Q. Seeing Learner beat Ben yesterday, did that in any way fire you up to come out on this one?
ALEX MICHELSEN: I mean, yeah, a little bit. I was super happy for him. I talked to him after the match. I was texting him, and he texted me after I won today.
Yeah, it’s always nice when we try and go like this to each other, try and one-up each other. He’s definitely beating me right now, so I have to catch him eventually. It’s really fun.
We’re both doing super well at the same tournament. Doesn’t happen very often, but we’re enjoying it a lot, and we’re rooting for each other, for sure.
Q. You and Learner both came up through kind of the cauldron of the Southern California very competitive section. Give me some thoughts on how that helped you become a pro player.
ALEX MICHELSEN: Growing up, everyone in our section was super, super good. Learner was always at the top. He was at the top since he was 12. I wasn’t always at the top.
There were so many good guys. A lot of them I’m still friends with, because we played the same tournaments for years and years. I think that really helped my development. You don’t have to travel a lot. If you’re from Nebraska, you’ve got to go somewhere else, right?
I was super lucky, never really had to drive more than an hour to tournaments growing up. Great competition, great training. Got super lucky there.
