PokerStrategist after the WSOP: "don't get tired of staring at the $150k cheque"

Published on 23 Jul 08 09:23 by Drakhor

PokerStrategist Felix Osterland aka 'LawDoc' finished 38th in the Main Event of this year's WSOP. As top-finishing German, the 22-year old student is now also known internationally. Still in the USA, he took some time to give us an interview concerning his WSOP experiences, his plans and "pool, bar and poker table".

The interview was lead by storge

 

PokerStrategy: Hello Felix, first of all congratulations for the 38th place in the WSOP Main Event! But please introduce yourself first!

LawDoc: Hi! My name is Felix Osterland, I am an innocent 22 years old and currently I am studying Law for the third semester in wonderful Tübingen, Germany. My leisure activities are mainly made up of travelling, playing poker, partying and miserable attempts at going in for sports.

PokerStrategy: Was this your first participation at the WSOP or an offline event respectively?
LawDoc: Offline, I, at times, play tournaments in Bregenz and Wiesbaden. This was my first WSOP though - for reasons of age it was not possible for me to participate in the previous years.

PokerStrategy: You have finished 38th in the Main Event of the WSOP 2008 - how do you feel now with some distance to the happenings?

LawDoc: I am currently still trying to re-arrange my thoughts and especially plan my future. It was a huge success for me. I am overjoyed and don't get tired of staring at the $150,000 cheque.

PokerStrategy: Please describe the final hand from your point of view with your deliberations about the game!

LawDoc: Yes, in hindsight it was a rather stupid move I made! Blinds at $25k/50k, Ante $5k - the button open-raises to 150k - my stack at 1.4M, half of the average, M at about 11.5. There was absolutely no reason for me to push immediately.

PokerStrategy: How come?

LawDoc: I was rather sure to hold the best hand with AT, but I didn't want to get involved in complicated post-flop actions with the BB and the button. Both were very aggressive big stacks and called loosely pre-flop all the time. I thus decided against a normal re-raise. A fold would have definitely been too weak. The pot was at $270k, and I wanted to take it away immediately.
The call from the BB (stack 4.5M) was quite a shock for me. I had played very tightly until then, and actually only high pockets, AK and eventually also AQ would have justified an insta-call for 1.4M.
I simply don't get how you can call with 88 - but well, it was a coin flip - I lost it - he sits at the final table. There's nothing that can be done about it.
In retrospect, I also would have gone broke on the flop of 8 T X with a normal re-raise, which the BB would have called as well.
Viewed in this light, it was simply an unlucky streak of events for me.

PokerStrategy: What did you think and feel in the moment when you dropped out?

LawDoc: When he said "call", I looked at the score board and thought to myself: "No, I'm a stupid idiot, they bust like flies here and I only would have had to have a smoke or go to the restroom, and would have been at least $40,000 richer on my way back."
When I also saw that he only flipped over 88, I already had this dumb certainty that this was probably it now. But it was also very relieving to finally take off the microphone, stand up, breathe deeply and pick up my weekly wage. :)

PokerStrategy: Were there further interesting situations? Any key hands?

LawDoc: Quite a few. Here is a hand from Day 1 which I remember right now:

I am in the BB with 22.
BU: (chip leader, maniac, plays every hand) raises first-in
SB: Call
I: Call
Flop: A 7 2 rainbow
Action: check check check
Turn: 4
Action: I bet first, BU raises, SB re-raises.

^^ ? I really pondered for some time and came to the conviction that my set cannot be good here anymore. So I mucked my hand, and both put each other all-in.

SB: 44
BU: AA

The turn had saved me as I simply couldn't put the BU on a strong hand. My chips probably would have made it to the middle of the table against him.

PokerStrategy: You dropped out on Day 6. Until then you almost daily played poker on the highest level for many hours in a row. How strenuous was it for you?

LawDoc: At first I was still fully motivated, after my roll on Day 4, I then had quite a down which was probably due to the extreme lack of sleep and food. Along with this psychological down came an increased array of media as the field had reduced itself to 10 tables. All this was accompanied by a continuous card deadness. Day 5 was absolutely horrific!
Nonetheless, I somehow battled my way through without taking big risks. I had to endure some bitter losses though.
Then, on my last day, I was a bit more self-confident again - nonetheless, at the end it was a real psychological torture - I simply lack experience with such mega events and the media.

PokerStrategy: In the LawDoc thread in the German forum you wrote about having sat at the same table with Phil Hellmuth. What kind of feeling was that for you? Were you nervous or rather proud?

LawDoc: *gg* Neither... in any case it was extremely entertaining and it was a lot of fun.

I especially had to laugh when Phil Hellmuth started to talk about everyday occurrences in a normal pitch - but as soon as the ESPN crew was around, he went off at the flick of a switch: Bragging and insulting. He really markets himself off, and that's why he can't just sit still without saying a word like everybody else when the cameras are on...

When it was all over, I went through the, by now, empty corridor which lead to the WSOP rooms. Hellmuth rushes past me, I lift my head, he looks at me and says: "Good Game Felix" wow... admittedly... that was great... and makes me proud, without a question!

PokerStrategy: How is it to play against the best poker players of the world?

LawDoc: Hard to say. Often I was only told afterwards that I sat on a table with established pros. The level difference of my opponents became clearer with each passing day though. The opportunities to find good spots were really cut down.

