After a record field for the event flooded into the casino, 'semi-retired' poker professional Ben Wilinofsky emerged as the chip leader following Day One of the World Poker Tour's Fallsview Poker Classic in Canada last night.
Long a popular stop for poker players due to its proximity to the U. S./Canadian border and its beautiful surroundings, the Fallsview Casino was ready for a rush of players for this tournament, a $5000 buy in event with one rebuy should a player bust out of the event. Several top players were in attendance for the earlier events on the calendar, with Canadians Xuan Liu and Mike Leah taking down two of those preliminary engagements. This was the one the players were waiting for and, once the call to arms was made with the 'shuffle up and deal,' the players immediately responded.
Ben Wilinofsky Poker Player
As soon as the bell sounded, roughly 350 players were on the tables in the Fallsview Casino tournament room. This was significant as, in the 2016 tournament, 423 entries were received to set the record. Depending on how deep the pockets were for the players – which included two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Kristen Bicknell, WPT Champions' Club members Olivier Busquet, Anthony Zinno and Darren Elias, among others – there was a good chance that the record would be broken in this tournament. As Level 3 began, 373 entries had been received and the late registration was still going on.
Several players would play a bit looser than normal, taking advantage of the chance to either build up a stack or get back into the tournament with their one rebuy option. Mike Dentale was one of the players who took advantage of that rebuy option, his K-Q catching on a Q♦ 8♣ 6♦ flop against his opponent's K♦ 10♦. After a blank turn, Dentale seemed to be primed for his double up, but a diamond on the river canceled that action, instead sending Dentale back to his wallet for another $5,000 for his 'one time.'
Ben Wilinofsky talks to Laura Cornelius about 'dominating' the table and being near the top of the field with his chips towards the end of Day 1a of the EPT Grand Final Main Event. Total life earnings: $1,674,307. Latest cash: $68,645 on 27-Oct-2019. Click here to see the details of Benjamin Wilinofsky's 12 cashes.
All Canadian Poker News Online Poker News World Poker News. 8 Millions Super Storm at 888poker. Casino de Montreal employee wins the Bad Beat Jackpot on Espacejeux.com.
After Level 6, the popularity of the Fallsview Casino and this particular WPT event were demonstrated. With late registration and the one rebuy option still on the table, there were 428 entries received to crack the 2016 record. With those actions available until the start of Level 10 following the dinner break, it became a question of just how high the numbers would go.
As the tournament worked into the late-night hours, the notable names began to drop to the side, either exhausting their two chances at glory or choosing to stick to one shot only. Such players as Marvin Rettenmaier, Mike Watson, Dietrich Fast, Nenad Medic and Leah were all out the door by the time the close of action came after Level 13. By the time the chips were bagged and the names were noted, Wilinofsky – who hadn't even been noticed by tournament staff until they received his day's work – was holding a decent Day One lead.
1. Ben Wilinofsky, 275,900
2. Mark Toulouse, 262,700
3. Carlo Alteri, 241,000
4. David Cloutier, 236,700
5. David Ho, 230,000
6. Jason James, 213,400
7. Anthony Dalpra, 199,600
8. Andy Zhang, 198,100
9. Aaron Massey, 196,200
10. Darren Elias, 195,000
Wilinofsky's rise to the top isn't surprising considering his talents. A former European Poker Tour champion with almost $1.4 million in tournament earnings, Wilinofsky has also been quite open about personal issues he has had that have kept him from pursuing live tournament poker full time. Those problems – depression and anxiety issues – have kept the Canadian online professional out of the casinos but, with the WPT in his backyard for a stay, he suspended his 'semi-retirement' (his definition of his status in the game) to try to add another jewel to his poker resume.
Action resumes at noon with Day Two of the WPT Fallsview Poker Classic. With 152 players remaining from the record-setting 489 entries that were eventually tallied (no prize pool or payouts have been announced yet), the money bubble will pop at some time on Friday, but there's more to deal with than just popping the bubble. The serious work will be done on Friday as, with plans for the final table to play on Saturday, the field will be jammed to get down to the six-handed WPT final table.
At the end of 2015 poker pro Ben Wilinofsky announced his retirement from poker, despite a long and successful career playing cards.
In this candid interview with PokerListings.com, Wilinofsky opens up about the reasons behind that decision and the inner struggles he faced over the course of his poker career.
In the poker world Wilinofsky is known as NeverScaredB, the screen-name he chose for himself when he began playing. Years of battling online and live earned him that reputation, but for Wilinofsky it didn't match up with how he felt.
