Daniel Colman Alpha8 Win Adds to Sizzling Hot Poker Streak

Posted on: October 11, 2014, 08:54h. 

Last updated on: October 11, 2014, 08:57h.

Casino.org Staff Writer Read More

Expertise: Commercial Gaming.

Daniel Colman won the WPT Alpha8 event in London this week, capping a 12-month live tournament-winning streak that is unparalleled in the history of poker. The 24-year-old player from Massachusetts picked up £600,000 ($957,396) for his win in London, which brings his tally to a staggering $22,209,549 in just under a year.

From a Jack to a King

This time last year, Dan Colman was largely an online player, using the names “mrGR33N13” and “riyyc225,” and had yet to make a significant dent on the live circuit, although he did have a very respectable $310,699 in live tournament winnings, since 2008.

For the first 11 months of 2013, Colman didn’t cash in a single live tournament, probably because he had his mind on other things, primarily online hyper-turbo tournaments. He became the first player ever to win $1,000,000 in hyper-turbo tournaments in a calendar year, a feat he accomplished in just nine months.

Next, he turned his attention to live tournaments, specifically the partypoker Premier League VI in Khanawake, to which he had been invited because of his impressive online results. As a turbo specialist, the format suited him to a tee, and he came in third for $194,000. A cash in the PCA High Roller in the Bahamas preceded a first place finish in at the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo, where he picked up $ 2,127,398, before cashing in another side event there.

Next up, the World Series of Poker. Colman wasn’t exactly taking the early stages of the WSOP by storm, although he cashed in two events, making a final table in one and finishing third. But that was just the tip of the tournament cashing iceberg.

The Big One for One Drop was the second-richest poker tournament in history, and Colman stormed to victory, beating Daniel Negreanu heads up in the final, and earning himself $15.3 million.

But Dan Colman wasn’t done yet. Two weeks later, he turned up at the Aria $100k Super High Roller, where he came in third for $796,821. A month after that, he finished second in the EPT Barcelona for $1,118,479. Just three weeks later, he came in first in the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open, which allowed him to toss another $1,446,710 onto his now huge, steaming pile of money.

On a Tournament Tear

Add to that his victory this week in London, and the picture becomes clear: Colman has amassed more live tournament earnings in 12 months than Phil Ivey has amassed in his entire live tournament career, according to the Hendon Mob database.

With four first-place finishes and nine final tables, we can’t recall such a streak ever occurring in the history of poker, and if it did, it certainly didn’t yield $22 million. Only two people, Daniel Negreanu and Antonio Esfandiari, have won more than Colman on the live tournament circuit, and it took them much more than a year (although the One Drop helped both).

Colman has proved himself to be a something of a poker “anti-hero,” due to his stony-faced reactions to these multimillion-dollar victories and a refusal to grant interviews to the poker press; the YouTube clip of him winning the One Drop even went viral due his apparent irritation at winning $15 million.

Cheer up, Dan, worse things happen.