Look Out: Taylor Von Kriegenbergh

Taylor Von Kriegenbergh is a recent graduate of UMass Lowell and a Stoneham, Massachusetts, native who has made a big splash in tournament poker in early 2011. Thanks to his first major-tournament victory at the World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Showdown, Von Kriegenbergh now leads the Card Player 2011 Player of the Year (POY) race with 3,560 points, just a few years after he first started playing the game with friends.

Von Kriegenbergh made a number of revealing statements after his victory in Florida. He was gracious: “My success is clearly 100 percent attributed to luck. That’s how I’ve gotten here. I’m very lucky, I have good karma, and the cards fell my way.” He also showed a deep connection with a family member who is no longer with him, and friends, one of whom staked him for 10 percent in Florida. “My dad passed away almost a year ago, and I think he is my guardian angel and is taking care of me. He was my best friend, and now he is looking down from up above. He’s my higher power,” said Von Kriegenbergh. He went on to say, “I really love that tonight, I was given the chance to change multiple lives, not just my own. My friend makes $10 an hour, and now I can give him $100,000. That feels great. Making other people happy makes me happy.”

He topped a field of 433 players in Hollywood, Florida, and his battle to win $1,122,340 was its toughest at the final table, which took close to 12 hours and 220 hands to finish. He increased his career tournament earnings to $1,318,340 with the victory.

The win was the fourth cash of the year for Von Kriegenbergh, as well as for his career, and they all have come since March 10. That was when he made his first final table, taking fourth place in a field of 417 players in the main event of The Big Event, to take home $140,000 and 960 POY points. “It was a dream come true to go head-to-head with these legends of poker (fellow final-table contestants Joe Hachem and Victor Ramdin). Of course, I would have loved beating them, but coming in fourth and taking home $140,000 is nothing to complain about,” wrote Von Kriegenbergh in a guest column for the Stoneham Patch after the cash.

He also wrote, “I have a lot of learning to do in the game of poker.” That learning curve seemed to be on an accelerated track as he continued to be successful in April at the North American Poker Tour Mohegan Sun tournament series, where he finished 18th in the main event (for $12,000) and fifth in the bounty shootout (for $44,000).
A few months ago, no one in the tournament world knew who he was, and now he sits at the top of it. It goes without saying that he is a player to watch in 2011, and if he continues his current torrid pace, he might claim the Player of the Year title as a tournament rookie. ♠