At any given time there are usually about 7,000 players playing on PokerStars, but we hear more about a handful of them than all of the rest combined. That's because, as in all disciplines with a high skill factor, the cream rises to the top.
But who are these people? Who are the real players behind the online screen-names who tend to dominate at the PokerStars tables?
Anonymous tables are there so recreational players cannot be targeted by tracking and game selection software. Real name tables are designed so everyone knows who they are playing against and also is a reasonable first step against shared accounting. In 2020 when there has been no live poker, I have thoroughly enjoyed real name tables. Upon discovering poker, he switched the games but kept his handle. Since he spent a lot of time in South Korea during his StarCraft days, he had to come up with an alias because the Koreans had troubles pronouncing his real name and so ‘ElkY‘ was born. Today, this is his nickname in both, the real and the virtual world. PokerStars Screen Names. Barry Greenstein-barryg1 Daniel Negreanu-DoubleSuited Scott Fischman-Emptyseat88 Hoyt Corkins-EasyH Erick Lindgren-EDOGN. Reloadthis- Layne Flack Prefontaine- Prahlad Friedman razorbax- Josh Arieh MrPokeJoke- Mike Matusouw luckysucker- Hans 'Tuna' Lund Erik123- Erik Sagstrom TheBeat- Pete Giordano gank- Brett Jungblutt bigglesworth- Thomas Keller magicpitch- David.
In some cases, we just don't know. PokerStars permits players anonymity, and we are no wiser at PokerStars Blog as to many of the players' identities as you are. But we also have access to social media and other outlets, and we meet people at events, where we'll sometimes ask them their screen-names. Consequently, we've built up quite a knowledge base of players and their aliases. And it's time to share it.
Here's our list of PokerStars screen-names and the real people we know are behind them.
The list features only players whose screen-names are either common knowledge or who have volunteered the information online -- usually via a social media account, a results-tracking service (such as Pocket Fives), an interview or part of a coaching offer. The 'Nationality' field shows the country in which they hold a passport, but the 'Based' field shows the country in which their PokerStars account is currently registered, and from which they play online. (This is subject to change as players move around.)
This is far from exhaustive and it is likely to be updated as and when we learn more.
26071985 | Christoph Vogelsang | Germany | UK |
---|---|---|---|
!Seveeeeeeen! | Fabian Gumz | Germany | Austria |
¿¿toneecho?? | Miguel Seoane | Spain | UK |
€urop€an | Samuel Vousden | Finland | Finland |
0Human0 | Liviu Ignat | Romania | Romania |
1_conor_b_1 | Conor Beresford | UK | UK |
2pacnrw16 | Dietrich Fast | Germany | Austria |
4rebmun | Elliot Smith | Canada | Canada |
AaronBeen | Aaron Been | USA | Mexico |
AceSpades11 | Mark Radoja | Canada | Canada |
Adamyid | Adam Owen | UK | Mexico |
aDrENalin710 | Denis Strebkov | Russia | Russia |
AfRoBiZzLe! | Seun Oluwole | UK | UK |
Aggro Santos | Scott Margereson | UK | Ireland |
Aku1206 | Aku Joentausta | Finland | Finland |
ale6ka | Aliaksei Boika | Belarus | Belarus |
Amadi_17 | Adrian Mateos | Spain | UK |
Andy McLEOD | James Obst | Australia | Costa Rica |
apestyles | Jon Van Fleet | USA | Canada |
APonakov | Aleksejs Ponakov | Latvia | Estonia |
Apotheosis92 | Christopher Kruk | Canada | Canada |
