Final Table Interview: Kory Kilpatrick
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With 12 World Series of Poker cashes on his resume prior to 2014, Kory Kilpatrick has been a fixture on the WSOP felt for the past few years. But the truly deep run had eluded this online grinder turned Pot-Limit Omaha cash game pro before now.
In the first week of June he found himself at the final table of the $3,000 No Limit Hold'em Shootout and by the time it was all over, he was posing for pictures with his first WSOP bracelet.
Fast forward a couple of weeks later and Kilpatrick is at it again here at the final table of the $5,000 Six-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha event.
While he may be the shortest stack among the five remaining players, as the only bracelet winner left, he has to be considered the player with the experience edge.
As the group headed off for a 60-minute dinner break PokerNews spoke with Kilpatrick for a Final Table Interview to see how things are going.
PokerNews: This is your second final table here this summer. Is it just as exciting the second time around?
Absolutely, it may not be more so than my first final table, but this is my favorite game. I play PLO cash pretty much full-time now. There's very few PLO tournaments and even less six-max. So this is my favorite tournament of the year, I am really fortunate to have made it this far and I'm really excited to be here.
PokerNews: Seems like there are a lot of swings in this game. How are things going so far?
I made a big fold with a megawrap in a big pot where Darius (Studdard) doubled up and I would have ended up chopping. The bets are so big at this point that every decision is crucial. You just got to try to pick your spots and hope it works out.
PokerNews: There are WSOP cashes all over your resume, but no truly deep runs until this year. What's made the difference in 2014?
Tournaments are stupid. That's the short answer. Most people just don't really grasp the amount of variance that goes into it. I guess I could say that I'm really focussed and I'm really playing my A-game and that may all be true, but the matter of the fact is that I've run really well when I needed to.
I have poured a ton of time into my game, my PLO game in particular, over the past year, and I feel like I'm playing really well right now. But tournaments, they are just a silly thing.
PokerNews: A win here would vault you into second in the Player of the Year race. Does that change your focus for the rest of the series?
I don't know if it's going to change things that much. I wasn't going to be here the full time, but after I won the first bracelet I decided to stick around. Part of that was I thought if I could make another run I could be a part of the Player of the Year race. It's not that big a thing, but I understand there are lots of downstream benefits that can come from it. It's kind of like MVP of the series and that's a cool award to add to your resume.
I don't play a lot of mixed games, I play some, but I've been reading up on some Stud 8 and other various forms (of Poker) to maybe fire at some of these other events. Part of that is because the Player of the Year would be cool, but I also think it's good to diversify and get better at the other games. It's not really going to change a whole lot, but it will be there in the back of my mind.
PokerNews: You will be the shortest stack among the five players remaining when you return from dinner break. What's your plan going forward?
I don't have a lot of chips right now and it's about to be a 50,000 big blind so I am only going to have about 15 big blinds. So lots of small balling, probably going to be doing a good bit of limping and I'm planning on making some flushes and full houses and going from there.