Um, Mr. Hawkins, no. He is not better than any of the people who post on this site. When I said he'd have trouble beating a $5-10 game, I completely meant it. Varkonyi for 5 days in 2002 was the luckiest poker player on the face of the Earth. His "skill", if you can call it that, was an amazing knack for avoiding hands where he could have been outplayed by a more skilled player (read: "just about anyone in the room").He made the vast majority of his chips on hands where he had the mortal nuts or improbable draws to the mortal nuts that he (in many cases improperly) drew to and hit, which is the only reason he won that tournament. As T.J. Cloutier said in his book (referring to Hal Fowler hitting about 5 or 6 inside straights head-up at the final table in 1979 against Bobby Hoff), "You could have played as good as God can play, and you couldn't have won those pots." Robert Varkonyi was hit over the head with the deck harder than perhaps any man in the history of high-stakes tournament poker in 2002, which is the only reason his simpering mug is up on the wall at Binion's. He has not even finished -in the money- in any tournament of any decent stake since then, much less won one. He is the only "world champion" who I would not fear, or even be apprehensive about, seeing come into my normal $10-20 game at Turning Stone.

give the guy a break. Robert, congrads on your win 2002 your a gentleman and a good player.

Ive watched the 2002 wsop final table many times and its true Robert did catch a lot of premium hands but he played them perfectly. In order to win a big tournament you have to play well and catch cards and Robert did both. But never once with all that money on the line did you see Robert crumble under the pressure he showed that he is a champion. Even Phil Helmuth said that he was surprised how well Robert played. He is also a very nice person and deserves the title he won. Congradulations Robert hope to see you at many more final tables. You're the man.

Cognito, it appears from your two posts that you have some excessive animosity towards Robert Varkonyi. Claiming someone is not the world's best player is one thing, but you're taking it to the extreme. As for the commentary in your posts themselves, I won't touch the assertion that Varkonyi is worse than every single person on this board, other than to say that this board is likely made up of, at minimum, 20% 16 year olds who have yet to play for more than $5 outside their kitchen table. You may be right, he may be the worst champion ever, and worse than many in the field, but it's ludicrous to claim to someone for 60 HOURS got cards that made it impossible to lose. It takes skill to beat out 600 some odd other player, you may get lucky a few times when you have a ton of chips, but he put himself into a position to GET those chips in the first place. The bottom line is, he won by a combination of playing well and utilizing good cards when he did get them. However, my post is not even concerning the man's play. My question to you, Cognito, is why don't you enter a World Series event, or a WPT event, or even a decent sized MTT at Foxwoods or in AC, both of which are within a few hours of Turning Stone? If you play regularly at 10-20 as you claim, your bankroll should be well more than it would take to enter even a smaller event at the WSOP, say, the 5000 or 3000 buy in. If someone as bad as RV can win, then perhaps you should take a shot at it to back up your abusive post, no?

rv was the luckiest player in the world in 02 ...agreed....but hard to say that about a tourney that lasted more than 1 day....is he a great player....no....hes a good player that got lucky.....sometimes thats all you need....he has the braclet ....we dont....until then...we have very little room to talk

