It was quite an August for Michael moneyinbag Aron. To open the 31 day period, the PocketFives.com member and Moderator from Indiana took down the $100 rebuy on PokerStars for $21,000. He was back in the winner’s circle of the event three weeks later, adding another $28,000 to his bankroll. Don’t forget about his final table appearance during the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) in a $216 buy-in Pot Limit Hold’em/Omaha tournament for $26,000. All told, Aron reeled in $130,000 in tournaments that are tracked for the Online Poker Rankings in August.

The online poker world has its eyes focused squarely on the 2009 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), which features 45 events and a blistering $40 million up for grabs. Aron told PocketFives.com that his run could not have come at a better time: “I’m feeling really good. It’s definitely my best month ever by a long shot. I even won a live tournament and got second in the Sunday $109 in the last week of July, so it feels great to be crushing with the WCOOP coming up.” His runner-up performance came in the $109 buy-in $80,000 Guaranteed on PokerStars and was worth $18,000.
On what led to his successful August performance, Aron commented, “I definitely ran really good, but I think I am playing the best I have ever played too. I think I am being more open-minded to trying different plays, trusting my reads more, and playing much better post-flop.” He took down a pair of $100 rebuys over a two-day stretch last month for a total of three wins in the difficult tournament during August. On the event, which boasts a $20,000 guaranteed prize pool, Aron claimed, “It is a really tough tournament to play and everyone plays really well, so you just have to be playing your ‘A game’ the whole time, finding every edge, and running insanely good.”

So what constitutes a successful rebuy strategy? Sit back and wait for hands or be aggressive from the onset? Aron explained his philosophy: “It depends on the mood I am in. Sometimes I will just shove a lot of hands like suited connectors or Broadway hands to try to get a big stack, but other times I sit back. I think it is really important to come out of the rebuy period with a decent-sized stack in this tournament because of how tough it is instead of beginning the second hour with around 5,000.” All told, he made the money in seven $100 rebuy tournaments over the course of August. Past accolades have also included wins in the PokerStars Wednesday Hundred Fifty Grand and Full Tilt $65,000 Guaranteed for $39,000 and $22,000, respectively.

He was part of a chop of a $350 buy-in preliminary event during the Mohegan Sun Summer Showdown and took home $12,000 when first place officially paid $1,000 more. Aron also played in the tournament series’ $2,000 buy-in Main Event, but hit the rails a few hours in. He’s come a long way since he got started in poker. Aron recalled, “I became involved just like everyone else my age. My friends and I saw poker on ESPN and started to play regular home games. Eventually, we started playing online and here we are today.” On why he proceeded to deposit online and take the proverbial leap, Aron recalled, “I guess I wanted to be like the guys on television and make a lot of money.” So far, so good.

His transition to the live poker arena is still a work in progress, as is the case for many of today’s internet players. Aron explained, “It’s easier because the players are, in general, much weaker, but I find myself making tons of mistakes. A lot of the time, I do not think through my decisions thoroughly. I also am probably giving off a few tells and am not good at picking up on live tells. Another problem is that I have trouble putting people on ranges.” The Summer Showdown at Mohegan Sun featured eight events, with $689,000 in the purse for the $2,000 buy-in tournament.

Congratulations to Michael moneyinbag Aron on a lucrative month of August.