We chat to the PokerStars Pro about Laptopgate, being an ambassador and the Super High Roller scene.
You were one of the first players to call out ‘Laptopgate’. What do you think needs to be done so it doesn’t happen again?
Sam Grafton: We just need a framework that is universally agreed on. As technology develops, the parameters and rules need to keep up with that. That’s a very difficult thing to do because it takes time to filter through the community and, of course, it takes time for tournament directors to respond.
I would never say what they were doing was necessarily illegal but as a poker player who has been around a long time you have an instinct for what is correct. That’s part of being a member of the community, you don’t just go right up to the very limits of the rules. That’s what I would ask of people.
You won the Estrellas side event in Malaga at the same time that a Super High Roller was happening at the WSOP. Is there a conflict between being an ambassador and playing in the games you want, as a regular on the High Roller circuit?
Sam Grafton: I love to play PokerStars events and I also like to go to new places, so that was a huge draw for me with Malaga. I could have gone to the WSOP, but I’ve been to Vegas many times. I haven’t been to the last two series. In general, I spend my summers in Europe, so it was quite easy for me to do.
Sometimes it’s hard going from a $100,000 event to a $1,000 event. Switching between buy-ins can be difficult, but turning up and playing the event you want to play that day is always exciting.
“It’s intoxicating to play for that much money”
I’ve always imagined it must be hard to drop down stakes after playing Super High Roller events.
Sam Grafton: It’s intoxicating to play for that much money, of course. I honestly don’t find that a problem. When I played in that Malaga event the standard of the dealers were amazing and the vibe was super fun. There could be tournaments around the world at lower stakes that might make you feel like you are having a bad time. I’ll continue to go places where I am excited to play poker.
So it’s more about maximising experience than EV for you?
Sam Grafton: It’s obviously a balance. To go back to your first question, the reason I wouldn’t be up there with a solver with people showing me charts heads-up, is because there are some things that are more important than just maximising those.
Not many High Rollers have ambassador duties, do you feel you sometimes give something away when you are doing things like commentary work?
Sam Grafton: There’s always a trade-off. The same happens when you make instructional videos, right? I’ll give more away there than when I am riffing with James and Stapes. I’d love to think I am giving away things that Petrangelo or Mikita didn’t know, but I don’t think that’s really the case.
I’m just lucky that I have two things I love doing and that they overlap a lot. I love being an ambassador, having responsibility and being able to influence things in the community. At the same time, I love playing poker for high stakes.
“There are lots of incentives to act by the book”
We have seen a trend where the Main Event in a festival is bigger than usual. The PSPC, the Super Main Event at this year’s WSOP Paradise and the Tritons. Given how much inflation we have had, should we reconsider the 5 and 10k Main Event buy-in levels for events like the EPT/WPT/WSOP?
Sam Grafton: I don’t have a strong opinion. €5k is still a lot of money and events like the EPT, WSOP Main Event and WPT all have a potential life-changing score that will be defining in terms of their career and influence the scope of what they are able to do in life and poker. While they are still generating that kind of excitement I don’t think we need to change it.
I’ve always imagined the biggest issue in High Rollers is liquidity. Especially with all the staking and swapping involved, is it hard getting money to and from festivals like the Tritons?
Sam Grafton: Obviously we need a lot of money and liquidity. We structure our bankrolls around ensuring we have access. Sometimes there can be a crunch, depending on who wins certain tournaments. Also the location of the tournaments, there are some regions where it’s easy to get money and somewhere it’s quite difficult. It’s one of the things that bonds us as a community to be honest, you will do favours for each other.
There must be a tremendous level of trust within the High Roller community.
Sam Grafton: A lot of us have been gambling together for a long, long time. There are a lot of incentives to act by the book. Most of the people who have made their way that far have avoided a lot of temptation along the way. If you get to the top in poker you’ve had opportunities to do devious things and most of the players who have been around a long time have proven themselves of being trustworthy.
“The motivation is to test yourself”
Super High Roller events look surprisingly relaxing considering the money involved.
Sam Grafton: They can be tense. You are there for a long period of time. Obviously the vibe in the first couple of tournaments can be super fun. The Super High Rollers at the EPT, WSOP and Triton, have become a scene in itself. The level of skill and performance, the huge prize pools, the amazing amateurs who have come from other walks of life.
Super High Rollers, we know, have also attracted fans. Even when I played in small clubs everyone was always excited by the biggest game in the room.
It can be intimidating to play something where you can play great and lose for a long period of time. Most of the people who sit in those games could sit in any tournament or cash game in the world and have a positive expectation, including some of the amateurs.
Why play in Super High Rollers where edges are small when there are probably smaller games where you have more of an edge?
Sam Grafton: There is the purely logical EV reason, which is we get down a huge amount of money in a short time and the fields are smaller, so the variance is lower. The more nebulous psychological element is that the players who get to the top at some point switch on a will to win and ambition within the industry. Dedication to improve your craft and prove yourself. At some point, there is an Olympiad spirit to it, a drive within yourself to get to the top. One of the motivations is to test yourself.
Sam Grafton is a Team Pro at PokerStars.