By
Tracy
As many of you already know, we are now featuring a weekly article spotlighting top online players from a different country, state, or city. For our second installment in the Sortable Rankings Closer Look, I wanted to take a gander at the state where it all began. If you haven’t already guessed, I’m talking about the great state of Texas. The official birthplace of Texas Hold’em has produced many great PocketFives.com members, as well as top ranked online players. Within the top 10 in Texas, there are four ranked in the P5s top 100, many successful live players, and a P5s site moderator.
Number one on our list is Jeff “jeffbeesdat” Gray (pictured upper right). This San Antonio resident is ranked #43 in the P5s rankings and has many successful finishes over the years. In the last few months, Gray has final tabled 16 times, including pocketing $60k with his 4th place finish in a Stars Sunday Million. About a month after this 4th place finish, he placed 6th in the same tournament, taking over $52k. His trip to this year’s WSOP also produced some good results, as he cashed for $5,250 in Event #28 and $3,011 in Event 49. Since May 20th, Gray has taken home $195k.
Jeff was really excited when asked about the new Sortable Rankings Console and had this to say: "I think the sortable rankings are a great idea. This system provides a good measuring stick that garners interest and debate on the state and city level. I really hope that this system spawns some state to state contests and rivalries. Even with the loss of Waco and Mattg, I think Texas still holds its own vs. any state in terms of MTT talent. I would like nothing more than to play alongside the likes of apestyles, scarface, and Randers in such a contest."
Speaking of apestyles (pictured left), the second ranked Texan is an extremely consistent winner and valued P5s member moderator, who lets his play at the tables do all the talking for him. His greatest cash came last year in the $500 buy in Sunday Million, where he took 2nd place for $135k. This Summer, he cashed for $30k by taking 2nd place in the Stars $200 Rebuy. Within the last year of online play, P5s has him tracked at over $520k in cashes. His ability to get the job done has aided him in at times achieving a top ten ranking and currently being ranked #36.
Jordan “scarface_79” Smith comes in at #3 in the Texas rankings and had this to say about our new Sortable Rankings Console: “I think the sortable rankings are a great idea and neat to play around with. It's interesting to see where different players are from.” Smith has just as much consistency playing live as he does online. At the WSOP this year, he managed to cash in five different events for a total of over $30k. His best ’07 WSOP cash came in his 10th place finish in the $2,000 Pot Limit Hold’em for close to $11k. Smith’s online success includes over $80k in a chop of the Sunday Million on Stars in the Summer of 2006 and a 2nd place finish in an FTOPS event on Full Tilt for more than $24k. Smith also has a recent win in a Stars $100 Rebuy for over $27k and is ranked #59 on our site.
Our next Texan, Nathanial “CapnJackpot” Pizzolatto (pictured right), sits at the 92nd spot in the P5s rankings and 4th in his state. Nath had a spectacular run in last year’s WSOP $2,500 Short Handed No Limit Hold’em, when he took 2nd place for over $230k. When asked about the Sortable Rankings, he told me, “I really like the sortable rankings and regional rankings. I think it gives you both an idea of how you compare as a player in your location as well as who the other tournament players in your area are that you may not have known of before. Personally, I’m pretty pleased to be near the top of such a big state among some really tough competition.” Pizzolatto is near the top because of a lot of online poker success, which includes a recent 1st in the UltimateBet $200k Guaranteed for $45k and a 1st in the Stars Nightly Hundred Grand.
Randers has the 5th position in Texas and is a frequent p5s forum poster. This Houston native has some very impressive cashes on FullTilt, Stars, and Party Poker. At the beginning of the year, Randers took home over $45k in the Full Tilt $200k and has recently taken over $27k in a Stars Nightly Hundred Grand. When asked about his thoughts on our Sortable Rankings, “I think it’s a great idea and love how PocketFives keeps the spotlight on online players. I am very appreciative of the site and am obviously a frequent visitor.”
Phwap, from Fort Worth, has many nice cashes and is ranked 6th in his state. Phwap has been known to play many of the high buy in tournaments and often finishes deep in them. His best P5s tracked cash came in the UltimateBet $200k, where he placed 2nd and was rewarded $27k. Not too far from this total, he also took over $25k and $23k with wins in a Stars $100 rebuy and $300 freezeout.
Batara, ranked 7th in Texas, has had some big scores recently. In the last month, Batara was able to take a huge first in the Stars Sunday Second Chance for over $51k and followed it up not long after with a win in the Absolute $150k. He also has three other cashes over $10k in the last 30 days to give him a total of over $150k in cashes.
Eighth ranked dwd also has some inspiring scores to aid in his Texas ranking. About a year ago, dwd succeeded triumphantly in a 1st place finish on Full Tilt for over $53k. Lately, dwd has had some more good scores on Full tilt, taking 3rd in their Fifty-Fifty for almost $5k.
Brian “ZBTHorton” Horton and Josh “pairDboard21” Evans (pictured right) rank 9th and 10th respectively in their state and have a lot of talent. ZBTHorton has engaged in mostly lower limit games around the average $50 buy ins, recently winning a FullTilt $11k Guaranteed for almost $4k and placing 3rd on their $22k for over $3k. Evans has made a good amount of money this year, both online and live. At this year’s WSOP, he went far enough to make himself over $100k, while a month before he took 2nd in the $500 No Limit Hold’em of the 2007 Venetian Deep Stack in Las Vegas for almost $50k. Evans has earned himself over $165k this year that we have tracked online and has made about the same amount in live play.
Congrats, to all of the top 10 ranked P5ers in the state of Texas. We look forward to your future success and wish you the best of luck. Stay tuned in for next week’s article, and maybe you can see yourself on the front page of PocketFives.com. Be sure to check out where you stand in the ranks of your country, state, or city at P5s Sortable Rankings.