An Interview with Gabriel Nassif by Pedro Canali

You are often considered the 3rd best MTG player of all time, after @Jon Finkel and Budde, how do you feel about this?

It always makes me smile but I guess it's accurate achievements-wise, even though I feel like Jon and Kai are on another level.

What do you think makes you better at Magic?

I just played and thought about the game so much when I was younger but I'm not sure what made me better than most. One of my qualities is that I am pretty good at knowing when and why I messed up and I have always been a good deckbuilder which is a huge edge in new formats.

You studied maths at university, is this an edge for you?

I don't think you need to be very good at math to be good at Magic but I guess kids who get good grades in school tend to be more nerdy and more likely to start playing M:tG.

@Gabriel Nassif and @Pedro Canali, Club Poker Radio, 2010

We have been many times at the same poker table, I think you are one of the rare “never-tilted-good-tight-aggressive-player” in 2014. This is proven by your results: 48 RankingHero lines, 10 Final tables, most of them in the WSOP. Is it your nerves of steel that make the difference?

I don't tilt much especially live so that helps of course but I just play a lot of events every year at the WSOP so eventually you're gonna run good in some of them and make a deep run.

Which players inspire you the most in Magic? In poker?

I think it was mostly the old school french players, guys like @Franck Canu whom I played with on a daily basis in Paris and qualified and did good in the PT's. I saw those guys and thought that could be me too.

@Brock Parker and @William 'Huey' Jensen  taught me how to play and helped me out a lot at first. We had an IRC chan with all the magic/poker players and we used to discuss hands all the time. I've always looked up to the great online players throughout the years, @Johnny Lodden @Tom Dwan @Phil Galfond @Isaac Baron etc... and also some of my friends like ZeeJustin @Justin Bonomo  or @Alexandre Luneau.

The tough question: You won 2 Pro Tours, but you also hold the record for most finals lost in Magic History. In poker you have made 10 final tables without any title. Is this pressure-related, bad luck or a too conservative style?

I'm not sure why I lost all those PT finals, I don't think it was because of the money or anything, maybe just bad luck even though I messed up pretty bad in some of them. I think I have trouble in live tournaments because I don't take enough risks and play too tight so I always get at the final table as one of the short stacks. I'm still sometimes scared to bust whereas online I'd be willing to gamble in the same spot.

@Gabriel Nassif at WSOP Event 33 - one of five in which he has finished ITM so far in 2014.

When losing in the final, do you feel like you’ve done the job or is it mostly regrets to miss the final step towards glory?

I usually don’t have too many regrets when I bust because I'm usually very short but as I said, I think the real problem occurs before that when I don't gamble enough in the late stages of the tournament, before the final table.

Why do so many great Magic players become great poker players?

I think the lifestyle is very attractive to gamers and it also helps a lot when you already have friends who play poker and are good and can help you.

If one of the 2 games had to stop tomorrow, which one would you keep?

Right now, I'd have to pick poker but if I was very rich and didn't have to worry about the money, I'd pick Magic in a heartbeat.

What would be your life if Magic didn’t exist?

I wonder sometimes but I don't really have an answer. I also wonder if I would have ended up playing poker somehow anyways.

Do you ever think about your life after poker, or do you plan to play forever like Doyle Brunson?

I started thinking about it more recently, maybe get a job designing games, maybe even work for Wizards of the Coast but I'm not really sure. Poker is still going well so I have a bit of time to figure it out.

#MTGpoker