Turkeyneck39 poker family : My father is a very good poker player

Hi all, my name is Branwell, I live in Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada.



PTP HISTORY - back in 2010 my very good friend Johnathan "FLUBSKY" Pierce suggested I set up an account on PTP in an attempt to get some backing, at the time I was a relative noob to the game and the inner workings of staking etc, after running several successful "BAPS" mostly for Sit n Go's I quickly moved up as far as the amount that I was raising/stakes I was playing, suffice to say I fell in love with the site, it was so cool to post a BAP at night and wake up in the morning with all these funds rolling in, just the fact that so many people took the leap of faith and invested and put that trust in me was really inspiring.

POKER STARTS / MENTORS - Prior to playing poker fulltime I was working as a bike messenger and parttime actor, I took acting very seriously and did several theatre shows and bit parts in short films and bigger films which were shot here in halifax, for those who don't know this is the home of " the trailer park boys " which I had the pleasure of working on several times, it was a real blast..... about 5 years ago FLUBSKY introduced me to the game, he had already been grinding fulltime for a few years and was a great teacher for me, I still have quite a laugh thinking back to when we sat down one day so he could teach me the hand rankings, shortly after I started playing home games, most were super soft and not really knowing what I was doing I still managed to win more often than not just by pure reading abilities, eventually I ended up at some local underground cash games with much tougher players who tore me a new one so to speak, it opened my eyes greatly and forced me to improve at a rapid speed, for about two years it was my main source of income, these games would sometimes run for 2-4 days straight, I guess this is where I built the endurance for grinding long MTT sessions.
   Late 2012 I got my first private backing deal online with "demetri1978", this is when I began to take online poker serious, I  recall how disturbing it was going through my first hand history review with the coach , I was in shock at how terrible I had been playing without even knowing it, mind you coming from a background of live cash to online MTT's is a bit of a transition, needless to say it was the beginning of my making real improvements and really starting to " get it " in terms of what was really going on at the table, at the time I felt like demetri was being really hard on me but in reality he was just super pissed about all the mistakes I was making, i've got to admit that he was right about everything and I credit him with improving my game, I think alot of players are in denial about their abilities and get upset over any kind of criticism, in order to improve you have to set your ego aside and be completely honest with yourself.
    For the last 7-8 months I've been backed by "vedder1980" and i've got to say he is one of the coolest most easy going people I have met through poker, he has taught me the importance of game selection and many other things which have led to vast improvements in my game as well as my most successful year to date in 2013.

BIGGEST CASH - $7800 in the HOT 44, still haven't been able to get over the last hurdle in tourneys with  5 figures or more up top, maybe this year i'm hoping.

FAV GAMES -  deepstack MTT's and pot limit omaha cash games.

POKER DREAMS - just to keep playing fulltime and getting by, working 9-5 never was and never will be for me.

HOBBIES -  I'm an avid cyclist, during the good weather I usually bike anywhere from 60-90 kilometres 4-6 days/week, also enjoy cooking and trying new food, reading and enjoying various different form of arts.

FAMILY SUPPORT  - i'm blessed to have such wonderful and caring parents who have supported me my entire life no matter what endeavor I chose, also my father is a very good poker player who enjoys playing online as well.

FAVORITE PRO AND PTP PLAYER - favorite pro chris "imdanutz" oliver , really enjoy  watching his super aggro style, as for PTPers I like and  respect anyone who works hard and helps others in any way they can on and off the felt.

MOST IMPORTANT THING TO BE GOOD PLAYER - the term "good player" is relative, I mean we are only as good as our last decision, some are more consistent in this than others, a realistic and positive perspective and attitude are key to improving and bringing your best game more often than not, without a healthy environment  and lots of exercise I honestly believe that neither of those two things can be achieved, if your mind isn't right then your game is bound to suffer. 

MESSAGE TO PTP MEMBERS - check your ego and emotions at the door, control the things you  can and don't sweat the other stuff "variance etc" at the end of the day it's just a game which is meant to be enjoyed. Best of luck at the tables everyone! and thank you very much to all who have invested in me from 2010 to date.

PokerStars Announces Schedule for Third Turbo Championship of Online Poker (TCOOP

PokerStars has announced the schedule for the third annual Turbo Championship of Online Poker (TCOOP), which will take place from Jan. 23 to Feb. 2 and guarantee $15 million across 50 events.

"TCOOP has become an unmissable online festival for me, because the speed of the tournaments means you can win five- and even six-figure sums in just a few hours," said Team PokerStars Pro Lex Veldhuis. "Plus, the wide range of games and tournament formats means there's always something different to play each day."

