Michael DeMichele Young Confident and Successful
Written by Roger S | Wednesday, July 30th, 2008
The average age of players at the tables is getting lower. Beyond doubt the Phil Hellmuths and the Doyle Brunsons have inspired a generation of poker players.
But today’s heroes are more in the Chris Moneymaker mold. Pit them against the Phil Hellmuths and it is the Phil Hellmuths who will falter.
One such player is Michael DeMichele. He did not emulate
Moneymaker’s feat but he did more than enough to get noticed. With a face that looks much younger than his age of 23 years, many would question his right to be at the tables. Dressed conservatively and playing without histrionics he quietly made it to the second place of one of the biggest prize money events in WSOP 2008, the $50,000 buy-in World Championship H.O.R.S.E.
DeMichele was not born with a silver spoon. It took him three years of toil to be able to build a bankroll big enough to stake his first major tournament. He began playing at the Turning Stone Casino in New York, starting with the bottom stakes of 1/2 No Limit Hold’em. DeMichele found that he was going nowhere so he switched to online poker rooms. This gave him the opportunity of multi tabling. Usually he was playing on 8 tables at one time, a feat that can confound the most experienced in the business. When he started playing live again he was making a better hourly rate than before. Soon DeMichele was playing at 200/400 stakes and was able to enter the $10,000 buy-in 2006 U.S. Poker Championships at the Taj Mahal. His three-year saga bore fruit when he finished third and won $215,194.
DeMichele entered WSOP for the first time in 2007. His entry was far from spectacular. He cashed in two events in finishing in the 12th and 17th places and winning less than $20,000. His foray in WSOP 2008 put him on the world poker map. He placed 4th in the $10,000 buy in mixed event and 2nd in the H.O.R.S.E, which gave him his fist million plus win. The win was all that more savory because he began the final table with the second smallest stack.
DeMichele’s strength at the poker table is that he is good at sizing up opponents and playing according to their weaknesses. He has said in one interview that “…old players are liable to be tight and young players are liable to be aggressive.” His stint at 2+2 has helped him a lot. He says that he has over 11,000 posts in that forum and the discussions there have given him the ability to solve complex poker problems. As a person used to playing 8 tables simultaneously, DeMichele does find the pace of live games very slow. Therefore he carries his music with him – good rock music that gets his adrenalin pumping.
Apart from wealth he is looking for fame, especially of the kind that comes with sponsorship deals. With his good looks and sharp play that should not be too far off. And it will not come as a surprise if he replaces Patrik Antonius as the favorite of female poker players.
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· Written by Roger S · Filed Under Poker News · Comments Off
