Poker Articles

Success just seems to follow Thayer “THAY3R” Rasmussen wherever he goes.  Having cashed three times already in this year’s WSOP (in addition to a recent WPT final table at Mandalay Bay), Thayer has still found time to rise six spots in the P5s ranks to #25.  His biggest cash of the week came with his final table appearance in Stars Sunday Million.  Finishing the tourney 4th and taking $88K, Thayer added 529 points to his PLB Score.  His final table appearances did not stop there for the week, as he placed 8th in Tilt’s $22K Guaranteed. 

Speaking of success, there was movement in the top 10 this week.  Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad, Chad “M8kingmoves” Batista, and Jon “PearlJammer” Turner (pictured left) all moved up one spot, each making two final tables, and they now sit 4th, 7th, and 10th on the PLB Ranks.  Annette’s two trips to the final table came with her 2nd place finish in Stars $100 Rebuy and 3rd in their Wednesday $150K.  PearlJammer nearly won Tilt’s $30K, taking 2nd, and made his way to 9th place in Stars $215 Heads-Up.  M8kingmoves took a nice win on Stars this week in their $100 Rebuy for a score of 220 and placed 6th in the same event two days later.

With all the talk about making Final Tables, you cannot forget about Shawn “phatcat” Luman and Scott “SCTrojans” Freeman.  Luman made his appearance at the final table four times and took a total of 501 points last week, including a 2nd in a Stars $100 Rebuy and now sits 13th.  Freeman, no stranger to setting standards for success, made the Final Table a whopping 10 times last week and is now ranked 21st.  Capping off yet another fantastic feat, he won Tilt’s $8K Guaranteed with Rebuys and their $30K Guaranteed on the same day and scored over 950 points total for the week. 

Danny “THE__D__RY” Ryan had a nice win last week in the $100 Rebuy, cashing for over 35K and 359 points, and taking him all the way to number 15 in the rankings.  “Hixx” (pictured left) also had a win last week on Tilt’s $45K Guaranteed, helping him to jump five spots. 

Although “SirWatts” didn’t have any wins this week, he did place 3rd in Stars $100K Guaranteed for a cool 20K as well as a big jump of 10 spots to place him inside the Top 50; his move of more than 50 spots from out of the rankings to number 47 has taken place over just one month.  Aaron Been also made it into the Top 50 once again this week by climbing five spots and taking home $12K and 172 points in last week’s Sunday Mulligan on Tilt.

Three players this week made huge jumps of 20 or more spots in the ranks.  A P5s Triple Crown winner and native of Waterloo, “timex” propelled himself 20 spots to number 61 with help from his 3rd place finish in the Stars $100 Rebuy.  The biggest cash winner of the week among ranked players was “thenut21poker," who had a huge 2nd place finish in the Sunday Million.  Picking up a massive 25 spots in this week’s rankings, he netted $153K and 803 PLB points in the tourney.  Jeff “jeffbeesdat” Gray was the last of these three big movers and made his way to two Final Tables (including the Sunday Million yet again), 770 points, over $69K in winnings, and a 24 spot jump.

“SN8WMAN” made sweet moves last week, having four top 5 finishes, with his best cash coming in Tilt’s $45K Guaranteed.  With such a good week, he earned himself an 11 spot hop and an extra 26K in his wallet.  “B_O_K_E” (pictured right) rose 11 places in this week's rankings by making the final table nine times.  The Ohio resident's best finish was his 1st in the EPT Online, winning him $18K and 263 points.  Xuan “x2then” Nguyen hurdled 12 spots with impressive and consistent play, cashing in eight different events this week including nice 2nd place finishes in UB’s $30K Bounty and Tilt’s $45K Guaranteed.

There were five new additions to the Top 100 this week.  Already having cashed for more than 99K in the Sunday Million and having a total of eight five-figure cashes this year, “amichaikk” has seen great success in much of 2007.  Knocking him up 15 spots, he now sits comfortably at the 86th position.  "AJKHossier1" and "arabianight" both had great numbers last week to boost them in, jumping eight and nine spots respectively.  AJKHossier1 had a stellar 15 cashes throughout the week, including two 1st places finishes and five trips to the final table.  Taking 1st on Tilt's $30K Guaranteed, arabianight stocked up over 460 points for the week. 

"Kenny Rap" and "lucky seven" (pictured left) also made their presence known this week with Top 100 play.  Kenny Rap cashed six times with a nice win UB's $12K Guaranteed placing him at 98.  lucky seven's play in Stars Sunday Million and Tilt's $1K Monday brought him 476 points, $22K, and a fresh spot at number 99.

Check back next week for all the latest news on the PocketFives.com Online Tournament Player Rankings.