Poker News

Dusty “Leatherass” Schmidt Named to PokerStars Team Online

Online poker training site DragTheBar.com announced Thursday that lead instructor Dusty "Leatherass" Schmidt has been added to the PokerStars Team Online. Schmidt joins an elite 26-player roster that includes Thomas "Boku87" Boekhoff, Grayson "spacegravy" Physioc, Randy “nanonoko” Lew, and Steve "stevesbets" Jacobs.

“I feel like I’ve joined the Yankees,” said Schmidt, who plays as "Leatherass9" on PokerStars. “Getting the opportunity to represent the largest poker room in the world is definitely something that makes all of the hard work feel worthwhile. I couldn’t be more honored.”

On the felts, Schmidt has earned more than $3 million during his five-year career, logging more than eight million hands over 10,000 hours. He posted the world’s highest win rate in both $5/$10 No Limit and $10/$20 No Limit in 2007 and 2008. In a four-month period between November 2007 and February 2008, Schmidt won in excess of $600,000 playing high-stakes cash games. He’s never had a losing month in his career.

One of Schmidt's most satisfying achievements in poker was attaining PokerStars’ Supernova Elite status in just eight months while playing high-stakes cash games in 2007. He said that being named to PokerStars Team Online means he’ll be going for Supernova Elite status again in 2010. “The chase for Supernova Elite is officially on,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt, 28, joined DragTheBar.com as a coach in January after spending three years as a lead instructor for StoxPoker. He makes poker videos and actively participates in the site’s member forums. “We’re very happy for Dusty,” said Drag The Bar CEO Hunter Bick, who founded the poker training site nine months ago. “It’s obviously exciting for us to have someone who’s achieved what he has on our team of coaches. He’s a good guy who works hard and he deserves this recognition.”

In addition to his roles with Drag The Bar, Schmidt is a columnist for CardPlayer Magazine and a published author. In December, he released Treat Your Poker Like A Business, which focuses on teaching players how to develop a professional approach to the game, both on and off the felts.

In joining Team PokerStars Online, Schmidt will play exclusively on PokerStars.com. Although he's recognized as a successful cash game player, Schmidt has said he will play several tournaments on the site. He will also keep a blog at PokerStars.com.

PokerStars selected 23 founding members for its Team Online in December, sifting through 2,000 applications to form a team made up of 20 men and three women with 18 countries represented. Since then, the site has added three more to its roster and PokerStars says it plans to add further players to PokerStars Team Online throughout 2010. Here's a look at the full team:

Andres Alisievicz -- lobojiji
Jorge Arias -- JorgeArias
Boumaaza Bachir -- Chiren80
Anders Berg -- Donald
Alvaro Blanco -- VARICO
Thomas Boekhoff -- Boku87
Diego Brunelli -- vgreen22
André Coimbra -- acoimbra
Mathew Didlick -- chipstar1
Ta-Chih Geeng -- socutiesf
Andrew Goetsch -- Kid Nebraska
Martha Gonzalez -- marene
Keiran Harris -- K_Man2307
Steve Jacobs -- stevesbets
Randy Lew -- nanonoko
Karlo Lopez -- elmagopr
Alexey Makarov -- LuckyGump
Kristian Martin -- CharismA3
Grzegorz Mikielewicz -- DaWarsaw
Nichoel Peppe -- NicP
Grayson Physioc -- spacegravy
Sebastien Sabic -- Seb86
Amanda Thomas -- ROXY24
George Lind III -- Jorj95
Denys Shcherbakov -- diatty
Dustin Schmidt -- Leatherass9

PokerStars Launches Online Team

The company spent two months examining over 2,000 applications to decide who would be featured on the team – which is an offshoot of Team PokerStars Pro.

The online team consists of players from 18 different countries, 20 of whom are men and three are women.

PokerStars picked the team from a unique cross-section of stakes and games meaning players might see a few more PokerStars pros in the lower-stakes games.

Although the majority of the picked players are relatively unknown, avid poker fans might recognize Thomas “Boku87” Boekhoff, who has been doing a $5 to $100,000 challenge on the PokerStars blog.

Meanwhile Steve “stevesbets” Jacobs is celebrated in online circles for beating ElkY at the 2008 WCOOP $25,000 Heads-Up Championship for $560,000.

Finally Anders “Donald” Berg has served on Norway’s World Cup of Poker Team at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas.

PokerStars isn’t finished yet as the company announced it would be adding more players to online team throughout 2010.

Below is the complete list of all 23 players that will serve as founding members of Team PokerStars Online.

