Rookie of the Year: John Gale

[shaniac]

What an incredible year this guy had, (http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=36553) especially considering the PCA win appears to have been his first-ever live tourney cash. He came ridiculously close to winning the 5K PL WSOP bracelet, too.

I'm sure someone is just dying to comment that he's a lucky LAG who plays every tournament, but I think Gale definitely has the stuff it takes to win these events. He's also an extremely affable guy.

Definitely, Rookie of The Year.

[Aceshigh7]

Don't know why anyone would say he was a lucky LAG. He seemed to be to play a very aggressive, solid game. He seems like an extremely good guy too.

[Sponger15SB]

He is a lucky LAG who plays every tournament.



Also, congrats to him for this finish...

19-Sep-05 England £ 50 No Limit Hold'em
Fahrenheit Festival, Southend-on-Sea 7th £ 300

[NLfool]

didn't he get bad beated for ton of chips heads up in the 5k PL HE. Should have WSOP title to his name

[Kyo Souma II]

I've heard a lot of good things about the dude. Seems to enjoy playing the game for the game's sake, and has very good card/people sense.

[daryn]

not to take anything away from a guy regarding skill, BUT

what part of his success do you think is due solely to the fact that he won a WPT, thus had a ton of extra poker money to go buy into a crazy # of tournaments and play LAG in?

[gobboboy]

[ QUOTE ]
not to take anything away from a guy regarding skill, BUT

what part of his success do you think is due solely to the fact that he won a WPT, thus had a ton of extra poker money to go buy into a crazy # of tournaments and play LAG in?

[/ QUOTE ]

He sucks because he won a big tournament. Nice.

I get what you mean, but being able to not care about money doesn't take away from his skill. It can just ADD to the respect some low stakes people should get if they don't care about the money at stake.

Gale definitely took some terrible beats heads up for a WSOP bracelet and deserved it much more than his opponent.

[Double Eagle]

I posted this before, but I think it's amazing that in his first three big buy in live tourneys he finished Last / First / Last.

I spent a fair amount of time talking to him away from the tables at Atlantis last year and he is definitely a good guy.

[shaniac]

[ QUOTE ]
what part of his success do you think is due solely to the fact that he won a WPT, thus had a ton of extra poker money to go buy into a crazy # of tournaments and play LAG in?

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, if that's what it takes to be a success on the circuit in this day and age, I'd say ALL of it "is due solely to the fact the he won a WPT." How else would he have quit his job, been able to go out there and be all LAGy and stuff.

I'm not really sure what you're asking Daryn. Plenty of people manage to propel their poker careers by hitting a sick overlay on an early attempt, which enables them to play fearlessly and win more high-profile tournaments.

My point was simply that Gale did it more impressively than most.

As for Sponger making fun of him for playing a 50-lb. buyin tournament, I think if anything it reflects positively on his genuine passion for NL tournaments. Gale is definintely one of the good guys in this movie.

[Ulysses]

shaniac,

Re: the average full-time touring pro (ignore backing) these days, a few questions:

1) How many events do they go to? One major a month? More, less?

2) How many tourneys will they generally play per event?

3) What is the average yearly outlay in tourney buyins and travel expenses?

4) What percentage of the tourney pros play primarily tournies and don't really play cash games much?

I am referring specifically to the guys who aren't the superstar players, but the name players who seem to be at most tourneys. So, not the Negreanu/Ivey/Brunson types and not the wannabes like that Schleger guy, but the ones in the middle.

Seems like it would be pretty easy to spend $15-25k/month on buyins and expenses these days.

[shaniac]

What do I look like? President of the National Council for Touring Pros?

I would say "it depends" or "I have no idea" to most of your questions.

The size and shape of the poker circuit is changing so rapidly that an accurate answer for 2005 would surely be drastically different from the same answer for 2004 or what I could project for 2006. There are more than twice as many major buyin tournaments every month in 2005-2006 than there were last year, or so it seems.

As for the guys who seem to go to EVERY tournament (John Phan, Men the Master, Michael Gracz, Allen Kessler) I'm sure they easily meet the 25K/mo. avg buyin figure you mentioned. My buyins for the 5-diamond poker classic far exceeded that amount, and I didn't play every event.

I think Jesus Ferguson plays every champiosnhip event, but doesn't play any prelims ever. That might be 20-30K/mo. Men the Master seems to play every single prelim and main event at every circuit stop. His buyins could be way higher than that.

