Laying claim to second place in the October 18th running of the weekly PokerStars Sunday 500 was PocketFives.com member Tom hitthehole Middleton. A United Kingdom native, Middleton recorded the $64,000 payday two days after his two-year anniversary of signing up for an account on PocketFives.com and joining the online poker community. He’s a fixture in the Online Poker Rankings and sat down with us to relive his journey through the Sunday 500 and recap his burgeoning career.
Middleton entered the final table of the PokerStars Sunday 500 with an average stack and told PocketFives.com that his opponents were playing particularly tight. In a key hand, the action was three-way to a flop of Q-10-X. A player in early position (Bruut99) put in a continuation bet, Ryan HITTHEPANDA Franklin (pictured at left), who took third in the Sunday 500, folded, and Middleton called. The turn was a jack and Middleton check-called a bet from Bruut99. A king hit the river and Middleton once again checked. This time, Bruut99 shoved all-in and Middleton made the call with A-Q for the nuts. He expected to chop, but his foe flipped up pocket sixes for a big bluff.
Five-handed, Middleton came out on the winning end of a coin flip against fellow online poker player Peter number1pen Neff (pictured at right). Middleton held pocket jacks against A-Q and Neff spiked a queen on the flop. However, Middleton hit one of the two remaining jacks in the deck on the turn for the win. In the end, Middleton was the runner-up to PokerStars member McMang, who banked $88,000. He told PocketFives.com that the tournament wrapped up at 10:00am local time in the U.K., so he headed for bed.Last year, Middleton won the Full Tilt Poker $1K Monday for $97,000. In August, he took down the PokerStars $100 Cubed twice in a two-week span, earning a combined $25,000. All told, he banked $160,000 in poker tournaments that are tracked for the Rankings during the first 26 days of October in 45 qualifying cashes, an average of $3,500 each. On how the mammoth Sunday 500 score compared to his $1K Monday win, Middleton commented, “When I won the $1K, I didn’t really play that many of the big tournaments and was a bit of a fluke really, but I’ve had to work really hard and put in lots of volume to get this score.”
Middleton got his start in poker by battling in home games with friends before heading to the local casino to duke it out in the establishment’s £5 rebuy. He’s been on a tear ever since, having won the Titan Poker Friday $100,000 Guaranteed for an even $23,000 in July and recording a deep run in the Full Tilt Poker $750,000 Guaranteed for $15,000. As you might expect, his friends and family have been largely supportive of his poker career: “My parents thought I was wasting my time, but after they saw that I was able to win decent money, they realized there was more to it than luck and are now very supportive. They often use PocketFives.com to check up on my results.”
On the live circuit, he won a £500 buy-in event during the Gala Casinos Poker Tour for £22,000 last December. Ten months prior, he emerged victorious from a field of 142 players in a £200 buy-in event, also on the Gala Tour, for £19,000. He won a $1,000 contest at the Bellagio in June for $18,000, besting Frank Cremen heads-up in a final table that also included Roy Winston.Here’s a look at the results from the October 18th running of the PokerStars Sunday 500:
1. McMang - $88,187
2. hitthehole - $64,072 (hitthehole)
3. HITTHEPANDA - $47,928 (HITTHEPANDA)
4. holdplz - $35,820 (holdplz)
5. #1PEN - $25,225 (number1pen)
6. 1337Gambl0r - $20,180
7. Sykoen - $15,135
8. Bruut99 - $10,090
9. mmoossmmooss - $5,802
Canada
United Kingdom
Costa Rica
Australia
Mexico
Denmark
Russian Federation
Sweden
Brazil
Germany
