Imagínese, por un momento, el viaje de póquer perfecto. Probablemente incluya ganar un torneo, tal vez dos. Agregue algunas carreras más profundas, tal vez otra mesa final. Definitivamente obtendrás el valor de tu dinero jugando al poker todo el día y toda la noche.
Incluso en el más loco de los sueños sobre el poker, sería difícil igualar la realidad de lo que Ryan Hoenig realizado este mes en Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood. Durante las preliminares previas a la Campeonato WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown, Hoenig recitó cinco noches consecutivas en las que terminó las dos primeras noches como subcampeón y las tres siguientes como campeón. Además de eso, Hoenig ya había llegado a un par de mesas finales unos días antes.
La 30-year-old from Fort Collins was still having a tough time wrapping his head around it a week later on break during the $3,500 Championship event of the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown, as he hoped the hot streak could carry on for at least a few more days.
“Going heads-up five nights in a row is pretty absurd,” said Hoenig. “What's crazy is that I had an opportunity to go four in a row and I just played poorly on the bubble. [Even after a run like that], I am sometimes too hard on myself in those moments, overthinking like ‘What could I have done?’ But I love playing, and when you're running deep it obviously makes it even better. Yeah, the days were long but when you're zoned in, running well like there's nothing better. And yeah, I'd say I ran super hot.”
Hoenig se ha estado quedando fuera de la propiedad y hace un viaje corto a Hard Rock todos los días para tocar.
“When I'm playing my best I'm just not self-conscious about what other players at the table are thinking about what I'm doing. I'll show down weird hands, play hands weird because I kind of just like that. I love the mixed games in general. They feel like, at least for me, uncharted territory I can just kind of explore and see what you find out.
Another wild aspect of such a run is that including his seven cashed thus far in the festival, he has less than 30 results on his Hendon Mob profile and only two from earlier than June 2022. Looking deeper into those results, it’s clear that while Hoenig can mix it up in No Limit Hold’em – he has cashes in the WSOP Main Event cash and the 2023 WPT Prime Championship – Hoenig prefers mixed game tournaments, which SHRPS has in droves.
“I'm obsessed with Omaha Hi-Lo, so anywhere where there's Hi-Lo, I’m there,” said Hoenig. “This is my first year actually traveling a good amount, and my first big non-Vegas trip. I've been here for three weeks, and yeah, it's been a good run. Can't say I could hope for much better.”
Cuatro de las siete mesas finales que Hoenig logró durante esta carrera fueron en variantes de Omaha, incluida una de sus victorias y sus dos segundos puestos. Hoenig también ganó un evento Triple Draw con límite de dos a siete y un torneo Badugi.
Y aunque los tamaños de los campos para los eventos mixtos durante SHRPS no son tan grandes como los torneos No Limit Hold'em con grandes garantías, los campos que Hoenig atravesó no eran asuntos de dos o tres mesas. E incluso el torneo con el menor número de participantes, Badugi, estuvo repleto de jugadores que llegaron a numerosas mesas finales importantes, entre ellas ari engel, Roland Israelashvili y Steven Wolanski, Entre muchos otros.
Los torneos en vivo en general son una incorporación relativamente nueva a las actividades de póquer de Hoenig. Cuando Hoenig no está viajando, juega un saludable calendario de partidas en efectivo en Colorado. Los torneos en línea fueron lo que inspiraron a Hoenig a convertirse en un jugador de póquer profesional, ya que tuvo la suerte de poder jugar a tiempo completo. Al final, el acuerdo dejó de tener sentido financiero para él.
“It was definitely a grind, and I was backed early on,” said Hoenig. “My first couple years I was splitting my profits 50/50, and that only takes you so far.
Hoenig’s tournament career took a major leap in 2023, when he finished second in the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo Championship at the WSOP for $369,972 – far and away his biggest result to date. He’s excited about an ambitious schedule for the coming summer, but for now Hoenig is focused squarely on making a run in the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship.
Logísticamente, Hoenig sólo tiene un problema real del que preocuparse después de este torneo, después de haber ganado tanto en Hollywood: si todos sus trofeos caben o no en su maleta cuando tenga que irse.
“I have room right now, but I'm going for No. 4,” Hoenig said. “And that might be the limit. But I think I have room right now. [It’s a good problem], like, ‘Do I really want another one, or is second’s just fine?’ I mean, if I get second in [this one], I'll take it.”