Thomas “Thunder” Keller Bolts to Victory, Wins $382,020 in No-Limit Hold’em Event
-- Becomes second 23-year-old to win gold bracelet at this year’s World Series
If you don’t know the name Thomas Keller yet, you soon will. Keller, better known as “Thunder,” blasted away 253 players in the $5,000 buy-in No-Limit Texas hold’em event and collected $382,020. At age 23, he is one of the youngest players ever to win a World Series of Poker gold bracelet. Remarkably, his feat comes only 24-hours after Scott Fischman, also aged 23, won his second gold bracelet at this year’s tournament. This is fast becoming “the year of the young guns.”
Thunder’s story is truly remarkable. He was born in Ann Arbor, MI and graduated from Stanford University, earning a degree in economics. Shortly after graduating, Thunder gravitated to Arizona and immediately began destroying the games in and around Phoenix. It’s not an exaggeration to say that from the moment he arrived on the poker scene, Thunder dominated the scene. He quickly moved up from $15-30 to $30-60 to $50-100, and beyond. By age 22, Thunder was playing in the highest limit game in the state of Arizona, routinely crushing the $100-200 game. Thunder’s dominance was so powerful, he literally became a living legend within the local scene. Men -- players old enough to be his father who had played poker for decades -- sang his praises.
“He’s the best young poker player in the world,” said one Arizona local – who goes by the name Shoe. “I must have played with him 50 times, and fifty times he won. I’ve never seen anything like him.”
Thunder reportedly beat the game so consistently, at one point he cornered the market on every one of the casino’s $100 chips. Instead of cashing out at the end of each session, Thunder stashed his winnings inside the trunk of his car. After several months, Thunder’s car was awash in black chips, rack after rack piled up inside the back of the car.
Finally, the day came when the big cash game players wanted to play poker and there were no $100 chips left inside the casino. Thunder had locked up all the black chips -- estimated to be worth well over a million dollars. Then and there, Thunder sold off racks of chips to the players, $10,000 at a time, directly from the back of his car.
And so, the date May 4th rolled around and Thunder decided to enter his first-ever tournament at the World Series of Poker. Thunder’s name was absent amongst the table chatter, as players and onlookers looked around and began speculating who might win the 13th event at this year’s World Series. At one point during the tournament, all eyes in the room were on Chris Moneymaker, the defending world poker champion. Moneymaker had ten percent of all the chips in play when there were 60 players remaining (he busted out 32nd). There were other well-known faces, too – including Mickey Appleman, Billy Baxter, John Bonetti, Johnny Chan, Eskimo Clark, Chris Ferguson, Ted Forrest, Jennifer Harman, Dan Harrington, Dan Heimiller, Berry Johnston, John Juanda, Howard Lederer, Toto Leonidas, O’Neil Longson, Carlos Mortensen, Mike Matusow, Jim Meehan, Daniel Negreanu, Men Nguyen, Minh Nguyen, Scotty Nguyen, David Pham, Barry Shulman, Huck Seed, Erik Seidel, Mike Sexton, Bob Stupak, Dewey Tomko, Devil Fish Ulliott, Robert Williamson – all of whom have won gold bracelets. Also, actor Toby Maguire, known for his roles in “Spiderman” and “Seabiscuit,” played in the event.
Amidst all the poker stars and a bona fide Hollywood celebrity in the room, Thunder plodded along and played his best game, and ended up at the final table second in chips, to James Sousa’s slight advantage. Players at the final table busted out as follows:
9th – FRANK SINOPOLI – The 32-year-old poker player from Florida went out with 9-9 against pocket kings. Sinopoli was check-raised after a flop of 7-6-2 and was “all-in.” A nine failed to rescue Sinopoli – which meant a 9th place finish worth $23,889.
8th – PHILLIP MARMORSTEIN – Easily the most colorful player of the bunch, Marmorstein came dressed in lederhosen topped by an Alpine cap and feather, reminiscent of the traditional dress of his native Germany. Marmorstein, who was born in Munich and now lives in London, was toppled from the final table when he lost with A-Q to a pair of 8s. Marmorstein will soon be passing through customs with $35,820, ready to convert to Euros.
7th – YOUNG PHAN – Seven-handed play continued for two full hours, making it perhaps one of the longest seven-handed no-limit games in WSOP history. Phan, a native of Vietnam, made his final stand with A-K versus J-J. Phan failed to hit a pair and exited in 7th place with $47,760. Phan, who has been coming to the WSOP for ten years, has two children and lives in Irvine, CA.
6th – PAUL “ESKIMO” CLARK – Clark is legendary in poker circles as one of the game’s most eccentric personalities. He gambles high and never backs away from a proposition. Clark was “all in” with A-10 against A-J and failed to pull off the upset. Clark, originally from New Orleans and now living in Las Vegas, is a 15-year veteran of the WSOP who has won three gold bracelets. He came up short in this event and pocketed $59,680.
5th – SALIM “SAM” BATSHON – Originally from the West Bank of Israel/Palestine, Batshon’s best finish had been 18th in a No-Limit Hold’em event here at the WSOP back in 2002. Batshon, who now lives in California, took a bad beat when his A-8 lost to J-8 after a jack flopped. Batshon received $71,620.
4th – LEE WATKINSON – Watkinson, a 38-year-old finalist from Tacoma, WA went out in 4th place. He was short-stacked and went “all in” with 2-2 – losing to a straight. He collected $83,560.
3rd – JAMES SOUSA – Sousa is originally from Boston. He’s won over half-a-million dollars playing poker during his lifetime, and spends his extra time handicapping sports, including baseball. Souosa went out in third place with second pair, after the flop came J-J-10. Sousa had a 10, but lost to Thunder, who had a jack in his hand and busted his opponent. Sousa took home six figures -- $107,520.
When heads-up play began, the chip counts were as follows:
THUNDER: $1,009,000
DEKNIJFF: $261,000
Deknijff had his work cut out, facing a fearless (and largely unknown) opponent, with a massive chip advantage. Deknijff, who goes by the nickname “The Knife” was sliced and diced when he lost the last hand of the night. He check-raised “all in” with K-2 after the flop came 9-4-2. Thunder wasn’t going anywhere, except directly to his chips with pocket 10s, good for an overpair. The board ended up showing 9-4-2-9-9, and Thunder won with the higher full-house. The runner up, Martin Deknijff is from Sweden. He collected $210,100.
Immediately after the tournament, ESPN cameras rolled and captured the birth of a new poker star. “Thunder” had managed to do the unthinkable – winning his first-ever attempt at the World Series of Poker, playing in what was one of the toughest No-Limit Hold’em fields in history. He was also forthright in discussing how he learned to play poker so quickly.
“The Internet is a great teaching tool,“ Thunder said afterward. “The players there don’t get enough respect.”
When asked about his goals at his first WSOP tournament, Thunder replied: “I came in trying to win it. I’ve always liked jewelry and I wanted to win the gold bracele. Realistically, you want to make the final table, but when we got down to four-handed, that’s when I realized I would not be happy unless I won (first place). And now, here I am.”
Thomas “Thunder” Keller, the newest World Series of Poker champion, was joined at the final table by his new wife. The happy couple were married only two weeks ago. As he departed the Las Vegas Horseshoe with his new bride, it’s unknown whether or not Thunder took his winnings in cash, or check. Someone might want to check inside Thunder’s trunk, and see.
|
