Apestylin’, apwnage, Ape Fu, there are many names for the display of poker talent Jon Van Fleet put on last month, but quite simply it was just astounding. Jon, better known to us as apestyles (pictured with pinksock), and his partner mig.com beat out nineteen other teams of top players to win the August PLB challenge. Along the way apestyles captured not one, but two Triple Crowns. The first week of September has been no different. He already has $60k in cashes as well as an 18k Aussie millions package from Full Tilt Poker. The apwnage continues, and speaking for those who like to watch great poker, we appreciate it. <READMORE>

The August PLB challenge was a prop bet proposed by stpauli111 and he was quickly joined by a who’s who of online poker. The bet consisted of a 1k buy in per team member and the winner was decided by combining the top twenty scores for each player from the Pocketfives Monthly Leaderboard. The challenge drew 20 teams by the July 30th deadline, putting $40k in the pool with an 80/20 split going to the top two teams. Not the most money any of these players have played for, but with bragging rights on the line as well, it was a pretty sweet pot indeed.

The month started out fast and furious with everyone putting up a large volume of results, with some very impressive scores. Annette_15 set the bar pretty high when she took down the Full Tilt 500k for $117,000 and 800 PLB points on August 5th, but this contest was to be about volume and endurance, not one big result. There were a number of very competitive teams, but two teams separated themselves from the pack. Number1pen/SCTrojans and apestyles/mig.com were neck and neck going into the last few days of August. The two teams traded places a few times over the last week as they one-upped each other by adding a new score to their top 20 for the month.

In the end SCTrojans and number1pen had to “tap out” and apestyles and mig.com finished out an amazing month of heated competition in first place. In addition to the satisfaction of beating such a talented field ape and mig.com split $32k in prize money. This star studded contest produced enough stories for a series of articles, but it’s time to get back to the matter at hand: Apestylin’ Appreciated.

This past month Ape displayed an incredible ability to close out his tourneys when he went deep. Out of 26 final tables he finished in the top three 17 times and flat out won nine tournaments. That’s over three times better than the “average player”, which is a term that does not even belong on the same page as apestyles. Of course, you would never hear him saying something like that. When I asked him about the thread that inspired the title of this article he said, “I was actually a little embarrassed by that. The recognition is great, but I do this for a living.”

For the first time that he can remember, apestyles pro poll ranking is well below his PLB score ranking. This is perhaps due to his recent surge in PLB due to the August challenge since the Pro Poll lags behind the automated results, but ape isn’t too worried about it. His take on the current standings is, “I’m not going to be offended by great players being ranked ahead of me. I think there are players who have put up stronger results than I have.”

Apestyles wasn’t all modesty however, “When I’m on my A game I can’t think of very many mistakes that I make. I think I close very well. I’m playing great poker right now, and I’m loving the game again.” I asked him to tell me a little bit about what his A game looks like, and apestyles replied, “I just abuse the situations and accumulate chips without showing down hands. If the stacks ahead of me have 30-40bbs it’s easier for me to open raise because they are not going to be shoving 30bbs. I like to pick on certain players and I’m just relentless. If someone reshoves on me I don’t let up, I keep pounding away. If I see that I can’t run over someone I’ll back off and let him come to me. You have to have situational awareness.”

Despite his recent success and impressive resume, apestyles doesn’t claim to have it all figured out, “I’m constantly learning. I feel like my deepstack play has really improved, and I’ve been learning a lot about that lately. I look back to a year ago or three years back, when I thought I was awesome and laugh. I can always get better.” Apestyles getting better is a pretty scary thought, but it is one we may have to come to terms with. The great thing about that is he makes those around him better too.

As a frequent contributor to the poker discussion at Pocketfives, apestyles is very generous with poker advice. “I never would be where I am now without advice from quality players like Rizen, or BeL0WaB0Ve, or many others. It’s only right to give back what I’ve gotten,” apestyles said. Some people are wary about the top players sharing their strategies so freely, but apestyles isn’t too worried. “Even if I give away a lot and try to help people a lot I think it’s kind of a Karma thing. I also don’t think it will hurt my bottom line ever. Unless everyone all of a sudden becomes world class, I’ll make plenty of money.”

Apestyles has really been focusing of late, not just for the PLB challenge, but on poker in general and life in particular. He came back from Vegas, where he was “basically drunk the whole time” and took a hard look at how he was living. “At the World Series I’d start drinking a few hours into a tourney, because I was bored. I don’t think it helped my results. I have a new rule, I don’t drink at all while I play, and I also don’t drink the day before a major event.” Cutting out alcohol isn’t the only change apestyles has made recently. He has also been exercising a lot more and eating well.

“I’ve been lifting weights a lot as well as biking and just working out. I’ve also been eating terrible things like vegetables, lean meat, and crap like that. I’ve got a whole new outlook on food. I eat to make myself feel good,” apestyles says about his new habits. “I get up, work out in the morning, eat, play poker, go to bed and repeat. I’m pretty boring these days,” Ape said with a laugh. For those who know Ape well, I want to reassure you that you haven’t lost your drinking buddy altogether. He still knows how to have a good time and he hasn’t joined a cult, he’s just taking care of himself a little bit. I think we can let him get away with that.

Apestyles joked that his workout regimen was to “look good for my Aruba final table.” He laughed, but the way he has been playing I would not be at all surprised to see him there. He has risen to the top in online poker and it won’t be long before Jon Van Fleet is known as well as “apestyles” is today online. “Three years ago I was watching the travel channel and dreaming that maybe I could do that someday. Now I watch those and half the guys at the final table I know. Pretty soon that’ll be me,” apestyles said about his goals in the live arena.

In his Pocketfives Scouting report, we describe apestyles as a “classy and valuable member of the Pocketfives community.” Apestyles would like to set the record straight that he is in no way classy, but rather can usually be found, as he put it, “sitting in my underwear eating cheetos.” While it may take me some time to wipe that image out of my mind, I will say that apestyles’ contributions here at Pocketfives are invaluable and he is the epitome of class. Not the kind that depends on what you wear or who your friends are, but the kind that shows in your words, your actions, and how you treat the people around you. Stay Classy Ape.
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