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AGE: 31
HOMETOWN: Cupertino, CA
YEARS PLAYING POKER: 6
FAVORITE FORM OF POKER? NL Hold’em
cash games
On a Saturday night, about four years ago, I remember playing
$100 four-handed freezeouts at Gabe Thaler’s apartment
in San Jose, CA. The “crew” that night consisted of Phil Laak,
Antonio Esfandiari, Gabe, and myself, with much of the table
talk revolving around how big poker would become as a
result of the recently launched WPT. Phil and Antonio went
on to become WPT stars; I managed to get lucky once at the
WSOP, but what happened to Gabe?
You might assume that Gabe just didn’t have the talent to make the cut.
If so, you’re dead wrong. Gabe chose a different route. While Phil and
Antonio made a point of playing all the large tournaments for the next
couple years, Gabe focused on the cash games, claiming the value just
wasn’t there to solely focus on tournaments. With the help of his original
mentor, a Bay Area pro named Alex Roberts (my mentor, as well), and
later through the tutelage of the legendary Bobby Hoff, Gabe became one
of the fiercest players in the big no-limit cash games in Los Angeles and
Las Vegas. When I asked my previous “Check” profile Danny Alaei (also
a recent High Stakes Poker player on GSN) which player he respected
most at the tables, he didn’t mention any of the typical big names. In fact,
he answered with only one name, Gabe Thaler.
Recently, as result of the encouragement of Erik Seidel, Gabe has
become a regular player in big buy-in tournaments, and unsurprisingly,
has cashed in his last four main events. And Gabe has no plans of stopping
there – he appears to be committed to playing most major events
through the remainder of the year. Given his quick ascent within the
world of cash game poker, I wouldn’t be surprised if his star rises even
higher than any of the players from back in the $100 freezeouts.
CHRIS MCCORMACK
At the poker table, Chris is fearless
and ultra-focused. He has
the skills, and an arsenal of
moves, to accumulate chips in
any environment. If he gets up
and leaves the table, however,
you’re never too sure when
you’ll see him again. This sometimes happens
when young guys score big early in their
poker career – they often wait until their
funds get low before seriously focusing on the
game again. In Chris’s case, he bubbled the
Foxwood’s WPT Main Event final table in
November in 2004, picking up a cool $235k in
one of his first major tournament showings.
This isn’t to say he didn’t play many events
in the following year. Chris, in fact, played a
number of events; he just didn’t play the
extremely large number that your typical circuit
pro plays. Even so, Chris narrowly missed
a breakthrough at the 2005 WSOP, in the
$1,500 No Limit Shootout. He took a bad beat
for the chip lead with A-A (all in preflop), only
to bubble the final table. A student in the JC
Tran School of Poker, Chris has recently gotten
back into the swing of things with an
impressively consistent record for the events
he’s played. Chris will attest that his close friendship with JC has influenced and
improved his game more than any other player.
I have no doubt he will prove that in 2006.
One recent and memorable conversation
that I had with Chris (which, in a way, sums
up his personality) was back in December
during the Bellagio Five-Diamond tournaments.
Me: “Hey, Chris what’s up? Have you been
playing many of the tournaments?”
Chris: “Nah, I need to play more… still
slacking. I played two of the prelim events,
though.”
Me: “Oh, yeah? How’d you do?”
Chris: “Oh, I got fourth in the $1,500
No Limit, and fifth in the $2,000 No Limit.”
If only it were that easy….
AGE: 26
HOMETOWN/CURRENT RESIDENCE:
Long Island, NY
YEARS PLAYING POKER: 3
FAVORITE FORM OF POKER? NL
Hold’em tournaments
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