POKER INFO - PROILE - Robert Varkonyi

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.