Linus Loeliger, better knowns as his PokerStars moniker LLinusLLove, is a Swiss professional poker player. His exact date of birth is not public, his Wikipedia page simply states he was born in either 1994 or 1995. LLinusLLove is known as one of the greatest online cash game players in the world. Linus Loeliger is the 2020 Poker Masters Online Main Event champion, an accolade that came with an enormous $1,097,250 prize! It was an incredible result for one of the game’s most highly rated poker tournament players.
Critics and cynics will tell you the poker dream is dead.
Untenable high rake at microstakes, they say. The rising skill level across even the smallest of buy-in levels, they say. Those factors and more conspire to make it impossible to climb the poker mountain, to build a bankroll from the depths of penny poker until one can take on the titans of the game at stakes that see the worth of several nice cars won and lost daily.
Those people would be wrong. For proof, look no further than Linus Loeliger, seated in the field until an elimination just before dinner break in PokerStars Championship Barcelona €50,000 Super High Roller.
Don't know the name? Or the face? A quick look at Hendon Mob won't tell you much either, revealing three live cashes for about $85,000. But the online poker moniker 'LLinusLLove' should ring a bell. A relatively recent entry into the high stakes sphere on PokerStars, Loeliger spent some time known as only the mysterious grinder with the cute Chansey avatar — a chubby pink Pokémon with a white egg nestled in a pouch by its belly. Free spins card registration free.
'It's definitely what is the most fun to me in poker, playing three-handed games at the top.'
'It used to be my favorite Pokémon, or at least one of my favorite,' Loeliger said with a laugh, adding that several creatures from the famous Nintendo series have adorned his circular space of virtual real estate. 'I don't know, I just like the look on its face. I imagine all the regulars playing and seeing this weird-looking Pokémon.'
While Loeliger opted for the likes of Chansey and Vaporeon, he'd have perhaps been best represented by Mew, a powerful enigma hidden deep in the coding of the original game about whom little was initially known. However, recent events have forced Loeliger to step out of the shadows and reveal himself to the poker world.
The 22-year-old Swiss player remained undercover as recently as late April, when he told PokerStars' Brad Willis that he preferred to stay anonymous because 'usually there's nothing good coming from it.'
Loeliger, however, frequents TwoPlusTwo, where he often helped facilitate the movement of money between high-stakes regulars on various poker sites. The mechanics of the transfer system require the use of his full name, and eventually, he said, someone leaked the info to HighstakesDB.com. Free coins billionaire casino.
'I mean, it has to happen at some point,' he said. 'There's nothing I can do about it.'
Identity compromised, there was no point in hiding out anymore. Evidently deciding a €50,000 tournament in Barcelona was worth his time, Loeliger showed up and fired. It's a far cry from his last live tournament, a UKIPT €2,200 High Roller that he played on a whim while visiting poker friends in London last April.
Naturally, he won.
Much has changed since then, although it's only been about 16 months. At that time, Loeliger could be found grinding away at $10/$20, mixing in the occasional $25/$50 shot. Reaching that level was miracle enough for a player who had started a TwoPlusTwo thread in 2013 planning to document his ascent from $10NL to $100NL, starting with a $240 bankroll.
As amazing as that is, though, it's perhaps that final jump that's the most difficult and elusive. Reaching greatness is one thing. Plenty of great players exist all over the world, making comfortable livings but residing a level below the very best. The move from merely great to the stratosphere of the truly elite might be the toughest one of all.
Loeliger relishes competing against the best, exuding a passion for the game that's apparent when he talks about his exploits at the highest stakes. It's that type of passion that enabled him to put in the work required to make that leap to stakes like $200/$400.
Game app store. 'As long as it's super fun to me and I'm making money, I'll keep playing.'
'It's very fun,' he said simply when asked what it's like to trade blows with the likes of the legendary OtB_RedBaron. 'It's definitely what is the most fun to me in poker, playing three-handed games at the top. Swings are fun, for me at least.'
Playing a €50K also qualifies as fun, he confirmed. Something like the €5,300 Main Event, not so much, so don't expect Loeliger to suddenly become a tournament regular. However, it's a format in which he feels quite comfortable, more so than many cash game regs who suddenly find themselves playing stacks of 20 big blinds, unable to fully access all of the weapons at their disposal.
'I've actually done quite a lot of work in MTTs as well,' he said. 'I used to play the occasional Sunday. My roommate plays tournaments for a living. I'm feeling very, very comfortable in my tournaments. It's not a big transition.
'Of course, it's different. But, the concepts apply almost everywhere, and you can find similar concepts even playing 200 big blinds to what we see here, 30 big blind poker. When you're very into poker, you can apply these concepts.'
How long will Loeliger remain this into poker?
That's a question for which he doesn't have an easy answer. It took him a mere four years to climb the fabled mountain, achieving the dream that lives inside the minds of so many. He could a see a situation where he one day seeks another mountain in a different discipline, but that day doesn't appear near enough to seriously consider at this point.
'I just always tell myself, as long as it's super fun to me and I'm making money, I'll keep playing,' he said. When the time comes, and I'm feeling bored or something, I'll look for something else. But, it's difficult to say now when that would be.'
Until then, poker players across the highest stakes of online cash games will have to watch their chips shipped to Chansey's smiling face. And thanks to some anonymous HighstakesDB informant, the ones populating the seats of the biggest live tournaments might share a similar fate.
