Poker Articles

By MattW | Published Oct 30 2007, 04:21 PM
Georgia is a state with many exceptional poker minds, some of which are well known and others that are just beginning to make names for themselves.  Georgia happens to be the largest state east of the Mississippi River and home to the biggest cable-supported dome, the Georgia Dome.  Georgia is part of the southeastern region of the United States commonly referred to as "The Sunbelt."  Whether it is all the Georgia Peaches, the Southern cooking, great golf courses, a really big stadium, or something intangible I'm not accounting for, I don't know; but I do know that the top 10 ranked players in Georgia deserve respect.

The #1 ranked player in all of Georgia is PokerSkiBum (pictured top) from Newnan.  PokerSkiBum is on fire right now and at the top of a very impressive list.  This player has been registering scores for about a year, and in that time he has cashed for over $296k playing primarily on PokerStars and FullTilt.  PokerSkiBum's most profitable score online came in August when he took 5th place in the FTOPS Main Event for $91,560.  He also won the Bodog $100k Guaranteed for $25,000.  When asked about the Sortable Rankings, PokerSkiBum told me this: "The Sortable Rankings are a cool idea.  I just recently became a member of PocketFives, and it has motivated me to play more tournaments, and I have really enjoyed the heater I have been on."

The second ranked player in all of Georgia is well-known Jeff "yellowsub" Williams (pictured left) who lives in Athens.  Jeff posts quite a bit on Pocketfives and adds invaluable insight and strategy in a way that most of us are unable to do. This young poker mind has shown an understanding of the game that has directly translated into some big results, both online and live.  In the past year, yellowsub has accumulated eight 5-figure scores and a large amount of wins.  His biggest win over the net came in August when he won the UltimateBet $200k Guaranteed for $45,000.  As impressive as this was, it pails in comparison to his largest live score, which was more than 20x the size of his UB win.  In March of 2006, Jeff won the 10,000 Euro EPT Grand Final event for over ONE MILLION DOLLARS!  I spoke with sub about the Sortable Rankings, and he told me, "I think the Sortable Rankings are a cool way to see how you stack up against the best in your area.  Also, they create the potential for connections and homegames."  Life in the sunbelt is no doubt good for this young pro.  He trails PokerSkiBum by about 350 points.

The third ranked player in Georgia is roommates with yellowsub and part of "Team Domeski" (along with sub, tbthanx, and tdomeski).  He is Nick "Stoweski" Stowe (pictured right).  It is quite possible that these two roommates will be ranked 1st and 2nd in the near future all while living under the same roof.  August proved to be a great month for everyone in the top 3, as Stoweski found his greatest win a little over two months ago as well, continuing the trend of the amazing Augusts.  Specifically, Stoweski won $141,750 when he placed 4th in the FTOPS Event-12.  He has a knack for going deep in big buy-in large field events, and only 5 weeks after his FT score he placed 17th in the PokerStars WCOOP-14 and won $17,623.  If you want to see more of Team Domeski, check out Nat's recent pokerfilm.  Be sure to keep an eye on sub and stowe as they make a case for being the two most dominant players in Georgia.  Only 11 points separate these good friends. 

Clayton_27, also from Athens (3 out of 4 are so far), is the 4th ranked player in Georgia and happens to be friends with sub and stowe.  This 20-year-old claims he plays tournaments "for fun," but his results suggest otherwise.  As we all know, August is the month of big scores for these Georgians, and Clayton_27 is no exception.  He won the FTOPS Main Event outright, increasing his bankroll by $240,345.  This score of nearly a quarter-million dollars catapulted him directly into the race for the top spot in the state.  I had a chance to talk with Clayton_27, and he told me this:  "I am definitely a fan of the rankings system.  I feel its been done very fairly thus far and it's a big improvement over when the rankings were done subjectively.  I think if I was actually a full-time tournament player I would be #1.  Sadly I think tournaments are evil, and I enjoy cashgames more."  Clayton currently trails Stoweski by 56 points making for a very tight competition within the top 4.

Ryan "king10clubs" Madsen comes in at #5 in Georgia, and guess what city he is from?  Madsen has had five 5-figure scores this year and several others that came close to 5 figures.  The biggest score of his career came in a month that, like his location, should come as no huge surprise.  Yep, in August he won $14,286 when he got 4th in the Stars Wednesday Hundred Fifty Grand.  In addition, he has won 9 tournaments this year, adding in excess of $74k to his total earnings.

The 6th ranked player in Georgia has caused quite a commotion recently, winning the two biggest online tournaments in only one week.  Chris "sooooted" Vaughn (pictured left) won both the FullTilt $1 Million Guaranteed and the PokerStars Sunday Million on consecutive Sunday's.  This unlikely accomplishment earned him almost $440k and threw him directly into the battle going on within Georgia's top 10.  Sooooted, with his two huge wins, breaks the previous time and location trend as he won the tournaments at the end of October from the ATL (GG August, Athens).  He is currently 378 points behind king10clubs.

The seventh spot in Georgia is occupied by Nole91.  This player has had some very impressive results while putting in little volume.  The amount of time he is able to dedicate to poker is greatly diminished by his day job as a CFO at a recruiting firm in Atlanta, as well as the fact that he has three children.  Nonetheless, Nole91 has had 4 five-figure scores this year and various four-figure scores totaling over $130k.  His two largest cashes came in the same tournament, the PokerStars Nightly Hundred Grand, which he won twice.  The first time he won was worth $24,987, and the second time was $26,130.  His effectiveness at the tables now puts him just 110 points behind sooooted and firmly in the hunt for the top 5 in Georgia.  Maybe he should call in sick a few days this month.

The 8th ranked player in Georgia is twelver1232 from Decatur.  By the time this article is put up, you may need to re-check the sortable rankings, because if twelver cashes in any tournament at all (that meets the Leaderboard criteria), he will easily make up the less than 1 point he trails Nole by.  He has made 22 final tables this year, winning three of them.  His frequent final table appearances have earned him more than 60k, and his largest win was in the PokerStars $25k Guaranteed where he took 1st for $10,275.

Right behind twelver is Kbroz from Marietta.  He trails by 98 points and has an opportunity to jump two positions with a score of just 100 points.  Kbroz is a trial lawyer in Atlanta and is only able to play poker part-time.  In addition to having a demanding job, he also has two children, so his opportunities to play online don't come as often as some of the others in the top 10.  However, this talented player has been having success for at least two years now and has already locked-up another six-figure year for 2007.  His biggest score to date was this past July when he took first in the UltimateBet $75k Guaranteed for $20,925.

The last player to make the top 10 in a very talented Georgia is TookURCookie from Woodstock.  In 2006, he cashed in the WSOP Event #39 10K NLHE.  Online, his biggest win was on PokerStars where he got 2nd in the Nightly Hundred Grand for $16,380.  He has also won four tournaments this year, helping him pick up more than $100k in cashes since last January.  As of the time of this writing, he only trails Kbroz by 75 points. 

The top ten in Georgia have turned out to be a group of highly competitive people, regardless of the volume they put in.  These ten players are bunched together closer than a group of strangers on a public bus in Costa Rica at 6:00am (I can say that because I am one of those people), and in some cases they are separated by less than one point.  All of the spots are up for grabs, and each player truly had to earn their right to be part of the top 10 in The Sunbelt state.  

Check back next week to find out which top 10 players are getting exposed next.  In the meantime, you can see where YOU stand in the P5s Sortable Rankings.