A Closer Look: Spotlight on the “Old Timers”
In this week’s segment of A Closer Look, I thought we would change pace a little and peer into the Sortable Rankings Console at some members who are wise beyond their years. Our top 10 this week will give respect to those PocketFivers who are at or above the ripe age of 40. The way these guys play, it must be true that you are only as old as you feel. These guys are a threat to any table and show they can still win the majors and cash with the best of them.
Eric “sheets” Haber (pictured lower left) is a name known by many in the world of poker, and his 4,442 PLB points place him in the top spot among those at least 40 years old. Sheets is also a primary instructor on PokerXFactor.com. Sheets has an abundant number of big cashes in the online scene as well as in live play. During this year’s WSOP, sheets cashed for $11,905 in his 38th place finish during Event 8’s $1000 rebuy as well as a 37th place cash in Event 12. He recently won the 55k Guaranteed on Stars for over $12k and has a few wins in their $100 rebuys. He also won the August Tournament Leaderboard on Stars.
I was able to get in touch with lacky, ranked second on this list, to find out his feelings about the Sortable Rankings Console. “The sortable rankings are nice in that it is a really tough game. Being able to break it down some and say, hey, I'm #1 in Idaho or I'm second to sheets in the old guy rankings, etc. enables everyone to see some degree of accomplishment that is harder to see when comparing yourself to everyone everywhere.” Lacky has been a steady winner throughout his poker career and has a PartyPoker 200k Guaranteed win as well as a 4th place showing in the Full Tilt Sunday Major for $29k.
The original #1 ranked player on P5s, Chris “brsavage” Savage, comes in at #3. As his PocketFives scouting report states, in 2004 Savage took down 12 $10k Aruba Packages on Ultimate Bet, which is almost certainly the record. At the beginning of this year, he final tabled the Sunday Million, coming away with third place and over $67k. He took down a $100 rebuy for $28k in late June as well, and last month, he final tabled the $200 rebuy on Stars for 5th place and $13k.
Dan “Javahound” Tarnopol is 4th and only 90 PLB points behind brsavage. Tarnopol has seen a lot of recent success, winning the $200 rebuy on Stars in early June for $50k and taking out the competition in a $25k Guaranteed and $50 rebuy for $27k total. The Californian also has wins that include four other Stars $100 buy ins totaling $86k. Far away from California is 5th ranked mx4ever, who resides in Maryland. His best cash out of those that currently count for the rankings came this summer in the Full Tilt $400k Guaranteed, which he final tabled for $15k. The former Paradise Poker regular also picked up a $10k cash in last year's WCOOP main event.
Spots 6 and 7 belong to body man d and betgo. Both of these members have a couple of cashes in the five figures and are only separated by about 180 PLB points. Body man d’s biggest cash was worth close to $15k when he won the $10 rebuy on Stars, while his other five figure cash was a third place finish in the Stars $150 buy in for close to $11k. Betgo’s best was a win in one of their $20 rebuys for $11k in mid October of 2006, as well as a $100 buy in three days after for another $9k.
Daniel “xDANGERZONEx” Stotts, KBroz, and Stiches are in a very close battle for 8th place and come in at 8th, 9th, and 10th respectively. When the 52-year-old Stotts spoke to me about the Sortable Rankings, he jokingly told me, “A sortable ranking for us old farts might be worth something to us wheelchair players as well, as it would give us an indication of where we stand vs. our own age group.” Stotts took down the Nightly Hundred Grand on Stars last month for $26k, picking up his biggest cash to date.
KBroz is presently fewer than 3 PLB points behind Stotts and also has a recent big tournament win–he took down the UltimateBet $75k Guaranteed a month ago. Stiches, meanwhile, had a big April this year when he cashed for nearly $100k in total. On the 8th of April, he made $70k by beating out the field in the Sunday Second Chance $200 on Stars for $46k, while at the same time taking fourth in the $400k Guaranteed on Full Tilt, which was worth $24k.
Congrats to all of the top 10 ranked P5ers of 40 years or more. We look forward to your future success and wish you the best of luck. Stay tuned for next week’s article, and maybe you can see yourself on the front page of PocketFives.com. Be sure to check out where you stand in the ranks of your country, state, or city at P5s Sortable Rankings.
