He didn’t stand up and yell. He didn’t even give a celebratory fist pump. Instead, after offering a consolatory handshake to Rene Mouritsen, Fred Goldberg looked up and exhaled.
“Finally.”
Instead of shouting, Fred simply sighed, seemingly in relief. After making his third major final table in three months (including his second of this WSOP) Fred finally broke through in the $1,500 Mixed Holdem event.
He outlasted a field of 619 players to claim the bracelet. While first place was less than a fifth of the $1,154,527 Fred won for taking 10th place in last year’s main event, the bracelet he’ll wear home will probably make up some of the difference.
Fred strikes me as poker’s everyman. He’s a quiet, non-demonstrative player who always seems to be hanging around the late stages of a tournament. Fred lives in Florida where he builds and renovates homes for a living. Poker has been a part-time hobby for Fred, but over the last year we have seen more and more of him.
He cashed at both Bellagio WPT events last fall, just missing the final table of the Five Diamond in 11th place. In March, he was (in my opinion) the best player remaining in the last few tables at Foxwoods. After making the TV final table, he was busted in 4th place when his pocket jacks were all in preflop but lost against a ragged ace.
Fred's greatest assest is his table image. He blends in well, letting other players battle it out while quietly picking up the small pots. When he does play a big pot, if he doesn't have the goods he's convincing enough that most players will give him the benefit of the doubt and stay out of the way. That tight table image gives him the needed room to maneuver in the late stages of an event.
With one final table and four cashes already under his belt at this summer’s WSOP, Fred took his seat on Day 1 in an event that featured a game he had never played before--limit holdem (the mixed event is thirty minutes of no-limit holdem followed by thirty minutes of limit holdem).
There’s nothing like learning as you go.
(Watch an interview with Fred from Foxwoods)
