Randy nanonoko Lew is one of online poker’s legendary grinders. He was one of the first to figure out the benefits of mass multi-tabling, achieving the famed Supernova Elite status on PokerStars from 2007 to 2010 by 24-tabling six-max No Limit Hold’em cash games. He has turned profits in the seven-figure range and, interestingly, has tended to stick to relatively low-stakes games for someone of his stature – $5/$10 – for most of his poker career.

Known to take on a fun challenge, Lew competed in a unique promotion for PokerStars, which has sponsored him for a couple of years now, at the recently completed 2013 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.

The challenge, in a way, was something with which Lew was quite familiar: multi-tabling. But rather than sit in front of a computer monitor, Lew was tasked with playing five live heads-up matches simultaneously. The setup was clever. Five tables were laid out in a sort of five-petal flower pattern with Lew at the center. He was stationed on a swiveling office chair, which allowed him to sit in one place, and simply rotated to play each hand. Each of his five opponents was situated at the opposite end of the table and each table had its own dealer.

There was nothing in it aside from fun and publicity for Lew, but each of his opponents had a chance to win prizes. Every winner would receive a $700 PokerStars Turbo Championship of Online Poker ticket and, as a bonus, the first player to beat Lew would earn a TAG Heuer watch valued at about $1,500.

Nanonoko lost three of the five matches, beating only Jordan Morgan and Nobbi Tanaka. Arvid Larsson was the first winner, so he received both a TCOOP ticket and the watch, while Mina Harand Pour and Ramon Jaanipene defeated Lew to nab a TCOOP ticket each.

Also joining in the fun was 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Chris Moneymaker (pictured). Moneymaker modified his challenge a bit, limiting himself to just 30 seconds for each decision and allowing his opponents their game of choice. The stakes in this round were ultra-low, with a Bud Light wagered on each match.

Moneymaker drank in the success, winning four of the five matches. Only Andreas “houstonsaft” Meyer was able to beat him. Larsson, Jaanipene, Harand Pour, and Nobbi Zanelca all came up short.

The reaction in the poker community to the live multi-tabling contest was surprisingly mixed. While some on the Two Plus Two forums thought it was “very sick” and “impressive,” others were cynical. Some of the comments:

“Seems kinda attention whoreish to me.”

“This is one of the dumbest ideas ever.”

“That doesn’t look enjoyable for anyone involved.”

In response to the naysayers, poster “TianYuan” wrote, “Some of you people just don’t seem to have any kind of concept of what being a sponsored professional entails… This is completely harmless, kinda cute, and perfectly fine promotional content.”

This wasn’t the first time Lew participated in a poker challenge at the PCA. Last year, in the weeks leading up to the series, it was announced that he would attempt to set a Guinness World Record at the poker festival, but it was up to the poker community to decide what needed to be accomplished. In the end, he was tasked with playing the most number of hands in an eight-hour period while finishing in the black.

He pulled it off, but by the narrowest of margins. Sitting in a cavernous room with his usual setup of two monitors and 24 PokerStars tables, Lew played 23,493 hands in eight hours (2,936 per hour), finishing with a profit of just $7.65. As he got closer to the time limit, he closed tables one at a time to try to preserve his profit. But, as luck would have it, he was dealt aces near the end. Despite railbirds telling him to fold and be happy with the record, Lew decided he had to play the hand and fortunately won to get his name in the record books.

What do you think? Was this is a clever idea or not? Would you want to see more live multi-tabling? Leave a comment here and let us know.

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