Poker Articles

By dhubermex

This week's PocketFives.com Podcast features interviews with Jon Turner (PearlJammer, PocketFives.com Online Tournament Player Ranking #10), and Isaac Baron (Mr. Menlo, PocketFives.com Online Tournament Player Ranking #22).

Jon Turner is originally from North Carolina and began playing online while in college.  During the summer of 2005, "PearlJammer" decided it was time to move to Sin City and try his hand at poker for a living.  Things worked out as well as he could have hoped, but it wasn't long until he hit a bad streak of cards and became disgruntled with the game.  Around this time a friend of his, Jon "Apestyles" Van Fleet, introduced him to PocketFives.com and "PearlJammer" at once started his now famous online tournament career.

PearlJammer is a multi-tabler who rarely plays under 8 tournaments at once.  It is not uncommon to witness him playing 12 or more tournaments at a time on Sundays, when most poker sites offer larger buy-in major tournaments.  It has been 19 months since Jon moved to Las Vegas, and through Distance Education, he will receive his Bachelor's degree from North Carolina State University after the spring semester concludes.

Isaac "Mr. Menlo" Baron can be counted among the growing number of young superstars earning six-digit incomes thanks to Onilne Poker.  After being introduced to the game in 2005, a friend of Isaac's would occasionally transfer him $20 to play in a Sit & Go or Multi-Table tournament.  One night, "Mr. Menlo" got a $22 transfer from a buddy and used that to enter a $22 buy-in tournament on Poker Stars, which he won for a cash of over $4,000.

Nowadays, Mr. Menlo alternates between Online tournaments and high stakes cash games ($50/$100 and $100/$200 NL Texas Hold 'em), with his largest tournament win documented at $31,000, and his best cash game session somewhere around +$80,000.  His short-term goal... become a millionaire in the next two months.

Download the PocketFives.com Podcast today at www.pocketfives.com/podcast!