 

Real Name:	Screen Name:
Andres Alisievicz	lobojiji
Jorge Arias	JorgeArias
Boumaaza Bachir	Chiren80
Anders Berg	Donald
Alvaro Blanco	VARICO
Thomas Boekhoff	Boku87
Diego Brunelli	vgreen22
Andre Coimbra	acoimbra
Mathew Didlick	chipstar1
Ta-Chih Geeng	socutuiesf
Andrew Goetsch	Kid Nebraska
Martha Gonzalez	marene
Keiran Harris	K_Man2307
Steve Jacobs	stevesbets
Randy Lew	nanonoko
Karlo Lopez	elmagopr
Alexey Makarov	LuckyGump
Kristian Martin	CharismaA3
Grzegorz Mikielwicz	DaWarsaw
Nichoel Peppe	NicP
Grayson Physioc	spacegravy
Sebastien Sabic	Seb86
Amanda Thomas	ROXY24

 

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Team PokerStars Online Announced

After 2,000 online poker players sent in applications to become members of Team PokerStars Online, the group’s 23 inaugural players were announced on Wednesday, just in time for the holidays.

Eighteen countries are represented among the 23 founding members of Team PokerStars Online. Those on the list include Steve Jacobs, known in online poker circles simply as “stevesbets.” The poker player is perhaps best known for winning the 2008 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) $25,000 buy-in Heads-Up event for a staggering $560,000. Also in the mix is Thomas “Boku87” Boekhoff, who was involved in a challenge of his own on the world’s largest online poker site to turn a $5 bankroll into $100,000. Boekhoff is one of the world’s premier grinders, but he’s also had success in the brick-and-mortar poker scene, including a 14th place at the European Poker Tour’s (EPT) Monte Carlo Grand Final in 2008.

Grayson “spacegravy” Physioc is another member of Team PokerStars Online. He’s a former winner of the site’s high-stakes $200 rebuy and recently finished as the runner-up in the PokerStars $10,000 Guaranteed for $11,000. Many will remember Nichoel Peppe from her deep run in the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, where she took 75th place for $69,000. Known in the online world as “NicP,” the favorite of ESPN’s Main Event coverage now takes per place among the team of PokerStars-backed online poker pros.

Anders “Donald” Berg finished 37th in the 2008 EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final and took down an event held as part of the Irish Winter Festival of Poker in 2005. In November, he won the PokerStars $100 rebuy for $26,000 and, one month prior, took down the site’s $50,000 Guaranteed for $15,000. Berg hails from Norway and is a veteran of the poker industry. You can find him roving the virtual felts of PokerStars as an online team member.

To say that Team PokerStars Online constitutes an eclectic group would be an understatement. Here are its inaugural members, listed alphabetically: Andres Alisievicz (lobojiji), Jorge Arias (JorgeArias), Boumaaza Bachir (Chiren80), Anders Berg (Donald), Alvaro Blanco (VARICO), Thomas Boekhoff (Boku87), Diego Brunelli (vgreen22), Andre Coimbra (acoimbra), Mathew Didlick (chipstar1), Ta-Chih Geeng (socutiesf), Andrew Goetsch (Kid Nebraska), Martha Gonzalez (marene), Keiran Harris (K_Man2307), Steve Jacobs (stevesbets), Randy Lew (nanonoko), Karlo Lopez (elmagopr), Alexey Makarov (LuckyGump), Kristian Martin (CharismA3), Grzegorz Mikielewicz (DaWarsaw), Nichoel Peppe (NicP), Grayson Physioc (spacegravy), Sebastien Sabic (Seb86), and Amanda Thomas (ROXY24).

A press release distributed by PokerStars on Wednesday reveals that Team PokerStars Online will receive new members in 2010. In addition, modifications to the software client’s lobby will allow easier location of PokerStars-sponsored pros when they hop online. A range of games and stakes are represented in the Team PokerStars Online roster.

This weekend, just two days after Christmas, PokerStars is hosting a Guinness World Record attempt for the largest online poker tournament in history. The standing mark is 65,000, set by PokerStars in July, and the site has upped the ante this time around. The record-setting $1 buy-in tournament will kick off at 14:45 ET on Sunday and feature $300,000 in the prize pool. The event will take on a turbo format and first place may see as much as $50,000 come their way for their $1 investment.

PokerStars is the world’s largest online poker site, with a seven-day running average of 28,400 real money ring game players, according to PokerScout.com. During its peak hours, which occur in the evening throughout North America, nearly 50,000 cash game players call the site home. PokerStars happily accepts real money wagers from the United States and is based in the Isle of Man.

Thomas Boekhoff attempts to turn $5 into $100,000

We’ve all heard how Chris Ferguson turned $1 into $20,000 but could someone turn $5 into $100,000 in a year? Well that's the exact challenge that has been thrown down to Thomas ‘Boku87’ Boekhoff by Poker Stars.