Alex 'AJKHoosier1' Kamberis Claims Online Poker's Highest Honor

Hoosiers are known for their skills in the gym, but it has been a while since that storied program has been at the top of the rankings. It seems that these days, the university is busy churning out superstars on the felt rather than on the hardwood. Bloomington, Indiana, resident Alex Kamberis picked up Texas hold'em in high school, but really got his feet wet during his first year of college. The competitive freshman jumped on PokerStars, and before long was winning with regularity.

Like many young online professionals, Kamberis decided to take a timeout from school to focus on the game. That short break turned into a hiatus of almost three years as Kamberis found more and more success.

To put it bluntly, Kamberis, who finished 66th in the race last year, caught fire in 2008 and increased his lifetime earnings to more than $2 million. Kamberis started off his year with a couple of five-figure scores in the big rebuy events, but it took until the summer for the 22-year-old to cash big. His runner-up finish in the Full Tilt $750,000 guaranteed was good for $134,895, and he was just getting started.

Numerous final tables later, Kamberis had narrowly taken the Online Player of the Year (OPOY) lead, and the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker would give him the lead for good. The main event boasted the largest prize pool of the year, and before the tournament had ended, the ruthless Kamberis had secured himself nearly $800,000.

Card Player spoke to the 2008 Online Player of the Year to discuss his accomplishment and what it means to him.

Julio Rodriguez: Can you talk about the volume of play that's necessary to compete for the OPOY title?

Alex Kamberis: Early in the year, I had a very packed online multitable tournament schedule. I played just about every Sunday, most Monday through Wednesday nights, and most Saturday afternoons. I played almost all of the major tournaments, along with some of the medium-sized tourneys that didn't even qualify for the OPOY. I'd estimate that at my peak, I was playing about 40 hours per week. Nowadays, I try to play only on Sundays, with the occasional night or two during the week.

Online tournaments are definitely a serious grind. Once you fire up a tournament or two, you can't leave the computer until those tournaments are over. This can be especially frustrating when you're playing tournaments over a variety of buy-ins and bust out of the bigger ones, only to have to stay and grind out the small ones. A full Sunday schedule, depending on how much I spend in the big rebuy events, typically costs me between $5,000 and $6,000.

JR: A lot was made of your chop at the WCOOP. You were the top player in the Card Player rankings at the time, and you brought it up to your competitors during the negotiation.

AK: I was attempting to negotiate such a ridiculously large pay jump that I figured it couldn't hurt to bring up my ranking. A couple of the players knew me, and the others were low-stakes players who didn't have much experience in that situation. I figured any kind of edge that this extra intimidation could give me was worth bringing up.

I negotiated an extra $120,000. Frankly, with that kind of money on the line, I don't care if I came across as cocky.

JR: What makes a better online tournament player - a few huge scores, or a smaller, more consistent, positive return on investment over a long period of time?

AK: Well, there is a difference between having great results and being a great player. Given some of the huge prize pools nowadays, it definitely doesn't take more than a big score or two to have some impressive, albeit misleading, statistics. To really become a great player, it takes a lot of hard work and dedication. Results aren't necessarily an indicator of how well someone actually plays. There are far worse players than me with better results, and likely far better players with worse results. That's just the way it is.

JR: What do the rankings mean to the overall online community?

AK: In general, I'm not too sure how much the rankings mean. Without naming the specific sites in question, I can say that some are strongly volume-based, some are subjective, and some are just ridiculous. This might sound biased, but I feel like Card Player's OPOY garners the most respect amongst the community, because it's based on a completely objective system regarding only the biggest tournaments online. Of course, it helps that two of the best online tournament players have won, in myself and Isaac "WestmenloAA" Baron.

JR: What was your proudest moment of the year?

AK: I think it has to be the WCOOP. That was clearly the only tournament I've ever played that truly changed my life. I was incredibly disappointed not to win, and it's hard to imagine that my greatest tournament so far was a third place, but to make a run like that in the biggest online tournament ever, despite running pretty bad at the final two tables … It was an incredible feeling once it finally set in. Not to mention the fact that I typed my way to another $120,000, which I was also fairly proud of. Other than that, winning the $200 rebuy for the third time was a pretty strong accomplishment. That's probably one of the toughest tournaments to beat online.

JR: Is poker still a passion for you? Do you play because you love the game, or has it become work?

AK: Lately, I've lost a lot of passion for the grind of tournament play. I feel like I've accomplished just about everything I wanted to, and am now just playing for the money. That is one of the reasons, amongst many, why I've been putting in far less volume lately. I'm going back to school next semester, and frankly, it seems to be coming at the perfect time. Poker will obviously always have some place in my life, but thankfully I have a lot going on in my life outside of the game to keep me occupied when my motivation to win isn't quite what it should be.

The next step for me in poker is to try to become a winning player in the high-stakes cash games and to finally book a major live-tournament win. I realize that for most people, these are goals that are never accomplished, so I try to keep a level head. I will always be grateful for what poker has already given me. I've accomplished more in a shorter period of time than I ever imagined possible, and I'm incredibly proud of that.

JR: Finally, what does it mean to you to be 2008's best online player?

AK: The great thing about this award is that it's permanent. Whether or not I play or win another poker tournament for the rest of my life, I will always hold this title. All of the other ranking systems are constantly changing and being updated. The OPOY is something that no one can ever take from me, and that is something I can look to years from now as a point of pride in my career. For the second half of the year, this was really my main goal, and despite a couple of scary runs by some great players on my heels, I really made it happen. It really is very rewarding, and always will be.

Kamberis on Winning

Admittedly, Alex Kamberis has trouble defining his playing style. "Players can win with any style, really," said Kamberis. "I am far tighter than a lot of top players, but then again, I am probably looser than some. The sign of a great player is that he can change gears, not just stay hyperaggressive or be consistently tight. The way your table plays should always dictate the way you play. Being stubborn has no place in tournament poker."

Since any playing style can win, Kamberis was asked what three common characteristics all winning players share. He replied, "Intelligence, willingness to learn, and fearlessness." He expanded a bit on being able to play like no one is watching. "Something that I've said to a lot of poker players before is, 'If you never look stupid, you're probably pretty stupid.' In other words, if you don't have the guts to go with your reads and make a crazy play every now and then, you're probably not a very good player. Obviously, you are going to be wrong sometimes, but poker is a game of incomplete information. There is no way to know what the other guy has. A lot of players suffer from being once bitten, twice shy. They get caught once making a play, and from that point on, they end up playing straightforward ABC poker. Eventually, all world-class players learn to just trust their instincts, and the fear of looking foolish is no longer a factor."