Player Focus: Imper1um/zangbezan24

His last major rush came in early November 2006 when he came 2nd in a $200 freezeout, again on PokerStars, and followed it up the very next day with victory in the $100 rebuy. The two results netted him around $60k in 24 hours.

Like so many North American ‘phenoms’ he isn’t old enough to play in American casinos yet so he hasn’t proved himself in the live games of the Vegas Strip. He did play in the UltimateBet Aruba Classic 2006 though (Aruba accepts those aged 18 and over) and just missed out on the Final Table, coming 10th for another $30k.

What does he put his success down to? “I have a different way of looking at the game. The biggest thing about poker is knowing what you can do to certain players and what you can't,” he told a website recently.

“The biggest attribute to my game is my instincts. I still ignore pot odds a lot of the time. If I think I'm ahead in the hand or it's a decent chance that it's a coin flip, I'm calling,” he added.

What you should know should you face zangbezan24/Imper1um in a big MTT is that he will fully exploit any weakness you should show if he has position on you.

He is more likely to push with 7-2 offsuit from the button than A-10 from under the gun. Also, the table image he likes to portray is that of a toughnut who will re-raise you straight back if you raise him first. He hardly ever folds if he is chip leader at the table.

He is an information junkie and should you be playing against him for any length of time you will find he will have an amazing read on your game, based not just on hands of yours he has seen, and how you played them, but also on the length of time it took you to respond on each street. The guy is mentally clocking your mouse clicks so watch out!

If you are in the unfortunate position of sitting to his left you will find yourself being ‘three-bet’ pretty consistently too. It goes like this: he will raise from the cut-off late in a tourney when the blinds are getting big. On the button you go over the top of him. He will then re-steal and go back over the top of you with absolutely nothing. Probably 7-2 offsuit. So take note!