Cole South

South (middle left) with Jay Rosenkrantz (far left), Emil Patel (middle right) & Ariel Schneller (far right). Picture taken from cts' Card Runners blog

We think you might be seeing a lot more of Cole South soon.

Of course, the man known as ‘cts’ is one of the biggest names in the online community: he has been crushing the short-handed NLH games since 2005 and reportedly built up a bankroll of over $2million in under 2 years. He made almost $500,000 on Full Tilt under his old moniker of ‘MUCKEMSAYUHH’ in 2007 before changing to a red pro on the site in ’08 as part of the Card Runners deal bringing their pros on board. And his training videos are routinely praised as the best on the site, with an attention to detail that goes above and beyond the call of duty (check out some satisfied customers in a cts appreciation thread here). In fact, fellow Card Runner Taylor Caby said of South: “cole is almost certainly the best (NLHE) poker player at CR, i can say that pretty confidently. he’s also one of the best (if not the best) at articulating his thoughts.” His hyper-aggressive, creative style has earned him a reputation as one of the most feared heads-up players online and has also recently incorporated PLO into his repertoire.

But the man from Williamsburg, Virginia hasn’t received the attention that he surely deserves to date, probably due to him hardly ever playing live tournaments and that he hasn’t appeared on any televised poker games. But Cole will finally be appearing on our screens as part of Season 5 of the Poker After Dark series, the show that has also seen online pros such as Tom Dwan, Andrew Robl & Brian Townsend enhance their reputations in Season 4. South will join fellow Card Runners Taylor Caby and David Benefield in another ‘Nets vs Vets’ cash game episode, where they will put their wits against Doyle Brunson, Gabe Kaplan & Eli Elezra in a $200/$400 NLH game. The episode was taped in the Golden Nugget in December ’08 and the online community is sure to be whetting their lips at the prospect of one of their heroes showing his considerable skill for the game to an audience of millions.

The other reason why South could be even bigger news this year is because he has recently brought out a new book, entitled ‘Let There Be Range! Crushing SSNL/MSNL No Limit Hold ‘Em Games’, which he co-authored with Tri ‘SlowHabit’ Nguyen. It is rare that a world-class internet cash player conveys his thoughts into a literary work and the praise from customers has indeed been phenomenal to date (you can see some of this and more on SlowHabit’s blog here). South says of the book: “It’s geared towards mid and high stakes players that want to take their game to the next level, and it’s price reflects that. At $1850 a copy, the book is expensive but those who have purchased it have been very pleased and feel that the impact on their hourly rate has more than paid for the book.” For those used to paying no more than $50 for your standard Harrington or Sklansky this is clearly no book for beginners but given the quality of work cts has produced in his videos, it will probably turn out to be a bargain.

Cole’s poker skills have already won him a legion of online fans and the Poker After Dark episode is sure to be a brilliant spectacle: one of the worlds best hyper-aggressive players in a 6-max game is sure to make for a fantastic watch.