Ylon Schwartz, a member of the WSOP November Nine, just finished fourth in the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event, cashing for $3.77 million.
Poker News Daily: How did you get started in poker?
Schwartz: I played chess and backgammon on the streets for a long time. My grandfather taught me how to play five card draw when I was four years-old, but I really got into poker from guys on the street. They were all gamers. We played dice and pool and then finally filtered into poker. I started playing Limit Hold’em in 1992. At the time, it was the hot game. The Taj Mahal opened in Atlantic City and we started playing $2/$4 and $3/$6 there. We killed those games.
Occasionally, we’d sit down in the $75/$150 game for one round just to see if we picked up aces or kings. I was the horse one day. I sat in that game and was instructed only to play premium hands like aces, kings, queens, A-K, or A-Q. I was dealt 8-9 and I jammed it up. I flopped an up and down straight draw that didn’t hit and the bus ride home was brutal.
PND: Is making the final table of the 2008 WSOP Main Event your biggest poker accomplishment to date?
Schwartz: This is the biggest accomplishment for me. It’s been huge for me and is a personal triumph. I’ve been so deep in WSOP events before and I just couldn’t get it done, even in the Limit Hold’em event in 2008. In that tournament, I had tons of chips 15-handed and blew it. Being able to maintain my focus is a huge triumph.
PND: Your WSOP cashes have been split between Limit and No Limit Hold’em. Do you feel you excel at one or the other?
Schwartz: I feel like I have more control in Limit Hold’em. I still won’t even touch No Limit cash games. I’m good at both types of Hold’em, but I don’t know what I’m going to focus on now.
PND: You’re a WSOP veteran and have been cashing in events for quite some time. Describe what it’s like having a 100-day layoff before the final table takes place. What’s your official take on it?
Schwartz: I think it’s awful. I don’t like it at all. It gives my friends and other people too much time to hit me up for money. My plan was to disappear after the Main Event, but the phone has been ringing off the hook. People have wanted to write my biography because I’ve had all kinds of gambling in my background.
However, I didn’t want to play totally exhausted. If we would have come back the next day in July, it would have been awful. The appropriate time to wait before playing it out would have been about three days to a week: Just enough time to get settled in, relax, swim, and hang out. One-hundred days is too long of a break.
PND: The nine players remaining in the WSOP Main Event could conceivably collude at the final table. Are you worried about this at all?
Schwartz: That hasn’t crossed my mind. I don’t think anyone in this group would be thinking about that, either. It seems like a stable, upstanding group of people. Everyone wants to win and each of them has an ego. It’s just ridiculous to collude. It could backfire. I was always taught that when you try to get over, you get under.
PND: Will you be disappointed if you don’t win the Main Event?
Schwartz: It’s always disappointing to get knocked out in any level of a tournament. Each pay jump at this stage of the Main Event is significant. It’s going to hurt to get knocked out, but just getting to the final nine is huge. It would be awful to come in ninth or eighth, but it’s possible. I’ve been knocked out of plenty of tournaments in my lifetime.
I don’t know what’s going to happen in the Main Event. I don’t see any clear favorite at this table. There are some good players, but it’s basically a deep-stack sit and go tournament right now.
PND: What’s appealing about the game of poker to you?
Schwartz: It’s geometrical, mathematical, and psychological. It’s a great lazy man’s game and I am definitely lazy. I can sit and watch the puck go around the table, put chips in, and then get paid. You don’t have to wait for a paycheck, either. You just go up to the cage and get your money. Also, it’s nice to be my own boss.
Poker forces you to live your life well away from the table. If you’re partying all of the time or fighting with your girlfriend, it will screw up your bankroll. Beyond being savvy, you can’t win in the long-run if you’re out of your mind away from the table.
PND: What advice do you have for up and coming poker players?
Schwartz: It’s important to have empathy when you play. If your ego is too large, you’ll lose. The best thing to do is to respect your opponents and just try to stay relaxed.
PND: Have you sought coaching to improve your game before November?
Schwartz: I’m very close with Eric “sheets” Haber. I turned him onto poker. He’s very scientific in his approach and runs PokerXFactor, a popular training site. We’re definitely going to be discussing strategy at some point, but I have been trying to relax and enjoy the money. Then, I’ll figure out what I’m going to do.