Well, Adam, perhaps you shouldn't be quite so presumptuous as to assume that I -HAVEN'T- participated in any of the tournaments you describe. In fact, I just recently returned from the Bahamas where I placed 52nd in the WPT no-limit event there, which I qualified for by finishing second in a satellite at PokerStars. I also won the May 2003 7-Card Stud Hi-Lo Split tournament at Turning Stone, have made 4 final tables at limit Hold 'Em and 7-Card Stud tournaments at the same venue, and have won at least one multi-table buy-in tournament $10 or above at PokerStars in -every- format of poker they offer -except- Omaha High and No-Limit Hold 'Em. So your tacit assumption that I am one of the 16-year-olds that you mentioned who play for $5 is, to be blunt about it, flat fucking wrong. And you're right, I COULD afford to play some medium-to-high-buyin tournaments with my $10-20-level bankroll, but I generally don't. I choose not to. Why the hell should I? The 10-20 and 20-40 games at Turning Stone are, quite frankly, so damn soft and fishy that it's not worth my while to subject myself and my bankroll to the vagaries and luck of tournament poker when I can play ring games at this venue and make an absolute killing. There's a reason, Adam, that most of the greatest players in the world prefer cash games. And while I don't claim to be anywhere near their level, I DO claim to be, at the very least, one of the 3 best players at the venue and the level I play at, which makes it a lot more +EV for me to stay at Turning Stone and continue the fishing expedition rather than prove my manhood to you by playing in a tournament setting where luck is the overriding factor in who wins and who loses. Not to mention, how is it "backing up my abusive post" re: Mr. Varkonyi for me to play in more of the tournaments you describe. Even if I fell flat on my face in all of them (which I wouldn't...I'd make the money and/or final tables as much as the next guy would), how would that make Robert Varkonyi suck any less? What would that prove? I have no animosity toward the man, I've never even met him, but I call them like I see them. Varkonyi was lucky. Damn lucky. And any player with even the slightest understanding of probability should understand that it is VERY possible for a lucky streak to last for 7 or more days. The long run does not equal one week. Despite iveyfan05's assertion, it is NOT hard to say that he got lucky throughout a tourney that lasted more than 1 day.$35-$50 an hour is a rather nice wage for an occasional second job, thanks. I'll be satisfied with that and pick and choose my spots to enter tourneys rather than get greedy and possibly lose it all. In a tournament, a spell of bad luck and I could lose a good chunk of my bankroll. If I play the particular ring games I do for long enough, it is inevitable that I win unless Chip Reese, Ted Forrest, Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson et al. all decide to move to upstate New York.Incidentally, I never asserted that Varkonyi was worse than EVERY player on this board. My assertion was actually a counter-assertion to a previous player that Varkonyi was better than ANYONE on this board, which is a much more debatable proposition. I would like my chances against him better than any one of the -players- (not commentators, I think I could probably take Shauna Hiatt, and wow would I like to :-P) listed on the left side of this page, by about a factor of 5.

Lovely response, I have a proposition for you. I'll personally send you the 10k entry fee to the 2005 WSOP Main Event if you can point out to me where I commented that you are 16 and play for $5. What it clearly says there, it plain English, is that, and this is a quote, "I won't touch the assertion that Varkonyi is worse than every single person on this board, other than to say that this board is likely made up of, at minimum, 20% 16 year olds who have yet to play for more than $5 outside their kitchen table". Scroll up, see for yourself, that comment doesnt even come remotely close to suggesting that YOU are one of those people. It would however, be absurd to think that there aren't a great deal of people posting here who fit that description. Christ, there are posts here where there are no words spelled correctly that contain more than 5 letters. Other than that, it's good to see that you're a very good player who has won tournaments of high magnitude. However, this is a discussion of poker professionals, and this forum is on Robert Varkhoni. He is famous for winning the WSOP 2002 main event. No one else here has won such an event, therefore, they cannot criticize. No, he cannot get lucky for 7 days, which likely comprises 50-60 hours of poker play. If you read the final table transcript, you would see a key hand in the early stages of the final table was when RV moved in with J-J, and after about a year and a half, was called by Shipley with A-J. Shipley self destructed at that table, why should the champ have to apologize for it. Also, Julian Garnder is the one who moved all in on the final hand on simply a decent flush draw with a pair on board. It would seem RV's opponents made mistakes and he was able to capitalize on them. Not exactly the marks of a terrible player my friend.

very well said adam..i agree that rv caught cards, but we cant blame him for the other's stupid play....

Varkhoni is not a good player for the same reason video games are not good players. He has no "feel" for the game, and is unable to make "outside the box" moves. add to that the fact that HE thinks he's really good, and you got one annoying a-hole.

We'd like to introduce our new president for life,Robert Varkonyi.

revenge of the nerds. plus varky loves dogs and little kiddies

I just found out that the 'coach' that Robert hired was just not anybody - he was the mastermind behind the MIT Blackjack team of the early 90's 'Mr M'. A math wizard. They tried to black out his image on the History channel, but it was obviously him. Once he admitted to moving to poker after blackjack, I knew it was him.

He was what he was, a little bit goofy, like a star trek fan, be he WON, he made som VERY good plays at the final table to go from last to first. Then he played a big stack very solid. To me, Gus Hansen plays worse EVERY TIME I SEE HIM, I saw him call 400 k with 89 suited, yet he is a "genius" He gets lucky all the time, cracking big hands with crap over and over. RV may not be the best player ever, maybe not even good at all, but those 5 days he was, and no stupid post by jelous children can change that.

He played a lot better at the final table than Moneymaker did. I didn't see any really dumb moves from him that required major luck.

his coach is smart man played with him a lot in the bay area card club tournaments knows the odds if u watch the 2003 wsop after he leaves the casino u see the whole back of the group walking there called the berkeley brain trust

He is not and never will be a great player. He did though do somthing that none of us will do and that is be a world champ. Congrats Sir, great win. Hope you still have some of the money you won...Keep it up and enjoy your life. Dont let jellous people rain on your parade.

