A Phenom Goes Busto and Two Big Names Walk Away from Poker

A lot of volatility has been going on in online poker lately.  A couple of players have decided to walk away for a while and another player has risen to great heights only to crash shortly thereafter.

First, lets talk about the train wreck known as Isildur1.  Isildur1 came onto Full Tilt back in November to try his hand at the high stakes games.  In a brief amount of time, he totally crush Tom Dwan, also known as durrrr, for over $5 Million.  With that big boost to his bankroll, Isildur1 decided that he would take on all challengers.  For a while, Isildur1 was hanging in there and was being dubbed the next great thing in poker.

Enter Phil Ivey and Patrik Antonius.  Gus Hansen has said before that the object of poker is to keep the money away from Ivey as long as possible.  Well, Isildur1 did not listen to this advice.  Even after winning a pot off of Ivey worth over $1 Million, Ivey still managed to take over $2.9 Million dollars off of the Swede.  Patrik then took his turn with Isildur1 and ate up around over $2.1 Million.

This started a losing streak for Isildur1 that culminated in him having a nearly bankroll killing day.  In a single day against Brian Hastings, Isildur1 lost over $3.6 Million.  He then proceeded to lose the remainder of his bankroll to Brian Townsend and Cole South.  South was officially the player to bust Isildur1, at least for now.

I watched Isildur1′s play in connection to another website I report for and the fact that he had such a massive downswing did not surprise me at all.  The days that I watched him, I saw a guy that liked to draw and really like to push his draws.  If he was hitting well, then he would tough to beat.  If he was missing his draws, yum yum.  I watched one pot where he bluffed off over $200,000 in PLO with ace-high.  I know there are times you can bluff in PLO, but he seemed to had missed the boat on that day.

From what I have read, Isildur1 seemed to be a much better NL player than PLO player.  I wonder if maybe he got too caught up in the big money of the high stakes PLO games and maybe if he should stick with more NL if he comes back.  I have a feeling that we haven’t seen the last of Isildur1, but I do not think he will come back in the same fashion that he did in November.

A couple of other players have recently decided to step away from poker for a while.  The first player is Shaun Deeb.  Deeb has basically stated that he is tired of playing online tournaments and does not like what he has become as a result.  This sounds to me like a man that has become burnt out with what he does and needed to step away for a while.  I personally can relate, but in a different field.  I used to run a small business where I sold data to insurance companies.  This business took up a lot of time, but the money was great.  However, after a  few years of doing this over and over, I was ready for a change.  The economy and other factors convinced me to get out of the business entirely and eventually I became a freelance writer.  In between, I stepped away from things for a while and even took a vacation to help recharge my batteries.  I am not recommending an outright career change for Deeb, but that is an option for him.  Granted, I know he has been a highly successful player and will likely continue to do so, but is it worth it.  If he is miserable with what he does, should he continue?

The other player that has stepped away for a while was Gus Hansen.  Gus has stepped away for an all too common reason.  He is running bad.  Depending on reports you hear, Hansen is down from $7 to $9 Million.  Hansen stated in his blog that he cannot continue to take losses like this without considering a career change.  So, as a way to try and right his ship, he is going to take a study break and come up with a new plan of attack.

I have a pro friend that was in a slump a couple of years ago.  He had not cashed in any tournaments anywhere for over six months, and this player is a regular on the circuit.  Finally, he just walked away for a while and went to Mexico for a month with his family.  Upon returning, in the span of three days he won two tournaments and final tabled another one.  Hansen is perfectly capable of rebounding, but he may need to curb some of his gambling tendencies that tend to get him in trouble at the table.  Stay away from the four out draws in PLO, etc.  Gus has the ability to change up his game and I think we will see him come out more focused in 2010 and maybe with a more solid game plan.

2010 should be an interesting one in poker.  The WPT is under new management and the WSOP will be commissionerless for the first time in years.  Online poker could be near its goal of having the UIGEA overturned.  Many potentially exciting things could be in store for 2010.

- James Guill (compncards)

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