AppelKruimel | Jasper Wetemans | Netherlands | Netherlands |
ARTSchGamble | Arturs Scerbaks | Germany | Germany |
baeks22 | Stefan Schillhabel | Germany | Austria |
batoelrob | Rob Hollink | Netherlands | Netherlands |
Belabacsi | Peter Traply | Hungary | Hungary |
Ben86 | Ben Tollerene | USA | Canada |
bencb789 | Benjamin Rolle | Germany | Austria |
Big Huni | Chris Hunichen | USA | Costa Rica |
bigfox86 | Alex Foxen | USA | Canada |
BillLewinsky | Joris Ruijs | Netherlands | Netherlands |
Bit2Easy | Luke Reeves | UK | UK |
blanconegro | Connor Drinan | USA | Mexico |
botteonpoker | Bruno Botteon | Brazil | Brazil |
Bounatirou | Dominik Nitsche | Germany | UK |
BowieEffect | Andy Wilson | UK | UK |
Bozzano JNR | Enio Bozzano | Brazil | Brazil |
BrynKenney | Bryn Kenney | USA | Canada |
buck21 | Shaun Buchanan | Canada | Canada |
bustoville | Joni Jouhkimainen | Finland | Finland |
C.Darwin2 | Simon Mattsson | Sweden | Sweden |
caecilius | Nick Petrangelo | USA | Canada |
caIcuIer_ | Sylvain Loosli | France | UK |
cal42688 | Calvin Anderson | USA | |
calvin7v | Jussi Nevanlinna | Finland | Finland |
ClockWyze | Andrew Pantling | Canada | Canada |
cocojamb0 | Ognjan Dimov | Bulgaria | Bulgaria |
colisea | Dzmitry Urbanovich | Poland | Belarus |
Corback_fr | Jonathan Therme | France | UK |
CrabMaki | Dave Shallow | UK | UK |
Crisper | Christian Pereira | Argentina | Argentina |
CrownUpGuy | Fedor Holz | Germany | Austria |
DaanOss | Daan Mulders | Netherlands | Austria |
Daghemuneguu | Maxime Chilaud | France | UK |
danipesis | Dani Palau | Mexico | Mexico |
Danny98765 | Dan Smith | USA | |
dans170' | Danilo de Lima Demetrio | Brazil | Brazil |
dantegoyaF | Dante Goya | Brazil | Brazil |
dariepoker | Vlad Darie | Romania | Romania |
darrenelias | Darren Elias | Canada | Canada |
daskalos20 | Andreas Christoforou | Cyprus | Cyprus |
daskalos20 | Andreas Christoforou | Cyprus | Netherlands |
dpeters17 | David Peters | USA | Canada |
drupa-lucker | Andrey Chernokoz | Russia | Russia |
easywithaces | Fintan Hand | Ireland | Ireland |
edercampana | Eder Campana | Brazil | Brazil |
EEE27 | Eelis Pärssinen | Finland | Finland |
eisenhower1 | Christian Jeppsson | Sweden | Sweden |
Epiphany77 | Charlie Carrel | UK | UK |
Exclusive | Noah Boeken | Netherlands | Netherlands |
fapk2212 | Fernando Karam | Brazil | Brazil |
firaldo87 | Niall Farrell | UK | UK |
fish2013 | Mikita Badziakouski | Belarus | Latvia |
Flush_Entity | Griffin Benger | Canada | Canada |
FrenchDawg | Marc-Andre Ladouceur | Canada | Canada |
Fresh_oO_D | Jens Lakemeier | Germany | Austria |
fviana | Fernando Viana | Brazil | Brazil |
Galochina10 | Henrique Coutinho | Brazil | Brazil |
gavz101 | Gavin Cochrane | UK | UK |
Gboro780 | Steve Gross | USA | |
Gedis92 | Gediminas Uselis | Lithuania | Lithuania |
Girafganger7 | Bert Stevens | UK | UK |
go0se.core! | Steffen Sontheimer | Germany | Austria |
goleafsgoeh | Mike Leah | Canada | Canada |
gordon0410 | Vicent Bosca | Spain | UK |
Graftekkel | Jans Arends | Netherlands | Netherlands |
Greenstone25 | Johannes Korsar | Sweden | Sweden |
Grindation | Phil McAllister | UK | UK |
Guizãoo_ | Guilherme Carmo | Brazil | Brazil |
Gunning4you | Scott Seiver | USA | Canada |
gusmaa | Pedro Gusma | Brazil | Brazil |
HealTheWorld | Julian Thomas | Germany | Austria |
hellzito | Will Arruda | Brazil | Brazil |
heyalisson | Alisson Piekazewicz | Brazil | Brazil |
Igorkarkarof | Simon Rønnow Pedersen | Denmark | Denmark |
