| 15 Outs ... One Time! |
| Join LA Mike in finding out a little more about these players and what makes them do the things they do. |
| Featuring : Shannon Shorr |
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| LA Mike spent some time talking with Shannon Shorr following the LAPC. Shorr recently returned to the University of Alabama, where he put his engineering degree on hold after he burst onto the live poker scene in 2006. He started that year off by reaching the final table of the Aussie Millions, then went on to have a huge Bellagio Cup II, where he won the $10k main and a preliminary event. To date, Shannon has cashed for nearly $1.8 million in live tourneys (oh yeah, and he also plays online too). |
LAMike: Shannon, you just had a nice $50k score on Full Tilt. Right now, where do you think you have the bigger edge in tournaments: Live or online?
ShannonShorr: Despite the big score, I still think I have a bigger edge live. Online poker is much tougher than live. I used to play a tournament style that was a lot more conducive to success in live tournaments, so I struggled in the few online MTTs that I played. However, I've made some adjustments and been able to run off quite a bit of success over the last five or six months in online tournaments. Perhaps someday I'll think I have a bigger edge online. (LA: Is that a polite way of saying, “there are more live donkeys?”) |
LA: Cash games online: Ya or nay?
SS: Ya to heads-up cash games. |
LA: Speaking of online; the Absolute Poker scandal: Not too worried about it, or would only play there again if there was a major event worth your time?
SS: I have played on Absolute exactly three times in my life; when I played the $1k tournament that they have on Wednesday. I'm not too worried about the super-user stuff happening there again, although I do think it was terrible for the game of poker. I'll probably play there three or four times a year when I'm in the mood to play said $1k Wednesday tournament. (LA: Remember, cheaters never prosper, karma is a sick thing!) |
LA: If you were named WSOP commissioner tomorrow, what immediate changes would you make to the series?
SS: This is a good question. It’s funny because the WSOP apparently just made this change and it was something I’ve thought about for a long time. I would penalize players for excessive celebration, berating players and such. I’ve been very vocal over the course of my career about how important I think table etiquette is in live play. I stand by it. (LA: GG Hevad “Rain” Khan)
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LA: What super power would you select if you could choose one?
SS: In life, I’d choose to be able to cure all of mine and the rest of the world’s problems. |
LA: And in poker?
SS: I’m the super-user! (LA: Honestly, never saw that coming!) |
LA: With the tournament circuit comes an insane amount of travel; coolest place you’ve visited for “work,” or place you enjoyed the most?
SS: For a while I was wrestling between Barcelona, Spain, and Melbourne, Australia as the places I enjoyed visiting most. I went to Aruba last fall and fell in love with it, so I've added it as another place on that special list. |
LA: What’s on your iPod when you’re grinding twelve straight hours in an event?
SS: Usually I'm listening to The Deftones, Silverchair, Incubus or something else that's hard. I'm kind of a metal-head at heart. People will probably be pretty surprised to learn that about me. |
LA: Any difference when you’re trying to relax? Say on a cross-country flight?
SS: No, really the same stuff. |
LA: Can’t-miss-concert or best show you’ve experienced?
SS: I went to a Deftones show in Atlanta at a little joint called The Tabernacle that was by far the best show I've ever been to. There were thousands of metal fans crammed into a small little area, it was complete chaos. (LA: LA can only imagine the stench in that room after half an hour.) |
LA: Favorite type of poker besides hold’em? Still into Chinese, or have you given up that pursuit?
SS: (Laughing) I still play Chinese every now and then. I can actually compete now that I’ve learned how to play the game. I really enjoy Omaha 8/O even though I rarely play and probably am not very good at it. |
LA: Biggest leak in your poker bankroll?
SS: Leaks are something I'm always trying to plug. My biggest leaks are probably casino games and extravagant nightlife. I don't play casino games for huge stakes, but even bleeding a couple thousand in the pit can be painful. Along the lines of nightlife, I want to try to keep it in check. It's still important to have fun while you're young though. I never intend on plugging that leak completely. (Smiles) (LA: Big money, big bucks, big bucks…noooo whammy!) |
LA: Who’s your Jack Bauer in poker ? You can have him in jail but he always seems to escape.
SS: I think Nam Le is the answer to this question. I've played with Nam when he's been short stacked and he just exhibits such patience that it tilts you to no end. His ability to always hang around is the reason you see him at so many final tables every year. (LA: Nam Le, a great guy and poker’s version of the silent assassin.) |
LA: What are your poker related goals for the year?
SS: I told myself at the start of 2008 that I was going to try to be as professional of a professional poker player as I can be. That means plugging the leaks I mentioned, making better game selection, and improving my game as much as I can. It's often hard to actually treat poker like a job, and few guys actually do it. This is the reason so few guys can make poker their career. |
LA: Finishing things up, I know you’ve been back and forth with school; will you be playing a full schedule moving forward until the WSOP?
SS: I will be in Vegas for the duration of the Five Star series, but I think I'm going to skip everything until then. Foxwoods is kind of scheduled poorly and will overlap a bunch of the prelims in Vegas, so that's a no go. I really enjoyed traveling EVERYWHERE for the first two years of my career. It really started to take a toll on me, it’s astronomically expensive, and really just becomes a burden and a one-dimensional life most of the time. I look forward to being able to live a little bit more normal of a life without moving around all the time. (LA: Skipping Foxwoods for an extended run at Bellagio? No brainer!)
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| LA: Thanks Shannon, we’ll see you at a final table soon! |
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