Legendary online poker grinder Randy “nanonoko” Lew will attempt to become a Guinness World Record holder this coming January at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. There is one catch though: he has no idea what record he is going to try to set. And that’s where the poker community comes in.
A PokerStars VIP Manager going by the screen name “PokerStarsCaleb” posted a call for action on the Two Plus Two message forum, asking forum members to come up with the idea for the world record. There are two criteria for the record: it must be “poker authentic” with a preference towards online poker and it must be easy for the non-poker playing public to understand.
Caleb used Bertrand “ElkY” Grospelier’s recent record of “Most Online Poker Tables Played in One Hour,” in which he played 62 Sit-and-Go tournaments in a single hour while at the same time making a profit. The thing is, the name of the record isn’t exactly congruous with what ElkY actually did. That’s because to the average person, “Most Sit-and-Go’s in One Hour” is meaningless, as is the importance of the profitability requirement. When people see “World’s Longest Hair” or “Most Consecutive Jump Ropes,” they understand that; they can visualize it without actually seeing it. A record full of poker jargon has no meaning to most people. Most Sit-and-Go’s? What is that?
Thus, suggestions such as “Most Four-Bets Pre-Flop in One Hour” or “Highest VPIP While Making a Profit in One Hour” will not work.
PokerStars will reward the person who suggests the best record (as determined by PokerStars and Lew, one would assume) with a $215 entry into this weekend’s Sunday Million.
The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure is a part of the European Poker Tour and is one of the most popular major live events every year. The festivities begin at the Atlantis Resort and Casino in the Bahamas on Thursday, January 5th and conclude on Saturday, January 14th. The $10,000 + $300 Main Event will run from January 7th through January 13th.
Randy Lew has been one of the most successful and admired online poker players for several years. A member of Team PokerStars Online, “nanonoko” achieved Supernova Elite status four consecutive years, from 2007 through 2010. He did so not by playing at nosebleed stakes, but rather by massively multi-tabling (read: 24 tables at one) mid-stakes tables, typically no higher than $5/$10 No-Limit Hold’em. His quest for a fifth straight Supernova Elite was ruined by Black Friday, as he could no longer play on PokerStars from the United States. Lew eventually moved to Vancouver and resumed his online career in September.
According to PokerTableRatings.com, Lew has won over $2.3 million playing over 5 million hands online since the end of August 2008.
Less than a month ago, Lew made up for his time missed online by winning the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Macau Main Event and almost half a million dollars.
