Jeffrey “Iceman” Lisandro accomplished a feat that many thought would be difficult to achieve in the post-Moneymaker era of the World Series of Poker (WSOP)—win three bracelets in a single year. Lisandro did just that, taking down Stud, Stud Hi/Lo and Razz events to make him the undisputed Stud games champion of 2009.
We caught up with Lisandro shortly before his second bracelet ceremony to talk about his amazing Series so far as well as the reasoning behind alternating between the Australian and Italian national anthems at his numerous bracelet ceremonies.
Poker News Daily: Congratulations on winning your second bracelet this year and your third career bracelet. After you won the first one a few weeks ago, did you expect to win another bracelet this year?
Jeffrey Lisandro: I thought it was going to be close, to be honest. I was really trying hard and I thought this (the Stud H/L Championship) would be my best chance. I was playing well.
PND: All of your bracelets are in Stud events. Do you consider yourself to be one of the premiere Stud players in the world?
Lisandro: Not really, no.
PND: You don’t think it is your best game?
Lisandro: I think I play all games well, but it just worked out that I’ve done better in the Stud events.
PND: Do you have a preference between Stud Hi and Stud H/L?
Lisandro: Yeah, I prefer the Stud Hi. I can play my opponent better.
PND: You’ve really excelled in the $10,000 buy-in Championship events. Do the bracelets mean more to you when you win them in a smaller field, but one packed with tough competition than winning one in a large field No Limit Hold’em event?
Lisandro: I don’t really enjoy playing No Limit Hold’em. I’ll play any game except No Limit Hold’em. I’ve been avoiding the No Limit Hold’em events so far this year.
PND: Is it nice to have so many alternatives to Hold’em at this year’s WSOP?
Lisandro: Yeah. I like the higher buy-ins and being able to play different games.
PND: It also seems to be helping you and Barry Greenstein in your bet with Daniel Negreanu and Erick Lindgren about which pair will turn out better results.
Lisandro: Yeah, we’re doing really well now. We’re pretty far in the lead now, but we’re not giving up. We can’t slack off because the two guys are capable of catching up and beating us. There are still enough tournaments left that if we were to stop now we might lose, so we’ve got to keep going and get a couple more results.
PND: Do these prop bets help motivate you more to play all the events in the Series?
Lisandro: They do, definitely. Barry’s really motivated, he wants to do well and so do I, but Barry more so because he wants to pull his end (of the bet).
PND: Are you going to put the pressure on him to match your results?
Lisandro: (laughs) No, no I’m not going to put the pressure on him. He’ll do better without pressure. You know, it just works out that you can have a good year, you can have a bad year. If you look at his results over a period of time, he’s right up there.
PND: We heard you were going to have the Italian national anthem played at your second bracelet ceremony of the year. How important is it to you to pay homage to all the different places you call home?
Lisandro: Very important. I’m very happy I won two bracelets this year because I consider myself an Australian-Italian and a lot of Italians don’t cope too well with the fact I say I’m Italian, but I’m Italian. I’m an Italian citizen, I have an Italian passport and other nations aren’t like America. In America, it doesn’t matter where you came from, you’re an American. One thing I value is my citizenship and the fact that I wasn’t born in Italy, but I am Italian. So, I am going to play the Italian national anthem today not for the guys who knock me, but for myself and for my country.
PND: Well congratulations again and enjoy your bracelet ceremony.
