Excelling at No-Limit Hold'em High Rollers: Taking a Little Shot
World Poker Tour champ. Online poker player. Noted poker author. Jonathan Little wears many hats, but European Poker Tour champ is not one of them. He hopes to change that today in the EPT Malta €10,000 High Roller.
"I ended up skipping the WPT California Swing as they call it because I wanted to come here and be somewhat fresh," Little told PokerNews before the start of play. "I knew if I went there for three weeks and then came straight here I would not do too well. It was pretty much one of the two. It's the first time I ever skipped that WPT stop though, and I hated to do it, but the EPT schedule guarantees a lot of volume, whereas in WPTs you have to go for three weeks and play five tournaments. It's just not as great a schedule."
Little, who won the WPT Season VII Foxwoods World Poker Finals for $1,120,310, has become a circuit regular on the EPT, and he's notched some solid results recently. Back in February, he took 23rd in the EPT Deauville High Roller for $29,447, and he had three cashes at the 2015 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure a month before that, including third in Event #9 No-Limit Hold'em Turbo 8-Handed for $52,624.
Little played and busted the EPT Malta Main Event, but skipped the €25,000 before that, though he admits the only reason being that he didn't have enough "Stars money."
"I'm pretty used to playing high rollers," said Little. "You'll find that in general that whatever the biggest tournament is, be it €25K or €50K, that it is very different than the €10K. I feel the €10K is generally more affordable to guys who are not professionals, whereas the others attract very few amateurs."
Speaking of amateurs, Little is known to cater to them via numerous book titles, including the critically acclaimed Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker. Most of his books focus on tournaments with much more affordable buy-ins, so has Little ever thought of complimenting it with a text devoted to high rollers?
"If I win I might write something about it," Little said with a laugh. "I feel the audience for that is much smaller. I have done training videos and products on high roller type tournaments that are very tough fields, but I have never produced a book on them."
While a high roller book isn't on the horizon – barring a win in this event – Little does have a new book slated to come out this summer, one that features contributions from a slew of pros including Team PokerStars Pros Chris Moneymaker and Liv Boeree, 13-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, and Poker Hall of Famer Mike Sexton.
"It's called Excelling at No-Limit Hold'em," Little offered. "A lot of other great poker players involved, Liv Boeree is involved, she was the Female Player of the Year out here in Europe. That was fun to see her awarded with that last night. There are a lot of great poker players and authors involved. They all speak about whatever they’re most passionate about."
PokerNews Managing Editor Chad Holloway also contributed a chapter to Little's new book. He recently talked about the experience in his weekly strategy column Hold'em with Holloway.
Little's new book will release on June 13, and while he's excited about it, today it's all about focus, especially after coming off a big night where he "drank too much" and "partied all night."
"Usually I try to be somewhat sane. Last night I was partying a little bit harder than normal, but it's fine, it was a very rare occasion," said Little. "Today I woke up and feel great. Wake up, have some food, and go play some poker, though I do not suggest going out and partying the day before a big tournament."
Little's partying came during the European Poker Awards, which saw last year's EPT Vienna Main Event earn an award for "Best Tournament with a Buy-in Over €2,000." Before that, he attended the accompanying European Poker Conference, which offered numerous panels with industry experts from throughout Europe.
"It's good for me as a player to recognize where a lot of the casino industry people are coming from, realizing they're trying to make money at the end of the day while at the same time trying to build poker into something you can sustain in the long run," Little said when asked what he took away from the conference.
Little seemed in good spirits and successfully recovered from last night's festivities. We'll have to wait and see if he can find success here on Day 1, but rest assured we will keep a close eye on him.