NewJane: First, let me congratulate you on your fine finish at the WPO in Tunica. You will be advancing to the PSO Live Tour Final tourney in January. Tell me a little about the tourney that qualified you.

SBJENSEN: It was the $500+50 NLHE at the World Poker Open in Tunica on Sunday, January 11, during the PSO convention. There were 950 entrants, apparently making this the largest field ever in a brick-and-mortar NLHE tourney (probably until May, when this year's Big One at the WSOP will almost certainly surpass it). Among the entrants in the event were T.J. Cloutier, Scotty Nguyen, Chris Moneymaker, Bob Ciaffone, and Juha Helppi.

NewJane: Tell us a little about yourself. Where you live, work, or any interesting facts about your life you would like to share.

SBJENSEN: I live happily in Dallas, Texas with my wife Rebecca and two boys, Benjamin (4 yrs.) and Nick (1.5 yrs). I am a lawyer and a partner in the largest law firm in the country that specializes in representing people who have gotten sick from toxic exposures (yes -- just like in "Erin Brockovich" -- in fact, I work on a couple of cases with the real Erin's law firm).

NewJane: Share with us some of your poker background, such as how long you have played, games of choice, limits you like when you play live, other tourney successes. And anything else about your poker background that you want to share.

SBJENSEN: I learned poker growing up at my grandpa's house, and I played some crazy dealer's choice games in college -- has anyone ever played seven-card stud, "clubs wild"? But I first started studying the game in the year 2000. I had played blackjack for about 10 years, and my wife and I are both passable card-counters. Nothing very serious, but both of us are a bit nerdy (she's a PhD physicist), and we tried to maximize our expected value when gambling. :-) After doing this for almost 10 years, I discovered two things about my blackjack play: 1) at the $5 tables where I ordinarily played, my tip rate, which probably averages more than $10/hour, easily surpasses any edge my play would otherwise give me over the house -- in other words, I was losing $; and 2) blackjack gets to be really BOOORRRING. So, I decided to learn to play poker instead. I had always been intimidated by the prospect of playing poker in the casinos because I had always heard that the poker tables were the place that professional gamblers feed on tourists like myself. Now that I know more about poker, I also know that pros DO try to prey on tourists like myself, but there are enough other idiots like me out there that I still have a fighting chance.

My game of choice is tournament big bet hold em. I guess I'm slightly more comfortable with NLHE than Pot Limit HE (b/c I've played NLHE more), but I think they are close to being the same game.

In brick-and-mortar play, I'm either playing tournaments (almost any game), low-limit Omaha hi/low, or low-to-mid-limit HE. I started by playing low-limit HE, but I don't really like that game much any more. In general, I'd much rather play tournaments than ring games. And, at least in hold em, I'd much rather be playing at a limit where a bluff is occasionally the correct play.

My next-biggest tourney success other than this one was in Reno at the Peppermill Spring Poker tourney in 2003. I entered a $100+20 (with 1 rebuy) limit HE event, and I finished 6th out of a field of about 140. Went out with cracked aces. :-)

NewJane: How long have you been a member of PSO?

SBJENSEN: I've been a member of PSO since November of 2001, shortly after the school started. For the first year and a half or so, I played at PSO quite a lot. Indeed, I believe the foundation of my game (such as it is), was clearly developed here. I had previously tried to get some experience by playing IRC poker, which was fun and interesting, but not very realistic. The IRC tourneys were set up as massive single-table events, so you could have 20+ players, all at one "table." PSO was a real leap ahead for me in terms of being a great learning environment. Plus, the players quickly created a very fun and supportive cyber-community. There are many PSO players that I felt I got to know just by chatting during games. Then, when we had the "Team Tourney" in 2002, I thought that was a really great bonding experience.

NewJane: Where is your favorite place to play poker, both live and tourney action?

SBJENSEN: I've probably played more tourneys at The Orleans in Las Vegas than anywhere else. I think their cardroom is nice, and it's certainly set up well for their typical tournament of 60-120 players. I've also enjoyed playing at the Mirage. I very rarely play live in Dallas, and it's rare for me to travel to play by going somewhere other than Vegas. Of course, I play quite a bit on-line, both at PSO and at various other sites.

