PrimordialAA Takes Down His Prop Bet

Bryan "PrimordialAA" Pellegrino is a HU SNG expert who made a deep run in the Main Event this past summer.  Shortly before the WSOP began he entered into a prop bet laying his $10,000 to his friend Skates's $20,000 that he could not achieve a 3% ROI over 2,000 HU super turbos at $350, $500 and $1,000 stakes before August 15th. The five star 2p2 thread has over 800 posts and was updated frequently throughout the summer.

We interviewed Bryan about his Main Event run here, but since winning the bet Bryan has been on a downswing, and he opened up to CR about the good and the bad.

How did it feel to win the prop bet? Were you confident right from the start?

It felt great. It's hard to be confident you'll crush something like that over a small-ish sample size (given the games), but I felt like I was getting a really good price and was very glad to have the action.

You hit a hot streak right away -- was winning ever in jeopardy?

Definitely, it came down to a pretty sick sweat, I had a REALLY great first 500 games where I ran super hot, and then about 1500 games of running terrible and breaking even. Graph below.

There was a lot of grinding and drama towards the end, but it did feel pretty awesome to simultaneously go deep in the ME while demolishing the first 500 games of the bet. I felt on top of the world during that week and a half :-p.

How much did you communicate w/ Skates during the bet?

A little via PM, we're kind of old friends, even though he's migrated out of poker now, but not on a daily basis during the bet.

Did anyone mention the bet during your matches?

Absolutely, a ton of people. It seemed like 3/4 of my opponents knew about it which was kind of funny, and I had a decent sized rail going a lot of the time, so it was discussed.
 
Was there any difference in the action/games during the bet?

Not really, I felt action was A LOT slower towards the end of the bet than it used to be, and also as it got really close at the end of the bet I had to pick my battles a bit more selectively, so that caused it to go a bit slower.
 
The prop bet actually ended the week after your wedding. How did your wife feel about that?

 

She was fine with it, I told her I wanted to get it done before the wedding, and before all of her family got in from France and started staying with us, so I probably wasnt as helpful as I could have been in the wedding planning/setup, but I got it finished and was able to spend some time with her family.

What are your next plans to play live?
Nothing big really atm, just cause I'm in the process of buying a new house and moving to Austin, so I'm gonna pass on WSOPE but I'lll be at EPT Barcelona in the fall, and PCA in January.

There's a thread about a house you just bought on 2p2 - tell our members a little about why you're moving, where you've lived, and where you're moving to?

Besides a few years in Europe, I've lived in New Hampshire my whole life. Recently they passed a law imposing a 10% tax on gambling. It was intended for scratch ticket/lotto winners but inadvertantly applies to poker players, and is supposedly on your gross, not your net. So because of this, we decided to relocate, and chose Austin, TX. We'll move in the next few months.
 
What makes you most excited about Austin?

There's a lot more to do there than in NH. We'll be close to the city, able to be a lot more active, and just do more things in general. We're also living in a community where it would be great to raise a kid, and that's in our plans for the near future, so I'm looking forward to that as well :).

 
Least favorite players to play against?

Ehhh not that many really, I avoid a bunch of my friends, and tried to dodge some guys for the duration of the bet just cause the focus was on maximizing ROI, but in the STs the edges are so small that I dont think I could really HATE playing someone that much.
 
Are there players you avoid at your stakes?

A few, most of them are just very good friends who i've known from HUSNG for a while (Mientjeuh, h2olga, croixdawg, plz_stop_lookin, wag dodge, etc.).

What's your biggest downswing (DS)?

Not sure exactly, somewhere between 50-100k.
 
How did your current DS start?

I had a couple real bad days, one -25k day, then a -15k day shortly after.

Have you changed your play as a result? Stakes?

No, at least I've tried not to change my play at all. As for stakes, normally I wouldn't, but this DS came at a super inopportune time. I was right in the middle of taking all my $ offline for the new house and as soon as I took it off I lost about 70-80k between playing, buying action, and some other stuff, so I've dropped down a bit and set some small goals for myself. Right now I want to regain confidence, and then I will jump back up.

Do you attribute all of it to variance? If not, then what?

Some variance sure, but with almost anyone once the variance gets to a certain point it starts to eat at you a bit, and effects your game in subtle ways.

I ran amazingly well in the beginning of the prop bet, and then horrible for my next 1500 games. This DS, although I'm running terribly imo, is pretty standard, and has happened to me multiple times. It's just that now, coupled with the stress of not having as much $ online as I'd like, is causing it to effect me a bit more than usual.

What are some of the subtle changes you've noticed in your game?

Mostly calling too wide OOP and not focusing as well. I think me being frustrated with the DS leads to sessions that are too long, which end in me not playing my best game, so that always brings out some leaks.

What are some of these goals you've set for yourself?

Just small stuff, like I want to make $X playing a bit lower for a while before I move back up, or I want to make sure I get in at least 50 games/day, stuff like that. Purely self-motivational.