Online Pros Pad Their Gigabanks

As we all know by now, the World Series of Poker main event exceeded expectations with 8,773 entrants. More astounding yet – 50 percent of them qualified online. Harrah's projects that next year, 12,000 players will be crammed into the Rio's Amazon Room. The trend rages skyward with no end in sight. Still, the question remains, have the Internet pros got game?



For the past few years, online professionals haven't received the respect top live-event pros have. Internet pros have been called donks, fish, and a myriad of colorful names that will land you a 10-minute penalty at any WSOP event. During a past TV event, you might have caught Daniel Negreanu asking a player in a pot, "Do you play on the Internet? You do? OK, I raise." Obviously, Negreanu isn't simply picking on the online players; he has a plan. He's gauging their game, reactions to pressure, and composure. Face facts: Talk all the trash you want about online players; the results speak yottabytes.

The Main Event
Let's begin with the largest live poker event in history – the WSOP main event. At this year's final table sat three online qualifiers: Dan Nassif, Doug Kim, and Erik Friberg. Each of these players qualified on PokerStars, the site that sent 1,650 players to the main event. PartyPoker sent 1,023 players, FullTilt 423, Bodog 412, ParadisePoker 298, UltimateBet 223, and many other sites added players, bringing the total to more than 4,400 online qualifiers. It makes sense that one-third of the final table qualified online.

Nassif, an advertising sales executive from St. Louis and not an online pro, was the first to be knocked out, taking home more than $1.5 million dollars. At present, he wants to take a break from any kind of poker. "The experience has been incredible, very exciting, but I don't know how these guys do it, playing day in, day out. It's an absolute grind."

Sweden's Erik Friberg was the next online qualifier out, finishing eighth and pocketing $1.9 million. He plans to continue to improve his game online and in live cash games and tournaments, and to be ready next year for another final-table onslaught.



Christmas came early for Doug Kim when he qualified for a seat in a $650 PokerStars satellite on the last qualifying day. Kim, a recent graduate of Duke, spent more than $3,000 in various qualifiers before the win. The main event was his first live tournament. He more than held his own throughout the event, in part due to the encouragement from online professional and fellow Duke classmate Jason Strasser. "For me, poker is an interesting game that I've tried to become good at," said Kim, who walked away with seventh place and $2.39 million dollars. "It hasn't been my life, but I enjoy playing and learning about the game."



Leif Force, a regular at Bodog, finished just shy of the final table in 11th place. FullTiltPoker offered an extra $10 million dollars to any player who qualified on its site and won the main event. Luke Chung made FullTilt sweat a few bullets, eventually finishing 14th for $907,000. PartyPoker's online qualifier Rob Roseman finished 23rd, cashing for $494,000.



A few of 2006's consistent online stars did rise to the occasion. Never one to go quietly, Internet sensation Prahlad Friedman was knocked out in 20th place after getting his money in with the best of it against eventual Champion Jamie Gold. "My buddy told me a tell on Jamie Gold – and it was right on," said Friedman. "I was going to tear him up if I got ahold of chips. I pushed in because I had a dead read on him."



Friedman, 28, a previous WSOP bracelet winner in pot-limit hold'em in 2003, has been a fixture on the Internet for the last few years, and based on his online results, he would have been a force to be reckoned with if he had acquired a formidable stack. Sitting as Mahatma or Spirit Rock online, his over-the-top aggressive play has crushed the highest no-limit hold'em cash games. Friedman is adept at sensing any ounce of weakness and putting all of his opponents' cash at risk. In Phil Gordon's Little Green Book, it's obvious that the section called "Biggest Online Winner" refers to Friedman. "It would be an understatement to say he plays a very sound game. According to the branch of mathematics called game theory, his style is unbeatable," wrote Gordon.



In contrast to the brash style of Friedman, quiet family man Eric (Rizen) Lynch plays a tight-aggressive game that adapts to each situation. Spending 99.9 percent of his time online, Lynch has had a stellar 2006 as a poker professional. Earlier this year he left his job in the corporate computer world to play online full time. That decision would prove fortuitous; he would go on to win a PokerStars Sunday event for $156,000, as well as multiple online tournaments. In his first WSOP event, he made the final table in pot-limit hold'em, eventually finishing third for $104,544. He would follow that success with an astounding 24th-place finish in the main event, which was good for $494,000. It would seem that the rumors are true: Online success can translate over to live play.



"Live players in general tend to play a more weak-tight style of poker, while online players tend to play more loose-aggressive," stated Lynch. "Obviously, it's all dependent on your table, but I tend to be a bit more aggressive live than online, to take advantage of a lot of the tighter players. Also, having live reads can help a ton, and I tend to act on those a lot, so sometimes I'll make some plays that seem a bit more odd live than online. Online, when a guy thinks for 20 seconds, you never know if he's really thinking or just running back from the bathroom, but live, you get to see every movement, which is a huge help."

Bryan (micon) Micon, 63rd in the main event, did bring a taste of Internet madness along with him to the Amazon Room. Micon, a very successful online multitable tournament player as well as a fixture on the irreverent Neverwin poker forum, pushed all in on a deciding hand. He followed with some unusual strategy to entice a call. "I waved a huge red LED donkey sign in the player's face, and did the Michael Jackson Thriller dance," said Micon. "I'm a shameless self-promoter. I also gave the man a pamphlet, Know When to Stop Gambling, during that hand. And it worked." Strange but true, Micon ended up cashing in four WSOP events for more than $207,000.