NewJane: What were some hands you remember from the tourney, whether won and lost?

SBJENSEN: Oh, that's an easy one ... wow, free rein to make people listen to my poker stories? What a treat!

Just before the first break, I had already lost half of my initial stack of T800. In the very last hand before the break, I caught KK in middle position. Everyone in front of me passed. I decided that, since I was short-stacked, I would take a chance and go for a limp-re-raise. Sure enough, the cutoff raised, and the small blind called. I pushed in, the cutoff folded, and the small blind called with QQ. My hand held up, and I had nearly tripled my stack to T1150.

About an hour later, I was in the big blind when everyone folded around to the small blind, who raised from 100 to 250. I looked down and saw AA. I had about T1300, he had me outstacked, and I smooth-called. The flop came queen-high, with two rags. I bet 300, he raised, and I pushed in. He flipped over KQ, and my hand held up.

After that, I'm proud to say that I built a relatively large stack while showing down VERY few hands. I made a lot of big post-flop bets that allowed me to take down pots. Many times I had a good hand to support the bet, but sometimes I did not.

My most memorable losing hand was my last. I had been moved to this table about 2.5 hours before the dinner break. When I moved, I had an above-average stack, although nothing monstrous. I tightened up my play quite a bit for a couple of reasons: 1) I was concerned that I would bust out on the bubble. When I moved, we were down to less than 100 players, and the tourney paid 36 money spots. I didn't WANT to tighten up for this reason -- I wanted to play for a final table spot, not for 36th place. But, I think I did it despite myself. 2) There were a couple of aggressive large stacks at this table, and I didn't want to tangle with them. As we approached the dinner break, one of those stacks went from large to VERY large. However, my tight play, combined with a run of dead cards and quickly mounting blinds/antes, meant that my once comfortable stack had become a short stack by the time we broke for dinner. At that point, we were down to 40 players -- four away from the money. And there were only two surviving PSO players remaining - Freddieboy and myself. Freddie had even a shorter stack than I did.

At dinner, I was quietly eating by myself -- I think most PSO folks didn't want to interrupt my "focus" -- when Bob "zipman" joined me to chat. He asked me if I had a strategy with my short stack. I said I wanted to pick a hand and go with it. I said I'd thought about whether I wanted to just tighten up even more until someone else busts out, but he encouraged me to stick to my original goal of winning big -- not just making the money. A few minutes later, just before play resumed, Freddie and I talked, and we agreed that the "loser" of the PSO Invitational would get 10% of the "winner's" action at any event if the winner ultimately went on to win sponsorship points in the Grand Live Tour Final.

When play resumed, I let the blinds pass me once while looking for a semi-premium hand. I certainly would have pushed in with AJ or better if I could be the first one in the pot. But no such cards came my way. After the blinds passed me once, circumstances were direr. I could still survive another circuit around the table by folding, but if I did my stack would be so small that I would have no betting leverage AT ALL. I wanted to be able to have enough chips to at least make someone THINK about calling before being forced to do so just because of pot odds. Thus, I decided I would go for it soon, with any two cards, if the huge stack at the table folded in front of me and I could be the first guy in the pot. The monster stack was raising pre-flop about one out of every three hands at that point. I didn't want him in my hand because I knew he'd be likely to call me, even if he was stealing himself. Meanwhile, we were down to 37 players and playing hand-for-hand at all four remaining tables.

The hand of fate was a lousy 9d7d. The monster stack folded in front of me, and I took a mental gulp (probably a physical one as well), and I pushed in. A solid player to my left thought for a while before calling. The button thought for a long time before folding. The guy to my left flipped up 10-10. I was in trouble, and I firmly believed I was going to bust out in 37th position. The flop brought two diamonds, however, making time seem to slow down. Lots of PSO'ers around the table started screaming for another diamond. For a moment I thought the sheer force of their will might make the miracle occur. But it did not. I stood up, assuming that I was the "bubble boy" for the tournament, and shook the hand of the guy who knocked me out. Then, zipman informed me that I had placed 36th because Freddie had been knocked out just a minute before me. Confusion reigned for a few minutes, while the tournament directors caucused about the situation. Because we had been playing hand-for-hand, Freddie and I had busted out on the same hand at different tables. Although I had a few more chips than Freddie at the start of the hand, the tournament director determined that we had TIED for 36th place. Pretty darn cool, really. Then, Mark determined that, because we had tied, we needed to play heads-up online to determine who would get the Grand Live Tour Final seat. We decided to play a best of three. In that event, which we played in February, short-term luck bested skill, and I managed to eek out a 2-1 victory. But Freddie's still got 10% of my action. :-)

NewJane: What did you feel was your strength / weakness in the tournament?

