How does Kenny Hallaert do it? Secrets for the long grind from one of the best
This month marks Kenny Hallaert’s 21st year as a poker player, but the Belgian pro is still putting the hours in.
That’s not just a throwaway statement. Hallaert was here on the first day of the EPT Malta festival, registered for Event #1, and he is still here on the 11th of 12 days, registering for Event #66. He is prepared to play more, if necessary.
Part of the reason is that Hallaert is deeply embroiled in the “leader board grind”, aiming to rein in Gerard Rubiralta and Bogdan Ionescu at the top of the medium Live League board. But partly it’s just that this is what Kenny Hallaert does.
His is a career defined by deep runs and long stays in the biggest events in the world.
As a two-time WSOP main event finalist, Hallaert, who is 44 next month, knows better than most what it takes to stay fit, focused and alert throughout multiple days and weeks of competition, and then to extend that through two decades.
But don’t go looking for a secret Hallaert formula for success. It’s more about rolling with the punches, taking each day as it comes, adapting to the many changes a poker player will face, and continuing to keep a passion burning with a desire to improve.
“Just go with the flow, take it day by day,” a relaxed Hallaert says, preparing to play yet another side event at EPT Malta as he tries to hunt the leader board prize. “I do have my schedule of tournaments that I’m interested in playing, but you just adapt on the go.”
He continues: “With the leader board grind, I do need to make sure that I at least maximise my chance of getting in as many points. But you take it day by day. Having more than 20 years experience as a player definitely helps to just stay calm and be able to take it easy. Don’t be too stressed about it.”
He adds: “Throughout my whole career, I have seen it all. I have experienced it all. I kind of know what to expect when I go into a challenge like this.”
LEADER BOARD GRIND
The “challenge” is that leader board race, a contest Hallaert had a hand in designing. In addition to his life as a player and PokerStars Ambassador, Hallaert is a live events advisor to PokerStars and suggested that a leaderboard “could be a fun addition to the season”.
He says he’s heard good feedback from players (we have heard the same), and says, “There’s a very reasonable chance it will come back for next season.” There may be some tweaks, he adds, but the format has been popular. “People that are going for it are enjoying the grind,” he says. “But it is a grind.”
Hallaert goes on to describe how his festival life is now designed almost exclusively around the tournaments he can play that will qualify for “medium” leaderboard points. He passes up satellites, and forwent even the $10K EPT High Roller, which he would usually play.
“When you’re busting a tournament, you’re quickly opening the app to see what’s the next one that I can play,” he says. “How will I plan my day. If I bust from this, what can I play? It requires a little bit of planning to potentially maximise your points.”
Hallaert says he continues to enjoy the game
Hallaert confesses that he hadn’t originally planned to take a run at the leader board prizes, but was encouraged by some excellent early results after the first qualifying event in Campione. Although he admits he is an underdog to Rubiralta and Ionescu, whose lead is growing, it’s never over until it’s over.
“I’m not drawing dead, but I need to hit a gutshot at the moment if I want to still win it,” he says. “But especially at an EPT, there’s a lot of events, especially for the medium tier, that are going on.”
THE KING OF SPREADSHEETS
In many ways, this challenge is a perfect fit for Hallaert.
Even before his spectacular runs in the WSOP Main Events — Hallaert finished sixth from 6,737 entries in 2016 and fourth from 9,735 this year — he was hugely popular among poker players visiting Las Vegas for the summer jamboree.
The “SpaceyFCB” spreadsheet, detailing all the tournaments on in Vegas through the WSOP period (named after his PokerStars screen-name) has long been considered a vital resource for poker players. Hallaert describes Excel sheets as “one of my side-passions”. He says he has utilised those skills in planning his leader board grind.
Hallaert insists, however, that it’s vital not to overdo it when at any poker festival. He says it’s the “soft skills” away from the tables that explain his longevity in the game.
“I’ve seen many people come and go throughout my whole career, many people who were better poker players than I am,” he says. “But to be a good poker player, you do not only need to be good at poker. You also need to have good soft skills: you need to have good bankroll management, you need to have a lot of patience, self control, all of these things. A lot of people just don’t have that.
“The reason I’m still around is because I do have a lot of these soft skills that I think I manage quite well. Other people, purely technically at the game of poker, they are better. But they can’t handle the money. They can’t handle the swings. They can’t handle the emotions. And sooner or later they have to step out of the game.”
Hallaert pictured in Barcelona in 2018, already 14 years into a poker career
A FEW TIPS…
These days, Hallaert says he always books himself a room by himself to allow him to maximise his rest time. He exercises when he can. And he still feels a passion for playing poker, which keeps him coming back for more.
“If you want to be able to play this game for a long time, you have to have your emotions so much under control, and all the other aspects of the game as well,” Hallaert says. “Otherwise sooner or later you will have to leave the game, or start from scratch again. And that’s not something that you want.
“Yes, I did have emotional moments as a poker player early in my career, but I learnt to overcome those emotions. I learnt to accept things that you don’t have control over. Sometimes you will lose 10 coin flips in a row. And your aces will get cracked three times in a row. But that’s just part of the game. You learn to accept these things. That’s why, 20/21 years later I’m still here.”
He adds: “I’m not going to say I’m a bad player, but I’m definitely not the best player out there. But I’ve managed the other things that come with it very well.”
Hallaert says he doesn’t underestimate how lucky he is to still be playing top-level poker more than 20 years after he started. The poker landscape is much-changed now, with tougher competition across the board, including the formerly lucrative online tables where he honed his game.
“Fifteen, 20 years ago, at 6am you would still find poker players in the club,” he says. “But nowadays you find them at 7am in the gym. That’s how the game has changed.
“Twenty years ago, I had no issues 15 tabling for 12 hours long. I was able to keep up with it. But nowadays, no. The younger you are, the more energy you have. The older you are, you need to make sure you prepare a little bit more and be aware of more times when your tiredness might take over.
“You learn more about yourself throughout your career what you can do, what you can’t, what your limits are.”
‘I’D LIKE TO BE A BARNY’
Hallaert joins his PokerStars colleagues in celebrating another side event win for Barny Boatman
Confessing he has given some more thought lately to how long he can continue grinding, Hallaert says that he can’t really see a day when he gives it up entirely.
Players like EPT Paris champion Barny Boatman offer a decent model for how to balance poker and “real life” as the years tick by.
“I’ve always been a passionate poker player so I’ve always played a lot, but this is quite intense,” he says. “You just make sure you’re not getting burned out, by carefully planning your full days. Still try to get in a good amount of sleep every night. That’s key as well.”
Hallaet adds: “I’d like to be a Barny. Still go to a good amount of festivals and definitely still enjoy the game. Of course, you reflect on what your future will be. Sometimes when people ask you how long you’re going to play poker, my answer is always, ‘At least one more year.’
But that’s been the same answer I’ve been giving for the last 15 years.”
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