ImDaNuts | Christopher Oliver | USA | Costa Rica |
Imluckbox | Michael Addamo | Australia | Thailand |
INeedMassari | Joao Simao | Brazil | Brazil |
ISILDRooN | Leo Nordin | Sweden | Sweden |
Isildur1 | Viktor Blom | Sweden | Sweden |
Jabracada | Tom Hall | UK | UK |
Jacob Schindler | Jake Schindler | USA | Mexico |
jakoon1985 | Jason Koon | USA | Canada |
jamienixon90 | Jamie Nixon | UK | UK |
jareth3542 | Jareth East | UK | UK |
Jeans89 | Jens Kyllonen | Finland | Finland |
JEIK0 | Jeiko Palma | Panama | Panama |
joiso | Alexander Kostritsyn | Russia | Russia |
josef_shvejk | Arsenii Karmatckii | Russia | UK |
JWPRODIGY | Jordan Westmorland | USA | Thailand |
kaju85 | Ka Kwan Lau | Spain | Andorra |
kelvin_fp:ar | Kelvin Kerber | Brazil | Brazil |
KKremate | Thiago Crema | Brazil | Brazil |
Kovalski | Fabiano Kovalski | Brazil | Brazil |
krakukra | Konstantin Maslak | Russia | Russia |
krissyb24 | Kristen Bicknell | Canada | Canada |
Kroko-dill | Andrey Zaichenko | Russia | Russia |
KuuL | Dimitar Danchev | Bulgaria | Bulgaria |
lasagnaaammm | Mustapha Kanit | Italy | UK |
lb6121 | Luke Schwartz | UK | UK |
lechuckpoker | Igor Kurganov | Russia | Russia |
Lena900 | Niklas Astedt | Sweden | Sweden |
limitless | Wiktor Malinowski | Poland | Poland |
lissi stinkt | Christopher Frank | Germany | Austria |
LLinusLLove | Linus Loeliger | Switzerland | Switzerland |
Lrslzk | Sami Kelopuro | Finland | Finland |
ludovi333 | Ludovic Geilich | UK | UK |
luis_faria | Luis Faria | Poland | Poland |
M.nosbocaJ | Martin Jacobson | Sweden | Sweden |
Malaka$tyle | Juan Pardo | Spain | UK |
mararthur1 | Arthur Martirosyan | Russia | Russia |
markovitsus | Markku Koplimaa | Estonia | Estonia |
MarTomChat | Thomas Boivin | Belgium | UK |
MastaP89 | Pius Heinz | Germany | Austria |
mczhang | Michael Zhang | UK | UK |
mindgamer | Stefan Jedlicka | Austria | Austria |
MissOracle | David Yan | New Zealand | New Zealand |
MITS 304 | Dimitri Michaelides | Greece | Netherlands |
MonkeyBausss | David Laka | Spain | Georgia |
Moorman1 | Chris Moorman | UK | UK |
MpZancan | Mateus Zancan | Brazil | Brazil |
Mr. Tim Caum | Steve O'Dwyer | Ireland | Ireland |
mrAndreeew | Andreas Berggren | Sweden | Sweden |
mrsweets28 | Phil Galfond | USA | Canada |
Muka82 | Murilo Figuiredo | Brazil | Brazil |
munchenHB | Mike Telker | USA | Costa Rica |
MUSTAFABET | Matthew Ashton | UK | UK |
Mysters_Y | Tatiana Barausova | Russia | Russia |
nailuj90 | Julian Stuer | Germany | Austria |
nastyminder | Dinesh Alt | Switzerland | Switzerland |
Naza114 | Joao Vieira | Portugal | Netherlands |
Negriin | Ivan Luca | Argentina | Argentina |
niccc | Nicolas Chouity | Lebanon | Lebanon |
NL_Profit | Anatoly Filatov | Russia | Russia |
Odd_Oddsen | Ola Amundsgård | Finland | Finland |
omaha4rollz | Laszlo Bujtas | Hungary | Hungary |
OMGitshunt | Ihar Soika | Belarus | |
Online name | Real name | Nationality | Based |
OrpTheTurk | Orpen Kisacikoglu | UK | UK |
Oxota | Daniel Dvoress | Canada | Canada |
p0cket00 | Sebastian Sikorski | Canada | Canada |
PaDiLhA SP | Pedro Padhila | Brazil | Brazil |
pads1161 | Patrick Leonard | UK | UK |
Päffchen | Pascal Hartmann | Germany | Austria |
papan9_p$ | Viktor Ustimov | Russia | Russia |
Pappe_Ruk | Joep van den Bijgaart | Netherlands | Netherlands |
Pass_72 | Pascal Lefrancois | Canada | Canada |
Pessagno | Caio Pessagno | Brazil | Brazil |
philivey2694 | Isaac Haxton | USA | Malta |
pistons87 | Ankush Mandavia | USA | Canada |