The keystone event of 50-tournament series is the $700 NL Hold'em Main Event on Feb. 2, which features a $2 million guaranteed prize pool and at least $300,000 for first place. Other highlights of the festival include a $2,100 NL Hold'em High Roller event (also Feb. 2) with a $1 million guaranteed prize pool, and two opening day events – $27 NL Hold'em [6-Max], $215 NL Hold'em [Knockout] – that both feature $750,000 guarantee prize pools.

As with every major PokerStars festival, there are additional prizes available for players who do consistently well during the series, with a Player of the Series Leader Board awarding the following:

1st: Champion's Trophy + 2015 PCA prize package worth $16,500
2nd: 2014 SCOOP event ticket worth $5,200
3rd-4th: 2014 SCOOP event ticket worth $2,100

MacLucky shipped $9k for BAP 4th in Big 22

Congrats to MacLucky who shiped 9k$ for BAP!

Player Info
Total played	75
Total staked	553
Player points	22910.37
Staker points	45517.64
Makeup owed	$0.00
Makeup you owe	$6.20
PokerStars account	MacLucky
Full Tilt Poker account	doodydota
Juicy Stakes Poker account	[not set]
Lock Poker account	2feetNrising
Party Poker account	macmac64
PokerHost account	[not set]
OPR Stats

 

EMOTIVATOR : I have had a little money and a lot of money.

My name is Derek.  I am 42 years old and live in the Northern suburbs of Chicago with my wife and three children.  I own a financial consulting company, a poker coaching business, and another small business.  In my spare time ,I am involved in several Christ following ministries such as Feed My Starving Children and Love INC.  I also enjoy playing 12 inch softball, working out, and traveling.

You are USA player. Tell us your black friday story?  

On Black Friday, I was taking a nap with my five year old son.  I was awakened by the sound of my Skype chat pinging me over and over.  It sounded like the constant popping of popcorn.  I woke up the laptop and found out from one of my students/players what had happened.  

I immediately started shipping investor funds back because I figured the window of being able to do so would close quickly.  The next thing I did was try and withdraw my funds.  To this day I have no idea when we will get our thousands of dollars.  I had several people playing with my money, mtt investor money, and my own money on FTP.  The US government claims we will begin seeing our money in March 2014.  I will believe that when I see it.
Now, when most sites are down in USA, what games you play and how you are involved in games?  I still play on Bovada and True in mtts, sngs, and cash games although I wouldn't be surprised if the government shut them down soon.  So, I keep very little of my own money on there.  


I also play live.  I prefer mixed cash games because there is almost always a much greater edge.

PTP history?

My PTP story is like a roller coaster...Up and down and screaming (others at me because of my outspoken Christian faith) all the time.  Unfortunately, I cannot remember who referred me to PTP.  I tried several times to find them so I could give them a reward.  But, I never tracked them down.

I came to PTP via referral from another poker website that went out of business.  I started out trying to coach.  But, I was laughed at because I had no reputation, points, etc.  At the time, I was the #1 ranked Sharkscope $12 turbo 180 player in ROI on Pokerstars.  Nobody on PTP cared. 

I had to earn my way on PTP although I was close to signing a turbo 180 coaching deal with PokerXFactor.  I respected the PTP community for making me earn my way.

I started coaching some people from the site with success.  In June of 2009, I resigned from my $150k+/year job thinking I would find another job quickly.  I was wrong.  After struggling for a few weeks to find a job in a tough economy I talked to my wife to see if she was okay with me trying to play poker full time.  After some convincing she agreed and I raised $5000 on PTP via a BAP to play MTTS.  At the time, I had very limited success in mtts because I had a full time job/no time/no energy to commit to the 6-10+ hours/day in mtts.

Three weeks later in late July, I binked a $55 buy in on a Sunday for $34k.  My mtt career officially launched.

Your biggest cashes, where, when??

My biggest cashes are $52k, $34k, $20k, $20k, and $17k.  My favorite back to back sessions were a December to remember in 2009.  I won the $55/PS again on a Sunday for $17k...it finished on Mon morning.  I took Monday and Tuesday off.  Then, I played a session on Wed. and took down the Wed. $320 for 52k.  It finished at 5:30AM.  I quickly left for a bible study and did not get to sleep until later that day.  I was exhausted and excited all at the same time!

Most important things to be good poker player?

Passion!!!  If you LOVE the game and are hungry to learn it...you will learn and become good...even great!!!  The key is to learn from someone that knows how to teach you properly.  The greatest coaches in life are rarely superstars.  It takes five to ten times as long to unlearn something and relearn it correctly than it does to learn it correctly the first time.  Find the people that are qualified and willing to teach you because they want to.  You don't know what you don't know.  That is why you do not have.  To know and not to have is not to know.

To the losing player - Learn the fundamentals (folding, bet sizing, learning the game)  first.  Get fancy after you are profitable.  Start slow and build.  Stay humble and hungry.  I started out selling play money from PS on Ebay for $20 per million chips because I refused to put my own money on.  Then, I finally decided to play with my own money...and proceeded to lose $7000+.  Then, I decided I better learn how to play this game from somebody that has already had success.  I learned from the best before they were well known players making millions/year.  I am so thankful!