45 Bracelets Up for Grabs

Many other online players grabbed attention during the marathon that was the total WSOP schedule. Jon (PokerTrip) Friedberg captured event No. 17, $1,000 no-limit hold'em, collecting $526,000 as well as a precious WSOP bracelet. "I went into the event expecting it to be a lot like entering one of the major online tournaments, one of the Sunday events, where you never know what you are going to be up against," said Jon. "Honestly, that's a tougher field to play against, in my opinion, because it's tough to put a read on someone when they don't have a read on themselves."



Ian (Ian J) Johns, 21, won his first bracelet in the $3,000 limit hold'em event, along with $291,755. "I started playing poker online," said Johns. "I've had a few big scores. I won $70,000 in a tournament online once, and I play a lot of cash games."

Internet pros aren't just stuck on playing TV's darling, no-limit hold'em. Alex (Yahtzem) Jacob would make two final tables and cash in four different types of poker games for more than $130,000. Online superstar Jordan (ImsoLucky0) Morgan, Gigabet's pick to have a great Series, made one final table and cashed in four events for more than $127,000.



Many Internet pros came painfully close to victory. Online multitable tournament rebuy madman Nath (Cap'n Jackpot) Pizzolatto took a small chip lead into heads-up play against William Chen, but finished second for $238,000. In the $2,500 pot-limit hold'em event, Maros (Premier) Lechman finished second for more than $197,000. Carl (colson10) Olson cashed in four events and made one final table for a total of $152,000. Josh (sdouble) Schlein made one final table and cashed twice for $104,000, and Jason (Strassa2) Strasser also made one final table and had a hot run in the main event before finishing 169th, cashing twice for more than $182,000. Alan (TheUsher) Sass would finish second in the $5,000 pot-limit hold'em event and cash three times for more than $319,000. Besides making one WSOP final table and cashing three times for a total of $121,000, Corey (muchaka) Cheresnick finished second in a Bellagio Cup II event for $49,000.



One online sit-and-go specialist, Shannon (BLUFFforRENT) Shorr, made a huge splash during his stay in Vegas. The University of Alabama student turned 21 a month before the Series began. He didn't inflict much damage in the WSOP events he entered, cashing twice for $11,248. He was just warming up. The domination that followed would enable Shorr to claim Bellagio as his "home turf" with no dissenters. During the Bellagio Cup II, he cashed four times, securing first place in two events, including the championship, for a total of $1,093,260. These wins, along with a fourth-place finish earlier in the year at the Aussie Millions, have placed Shorr in the running for the Card Player Player of the Year award.



Shorr intends to capitalize on the opportunities poker offers while the game is hot, and seeks to possibly return later to school for a degree in economics or business. "I'm a millionaire at age 21," said Shorr. "It's all still pretty surreal. And I've made a decision regarding school. I will not return to classes. It was the toughest decision of my life. I just feel like I'm in a position right now where I should compete for player of the year. I will have to final table in two more events before I have a chance to pass Mizrachi at the top of the leader board."



Some online stars struggled during the Series. Then again, so did some of the biggest names in live poker. Notables: Shane (shaniac) Schleger cashed only once and confessed to having a miserable Series. San Diego 2006 WSOP Tournament Circuit winner and online legend Darrell (Gigabet) Dicken got off to a good start with a sixth-place finish in the WSOP Tournament of Champions in June, but did not live up to potential during the Series and cashed only twice for a total of $23,000. And outspoken online regular and 2004 bracelet winner Brett (gank) Jungblut cashed in only two Omaha eight-or-better events for just over $11,000.

Vive No Différence
Cliff (JohnnyBax) Josephy, considered by many to be the number one online tournament player in the world, also struggled, cashing only once in the 12 events he competed in. However, as tradition goes for Josephy, he made the final table of a game he'd never played before – razz. "I didn't even know the rules until I was at the table," confessed Josephy. As many will recall, he played in his first-ever seven-card stud event last year, eventually taking home a bracelet and $192,000. This year would not prove to be quite so lucky for him. He finished fourth for $39,000. Not bad. Online or live, Josephy doesn't see much of a difference in the game.



"The play in general at the World Series was kind of crappy," said Josephy. "The same type of play you would see from online players applies live. You have a mix at most of the tables, where you have some strong players and plenty of weak players. Live, I have a better chance to focus, as opposed to when I'm playing four to six multitable tournaments online. You get better reads live, and I won't say that's because you see the people, because I'm working on that part of my live play, but in my case, it's simply focus.



"My main-event table was the weakest table out of all 12 events I played. I had a read on everybody immediately, which was good, of course, until I lost all of my chips unfortunately. But I didn't notice any type of difference. It basically seemed like an online tournament."



Have online professionals got game? It's money in the bank. But it remains that seasoned live professionals hold a distinct edge live, thanks to countless hours logged face to face. Online and live success – the twain shall meet.



Poker is very situation-dependent. Any style of play can win. Yet, online players have brought a fearless, aggressive style to the

game, honed from playing multiple tournaments daily, often simultaneously. Any live player worth his salt will have adapted by now and joined the fun and profits that the Net can offer. If he hasn't, surely he's suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.



There's really not much of a debate anymore regarding live versus online players. Poker is poker. When the dust settles, players who possess a keen intelligence and a hunger to learn, those who can willfully abandon their egos and keep an open mind, will continue to improve their games wherever they play poker. And the play at future WSOP events will be richer for it.