pitabread189 | Peter Chien | Canada | Canada |
PokerKaiser | Nicolas Fierro | Chile | Chile |
pokerkluka | Luuk Gieles | Netherlands | Netherlands |
prebz | Preben Stokkan | Norway | Norway |
Premove | Andrei Skvortsov | Russia | Russia |
Prince Pablo | Arlie Shaban | Canada | Canada |
probirs | Andras Nemeth | Hungary | Hungary |
prot0 | Jordi Urlings | Netherlands | Malta |
PROTENTIALmn | Ryan Laplante | USA | Canada |
Proudflop | Jonathan Proudfoot | UK | UK |
prrrak4783 | Tonio Röder | Austria | |
Pseudo Fruto | Luan Felipe | Portugal | Netherlands |
PTFisherman23 | Andre Marques | Portugal | Netherlands |
Pwndidi | Alex Theologis | Northern Macedonia | UK |
pycadasgalax | Rafael Furlanetto | Brazil | Brazil |
raconteur | Richard Gryko | UK | UK |
ragAAAila19 | Andrei Boghean | Romania | Romania |
raidalot | Talal Shakerchi | UK | UK |
random_chu | Stevan Chew | Australia | Canada |
robinho | Robin Ylitalo | Sweden | Sweden |
ROFLshove | Kahle Burns | Australia | Mexico |
RomeOpro | Roman Romanovsky | Russia | Russia |
RRagazzo | Ricardo Ragazzo | Brazil | Brazil |
RuiNF | Rui Ferreira | Portugal | Netherlands |
RunGodlike | Benny Glaser | UK | UK |
sadface11 | Toby Joyce | Ireland | Ireland |
samsquid | Sam Grafton | UK | UK |
SantaZzz | Denys Chufarin | Ukraine | Ukraine |
Sauce123 | Ben Sulsky | USA | Canada |
Schildy1984 | Alex Debus | Austria | Austria |
Secret_M0d3 | Dario Sammartino | Italy | Austria |
seijistar | Rodrigo Seiji | Brazil | Brazil |
Senkel92 | Tobias Leknes | Norway | Norway |
shaundeeb | Shaun Deeb | USA | Mexico |
silentm0de | Pavel Plesuv | Moldolva | Moldova |
Simon1471 | Simon Higgins | UK | UK |
SirWatts | Mike Watson | Canada | Canada |
SkaiWalkurrr | Rachid Ben Sheriff | UK | UK |
Skjervøy | Andreas Torbergsen | Norway | Norway |
SmilleThHero | Daniel Smiljkovic | Germany | Austria |
sombra97 | Caio Mayrinck | Brazil | Brazil |
SpaceyFCB | Kenny Hallaert | Belgium | UK |
Sphinx87 | Tomasz Cybulski | Poland | Poland |
Spraggy | Ben Spragg | UK | UK |
srxakgirona | Sergi Reixach | Spain | UK |
ssicK_OnE | Claas Segebrecht | Germany | Austria |
Stakelis24 | Audrius Stakelis | Lithuania | Lithuania |
steakaddict. | Alexandru Papazian | Romania | Romania |
stevie444 | Stephen Chidwick | UK | UK |
Str8$$$Homey | Sam Greenwood | Canada | Canada |
Succeeed | Jakob Miegel | Germany | Germany |
SvZff | Steven van Zadelhoff | Netherlands | Malta |
Swaggersorus | Jack Sinclair | UK | UK |
swordfish007 | Manig Loeser | Germany | UK |
Tankanza | Gianluca Speranza | Italy | Austria |
TheCleaner11 | Jorryt van Hoof | Netherlands | UK |
theNERDguy | Yuri Martins | Brazil | Brazil |
thienlao21 | Ilya Korobkin | Ukraine | Ukraine |
Ti0373 | Gleb Tremzin | Russia | Russia |
Tim0thee | Timothy Adams | Canada | Canada |
tinnoemulder | Teun Mulder | Netherlands | Netherlands |
Tomatee | Francisco Benitez | Uruguay | Uruguay |
tonkaaaa | Parker Talbot | Canada | Canada |
Trueteller | Timofey Kuznetsov | Russia | Russia |
Tulkaz | Jonas Klausen | Denmark | Denmark |
VbV1990 | Viacheslav Buldygin | Russia | Russia |
veeea | Artem Vezhenkov | Russia | Russia |
Vitorbrasil | Vitor Moreira | Brazil | Brazil |
VladTheSlaye | Vlad Martynenko | Ukraine | Ukraine |
vovtroy | Vladimir Troyanovskiy | Russia | Russia |
WATnlos | Christian Rudolph | Germany | Austria |
wizowizo | Ole Schemion | Germany | Austria |
woodbine avenue | Dan Scott | Canada | Canada |
WushuTM | Thomas Muehloecker | Austria | Austria |
