The Betfair Poker Interview – ChelseaM aka Mark Segal
ChelseaM a long time regular on the Betfair Poker tables recently won Event 17 for a cool AUD 70,000 at the Aussie Millions. We caught up with him to find out how it felt and what he plans to do next.
Mark, we all know you from Betfair Poker but can you tell us a bit about yourself? (How old are you? Where do you live? How long have you been playing poker? How often do you play? What stakes /games?)
I believe that I’m officially classified as middle aged. I’m told that most people embrace this time of their lives and I keep hearing that “life begins at 40″, but Im not convinced. Age is one of my pet hates, nuff said.
I don’t enjoy the cold and am very fortunate that my work is internet based so I can base myself anywhere where there is an internet connection, some sunshine, and of course it helps if there’s some live poker.
In the last 12 months I have been living (out of a suitcase) between London, Cape Town, Australia, Europe and The US.
I’ll make the most of it while I’m single because when the time comes I’m sure that no sane woman would put up with my lifestyle.
I started playing on Betfair Poker in 2006 and played my first major tournament at the 2008 Aussie Millions (which I qualified for on Betfair). I finished 120th in the Main Event (40 away from the money) after taking a rather brutal beat.
I don’t play as much online as I did back in 2006-2007 though I do tend to get online for a week or so in order to “tune myself up” prior to any live events. In fact I put in a full week prior to The Aussie Millions this year and won the Betfair weekly leaderboard by a record figure, which definitely helped boost my confidence.
Back home now from the Aussie Millions and back to real life. How does it feel to have a championship ring onyour finger?
Up until this win, my first two years playing live had been very painful. For me, poker had become much more a game of position and playing the player than it was about my cards. I was risking my tournament life time and time again with well timed bluffs only to put myself in a great position and go out when a big starting hand popped up.
This happened in virtually every big tournament Id played and it hurt, a lot. One example was when I got beaten by a 1 outer on the river end of day 2 in a 5k WSOP event last year. I was top 10 in chips with only 120 left out of the original 800. I woke up with aces first time in the tournament and got my all in, and it was all over for me in a split second.
6 months on it seemed to be heading the same way in Australia.
I made it deep into day 2 in the Main Event and took a beat, and just prior to my win, I’d played another event (the bounty) and went out in what was becoming pretty typical fashion. There were 70 left from the original starting field of 300 odd so we were nearing the money. I was well ahead of the average and looked down at AA. UTG who I’d been “scrapping with” most of the day raised, I re-raised, and an observant (and tight) button went all in knowing that I could only call with aces or kings. Not a bad move.
Unfortunately for him I did, of course, have the aces but his 56 offsuit turned a straight and I was left virtually chip and chair. Next day I met Bifta and Philly for breakfast and told them that I’d lost faith and didn’t want any more pain. I was flying back but somehow they talked me into staying the few more days.
So I guess you could say that this win means a lot to me and next time I take a beat, at least I can look at my ring and remember that every dog has their day.
Event 17, the NL Hold’em/ PL Omaha Rebuys tournament was one of the very last to take place and after two exciting days, your skills reaped the rewards. What got you to play such a varied tournament and what was your feeling going into Day 1? (Have you ever played this type of event? How many events did you enter at the Aussie Millions?)
I entered 6 events this year. The reason that I decided to play event 17 was that I thought there would be quite a bit of value in playing this event.
I knew that many of the field would either be weak Omaha players or Weak No Limit players and tossing a lot of rebuys into the pool early on as a result.
My strategy was to play tight until the break, and then play super aggressive during the NL rounds against the tighter players and omaha specialists.
I was slightly below average chips after the rebuy period was up but then let loose, and I got my value because I only needed to do the standard add on at the break.
I made a small final table the first time I ever played Omaha and had done quite a lot of strategy work on my Omaha game so felt that I had a shot, but always knew that I could play my NL rounds strong if I was falling behind. As it happened, I found that I was successfully bluffing more at Omaha which surprised me.
With 3 left (and during a NL round), I have AK and on a A93 flop and get my opponent all in holding AQ. I was left with 18,000 chips after a Q hit the river so was looking very much booked for 3rd place with the first two on 240,000 and 180,000 respectively. I shoved on the button with 9-10 next hand and got called by 9-3 so doubled up to around 40k and then got some momentum going when neither would call my subsequent button raises or small blind all ins (every hand of course).
I managed to build up to 80k quite quickly because of the high blinds. It eventually ended up heads up with my opponent holding a 3-1 chip advantage, but I had the momentum and he wasn’t too keep to take any chances so I managed to bluff virtually every pot and turn it around in my favour.
The final hands were incredible, and restored my faith a little! Second last hand, 37 – I fold. The guy who had finished 4th and who I flashed my cards to whispered “Joe Hachem (I think it was Joe, but got the idea) won his championship with 37. I laughed.
Next hand, 37. OK, this one I’m playing! Flop comes down 346 – check check. Turn K. Bet, Call. “5″ please “5″ – bingo- 5. Because of what had happened the hand before I knew that this was all too weird not to be a key hand and I had him roughly 2-1 on chips.
The pot was only about 40k. I had played with this guy for 5 hours and now put him on a very strong hand (hopefully not 7,8) – so I checked hoping that he either had a 2 or a set and because of the check he wouldn’t think I was that strong. – he bets 18k and I shove all in as fast as I can to make it look like a bluff. Snap 100k “ish” call, he turns over the 2 and it’s game over.
Was the Aussie Millions the first time you ever took down a major offline event or are there any other success stories behind you? What have been you biggest wins offline and online previously?
I’ve made multiple small final tables everywhere from Estonia to Bosnia but this was by far my biggest and most important tournament win.
Of course, you are mainly known online on Betfair Poker as Chelsea M and had a lot of support from fellow players on the Forum.. Knowing so many .people where behind you added a bit more pressure or was it even more encouraging?
No, no pressure. The only person to put pressure on me has been myself. It was pure encouragement and their support and kind words have meant so much to me. I thank each and every one of them for being such special people. There is too much jealousy in this world and this win has not only restored my faith in poker but in people. I really didn’t expect so many to be giving me that kindness. I thank you!!!
What can we expect now in terms of poker activity? Will you be touring various offline events around Europe or will most of your poker be played online?
Since my business is also online, I do find it hard to spend too many hours playing after a long day working, I also need to start getting out to try and meet a new girl so I won’t be online too much, but I will always play a solid week online prior to future events.
I see this as an important build up. I also enjoy mixing it with many of my good friends so will pop on when Im missing this, and Betfair is my chosen site due to the “easy on the eye” graphics, so you will see me around from time to time.
As for my live game, I will be at the Aussie Millions and in Vegas every year, and plan to spend some time this year playing the Venetian deepstacks and trying some new ideas prior to the WSOP
Betfair Poker has now taken on a series of events all over Europe called Betfair Poker Live! and the main focus is to host a great tournament that combines great poker with Betfair hospitality. How did Betfair look after you on your trip to Oz?
I will definitely be playing some of the European events and I think what you are doing with these live events is a positive step forward for Betfair and poker in general.
Betfair always look after their players and I have always enjoyed their hospitality.
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