Cardrunners
GOSSIP & LIFESTYLE LIFESTYLE
High-stakes live pro “Bellagio Jay” recently won $40,000 in a proposition bet by living in a bathroom at the Bellagio. He had bet $20,000 at 2:1 with Andrew “good2cu” Robl that he could live there for thirty days without a computer or human contact. After three weeks in the bathroom, some controversial close calls, and a consultation with a mediator, Robl decided to pay the full $40,000 and concede the bet.
Brandi Hawbaker, who has been in the eyes of the poker community ever since she made a run at the 2006 Festa al Lago Main Event, has returned to the news. It has recently been reported that she has had relationships with some high level pro’s; that she has in the past been a stripper; that she stole property during the fallout from her relationship with another poker player; and that she changed her name and is living at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles. Some internet pornography has also surfaced in which the leading woman bears a strong resemblance to her, though viewers disagree about whether it’s Brandi.
Young Canadian phenom Mike “Timex” McDonald recently won fi rst place and almost a million euros from the recent EPT tournament in Dortmund. The victory by McDonald, who is 18, continues the trend toward younger and internet-trained players dominating the tournament trail. McDonald’s career has also attracted attention because he is one of the most visible and successful backers of tournament players.
An even bigger fi rst prize, the $2,000,000 that came along with the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure championship, went to Bertrand Grospellier. Grospellier, known online as ElkY, outlasted David “The Dragon” Pham and online tournament regulars Joe “bigegypt” Elpayaa and Christian “charder” Harder at January’s fi nal table. Grospellier is continuing a transition from online to live celebrity: He joined Team PokerStars and added this score to his second-place fi nish in last year’s Copenhagen EPT event.
Jason Potter, a poker player known for his online tournament success, was robbed of $30,000 during his trip to the Aussie Millions in Melbourne. Potter was walking from his hotel to the casino when the robber, brandishing a knife, knocked him down and reached into his clothes for the money. Two have been charged with the crime, and Potter has been told that almost $12,000 has been recovered so far.
Dario Minieri continued his hot streak at high-stakes online tournaments by winning the PokerStars $5,000 winner-take-all freezeout. The tournament had been chopped in previous weeks, but Minieri took down the entire $100,000 prize pool. His opponent heads up, Isaac “westmenloAA” Baron, offered a deal that Minieri wouldn’t accept, so the two played it out.
Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, who has been banned from Poker- Stars since the multi-accounting scandals of 2006, was nonetheless allowed to play the Battleship tournament at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. The Battleship tournament is a heads-up tournament played face-to-face but on computers. Bonomo also fi nished eighth at the recent Borgata WPT event; that was his seventh major fi nal table in the past twelve months, but none have netted him more than $200,000.
Another notorious multi-accounter, Josh “JJProdigy” Field, recently appeared on the Poker- Road radio show. Many in the community criticized hosts Gavin Smith, Joe Sebok, and Bart Hanson for trivializing the cheating and asking Field soft questions. Field was barred from this year’s PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, though he said that his bans from online poker sites have not kept him from continuing to play there.
CR SPOTLIGHT ... ‘NUTEDAWG’
BLUFF: What stakes do you currently play? How long have you been playing at this level?
Tim: I play anywhere from 3/6NL to 10/20NL, with the majority of my hands being played at 5/10NL. I play full ring, shorthanded, and heads-up cash games. To mix things up I also play the bigger buy-in online multi-table tournaments and sit-n-goes on occasion. I’ve also taken one ill-advised shot at 100/200NL during which I lost about $18,000 in 12 hands.
BLUFF: What is your poker history? When did you start out, and how did you progress?
Tim: When I was in high school, my friends used to play poker all the time, but I refused to play. I thought poker was just gambling and hated the idea of losing money on something that was completely out of my control. My opinion of poker changed in late 2003 when I saw the World Series of Poker on ESPN and poker was presented as a skill game. Before ever playing a hand of poker, I read Super System and a couple other poker books cover to cover. That summer I beat up on my high school friends playing $5 SNGs in my mom’s basement. When I went back to college for my senior year, I made a $100 deposit on PokerStars and started playing $5 SNGs and 1/2 Limit Hold’em (severely under-rolled).
BLUFF: When did you join CardRunners? What impact has CardRunners had on your game?
Tim: I joined CR in September of 2006. At that point I primarily played mid-stakes MTTs, SNGs, and Limit cash games. After watching fi ve of Taylor “Green Plastic” Caby’s instructional videos, I jumped right into 6-max 3/6NL cash games. I immediately found success and moved up to 5/10NL within two weeks. More recently, I’ve gotten a ton out of Brian “Stinger” Hastings’ videos, which are some of the best poker videos available anywhere. I’ve also met some extremely talented poker pros through CR like Tommy “tcblade” Chen and Guest Pro Ronnie “SilentAssassin3” Salter, both of whom I discuss hands with on a daily basis. The CR forums have helped my game considerably as well, as it’s always nice to read what Stinger, for example, would have done in my shoes in a given hand. CR really does provide a ton of great opportunities to improve your game outside of just the videos.
BLUFF: You’ve become known as a great poker coach/mentor. How did this come about?
Tim: I have never really advertised myself as a coach or set out to be one. Matt “Probability” Young sent me a private message on CR and asked me to coach him. At the time, I had just become a full-time professional poker player and decided that coaching might add some balance to my career. Shortly after Matt and I began working together, he started crushing 1/2NL, and word spread on the message boards that I had helped out his game a lot. Since then I have gotten dozens of coaching requests, and I’ve taken on as many people as I can schedule in. One of my students, Martin “DODGYKEN” Coleman, moved up from 1/2NL to 10/20NL in only about four months and profi ted well over $100,000. I’m proud to have contributed to his meteoric rise through the stakes, even though he deserves the lion’s share of the credit.
Coaching has improved my own game considerably. I am constantly challenged to provide in-depth and coherent justifi cation for why I think a certain play is best. The stable income coaching provides helps during the inevitable downswings that all poker players must face. But I am defi nitely not in it for the money, as I earn more at the tables on average than what I charge for coaching. I also fi nd coaching innately satisfying since helping others improve their game and make bundles of cash is always nice.
BLUFF: Where do you see yourself in fi ve years?
Tim: Like most poker players, I’d like to have enough money to be able to do what I want, whatever that may be. For now, I’m very happy playing poker for a living.
HIGH STAKES REPORT
Whoever “kinexxx” is, he was January’s biggest winner at the high stakes No Limit Hold’em tables on Full Tilt Poker in January. His most dramatic session came at the end of the month against Urindanger, against whom he two-tabled $300/$600 NLHE. He is listed as Norwegian, but beyond that nobody knows who he is. In second place is Phil Ivey, who rode big sessions against “seda1” and Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond to a $300,000 month. Completing the top fi ve are Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies and Cole “MUCKEMSAYUHH” South, along with the still-mysterious “guaranteed376.”
