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Published
Apr 09 2006, 09:50 PM
As the PocketFives.com Podcast enters its third week, the online poker world finds itself smack-dab in the middle of its busiest season to date. Major poker sites are offering a wide variety of satellite tournaments into the 2006 WSOP Main Event on a daily basis while the online poker industry continues to enjoy the benefits from additional players signing up to play in record numbers. For this week’s show, we’ve chosen two of the hottest online poker players on the net: Shane Schleger (Shaniac) and Armando Fernandez (highyield6).
Originally from New York but now residing in California, Shane (PocketFives.com online Tournament Player Ranking #9) has been a force to reckon with in both online and live poker since he turned pro about a year ago. In the last six months, Shane has captured 1st Place finishes in the Sunday Major tournaments on FullTiltPoker.com and UltimateBet.com for a total of over $200k in earnings. A few weeks ago, he got 2nd Place in the FullTilt $200k and PokerStars $200+15 in the same day – then went on to terrorize the Final Table in the PokerStars $55k Guaranteed nightly Rebuy tournament for yet another online cash of over $15,000.
Shane’s success hasn’t been limited to online play. During this year’s L.A. Poker Classic, Shane entered the Final Table of the $294 NL Holdem Rebuy tournament as a huge chip-leader and knocked out five consecutive opponents (including WSOP bracelet holder Scott Fischman) before the remaining three players decided to make a deal; giving him the lion’s share of winnings at almost $220,000. He also got 5th Place in the 2005 WSOP $1,000 NL Holdem tournament (Event #7) for a cash of more than $130k (he was knocked out of the tourney by eventual Champion Michael Gracz on one of the most-talked about hands of the WSOP).
Armando Fernandez (PocketFives.com online Tournament Player Ranking #56) recently won the Ranked Players Freeroll on ParadisePoker.com, which many of us believe to be the toughest field ever assembled in an online poker tournament. The most amazing thing about this feat was the comeback from a 7-to-1 chip deficit against well-respected tournament rounder Gary Bogdanski (GB2005).
This week’s Podcast will also feature segments on Online Poker Etiquette, Multi-Table Tournament structures, and the most recent Rankings update. We encourage all our listeners to call-in with questions at our voice mail number: (206) 203 – 4730. You may leave a question for one of our guests or make a comment concerning one of the topics described above. Our listeners can also email us at podcast@pocketfives.com with any questions or comments.