To the minimally profitable player - Once you have learned the fundamentals of the game (NLHE, mixed games, etc) of your choice it is time to step up by engaging a coach and finding a group of 1-4 people that you can bounce ideas off of that have a similar skill set but are committed to getting better.

To the profitable pro - Know your leaks and have people holding you accountable for them.  I have coached many brilliant players that have no idea how to manage a BR or other gaping holes in their life.  They are rich one month/year and broke the next.  Surround yourself with people that will not only help you become a better player...but they will help protect you from yourself.

Your favorite PTP and PRO players??

My favorite PTP player is none other than Chris "Indariva" Tryba.  He has a BIG heart and tells it like it is.  My favorite PRO (other than Tryba) that I have played with multiple times is Daniel Negreanu (DN).  DN is hilarious, humble, and a brilliant overall (not just NLHE) player.

What your wife think about your playing??  

My wife did not become okay with my playing until I started making a significant income from poker.  At that point she was fine with it.  Our children loved that I was now home and available more often versus traveling for work.  The emotional, physical, and mental health of my family is very important to me.  This is a HUGE reason why I did not become a poker refugee or travel the world playing live after BF.

Message to friends and players on PTP?

My parting words to friends, players, and enemies on PTP is...............I have had a little money and a lot of money.  When the dust settles in poker or in life, what matters most are the relationships that we are left with.  This includes the most important relationship of all...the eternal relationship with The One who will decide our eternal fate after we breath our last.  Seek to know Him and all other things will work themselves out within time.

Meet Alcswab , learn from the best!

Player Info
Total played	0
Total staked	860
Player points	0.00
Staker points	1638228.26
Makeup owed	$0.00
Makeup you owe	$5.50
PokerStars account	Alcswab
Full Tilt Poker account	Pringleman

Open BAPs (View all BAPs)
BAP ID	BAP Raised	BAP Amount	Date started
32789	$0.00	$5200.00	09/17/10
Totals	$0.00	$5200.00
BAP Investments
BAP ID	Player	Shares	Share value
36643	brandanpoker	40.00	$40.00
36607	NateTrib	2.00	$20.00
36490	takesallcash	100.00	$67.81
36442	mossified84	6.00	$42.15
36412	xmorbidx5	30.00	$23.03
36399	zenman	10.00	$109.86
36367	Misc	100.00	$100.00
36361	GridIronJesse	4.00	$56.94
36339	bc38	4.00	$16.24
36331	mossified84	10.00	$14.10
36212	Pokketkings	10.00	$108.40
36172	MrHice	100.00	$66.74
36109	Goatman2121	10.00	$3.69
35929	brandanpoker	40.00	$57.26
35753	BrandonPL	3.00	$21.66
35694	mynamespat	25.00	$36.50
35219	ReedMoney	75.00	$37.07
33654	Misc	200.00	$77.24
28502	StLPride	5.00	$1740.43
28335	TurnRiva	10.00	$9.87
27895	JustBlazed-MF	220.00	$3276.55
24853	ABigfish	86.00	$0.88
24081	pokershark0920	2500.00	$2500.00
Totals			$8426.43

Stakes Playing
Stake ID	Amount / Bankroll	Staker
Totals	$0.00 / $0.00
Open Stakes (View all stakes)
Stake ID	Amount / Bankroll	Player
337718 [rail]	$2500.00 / $41.76	Aje221
330197 [rail]	$2500.00 / $2500.00	callitkarma
329429 [rail]	$2500.00 / $2500.00	GSUdrunk
328486 [rail]	$2500.00 / $2500.00	feitsch
313300 [rail]	$1500.00 / $1500.00	Kishi_Poker
309574 [rail]	$4000.00 / $4000.00	edmoney111
302849 [rail]	$6000.00 / $6000.00	Affrokjell
300751 [rail]	$1500.00 / $1500.00	satfat
299828 [rail]	$2500.00 / $2500.00	slideby
297058 [rail]	$4000.00 / $4000.00	ghoonit
295337 [rail]	$1500.00 / $1500.00	misschung
289705	$600.00 / $600.00	lildavefish
289494 [rail]	$2500.00 / $2500.00	B18GsrR
285670 [rail]	$215.00 / $215.00	bsu champ
281874 [rail]	$6000.00 / $19952.00	justakid69
277429 [rail]	$1500.00 / $5612.12	Logan12348
272911 [rail]	$8000.00 / $19496.00	justakid69
272909 [rail]	$8000.00 / $8000.00	hartwith
Totals	$57815.00 / $84916.88

Your PTP history? 

