Big Slick Poker

Any frustrated student of the game of poker would be wise to avoid listening to the story of Florian Langmann’s career. The talented young German took to poker like a fish in the water. After getting a bit of a late start compared to others who have enjoyed his degree of success, Langmann began tearing up the poker world almost immediately.

He started playing in 2005, and by 2006 won the German Poker Open for nearly €40,000. Florian began traveling the world playing poker tournaments shortly following that win. After recording several modestly sized cashes, he finally caught his big break in the 2007 EPT London Main Event. He finished 2nd in that event and collected a massive £346,528 payday.

Although 2008 was probably a bit of a disappointment for Langmann (even though most of us would have traded places with his results in a heartbeat!), he has already gotten off to a great start this year. At the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas, Langmann got knocked out of the Main Event and joined 272 others in a $5,000 buy-in “second chance” tournament. He notched another big second place finish in that event collecting a healthy $184,000 to get his year off on the right footing. The only player who could stop Langmann from winning the whole thing was none other than reigning world champion Peter Eastgate.

This young man clearly does a lot of traveling. Less than a week after that nice finish in the Bahamas, he showed up in Mississippi for a World Poker Tour event with 283 players. Of course, the finish was probably a disappointing one for Florian: 18th place. *Yawn* just another money routine finish in a $10,000 buy-in tournament!

Perhaps no other German poker player is as dedicated to traveling the live poker tournament circuit as is Florian. For that reason, it’s hard not to expect him to be considered the best German player in a year or two, if he isn’t considered that already.

On a personal note, I played with Florian in the WSOP Europe event. At the time, I had no idea who he was, but it quickly became apparent that he was quite possibly the best player at the table which is really saying something since Barry Greenstein and Nenad Medic were among us. His stone-faced demeanor and endlessly aggressive betting style make him a serious force to be reckoned with in the poker world.

It could be argued that the best German poker player is 25 year-old Sebastian Ruthenberg.

According to this poker interview, Ruthenberg began playing in 2004, but didn’t start taking the game seriously until 2006 after he finished his education. Fast forward to two years later, and Sebastian finished 11th on the Card Player POY Standings. This fantastic finish was fueled by two huge wins. First, Sebastian won the 7-Card Stud Hi-Lo World Championship at the World Series of Poker. The buy-in for that event was $5,000. Over 250 of the world’s best players competed and Ruthenberg bested them all. His final opponent was five-time WSOP bracelet winner Chris “Jesus” Ferguson.

Ruthenberg’s second big win of the year came on the European Poker Tour (EPT). Season five of the EPT kicked off in September with the Barcelona Poker Open. A hefty €8,000 buy-in and a huge field of 609 players left a massive €1,361,000 waiting for the eventual winner, Ruthenberg. That win landed Sebastian in elite company. On the year, only a small handful of players can lay claim to besting Ruthenberg’s enormous winnings of $2.3 million.

As if his year hadn’t already been impressive enough, Ruthenberg closed things out by narrowly winning another EPT event. The €5,000 buy-in EPT Prague event took place just a few days ago. Ruthenberg was ousted in 9th place for €42,800, a truly great finish in a field of 570 players.

So what’s his secret? In his interview with PokerTips.org, Ruthenberg advices “reading, reading, and more reading”. Clearly, poker books and online poker strategy guides have been key to Ruthenberg’s path to riches. He also recommends bankroll management and patience. This understanding of the variance associated with poker is key to being successful in the game. Multi-table tournaments in particular are known for their brutal ups and downs. Since usually 25-33% of a prize pool goes to whoever wins the tournament, the stretches between victories can be long and tough for pro poker players.

As we head into 2009, it will be fun to monitor which German player finishes the highest in the Player of the Year Standings. Just for fun, here are some odds on who that person will be:

3:1 Field
6:1 Sebastian Ruthenberg
8:1 Florian Langmann
8:1 Johannes Strassmann
10:1 Thomas Bihl
10:1 Alexander Jung
12:1 Andreas Krause

You have to give the field a lot of credit here. After all, stars such as Langmann, Strassmann, and Ruthenberg all basically came out of nowhere in the past 18 months. It seems reasonable to expect that some German poker player who is currently unknown could rise to fame in 2009.

Germans have done increasingly well in the game of poker over the past few years. This is due in part to the work of young superstar Johannes Strassmann.

Like many successful poker players, Johannes career began as a transition from being a Starcraft player. Starcraft is an online strategy game of sorts that served as a gateway to poker for many players including Bertrand “ElkY” Grosspellier.

In 2007, Johannes participated in the European Poker Tour (EPT) Grand Final in Monte Carlo where he finished 23rd for €33,180. That result marked just the beginning of his successes on the EPT. He gained worldwide fame in the poker community for making three EPT final tables in a stretch of five months between December 2007 and April 2008. Just recently, he made another final table, this time in the EPT London event, where he finished 7th for £120,723.

Strassmann’s live tournament results over the past 18 months are highly impressive. He has totaled well over $500,000 in winnings in seven countries throughout the world.

But Johannes is not simply known for his live tournament performances. He is also a fearless high-stakes online cash game player who can be found playing on Party Poker when he isn’t traveling. Stakes of $25-$50 blinds are a part of his regular game.

As if being one of the best German poker players in the world isn’t enough, Johannes is also branching out into the business world. He is reportedly teaming with the likes of Italy’s Dario Minieri and France’s Grosspellier to create a poker strategy and video tutorial training website. Watching a training video from Johannes would certainly be a good way to boost one’s poker abilities. After all… I’m sure a lot of us would love to trade bank accounts with the young man!