Name dropping

So I don't normally name drop but reading through my last post, I mentioned TIMEX and then I realised - maybe someone reading my blog has no clue who he is. So here's the names of some players I have some attachment to:

1. Timex - aka Mike McDonald - here's a young guy (prob 21 now) who I first saw play in the Aussie Millions a couple of years back. He came 2nd in a side event I came 33rd in. He looked about 14 years old and had braces. I was railing atimos (see below) who was the young guy who knocked me out of the tourney - another guy railing was called bond18 (see below) and he gave me some history on this young poker wonderkid. Supposedly this 18yr old (timex) had won a bundle in online poker and was a real star - he was now staking a bunch of other young pros. I watched him come 2nd in this event, then enter the 100k high-roller event and lose, then ON THE SAME DAY enter another event and win it banking 67k (but still a net loser on the day!!). Since then I have loosely followed timex online - he seems to do pretty good. Certainly the online community seem to love him and he staked bond18 for a while.

2. Atimos (or atimAs??) - aka Yevgeniy Timoshenko - another wonder guy. I playing on the same table as him for about 8 hours in the Aussie Millions and chatted for a while. He seemed like a nice enough guy but I had no clue who he was. I was winning a bunch of chips off him tho....until we had 51 players left and 50 got paid. Yev then went all-in about 9 of the next 14 hands and amassed loads of chips as everyone folded. He had no fear whatsoever. Eventually I took him on from the button with A-10s - he was in the BB with KK...oops! I was out in 33rd. Later I railed him on the final table - he eventually went out in 6th place but was still playing super-aggressive. I was talking to a guy called bond18 on the rail and he told me all about Yev. He told me he thought he was the best player there (even better than timex) - told me he was Atimos on pocket 5;s and a bit of an online legend already (he was only about 20 yrs old!!). Anyways I have followed his career ever since and he won over $4m in 2009....so I guess yeah...hes pretty damn good!

3. bond18 - aka Tony Dunst - I also met Tony at the Aussie millions and chatted to him on the rail of the final table. I had noticed him earlier int he day chatting to Atimos and other young players and Tony was also reasonably deep in the tourney. He stood out because he was dressed in a suit and looked quite slick - and everyone was calling him Bond so I assume he was modelling himself on James Bond. When I chatted to him he was really nice and seemed to know everyone. He told me a little about Timex and Atimos who were playing the final table. As he knew everyone and was a nice guy and also published a blug I have followed his career. It seems he was staked for a while by Timex and heavily in makeup but finally won a decent sized event to pay it back. His blog talks about dating, women, poker players and his exploits travelling the world and is both entertaining and somewhat educational (poker-wise). I've met Tony a couple of times at events around the world and he always says hi but does not really remember who I am. Of course, I know him a little better because of his blog.

4. SNG-Nick aka Rainman aka Nick Rainey - so I've never met this guy and some people on the forums think he is an egotistical a-hole. I don't agree. I've followed him online where he is VERY successful at Sit NGo tournaments and has proved beyond doubt this is no fluke. He has also published a few videos and for a while was a coach at pokerVT.com. He used to play as Stinko_Mikko on Full Tilt and currently plays as MI_Turtle on pokerstars. His website details his current results and also his training of a bunch of online players who want to be as successful as he is. His training method is pretty smart - he stakes each player for $200 and helps them grow it, then takes 50% of any profits for a period of time. I think this shows he is a smart business person as hos downside is $200 and his upside is massive. Some of his students have made $10k in 3 months..!!!!

There are more players which I will talk about in a later post.

Re other resources, I like to read certain blogs including Luke Kim, poker Dave, BonusGrinder, Hammer Players poker and also the exploits of certain pro players including Daniel Negraneus blog and Phil Helmuths Twitter videos.

Theres plenty more blogs I follow - Pokernews, Cardplayer, Bluff, Tao of Poker, Pokerati etc. I could write about these all night so I will save them for another post. I will also save the poker podcasts I listen to for another post.