Thursday, 28th March 2024 14:22
Home / Uncategorized / PCA 2015: Putting usernames to faces and then back again

In the nine years I’ve been reporting on the European Poker Tour there have inevitably been a great many winners. Names to be remembered, and faces that go with them. Then there are all those others who provided a few highlights along the way.

All this has an inevitable effect on one’s memory. Frankly, the space I have to store these names is fast running out. Back in season five I could name every winner, and who came second. Now I’m lucky if I remember the name of the guy who won EPT Prague last month. No wait, I know his first name is Stephen.

It’s not just the live game that causes problems. The online realm, where players have not just one name but a username to go with it (and often no way of linking the two) has proven to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. In the past six months I’ve found that to stand any chance of remembering new player names I’ve had to ditch the entire first three seasons of the EPT. Not just the winners, but the stories, even the cities in which they were held. It’s now all a blank.

I’ve decided therefore that a line has to be drawn and more effort must be made. Usernames will be learned, and the face to go with it. Frankly Ihar Soiku deserves better.

Think of it like going back to school. Instead of German vocab there is online poker grammar, the rote learning of online usernames, with bet, raise and fold serving as the prepositions.

Repeat after me…

CrownUpGuy
Big Huni
srxakgirona
munchenHB
paulgees81
gipsy74
brianm

If you have similar problems matching remembering long lists of names, particularly matching usernames to real names, then the names listed here are a good place to start. Firstly because they all won either a WCOOP or Sunday Major title in 2014. Secondly, because they’re all playing the PCA Main Event today.

So let’s try that list again, this time with the translation.

Fedor Holz/ noun./ CrownUpGuy/ Last year’s WCOOP Main Event winner

fedor_holz_pca2015_med1b.jpg

Start with an easy one: Fedor Holz

Chris Hunichen/ noun./ Big Huni/ Sunday Warm-Up winner

Sergi Reixach/ noun./ srxakgirona/ Super Tuesday winner in December 2014

Mike Telker/ noun./ munchenHB/ Super Tuesday winner in December 2014

Michael Telker_pca2015_med1b.jpg

Mike Telker: munchenHB

Paul Volpe/ noun./ paulgees81/ WCOOP 2014 Event #63 winner

Sergey Rybachenko/ noun./ gipsy74/WCOOP Event #56 winner

Brian England/ noun./ brianm/ WCOOP 2014 Event #25

tournament_rail_pca2015_med1b.jpg

“I don’t know any of these guys…”


There will be a test next week, provided each of these players continue to do well. For now, it’s back to work.

Graner! Stephen Graner!

Follow all the action from the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure at PokerStars Blog. The Final Table of the LAPT Bahamas Main Event plays out today on EPT Live.


Stephen Bartley is a staff writer for the PokerStars Blog.

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