The roster of pros on Full Tilt Poker just got a little bigger. Poker News Daily has confirmed that the online poker room has signed Hal Lubarsky to be a Full Tilt Poker sponsored pro. The Las Vegas native became the first blind person ever to cash in the World Series of Poker, according to MSNBC, by virtue of finishing 197th in the 2007 Main Event. Lubarsky joins an already distinguished roster of pros at Full Tilt Poker.
He told MSNBC that he moved from Brooklyn to Las Vegas and was one of the top poker players in the world prior to becoming blind: “I was extremely well-known in cash games. I’ve played with all the big names except for Doyle (Brunson) and Chip (Reese).” He came to the 2007 WSOP Main Event armed with a caller, who would say exactly what Hal had in his ear and then call off each of the community cards that were revealed.
WSOP officials initially were against the idea of having a caller “aid” a player during the largest and most prestigious poker tournament on the face of the Earth. Lubarsky told MSNBC that he offered the following insight to tournament officials: “I’m not trying to give you trouble, but I could probably make more money suing you than playing in the poker tournament.”
The result: Lubarsky made one of the most memorable runs in WSOP history, battling through the field of 6,358 entrants before eventually finishing in 197th for $51,398. In the process, he outlasted some of the world’s top poker pros, including Sorel Mizzi, Carlos Mortensen, and Sang Kim, all of whom finished in the top 300. Lubarsky showed up to the 2008 WSOP Main Event with a different caller by his side, but did not finish in the money. He was a favorite of ESPN’s television cameras.
Full Tilt Poker’s pros are the site’s main selling point. Its television commercials are packed with calls to action of “Play with the pros.” And why not? The site is the home of Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Gus Hansen, and Clonie Gowen. Allen Cunningham, Andy Bloch, and Mike Matusow also play on the site. It’s the exclusive home of the staff of CardRunners.com, a major poker training site, as well as the Hendon Mob.
Because there’s so much traffic to the online poker room, the site is able to pack a multitude of guaranteed tournaments into its weekly schedule. On Sunday, the site plays host to three tournaments that are wildly popular with online poker regulars. The $216 buy-in $750K Guaranteed kicks off every Sunday at 18:00 ET. If that prize pool weren’t enough to lure you in, one Sunday every month, the $750K Guaranteed is replaced by the $535 buy-in $1 Million Guaranteed.
Also on Sundays on the virtual felts of Full Tilt Poker, you’ll find a $256 buy-in Sunday Brawl. This is a high-stakes bounty tournament where $40 of your buy-in is put on your head and given to the person who knocks you out. It’s become an increasingly competitive tournament that has a $250,000 guaranteed prize pool. It kicks off at 14:00 ET each Sunday.
Finally, if the cards just don’t fall your way in a given Sunday, check out the Sunday Mulligan. It’s the final $216 major offered by Full Tilt Poker on Sunday and begins promptly at 19:05 ET. It’s billed as a “do-over” by the online poker room and serves as one last chance for players to take home some cash for the week to come.