I joined PTP in 2007 when someone linked me to it.  I quickly forgot about the site.  About a year later I rediscovered it when I got interested in staking and backing people.  I only bought shares in BAPs for the first 1-2 months.  I was amazed at how badly some of these guys played even though they somehow had +ROIs.  I was even more amazed that people were able to sell packages with -ROIs at the games they were selling.

After the first several months I started taking all of a specific players action, this allowed me more control over how the deals were structured.  Which in turn allowed me to find players with potential in the stakes games, and back them into those games.  That's the majority of what I do now - providing players the ability to realize their potential.

Alcswab profile picture

What have you been doing for the last year?

I'm pretty active backing people.  I've also been engaging in the equity markets.

You are 2nd on the stakers leaderbaord what is your secret? 

It's not hard to get onto the stakers leaderboard.  The way that PTP counts Staker points is flawed.  You can make a private "stake" for $3 million, "send" a guy $100, have him "send" it back and close out the stake and you'd now be #1 on the leaderboard.

How to pick good horses? 

I use sharkscope a lot because their filters are amazing and they keep adding more great stats and features.  I used to use OPR a decent amount, but sharkscope has incorporated all the best features of OPR - but with better filters.  On top of that, I look at how players play and try to understand their thought process.  It doesn't matter how great your stats are, if your thought process isn't there your stats probably won't be there in the future either.  If there's something wrong with their thought process I (or another coach) will work with them to improve it.

The other primary things to look for are sample sizes and outliers.  MTTs and MTTSNGs (the things I primarily back for) have huge, almost unimaginable, variance.  Having large sample sizes helps reduce the noise in the results.  Outliers in MTTs generally consist of large scores (though if your ABI is $1 and you play a $5k MTT that's also an outlier).  Winning $30k in the Sunday Storm for example, doesn't mean that a player is better than someone else who's won $10k over 5k games in the last 6 months. 

Bottom line, you want to see that the player can beat the limits he's going to be playing.

Your favorite player on PTP? 

Danger0us
http://forum.parttimepoker.com/members/danger0us.html

Is the poker your primary job? 

I don't really play much anymore, but backing is my primary occupation. 

What is your biggest win ? (staker, player)

Staking = ~$100k

Playing = ~46k 

How to be successful investor?

If you want to succeed you need to have a process, and you need to question your process to fine tune it over time.  You also need to be willing to accept losses, and to accept that sometimes things don't work out and are beyond your control.

Your message to players on PTP? 

The current environment is tough and getting tougher.  If you're having trouble finding backing you need to figure out why people aren't interested, and improve on those areas.

Interview:Phil Laak

The age-old questions: How did you get involved with poker? Where did you pick it up?

I started playing poker the summer before I went to college. My friend taught me how to play and we played just for fun. Like most young guys, we would drink a beer and play some cards. When I got into college, I started playing at a small Indian casino and I also developed my game a little bit online. I started playing Limit Hold’em and quickly moved up into a $2/$5 No Limit Hold’em game. That soon became my main game, although I did start to mix in a lot of tournaments as well.
There are a lot of rumors floating around about how you raised the cash to play in this year’s WSOP; we heard you threw your entire bankroll into the Omaha 8/b tournament, in which you finished third. 

Can you give us the skinny?

Well, to start, I didn’t really have a bankroll. I had borrowed money from my parents to enable myself to play in six WSOP events. My initial goal was to make the money back and cash in two events. Five of the events I had picked were Hold’em tournaments and the sixth was the $1,500 Omaha 8/b. I had played a fair amount of Omaha and thought that I was a pretty skilled player and that I would have a decent shot at cashing in this event if things fell into place right.

You did a bit better than just cashing, young man; you made your first World Series final table and came in third place.

Tell us about your early life, Phil. You were born in Ireland; what kind of child were you?

Our family moved to Massachusetts when I was 4… I remember my introduction to capitalism. It was around third or fourth grade, when I found out that you could buy one pack of firecrackers for 25 cents, but if you bought five packs, they’d be 20 cents each. When I saw that, I wasn’t thinking I could buy five packs, sell them for 25 cents and make a 25 cent profit; I was thinking: Where do you get the firecrackers? What if you could buy these things in volume? Anyway, some kid in the schoolyard was the source of the firecrackers. I’m like, “Dude, tell me where you get them from.” He said, “No way, this is my business.”
So I made my first-ever business deal. I said, “You tell me where the firecrackers are and I’ll give you five bucks.” And he was cool, but I said, “Look, I need some insurance. If I’m going to go to this place where I can supposedly buy firecrackers and the guy doesn’t show up, I want my five bucks back.” He agreed.

