After the victory at the Spicy 50 on PokerStars Poker – Sisal Poker, we spoke on the phone with Mattia ‘matthew793’ Agus.
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It hadn’t happened for years: more or less, since the Sardinian poker player had stopped playing multi-table tournaments to dedicate himself to Spin&Go. Our chat begins here.
Mtt, my love
Hi Mattia, it’s been a while since we last spoke. I remember that at the time you had left MTTs to jump into Spin&Go.
Yes, since last November I took the reverse step, I returned to my first great love. With Spins, I was slowly losing my passion for the game. Partly because it’s a specialty where you always have to be a machine, so it offers few thrills and emotions. Partly because I realized that with the new structures, which make low-multiplier Spins like the old flashes (faster, ed.), I could no longer impose my game.
How did the return to tournaments go?
I relied on friends-colleagues who in the meantime continued to grind MTTs. First, I contacted ‘alesiena17’, with whom we had entered the Pokermagia school together in 2015. We have always stayed in touch; he was in Mexico but has now returned to Malta. Then also Mirko ‘KAPPAGGIBBI’ Abbracciante (the lucky winner of the maxi-mystery bounty at the Sunday Million, ed.) and Andrea Boscani.
Did you ask them to update you on the new trends?
Actually, more than asking them for game advice, staying in contact with them curbs the more gambler part of my soul. I have a bit of a tendency to look for shots out of bankroll, but now I’m 34 and it’s something I didn’t want to happen. I told myself that either I do things properly or I really quit this job.
At the final table, I told myself I had to make the fact that I was first in chips carry weight
Mattia Agus
New habits
Given the success at the Spicy 50, the return seems to be going definitely well…
The run helped me a lot, beyond the Spicy. Including iPoker, in these four months I’m around 60k in profit. But more than for the results, I’m satisfied with myself, for the effort I’m putting in, also at the study level.
Were you studying GTO for Spins as well, or is it something new?
In the Spin school I played with, they prepared videos with charts to study that I imagine were based almost entirely on GTO. Actually, one of the things I like most about MTTs is precisely the possibility they open for exploitative play. When I was grinding MTTs, there wasn’t even GTO Wizard; everything was done with Flopzilla and ICMIZER. But the guys I got back in touch with are very good with this software, especially Ale knows everything about it. I’ve always worked more on exploit than on GTO, but I realize it’s very important to have solid foundations of balanced play, even just to deviate based on opponents’ imbalances.
How much do you study?
With the guys, we have a weekly appointment. I’m very proud of how I’m approaching the return to tournaments; I started full throttle in November and even when I win, I still grind the next day. Maybe ten years ago I would win and then enjoy it, and I didn’t even need to win what I won yesterday; a thousand or two thousand euros were enough to spend a week without playing. Then well, in the summer I didn’t play at all for three months.
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In Sardinia, it’s hard to think about playing in the summer. Have you celebrated or do you plan to celebrate?
There are a thousand occasions to celebrate here, from the Carnival these days to village festivals, every occasion is good practically, so you really have to stay locked in the house without temptations of any kind.
The story of the Spicy 50
Tell me how the tournament went!
Actually, it started badly; if you noticed the payout, I made the maximum number of re-entries. I only reviewed one hand where the opponent with A7 cracked my Kings on 7-7-Q-Q-x. Then I don’t remember much except that I’m very satisfied with how I played the final table.
How did you approach the final table?
I told myself I had to call the shots and make the fact that I was first in chips carry weight. We know how everyone reacts to ICM pressure, rightly so. A hand with nine left comes to mind.
Tell the hand!
I open 9-9 from middle position not even too happy, because I would have preferred to open other hands, and the big blind defends. Flop A-6-2, standard cbet and he calls, turn T, since the middle of the pair on the flop is a 6 I wouldn’t even need to push but I decide to do it, convinced that on any river other than an A I would have shoved. I bet 3/4 pot and he calls. On the river I shove and he folds. I think he had an ace (later confirmed by the replay, the opponent folded A7s, ed.).
Stats since the return to tournaments
Mattia said that since his return to multi-table tournaments, the results are on his side. The numbers confirm it.
Since November, in four months, the 34-year-old has played 1,177 tournaments at an average buy-in of 18.54€ for an incredible profit of 52,928€!
The contained celebration
Anyway, you intimidated them since they decided to split equally and not by ICM…
I didn’t expect it from the chipleader in particular, who had double my stack. I have no idea what he thought. But it must be said that the average was really very low and there it really only takes one flip to go from chipleader to fourth. With fourth place paying eleven thousand, securing twenty-five thousand was still something.
After the last showdown, did you celebrate?
I called friends, talked to the other guys. But the happiness I’m feeling and that I felt yesterday is a contained happiness, like ‘it hasn’t been anything yet’. I respect this money a lot, but my only goal is to make it, and what is needed to say you’ve made it is much more.
