Dave Woods, Poker Player Editor, introduces you to the new bumper issue of Poker Player for February 2017 which you can read for FREE by clicking here…
Pretty much everyone that starts to play poker dreams of winning a huge tournament and a life-changing sum of money. For most people that journey starts with a live grind, min-cashing a few small buy-in events and taking an occasional shot at a major. And it generally ends in disappointment. It’s hard to win a tournament and it’s extremely tough to win a $10k buy-in.
Try telling that to this month’s cover star, Shurane Vijayaram. If you watched the final table of this year’s Aussie Millions you’d have been forgiven for thinking he was an experienced pro. He started the final day with the chip lead and ended it with all the chips in the room, all the while laughing and showing no signs of nerves. When you’ve got players like Fedor Holz and Jeff Rossiter staring back at you, that’s not easy.
And Vijayaram didn’t win a flip to take the trophy. He made a massive hero call with fifth pair to beat Rossiter’s river shove with Ace-high. It was an incredible play. Vijayaram won A$1.6m and, with no deal struck, was playing heads-up for A$600k. This would be remarkable for most people, but look at Vijayaram’s Hendon Mob page and you’ll see this was his first recorded live cash in any event at any level.
It’s stories like this that make poker what it is. Sure, we all love watching the Negreanus and Hellmuths at the table, but Vijayaram gives hope to amateur poker players around the world.
Read the February 2017 issue for FREE by clicking here…
Dave Woods, PokerPlayer Editor