YRWTHMELTHR | Luc Greenwood | Canada | Canada |
Zagazaur | Filipe Oliveira | Brazil | Brazil |
Zapahzamazki | Rinat Lyapin | Russia | Russia |
ZeeJustin | Justin Bonomo | USA | Canada |
zufo16 | Ivan Zufic | Croatia | Croatia |
A newcomer joined the high-stakes cash games on Full Tilt Poker in August and has captivated the online poker world like we haven’t seen in quite some time. The player, who hails from Sweden, goes by the moniker “martonas” and has already clashed with Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, David Benyamine, Brian Hastings, and many others at some of the biggest No Limit Hold ’em and Pot Limit Omaha games on the site.
Whenever an unknown makes an appearance in the nosebleed games it is automatically assumed that it’s either a high-stakes pro attempting to hide his or her identity or a wealthy novice taking a shot against poker’s best (much like billionaire Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte, who has lost millions playing on Full Tilt Poker). Either way, it attracts the sharks, and there has been no exception in the case of “martonas”, who has taken million dollar swings in 19 sessions since August 10th.
Speculation from the online poker community has linked the “martonas” account to several possible high-stakes regulars from Sweden, including Martin de Kniff, Jonas Danielsson, Bengt Sonnert, and a player with the online name Blom90, who came out of nowhere to obliterate the high-stakes No Limit games on the iPoker network early in 2009. Most of the talk has surrounded de Kniff and Danielsson, as Martin is rumored to be staking the young Swede. Danielsson regularly plays the biggest cash games on Ladbrokes as “nebuchad”.
Up until now, there hasn’t been enough information to confirm either of their connection to the “martonas” account.
The mysterious Swedish player went on a spectacular rush when he or she first burst onto the scene this month, taking close to $900,000 in a $500/1000 No Limit Hold ’em session on August 14th. Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius and Cole South each had substantial losses to “martonas”, which would go on to win $1.3 million by August 17th.
The nature of high-stakes cash games revealed its ugly face shortly after and it’s all gone downhill since. According to pokertableratings.com, “martonas” lost more than $2.7 million during a lengthy session on August 18th, most of which went to Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, Full Tilt Team Pro member Brian Hastings, and Tom “durrrr” Dwan. Galfond made more than $800,000 from the Swede at both the NLHE and PLO tables while Hastings’ winnings were over $600,000. But it was “durrrr” who did most of the damage. More than $2.8 million of the “martonas” bankroll went to Dwan, who has now recouped all of his losses on Full Tilt Poker from the year.
“Martonas” lost $314,000 in their most recent session on August 21. Dwan, Benyamine, Galfond, Di “urindanger” Dang, and Ashton “theASHMAN103” Griffin were all there to pick apart the newcomer and “martonas” hasn’t been seen on the site since. The player has lost close to $2 million on Full Tilt overall. Whether or not “martonas” went bust or is simply taking a break remains to be seen, but the top players in the game certainly look forward to a return.
Poker News Daily will continue to investigate the identity of “martonas” and will follow up with any addition info we can gather about the player. Stay tuned!