If you take a look up and down the PocketFives.com Online Poker Rankings, one name that stands out is Johan busto_soon Van Til. The top-ranked player in the Netherlands, Van Til has quietly rocketed up to #12 overall worldwide. Van Til is ranked 19th in the PLB and 13th in the PocketFives Pro Poll. He’s had wins in just about every rebuy tournament that I can name, solidifying him as one of the top names in all of online poker. He’s been playing for the last three years and sat down with PocketFives.com to share some insight into his poker background as well as how poker is viewed in his home country.
Each of us began our climb up the poker ladder in a different way. Some started the minute Chris Moneymaker won the 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event after qualifying on PokerStars. Others began long before that, taught by family members when they were young. Van Til explains how the doorway to poker was opened for him: “I started out almost three years ago in home games and quickly began playing online. I immediately liked the strategic and mathematical nature of poker. I like to solve and optimize things. I still find it fun to apply that to poker problems.”
Van Til has absolutely dominated rebuy tournaments. After all, if he goes “busto,” it’s very easy to get back into the game. In June, he took down the $200 rebuy on PokerStars for $40,680. He also has multiple wins in the $100 and $50 rebuys on that online poker room. On his strategy in rebuy tournaments, Van Til commented, “I gamble to at least double my stack at the end of the hour. It depends on the size of the field, though, how much I'm willing to gamble. There is no need to spew too much if there are just 150 runners.”
Other big wins online for Van Til include a $36,366 cash for winning the $300 buy-in $90,000 Guaranteed on Full Tilt Poker in May. In March, he finished second in the Sunday Warm-Up on PokerStars for over $50,000. When asked what tournament he looks forward to every week, Van Til remarked, “I like the $1K's, mainly because I haven't had a lot of success in them, so they are a challenge (although I did win the Absolute Poker $1K). Other than that, I like any high-stakes six-max tournament.” His win in the Absolute Poker $100K Pro Bounty was worth $32,700.
Online, Van Til is a major force. In July, he cashed for nearly $50,000 in tournaments that are tracked for the PocketFives.com Rankings. In live play, he cashed in the 2008 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, but remarked that live play was still a focus of his poker education: “I'm going to play a lot of live events the next couple of months. The extremely slow pace of live poker compared to online poker is something I want to learn how to deal with.” Van Til finished 101st in the PCA and cashed for $16,000.
Online poker is viewed differently across the world. In some countries, it’s embraced. In others, it’s outlawed entirely. Van Til describes how poker is viewed in the Netherlands, “Poker is quite popular in the Netherlands, but mainly among younger people.” Across the world, he’s attracted the respect of his peers. He told PocketFives.com whose game he respects: “The most complete player is without a doubt Isaac mr. Menlo Baron. As far as multi-table tournament specialists, Alex AJKHoosier1 Kamberis and Chris Moorman1 Moorman play a really consistent winning game. Also, I have to mention Dan djk123 Kelly, who probably has the best pre-flop game of anyone online.”
Congratulations to Johan busto_soon Van Til for his 12th place ranking. Look out for this Dutch superstar at an online poker table near you.
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