When player profiles first started appearing on Ladbrokes’ poker forum I was fascinated by them. Because I was playing mostly online, I was starved of information about my opponents. I remember how depressed I was at the vast numbers of players who would report, offhand, about how they had won the $100k guaranteed a couple of times. I would coo at how good these players must be, and was green with envy about how matter-of-fact it all seemed to them.
Dear Dr. Tom,
I picked up pocket fours in middle position in an aggressive 5/5 No Limit Hold 'em game. I called a $20 raise and three players behind me also called the raise.
Since the early 1990s when future Vice President Al Gore emerged from his secret bunker in the hills of Kentucky and dropped the Internet in the laps of the American youth there seems to be two constants; first, it’s now ridiculously easy to ruin the life of your ex-girlfriend, and second, really fucking smart kids are dropping out of college to get crazy rich.
JC Tran has been steering an unstoppable hurricane across the green baize over the past year, picking up a WSOP bracelet and (finally) a WPT title in the process.