Online Report

One of the hottest players of 2006 has hit big again. Eric Lynch, who plays online under the name “Rizen,” was already ranked 15th in the PocketFives.com Tournament Player Rankings when he took first place in the PokerStars $1 Million Guaranteed for nearly $160k. He’d already had some huge scores this year, including a win in the Empire Poker $200k Guaranteed, but this was the biggest of his blossoming career. He has since moved into the Top Ten in the rankings, and he has predicted that he will be number one by the end of the year.

We’ve also been following the amazing story of Devin Porter, known online and in the PocketFives.com community as TranquilChaos. Devin’s name is now known in many poker circles, since he was seen in a recent episode of the World Poker Tour, the 2005 Aruba Classic. Not long before he finished fourth in that event, Devin made a long post in the PocketFives forum called “Taking the Plunge,” in which he discussed his decision to turn pro and asked for advice from other professionals on the site. After his $200k win in Aruba, people didn’t question his decision, and he didn’t play another WPT event for six months. Amazingly, he did even better in the next WPT event he played, The Mirage Poker Showdown. Devin finished third in that tournament for about $332k, solidifying his status as an online poker legend.

And while we’re talking about online poker players who dominate live events, there has to be some mention of Peter Feldman, who plays online as Nordberg. Peter got extremely unlucky at the WPT event at Borgata this year, finishing seventh (the top six make the TV table) when he got all his chips in preflop with A-A and lost to a player holding A-K. All his hands held up at the WSOP Circuit Event in New Orleans, though, and he finished atop the field for more than $500k. The heads-up battle he fought against Gavin Smith lasted several hours, but he came out with the win.

Lastly, I’d like to once again encourage all readers to go to www.pokerplayersalliance. org to sign up to help fight against politicians who are trying to ban online poker. Moreover, if you are a registered voter, you can help the fight by emailing your representative and the two senators from your state, to let them know how you feel.

When PocketFives.com first started, I was on fire. The previous year I had won over 15 satellite tournaments for WSOP and WPT events. When I first started playing, my goal was maybe to play a WPT event, and certainly I wanted to play in the Main Event of the WSOP – that was my life’s goal.

In 2004 I played more than half the events on the WPT. I was the chip leader in Aruba and also in France, and I held a top ten position at the WSOP for the first three days (damn queens!). I think the one thing that makes online poker so great is that it can include everyone, whereas the WPT requires a more flexible lifestyle.

In my case, I wear a couple of hats, online poker professional being way down the list. My biggest job is that I am a husband and father and I don’t take that job lightly. Even when I was winning all those satellites, I literally played only one tournament a night most nights, and I couldn’t play every other night because I had to put my girls to bed (guys, you might not want to let your wives know about that; just trust me on this one).

One thing I always had in me was the ability to take a risk: put the chips in the middle and let the cards fall where they may. As I became a better player, I played a lot of smaller pots and a lot more hands. My style reflects my evolution into a cash game player, which is more respectful of my family’s time. I can play this style because I am not playing 14 tournaments in one night and can focus better than people who are playing more than one table at a time. If I bust out of the tournament, I might have to do the laundry or something; so I have a lot of incentive to stay in the one or two tournaments I enter a night. Part of the problem with playing like this is I don’t get as much gratification as many top players do. Because they play so many tournaments, inevitably their ego gets stroked more.

I am a little better than average cash game player, but since the average cash game player is so bad online, that can be quite profitable. In terms of tournaments, I think I am a unique thinker, and have the ability to “take it to the house” in any event I enter. Either that or it’s laundry time…