The one event you just can't skip

Haralabos Voulgaris is an NBA sports bettor who plays high-stakes poker for fun during his spare time. He prefers side games to tournaments, but has made two WPT final tables.

Voulgaris talked to CardPlayer about the the main event through four levels, the side games during the series and why he doesn't play high-stakes online poker.

Sharad Mattu: How has the tournament gone so far? I saw you just eliminate a player and have over 40,000 chips.

Haralabos Voulgaris: Nothing really special has happened so far. I'm just kind of grinding it up and we'll see what happens. The table is a little tight, but we'll see.

SM: You play very few tournaments. Why is that?

HV: I do a lot of stuff besides poker and when I come here to play I would just rather play cash games. I don't like having to go by a certain schedule. I'd rather play when I want to play and quit when I don't want to play anymore. Tournaments you obviously can't do that, but this tournament you just can't skip.

SM: How has your table been?

HV: This isn't a real action-packed table. Last year I remember my starting table the players were just out of their minds. Here it seems like everyone at least knows what they're doing. They might be a little bit too tight, but nobody is doing anything egregiously bad.

SM: How have the cash games been this year compared to previous years?

HV: They have definitely died down. Two years ago they were at their peak. Last year they died down a little bit and this year they've died down a little bit more. It's kind of hit-or-miss -- I prefer to play $200/$400 or $100/$200 no limit and there just haven't been many of those games going on. The odd time we get a half-and-half big no-limit/pot-limit Omaha game but that's just when special people are here.

SM: There are a lot of high-stakes cash games online. Do you end up playing there?

HV: I used to play pretty big about two years ago. But I just don't like the type of person I am when I play at home. I get really frustrated when I lose whereas if I take a bad beat at a cash game live it I can get past it. But for whatever reason when it happens on the internet it frustrates me. I'm just not a pleasant person to be around when I'm playing on the internet so I just play for fun. It's worked out a lot better for me too.

SM: The series is almost over and the NBA season is over. What do you do during the off-season?

HV: I have time to do lots of things during the summer. I live in L.A. I read a lot, I prepare for the upcoming season of basketball, I watch Canadian football and I travel quite a bit. That's about it.

SM: Do you like to watch Olympic basketball?

HV: I'll watch it but that's about it. I don't care too much.

SM: Will Team USA lose a game?

HV: I don't know. They have a real small squad. For whatever reason they couldn't seem to guard the pick and roll. It will be fun to watch for sure.

CardPlayer's Live Player Database -- Haralabos Voulgaris