SBJENSEN: I played strongly for much of the tournament, especially the middle stages. I was proud that I played several hands fairly fearlessly, taking down big pots despite a fairly high probability that I was not holding the best hand. My weakness was in getting away from that aggressive style as we approached the money spots.

NewJane: If you could play one hand over, which one would it be and why?

SBJENSEN: I honestly can't think of a particular hand that I would play differently. I know a made a ton of mistakes, especially early on. But I really don't remember them very well, as they didn't lose me a significant sum on any one hand. As for my final hand, I'm actually pretty proud of my decision and analysis, although I know many here probably think the decision was craziness. I think one HAS to be aggressive to be successful at big bet hold em tournaments (unless the deck smacks you in the face), and I went down swinging.

NewJane: What are your feelings about what is going on with poker now, the incredible growth? Do you see it as a positive thing?

SBJENSEN: I think the growth in poker is AWESOME. I suppose some "purists" might claim that the game is somehow diminished because there are now too many amateur and amateurish players. I think they argue that this is bad because it means that one of the many hundreds of mediocre players are more likely to win the Big One than one of the relatively few super-talented professionals. To the extent that occurs routinely, they conclude, poker becomes more like bingo, and there will no longer be any recognized super-players. And, if there aren't any "super-player" personalities for folks to latch onto, the game will stop being popular.

I don't really buy into any of that. First of all, the more bad players there are out there, the more the pros and strong amateurs should be VERY happy. Second, I think many of the so-called "mediocre" amateur players entering the WSOP, such as Moneymaker himself, actually have quite a bit of talent. Third, I think the super-talented players, such as Scotty Nguyen, Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, T.J. Cloutier etc., are so good that they will continue to make final tables and occasionally win major events, including the Big One. One of them won't get there every year, and maybe one of those guys only wins it once every 5-10 years, but they will be there. Fourth, isn't it odd to argue that poker becoming popular will ultimately lead to poker becoming unpopular? Fifth, I don't think poker's popularity is dependent on any of the so-called "personalities." They certainly don't HURT, but I think the true attraction is the game itself. No limit hold em is fascinating to anyone who is A) analytical; B) competitive; and C) a gambler. That target audience comprises a VERY large proportion of the American population. I think we will be seeing poker on TV, in some form or fashion, for a long time. I can't predict whether it will get bigger than it is now, or plateau later, but I think we will be watching for quite a while. And, as long as it's on TV, we will continue to attract and develop new players. All of that is great for the game.

NewJane: What new poker game are you anxious to learn?

SBJENSEN: Well, it's hardly a "new" game ... but I'd love to develop a fundamentally sound seven-card stud game. I think it's a great poker game, and it's somewhat a shame that it seems to be dying out. Having said that, I know I don't play it very well.

NewJane: What poker books might I find in your home library?

SBJENSEN: Too many to list. Most recent additions are John Vorhaus' "Killer Poker" and "Killer Poker Online," which I bought after hearing John talk at the PSO Convention. Cool guy. My favorite is probably Ciaffone and Reuben's Pot Limit and No Limit Poker. The Theory of Poker is also great, in a very different way. My first poker book, which I think is a wonderful book for beginners, is Lee Jones' book on Winning at Low Limit Hold Em. Jones explains most of the major theoretical concepts in easy-to-understand language, and he gives a solid roadmap for beating "no fold em hold em."

NewJane: Steve, if there is anything I didn't ask you that you want to say, now is the time!

SBJENSEN: Thanks to Mark, Tina, and the PSO staff for providing us a wonderful place to learn poker and make friends!

NewJane: I would like to thank SBJENSEN for taking time to talk to me today about his successful tournament at the WPO. Thanks, Steve!