Bodog Poker Open Champions - Through the Years

by Bodog Poker | Oct 19 2009

Bodog Poker will soon be hosting the fourth version of the Bodog Poker Open, where the newest Bodog champion will be crowned. The Bodog Poker Open has been one of the most popular tournaments online, and this time action will run from November 1 - 8. Previous Main Events have all been a huge success, and this year's promises to be one of the best yet. And you know that Bodog is going to be putting up a huge overlay like they have done in the past, making this event one of the best tournament bargains you'll find anywhere.

The first Bodog Poker Open champion was Shawn "Phatcat" Luman. He had to battle his way through a field of 596 players to take home the $76,280 first-place prize. Luman also won an engraved Omega Speedmaster watch, valued at $4,400. The 36-year-old started playing poker with friends in high school, and continued to play in college at Kansas State University, where he went on to get a degree in accounting. He then became a CPA, and later became a CFO for a construction company.

In an interview for Cardplayer.com, Luman said: "But I did play every one of the BPO events, just because it was something new and cool, and it had higher buy-ins. I had zero success in any of the events; I don't think I cashed in any of them until that last one. But I thought it was great; I was impressed with the turnout, I think it's a good series, and I hope they continue it. And yeah, that was my biggest online score ever, so that was pretty cool."

The Bodog Poker Open II had an exciting Main Event which featured Bodog Poker Pro Justin Bonomo at the final table. It was eventually won by Bodog regular Arik "zubs1aa" Marks, of Cambridge, Mass. He won an even $75K after qualifying for the Main Event by playing in all the Bodog Poker Open events, cashing in two of them along the way. In the Main Event he beat out 476 other players, including the likes of Thayer "thay3r" Rasmussen, Eric "Rizen" Lynch, Zachary "CrazyZachary" Clark, and John "PearlJammer" Turner.

Marks had recently been laid off from his corporate finance job when he won the Bodog Poker Open II and said this in an interview: "I even called my old boss on Monday morning and said; ‘Thanks for running out of budget.' And he asked me what I meant and I said, 'I just won $75,000."  

The Bodog Poker Open III $500 buy-in championship event drew 279 players and had a prize pool of $161,130, which included a $30,000 layover courtesy of Bodog.com. In the end it was "Biffsworld" who beat out the field to become Bodog's reigning poker champion, winning the $40,282.50 first-place prize. The 23-year-old Pennsylvania native has been playing at Bodog Online Poker room since Oct. 2007, and had won some smaller tournaments over the past two years, but this cash was by far his biggest.

You could be the next Bodog Poker Open champion, just check out the Bodog Poker Open IV schedule for information on all the events.