I had to sneak out of the house because my parents would never let me go into the city alone. I had to go into Boston and hang out at a basketball court near Marconi’s restaurant. I’d never taken the subway into the city in my life before. I was waiting on this bench and the longer I waited, the more and more foolish I started to feel — talk about being hustled as a 10-year-old kid! I was feeling like the lowest, dumbest 10-year-old in the whole Boston area. As I was thinking about what a dummy I was, this kid, who must have been about 20, came and sat next to me. He said, “Watcha doing?” I said, “I’m waiting to buy a brick.” A brick is what they would call an 80-pack of firecrackers, and I didn’t want to mention firecrackers in case he was a cop. He said, “Do you want any buzz rockets, too?”

I was like “Oh my god, this is actually happening!” I had $17… and I negotiated a good deal. Back in the schoolyard, I used the powers of my personality, and the fact that I had diversified… I became the firecracker king. I was always like a little mini-capitalist guy, always looking for the next thing.

I remember thinking my brother was insane one day. I don’t know what possessed him to do this, but… he decided that firecrackers were bad and that he was going to throw his in the stream. I thought he was crazy. I think that was the start of me thinking for myself, because I loved and respected my brother, but I couldn’t understand why anyone could be so crazy that they would destroy such a valuable commodity. That’s when I realized for the first time that even the smartest, sharpest, most lovable and intense people can have faulty thinking. I remember thinking, “From now on, I’m going to make all my own decisions.”

Discover what made Phil an independent thinker…

So you’ve always been an independent thinker?

Absolutely. In college I was taking Introduction to Logic… there were 150 people in the room and the professor was rambling on and on, and he said something that was so wrong. He said that, although there are a lot of uncertainties in the world, there are certain inalienable truths; things that were true, regardless of whether you could prove them or not. I thought that was absolutely wrong. There’s nothing that can actually be proved.
So I spoke up and tried to explain this basically simple philosophical concept to him. He told me I was wrong in front of the whole class, even though I’ve later found that many philosophers share my views.

I went up to him after class, and I said, “So, you’re saying there are such things as inalienable truths?” He said, “Yes, it’s true.” I said, “No, it’s not true. And I can’t imagine learning anything from someone who can’t understand this super-basic tenet, which is so self-evident to me it’s not even funny.” I asked him to sign a slip withdrawing me from his class. He was furious... but I’m not going to take classes from some guy who’s completely missing something when he’s supposed to be teaching me about the greater truths of the universe.

That’s what I was like. If I thought something was right, it didn’t matter if everyone in the world thought differently. I was just like, “Oh, the whole world’s wrong again.”

We guess it’s been that way ever since…

(Laughs) Kinda. This is going to sound counterintuitive, but as you get older, there are times where it’s correct to not open your mind to a new line of thought, because there’s so much stuff coming at us every day; you have to be selective. For instance, without knowing the complete philosophies of the Ku Klux Klan, it’s very easy to see they’re retarded. You don’t have to drink the whole quart of milk to find out it’s spoiled. You can take little dribs and drabs and move on.
The way that relates to poker is that when I started reading poker books, I’d be doing it because I’d think, “Well, this guy’s an author; he’s smart and he knows what he’s talking about.” But in every book I’ve ever read, I’ve found a couple of things that aren’t true; not key points, but subtler things. I may not have known it at the time, but when I got better at poker, I’d reread books and spot them. The point is that the more you get into something, the more comfortable you should be in making your own decisions. You stick to your guns because, after all, it’s your money, not the author’s.

But I wouldn’t be anywhere near the poker player I am today had I not read those books. Some guys play cards and they never pick up books. Like Antonio. But I’m like a nut ball. I’ll read everything. You can make a better grilled cheese sandwich if you understand how the best cooks in the world make grilled cheese sandwiches.

We’ve wandered off the topic slightly. You were telling us your life story…
OK, so I left school, and I wanted to go live in San Diego… there were no winters! I wanted to have a little drift about before joining the real world and finding a job in my field, which was engineering. So my buddy and I got on our motorcycles and zigzagged the U.S., “backroading” it the whole way. Seventeen thousand miles later, the party was over and I had to get a job. So I was in San Diego, making hermetically sealed packaging for silicon chips. The job had its perks, like having access to liquid nitrogen… but, ultimately, I got bored and went off traveling again through Europe and Turkey. I remember thinking that when I got back to the States, I wanted a fun job.

How did Phil get serious about games?

My pursuit of the perfect job took me all over the place. But then one day, although I never eat burgers, for some reason I got the urge to eat a burger. I went into this old restaurant with a low-slung roof and ordered a burger from the steakhouse… But then I heard this clattering noise. It sounded like dice; but 40 dice? Was it craps? I couldn’t figure it out. I turned the corner, and there were 40 people playing backgammon.

