David Saab and the WSOP

By Ben Blaschke
25 June 2009

INEVITABLY the loudest person in any room and with a laugh as infectious as it is instantly recognisable, David Saab is no stranger to regulars on the Australasian poker circuit. Last year he enjoyed a major breakthrough when he won his first major live tournament – the Asia Poker Tour event in Manila ($280,000) – but it was his performance just weeks later, when he finished 46th out of 6844 starters in the World Series of Poker main event, that really caught the eye. With the world’s biggest poker tournament almost upon us once again, Saab sat down with Big Game Poker’s Ben Blaschke to reminisce on last year’s success and look ahead to future success (hopefully).

It has been 12 months since you ran very deep in last year’s World Series of Poker Main Event. What have you been doing in that time?
“Ballsing it up basically – in-fact, that’s exactly what I’ve been doing! I’ve been living the dream of every poker player, living a baller life. I’ve been living in Manila in a huge pimp palace, hanging out with my mates. I had a driver. It really was the life that every poker player dreams of. And I’ve travelled the world. In terms of poker I played the European Poker Tour Dortmund, San Remo and Monte Carlo, I played the Irish Open and the PokerNews Alpine Cup. It’s been a mad 12 months and I have learnt a lot from the whole experience.”

Run us through last year’s Main Event and how your deep run transpired.
“Well the Main Event for me started before the first day’s play in a weird way. I had just come off the back of an international tournament win (Asian Poker Tour event in Manila) and I didn’t even want to go to the WSOP because of the tax factor facing Australian players. For various reasons the amount that we get taxed on our winnings is very prohibitive so it wasn’t really worth going as far as I was concerned. But then my friend Tino Lechich came on line and absolutely gave it to me when he found out that I wasn’t going. He said ‘Get your arse to the WSOP!’ I tried to explain to him that I didn’t see it as a +EV situation and that it just wasn’t profitable, but he actually said to me that if I went he would pay 100% of my entry fees to any tournament I entered. He said ‘You’re running too good at the moment, you have to come over’. That convinced me and we agreed that he would collect back 80% of my winnings. So I went from Manila to Vancouver and off to Las Vegas and I arrived just in time for the very final day I could play – Day 1D. I ended up playing for six days and came 46th! It was an unbelievable feeling.”

Is there a point where it suddenly dawns on you that you are getting very close to the final table of the biggest tournament on the planet?
“It’s funny, it never actually ends up being like that. Right now there are probably 30,000 poker players in Las Vegas that are dreaming about winning the WSOP Main Event. Most of them won’t even play in it but you find that whenever you are still in the tournament you never stop dreaming. It’s in the back of your mind right up until you are finally knocked out.”

I hate to bring back bad memories but how were you eliminated?
“I’m a LAG – a loose-aggressive player – and I always told my friends that if I ever went deep in the WSOP main event I would be eliminated squeezing with a hand like J-8 suited or something. And that wouldn’t bother me – I’d go out with dignity and I would be proud that I played my game right until the end. But you know what I had? Aces! If I had won that hand I would have had $3.5 million in chips and would have been in the top eight players – that was how big the hand was for me.”

What was the hand that knocked you out?
“8-6 suited! The sort of hand I would play.”

What’s the schedule looking like for you at this year’s WSOP?
“I was originally planning to play about 14 events but I was held up wrapping up my place back in Manila so I’m only going to play three before the main event now. I landed in Las Vegas three days ago and I play my first event today – the $2500 Mixed Hold ‘Em Event #47.”

Do you play any forms other than Hold ‘Em?
“I also play Pot Limit Omaha but I’m a Hold ‘Em specialist and I play No Limit, Limit and Pot Limit. Among those I also play full ring, short-handed and Heads Up. I do play other games but I’m not as specialised in them as some of my friends so I like to stick with the games in which I have an edge.”

What’s the plan for the coming months for David Saab?
“I’ll be spending one month in Thailand purely as a holiday after the WSOP and then I’m coming back home to Australia. I want to help Mum with a few things so I’ll be there for a minimum of two months and we’ll see what happens from there.”

Will we be seeing you at some of the big events coming up in Australia later in the year?
“You know, poker is absolutely booming in Australia. Not only do we have the Pokerstars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour but also the new Australia New Zealand Poker Tour. The Victorian Championships are coming up soon and I’m hearing good things about the new poker room being built at Star City and some events coming up there. As I said the game is absolutely booming – there is so much poker in Australia right now and it’s great to see. I can’t wait to be a part of it.”