Player Update: kwob20

Kyle ‘kwob20’ Bowker is one of internet poker’s old school.

Of course, this is all relative, but his break-through year came in 2006 when he achieved the incredible feat winning two WCOOP tournament in the same year and also going deep in the WSOP Main Event, finishing 37th for almost $250,000.

Well it seems Bowker is back with a bang in 2008 and last week achieved his biggest live cash since that superb ME run at the WSOPC Atlantic City.

The $5,000 NLH event only drew 179 runners but still had a prize pool of almost $900,000, kwob20 finishing 3rd for a $86,710 payday. Though the tournament dropped under the radar of the poker community due to the Doyle Brunson Classic in Vegas (and the victory of Chino Rheem), it has taken Bowker over the $500,000 mark in live career cashes as he continues to make a seamless transition from online legend to live tournament expert.

The Walton, New York native has also had several other significant scores this year, including a WSOP final table in the NLH $1,500 Shoot-Out event. He worked his way through the 1,000 runner event to eventually bust in 6th for $23,887 and just 11 days later was at the final table of the Bellagio $1,000 NLH Weekly Tournament, collecting another $47,670 for a 4th place finish.

WSOPC winner Brent Roberts described Bowker as one of the better players on December’s final table but in reality that is probably doing an injustice to the skills of a man who has accumulated almost $1million in prizes on PokerStars. Though he hasn’t been as prolific online this year, kwob20 (as he is known across all sites) has still had time to put in several 5-figure cashes. Highlights include final tabling the Sunday 500 (5th, $26,250) & $200 Re-Buys (4th, $16,528) as well as taking down a $70 NLH 6-Max Tournament for $5,000 just 9 days before his WSOPC final table. He also went very deep in 2 FTOPS Events, the $5,000 NLH (28th, $15,000) and $500 PLO (6th, $13,545), as well as final tabling the Sunday Mulligan (5th, $12,488) & taking down the $50 Re-Buys in November for $6,872.

Since his stunning form displayed in 2006, kwob20 has slightly fallen off the radar but his form this year, especially the WSOPC tournament, is a reminder to the poker world that Bowker is ready for a major title. Don’t be surprised if it happens in 2009.