No External Poker Success Enough
Wilinofsky explains that no matter how much external success he was able to achieve, it was never enough. Now Wilinofsky has given up a career that offered him money and freedom to pursue happiness.
Watch the full video interview below or continue reading for the interview transcript.
PokerListings.com: Did your choice of online poker screenname have anything to do with how you were feeling back then? On the outside you definitely earned a reputation for fearless play.
Ben Wilinofsky: I wanted to put that image of myself forward, of fearlessness, and I wanted to feel fearless.
You know, that's something I'd like to feel nowadays in my everyday life, not anxious and not have those doubts and fears in my head.
Maybe there was something Freudian going on. I don't really know.
PL: You accomplished a lot in poker and lived a lot of people's dreams, so to speak. How did those experiences make you feel?
BW: When I was getting outside stimulus from poker that said, 'Yes, you're good. Look at the numbers getting bigger and look at how people respond to you and think of you.
You have fans and people who think that you're good and you have objective measures.
It's a salve. It's something you rub on the wounds to make them not hurt so much but it doesn't heal them in any sense.
PL: Right. So as things started to get better and better in your career, did you start to see this disparity developing between the external state of your life, and the way you felt inside which maybe wasn't tracking the same trajectory?
BW: Yeah. When I got that first win I felt elated and really just sort of on cloud nine, for lack of a better term, for a couple of days but it faded really quickly.
I quickly returned to, like, normal and my normal was not very good. My normal was not happy.
So I think I chased it for a little bit. I think the next year I final-tabled WPT Vienna. I came third and I just felt nothingness. Just empty, devoid of any kind of emotional response.
Responsible gambling index. I realized that I was looking for external ways to fix an internal problem.
PL: Did your family and the people closest to you know what was going on or did you try to play it off like everything was fine and try to deal with it on your own?
BW: I don't think I tried to deal with it at all. I don't think I really acknowledged it to myself.
I was aware of it at times. The word depression, you know, came in and out of my vocabulary and I would sometimes think to myself, 'Huh, I'm depressed.'
But it was always in the context of it being a temporary state and that I needed to make things better so I'm not so depressed anymore.
PL: Like win more money.
BW: Like win more money or have sex with more girls or whatever thing.
Like, if I achieve some thing, when that thing is achieved my depression and sense of self worth will sort themselves out based on that thing.
Ben Wilinofsky Poker Play
No matter how big either number gets, you never get there.
To put it out there and to be honest and open with someone else about what's really going on in your life, it's liberating because you don't have to put up walls anymore.
Several players would play a bit looser than normal, taking advantage of the chance to either build up a stack or get back into the tournament with their one rebuy option. Mike Dentale was one of the players who took advantage of that rebuy option, his K-Q catching on a Q♦ 8♣ 6♦ flop against his opponent's K♦ 10♦. After a blank turn, Dentale seemed to be primed for his double up, but a diamond on the river canceled that action, instead sending Dentale back to his wallet for another $5,000 for his 'one time.'
Ben Wilinofsky talks to Laura Cornelius about 'dominating' the table and being near the top of the field with his chips towards the end of Day 1a of the EPT Grand Final Main Event. Total life earnings: $1,674,307. Latest cash: $68,645 on 27-Oct-2019. Click here to see the details of Benjamin Wilinofsky's 12 cashes.
All Canadian Poker News Online Poker News World Poker News. 8 Millions Super Storm at 888poker. Casino de Montreal employee wins the Bad Beat Jackpot on Espacejeux.com.
After Level 6, the popularity of the Fallsview Casino and this particular WPT event were demonstrated. With late registration and the one rebuy option still on the table, there were 428 entries received to crack the 2016 record. With those actions available until the start of Level 10 following the dinner break, it became a question of just how high the numbers would go.
As the tournament worked into the late-night hours, the notable names began to drop to the side, either exhausting their two chances at glory or choosing to stick to one shot only. Such players as Marvin Rettenmaier, Mike Watson, Dietrich Fast, Nenad Medic and Leah were all out the door by the time the close of action came after Level 13. By the time the chips were bagged and the names were noted, Wilinofsky – who hadn't even been noticed by tournament staff until they received his day's work – was holding a decent Day One lead.
1. Ben Wilinofsky, 275,900
2. Mark Toulouse, 262,700
3. Carlo Alteri, 241,000
4. David Cloutier, 236,700
5. David Ho, 230,000
6. Jason James, 213,400
7. Anthony Dalpra, 199,600
8. Andy Zhang, 198,100
9. Aaron Massey, 196,200
10. Darren Elias, 195,000
Wilinofsky's rise to the top isn't surprising considering his talents. A former European Poker Tour champion with almost $1.4 million in tournament earnings, Wilinofsky has also been quite open about personal issues he has had that have kept him from pursuing live tournament poker full time. Those problems – depression and anxiety issues – have kept the Canadian online professional out of the casinos but, with the WPT in his backyard for a stay, he suspended his 'semi-retirement' (his definition of his status in the game) to try to add another jewel to his poker resume.
