Poker Articles

One of the earliest poker players to sign up for an account on PocketFives was Steve thorladen Weinstein. PocketFives.com was launched in January of 2005 and it didn’t take long for Weinstein to discover the online poker community. Over 1,100 posts later, he’s one of the most recognizable names on the site. This past weekend, Weinstein took down the $215 rebuy, $250,000 Guaranteed on PokerStars for a blistering $51,250. His win comes one month after he took down the Nightly Hundred Grand for $26,325. In August, he was the runner up in the PokerStars $100 rebuy, taking home $27,568. PocketFives.com sat down with this established poker star to learn about his highly accomplished poker and bridge careers.

There were 297 entrants in the $250K Guaranteed last weekend. When the smoke cleared, the top 36 spots paid out, led by Weinstein, who edged out fellow PocketFiver koolkeith13 heads-up. When the tournament was down to the final four players, Weinstein was extremely confident: “Four-handed when I had the most chips, I didn’t really see myself losing.” He added, “I was comfortable with the players at my table and my image. I have had success deep with the chip lead.”

Weinstein is an accomplished bridge player. In 1982 at the age of 19, he became the youngest player ever to win the National Life Master Pair title. He was at the top of his game in bridge and told PocketFives.com that it’s translated to success on the poker felts: “I have a long history of competition in bridge and it has carried over into poker. With my history of dealing with pressure situations from Wall Street and bridge, my hands were literally shaking during my first online poker final table. I never forgot the high I got from that.”

The annual equivalent of the World Series of Poker in bridge is the Cavendish Invitational. Weinstein has won the tournament five times and his current partner has won it on three occasions, all with Weinstein as his partner. He added, “Being a hardened competitor and the desire to be nothing less then the best keeps me very focused and I take that from my bridge background.” He began playing bridge at age 13 and was successful right out of the gate. After graduating college, he began a career on Wall Street, but opted to pursue a different path. In 2001, he began playing poker. On his new endeavor, Weinstein commented, “I didn’t go into it for the money; it was because of the challenge. Everything I’ve done, I went into because I really liked it and the money ended up coming, but I’m basically a blue jean and t-shirt guy.”

Weinstein cashed in a $1,000 rebuy No Limit Hold’em event during the 2007 World Series of Poker for $16,133. He finished in the money three times during Season VI of the World Poker Tour, capped off by a $70,616 payday for 11th in the Borgata Poker Open. He also landed in 10th place at the Foxwoods Poker Classic for another $34,000.

If you glance down Weinstein’s recent scores in tournaments that count for the PocketFives.com Online Poker Rankings, you’ll notice that he’s cashed in $100 rebuy tournaments nine times on PokerStars since August 1st. On his play in rebuy events, Weinstein explained, “I’m kind of a degenerate during the rebuy period because it’s a cheap way to tilt compared to cash games. I’m trying to not donate so much in the first hour, so if I double up, I’ll have enough chips to go deep.”

He’s a cash game player who constantly strives to improve other facets of his game. His current ambition is to dominate heads-up sit and go tournaments: “I really want to get those down, so I’ve been spending a lot of time on them over the last few days.” He added that he is looking to improve his skills at HORSE as well. He’s surrounded himself with others who are never satisfied with their poker knowledge: “I just really want to be well-rounded and effective in all forms of poker. I’m very fortunate that I have a good group of poker friends who are incredibly talented and focused. I have many students and backees who also share the same desires.”

His competitive drive is obvious. However, his experience is evident in his advice to brand new students of the game of poker: “The most important thing is to decide if you are playing poker for recreation or for profit. If it’s for recreation, then have fun and don’t gamble what you can’t lose. If it’s for profit, then work your ass off and play the hardest games in which you can break even in order to get as good as you can get as fast as possible.”

Congratulations to poker champion and bridge guru Steve thorladen Weinstein, the winner of the $200 rebuy, $250,000 Guaranteed on PokerStars.




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