I'm not more uniquely qualified to figure out their expenses than you, but one of these days I'm going to do a detailed breakdown of my buyins, cashes, and expenses for 2005, and maybe I'll publish it on my blog.

[daryn]

[ QUOTE ]
He sucks because he won a big tournament. Nice.

[/ QUOTE ]

you are dumb. nice.

reread my post. i didn't say anything about his skill, i even said NOT to take away from his skill specifically

i just asked, what percentage of his success do you think is based on the fact that he has the money to play a lot of the tournaments?

not caring about the money DOES help you believe it or not. it can make you play more aggressively and without fear. also, having the money to follow the pro circuit and buy into every meaningful tournament out there helps your results i'm sure

[HiatusOver]

If a blog is on the internet but it doesnt make a sound, is it really a blog at all?

[JustPlayingSmart]

[ QUOTE ]

What do I look like? President of the National Council for Touring Pros?

[/ QUOTE ]

Who is the president of this organization? Do you have a web site address? I tried nationalcouncilfortouringpros.org but it didn't work. I'm interested in becoming a member of this organization and would like some information on it. Thanks in advance.

[Shandrax]

If anyone had asked me about the rookie of the year, I would have answered Joe Sebok. Well, this dude here obviously had an even better year! Surprising that he didn't get the attention in the media.

[Subby]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm not more uniquely qualified to figure out their expenses than you, but one of these days I'm going to do a detailed breakdown of my buyins, cashes, and expenses for 2005, and maybe I'll publish it on my blog.

[/ QUOTE ]
Please do - I think that would be a fairly interesting entry...

[DrSavage]

I'm friends with Alex Balandin who came second at that PCA and he had only good things to say about him.

[BarronVangorToth]

[ QUOTE ]

Seems like it would be pretty easy to spend $15-25k/month on buyins and expenses these days.

[/ QUOTE ]



This is why I'd love for some site out there to track all of the actual entries into tournaments so that when you say Player X won 800,000 this year, you can also see that he entered 28 tournaments that cost him X dollars to see his net. Not to mention seeing the total tourneys entered would give a rough approximation of monies laid out for hotel, airfare, etc etc.


Player 1 wins 400,000 in 2005
Player 2 wins 100,000 in 2005

Who had the better year? Before you answer:

Player 1 entered 46 events that cost $290,000 just in entry fees

Player 2 entered 1 event that cost $5,000

Now let's factor in travel and hotel and--

--you see where this would go.

Barron Vangor Toth
BarronVangorToth.com

[Yuv]

Interesting idea, ROY award. I think Patrik Antonius had an amazing year (http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=23225), but without a doubt (unless you DQ him for a weekly tourny at the Billagio two years ago), the RoY award has to go to Mike Gracz.

2.5 million dollars in 12 months, including a WPT title, WSOP title and the Trump Classic.

[gobboboy]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
He sucks because he won a big tournament. Nice.

[/ QUOTE ]

you are dumb. nice.

reread my post. i didn't say anything about his skill, i even said NOT to take away from his skill specifically

i just asked, what percentage of his success do you think is based on the fact that he has the money to play a lot of the tournaments?

not caring about the money DOES help you believe it or not. it can make you play more aggressively and without fear. also, having the money to follow the pro circuit and buy into every meaningful tournament out there helps your results i'm sure

[/ QUOTE ]

I never disagreed with you. I re-enforced your point. The only time where I even referenced your quote was for my first statement, and I wasn't insulting your thoughts at all. Don't assume I'm trying to discredit your thoughts because I'm not.

John Gale's play on the WPT was horrible.

Seems to be good all around, except...

He likes to hug a lot. Were I to find myself all-in against him in a tournament, I would decline the big sweaty man-grab, thanks.

I can picture gale chasing my scrawny 6'4" 180lb ass around the table... "COME BACK HERE AND HUG OLD BOY THIS IS EMOTIONAL.. IM ALL EMOTIONAL OVER HERE"

[ QUOTE ]

Who had the better year? Before you answer:

Player 1 entered 46 events that cost $290,000 just in entry fees

Player 2 entered 1 event that cost $5,000

Now let's factor in travel and hotel and--

--you see where this would go.


[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, however.. there must be some kind of floor.. Surely one tournament win is not enough to qualify you for this award. The winner of the Main Event would just win every year.

