German Poker Superstars Profile: Sebastian Ruthenberg
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.
