One of the newest Triple Crownwinners on PocketFives.com is Andrew higher wattageWatson. The Aussie put together three wins in three $10,000 prize pool tournaments across three sites tracked for the Online Poker Rankings in a seven-day period. He actually took down four events during the allotted time span, a truly impressive feat. The student and poker player studying Commerce at the University of Wollongong in New South Wales sat down with PocketFives.com to recap his Triple Crown bid and talk a little Aussie poker.
Watson has been playing online since the end of 2008 and only began to take multi-table tournaments (MTTs) seriously at the end of 2009. One of his horses, fellow Aussie cptwingrave, began showing a considerable amount of MTT success, leading Watson to tackle the popular format. Watson told PocketFives.com, “I felt like I was a winning player in the fields I was in, but couldn’t seem to nail that big score. In the last two months, the results have started coming through. I feel like the hard work I have been putting into my game has been getting rewarded and the Triple Crown is recognition for that from the online community.”
On May 16th, Watson kicked off his Triple Crown run by winning the $33,000 KO Guaranteed on Full Tilt Pokerfor $11,000. Two days later, he triumphed over the field of the PokerStars$11 Cubed for $4,900. On May 22nd, his Triple Crown was complete. Watson took home the gold in the UB.com Sniper $20,000 Guaranteed for $5,500. The run was monumental and followed his first five-figure score earlier in the month.
How has Watson set himself up for success in poker? He revealed that the Australian poker community has played an important role: “I find that sharing hands and strategy with fellow players I respect has helped immensely. The Australian MTT community in general has been very approachable. In particular, I feel like my short stack strategy is getting more and more refined.” He’s on the brink of cracking the top 20 in the Sliding PLBfor Australia, a leaderboard paced by Jonathan xMONSTERxDONGx Karamalikis (pictured at left).
One event not in Watson’s future is the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP), which lasts until mid-July at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Instead, he plans to test his poker skills at upcoming events on the PokerStars-backed Australia New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT). He admitted, “With another year or so of experience under my belt, the 2011 WSOP would definitely be a worthy goal.”
A bevy of Aussie poker players have succeeded on the world’s largest poker stages, including PokerStars pro Joe Hachem, who won the 2005 WSOP Main Event. In May, Jay SEABEAST Kinkade (pictured at right) took down an event held during the PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) and the UB.com $150,000 Guaranteed. We asked Watson to assess Australia’s poker talents: “I think we started a few years behind in terms of the poker boom taking off, but the best players in Australia are definitely as good as the best in the world.”
Watson currently splits his day between poker and school. He explained, “Poker definitely takes up a lot of my attention. I am almost finished with a Commerce degree at the University of Wollongong, but have been doing that part-time until I finish so I can concentrate on poker more while still having a backup plan. I see a lot of guys getting burnt out from poker and especially MTTs since the schedule is pretty demanding.” Sessions for Watson usually begin at 5:00am in Australia, adding to the day’s demands.
At 23 years-old, he believes that striking a balance in your life is of the utmost importance, especially for poker players: “I think having balance in your life is important. I still play Australian Rules football down here for my university’s team and keep non-poker friends. When you’re away from the tables, it’s nice to be able to talk about other things.” Appropriately, he has been quite patient about his future.
Check out who else has made waves by visiting the Triple Crown Wall of Champions.