Poker Articles

On Sunday, May 25th, T.J. DoubleS00ted Slifka of Nevada accomplished one of the most impressive feats in online poker history - winning three Sunday major tournaments on three different sites within a seven-month period.  After outlasting nearly 800 opponents this past Sunday, T.J. took down the UltimateBet $200k Guaranteed for $46,000; winning the tournament under his "WhatARunAA" account.

T.J.'s amazing Sunday major run began in November of last year, when he won the PokerStars Sunday Million tournament for $184,000.  "Truthfully, I didn't play very well because the pay jumps were huge for me.  Every increase in pay at the final table was huge to me so I really didn't make any moves," says T.J.  Winning over $100k in an online tournament has become commonplace; with special events like the WCOOP and FTOPS often handing out prizes of around $500,000 for first place in major series championships.

So what could possibly be more impressive than taking down a tournament that even the most successful online players dream of winning?  Winning a second Sunday major tournament one month later, of course!  In early December '07, T.J. entered the Full Tilt Poker $750k Guaranteed.  Hours later, he would boast an outright victory in that event, and add another $137,000 to his online poker bankroll.  "When I won the $750k on Full Tilt, I didn't care about the money anymore.  I just focused on playing the best poker I could.  I definitely earned that victory more than the Sunday Million on Stars," writes T.J.

Those two victories alone have played a major role in "DoubleS00ted" becoming a ranked online tournament player according to the P5's Rankings.  His ranking at the beginning of the week was #55 in the world, but look for that to change in upcoming weeks as his most recent victory in the UB $200k is considered by Pro Poll voters.

T.J. believes that dedication and optimism are two important keys to his game: "I've always been dedicated.  Even when I'm running atrocious, I am still the most optimistic person ever.  I know that things will get better, and they usually do."  He goes on say, "I play incredibly tight, and I think the most important thing is to play straight forward poker.  If I raise the button with XX and a great player in the big blind flat-calls me, I'm just going to try to keep the pot as small as possible because I'm not going to win the tourney plowing through great players.  I just wait to pick up chips from the bad players, because eventually they are going to give them up anyways.  I play completely straight forward until the antes kick in or a situation comes up where I can pick up pots with relative ease."

This 24 year old poker player has an incredibly bright future, and dreams of one day opening a sports bar and golfing until he drops.  One thing is for sure, if "DoubleS00ted" continues putting up the results he's posted since November, a leisurely lifestyle of golfing isn't out of the question!  Congratulations to PocketFiver T.J. "DoubleS00ted" Slifka for winning his third Sunday major tournament since November!