Who is Martonas?
Posted by Poker Videos on August 21st, 2009Will The Real “Martonas” Please Stand Up?
A mystery player by the screen name “Martonas” has been battling it out with some of the best and most feared online poker player in the world… and winning. In fact in the first ten days of August 2009 he won over $1 million.
This “Kaiser Soze” of the poker world is fearless enough to play anyone who wants to take a piece of him. He does not play full-time; in fact his playing habits seem more like those of a recreational player then of a full-time high-stakes pro. But when he does play he can be found playing at the biggest games online; the $500/$1000 tables on Full Tilt Poker; going toe-to-toe with the likes of Tom Dwan aka durrrr, Ilari Sahamies aka Zigmund and even Phil Ivey “the Tiger Woods of poker” . While others would fear playing just one of these players, “Martonas” seems to reveal in it; playing multiple tables at once and even mixing No Limit Holdem with some Pot Limit Omaha. As I write this article he is playing two Omaha tables with $300/$600 blinds and two other No Limit Holdem games with $500/$1000 blinds; he has over $600,000 in play and is facing the best online players in the world. His hyper aggressive style sees him at times, destroying “Rail Heaven” by liberally calling re-raises, check-razing with nonchalance; and making audacious bluffs.
What makes the enigma of “Martonas” all the more mystifying is where his origins lie. He must have a massive amount of money to play in the $500/$1000 No Limit Holdem and $300/$600 Pot Limit Omaha games, and even more to play multiple games at once. Surely we would already know the players background by now had he grinded his way up the stakes. According to tracking sites his winnings have been somewhat erratic. He played as low as $3/$6 as recently as April 2008. In March 2009 he was playing $5/$10 No limit and by May 2009 he played at the $50/$100 games. At the beginning of this month he was first spotted playing the legendary $500/$1000 games. His career peak was reported to be $1.44 million though his biggest loss in a single day was over a staggering $2.5 million. (Some sample hands can be viewed via the links at the end of this article).
His climb to the top has been far from the steady grind that most poker players would consider successful. This begs the question; “is he simply a good player running hot?” Or is he the real deal? Is “Martonas” already heralding the end of Tom Dwan’s legacy as poker’s online prodigy?
So, who could this Gus-Hansen-on-steroids be? Speculation about who “Martonas” is has ignited the poker rumour mill; turning ordinary poker fans into a horde of Fox Mulder’s.
Some harbour suspicions that he is the notorious Russ Hamilton, the man who was accused of cheating online players out of millions. There are even comical (and of course unfounded) accusations that this “Dark Knight” is none other than Barack Obama!
Hysterical possibilities aside; a strong contender is Guy Laliberté. Guy is the founder of the Cirque du Soleil and played in GSN’s High Stakes Poker. Among the high stakes players, Guy is considered a “fish”; a player who lacks the skills to profit from a given game in the long term. Has Guy gone to the online world to prove them wrong? To show that he has what it takes to not only survive in but actually beat the toughest games available?
Perhaps “Martonas” is none other than Andy Beal, the billionaire tycoon, secretly seeking vengeance against some of the members from “The Corporation”. “The Corporation” saw a team of poker players including Phil Ivey and Gus Hansen (who regularly play the high-stakes cash games) battle in a series of poker heads up matches; matches that forced Mr. Beal to lick his wounds in excess of $10 million in cold hard cash.
A “fan-favorite” for “Martonas” secret identity is “FullFlush”. The bashful player by the name of Luke Schwartz has a notoriously bigger mouth then Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, a bigger ego than “The poker Brat” Phil Healmuth and is all too happy to talk trash about any of the top online stars.
Also possible is one of the many European online poker phenoms that have taken over the poker world in recent years. Perhaps building their bankrolls across the numerous European sites and now seeking international glory by playing the big boys at Full Tilt Poker? These players could include Bengt Sonnert, Erik Sagström, and a World Poker Champion Martin De Kniff.
The deeper that we venture into this rabbit whole, the less we seem to know. The enigma, the puzzle, the mystery surrounding “Martonas” is perhaps far more rewarding then finally unmasking this caped crusader. This caped crusader who, for now at least, is taking the high stakes online poker world by storm.
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