Look Out With Chris DeMaci

Christopher DeMaci was the chip leader heading into day 4 of the PokerStars North American Poker Tour Los Angeles $5,000 no-limit hold’em main event, and then things got crazy for him. Shortly after play began at 1 p.m., a late-arriving Micah Raskin (second in chips at the time) raised preflop, and DeMaci reraised.

Raskin made the call, and the two biggest chip stacks in the tournament saw a J♣ 10♣ 10♦ flop. Raskin checked, and DeMaci bet 181,000. Raskin raised to 400,000, and DeMaci reraised to 725,000. Raskin made the call, and the turn was the A♠. Raskin quickly moved all in — for 1,366,000! DeMaci went into the tank for several minutes to ponder his decision. He eventually made the call after a large crowd had gathered, and the two players flipped over their cards. Raskin held the 6♠ 6♣, and DeMaci the A♥ 10♠. The river brought the 3♦, and DeMaci won a big pot.

This hand resulted in Raskin being eliminated in 19th place. DeMaci had 6 million in chips after the hand, and he ended the night with a little more than that to take a dominant chip lead to the final table.

At that final table, DeMaci wasn’t able to hold off a charge by professional Joe Tehan, who eliminated each and every one of his seven final-table opponents en route to winning his second major title. DeMaci finished second, but impressed many with his play in the strong field.

DeMaci grabbed the chip lead on day 3, and didn’t relinquish it until late at the final table. “I had a couple of dream spots; besides that, I played a lot of pots post-flop in position to grab chips. The end of day 1 was a roller-coaster ride for me. I had 200,000, then in 30 minutes I had 35,000, and then I doubled up to 70,000, and kept climbing from there,” said DeMaci.

DeMaci won $440,000 and 1,600 Card Player 2010 Player of the Year points for his best-ever live showing. His largest live cash previously was $98,933 for a 2009 World Series of Poker final-table appearance in a $1,500 no-limit hold’em event that attracted 2,818 players.

He increased his career tournament earnings to $1,373,746 with the NAPT runner-up finish, but he also has enjoyed great success online. He currently is in 120th place in the POY standings, but is in 73rd place in the Card Player Online Player of the Year standings. He plays online under the screen name “RuberbandMan.”
The 27-year-old professional poker player lives in Newport Beach, California. He has earned more than a million dollars in online MTTs [multitable tournaments]. He started playing poker with buddies in high school, and was hooked after he saw the movie Rounders. As he continues to make the transition from online to live play, and gains experience at television final tables, he could be a threat in future POY races. ♠