Poker Articles

By Lenny | Published Sep 20 2006, 12:08 AM
When I spoke with P0ker H0 a few months back he told me to watch out for an up and coming player on UltimateBet named WiscoMurray. Sure enough, just three months later, this kid is not only playing in but dominating some of the biggest tournaments on UB, with success elsewhere as well. This past week was a huge one for him as he had seven straight days of big final tables. It all started with the Sunday 200 on the 10th, where he took 9th for 3.5k. He followed that up with 5th on Monday in the nightly $109, then a third, ending up with seven scores of $3k and above and two wins of the $109!

“It was sort of a progression. I know it’s not as amazing as winning 160k at once, but I have been consistently playing solid poker,” he said modestly, but with justified pride in his accomplishment.  His run in the nightly $109, in addition to his Sunday final table, has WiscoMurray in second on the UB leaderboard, just 70 points shy of Papageorgiooo, with third being a distant 200 points back. To say he’s had a good week would be putting it mildly.

Mike “Wisco”Murray only began playing poker relatively recently, but it seems that the game was waiting around the corner for him his whole life. He grew up in the poker hotbed of Madison, Wisconsin, and his childhood friend and current roommate is the son of Dewey Weum, co-founder of UltimateBet. Mike first took an interest in poker through fellow Madison native Phil Hellmuth, and after reading Bad Beats and Lucky Draws, he began playing a little on UB. One day he was seated with none other than P0ker H0 in a small stakes tourney.

WiscoMurray remembered the name from the chapter, “Cheesehead Poker,” and he began chatting with H0 online. Before he knew it, he was down at H0's bar, and P0ker H0 was offering to take him under his wing. He attributes a lot of his success to Mark “P0ker H0” Kroon, saying, “He’s like a second father to me.” WiscoMurray works part time behind that bar now, as well as giving piano lessons (he was on his way to being a concert pianist before he was lured away to the poker felt), but with weeks like this, he may be spending a little more time in front of a different keyboard.

WiscoMurray can be found playing at all the major sites, but his home is definitely UltimateBet. “I love it for the player relations. Every solid player knows every other solid player, and the tourneys are so fun because you see the same people a lot and build friendships off that.” When I asked how he felt about his run this past week, he had this to say:

“I feel that the 8:01 ET [on UB] is one of the strongest fields in any tourney online. So many big name players show up every night, and to beat that field twice in one week feels really good.”

We look forward to big things from this young man and talented player, and he is already thinking big, as he told me, “There’s nothing quite like reaching your goals and being recognized for them. I can’t wait to talk to you again when I win my first Sunday Major!”

I look forward to it too, Mike! I'm sure you will get there soon.