With this year’s World Series of Poker Main Event just ending, I think that a lot of my readers will be interested in an interview that I did with top local player, Jamal Sawaqdeh, after he finished 74th and won $ 77,200 in the 2008 Main Event.
ME. Tell me a little about yours poker background.
JS. I started playing 10-12 years ago. For a while I was a $10 an hour prop player. First the Lodge and then the Gilpin hired me to help with tournaments. After a couple of years I managed the poker room before becoming a full time pro.
ME. What was your strategy at the WSOP Main Event?
JS. Each time I arrived at a new table, I played very conservatively. The first couple of hours. I studied the players at the table. My goal was to keep my chip position at the end of each day at least at the average level without jeopardizing my entire stack.
ME. What well-known players did you play against?
JS. Greg Raymer was at my table the entire first day. I also played some with Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matasow, Eric Seidel, Phil Gordon, and David Chiu.
ME. Tell us about a couple of interesting hands that you were involved in.
J S. One hand occurred near the end of day 5. I was the big blind. A very tight player in first position raised about 5 times the big blind. I looked down at two black queens. I called giving him at least AK. If an ace or king flopped and he bet, I planned to fold. The flop was the queen, six. and trey-all diamonds. I bet half the pot and he called. The turn was a black four. I went all in and he called and turned over 2 red kings. A black ten hit the river and I doubled up.
Twice I went all in with pocket aces and was called by a bigger stack. I won both confrontations. Finally, running low on chips, I called with pocket fives. Two other players called and the flop was a rainbow four, six, and seven.-my dream flop. But I failed to improve and one of my opponents was slow-playing aces and that ended my tournament.
ME. Thanks and congratulations.