Game-wise, Hellmuth and Matusow caught my eye by their extremely tight and prudent approach rather than by very tricky moves.
The best of the world only play simple, solid poker - except they do that round the clock, their whole life long.

PokerStrategy: Have you gotten to know further poker pros or did you play against them?

LawDoc: Yes, quite a few - especially on the featured tables... as I have neither the overview nor the interest in the star community, I lacked many faces and names though. I only remember Mark Vos now - very sympathetic and very strong. Against him I deliberately avoided any confrontations.

PokerStrategy: Against whom would you still have played on e.g. the final table as well?

LawDoc: Against many bad fishes, nobodies, players who lucked themselves to the final table and now give away their chips without a fight... players like me. :)

PokerStrategy: What is your summary of the WSOP 2008 and your stay in Las Vegas? After all, you have cashed a couple more times.

LawDoc: Vegas was very cool, it was a lot of fun! Even though I was rather burnt out at the end due to the WSOP.
I played five smaller events with a buy-in of $1,500 each. In Event 32 and 52 I was able to cash. I was very happy about it, but financially it was only break even. Due to the Main Event though, Vegas was a complete success for me.

PokerStrategy: How did you qualify for the Main Event?

LawDoc: I had won two packages on PokerStars. The first one already in May 2007, a sub-qualifier for $80 -> $640 qualifier; kindly enough it was transferred to 2008.

As I thought it was rather stupid and reckless to squander $10,000 for one tournament, I had decided to split the dough and play smaller WSOP events.

Arrived in Vegas, I couldn't miss out on the ME qualifier with a $340 buy-in and 200 Packages Guaranteed on PokerStars - it was here that I won my second package.

PokerStrategy: Will you participate in the WSOP 2009 again?

LawDoc: Of course! "Best German" - I have to defend some sort of title. ;)

PokerStrategy: Do you plan to play further offline events?

LawDoc: I have now finally established the base to get involved in the real tournaments. This year, I will certainly play a few EPT events and eventually the WSOP Europe in September.

PokerStrategy: Was this your first big poker win?

LawDoc: Exactly. The biggest by far!

PokerStrategy: Have you already considered what you will do with the money?

LawDoc: To feel independent financially - a great feeling! - to complete my studies even more half-heartedly than before, and as mentioned previously - play bigger tournaments.

PokerStrategy: Which poker variants do you prefer in general?

LawDoc: Exclusively NL MTT's - but just for fun I also enjoy donking around at the cash game NL, Pot Limit 1/2 and 2/4.

PokerStrategy: Do you play a lot online?

LawDoc: The months before Vegas I did extremely intensify my playing habits... two to five hours per day on average for sure.

PokerStrategy: What were your biggest online successes so far?

LawDoc: My good tournament winnings are usually around $1,000 - $5,000.

PokerStrategy: On which platforms can you be found?

LawDoc: PokerStars, PartyPoker and TitanPoker.

PokerStrategy: From a poker point of view, what is your plan for the near future? Will you play other limits and buy-ins?

LawDoc: I think that I will only play online tournaments with higher buy-ins of over $200 in the future.

PokerStrategy: What goals do you have now?

LawDoc: I will rack my brain about this in the next few days.

PokerStrategy: You've been a PokerStrategy member for almost a year. How did you come across the site?

LawDoc: A friend of mine called my attention to it on a live-poker tournament.

PokerStrategy: Did our content help you to develop and improve your poker skills?

LawDoc: When I was still Diamond, I used the article-, video- and coaching offer by Pokerstrategy intensively and thus of course improved my game.

PokerStrategy: Which offer did you really appreciate?

LawDoc: The Morgoth videos! They have really put me ahead. Thx!

PokerStrategy: What advice can you give PokerStrategists who want to follow in your footsteps?

LawDoc: ^^ My footsteps? *gg* Read a lot, learn a lot, play a lot and most important for me: the attitude - to always believe in it - day by day!

PokerStrategy: As a student, do you have a lot of time to invest into your hobby?

LawDoc: Good question. In the basic studies it's possible to romp through Law with ease. With this attitude, the exams will be a physical impossibility though.

I simply take the time to play poker, but always wanted to keep the academic option open - this could change now.

PokerStrategy: What was the reaction of those around you towards your hobby as a poker player so far?

LawDoc: :) Very different - my guys thought it was rather cool, others were rather sceptical - my family was even really worried in the past as there were times - well - when I gambled away almost everything.

PokerStrategy: How was the reaction towards your great performance? Has the attitude changed?

LawDoc: Yes, a lot! Summarized in an exaggerated way: The gambling addiction has turned into a great talent, and the studies are suddenly a waste of time.

PokerStrategy: What do you do besides playing poker? Will your lifestyle change somehow?

LawDoc: To change the lifestyle with $150,000 is a bit over the top in my opinion. If I started to live the lifestyle I plan to achieve today, I would be broke in two weeks.

PokerStrategy: Where do you see poker in ten years?

LawDoc: Exactly where it is nowadays - I think the poker boom has reached its peak in the last two years.

PokerStrategy: Where do you see yourself in ten years?

LawDoc: At the pool, at the bar or at the poker table - depending on how late it is.

PokerStrategy: In conclusion, you have the opportunity to send off some greetings or other remarks!

LawDoc: Ok! Greets to everybody who supported and believed in me, and especially to the live finger-crossing people at the ME. BW!

 

PokerStrategy: Thanks a lot for the extensive interview. We hope that you will reach your goals, and that you will still tell us about your successes!