/ Matthew Pitt / 11 May 2011 / Leave a Comment 
All too often the news related articles on these very pages are full of stories of big name players, or well known online poker stars winning vast sums of money in tournaments around the world. In more recent times there have been plenty of British players making large scores but one in particular is pretty sweet as he is known Betfair Poker player!
Kevin Thurston, a 27-year old from Norwich works as a call centre manager for a marketing firm by day but by night, like many of us, he plays online poker and dreams of making a ton of money from this crazy game. He is known as bigkevzaces on Betfair Poker where he can be found playing multitable tournaments, but recently he had some success in the live arena, finishing as runner up at the GSOP Live Seville Main Event.
There were 190 entrants for the €3,000 Main Event, which created a prize pool of €402,010 to be shared out amongst the top 27 finishers and our hero almost went all the way before falling just short to scoop a wallet-bursting €58,400. He was kind enough to answer a few questions we put to him when he arrived home from sunny Spain.
Thanks for taking the time to talk to us today. How long have you been playing poker and how did you first get into the game?
I've played poker for around seven years now after discovering it on television. I grew up living in a pub so I've always had a decent understanding on different card games.
When you play poker do you prefer cash games or tournaments?
I only ever play tournaments as I believe them to be better value. I find cash games extremely boring, soul destroying in fact.
How did the tournament (GSOP Live Seville) progress for you? What was the standard of play like? One of the reasons the online equivalent of the GSOP is so popular is skill levels of the participants is pretty low.
On Day 1 I was incredibly hungover and I was contemplating skipping the first few levels because I really needed some sleep! Throughout Day 1 I was never in danger, never in a position where I had my tournament life on the line. At the end of Day 1 I was amongst the top 10 chip stacks and stayed there for a sustained period. All in all I can't complain with how things went!
The standard of play was quite mixed but you could easily tell who the solid and weak players were quite quickly.
You started the final table third in chips, did you feel like this was your chance to win a major live event and take home a big money prize?
I could tell that some of the other players on the final table were worried about laddering for the money and had never seen that amount of money before. I knew that I could use that to my advantage and did on a number of occasions as I wasn't overly concerned about the monies!
Did you have a gameplan going into the final table? Did you have to deviate from this plan?
I never had a specific game plan so couldn't deviate, instead I decided to take each hand as it came. I knew how tight it was going to be so I always had that in mind when opening pots up.
You doubled up early on with aces to eliminate Joni Joujkiumainen. At this point did you really start to think you could win GSOP Live Seville?
It was a significant confidence booster, but I already knew I had the ability to beat anyone. I'm not intimidated by any chip stack or a player's reputation. I knew it was always going to be an uphill struggle but I always knew I was capable.
You reportedly bought four bottles of champagne for the rail and table. Is this true and was there any particular reason for it?
Some people had been standing on the rail for the best part of three hours and some other Betfair Poker players who were staying at the same hotel as me went out of their way to support me so I felt it was the least I could do to enhance their experience of the final table.
According to the GSOP Live blog you were playing a rather unorthodox style that saw you frequently open-shoving from the small blind. Were there any strategical reasons for this?
I am an unorthodox player and I didn't want to let my opponents have a read on me. It was all relative to the chipstacks. If the roles were reversed then I would have played the exact same way he did...tight.
Going into heads-up you trailed Anders Henriksson by 3,069,000 to 754,000 chips. I used to play HUSNG so I know this is a huge disadvantage. That said the effective chip stacks were still pretty substantial with plenty of play left. Did you have a game plan for the heads-up section?
I planned on doubling up early doors and then play a more structured game. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out this way.
The last hand saw you make your trademark over-bet shove of 60 big blinds with As3s and you were called by the pocket sixes of Henriksson, which held to ship him the title. Was the shove designed to mix your play up or were there other reasons behind it?
As aforementioned I like to keep myself unpredictable. Also, I didn't want to bleed chips off by limping into pots.
Any plans for the €58,400 you won for your impressive runner-up finish? What are your poker plans for the next few months?
I'm going to Las Vegas for the WSOP, playing the Main Event and a few side events. A Betfair Poker sponsorship wouldn't go amiss so pull some strings, LOL!
So there you have it, one of our very own taking on some of Europe's finest poker players and almost coming out on top. Keep an eye out for Mr Thurston's progress at the upcoming World Series of Poker, which gets under way at the end of May.
For a chance to qualify for a future GSOP Live event for a fraction of the cost Join Betfair Poker Now!
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