Sorel Mizzi Interview

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Firstly congratulations on signing for Betfair Poker. Why did you choose to sign with them?

Well the WSOPE is a really cool tournament and Annette is a really great friend of mine. The guys at Betfair really wanted to get me on board. It just feels good for me. And they’re paying for all of my live buy-ins...

Betfair Poker is quite UK based, and to a certain extent European. Are you going to have a say in the way Betfair Poker is marketed and promoted as a brand?

Yeah definitely, that’s part of the reason why I signed; I’m really looking forward to promoting the brand. I’ve met with one or two of the big names behind the scenes at Betfair and they were really interested in some of the ideas I had. We’re going to work together on some things and hopefully make a lot of progress. I’m excited about it.


And what are you plans poker wise for 2008, are you going to go over to Vegas at some point?

Yeah, I’m definitely going to play in the World Series. To be honest that’s what I’ve been looking forward to all year. It will be my second year in the World Series and now I feel like I’ve got a lot more confidence in myself. I’ve got one years more experience under my belt now and I’m confident of doing really well over there; there’s so many events to play .
The World Series is the biggest thing but I’ll also be playing the rest of the EPT Events; Warsaw, San Remo and Monte Carlo; and the $25,000 at the Bellagio. And then I’ll probably take a break for a bit after the World Series.

When you go over to Vegas do you notice a difference in the style of play as opposed to the EPT Events?

I think generally most of the players are pretty bad in both, but the bad players are bad in a different way. The more qualifiers for a tournament there are then generally the worse players there are and the better chance you have of winning. And there are a lot of qualifiers in the EPT Events and for some of the World Series Events, but not all of them. Obviously some of the fields are going to be a lot more difficult than others; I think the 5k is probably going to be the hardest and all the mixed games are going to be very difficult but I mean the main event is going to be a joke!

Obviously in the Main Event you have to get pretty lucky to make it to the Final Table or indeed to win it. In terms of respect, would you rather win the Main Event or would you be looking at one of the more difficult lower stakes fields?

Just for respect Id still rather win the Main Event. There’s no tournament more prestigious than the WSOP Main Event. But yes, as you say, you do have to be extremely lucky to get through and to win.

Obviously you’ve had huge online success as well. Is there any favourite win or cash that you’ve had so far, online or offline, your career highlight?

My biggest online achievement so far is coming 1st and 2nd in the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up; winning it for $120,000 was my biggest online cash.
And my best live result was definitely the Irish Open where I came third (good for $280,000).

And in the online domain, are there any other players that you have a lot of respect for? Who would you say are the best online players in the world?

Without doubt Annette is one of the best online players...

You have to say that now don’t you...


No I'm not just saying that! Also players like WestmenloAA, who is really really good, and ch0ppy is really good as well. It’s really interesting actually because Annette and I play pretty similar online and WestmenloAA and ch0ppy play a lot different to me and Annette, a lot tighter, but they still win and its interesting to see that there are so many different ways to win at online poker.

Obviously you had an incident with Full Tilt (read here). Do you think peoples image of you is a bit unfair as a result of that and do you think signing for Betfair Poker will help people alter their image of you?

Betfair as a site and a company has a lot of integrity and a lot of respect and I want to share that image with them. People that have already made up their minds about me are not going to change their minds now.
But I haven’t had a chance to write exactly how I feel about the Full Tilt incident and I am looking forward to writing about that in my second blog entry. I certainly have to deal with it very carefully.

And are there any poker books or DVDs that you’d say you’ve learnt from or are you 100% self-taught?

No, I’ve never really read a poker book or watched a poker DVD; I’ve watched the WPTs but only for entertainment value. But I have a lot of respect for players who take time out to study the game and try experimenting in different ways.

And finally, would you have any bankroll advice for young players just starting out?

If you had asked me that a year ago I would have said that bankroll management wasn’t that important but last year I came close to being broke so now I know that bankroll management is so important; it doesn’t matter how good a player you are, if you don’t practise good bankroll management you could easily go broke.
I think it’s important to set goals; you shouldn’t play against players who you think have an edge over you or if you think you only have a very small edge on them. Poker players should stick to what they’re good at. For me, personally, Limit HoldEm is my addiction but I don’t do very well on it; I just love the game so much because its so relaxing and it seems so easy! Maybe it seems easy because I’m not playing it right. But poker players should definitely stick to whichever games they’re good at.