There must be some kind of pre-determined circuit of respectable events to include for calcuation, and then the players should have to play in at least X tournaments...

He's been nominated for European Rookie of the Year, alongside:

Patrik Antonius (Finland)
Roland de Wolfe (England)
Peter Gunnarson (Sweden)
Noah Boeken (Holland)

(http://www.pokerineurope.com/pokerawards/index.php)

[iMsoLucky0]

[ QUOTE ]
shaniac,

Re: the average full-time touring pro (ignore backing) these days, a few questions:

1) How many events do they go to? One major a month? More, less?

2) How many tourneys will they generally play per event?

3) What is the average yearly outlay in tourney buyins and travel expenses?

4) What percentage of the tourney pros play primarily tournies and don't really play cash games much?

I am referring specifically to the guys who aren't the superstar players, but the name players who seem to be at most tourneys. So, not the Negreanu/Ivey/Brunson types and not the wannabes like that Schleger guy, but the ones in the middle.

Seems like it would be pretty easy to spend $15-25k/month on buyins and expenses these days.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think this varies so much from player to player that there is no answer for these questions. Personally, I've been playing about 1 major event a month with 2 or 3 smaller events before. I also don't play cash games. I'm not sure if that's standard or not, but there are definitely people that play way more and way less than that.

I dont really think there is an "average" player for these.

[AJo Go All In]

not sure if anyone has mentioned this, but stars probably puts up the buyins for most of these tournaments

[Greg (FossilMan)]

[ QUOTE ]
not sure if anyone has mentioned this, but stars probably puts up the buyins for most of these tournaments

[/ QUOTE ]

John doesn't play for PS anymore. Not my decision, and I didn't think that their decision to let him go was a good one, but in any event, the post to which I reply is mistaken.

Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)

[shaniac]

That didn't last too long, did it?

What's the current roster for Team Pokerstars, Greg?

[Greg (FossilMan)]

The decision to cut John was made by the Marketing people in Europe. A nice bunch, but very young, and I think they believed that they needed somebody more young and hip rather than somebody who is 50ish, no matter how nice of a guy he is. But that's just a guess.

The big 3 are Joe Hachem, Chris Moneymaker, and myself. We also Tom McEvoy, Isabelle Mercier, Evelyn Ng, Wil Wheaton, and Luca Pagano. I did not see Luca on the website, but he was still on the team last I heard.

Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)

[Jonathan]

[ QUOTE ]
The decision to cut John was made by the Marketing people in Europe. A nice bunch, but very young, and I think they believed that they needed somebody more young and hip rather than somebody who is 50ish, no matter how nice of a guy he is. But that's just a guess.

The big 3 are Joe Hachem, Chris Moneymaker, and myself. We also Tom McEvoy, Isabelle Mercier, Evelyn Ng, Wil Wheaton, and Luca Pagano. I did not see Luca on the website, but he was still on the team last I heard.

Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm really sorry to hear that John was dropped and agree
with you that PokerStars made a mistake in this case. John
sat next to me for several hours at one of the tables in
Monte Carlo and I grew to like him and appreciate his
dry humour. That Stars has dropped him but continues keep
younger, more photogenic players who don't have anywhere
near John's level of poker achievements is not good for
Stars or for poker.

What a shame!

Suerte,
Jonathan

[M.B.E.]

[ QUOTE ]
I spent a fair amount of time talking to him away from the tables at Atlantis last year and he is definitely a good guy.

[/ QUOTE ]
I agree.

[Shortstacked.co.uk]

John Gale is a great guy, I was the "lucky guy" that beat John heads up to win the bracelet! How bad were his beats? You need to learn a little about poker! Anyways John has got to be the rookie of the year, great player, great guy!

[bud05]

He took at least 2 4:1 favorite beats that I can think of, so I fail to see how anyone needs to learn.

He seemed like a very nice older Brit at PCA, and nothing I've seen from him in other tourneys disproved that opinion. He obviously loves to play poker, and I'm glad he's enjoying life.

[Shortstacked.co.uk]

not john gale, the guy that made the post, john had 1 "bad beat", we were all in preflop w/ my 44 against tt, I was the chipleader all day, knocked out most of the final table. John is a very good player w/ many results this year. I look forward to playing him in the Bahamas in a few weeks! I consider John a good friend!