In college, I used to play backgammon, as well as chess, hearts, spades, poker — everything — and so one thing led to another, and I started playing this guy. I was petrified, because he was over 60. I thought that anyone over a certain age would have been playing for, like, 20 years and would be great at the game. I’d only ever played for 10 cents or 20 cents a point, and this guy was used to playing $5 or $10 a point. I guess he felt sorry for me, and so just to humor me, he played me for 50 cents a point. Just three or four moves into the game, I remember thinking, “Oh my God. I’m better than him. Maybe I should play him for more.” It didn’t take me long to realize that there were people in that place who were hopeless at backgammon — and they were playing for $5, $10, $20 a point!

I returned the following week and started playing anyone for $10 or $20 a point. I soon found that in the whole restaurant there were only two guys who were better than me. By the end of the month… my pockets were brimming with cash. I was like, “Wow! There’s money in playing games.” My career guidance counselor had never told me this. 

So you moved to New York to take it seriously…

Yeah. There were two or three clubs in New York, and you could wake up whenever you wanted and just drift in. The great thing was that the weak players — the lawyers and Wall Street guys who played recreationally — turned up between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. So you could wake up anytime after midday, get a little sushi, wander in, and you’d be early for work. I was the happiest guy alive.
But then one day, it dried up… So I decided to give poker a shot. I’d give it one year to see what this whole poker world was about, and review the situation after six months. Then I’d decide to either stay in poker or find a job on Wall Street. Things started picking up really quickly. … It was like my backgammon world was shrinking and my poker world was expanding.

At the end of the year, I decided that… I could make a living playing poker, but… it wasn’t profitable enough that I could essentially get rich. Remember: I wanted to have fun and get rich.

Towards the end of ’99, I got a call from Antonio. He said, “Phil, you gotta get out here.” He told me how much money he was making at Bay 101. I couldn’t believe it. I shot off to Bay 101 and I was just pounding on the game. I was like, “Wow!” I wasn’t even a phenomenal poker player then, but there were hardly any pros there and the players were just sick. I said, “Antonio, why don’t we get an apartment here?” He reached over to the classifieds, and the next day we had an apartment. We were there for two years until the action dried up; I guess those guys either went broke or got tired of losing $10,000 or $20,000 a day.


Then I started playing twice a week at Lucky Chances, and Antonio and I soon realized we had to move to Vegas or LA. I went to LA, where I found the Commerce Casino… I got real lucky, because poker just got more and more explosive and No Limit Hold’em was what people wanted to play. And by the time it got big, I’d already built up two years of playing it twice a week with some of the toughest players in the world.

When did the hoodie first make an appearance?

It was back in New York. In New York, the most effective way to get from A to B was on a mountain bike. You don’t want a long jacket when you’re riding a bike, so the optimal thing was to have a jacket that went right to your waist… Also, when I first started playing cards, there was an intense intimidation factor. But mainly, it was because I’m a very forthcoming, emotionally open fella, and I figured I was rife with tells. The hood was initially about trying to operate from the ivory tower without being observed. The more I wore the hood, the more it became like Linus’ blanket. I put it on and I would be in the zone. It was in 2002 or 2003 when the media came along that the “Unabomber” nickname spread. I’d had the name for a while, but the media really loved it for some reason.
What was your pickup line when you met Jennifer Tilly?
There was no particular pickup line. The first time we hung out, at the Commerce Invitational, we had a lot of fun, and I felt it would be too forward to ask her for her phone number, so I didn’t. We were hanging out, and she was like, “I wish I knew how to play poker like you and your fellow pros.”
I noticed that she was highly accessorized, with the belt, the boots; the whole works. I said, “Well, if you teach me how to accessorize, I will teach you how to play poker.”

It was just fun social banter that maybe could be termed as a pickup line. But I was really happy, because she asked for my number at the end of day one, and that was great. But then, of course, you realize that girls never call. Even if they want to call, then they’re still less than 3%. The next time we met, I hoped she might ask for my number again, but I thought I’d make a gambit play. I said, “Nice hanging out… Gotta catch my plane…” She said, “Oh, you should give me your number so I can give you a call.” I said — and this was rehearsed in my mind should the situation arise — “Well, what’s the point? Last time I gave you my number and you didn’t call.” She looked at me with consternation and confusion. But I didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable, so right in that two-second window when she was speechless, I said, “How about this: Instead of me giving you my number and it being 3% you call me, why don’t I get your number, and then it will be 100% that I call you?”

And with such clean and irrefutable logic, she, in a moment of pure abandon — she never gives her number out — said, “Yeah, OK.” And she gave me her number. And that was the end of that

Dwan and Full Tilt Split, Schemion Pips Negreanu, Rounders 2

Before there was "Isildur1", there was "durrrr".

The 2010 World Series of Poker was still in its infancy when Event #11: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em reached an official final table of nine. Among the finalists were online tournament pro Eric Ladny, German pro Marvin Rettenmaier, bracelet winner Jason Young, and young phenom Tom “durrrr” Dwan.

