I’ve been a (until recently) ceaseless promoter of poker, even though when a new episode last night of HGTV’s My Lottery Dream Home revealed it’s latest subject, my wife said “Oh no! Not a poker player!’ I didn’t recognize the face immediately and was a bit surprised because the intro mentioned a 3rd place cash at the 47th Annual World Series of Poker (2016, the year I worked there as a reporter) and an amount of $4 million dollars.
They certainly made it sound as if it was the Main Event, but Cliff Josephy was 3rd place that year, and this wasn’t Cliff. They mentioned that the subject—Mark—lived in Philadelphia, but there are only seven players on the Hendon Mob rankings for Pennsylvania with anything that could even be rounded up to $4 million, and none of them were named Mark. In fact, the highest-ranked Mark on the list was Mark “@dipthrong” Herm, with $1.7 million in recorded live tournament winnings. And Herm did, in fact, come in 3rd in Event #21 $3,000 NLHE 6-Max, which—though a substantial amount smaller than $4 million.
Typically, the winners on MLDH came into their money through a single big lottery win, and the show’s script certainly tried to make it look that way for Mark Herm, but unless I’m missing something big time, my guess is that Herm gave the show’s staff a number that included winnings from cash games over the years.
Herm was interviewed by Sarah Herring on the PokerNews Podcastthis week.
UPDATE: Kevin @kevmath Mathers points out Herm’s PocketFives profile:
Hey! It’s been a while. I don’t know if the Leaderboard is going to continue as a regular feature, but how often do we get the chance to celebrate an outstanding achievement by such a likable personality?
Jacki Burkhart wasn’t the biggest cash winner over the past month-and-a-half on Hendon Mob, but she had to have the best ROI, because her contribution to Maria Konnikova’s #MyPokerStory competition got Jacki into a 1,000+ entry competition that included some of the best players in the world, where she placed 38th. her win vaults her fro 343rd on the Leaderboard to 161st.
If @jackiburkhart81 can beat the other 49 players remaining in the @PokerStarsLIVE#PSPC she will surpass the top earner on the Oregon all-time leaderboard (Annie Duke, who doesn't actually live here any more) as well as passing Duke to take 3rd place on Women's all time list. https://t.co/eiXo99JXX6
The Pacific NW Leaderboard has just about 3,700 players on it at the moment, basically everyone listed as a resident of Oregon, Washington, or Idaho. who’s made more than $3,000 in (reported) lifetime earnings, not counting daily or recurring tournaments (that’s just the way things are reported). Nothing from social gaming clubs in Oregon, not even for the bigger tournaments. I’d include British Columbia and maybe Alberta, but Canadian players aren’t broken out on Hendon Mob by province.
This past month or so added a dozen new entries on the Leaderboard, with the biggest being Pasco’s Joseph Beltran Arredondo. He had one small cash in a daily event at Aria last summer, but he won the 650-player $600 entry Wynn Signature Series $250K GTD NLHE at the end of January in what looks like a 4-way deal, moving hiim to position 594.
On 3 January, Robert Dilger of Kennewick got his second cash, with 5th place at the Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza V #21 $100K GTD NLHE. There were 580 players with multiple days of entry ($340). He jumps into 2016th place on the leaderboard. The tournament was won by Unknown, Seattle’s Dylan WIlkerson took 7th.
Timothy Hagensen’s 8th place finish in a mid-month tournament at the Golden Nugget is smaller than I’d usually mention, but it intrigued me because it was listed as a $155 entry tournament with a $20K GTD and a $170K prize pool. Plus, it was part of the MOOSE Poker Tournament Series benefit, run by the Loyal Order of Moose. According to the brochure (which does not mention the rest of the events in the series) the entry fee was $350 and there was a $10K guarantee for first place. It mentioned the 2018 run had 846 players, the 2019 edition beat that by 5. The payout structure is old-school, going up in $1,000 increments between 10th and 3rd (from $4,000 to $11,000, but it’s a freezeout and there’s no deals allowed. Always interesting to know what else is going on outside the casino-run games. Tim (from Washougal) moved onto the leaderboard at 2129th.
Thomas Kornechuk from Auburn is the big winner overall through January, taking his biggest score by far with a win in the WSOPC Thunder Valley #11 $500K GTD NLHE Main Event. He goes all the way from 416 to 103 on the combined leaderboard. “57-year-old software engineer”? Maybe I better rethink that poker retirement thing…
James Romero’s been busy at PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas and the Aussie Millions in Melbourne this year, with four smaller cashes after a 2nd place finish in the 200-player $3,300 entry PCA #28 NLHE. With re-entries the prize pool climbed over $715K. At the levels Romero is at in the leaderboard, movement is slight, but he gains a spot (to 11th) and Matt Affleck moves down to 12th, even though he also had some results this month in the PokerStars Players Championship and at WSOPC Thunder Valley.
Lee Markholt doesn’t move on the leaderboard(still #6), despite four cashes at the PCA, including the biggest, for runner-up in PCA #35 NLHE, a $2,200 buyin event with 164 entries.
Portland’s Kao Saechao starts off the year moving up a notch to 26th with results at WSOPC Thunder Valley. He placed 5th in Event #7 $100K GTD NLHE Monster Stack(686 entries made a $226K prize pool), then just a few days later came 4th in Event #13 NLHE 8-Max (135 entries, $135K prize pool).
William Zaiss of Everson, Washington got his New Year off to a great start in the opening event of the WPT Gardens Poker Championship. A $175 entry with 562 entries, it nearly tripled the $50K guarantee. A 4-way deal gave Zaiss the win , moving him from 309th to 233rd on the leaderboard.
Mill Creek’s Jordan Westmorland remains at #39 on the leaderboard, despite 3rd place in Aussie Millions #3 NLHE Shot Clock Shootout. The event drew 180 entries and built a prize pool of $132K (US).
Lewiston’s Stephen Schumacher crossed one of my dream poker trips off my list, as well as picking up 4 Vietnam flags for his Hendon Mob record, at APT Ho Chi Minh City. His biggest win came for 8th place in the â‚« 35,000,000 + 3,500,000 NLHE Championship Event, with a total prize pool of â‚« 7,835,306,000 ($338K). Schumacher moves from 173rd to 164th.
We’ll wrap up this edition with everyone’s fave, Angela Jordison, who got caught playing with only two cards and moves up seven spots to 142nd for her 28th place finish in the WSOPC Choctaw $1M GTD NLH Main Event.
That’s all for this edition of the Leaderboard. Hope to see some of you in a couple of weeks at the PACWEST Poker Classic in Lincoln City (where it was snowing today). Retirement’s going well! Apart from the half-min-cash at Portland Meadows a couple weeks ago, I played my old home game Friday night and took second after a couple of bad beats kept me from winning, then made a little in the cash game that followed. As always, this is the Poker Mutant (#1047 on the Leaderboard) signing off.
