Mark Vos

I completely agree it’s gay and annoying… But, I’m in poker because I want to make money, not to make friends.

Mark Vos is one of Full Tilt’s biggest winners in recent weeks but hasn’t made many friends in doing so….

Mark Vos is one of high stakes poker’s more controversial characters.

The Australian employs a short-stacking strategy in the $500/$1,000 ‘Mixed HA’ (PLH & PLO) games that can irritate some of the regulars looking for deep-stacked action – but his results are speaking for themselves at present.

For the first 3 weeks of February, Vos is up over $775,000 on Full Tilt and he is the 5th biggest winner of the month on the Hold ‘Em/Omaha mixed tables (according to High Stakes DB).

Vos initially shot to fame at the 2006 WSOP when he took down the $2,000 NLH Event for a cool $803,274 (see below), defeating tournament pro Nam Le in heads-up play.

But he admits that he is primarily an online cash player and his results so far would indicate that he is making good money from it, if not that many friends.

The one player who seems to be wound up by Vos the most is Ilari ‘Ziigmund’ Sahamies, and it was rumoured that the Finn’s Full Tilt chat was temporarily suspended as a result of FT pro Vos complaining of abuse towards him (something which he strongly denies). Some examples are listed below:

Mark Vos (Observer): wow 20bb min fun
Ziigmund: fu vos
Ziigmund: u f gay

And…

Mark Vos: hmm the 2 out dodge 30 redraws draw
Ziigmund: u r the biggest joke in pokerbusiness
Mark Vos: possibly
Mark Vos: but it pays the bills
Ziigmund: small bills for you

But if Vos’ short-stacking tendencies irritate his opponents, he is more than aware of this fact. In a recent Two Plus Two post, he said of his tactics:

“I completely agree it’s gay and annoying…
But, I’m in poker because I want to make money, not to make friends. I dropped out of university to pursue a hopefully profitable, enjoyable substitute for a real job… It’s cheap I accept, but it’s where I am most profitable right now, so it’s where I will play.”

If Vos continues to have 6-figure months, he should continue to be a regular presence in the biggest games online -  just don’t expect him to be a popular figure at the tables. Not that he seems to care.