The biggest poker stories of 2013 - Part 2

Barry Carter is back with his recap of the poker stories that turned his head in the last twelve months.

This is the second part of my personal favourite stories of the last twelve months. You can read part one right here. 

The Germans destroy the Super High Rollers

German players have been dominating live poker for a number of years now, but 2013 was really a stand out year for them on the Super High Roller circuit. A close knit group of friends have dominated the $100,000+ events this year and you rarely see a final table that does not include a German name. 

Phillipp philgruissem Gruissem won back-to-back WPT Alpha8 events this year, each for over $1 million, not to mention a string of other big cashes and his first bracelet in the $50,000 WSOP APAC high roller. 

Niklas ragen Heinecker is not only the biggest winner in the online cash games, he also won one of the biggest live prizes of the year, $4,456,885 in the GuangDong Asia Millions.

Tobias pokernoob Reinkemeier had two big runner-up finishes this year, one in the WPT Alpha8 for $962,951 and the other in an Aussie Millions Super High Roller for $1,319,623.

It was also a big year for Martin 0piggybank Finger. He won both a £50,000 Super High Roller at EPT London for $1,331,171, cashed in One Drop for $251,549 and won his first bracelet in a non-high roller event for $506,764.

Igor lechuckpoker Kurganov had a great year too, cashing in lots of high rollers (Including all three big ones at the Aussie Millions) for a combined $3,362,109. 

Max Altergott made his name this year by winning a €100,000 event at the EPT Grand Final for $2,289,970 and another high roller in Paris for $248,279. 

Expect more of the same next year, particularly when the $1 million One Drop returns. 

Bet Raise Fold tells the story of online poker

It is always a mixed blessing when poker is the subject of a documentary because they always inevitably go down the road of showing players who have lost big and ruined their lives because of poker. Bet Raise Fold was unashamedly a story about online poker told from the perspective of winning poker players.

It was a long time coming, thanks in no small part to the fact that the legal landscape of poker kept changing dramatically after Black Friday and the Full Tilt scandal, which meant the producers kept having to change the movie. It was worth the wait and what we were left with was a well-produced, entertaining and nostalgic look at the story of online poker after the boom.

Here at PokerStrategy.com we were all really proud to have worked alongside the team at Bet Raise Fold, translating the movie into 13 different languages, and you would be hard pushed to find a poker player who didn't love it. 

Ryan Riesse thinks he is the best in the world

It's not very often a throwaway comment attracts more attention than the biggest event and prize of the year, but that almost happened with Main Event champion Ryan Riess. Of course history will remember him overcoming 6,352 players and a dominating chip leader in JC Tran to win the Main Event and over $8 million.

But in the short term we will all remember him proclaiming after winning the event that he thinks he is the best in the world already (In fact he also made the claim several times before the final table even resumed). 

Time will tell for Riess, but right now, at least in poker circles, he will be most remembered for this somewhat premature claim to the throne.  

Online poker returns to the US

You may have noticed that this year I have put mainly fun and entertainment based stories in my top ten. This is in part because my mindset has shifted away from the Black Friday days and feel that we should now be looking at poker in much more fun terms again. However one regulatory story that cannot be ignored is that online poker is (slowly) returning to the US.

The first hand of legal online poker was dealt on Ultimate Poker in Nevada on April 30 and since then we have seen a huge wave of interest in the second state to return to the online felt, New Jersey.

We are still a long way off seeing it become America's pastime again across the majority of the states, but it certainly is the start of better times after several dark years for the game. 

Daniel Negreanu is back on top

For me the biggest story of 2013 has to be the return of Daniel Negreanu. In a similar vain to Phil Hellmuth, Negreanu is a player who once dominated the game but had some baron years which led a lot of people to question if the game had passed him by. 2013 was his answer to that question.

It started with him winning the first ever WSOP APAC Main Event for $1,087,160 which immediately put him at the top of most annual rankings lists including the WSOP Player of the Year list. He followed this with two big final tables; the championship events of both the EPT and WPT. The WSOP saw him make a number of big cashes and a runner-up place.

A 2nd place in a high roller event at EPT Barcelona was the warm-up to him winning his second international bracelet, when he won the €25,000 High Roller event at the WSOPE for $979,955. This result also won him the WSOP Player of the Year, as well as putting him to the top of every major live rankings list including the GPI. He also had online success this year, winning a SCOOP event.

In total he boasted over $3.2 million in winnings this year. Our interview with him was also one of our most viewed articles of the year and well worth a read.

What was your favourite story of 2013? Let me know in the comments box. 

by Barry Carter