Land of the Fee: The Ryan Fee Interview

By Arthur Crowson Nov 5, 2008 | 1 year ago

Ryan Fee, PokerStars.com LAPT San Jose - Day 3, LAPT Season 2.

Ryan Fee put on an absolutely dominant performance at the final table of Season 2 LAPT San Jose and, although he'd be the first person to tell you that he got lucky, he's also a skilled player.

Fee grinded it out for two long days when he wanted to be anywhere else but a poker table, and got paid off as a result. The Philadelphia kid was mostly a cash-game player but we might see more of him in tournaments now that he's hitting royal flushes and knocking out players left and right.

We chatted with Fee just minutes after the tournament was completed and Fee took down first place.

All right; so you've had a few minutes to let it sink in: what does it mean to you to win this tournament?

I'm lucky? [laughs] I'm not sure.

This is obviously your biggest score in poker to date, right?

Yeah it is. I think my previous biggest month was $60,000 at mostly $10/$20 heads-up. This definitely dwarfs that.

So you're mostly a cash-game player then?

Yeah. I've probably only played 10 tournaments online before this.

I've gotta ask you: What's with the cowboy shirt?

Where do I get a shirt like that?

It's $&#@ing sweet right? [laughs] My buddy's Dad is from Texas and he's a pilot and he saw this shirt somewhere and bought it. I don't know if he did it as a joke or not but my buddy and I definitely thought it was hysterical. Last night I went back to the room and told him I made the final table and he was like, "Dude, I've got the sickest shirt ever."

This is actually number two. Originally I wanted to wear the banana costume but my buddy left that back in South Carolina so I went with this.

Now that you've won do you think you'll wear the shirt again in a poker tournament?

One player here would run better than the rest combined.

Maybe. [laughs] I guess it's famous now. We'll see. This might be a one-time deal.

When players at the final table were unbagging their chips you actually said you were going to suck out on them all. Were you surprised when you did?

OK, here's the deal. My strategy for this entire tournament was based on making players see flops with me because most of all my opponents never made the correct decision post-flop. I was doing really well. Everyone else was superaggressive and would put a ton in the middle pre-flop.

Throughout the past two days I'd seen so many people sucking out that it felt like it was my turn. Joel [Micka] sucked out really bad on my buddy, hitting a flush on the river, so I felt like I owed him one.

It's funny because yesterday I was running incredibly bad. I lost every flip. I felt like it was payback time. When I look back on it I ran like Jesus on Day 1, horrible on Day 2 and like Jesus today.

Looking back at the tournament what would you say was your defining moment?

I just didn't care. [laughs] On Day 1 I had $50,000 chips and I was pretty close to the chip lead but I was just like, "There's no way I can win this. This is impossible. I'm tilting, I'm sitting forever and I'm tired."

Even Humberto Brenes was impressed with Fee's play.

Then there was this hand where the UTG player opens, player flat-calls, I squeeze kings, he ships, I call. He has about $30,000 and afterward everyone was telling me it was too much but I don't know anything about tournaments so I called. Anyways I was ahead and I won the hand and then I had $85,000 and was by far the chip leader.

Day 2 was looking like a breeze at that point so I decidedly to get serious. Even then I was only half-serious. The final table I started taking it 100% serious.

We passed you on Day 1 when you had close to the chip lead and you were telling the players at your table that you would trade out if you could and go to the beach. Did you mean it?

Heads-up with Joel Micka is no joke.

Yeah at the time I was. If someone would have given me my buy-in back to play my stack I would have gone to the beach.

The thing is that I've been grinding like crazy since this summer when I went to Vegas to play live. Last month in particular was a real grind. All I did every day was play all day. I went out once during the month.

Then I came here and I just wanted to chill but it was even worse. I had to sit at the same table all day long and I'd just had enough.

I wanted to get out of there. Thank God that wasn't possible.

Having said that, are you going to take a bit of break now?

Ummm ... no. [laughs] I was so due to win this because last month I just ran terribly. It didn't matter how far ahead I was; I would lose.

Soon to be rolling in an Audi S7.

I'll probably just get back online and start running horrible again.

I'm actually gonna chill here for a while though.

How do you like Costa Rica?

Love it, man. I'd only seen pictures and heard stories about it and I've really only seen the casino so far but I can't wait to get out there and do it.

One last question: any plans for the money?

That's a good question. Probably gonna get a sick whip. I was thinking of leasing a new car before but now I might just go out and buy one.

Well congratulations man.

Thanks.

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Ryan Fee may have run like God at the final table of LAPT San Jose but he actually played some solid poker in the previous days and there's definitely a reason he made the final table. We'll likely see more of Fee on the LAPT as it gets pretty darn cold in Philadelphia in the winter.