News: "$10 million shows I stood the test of time"

We chat to the online MTT legend about reaching $10 million in online cashes, his record number of online Triple Crowns and his near misses in live poker.

"The $10 million shows I have survived the test of time"

PokerStrategy.com: Congratulations on hitting the $10 million mark. As that this achievement is turnover, not profit, what does this milestone mean for you?

Chris Moorman: I guess it shows my longevity as a player; being able to remain a winning player and not get burnt out by the game. Online poker has changed so much since I started playing tournaments

I've seen so many players come and go for various reasons. I've been one of the biggest grinders for years and stayed that way, so it shows I have stood the test of time.

PokerStrategy.com: Why do you think you have been able to survive when others have not?

Chris Moorman: I think I was pretty lucky to begin with in that I really enjoyed the game, being willing to play anything. I still enjoy playing $8 rebuys, which are a tiny tournament for me, but I just like winning - that's where I get my drive, I don't care about what's up top in the tournament I just want to win.

Winning a smaller tournament, rather than coming second or third in a bigger one, is more enjoyable even though I get less money.

PokerStrategy.com: So it is more of a sporting mindset going on, rather than a profit based one?

Chris Moorman: Yeah for sure, I was always quite competitive growing up. I was captain of my university pool team and we went on to win the national championships, which is still one of the most memorable days of my life.

I played Bridge for England under-21s, then I found poker and it really clicked for me. I just wanted to get better and better all the time. My theory was that the way to do that was to play as much as I could, learn from my mistakes and see what works, and what doesn't.

"The Triple Crown is good motivation to grind"

PokerStrategy.com: I guess that means your Triple Crown record means more to you than the $10 million record, because it means you have won more tournaments outright (After this interview, Moorman won his 17th Triple Crown)?

Chris Moorman: I guess so. I can still remember the first one I did, the third leg of the Triple Crown was only a small tournament. I was three-handed against two players I looked up to, I was a bit intimidated by them and I really needed to win it.

It was funny because in the final hand I got Ace-King and all three of us got it all-in, which is obviously quite rare. I was up against Ace-Jack and Tens, I won it all and didn't even have the sweat of a heads-up match.

The Triple Crown is a good motivation when I am grinding, if you win one tournament then you have a whole week to win two more. Especially if you win the first two on smaller sites where there are less tournaments, because if you put in a whole week of grinding on PokerStars it is normally easy to win at least one because of the schedule.

PokerStrategy.com: Do you think of Triple Crowns in the same way that Hellmuth thinks about bracelets?

Chris Moorman: In 2010 I didn't win one, the year before I won six. That was the year I did really well live, so it wasn't like I was playing badly. I remember looking at the Triple Crown list and saw a couple of guys catching me, the year before nobody even got close. Even though it's not that big a deal to some people, I wanted to stay on top because it proves what a grinder I've been.

"My near misses live felt like wins"

PokerStrategy.com: Amazingly, despite your online record, you are yet to win a major live event. Has your online experience helped you deal with the short term variance of live poker?

Chris Moorman: Before 2010 I was very conscious of how bad live poker had gone for me. I definitely had opportunities but things hadn't gone my way. I felt like I was playing decent and it was just tournament variance. However, the more you play, the more you doubt yourself, you start to wonder if you are not playing the A-game that got you where you are.

I was lucky in 2010, I had a year where I had a lot of near misses, but they almost felt like wins to me even though they weren't. I got so close and had the glory of the final table with my friends on the rail. Even though I didn't win the tournament, looking back it still felt like wins.

I felt I was unfortunate when I got heads-up in the WSOPE Main Event and the $10,000 6-max at the WSOP, because I was up against two world class players; it was a flip of a coin who was going to win. It wasn't meant to be on those occasions, but both near misses gave me more confidence that if I put myself in those situations more it will happen.

I did wonder if something was wrong with my heads-up game, so I put a lot of work in with that. I looked at my online results at the distribution of 1sts and 2nds and at the moment it is 229 wins and 148 2nds, so obviously that is a much bigger sample size than my live tournaments, and I definitely have an edge against most people heads-up, so I am not too worried about that.

"Play well online and live results should come naturally"

PokerStrategy.com: Lots of online players who have success tend to migrate to live poker. Given your record do you feel more pressure to stick to your online roots?

Chris Moorman: Kind of. Online is an ever-changing game. It actually helps you to work on your game playing online, you can't really do that live. Sometimes people might say the game has passed you by if you have a few bad months online. I feel if you are playing well online, those live results should come naturally.

PokerStrategy.com: Given the hours and the unsociable schedule, how do you ensure you have time off from the grind to enjoy real life?

Chris Moorman: Luckily my girlfriend takes care of that, she forces me to take days off. If it is just a random Thursday with nothing special on, I'll take that off. Now I just try and play better days, like a big Tuesday and obviously I never miss a Sunday.

It's quite funny because some of my friends joke that I don't grind anymore, then I looked up this year that I played more than all of them, it's just the days I do play, I play all day. The breaks make me want to play even more, it helps keep me fresh.

"Winning big online is surreal... you forget it's real money"

PokerStrategy.com: Would you rather win the WCOOP Main Event, or an EPT/WSOP event for the same prize money?

Chris Moorman: Wow, that's tough. I guess the live one because everyone would be there railing and we could celebrate. It would be surreal to win the WCOOP Main Event; you would just be on your own, that money would just be on your computer screen.

PokerStrategy.com: How do you normally celebrate when you have a big score online, or do you just go straight to bed?

Chris Moorman: I struggle to sleep straight away after any session, so I just watch TV for a few hours. You don't really celebrate a big win online, you might go out for dinner or something. It's not like a big live tournament where people go crazy and get arrested. Online doesn't feel real sometimes - you forget you are playing with real money.

PokerStrategy.com: So after the $10 million and the Triple Crowns, I guess the next goal is that big live win?

Chris Moorman: Actually the rest of the year I am taking pretty easy, I'll be going to Montreal for a month so I'll play the WPT they have there. I'm not going to play much live, but next year I am going to focus more on live, hopefully start by playing both the PCA and Aussie Millions.

PokerStrategy.com: Good luck in your quest for the big live result, we all know it's coming.

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By Barry Carter l Barry Carter on Twitter