 he won the World Poker Tour Grand Prix de Paris. In April 2006, he finished third in the WPT Championship and narrowly missed winning his first bracelet in July. He then made poker history in October, becoming the first person to win WPT and EPT championships when he took down the Irish Masters in Dublin. He capped off 2006 with runner-up finishes in a televised Full Tilt tournament and the $3,000 No-Limit Hold ‘Em event at the Bellagio Five Diamond.

COIN FLIP

Back at dinner, Roland chuckled as he described his role as Chris Ferguson’s tormentor. He saw Chris the day before as they were both registering late for the $2,500 NLHE 6-handed event. He offered to flip a coin with Chris, with the loser paying both players’ buy-ins.

Of course, Chris turned him down. How about for $1? No. $2? No. $5?

Finally Roland got action from Ferguson for $20. If Chris won, Roland would pay his $2,500 buy-in. But if Roland won, Chris would pay his buy-in, though Roland would still pay $20 to Chris. They flipped the coin and Roland won. “It’s fun getting money out of Chris Ferguson – someone who insists on getting the best of it all the time, and then you give him the best of it and you still beat him.”

Roland lasted just one hand of the tournament, but that paled in comparison to the joy of getting into Ferguson’s pocket. “Joy” and “action” are the governing principles in Roland de Wolfe’s life. As much as he has achieved in poker and as much as he loves it, poker is now a job. A job requires things like “responsibility” and “restraint.” Given a choice, Roland will choose joy and action over responsibility and restraint every time.

Consequently, he does not retreat to the No-Limit Hold ‘Em or Pot Limit Omaha games that are rumored to be especially juicy during the Series, or Bobby’s Room, or even Full Tilt’s cash games. Instead, Shauna and I were Roland de Wolfe’s guests at the salon prive at Encore.

ACTION MAN

When I saw Roland de Wolfe in London at the Million Dollar Cash Game in September 2007, he was well settled in his role as the Action Man. I wrote in my blog that, after he arrived, “at least a couple players appear excited that he has shown up.” After he followed the example of other players entering the game – watching more than playing – I mentioned that “someone suggested DNA testing Roland de Wolfe.”

But that was a just a temporary condition. He turned a $50,000 deficit into a $20,000 profit in the closing hands. After winning a big pot from Howard Lederer, Brian Townsend raised de Wolfe’s blind (with A-J). Roland, holding Q-4, reraised and Townsend folded. Finally, in a 6-way limped pot, he extracted maximum value by slow-playing a flopped 2-pair on a risky board and drew a big bluff, after making a full house, from Phil Ivey on the river.

Roland’s big action, however, wasn’t in the Million Dollar Cash Game. It was playing Chinese poker with Patrik Antonius at 3:30 the next morning. They had just raised the stakes to an astronomical $2,000 per point and, on the very first hand, Roland took 24 points, relieving Antonius of $48,000. Patrik, who had lost an $800,000 pot to Phil Ivey earlier that day, along with $600,000 in prop bets, forced a small grin and said, “It’s just not my day.”

When our host kicked us all out of his room so he could finally go to sleep, the two gamblers swiped his playing cards and reconvened the game in Patrik’s room. On the way, Roland suddenly remembered, “My car is parked at the Vic and I have to pick it up at 6 AM. We can play for one hour.”

I don’t know how they finished the evening. Maybe they played Chinese poker for one more hour and Roland hustled to get his car out of the Victoria Casino’s car park. Or maybe, one way or another, Antonius bought de Wolfe another car to keep the action going a little longer.

You can’t get much bigger than playing Chinese poker with Patrick Antonius for $2,000 a point. At least that’s what I thought in September 2007. But Roland found a way. When I saw him next, at Full Tilt’s Million Pound Challenge a year later he found even bigger action.

Ivey.

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