On Thursday, PokerStars signed a new group of players to its Team Online. More than 4,500 people applied for the highly coveted positions at the world’s leading online poker room, more than doubling the number of applicants from a year ago, and the site picked 15 members from 11 different countries for the job.
Among those who made the cut was Shane “shaniac” Schleger, a longtime online tournament grinder who recently won the PokerStars $109 Rebuy on Sunday for $76,091. Schleger has more than $2 million in lifetime tournament earnings online. He also adds more than $1 million in career earnings on the live circuit, his biggest score coming in a $300 Rebuy during the World Poker Tour’s L.A. Poker Classic for $256,155.
Mer “PeachyMer” Brit, another high-stakes online tournament regular, also joined the team as the lone female. Brit’s identity was long speculated, as she didn’t make any appearances at live events, but she proved her poker expertise day after day by winning several major online tournaments since 2008. Her biggest online score came in the 2007 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), where she finished second in a $320 event for $98,553. She also took ninth place in the 2009 WCOOP Main Event for $96,480.
Clayton “cnew27” Newman and Andrew “foucault82” Brokos join the team as highly analytical players from the TwoPlusTwo mold. Newman has more than $1 million in lifetime tournament earnings, including a second place finish in the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) Main Event for $240,000. He also made a final table at the 2009 World Series of Poker WSOP) and has had a couple deep finishes in the WSOP Main Event.
Brokos, meanwhile, made a deep run in the 2008 WSOP Main Event, taking 35th for $193,000. Online, he has a handful of wins at PokerStars under his belt, plus a WCOOP final table and a fifth place finish in a Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) four-max event.
Brokos commented about the new deal in his blog: “I can honestly say that it an honor to represent PokerStars. Not only do they offer the best games and the best customer service of any site I’ve ever played on, but they are by far the most trustworthy and upstanding. To the Poker Ethicist, that stuff is important.”
Also joining the team is Jorge “Baalim” Limon from Mexico, a former aspiring racecar driver who turned his StarCraft talents into a professional poker career. Limon is mainly a cash game specialist, focusing mainly on No Limit Hold’em from limits of $3/$6 to $25/$50.
Team PokerStars Online also signed Mikhail “innerpsy” Shalamov, the former record-holder for most hands played in one day (40,088), and Kevin “WizardOfAhhs” Thurman, the current record-holder for most VIP Player Points earned in a year.
Here’s a look at the PokerStars Team Online Class of 2011:
Shane Schleger – shaniac
Mer Brit – PeachyMer
Clayton Newman – cnew27
Kwang Soo Lee – PiS.ToTo
Yu-Reng Peng – AmPHisbaenA
Jorge Limon – Baalim
Andrew Brokos – foucault82
Kevin Thurman – WizardOfAhhs
Freddy Torres – sirfreddy83
Richard Veenman – Tzen1
Sigge Reichard – ClarkKent89
Javier Dominguez – El Canonero
Mikhail Shalamov – innerpsy
Tyler Frost – frosty012
Dale Philip – Daleroxxu
Among those who remained with Team PokerStars Online include Andre “acoimbra” Coimbra, Grzegorz “DaWarsaw” Mikielwicz, Anders “Donald” Berg, Bachir “Chiren80” Boumaaza, Diego “vgreen22” Brunelli, Dustin “Leatherass9” Schmidt, George “Jorj95” Lind III, Grayson “spacegravy” Physioc, Jorge Arias, Karlo “elmagopr” Lopez, Keiran “K_Man2307” Harris, Mathew “chipstar1” Didlick, and Steve “stevejpa” Paul.
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