In the 14th event of the recent Ultimate Bet Online Championship (UBOC), California PocketFives.com member Taylor taypaur Paur came out on top, padding his pockets with $125,000 in cash. The $1,050 buy-in affair nearly doubled its $300,000 guarantee, as 511 players turned out. Paur outlasted a final table chalk-full of PocketFives.com members and sits comfortably near the top of the Online Poker Rankings. We sat down with Paur following his win to get his take on the rock solid field.The $125,000 score marked Paur’s second six-figure payday. His first came back in November after chopping the $300 rebuy Six-Max event held as part of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS). Comparing the two giant scores, Paur told PocketFives.com, “I thought I played better in this tournament than in the $300 rebuy, but the FTOPS was my first really big score, so I would say that one was a little bit more satisfying.” However, no chop was orchestrated in the UBOC tournament.
Russell rcrane082985 Crane, Grayson gray31 Ramage, JCMags, Kevin BeL0WaB0Ve Saul (pictured at left), and Joe McGuire represented just a handful of the players who also reached the final table of UBOC Event #14. On how he survived the gauntlet of talent, Paur told us, “I had a pretty good table position throughout, which helped. Crane gave me the hardest time because most of the table played pretty passively and the other aggressive players at the final table busted early.” Upon winning, a lively thread in Poker Discussion erupted.He also credits “the good structure that they have allowing for more play both pre-flop and post-flop” as helping him navigate the 511-player field. Here’s how the final table shook out:
1. TAZED1SPURR - $125,195 (taypaur)
2. A2STEAKSAUCE - $76,650
3. JPP5039 - $52,378
4. RCRANE082985 - $35,770 (rcrane082985)
5. LUVCUPCAKES - $29,383
6. BEAREATBEET - $24,273 (gray31)
7. SJMAGS - $19,163 (JCMags)
8. BEL0WAB0VE - $14,053 (BeL0WaB0Ve)
9. DATNOOCAJOE - $9,965 (Joe McGuire)
In November, Paur won the PokerStars $100 rebuy for $36,000. Other recent scores include a runner-up showing in the PokerStars $50,000 Guaranteed for $14,000 in January, a fourth place finish in the Wednesday Quarter Million for $21,000 in December, and a win in the Full Tilt Poker $35,000 Guaranteed one month prior. In 2008, he chopped an event held as part of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) for $85,000.
All told, Paur has amassed $570,000 in tournaments that are tracked for the Rankings since October 1st and at the time of writing, he sits at #20 worldwide, up 13 spots on the week. On his skills on the felt, he explained, “The mathematical aspect of poker is not my strength, which I think applies most in short-stacked poker. I prefer to be able to play more hands and play post-flop rather than just having to win pre-flop all-in showdowns.”
He began playing online poker during college in $1 and $2 sit and gos. He won one multi-table tournament for $600 and never looked back. Paur recalled, “I decided that poker was for me because I really enjoyed it and had success from the start.” Two years ago, he left school to pursue a full-time poker career and, although his family was not overwhelmingly behind his decision, they’ve come around recently.Paur explained, “My family was not too happy when I stopped going to school. I still get some grief for the lifestyle I live, but most of my family has come around at least to some extent. When they realized the money I was making was pretty substantial and when I started to balance my life better, they came around a little.”
He’s one of the top-ranked Californians and, on moving up on the worldwide leaderboard, Paur admitted, “Moving up the Rankings has never been a huge goal of mine, but I suppose it’s pretty cool. I’ve never really been one to make specific goals. I mostly just try to play as well as I can as often as possible.”
Paur wanted to send shout outs to Mark dipthrong Herm, Jamie pokerjamers Armstrong, mendieta19, crzysavage, Nick agriffrod Mitchell, Cory comandr_cool Burbick, Nick grip Grippo, Josh JBT449 Bergmann, BPV3, Zach zcooper123 Cooper, Dan djk123 Kelly, and Larry BBOY3110 Sharp.
PocketFives Scouting Report for taypaur
ambiguosity on Full Tilt. tramp$d0pray on Stars. TAZED1SPURR on Cereus. Taylor Paur of California took down the Absolute Poker $100k Guaranteed in September '09 for $33,800. His other scores include a victory in the UltimateBet $80k Guaranteed Sniper event for $24,700 along with a win in the PokerStars $20k Guaranteed for $15,900 (Aug '09). His largest online tournament cash came in November '09, when he chopped (2nd place) the FTOPS $300 6-max rebuy event for $182,200. He followed that up in January '10 with a victory in the Ultimate Bet UBOC Event #14 ($1,000+50 NLHE) for $125,200.
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