Getting to Know Joseph Hertzog

This final table began with a wealth of well-known names in the poker world: Artie Cobb, Mike Leah, Daniel Idema, Matt Vengrin. They were joined at the unofficial final table by Linda Johnson, the First Lady of Poker. It’s easy for less famous players to get lost in that crowd, and some of them seem inclined to stay out of the spotlight.

Joseph Hertzog prefers not to draw attention to himself, but his quiet and confident presence at this final table is hard not to notice. Hertzog spent much of the final table at or near the top of the leader board, and PokerNews caught up with him at the last break to learn a little more about him.

PokerNews: You don’t play as many tournaments as some of the other players at the final table. Is there anything that brought you to this particular event?

Hertzog: No, not really. I have a friend who came out and just brought me along.

Do you consider yourself a Stud 8-or-better specialist? Or is this one of your favorite games?

No. I’m just doing well by pure luck.

How do you feel about your spot at the table right now?

I was feeling good. I felt pretty confident when I came into the final table. I just had a string of back luck the last hour and a half. Statistically speaking, if I keep myself at 500,000 to 600,000 in chips I should be alright, because there’s 2.5 million chips in play.
(At the time we spoke to Hertzog, he had 347,000 chips).

Will we see any more of you at the World Series this year?

That all depends on how I do in this one.

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