Action resumes at noon with Day Two of the WPT Fallsview Poker Classic. With 152 players remaining from the record-setting 489 entries that were eventually tallied (no prize pool or payouts have been announced yet), the money bubble will pop at some time on Friday, but there's more to deal with than just popping the bubble. The serious work will be done on Friday as, with plans for the final table to play on Saturday, the field will be jammed to get down to the six-handed WPT final table.
At the end of 2015 poker pro Ben Wilinofsky announced his retirement from poker, despite a long and successful career playing cards.
In this candid interview with PokerListings.com, Wilinofsky opens up about the reasons behind that decision and the inner struggles he faced over the course of his poker career.
In the poker world Wilinofsky is known as NeverScaredB, the screen-name he chose for himself when he began playing. Years of battling online and live earned him that reputation, but for Wilinofsky it didn't match up with how he felt.
No External Poker Success Enough
Wilinofsky explains that no matter how much external success he was able to achieve, it was never enough. Now Wilinofsky has given up a career that offered him money and freedom to pursue happiness.
Watch the full video interview below or continue reading for the interview transcript.
PokerListings.com: Did your choice of online poker screenname have anything to do with how you were feeling back then? On the outside you definitely earned a reputation for fearless play.
Ben Wilinofsky: I wanted to put that image of myself forward, of fearlessness, and I wanted to feel fearless.
You know, that's something I'd like to feel nowadays in my everyday life, not anxious and not have those doubts and fears in my head.
Maybe there was something Freudian going on. I don't really know.
PL: You accomplished a lot in poker and lived a lot of people's dreams, so to speak. How did those experiences make you feel?
BW: When I was getting outside stimulus from poker that said, 'Yes, you're good. Look at the numbers getting bigger and look at how people respond to you and think of you.
You have fans and people who think that you're good and you have objective measures.
It's a salve. It's something you rub on the wounds to make them not hurt so much but it doesn't heal them in any sense.
PL: Right. So as things started to get better and better in your career, did you start to see this disparity developing between the external state of your life, and the way you felt inside which maybe wasn't tracking the same trajectory?
BW: Yeah. When I got that first win I felt elated and really just sort of on cloud nine, for lack of a better term, for a couple of days but it faded really quickly.
I quickly returned to, like, normal and my normal was not very good. My normal was not happy.
So I think I chased it for a little bit. I think the next year I final-tabled WPT Vienna. I came third and I just felt nothingness. Just empty, devoid of any kind of emotional response.
Responsible gambling index. I realized that I was looking for external ways to fix an internal problem.
PL: Did your family and the people closest to you know what was going on or did you try to play it off like everything was fine and try to deal with it on your own?
BW: I don't think I tried to deal with it at all. I don't think I really acknowledged it to myself.
I was aware of it at times. The word depression, you know, came in and out of my vocabulary and I would sometimes think to myself, 'Huh, I'm depressed.'
But it was always in the context of it being a temporary state and that I needed to make things better so I'm not so depressed anymore.
PL: Like win more money.
BW: Like win more money or have sex with more girls or whatever thing.
Like, if I achieve some thing, when that thing is achieved my depression and sense of self worth will sort themselves out based on that thing.
Ben Wilinofsky Poker Play
No matter how big either number gets, you never get there.
To put it out there and to be honest and open with someone else about what's really going on in your life, it's liberating because you don't have to put up walls anymore.
You don't have to put on this mask, this brave face that everything's okay and you're in control of your life.
But now that I have accepted and identified the problem, what next?
PL: It's not just all magically fixed.
BW: No. So you try one thing. Therapy or pills or exercise or yoga or meditation or whatever you try. And you try and you try and you try again. I've tried a lot of things.
Poker's not the problem but it's not part of the solution either.
My energy is really limited. On my bad days I get six hours out of bed. And those six hours are precious and I can't be spending it on something that's not part of the solution.
Poker is the easy solution to the wrong problem and I don't want to do that anymore. So I just have to not do it anymore, is the simple answer.
Ben Wilinofsky Poker Rules
I have to go start on the bottom of something else and I have to dig in and keep going with it until I either hit a wall and realize this isn't the thing, or I get through the wall and see what's on the other side.
