Interview: PokerStrategy.com Coach & WCOOP Finalist TeddyTheKiller

The 2012 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker played out the $5,200 Main Event on Sunday and Monday, with 1,825 players hoping for a shot at the seven-figure first prize. Among them was our coach, who finished third for a staggering $814,602 score!

'TeddyTheKiller' in action at the EPT

PokerStrategy.com coach TeddyTheKiller (Jossel2008 on PokerStars) played the $5,200 WCOOP Main Event for almost a full 24 hours to navigate the field and finish in 3rd place. 

After a six-way deal had been agreed previously, he left with $814,602.12 - the largest online score for a PokerStrategy.com coach! We caught up with him to talk about poker, WCOOP and how to spend six figures!

"It hasn't sunk in properly yet."

PokerStrategy.com: Firstly, congratulations on the big score. Has it sunk in yet, or are you still disbelievingly staring at your PokerStars cashier?

TeddyTheKiller: It hasn't sunk in properly yet. I think once everything is settled with the stakers and I see the remaining balance and let some time go by, I will start thinking about my future plans.

PokerStrategy.com: Many people in our community know you as a Sit & Go specialist and coach. For those that aren't familiar with you, can you give us a brief poker history?

TeddyTheKiller: I began with $5 from a promotion in January 2008. Before that I'd played with friends and play money online, but I didn't really think about strategy. It was at this point, though, that I joined PokerStrategy.com.

Initially, a friend of mine who was into poker helped me about but after a while I began using discussion forums to improve my game. At one stage, PokerStrategy.com were looking for a high stakes Sit & Go coach and I had just moved into these stakes.

I wasn't ready for the job to be honest, but I decided to go for it and it was the best thing that's ever happened to me - suddenly I had people wanting to learn from me, so I had to make sure my own standard was high. It was from that point that I became very successful.

PokerStrategy.com: So, we all know how it ended up, but how was the first day of the WCOOP Main Event for you?

TeddyTheKiller: Well - I had prepared myself. My housemates were great and gave me the whole living room to myself, giving me some of their food and making me hot chocolate and stuff. I  had gone for a short run as well on the day so I was feeling quite good.

I found it hard to stay awake later on, though - my sleeping schedule usually has me in bed at around 2am and Day 1 lasted until 7.30am. Luckily I was Skyping with a poker friend of mind so I was able to stay awake and focused.

"I was extremely focused... pay jumps were just numbers."

PokerStrategy.com: Then, on Day 2 when you made the money, at what point (if any) did you begin thinking "wow I might win this"?

TeddyTheKiller: It was funny in a way, because I never thought about it at all whereas usually I always do. I was extremely focused, the pay jumps were just numbers on a screen and it seemed surreal in a way.

I remained confident that I could make profitable decisions ingame. I knew I had what it takes to make it to the big numbers.

One decision that I doubted is a hand in which I called a 4-bet and got it in with a gutshot against an overpair (see right). I hadn't studied this situation very much in the past, and was obviously very happy to hit my river.

I think it helped that I had stakers, so I knew that I wasn't competing for all of the huge amounts on screen.

PokerStrategy.com: Take us through the final table six-way deal negotiations - did it go smoothly or did you have to fight for your piece? Did the deal change your play at all after you had $800,000 locked up?

TeddyTheKiller: The deal was quite funny actually, as finalist 'munchenHB' wanted a full million. Eventually one of the players donated $10,000 and one of the shorter stacks in a bad position gave up $30,000 - in his spot the deal was quite +EV.

I, too, was definitely in favour of the deal which is why I didn't ask for extra. Playing on was a good option, too - I was third in chips out of six players, so maybe the $EV of playing on was slightly higher than the $EV of taking a deal.

Then ICM was out of the window and all the money was for first. Also I heard there was a leather jacket for the winner, so maybe I tried a little harder to get that.

"I think I have a shot at playing the biggest games"

PokerStrategy.com: Well we'll round off the interview with a typical question - what are you going to do with the money?

TeddyTheKiller: As always I'm going to donate 10% to charity. Apart from that I might play some more live events such as EPTs, depending on how they suit my schedule.

There's a small chance I'll go back to playing poker full-time. I think I have a shot at playing in and winning at the biggest games. It would be a definite challenge, though.

One thing I'll definitely do is go to Macau and play some high stakes live.

PokerStrategy.com: Thanks for your time and once again congratulations!

TeddyTheKiller: Thanks, and thank you to the whole PokerStrategy.com community for their support over the years. It's been great.

This interview was conducted by mjperry