Event #12 came down to a clash of the titans, as Randy “Randers” Haddox squared off heads-up against Aaron “011180” Kanter for the bracelet and the top cash prize of $66,000 in the Mixed Hold’em Event. It took well past sunrise ET for the final table to finish, but finally Haddox put away Kanter after nearly thirty minutes of heads-up battle. We caught up with Haddox a few days after his victory.
Like many players, Haddox played poker as a child but got interested in online poker when Chris Moneymaker won the Main Event at the 2003 World Series of Poker. He began playing seriously about four years ago, and switched to mostly tournament poker in 2005. His victory in Event #12 was the latest in a long string of deep finishes and tournament success on PokerStars, where he has logged several wins and final tables in $109 rebuy tournaments.
A successful tournament pro for several years, Haddox admitted to relief at winning the WCOOP title. “Relief in a lot of ways. The relief that I didn’t have to go to sleep thinking ‘what if?'” Well Haddox certainly didn’t have a lot of what-ifs in his head after the marathon Event #12, especially after taking down a field that contained many of the top players in the world.
While the cash in Event #12 isn’t his biggest cash, Haddox names the WCOOP title as his highest-profile victory. He posted a blog early this year that he wanted to make $1 million profit from July 2008 to July 2009, and the $66,000 from Event #12 is certainly a step in the right direction.
Haddox, whose screen name of Randers came from a familiarization of his first name Randy, gives credit to the internet forums and players for a lot of his success. “I don’t think I was very good until I started using the internet resources (i.e. forums, other players). There are a lot of great players that I have mimicked to get better.” And no doubt a number of players that have mimicked him to improve their game. Haddox has thousands of posts of his own on internet strategy forums where he shares his strategies and is a highly ranked player. Congratulations to Randy “Randers” Haddox for his win in Event #12!
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