It was only early June, but the atmosphere in the Amazon Room was electric. This was only my second WSOP as a tournament reporter, first with PokerNews, and the only thing I could compare it to at the time was the play-down day in the Main Event.

Looking back now, it was even bigger than that.

Prior to the 2010 WSOP, Dwan followed Phil Ivey’s lead and made a series of bracelet bets. The amounts were never confirmed, but if Dwan won a bracelet, it was rumored that he would earn between $9-12 million. He told Gloria Balding at the start of the WSOP, that it would be his largest one-day win ever.

Dwan was the chip leader entering the final table, and on the one-hour dinner break before the start of play, he hopped into the $10,000 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better Championship. His objective was to try and run up a stack so that he could continue playing on Day 2 regardless of the result at the final table, but all he really did was torment the players he was betting against.

When the final table was about to begin, Dwan was fielding offers for buyouts. Most of the players who bet against Dwan let it ride, but it looked as if he and Huck Seed cut a deal before the cards were in the air.

The man known as “durrrr” didn’t eliminate a single player during the final table, and found himself with a short stack (19 big blinds and 10 percent of the chips in play) during three-handed play. Dwan then doubled with the {9-Diamonds}{7-Clubs} against the {a-Clubs}{10-Spades} of David Randall, and two-dozen hands later, Kiwi Simon Watt busted Randall.

Watt had more than a 2-1 chip advantage heading into heads-up play, but you would swear that Dwan had 90 percent of the chips in play. The $10,000 buy-in event and the final table were adjacent to one another, so when players folded their hands they would run (literally run) over to see what was happening. Some of them didn’t have any money on the line, while others had hundreds of thousands of dollars at risk, some millions.


Dwan tried to rally, and at one point he won six consecutive hands, but he never was able to even the stacks. On the penultimate hand he ran a big, unsuccessful bluff, and on the final hand he open-jammed 13 big blinds with the {q-Diamonds}{6-Clubs}. Watt woke up with the {9-Diamonds}{9-Clubs}, and held as the board came {8-Clubs}{a-Clubs}{a-Spades}{a-Diamonds}{k-Hearts}.

The very second the suicide king completed the board, Dwan exited the Amazon Room, sliding out one of the side doors into the long, bright, back hallways. Watt, who had very few, if any, supporters on the rail, stood alone at the table.

“Thank you for saving us millions of dollars!” belted Mike Matusow, one of the players who had a bet with Dwan. “How does it feel to be every high-stakes gambler’s hero? They’re gonna, like, put you on the wall in Bobby’s Room or some shit.”

Watt could only muster an embarrassed smile.

Over the past three years, Viktor Blom has surpassed Dwan as the “This guy is playing high-stakes nosebleeds I gotta watch” player in poker, but Dwan was a pioneer. To this day, the big pots he played on High Stakes Poker are awe-inspiring, particularly this insane bluff against Peter Eastgate:


On Monday, news broke that Dwan is no longer a member of Full Tilt Poker’s Professionals. This has predictably led to questions of his future in poker, which we’ll address in our first thought.

 Dwan No Longer a “Professional”

According to a representative with Full Tilt, Dwan’s contract recently expired as a member of “The Professionals.” The two sides opted not to renew the contract, and as you can see from this page, only Blom and Gus Hansen’s photos remain.

For fans, Dwan is a fantastic ambassador. He’s a recognizable face whose played the highest limits in the world, and for a period of time the entire poker world followed his every step. His status was equal or even greater than Ivey’s or Daniel Negreanu’s is now.

For the companies he represented, Dwan could be a bit of a nightmare. His problems were never on the felt – Dwan is an overly conscious individual who doesn’t seem to be motivated by the evils in poker at all – but he was rarely on time or socially active with the media.

Dwan was never bad as Ivey, who simply refuses to do interviews unless you’re explicitly pimping him or his product, but he was never actively looking for exposure.

His tardiness was inexcusable. During the last few months alone, he didn’t show up for the pre-match photos for the Team PokerStars Pro vs. The Professionals Challenge at EPT London, and at Full Tilt Poker Montreal he appeared and late registered at the very last second, more concerned that he dropped his phone in water the night before. He promptly busted, but not before finding some rice to naturally dry his cell.

Dwan’s lack of professionalism isn’t a discredit to his character, however, because freedom is one of the reasons he likely chose to play poker for a living. His sponsorship wasn’t “necessary” for him to profit, although I’m sure he was very happy to receive transfers into his account from Full Tilt while the gravy train was full steam ahead. Likewise, when Full Tilt was operating in the United States, all he had to do to represent the brand was play high-stakes, like Blom is doing now. There were a few interviews here and there, but nothing like the calculated media full court press PokerStars puts on its Team Pros.

