MEET THE LATEST WSOP CHAMPION – JOEY WEISSMAN
Name: Joey Weissman
Birthplace: Syosset, NY
Age: 24
Current Residence: Boca Raton, FL (however, also staying in Las Vegas and elsewhere)
Marital Status: Single
Children: No
Profession: Professional Poker Player
Previous Occupation: College Student
Number of WSOP Cashes: 3
Number of WSOP gold bracelet victories (with this tournament): 1
Best Previous WSOP finish: 44th (2011)
First-Place Prize Money: $694,609
Note: Weissman will be classified as a professional poker player in WSOP records, since he playa full-time exclusively and has no other occupation.
INTERVIEW WITH THE WINNER – JOEY WEISSMAN
Question: This is obviously a great moment. You were dominating for several hours and then you ran into Quehen. Did you feel it slipping away when playing heads up?
Weissman: Obviously when I was down to about 3 million chips (out of about 11 million), I was losing a little bit of hope. I knew if I stayed positive and stayed on my grind, I was going to get it in good eventually and all I had to do was win something like a flip and get my stack back. And I knew once I evened out with him, it was over. Because I felt I was outplaying him the entire time and I was just getting a little bit unlucky, but other than that though it feels great to win a bracelet.
Question: It was a fun one to watch – largely because of your rail. There’s some controversy about that. Is poker a sport where you should have this kind of cheering? What is your position on that? And do you think that helped you tonight?
Weissman: I think the positive energy of all my friends out here supporting me helped me one-hundred percent. I don’t think I ever could have ever done it without them. I think poker is a game of emotion and if you’re not emotional yourself, I tend to be more laid back, but my friends had the emotion for me. So, that’s really what I appreciate the most.
Question: Is it true you are staying on somebody’s couch?
Weissman: I’m going to stick on the couch for the rest of the summer. I’m having fun there. It’s all about the people you’re with - it’s not about where you’re staying.
Question: When you got to the final table, did you feel that you were going to win at that time? That’s the moment you knocked out Vanessa Selbst.
Weissman: I kind of felt I was going to win before going into this day. But yes -- I knew going in that it was going to be a difficult table with Vanessa and some other good players on my left. But I knew that she was out to get me, and I knew that if I just remained aggressive that there was a good chance that if I picked up her hand that she would give it away. And she did. So I was just very fortunate and it was like a cool situation for her, but she’s a great player and I respect her.
Question: Does this change how you are going to go out the rest of the WSOP? Does it change what you are going to be playing in the future? How is this going to affect your plans?
Weissman: There’s no way to know really. Honestly, I think that I’m looking for something more than poker in my life. But poker is still going to be lucrative and I’m always going to use it as a vehicle to just use money to gain experience and do things that I enjoy. Not for materialistic purposes, but I think it’s better than working 9-5 or answering to some boss. It definitely has its positives, but also I don’t feel like I’m benefitting humanity by playing poker, and that’s kind of been on my mind lately. But this might change a lot of things. I’ve been running really bad for the past six months. It’s funny how kind of just erases six months of running bad.
Question: You have an address up in New York State and also in Florida. Is that right?
Weissman: Well, I lived up in New York and I moved to Florida after my parents got divorced when I was sixteen years old and I remained in Florida through high school, attempted college down there, dropped out. And ever since then I’ve been living everywhere, from Las Vegas to other parts of Florida, to Canada to Costa Rica. So, when asked where I’m from, I never really know what to say. I always say where I was born and raised, and that’s New York.
Question: Is Revis (the dog) is going to be at all your final tables from now on?
Weissman: Oh yeah. I can’t win one without him now, right? It’s just bad luck if you don’t bring your dog. Yeah, I actually had no idea that he was going to come, but then Trevor, who’s my roommate goes ‘Yeah we’re going to bring Revis to this thing.’ And I just said that’s amazing. That gave me a little spark, a little bit of inspiration.
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