Online poker site DoylesRoom announced this week that Alex “AJKHoosier1” Kamberis is the newest member of the Brunson 10, a group of up-and-coming poker stars handpicked by Doyle Brunson himself. Kamberis, a pro from Indiana, made his debut wearing DoylesRoom gear at the $25,000 High Roller Bounty Shootout at the North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Venetian Event.
Pamela Brunson, Doyle’s daughter and manager of the Brunson 10, made an official announcement via Twitter on Wednesday: “The 5th Brunson 10 member is….@ajkhoosier1. Alex Kamberis. He’s awesome! Y’all follow him!” Brunson is responsible for overseeing PR requests, handling scheduling, and managing the Brunson 10.
Kamberis, 23, was the 2008 CardPlayer Online Player of the Year (OPOY), finishing with 9,424 OPOY points and defeating runner-up Steve “gboro780” Gross by nearly 1,500 points. Kamberis’ largest cash in 2008 came in the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event, where he took third place for $782,542.90. He also had a runner-up finish in the Full Tilt Poker $1 Million Guaranteed for $134,895. In his career, Kamberis has more than $4 million in online tournament earnings.
Kamberis told Poker News Daily, “Being associated with Doyle Brunson in any way is such a thrill for me; I basically feel like a basketball player who becomes associated with Michael Jordan and the Jumpman brand. Doyle is such a legend and I’m really humbled by the fact that he felt I was a worthy addition to the team.”
Kamberis joins Chris “Moorman1” Moorman, Amit “amak316” Makhija, Zach “CrazyZachary” Clark, and Dani “ansky” Stern as the fifth member of the Brunson 10. The talented group will represent DoylesRoom at live events and by playing on the site. “Not only are Chris, Amit, Zach, and Dani all amazing, highly accomplished players, but they’re friends of mine and people that I have a lot of experience playing and talking with,” Kamberis told Poker News Daily. “I know that I partly owe this deal to them speaking up on my behalf – there’s a lot of mutual respect there, and it just makes things so much easier and more comfortable to just jump into this new chapter of my career.”
After earning OPOY honors in 2008, Kamberis took a lot of time off from poker in 2009, limiting his volume in both online and live tournaments. He told Poker News Daily that he began a new relationship with a girl and started backing a fairly full stable of players, reducing his time and incentive to play and travel. However, with the new DoylesRoom deal, his hunger to play has returned in 2010.
“I am finally ready for this to be my first year that I put in a fairly full live schedule,” Kamberis said. “Last year, I only played a few live tournaments and in the couple years before that, I kind of just picked where I wanted to go, but now that I have the added incentive of promoting the DoylesRoom brand, well… let’s just say you’ll be seeing a lot of me in the near future.”
DoylesRoom told Poker News Daily the site is hoping to sign a sixth Brunson 10 member very soon.