Thursday, 28th March 2024 09:48
Home / Uncategorized / EPT11 Barcelona: Pierre Naim – no fool at the feature table

Written and photographed by Will Shillibier

Sitting on the feature table, with 175,000 chips, and with overnight chip leader Andrei Konopelko sitting to his left is Pierre Naim. He could be forgiven for feeling a little pressure today, but he sees it differently.

“The pressure is not on me today, not at all,” said Konopelko. “On the second day I saw nothing – it was a miracle I survived, at least I’ve been seeing an ace here or a queen here.”

Seeking a double up from some of the bigger stacks at the table, Pierre has seen both an ace and a queen in one of the first hands of the day with his ace-queen out-racing Konopelko’s pocket eights.

pierre_naim_ept11barce_me_d4.jpg

Pierre Naim

“Now that I’ve doubled up I’m fine, and I think I’ve got some respect,” said Naim during the first break. He’s looking stylish in a grey jumper, snap back and dark glasses, but all for a good reason.

“The jumper is my son’s,” he said. “I knew I was going to be on the same table as the chip leader so knew I needed to look good. As for the sunglasses, I hate the lights. I’m affected by the contrast and that’s why I have to wear glasses.”

With several big stacks on the same table Pierre knows he must tread carefully. “You have to be very careful of them three-betting you, but when I call or re-raise, they all fold!”

For now though Naim’s plan in simple. “My plan now is to play very prudently because they are a bunch of fools! There was one guy who called an all-in with seven-eight and got lucky to beat pocket queens.”

Will Shillibier is working for the PokerStars Blog at EPT11 Barcelona.

Study Poker with Pokerstars Learn, practice with the PokerStars app