Alex Lipkin triumphed in the World Series of Poker Circuit main event at Graton Casino and Resort on February 24, marking a significant milestone as he earned both a gold ring and a career-high payout of $162,520. Although Lipkin acknowledges this victory as a confidence booster, he humbly maintains that he's still an amateur poker player. Throughout the tournament, he prioritized stack preservation and strategic play, particularly in tough short-handed situations against seasoned competitors, reflecting on his learning experience during intense moments of the final battle.
One time doesn't prove anything, but I'm going to be more confident in a tournament knowing I've done this before. Because before this I only had two deep runs in the , and I didn't play many tournaments. I'm not going to consider myself a great player now since I won one tournament. I'm still an amateur, but I don't get easily intimidated at the poker table, even by experienced guys.
I've had that before in some tournaments. I was running really well the first couple of levels, the first couple of hours; and usually that's not the greatest time to run well. That's why I was telling myself, 'don't get crazy and stupid and think you're invincible.' So I held back, and I kind of tried to play stack preservation so I don't lose this big-stack advantage.
When we got to short-handed, I don't have a lot of experience short-handed ... but the cards kind of played themselves, and I found good cards when I needed to. I picked up pocket kings when two players were all in.
Heads up was kind of a battle, I found a flush on the turn but he was a really good player and kept chipping up. He had a big lead and we decided to take a break, and during that break I decided that I wasn't aggressive enough, and I started playing aggressively with the worst hands.
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