Andreas Klatt Crushes the MonteDam Swing Leaderboard
The MonteDam Swing, announced as a collaboration between the World Poker Tour and PokerStars, gave players extra incentive to visit both destinations with the PokerStars Championship Monte Carlo and World Poker Tour Amsterdam back to back.
There were five prizes up for grabs, with the winner taking down a PokerStars Championship Barcelona package worth €7,500. The big condition, though, was that players needed to finish in the money in both MonteDam Swing locations. Quite a few of players that found a cash in Monaco, raced to the Netherlands to see if they could cash again to be in the mix for the prizes.
One player who got to Amsterdam was the clear favorite.
Andreas Klatt won the PokerStars National Championship Monte Carlo (€151,445) and finished runner-up in the PokerStars Championship Monte Carlo Main Event (€402,786). Now, all he needed to do was cash in either the WPTDeepStacks Amsterdam or WPT Amsterdam Main Event.
He failed to do so in the WPTDeepStacks, leaving a ton of players with high hopes of taking down the first-place prize. In the Main Event, though, he once again had an amazing run. As the tournament reached the money on Day 3 in Amsterdam, Klatt had secured himself the package. While there are currently still other players in that cashed in Monaco, none of 'em can even come close to Klatt.
Klatt admitted to PokerNews in Amsterdam that had no idea about the MonteDam Swing leaderboard when he headed for Monaco.
"Not even when I took down the National, I just realized it later," he said. "When I played the Main Event, someone told me that if I'd cash and go to Amsterdam after, I'd have a good chance to win it. So I just did."
With the PokerStars National Championship Monte Carlo win already locked up, having learned about the leaderboard didn't change his play in that event. He just focused on the poker, which eventually resulted in a second-place finish.
"When I played the Monte Carlo Main Event, I wasn't thinking of the MonteDam Swing promotion," he said. "I focused on the game, nothing special."
Having arrived in Amsterdam and taken his seat in the WPTDeepStacks Amsterdam, things were a little bit different. All he needed to do was cash and he would lock up the prize worth €7,500.
"My first goal was to cash and lock up the first-place prize," Klatt said.
In the WPTDeepStack, however, he ended up short and busted well before the money. With just the WPT Amsterdam Main Event left, a cash was worth more for him than for anyone else in the tournament.
"You have to play a bit different, you have to try not to bust."
"You have to play a bit different, you have to try not to bust," Klatt said about his play in the WPT Amsterdam Main Event. That all worked out tremendously well, as he quickly gathered a big stack and was cruising into the money.
"I had good spots and good cards," Klatt said when the bubble had burst. "The people didn't believe me when I had it, and when I bluffed, they did believe me."
Klatt is a full-time poker player, so he knows the variance that defines the game. A hot run like the one he's riding right now only comes around every so often in the world of poker. Klatt realizes this.
"There must be a lot of people out there who hate it," he said. "I mean, I'm probably not one of the best players. There are players who study more than me and play better than me. It's just run good."
"There are players who study more than me and play better than me. It's just run good."
The SCOOP that Klatt planned to play after Monaco will have to wait a bit as he's once again deep in an event. Not only did he cash in the WPT Amsterdam Main Event, he's again the owner of quite a big stack.
The WPT Amsterdam is currently in the money, and Klatt is still in. You can follow his and his opponents' progress over on the WPT website.
When the WPT Amsterdam is done, SCOOP awaits. And after? Vegas is on the horizon for Klatt who's going there for the full seven weeks to grind. That was always the plan and not powered by the wave of good results he's on right now.
He grinded the full summer in Vegas last year as well and did the same five years ago. So he knows what's awaiting him.
Klatt has been grinding live full time for almost two years now and visited all the big stops with results in Barcelona, Panama, Caribbean and Prague.
"I had some small cashes here and there," Klatt said of the live grind, "but nothing like this. I was waiting for this one run."
A busy schedule ahead doesn't stop him from enjoying the moment, he's still all smiles.
"Amazing. I still don't believe it. But I'll take it!"
* Lead photo by Neil Stoddart, PokerStars. All other photos by Drew Amato, WPT.com
