Recently, longtime PocketFiver Ari Engel grabbed a win in a $1,000 buy-in Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em event held during the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit stop at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. The field was capped at 64 players and, in the end, Engel won eight heads-up matches en route to a $22,000 payday. The win marked the second WSOP Circuit ring for the poker veteran. The other came in 2007, when he won a $300 buy-in event at Caesars Atlantic City for $63,000. A teacher of the game and former Triple Crown winner right here on PocketFives.com, Engel gave us the inside scoop on his heads-up superiority.

Fellow PocketFiver Scott dorinvandy Dorin (pictured at left) was his opponent in the best of three semi-finals. Dorin won a $10,300 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament held during the 2008 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) for $617,000. He has also taken down the Sunday Second Chance. On some of his opponents along the way, Engel commented, “I played against Jason Young and Doug Lee. Those guys I kind of knew. I recognized Dorin and figured he’d be playing really aggressively. In the second round, I played against a 50 year-old middle-aged guy. He outplayed me big time and I just got lucky. I go by stereotypes a little bit, but you get in a lot of hands heads-up. By the end of each match, I had a fair read on everyone. As an online poker player, I can adapt more.”

None of the top four finishers in the event were over the age of 25. Also falling in the semi-finals in the event was PocketFiver John $JMONEY$ Racener. Both Dorin and Racener added $7,449 to their bankrolls from the tournament.

Last May, Engel finished third in a $2,000 buy-in Borgata Deep Stack tournament for $120,000. In February, he finished sixth in the $5,000 Main Event of the WSOP Circuit stop in Council Bluffs for $18,000. His live tournament selection, however, is limited to events that do not include Saturdays, when Engel takes a respite from the game. He told PocketFives.com, “I don’t play any poker on Saturdays, which cuts me out of a lot of live events. I end up playing online a vast majority of the time even though my live ROI is way higher. I’ve done phenomenally well live over a much smaller sample.” This year, his sister is getting married during the WSOP Main Event. Consequently, Engel will be headed to Israel for the wedding. However, you can expect to find him prior to the trip at the Rio playing in non-Saturday events.

In the finals, Engel defeated Adam White by winning two of three heads-up matches. The final hand of the night saw Engel’s K-10 outrace White’s pocket eights when Engel ended up with two pair. Engel admitted, “He outplayed me and I got lucky. It was best of three and we each won one. In the final game, blinds got high and we had six showdowns in the last 15 minutes.” The final showdown, however, gave Engel the win.

The PocketFiver signed up for the site way back in September of 2005 and is a former number one player in the Online Poker Rankings. Recent online achievements have included a third place effort in the Sunday Million in February for $84,000 and a final table appearance in the Sunday 500 last month for $26,000.

Now, he spends a considerable amount of time training new students of the game alongside fellow PocketFiver David The Maven Chicotsky (pictured at right). Their students have had a considerable amount of success both live and on the virtual felts. Engel is extremely passionate about imparting his poker knowledge and explained, “My goal is getting as many of my students to do well as possible. Their success could be judged by the PocketFives.com Rankings, live scores, or any other kind of measure. The people I get myself involved with become poker pros and have a significant amount of success. I’d like to keep up that record and it’s a lot of work.” His partner in crime, Chicotsky, took down the Absolute Poker $100,000 Guaranteed in February for $28,000 and is a three-time Triple Crown winner, taking home titles in September, October, and December of last year.

On the expansion of his live game, Engel told PocketFives.com that he’s very selective: “I’ve always been a nit away from the tables, so I do game select a lot. I flew out to Iowa and played in the $5,000 Council Bluffs event because it had a super weak field. Even though I live in Las Vegas, I like to go other places to play. The tournaments feel way more lucrative in places like Council Bluffs and Tunica.” Congratulations from all of us here at PocketFives.com to Ari Engel for winning his second WSOP Circuit championship ring.