Brown Gets Gold! Andrew Brown Wins the Omaha Hi-Lo

By Chris Hall Jun 11, 2008 | 1 year ago

Andrew Brown wins Event 16 at the 2008 WSOP

In what can be considered an upset, Andrew Brown beat Ted Forrest heads-up for the latest WSOP bracelet, making sure that all bracelet winners so far have been brand new. After he had briefly celebrated with friends, Andrew Brown came and chatted to PokerListings.com about his achievements.

Congratulations on your win. How do you feel?

Honestly, things don't hit me until a little afterwards. When I was a little kid in school, I never realized it was summer until it was four weeks after school was over. This will probably hit me a bit later but for now I'm enjoying the moment.

Probably the most important hand of the heads-up was when you won three-quarters of a pot with a wheel and a six-high straight versus just the wheel, when he check-raised the river. That left Ted Forrest quite short. What were your thoughts on the hand?

I was really shocked to see what he flipped over. I guess you could say I almost missed a bet - he could've had wheel with diamonds - but given the fact, I think he check-raised the flop and the flop was three diamonds and if he has any flush he knows that's good at that point and that I'm just calling him down.

Plus, I'm not sure what the action was pre-flop that hand but I think he just called pre-flop. Regardless, usually he just tended to call with a big hand rather than reraise me and he wanted to see flops when he had good cards.

So I gave him a flush; that's why I missed the third bet. But I didn't give him A-4, which is why it was so strange. I mean to check-raise the river there with a wheel on board, you're supposed have a wheel or an A-6 with a flush there.

Andrew and friends ...

What was it like playing against someone with as much experience as Ted Forrest?

Honestly I think Ted, Phil Ivey and Barry Greenstein are the three best players out there. I'm guessing Ted's best game is Stud, but he would obviously know better than I would. He's very good at this game - he definitely was the hardest person I faced during the tournament, and I played with Barry Greenstein, Men The Master and people like that.

The final table was full of pros like Scott Clements, Ralph Perry ... it was a really tough table and I was just happy to get heads-up with Ted Forrest, and kind of test my skills against him. It was a see-saw battle; he was incredible, a very, very good player. I think if we played 10 times or a hundred times, he'd probably have a decent edge against me.

He's also a bit superstitious too?

He said he's superstitious; I said, "Don't you think it's unlucky to be superstitious?" And I don't think he took too kindly to that comment!

Not someone you want to play heads-up.

Is O8 your game of choice, or do you prefer something else?

My favorite game is Pot-Limit Omaha, or Razz even though it's pretty mechanical. But this game is my most enjoyable to play live. I've played this game more than anything else in New York in the clubs and stuff, and also in Atlantic City. So for live poker, I really enjoy this form rather than anything else.

This tournament had some long hours in it; how did you keep your focus?

I'll be honest in that it was probably easier for me than anybody else in the tournament. I'm a poker crack-head, I stay up all night and play long hours. I think I have an edge, because [whereas other] people get tired, I don't get very much sleep and seem to play better tired than most other players.

And finally, how does it feel to be in possession of a gold bracelet?

Honestly, it's not the first event I planned to win! I said to my friends that the first I was going to win was in the Razz event, but I guess I spoke too soon because I haven't had chance to play the Razz event yet. And this is my first series, so, what does it mean to me? Well, what it means to every player. I mean I play poker for a living, as opposed to a tourist taking a shot in an event, so it means more to me than most.