Robert has been setting the poker world on fire lately. He came in second behind Chris Burke (actor from Life Goes On), in a celebrity poker tournament, in Kenosha.

This guy sucks ass. He got lucky in the 2002 wsop and now everyone thinks he is good or something. This guy can't play his way out of a wet paper bag. He got pocket aces every other hand at the WSOP main event final table and the only reason he won was because he got his money in with the worst hand and sucked out. This guy blows and any one who thinks he's good is a flat out moron.

Dirk Diggler, you might want to celebrate your 17th birthday before you begin talking. Your commentary is blatantly idiotic. At what point, other than calling 10% of his stack versus someone with Q-10 (other guy had a-9) did he get his money in with the worst hand? He was all in against Shipley twice, both times with J-J, both times against overcards, both wins. He also called down Gardner when Julian simply had a halfway decent flush draw and way overbet the pot. The man shouldn't have to apologize for other people's mistakes. The fact that your teenage ass managed to see 4 or 5 hands on ESPN reruns that he played (out of a couple thousand over 5 days) means nothing. ESPN doesn't show the hands that get people the stacks they need to MAKE the final table - the blind steals, the semibluffs, the value bets ... in other words something an amateur idiot like yourself wouldn't know about.

this guy sucks

Luckiest player to ever win the WSOP. Someone said that the only person better than Men the Master was this guy. He need a coach to help him at the WSOP. OVERRATED!

its guys like robert that give players hope. you know if you have some game, you have a chance. robert has game and let me say from experience when you get a sniff of victory, it can be intoxicating. you almost feel unbeatable. sometimes thats how a championship is won

i did not even know that varkonyi was a fluke, until i saw him play (i didnt see the 02 WSOP) he has always been eliminated in like day 1 of the WSOP every year and this year is no exception. Olga Varkonyi (i think his wife) is still in it.

you suck varkhoni

they need a sight for olga. or share this one with her husband because she is a retty damn good player

"Posted by: the dude on Apr 13, 2004 WHAT IS A MAN GOING TO DO WHEN HE HAS POCKET KINGS AND SCOTTY N. HAS POCKET ACES? I WOULD OF GONE ALL IN, WOULDN'T YOU?"

Couldnt agree more. who would think he has aces, the probability of that is like .000003 or something like that. but i do think he is a fluke but his move against scotty was not bad.

3+3/2 times the square root of pi = 0.987999 good pots odd call

The Greatest Player In The World. When Stu Ungar Saw Robert Play He Went Back To His Room And Overdosed.

took doyle for 1.3$ M heads up at H.O.R.S.E last March. A god among men.

No Other Word For This Clown But Hes A Donkey

This nerd made me shave my fuking head.

best poker player around.

Why is there even a profile on this guy

He still plays. He was on the professional poker tour. He sucks but he is well known.

WSOP UPDATE: "Robert Varkonyi ranked in the number 4 position by late Monday."

Never heard of this guy after 2002. Does he still play? I know his wife does. She's better than he is

This Donkey Hasnt Won Again
 

This Donkey, Who Went All In With Q 10 Time And Time Again And Got Miracle Lucky To Win It All, Has Never Won Anything Since. Look Up His Stats, He Won 1 20 Dollar Buy In Tourny And Thats It ! He Sucks, Hee Haw Hee Haw, Must Be Still Playing Q 10 For All His Chips, Damn Donk

So true! He went pretty deep in this years WSOP but otherwise has done nothing. Moneymaker hasnt done much except for a 2nd place cash at Bay101, but at least he played with balls when he won the big one.

moneymaker played with balls?
 

moneymaker played like a donkey, he calls all ins with 33 to 4 over cards on the board, he goes all in with 8 8 against brenes who was holding A A and sucks out, he then sucks out on Ivey who had a boat and moneyDonk was dead to a ace hits it. He got lucky, did the wrong things and still got lucky and somehow won it all. He will never win another tourny 1k buy in or larger, ever.
Varkoni is even worse, the moron thinks Q 10 is a great hand, and now 16 years later hasnt learned it isnt. worst player to ever win the big one, varDonki

Looooooooooooooool!
 

Donkey Slayer you da MAN! VarDonki! I love it. I'm glad to see at least one person on this board knows what the hell they're talking about.
Varkonyi SUCKS!