If Dwan doesn’t want to be in the spotlight, then so be it. If Full Tilt Poker doesn’t want to represent a player that doesn’t want to be in the spotlight, then so be it. This is a very amicable divorce, which is rare, and both sides seem very happy with the decision.

Dwan’s future in poker is unknown – the absence of PokerStars and Full Tilt in the United States plays a key role in this – but saying that Phil Hellmuth was right when he said Dwan wouldn’t survive in the poker world is short-sighted. Dwan is still only 27 years old, and if he chooses to continue grinding, his best years may still be ahead of him.

I’ll never forget that June evening at the Rio where he had the entire high-stakes poker world dangling from his fingers in a lowly $1,500 buy-in event. It was one of the most important preliminary events in the history of the WSOP, and one of the most exciting final tables I will ever cover.

 Schemion Passes Negreanu

Ole Schemion reached the final table of the EPT Prague Main Event on Tuesday, securing the top spot in the Global Poker Index Player of the Year race.

According to the GPI, all Schemion needed was a 17th-place finish or better in the event to pass Daniel Negreanu and take the lead. Now the German is looking to pull away from the Canadian, but it doesn’t really matter.

Negreanu told PokerNews on Monday that he “packed up his year” in Prague and “isn’t too concerned with what happens.”

Schemion’s story isn’t finished yet because, knowing him, he could walk away with his first EPT title and over $1.2 million on Wednesday, but Negreanu’s 2013 appears to be officially in the books. Although Kid Poker won’t walk away with the GPI POY crown, and it will likely sting him a little bit even if he never admits it, 2013 was an incredible campaign for the 39-year-old pro.

Over the past 12 months, Negreanu earned over $3.2 million in live tournaments, bringing his career live tournament earnings to over $19.5 million. It was the second-most profitable year of his career – in 2004 he earned over $4.4 million, finishing third in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event, winning a WSOP bracelet, and winning the World Poker Tour Borgata Open and WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic.

This year, Kid Poker kicked things off down under, winning his fifth WSOP bracelet in the WSOP Asia-Pacific Main Event. He then made the final table of the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final Main Event, bubbled the final table of the WPT World Championship, finished runner-up to Eli Elezra in WSOP Event #59: $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw in Las Vegas[/b], finished runner-up in the EPT Barcelona High Roller, and won the World Series of Poker High Roller, securing his sixth bracelet and second WSOP Player of the Year title.

You can make all of the hair or Choice Center jokes you want, and you can call Negreanu old or over the hill, but all of those criticisms will fall upon deaf ears. He is as confident as ever – as long as the internet in his hotel room is working.

Come on, Danny! The internet made you leave Prague? I’ve been on internet tilt several times on the poker circuit, but after a couple of “woosah’s,” I’m usually OK. It would’ve been nice to see Negreanu stay in Prague and compete in the High Roller with his POY fate on the line, and he will likely catch some flack for leaving, but his decision to skip town early isn’t the reason he’s going to finish second to Schemion.

Schemion, despite being ineligible to play in WSOP events in Las Vegas because he was only 20 at the time, had an insane year, making numerous deep runs. Both men are very deserving of the award, but the computers favored the German, and he will earn the hardware.

I Don’t Have Spades

In Early Novemer, on The B.S. Report, Brian Koppelman told Bill Simmons that Rounders 2 was written, and that Matt Damon, Edward Norton, and John Malkovich were all committed to filming the sequel. The only problem is that he and co-writer David Levien need approval for the project, and Harvey Weinstein and Miramax were having issues.

Well, Miramax and The Weinstein Company are back together, and Weinstein told Deadline Hollywood that Rounders 2 is going to be “instantaneous.” He echoed Koppelman’s statements that Damon and Norton are ready to roll, but hinted that there would be a new villain to replace Malkovich. He also mentioned that Robert De Niro could potentially fill the roll.

As with any sequel, I am cautiously optimistic. Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues premieres this week in the United States, and as a big fan of the first movie I have my doubts. At the same time I am extremely excited to see the movie, and the very day my fiancé and I touchdown on American soil for the holidays, we are going to the movies to bask in the greatness of Ron Burgundy.

Sorry, love.

Rounders, while a nightmare for most film buffs, is a cult classic in the poker world. Every line is quotable. Every moment of heads-up play between Mike McDermott and Teddy KGB is riveting. Every time Worm opens his mouth you want a put a sock in it. And every time Damon tells Johnny Chan that he forgot his hand, I give a small Kobe fist pump.

Peel away the ridiculous string bets, terrible bet sizing, and cheesy narrative-driven overtones, and at its core Rounders is a highly entertaining movie about our favorite game in the world. I’m sure that Koppelman and Levien have thought long and hard about Rounders 2, and with more experience as writers the movie could be just as good as the first.

Sequels are scary, but I’m admittedly thrilled with this news.

 Source: Pokernews.com