A look back: Alec Anderson wins 2009 State Poker Championship
With the 2010 State Poker Championship taking place at Canterbury Park today, it’s only fitting to take a look back at last year’s tournament, which was won by 22-year-old Alec Anderson — a professional poker player who recently moved to Georgia.
Anderson outlasted 3-Putts heads-up to take home the title in April, 2009, and also nearly $66,000.
Alec Anderson wins Minnesota State Poker Championship
By Craig Dirkes and Phil Mackey
Some 22-year-olds would shout to the heavens, hoot and holler, and go on a massive spending spree after winning $66,000 in a poker tournament. Trade in that rust bucket car for a shiny upgrade, fill a shopping cart with Xbox games, and send “What’s up now?” messages on Facebook to all the girls from his past.
Alec Anderson is a different breed. Hootin’ and hollerin’ just isn’t his style. Upon winning Canterbury Park’s State Poker Championship on April 26, the 22-year-old was stoicism personified, barely cracking a smile while gathering his $65,955 prize. The money, he says, will be dumped into his bankroll for future tournaments, both live and online.
A month before, Anderson was working four days a week as a saw operator, making $15 an hour.
“When I was there I just thought about poker all day,” says Anderson, a Plymouth native who began playing poker in 2004. “I would think about different scenarios and imagine myself winning.”
The daydreaming is over, and the winning has begun. And if it wasn’t official before, it sure is now: Anderson is a full-time, full-on professional poker player.
Minutes after winning the state championship, Anderson sat down with Minnesota Poker Magazine to explain his winning strategy, his future plans as a professional, and why he listens to classical music during tournament play.
MNP: You were the chip leader heading into the final table ($320,000), but your stack dwindled down to almost nothing as time progressed. Were you card dead? Missing flops? Hand in the cookie jar?
Alec: The first big hand I lost, there was a button raise to $30,000 (by Duane Mann), and I was in the small blind. I re-raised to about $80,000 with A-10, and he instantly shoved. He and I were almost even in chips when the hand started.
MNP: The real action started with four players left – you, Duane Mann, “3 Putts” and Jeff Havenor. You were the short-stack, but picked up A-Q against Mann’s A-6 for the double up.
Alec: That was the hand, once we were shorthanded, that got me going. Before that I wasn’t getting any hands. I was just dwindling. I was at about seven or eight big blinds at that time, and I was just waiting for any hand to get it in with. (A-Q) was way above average, I would have shoved a lot lighter than that, probably.
Duane Mann
MNP: Were you bracing for a bad beat? A 6 out of the window, perhaps?
Alec: I’m always bracing for it.
After you doubled up, you changed gears right away and took a massive pot from 3 Putts.
Alec: I had K-9 suited (on the button), and the flop was 7-high. He checked, and I know he’s pretty aggressive, so I didn’t want to just bet with King-high and have to fold if he re-raised. So I just checked to keep the pot under control. Keep it small, give myself a chance. I had two overcards, but no value, and if I bet and he raised, I can’t do anything.
I checked, hit the King (on the turn), and he bet like I expected. He bet $60,000, and I had about $250,000. I was pretty confident my King was good. I mean, I don’t think he has an overpair. he could have a better kicker, but that’s a chance I was willing to take.
(Editor’s note: 3 Putts folded to Anderson’s all-in on the turn, allowing the 22-year-old to take the chip lead just two hands after being the clear short stack.)
MNP: At what point did you think you were going to win the tournament?
Alec: After I won the hand against Duane Mann. My confidence was all the way up right there.
** Alec is talking about the hand where he backdoored 3,3 for trip 3s, crippling Mann, who held second-pair of 10s.
MNP: Once you build a large stack, is your strategy to be more aggressive?
Alec: I like to keep the pots smaller and go deeper, play the flop, turn and river – instead of betting huge and have somebody re-raise me. Then I can’t see the flop because they bet so much.
3-Putts
MNP: What do you do for a living, and how often do you play poker?
Alec: I actually quit my job a month ago to play poker online full time.
MNP: Oh yeah? What job did you quit?
Alec: I was a CNC saw operator. It wasn’t a bad job, it was just kind of boring…and it was just doing the same thing over all day every day. I was working by myself, which I don’t mind because I’m not the most social person anyways.
MNP: What led to you essentially turning pro?
Alec: I told myself I wanted to have a $20,000 online bankroll, and once I got there I started seriously thinking about (going pro). January and February were my two best months – I made $8,000 each month. I was only making $15 an hour at my job, and I made quadruple that playing poker, and I was only able to play two days a week because I had to work four days a week. So I figured I should give it a shot. Plus, my work sounded like they might lay off some people in a few months, so it wasn’t that huge of a risk.
MNP: Online cash games? Tournaments? What’s your game of choice?
Alec: Pretty much all multi-table tournaments.
MNP: You seemed completely “in the moment” the entire final table, even though 3 Putts was jabbering the whole time, and your chip stack took a couple major swings.
Alec: I was listening to my MP3 player. I like to listen to classical music and just relax myself. When I play at home I’m playing all the time, so the best thing I’ve found is to listen to classical music because it’s really relaxing. You get a lot of bad beats when you play like 10 tables at once online, so you just want to be calm and take it as you go.
MNP: Is this the biggest cash you’ve had?
Alec: Yes.
MNP: By far?
Alec: The biggest online was probably $7,000.
MNP: How often do you play live tournaments?
Alec: I try to play once a week now since I started playing fulltime, because I don’t want to play in front of a computer all day.
MNP: Where do you typically play?
Alec: Running Aces. Last Wednesday, I won the $100 tournament, and when I was playing that I told myself if I won that I was going to buy in to this tournament…I figured it’s a freeroll pretty much.
MNP: What next?
Alec: Just go back to grinding online I guess. I don’t know any big tournaments that are coming up really soon.
MNP: Other than that one that starts in Las Vegas at the Rio pretty soon.
Alec: I don’t have a big enough bankroll for that. Basically, I just try to practice good bankroll management. At minimum, 100 buy-ins for tournaments. This one (MN State Championship), I was going to try to take a shot at, but it’s only once a year so it’s not that stressful on my bankroll if I don’t cash.
Leave a Reply