GPInterview: Joe Kuether | The Silent Assassin

Ask a professional poker player to give you a few names of players that are flying under the radar on the live tournament circuit and there is a strong possibility that the name Joe Kuether (GPI#68) comes really early into the conversation.

It’s pretty hard to have a GPI 100 player who recently final tabled a WPT event in San Jose fly under the radar, but it’s Kuether’s quiet demeanour that allows some to sometimes forget about him when playing at the poker table – news flash, you shouldn’t … he’s what I like to call a Silent Assassin.

Do no underestimate the young man from Wisconsin if you’re sitting with him at a table this summer during the WSOP … if you do, it could be lights out for you.

I had the opportunity to meet up with Joe here in Las Vegas as he prepares for the WSOP:

Joe the WSOP is just a day away, how many events do you plan on playing? You’ve played in events other than NLH events before, are you planning to played some mixed games as well?

I’m planning on playing a full schedule. pretty much every NL event and most of the lower buy-in mixed games as well. Yes I mostly play NL but played limit holdem a ton when I first started playing poker and play mixed games live a fair amount. The lower buy-in mixed games are great value events so I’ll be playing pretty much everything

You had five cashes last summer at the WSOP – including a third place finish in a 1K event – what’s the goal this year coming into the WSOP?

This will be my 5th full summer out in Vegas for the WSOP so I’m pretty used to the grind. Last summer was pretty good obviously but it was a little bittersweet to come so close to a bracelet and miss out, so winning one this year would be the goal, I guess

You final tabled the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star earlier this year. Unfortunately, you were the first player out at the final table – was that moment bittersweet given the fact that you came so close to a big title or was the experience still beneficial to you and your overall game?

You’re coming back from a Euro Trip which took you to EPT Berlin and the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo … you had a side event victory at each stop, talk to me about your Euro experience?

I was initially just going to relax until the WSOP as I had been traveling pretty much non-stop around the US but at the last minute I decided to pull the trigger on going to Berlin and Monte Carlo, mainly because I had a good friend who just moved to Europe and we would be able to travel for the 10 days or so between the two stops. I haven’t traveled outside the US as much as I have wanted to with poker so it seemed like the perfect opportunity.

I went to Berlin (right after hitting up the WPT Hard Rock Seminole Classic on the way) which went pretty well. I cashed in the Berlin Cup High Roller and won a side event.

From there I went to Amsterdam for a couple days and then Barcelona before heading to Monte Carlo with #lucamike (shoutout to Mike!) for the final EPT stop (of the season). That also went pretty well besides busting the Main Event pretty quickly… I had a small cash in a side event and won another. The EPT stops are great and I definitely will be going to more next year. There are just so many good tournaments at each location and it gives me an excuse to travel more so its a win-win

You must be coming into the WSOP with tons of confidence given your recent victories?

Ya I am very excited for the WSOP. It’s the best time of the year for poker players and I just plan on playing as much as possible and hopefully make a lot of deep runs!

Andy Frankenberger correctly picked you as a player to look out for at the Bay 101 – early on Day 1 he told us to lookout for you – he was right! In fact, each WPT tour stop that I have been to, I have at least one player telling me to look out for you … it must make you feel great that other pros are noticing your talents?

It’s definitely cool to hear stuff like that. I put a lot of work into poker and play a ton so it’s always nice to hear positive things about my game from other players.

We thank Joe for his time and wish him nothing but the best at the World Series of Poker!

You can follow Joe on Twitter @joekuether3

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