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Linus Loeliger
The Grand Ballroom at the London Hilton, Park Lane, was hopping tonight. That was inevitable as the biggest buy-in poker tournament of all time awarded the biggest ever first prize.
But it’s a measure of just how high they play on the Triton Super High Roller series that shortly after the Aaron Zang/Bryn Kenney party moved to more traditional nightclub surroundings, tournament organisers prepared to hand over another prize of more than £1.3 million to another champion, in front of a silent and deserted room. Yes, enormous tournaments are so routine on the Triton Super High Roller series that even a seven-figure first prize can pass by silently in the dead of night.
Or that was the plan. But in fact, a second event of the week had to pause in the dead of night, with UK gaming regulations demanding a halt to proceedings at 4am. That left Jason Koon and Charlie Carrel, pictured above, still with chips and still with the task of splitting around £2 million between them.
The plan is now to play this one out tomorrow, at the same time at the £25K turbo finishes and the £100K Main Event gets started. Koon has the marginal advantage with 12.15 million to Carrel’s 9.6 million.
THE STORY SO FAR
As the £1 million event was still playing its early final table stages, registration closed on the £50K with 109 entries (including 43 re-entries) building a prize pool of £5.123 million. They burst the bubble when Sergio Aido lost his last six blinds to Talal Shakerchi, but Shakerchi himself was knocked out in a torrent of post-bubble eliminations.
All of Benjamin Pollak, Christoph Vogelsang, Jesus Cortes, Sam Greewood, Mikael Thuritz and Ike Haxton were similarly swept away before the final table (receiving between £87,000 and £133,000 for their troubles). Canada’s Daniel Dvoress joined them on the rail before seven-handed play decamped to the feature table at the conclusion of this week’s flagship event.
Malaysia’s Jun Wah Yap was enjoying his first cash from several attempts on the Triton series, but ended up on the rail in seventh after losing his last 13 big blinds to Linus Loeliger. Off he went, with £238,000.
The race began as to whether this tournament could get finished tonight at all. Gambling regulations in the UK meant that we had to be done by 4am, and it pushed past 2am with still six players left. The short-stacked Matthias Eibinger doubled up twice, with better than Kahle Burns’ and then with over Robert Flink’s .
Linus Loeliger Graph
It left Flink in shoving mode, and he was less fortunate. Flink, who led overnight, lost with to Charlie Carrel’s when an eight flopped. Flink won £302,100. “See you tomorrow,” Jason Koon said, even though tomorrow was already today.
Carrel might have knocked out Burns on the next hand, but Burns survived his all-in push with pocket queens against Carrel’s . Burns continued to push with his relative short stack, getting no callers, before a possibly tournament-defining hand played out.
The only “haves” at a table of mostly “have nots” were Carrel and Loeliger, and the two of them went to war. Loeliger open-shoved under the gun, with but with a stack big enough to withstand any issues from his left. Carrel was the only opponent who could hurt, and he called all in, for close to 5 million. (The big blind was 160,000.) Carrel’s ended up staying good to double him up and relegate Loeliger back into the pack.
With all the shoving, something had to give, and it was Eibinger who went out in fifth. Burns jammed his small blind with 2.45 million, and Eibinger, with a smaller stack, called in the big blind. Eibinger’s was ahead of Burns’s , but the river changed that. Eibinger won £386,000.
Linus Love
Koon, the Triton Ambassador from the United States, had been sitting tight while the chips changed hands around him. He looked weary, and he was also bemoaning his bad luck earlier when neither of his sweats at the Triton Million final table was able to seal the deal.
But Koon suddenly sprang to life in three quickfire hands. He doubled through Carrel with over and then took heaps of Burns’s stack, before finishing off the Australian with staying good against Burns’s . Burns, who needs to play the final table of the delayed £25K turbo tomorrow, was free to get some sleep at about 3.30am. He took £481,500 for fourth.
At this stage, it was clear that the clock was going to be the real winner tonight. There was no hope of a conclusion. But Loeliger, who also has a seat at tomorrow’s £25K final table, still had time to hit the rail.
This was a brutal one, which played through the streets, and put a board of out there. Carrel made a big bet, big enough to force Loeliger to make a decision for his tournament, and Loeliger called with . “Sorry man,” Carrel said and turned over .
Loeliger took £594,000 and the two remaining players immediately decided to bag, booking themselves a return at 2pm tomorrow. Carrel’s 9.6 million is slightly behind Koon’s 12.15 million, but there’s still plenty of play. See you tomorrow/today!
Triton London Event #3 – No Limit Hold’em
Dates: August 3-4, 2019
Buy-in: £50,000
Entries: 109 (inc. 43 re-entries)
Prize pool: £5.123 million
Otb Redbaron
1 £1,321,000
2 £907,000
3 – Linus Loeliger, Switzerland, £594,000
4 – Kahle Burns, Australia, £481,500
5 – Matthias Eibinger, Austria, £386,000
6 – Robert Flink, Sweden, £302,100
7 – Jun Wah Yap, Malaysia, £238,000
8 – Dvoress Daniel, Canada, £182,000
9 – Isaac Haxton, United States, £133,000
10 – Talal Shakerchi, UK, £107,500
11 – Mikael Thuritz, Sweden, £107,500
12 – Sam Greenwood, £94,700
13 – Jesus Cortes, Spain, £94,700
14 – Christoph Vogelsang, Germany, £87,000
15 – Ben Pollak, France, £87,000
Linus Loeliger Instagram
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