With the Dutch football team dominating Euro2008, it seemed like the perfect time for a Dutch player to finally win a WSOP bracelet.
Apparently Rob Hollink agreed, because on Tuesday night he powered his way into the WSOP history books by winning Event 30.
PokerListings.com caught up with the soft-spoken Dutchman moments after his big victory.
First of all Rob, how does this compare to winning the first EPT Grand Final?
I think this feels better. What else do you want to win besides a WSOP bracelet? It feels better than winning an EPT event, even though those are big events as well.
Is that because of all the history behind the WSOP?
I've actually been coming here since 2004 and I've done pretty poorly. I've played maybe 80 or 90 events and always done pretty bad. I never knew why. I always thought I was unlucky in these events. I've won probably 14 or 15 events in Europe but I could never find the solution here. I just told myself I was unlucky and to finally succeed feels very good. The longer you wait the better it feels.
Throughout the day you were near the top of the chip counts at the final table. Did you feel like you were setting the pace with your aggressive play?
There was a moment when things weren't going that great. Tommy Hang got a hold of some chips and I wasn't too happy because I know Tommy and I've played some cash games with him and I knew he's a really good player. At a certain point I was going down and he got some chips and I thought it might be very difficult.
I was fortunate to win a couple big pots against him. From there on I was pretty much ahead. At the end I probably had the best run of cards.
Near the dinner break, when it was three-handed, you really seemed to shift your game into overdrive. Was it a matter of picking up some premium hands or [were you] merely getting aggressive?
I played really well after the dinner break. The first few hands I was unlucky. I doubled up Tommy with 2-2 versus A-K, which was 50-50. After that I had to lay down pocket jacks on a queen-high board. From that moment on I made a couple great calls with king-high and a small pocket pair. I really played well from that point on. After Tommy was eliminated and we were heads-up I really got the best of it I think.
What did you think of the play of Jerrod Ankenman?
It seemed like he wasn't that lucky. I might have stolen a few pots from him. I was playing really aggressive and it seemed like he was waiting me out so I changed gears a bit and checked a few hands where I wasn't ahead and then got lucky to hit on the river.
Does it give you a large amount of pride to take this bracelet back to the Netherlands?
It feels really good. I want to thank them all for supporting me as much as they did.
Thanks for your time, Rob.
No problem.
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When it comes to Dutch players, people usually think of Marcel Luske, Rolf Slotboom and Steve Wong, but Rob Hollink has beaten them all by becoming the first Dutch player to win a bracelet. With all the poker talent in the Netherlands it's likely that many more bracelets will be shipped that way, but kudos to Hollink for etching his name in the history books.
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