Calistri's Corner

No.  I’m not going postal or exacting my revenge against online players because of a bad beat.  But back in ‘04 I’m sure there were a number of veteran poker pros that fantasized about that idea.  Back then, the pros viewed most online players as the unwashed masses; nameless and unpredictable landmines in their once familiar terrain.

In the pre-boom poker days, it took a pro a long time to rack up experience on the felt.  Pros had to rely on a pretty thin B&M schedule to log in their time.  A player like Mike Matusow was considered a phenom playing in his first WSOP in 1997 (finishing 2nd in the $2K O8 event) and scoring his first bracelet by 1999.  Most players just didn’t come up the curve that fast.  And a track record like Ivey’s - making two final tables, including his first bracelet, in his WSOP debut performance  - was almost unheard of.  

But online poker changed the time/experience paradigm for tournament poker; providing a faster path and learning curve for players.  By 2005, most of the older pros realized they weren’t up against a sea of uneducated reckless players - they were up against some tough younger players who had already paid their dues on the (albeit virtual) felt.  And for the pros that haven’t learned that lesson, there are players like Jason Strasser that are going to be able to take advantage of them. 

I thought I’d spend a few posts talking about some of these online players that I’ve bumped into in the field lately - many who have made the transition from the online world to the B&M tournament circuit look easy.  And ya.  It’s just another excuse to post a few more pictures.

Jason “strassa2″ Strasser:  Strasser might have been able to keep his B&M anonymity a little longer if he hadn’t been one of the Day 2 chip leaders during the 2006 WSOP Championship Event.  Strasser cashed four times in the 2006 WSOP, including a final table finish in a $1500 NLHE event.  And while I can’t pin down a total online dollar figure for the kid, just after the WSOP, he won PokerStars’ WCOOP Event #10 for a sweet $442,440.  The picture above was taken at the LA Poker Classic this year where he scored a solid 12th place finish.

Shannon Shorr had not played a live tournament prior to 2006.  In January 2006 he went down under and scored 4th place in the Crown Australian Poker Championship and never looked back.  In June 2006 he made back-to-back final tables in Tahoe WSOP Circuit events.  He won both a preliminary event and the main event at the Bellagio Cup II.  When 2006 was all said and done, Shorr had racked up enough cashes to make it into the top five of the Player of the Year list.  The above picture was taken recently in Las Vegas where he logged in a 21st place finish at the WSOP Circuit Championship at Caesars.

Cliff Josephy aka Johnny Bax has been a consistent MTT online staple; amassing well over $600K in his online tenure. He blew any chance of keeping his identity a secret when he entered a 2005 WSOP Stud event on a whim and won it. Josephy finished second in Aruba last year. The picture above was taken at the WPT Championship last month.

Cory Carroll aka UGOTPZD might have been a relative unknown when the Caesars WSOP Circuit event started just over a week ago, but now that he took home the ring he pretty much outted himself to the the B&M crowd. Savvy players like Shaniac and Gavin Smith were already onto Caroll’s prowess - I guess they’d seen Cory’s signature arrow in a final table chat box more than a few times.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 9th, 2007 at 5:59 am and is filed under Uncategorized.