Former Child Chess Prodigy Jeff Sarwer Believes the Introduction of "New Games Is Always a Good Idea"
Former child chess prodigy and current poker enthusiast Jeff Sarwer was one of the many dynamic personalities traveling to London to take part in the Cash Game Festival at Aspers Casino Westfield Stratford City.
In 1993 the motion-picture Searching for Bobby Fischer, the character named Jonathan Poe who played in the final chess match was based on Sarwer's early life.
Like many successful chess players, Sarwer also found success on the poker felts amassing over $750,000 in live career cashes according to The Hendon Mob. Sarwer's biggest live poker tournament cash in his career came in 2009 when he took third place in the EPT Vilamoura Main Event for ��156,170 ($232,704).
Sarwer was witnessed losing some big pots when he got the money in while ahead. Despite this, he shared with us that he wasn't down much money and credited it to some of the other things that did go right for him while playing.
"I have been winning a lot of smaller pots and finding the right bluffs when I won't get called," shared Sarwer. "I have been check-potting and check-half-potting whenever I see fit and it usually works."
In addition to winning small pots with aggression he also shared he knew when to call or fold. "My bluff-catching as well has been at around 80-percent correct," explained Sarwer. "Reads are in good shape, and bluffs are in good shape, but other pots where there are showdowns have been an absolute disaster despite always being ahead."
Sarwer also appeared to genuinely enjoy the poker festival. One of the reason was for the wide-variety of poker variants spread throughout the Cash Game Festival. "The festival itself is really fun and the games are really fun," commented Sarwer. "I played for the first time six-plus hold'em. We played the pineapple version. While I am familiar Sviten Special and I haven't played it in a casino yet so that was really fun."
Sarwer added that the unique game-spread wasn't only great for him, but great for the poker festival. "In general introducing new games is always a good idea, and these are good games with lot's of action," said Sarwer. However, the poker enthusiast mentioned that after playing so many poker variants it could be hard to go to the most popular poker variant sharing, "It makes it hard to just go back to hold'em."
The 2016 Cash Game Festival London wasn't just about poker, it was also about meeting great people and enjoying time off the felts as well. Sarwer shared this sentiment felt by many players we spoke explaining, "Also, away from the tables it has been really great and hanging out with all the usual Scandinavian suspects that show up to these events. They are all very nice people. So it has been good."
Sarwer also really enjoyed the ping-pong festival, and was surprised how good some of the competition was. "The ping-pong tournament was a great idea," Sarwer stated. "Also, I think everyone noticed and asked themselves, 'How come so many players were really good?' It turned into a nice little competition."
We asked Sarwer about how playing chess on a high level compares to playing poker for big money.
"Chess is a totally different story with a different type of stress," Sarwer explained. "Here there is always the money stress where you are always getting it in for a lot of money. You have to sit and grind well, focus, and be patient. It is a different type of patience in chess. In chess it is a little more intense in some ways because you have to spend your time very effectively, focus on as many things as possible, and calculate many variations. However, you don't have the money factor and deal with suckouts. I say suckouts since I am not usually the one giving the suckouts and it must be nice to be on the other end."