Neil Channing Interview

By Owen Laukkanen
Mar 27, 2008 | 2 months ago
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On Monday night in Dublin, Ireland, Neil Channing systematically dismantled the final table of the Irish Poker Open. Then he talked to PokerListings.com.

Neil Channing, winner of the 2008 Irish Poker Open

Channing came into the final table of the Open with a massive chip lead and walked out with a massive check - about the size of your coffee table, in fact. The English sports-bettor-turned-poker-pro defeated Great Irish Hope Donal Norton in heads-up play to take down the Irish Open title and €801,400, as well as the exclusive opportunity to talk to a PokerListings reporter. Here's what he had to say:

How are you feeling right now?

Knackered. I'm knackered. It's been a really long week and I can't really believe it. I've played this tournament twice before, and two years ago I played a pair of kings horribly after 20 minutes and last year I played a massive race after an hour. So I hadn't really gotten into the tournament before; I didn't even know they had antes in it!

Yes, please.

No, it was fun. It was great. I had a really weird day yesterday. I was down to four big blinds and some guy decided to give me a walk when I had five big blinds, so I'd like to give thanks to him, whoever he was. I can't even remember. And yeah - I hit a few hands, I got lucky, I won a 60-40 and then last night I went on a rampage and really tore the s*** out of everybody else in the tournament and I think that just set me up for today.

I spent the whole night thinking I'd better not f*** this one up and I came back confident that I should win it. I felt like it would be a surprise to me if I didn't win. I don't mean to sound arrogant at all; I just had a lot of chips and I think I had more experience than the other players. And I know what to do to close out a tournament.

Loose cannon!

But it's poker and anything can happen. I knew it wasn't going to be easy, and Donal was probably the person I didn't want to play heads-up against. I felt like he was going to be a bit of a loose cannon and maybe a bit erratic and scary. But how can I complain? The heads-up just went perfectly. I hit some hands, got some cards and just got lucky.

Were you surprised at the rather frenetic pace of the final table?

Well, there were a few short stacks. I mean, the tournament structure I think is good, but it's reasonably fast and the two guys who came in with half a million didn't really have time to hang around. Donal seemed to be quite keen to play pre-flop quite a lot and I had a really good seating draw - I had some short stacks on my left and I felt like I could grind on them and keep away from Donal for a while. And I think that helped it go quicker, and it was quick really.

Mano a mano.

The heads-up - when I looked at the board at the start of the heads-up, I thought "Oh, this could go on for a couple of hours. I'm going to try and slow it down and use my experience." And then suddenly it was all over!

What was going through your mind in that final hand?

I just thought, "I know I'm going to win this race, because I'm running hot at the moment." I don't know; I had a time in tournaments in Europe where I felt like I never flopped a set or won a race for two years, and this year I've played maybe six tournaments and I'm running good at the moment. I've played in six tournaments and this is my third cash. I came second in a tournament two weeks ago for 17 grand. I'm playing good; I know I'm playing good. And I'm hitting as well. It's an easy game, sometimes.

You've been described as being crazy at the cash games but pretty tight in tournament play...

The winner's circle.

Yeah, that was Barny Boatman who wrote that for the Hendon Mob about eight years ago. I'm kind of crazy in the cash games. I play a lot of hands and I play wacky hands and I'll generally play 80% of the hands in the games I play in. At the time that was written, I guess I was going through a run of having a bad start in tournaments and being short-stacked.

It's hard to be creative in a tournament when you've only got eight big blinds, and in tournaments you often do have to play tight. I think I played pretty crazy in this tournament over the last few days, though. I don't think anyone would say I was a rock!

No, as soon as you hit that one-outer on Day 3 you seemed to be in straight dominating the table mode.

You can't afford.

Yeah, I just decided that these guys were tired - I normally play from like five in the afternoon to five in the morning, pretty much six days a week, and I wanted to go all night last night. I was awake, I was ready, I was doing my job, and some of these guys were getting a bit nervous and hanging on.

I wanted it to stay nine-handed or eight-handed because I wanted to go into the final with all of the chips, really, and when Carsten Joh lost a race and we were down to six-handed, everyone shook hands and was excited and I was gutted. I was thinking, "Oh please, why didn't the other guy win?" I wanted to stay in for two more hours.

What does the Irish Poker Open title mean to you?

Hand it over!

The title is brilliant. I am well aware of the history of the Irish Open. Some of my friends have won the tournament in the past; Joe Beevers is a really good friend of mine - he shares the same birthday, day, month and year as me - and he's a former champion. Roland de Wolfe didn't win the championship last year but he was on the phone this morning and last night, talking to me about it, and he's a good friend of mine.

I know about the Irish Open. Marty Smyth is a great guy, I know him and a few of the other Irish legends, and it means a lot. And just in terms of winning a big title, it means a lot because I've been playing poker for a long time, and whenever I've been doing it for a living - I used to be a sports gambler that played a bit of poker and now I think I'm a poker player who does a bit of sports gambling - I never really won anything big.

F*** 'em!

I was really always kind of the "Nearly Man" for a long time and I don't know, maybe I still am, but I'm the Nearly Man with eight hundred grand now, so f*** 'em.

I don't think you can be considered the Nearly Man by any stretch now. Congratulations.

Thanks.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Channing's play on Day 3 and Day 4 of this event was the stuff of a Jamie Gold fairytale. After hitting a miracle one-outer to send Mark Spellman packing late on the penultimate day, the Englishman put on a big-stack clinic, at one point raising seven hands in a row before someone finally dared to stand up to him.

He continued his dominance on Day 4, personally sending all but one opponent to the rail and never letting Donal Norton within shouting distance of his chip stack. Channing showed all who watched just why he is a professional, and at the end of the day there was really no doubt he'd go home with the title.

Neil Channing

Distinctions:

• Won the 2008 Irish Poker Open
• Plays the biggest cash games in England
• Cashed in the WSOP Main Event numerous times
• Known for his friendly table demeanor
• Famed English poker player and author

Biggest Poker Accomplishments:

2008 Special - Irish Poker Open	1st	$801,400
2007 WSOP - Event 55, World Championship No-Limit Texas Hold'em	131st	$58,570
2005 WSOP - Event 42, No-Limit Hold'em Championship	202nd	$33,197

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