After more than five weeks of battle, the PocketFives #1 Number One Contest is down to a final four consisting of some of the greatest players in the history of online poker. From an initial field of 60 entrants, Niklas Astedt, Shaun Deeb, Fedor Holz, and Chris Moorman have all advanced to the semi-final stage.
The contest began on March 29 with all 60 of the players who have held the #1 spot on the PocketFives Rankings seeded and placed into a bracket. Poker fans were then asked to vote on head-to-head match-ups in a format very similar to March Madness.
The semi-final match-ups feature Moorman going against Deeb, and Holz taking on Astedt. Semi-final voting begins at 9 AM ET on Monday, May 10 and will run for 48 hours.
Road to the Final Four: Chris Moorman
Hearts Bracket #1 seed
- Career Earnings: $16,662,901
- Weeks at #1: 23
- Total Reigns: 13
- Triple Crowns: 30
As one of four Global Poker Awards PocketFives Legacy Award winners, Moorman earned a first round bye in the bracket. His lifetime achievements, including 30 Triple Crowns and reaching the #1 ranking 13 different times made him the #1 seed in the Hearts bracket. In the second round, Moorman took 85.4% of the vote against Chad ‘m8kingkoves’ Batista to advance. He then dispatched of two of the Swedish players who have dominated the Rankings for the last six years. In the third round he took 91.3% of the vote against Christian ‘eisenhower1’ Jeppsson before defeating Simon ‘C Darwin2’ Mattsson in the quarterfinals with 65.4%.
Road to the Final Four: Fedor Holz
Clubs Bracket #9 seed
- Career Earnings: $10,859,366
- Weeks at #1: 3
- Total Reigns: 3
- Triple Crowns: 0
At #9 in the Clubs bracket, Holz is the lowest seed to advance to the semi-finals and did so only after a quarterfinal victory over one of the most beloved players in PocketFives history. Holz easily defeated Tim ‘Tmay420’ West in the opening round with 85.3% of the vote. From there he defeated Canadian Sebastian ‘p0cket00’ Sikorski with 68.3% and then Daniel ‘djk123’ Kelly after earning 64.1% of the vote. In the quarterfinal, Holz was paired up against Cliff ‘JohnnyBax’ Josephy in one of the most hotly contested matches. After both players got active on social media promoting the match, Holz prevailed with 54.5% of the vote.
Road to the Final Four: Niklas Astedt
Spades Bracket #1 seed
- Career Earnings: $22,152,722
- Weeks at #1: 97
- Total Reigns: 10
- Triple Crowns: 6
Joining Moorman as the only #1 seeds to make the semi-finals, Astedt did so without the benefit of a first round bye and averaged 87% of the vote through his four wins. In the first round, Astedt defeated Brian ‘brianm15’ England after scoring 88.2%. He then crushed Jordan ‘Jymaster0011’ Young by grabbing 92.5% of votes and then defeated the current #2-ranked player in the world, Sami ‘LarsLuzak’ Kelopuru with 83.5%. In the quarterfinal, Astedt continued his dominance and grabbed 83.2% of the votes against Andras ‘probirs’ Nemeth.
Road to the Final Four: Shaun Deeb
Diamonds Bracket #7 seed
- Career Earnings: $7,213,179
- Weeks at #1: 8
- Total Reigns: 2
- Triple Crowns: 1
Like Moorman, Deeb was granted a first round bye as a PocketFives Legacy Award winner. He then had to battle his way through three other players, including the current #1-ranked player in the world. Deeb’s easiest win came in the second round when he took 80.6% of the vote against Griffin ‘Flush Entity’ Benger. The next two rounds weren’t that lopsided. Deeb went head-to-head with Yuri ‘Yuri Martins’ Dzivielevski, the current top-ranked player in the world, and collected 58.7% of the vote. In the quarterfinal, Deeb squeezed by Calvin ‘cal42688’ Anderson by the narrowest of margins, collecting 54.3% of the votes.
Voting for the semi-finals opens Monday @ 8 AM ET and finals voting begins on Wednesday at Noon ET.
Perfect Final Four has ‘Ming’ in Control
Those four aren’t the only ones in contention or a victory. ‘Ming’ leads the bracket prediction contest with 1,150 total points heading into the Final Four and has all four of the remaining players alive. Right behind him is Jason ‘wackyjaxon’ Glatzer with 1,040 points.
Top Five Standings
- Ming – 1,150 points
- wackyjaxon – 1,040 points
- Moergis – 990 points
- mk2894 – 980 points
- lucus42 – 970 points
The entrants are all playing for more than $2,000 in prizes from sponsors including Run It Once Training, Faded Spade Cards, Run Good Gear, and D&B Poker Books.