Brock Parker: Shorthanded King

Chris Grove : June 19th, 2009

Double bracelet wins aren’t an especially uncommon feat at the World Series of Poker – there’s been at least one each year since 1999. The first player to pull it off this year however, one Brock Parker, put an interesting twist on the accomplishment: both of his bracelets came in 6 max events – one in no limit holdem and one in limit holdem, two games that appear quite similar to the casual observer but in reality are worlds apart.

What both games do have in common is that, when played shorthanded, aggression is king and a high level of activity is paramount. Unlike full ring poker, where a tighter approach is often rewarded, 6 max tournaments demand a player engage in frequent confrontations. That’s a concept that Brock Parker not only appreciates, but embraces, as he told ESPN.com after his second bracelet win. “I like to play more hands,” Parker said. “Playing nine-handed is pretty boring. I guess six-handed gets more motivated because I get to play in a lot of pots.”

Parker has made his reputation primarily online as t_soprano over the better part of the last decade, and his experience there helps explain his dual WSOP successes. Not only is Parker one of the more respected nosebleed limit cash players online, he’s also a massive force in the 100 rebuy no limit tournaments on PokerStars, along with a variety of other mid to high buy in MTTs.

While his name is a bit more familiar to online regulars than those on the live tournament circuit, Parker certainly didn’t come out of the blue at the 2009 WSOP. This year marked his fifth at the WSOP, and while he earned his first two bracelets in 2009, those wins were built on the back of the ten previous cashes for over 300k in a variety of events going back to 2004, including a final table appearance in 2008 in the 10k 9 handed LHE event and a deep run in 2007’s Main Event.

Parker started off 2009 with a couple of deep runs that resulted in small cashes in events 3 and 4 ($1500 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better and 1k NLHE). That momentum quickly translated into a massive win in Event 14 Limit Hold’em / Six Handed. Parker ended up going into heads up play against Daniel Negreanu at a healthy chip disadvantage, but quickly reversed the tide.

Parker talked about his final table experience to PokerNewsDaily: “Negreanu was talking a lot earlier in the tournament about making good folds in Limit, so I was thinking of trying to make bluffs in weird spots, but then I picked up hands. I was lucky if he was going to call me down every time. In Limit, you have to call a lot since it’s only one bet. I didn’t really get to do the things I was planning to do and instead just picked up hands.”

The most critical hand he picked up was this final one. Parker opened the pot and Negreanu called. The Flop came Ah Ts 6d. Daniel checked, Parker betand the two raised back and forth. By the turn, a 4s, Negreanu was all in with KT and Parker held to win the hand and the bracelet, along with $223,688.

For his second trip to the final table, Parker steamrolled his way over a field of 1,068 players in Event 19, No-Limit Hold’em / Six Handed. Parker didn’t have the lead going into the final table, but he battled down to a heads up match with chipleader Joe Serock. After a seesaw battle, the critical hand: Serock opened for 200k and Parker three bet to 1 million. Serock pushed all in and Parker called with QQ. Serock tabled TT and Parker faded the two outs to take down his second bracelet in two weeks and a heftier payday of $552,745.

After the win, Parker displayed the humility and understatement that has been a hallmark of his poker career. “I can’t describe this,” said Parker to ESPN.com. “This is just unreal. It actually does not feel real to me.”

Below: Pictures from Brock’ second win, the 6max NLHE.

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