"Copenhagen is Beautiful" Interview with WPT Commentator Jesse May Part 1
Ahead of WPT Copenhagen, Barry Carter catches up with WPT commentator Jesse May, who lives in Copenhagen and will be commenting on the final table live stream.
"It's nice when poker comes to town"
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| Casino Copenhagen |
PokerStrategy.com: How does it feel to have a WPT in your home town for a change?
Jesse May: This is the first proper WPT main event in Denmark, they've had some National events before. There are lots of big players expected, I think Tony G is coming.
It's nice when poker comes to town, it only happens a few times. It's nice to wake up in your own bed and then go and play some poker.
PokerStrategy.com: What can you tell the poker community about Copenhagen?
Jesse May: Unfortunately most poker players don't know this about Copenhagen, but it's beautiful in the summer. All the tournaments take place between November and February here. It is quite dark right now, but there are still lots of great things to do,
Copenhagen is the kinda place, and Denmark in general, they have this word called hygge, it translates to cosy. That's the atmosphere in Denmark, there are lots of places with candlelight, little pubs where you can get beer and schnapps.
PokerStrategy.com: It is the same venue which hosts the EPT stop, what can you tell us about Casino Copenhagen?
Jesse May: The casino is nice, people have complained in the past it is a bit expensive. Copenhagen is very expensive. My favourite spot, which is only minutes from the casino, is a place called Rio Bravo. It's a restaurant which serves food till 4am, and has among the best wienerschinztle in Denmark. It's a great place to go after things have wound down at the casino.
"The Scandinavians transformed the European game"
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| Jesse May |
PokerStrategy.com: The Scandinavians used to be considered the most talented player's in Europe, do you think that is still the case?
Jesse May: I do think Scandinavians transformed the European game significantly. I think of stalwarts like Bengt Sonnert, Daniel Larsson, Patrik Antonius and Erik 'Erik123' Sagstrom. This is the stream that Isildur came from.
It was definitely true in past years that the EPT Copenhagen was among the toughest tournaments on tour. The age and experience of the typical Scandinavian is usually higher than everywhere else.
Things are different now, in January they passed new gambling laws in Denmark which completely opened up the market and brought a whole bunch of new people into poker now the advertising is legal. Especially the government site Danske Spil, which is co-hosting this WPT.
For that reason I think this tournament will be softer than they have been in the past, there will be a lot more new players than in previous years in Scandinavia and lots of online qualifiers. Danske Spil has brought in more new players over the last six months than anyone.
PokerStrategy.com: Do you think maybe the young German players have taken the mantle as the best players in Europe?
Jesse May: I couldn't agree more. The difference with the Germans, which became apparent to me recently is that when the Scandinavians were ruling they really stuck together a lot, but the Germans are different.
I did an interview with Dominik Nitsche, who is one of these guys winning everything now, and he said "I'm a world traveller now, I don't look at it like I'm sticking with Germans, my friends are on the poker tour, I don't even consider myself a German poker player, I consider myself just a poker player first."
This holds true with guys like Marvin Rettenmaier and even Tobias Reinkemeier, who live in London now. Even though the Germans are on top, they are not in a band like the Scandinavians.
Join us next week for part two of our interview with Jesse May.
WPT Copenhagen starts tomorrow, qualify for WPT Prague
We will be bringing you daily recaps from WPT Copenhagen, which starts tomorrow. You can follow the action as it happens over at the World Poker Tour live ticker.
The next major European leg on the World Poker Tour is in the Czech capital of Prague between December 3-9 at the Corinthia Hotel.
The event is part of the larger Prague Poker Festival between November 26 and December 16. It also includes an EPT and GSOP event, as well as a Mind Sports festival.
You can qualify between now and November 18 for the $4,250 main event, by winning a qualifier worth $6,000 which includes $800 spending money.
Weekly $325 direct satellites take place every Sunday at 13:55 ET, with one in twenty players taking down a package.
Sub qualifiers are running around the clock starting at $1, as well as daily freeroll tournaments.
Qualifiers are running now exclusively on PartyPoker and WPT Poker.
Create a PartyPoker account now!
