PB: Do you think you are getting better at that aspect of the game?

CM: I think I'm a much better player in general, but my reads are not always as good. I think my reads were better when I didn't know so much. Before, being a rookie Internet player, I would take more chances with lesser hands, and now I am being more conservative. And I second-guess myself more than I used to. I used to just go with my first instinct all the time, and now I find myself trying to play better and second-guess myself, and usually it turns out for the worse. Since I've started second-guessing myself I've been wrong about every time. My first instinct is almost always right.

PB: Is luck a factor in your game?

CM: It's a big factor in poker, period. There's a lot of skill in poker, but there's also a luck factor involved. It's an odds game, but people get lucky all the time. This tournament here, I had two kings and lost to an 8/10.

PB: Do you know when you are in the zone?

CM: Yeah.

PB: Is it rare that you are in the zone?

CM: It's hard to find the zone. Once you're in the zone, you're usually in the zone for a couple months. When you're playing good, you're playing good, and it's going to continue for several months. When you're playing bad, it's going to continue for several months. And most of it, you're trying to add something else to your game, a different move, a different way to play, and until you figure it out you're going to run bad for a while. Or maybe you just have other things on your mind. A lot of different things go on. It's life.

PB: What are your professional goals now that you've won the World Series of Poker?

CM: Just to make enough to support the family and enjoy life. I'd like to win a World Series again potentially, but it's going to be hard as heck to do. I just want to have fun with it and enjoy everything.

PB: What do you think of the celebrity poker phenomenon?

CM: I think it's great. I play with them all the time. That's really what's probably driving poker nowadays, all the celebrities who are playing. And they're fun to play with and they have fun when they do it.

PB: Who have you played with?

CM: I play with Ben Affleck and James Woods and some of those guys. We sit down, and you're just sitting across the table and shooting the shit with them the entire night. I play with Tobey Maguire quite a bit and Mimi Rogers. There's tons of celebrities I've played with on a regular basis, and they just sit around and shoot the shit and have a good time. Most people would die to sit there and hang out with them. They think of me as just as big a celebrity as they are.