|
Are the businessmen no longer fish?
The perceived perception of the high stakes cash games in Macau and the high roller tournaments is that they’re a great spot for the professional poker players rich enough to participate.
But the tide could be turning, the businessmen may no longer be the whales they’re presumed to be if recent results are anything to go on. The last two Super High Roller Events have been dominated by the businessman with the professional poker players left to lick their wounds.
At the end of August the 2012 Macau High Stakes Challenge Super High Roller took place. The $250,000 buy-in (with an optional re-buy) attracted 73 players, 21 of whom re-bought. It was Stanley Choi who took that event down, earning a more than useful $6,465,560 for the win. Infact the top six, four could be described as amateurs.
And this week there was a £100,000 event at Aspinall’s, a private gaming club in London. Despite the 20 player field containing players like Sam Trickett, Phil Ivey, Philipp Gruissem and Erik Seidel, three of the four in the money finishers were businessmen. The event was won by Paul Phua, he banked £1,000,000 for the win, Richard Yong was second (£570,000) and Winfred Yu made it onto the podium, collecting £300,000.
Of course this could just be short term variance and the pros are getting unlucky as Trickett tweeted: “Bust the £100k on a coin flip,” however these businessmen are obviously very smart and it’s no surprise that their collective results have improved markedly over the last 12 months.
|
