Talking EPT London With Neil Channing
EPT London is just a few days away and we talk to the man with home advantage, Irish Open champion Neil Channing.
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| Irish Open Champion Neil Channing |
EPT London starts this Friday and today we catch up with one of the most famous faces in UK poker. Irish Open champion and BlackBelt Poker owner Neil Channing is a regular at the Vic in London, and is relishing playing with home advantage this weekend.
PokerStrategy.com: How important is the London EPT to you?
Neil Channing: It's a really big deal for me because it's in my hometown. I'm within walking distance of the venue, and even went home for dinner last year. I don't play many EPTs currently, and only went to Madrid this year, so winning this one would mean a lot.
The London leg has always been an illustrious event, and I think if you asked around, most players would say they'd rather win this one rather than an event such as Prague, Tallinn or some of the other European cities. Outside of the Grand Final, London and Barcelona were the most prestigious legs when the Tour first started, and I don't think that has changed.
"I'm within walking distance of the venue, and even went home for dinner last year."
PokerStrategy.com: What are your views on the current venue?
Neil Channing: I wasn't a big fan of the move to the Hilton Metropole; it's like any other EPT now with rows of poker tables in a giant conference room, and the feature table feels like a different tournament with it being so closed off from everything else. The atmosphere's definitely different.
Obviously, the Vic can no longer efficiently cope with fields of a thousand plus, but they're currently undergoing renovation to create more space and are keen to host the tournament again in the future, so who knows, maybe it'll return to the Vic at some point. I hope it does; I was playing with Phil Ivey one year and remember thinking how nice it was to have a player of his notoriety in my living room.
PokerStrategy.com: What are your recollections of the year Vicky Coren won the title?
Neil Channing: It was definitely a memorable year as I also went deep in the tournament and lost a pot for the chip lead with just two tables left. I had T-T outdrawn by A-6, and then T-T beaten by 7-7. I was particularly disappointed because during the breaks, Vicky and I would talk about how weird it would be if we could make the final together in our home casino, but it wasn't to be.
Nevertheless, it was great to see Vicky win, and I returned the next day to watch the action unfold. I knew quite a few players on the final table, such as Sid Harris, Jan Sjavik, and Peter Hedlund, who I'd played with on Day 1. I also got to know Michael Muldoon pretty well after the event.
Vicky was really scared at first and started drinking to calm her nerves. I had a percentage, and wanted to see a friend win, so was a little concerned when she reached the third glass as I thought it would start to affect her play. I got in touch with Joe Beevers who dropped her a stern text asking her to switch to tea, and she listened. Thankfully, she came through and won the event. It was an incredible day, and there was a fantastic atmosphere in the room. She had a lot of support and everyone was delighted for her.
"The field is super-aggro, so you have to fight fire with fire."
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| Neil Channing & Vicky Coren are regulars at the Vic |
PokerStrategy.com: How has the play changed over the years?
Neil Channing: The biggest change has been in the table dynamics and the styles of play. I remember having a conversation with John [Duthie] a few years ago in which we discussed the structure. My view was that even as early as the 150/300 level, it was difficult to three-bet without being pot-committed, which basically made it a shove-fold game too early in the tournament. He wasn't happy either and agreed, so, soon after, he increased the starting stack.
The EPT was one of the first tournaments to do that, and now all events are deep-stacked. Ironically, however, it seems to have had an opposite effect, and made the tournament even more of a preflop game than it was before as more people are three-betting, which leads to fewer flops and starts encouraging other players to four-bet. The field is super-aggro, so you have to fight fire with fire. If you start trying to see flops, especially out of position, then you're just giving up equity.
You do get some players who still limp and flat-call three-bets frequently, but what happens is that other players are so desperate to isolate, that the next player along will three-bet knowing that the initial raiser is only raising to isolate, followed by another player who cold-four bets knowing what the other two thinking. This used to happen five times a year; now you see a cold four-bet fives times an hour!
As a result, there are good post-flop players, such as John Eames and JP Kelly, for example, who aren't going as deep in these events as the variance has become so high. Their edge comes from making good reads and post-flop play, but this edge is diminished because so much of the action is preflop. Every final table seems to be eight different players, and we've never had a two-time winner, so perhaps the cream isn't rising to the top.
PokerStrategy.com: What are your plans for this year's festival?
Neil Channing: It really depends on what the cash games are like. Last year, I played everything, including four tournaments in one day, because the cash games weren't that good, but the year before, I just played the Main Event and a £500 turbo because the cash games were a lot more lucrative.
So, I'll see how it goes. I'm definitely looking to play the Main Event, though. Hopefully, the cash games will be good this year. Obviously, you lose a few players with the action being in the Vic, and not at the venue of the tournament, but, on the flip side, last year, people went straight from the Empire to the EPT, and we also won't get players going to the Palm Beach Casino for a WPT.
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