AJKHoosier1: Card Player Online Player of the Year

by Bodog Poker | Dec 29 2008

It wasn’t even close. Twenty-two year old AJKHoosier1 (real name: Alex Kamberis) of Bloomington, Indiana is currently No.1 on the Card Player Online Player of the Year rankings with such a lead that gboro780 (currently in second place) can’t possibly catch him in the five remaining days of 2008.

AJKHoosier1’s victory seemed like a lock even back in late September when he took one of the largest leads ever held in the Card Player Online Player of the Year rankings. He headed into a major online tournament ($5,000+$200 buy-in with 2,185 registrants and a $10,925,000 prize pool) already on top of the OPOY rankings. Then he proceeded to tear through the field and despite some bad beats, finish in third, giving him his massive lead. At $941,735 (actually $783,000 after a five-way deal) it would be his biggest cash of the year contributing to over 50% of his year’s total online earnings of $1,718,443.

The scoring criteria for the Card Player OPOY is quite different from the Bluff OPOY criteria. The Gold Level in the Bluff rankings is qualified for with any poker tournament with a buy-in above $50, which is not a sit-n-go or a satellite. The Card Player rankings involve stricter criteria and are contributed to with any tournament with a field of at least 100, has a buy-in of at least $100 and has a prize pool of at least $100,000 (not including prize packages of buy-ins or trips). AJKHoosier1’s 9,424 points were generated with an impressive 89 online cashes that met these criteria.

In late October AJKHoosier1 already had last year’s winner, WestMenloAA’s point total beat. His goal then was to keep grinding and try to reach 9,000, which he felt would be a nice high watermark for poker players to try and beat for years to come. At 9,424 it seems that his score will be likely be unbeaten for a while.

Amazingly, despite playing so many online tournaments, he has been able to split his time with earning a degree in Finance and playing live poker tournaments where he has already proved himself a major threat. Since turning 21 he has already earned more than $100,000 with cashes in three WPT events: 2007 World Poker Finals (9th for $16,915), the 2007 Five Diamond World Poker Classic (30th for $57,815), and the 2008 Foxwoods Poker Classic (28th for $22,610) as well as the 2008 Wynn Classic (9th for $7,490) and the 2008 WSOP No Limit Holdem Event 21 (34th for $16,147).

In an interview with Card Player Magazine, AJKHoosier1 stated that he would be focusing almost exclusively on school and online poker next year until the World Series of Poker. Once summer rolls around he will be temporarily moving to Las Vegas to commit himself to the WSOP saying, “I feel like I’ve accomplished pretty much everything that I’ve wanted to accomplish in online poker, and I really am craving the big live score, the bracelet, and all of that.”

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