Daniel Kelly – djk123

'djk123' during January's PokerStars Caribbean Adventure

Daniel Kelly seems to have his heart set on becoming one of the most complete poker players in the world before he is legally allowed to enter an American casino.

The man known as ‘djk123’ online has drawn plaudits across the board for the skills which rocketed him to the top of the Pocket Fives tournament rankings and he isn’t afraid to take on anyone at seemingly any game.

In Annette Obrestad’s May interview with Bluff, she was asked which players she would least like to have position on her, to which she replied: “I’d have to say imper1um, djk123, lilholdem, or Mr. Menlo. Djk123 always owns me!” And P5 Triple Crown winner Mark ‘dipthrong’ Hern said of Kelly: “He pretty much taught me how to play tournaments. He was a crucial, instrumental factor in my getting good at MTTs”. This is high praise indeed for a player who has enjoyed one of the sickest tournament runs anywhere this year.

Kelly’s prizes on PokerStars now exceed $1.2million and has major cashes in seemingly any tournament with a tough field that they offer. Among his highlights include multiple victories in the $100 Re-Buys (January & September for over $68,000), winning the Nightly Hundred Grand (January, $31,411) & final tables in the Super Tuesday (April, 4th, $28,560) and Sunday Warm-Up (March, 6th, $19,609). But the 2008 WCOOP saw his biggest cash on the site to date: another Hold ‘Em event? Far from it: he final tabled the $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. of all tournaments, eventually busting in 6th for $59,375. With victory in a PLO $200 Re-Buys event last year for $41,515, djk123 isn’t just another NLH one trick pony.

Over on Full Tilt, where he plays as ‘imabigkidnow’ (and has prizes in excess of $550,000), Kelly took down the biggest score of his life in November by winning FTOPS Event #14 ($200 NLH) for a cool $104,870 – this was after final tabling Event #1 just 6 days earlier! (coming 7th for $19,779). These scores came as absolutely no surprise after final tables in the $750k GTD (March, 3rd, $55,636), the $1k Monday (2nd, $48,640) as well as outright victories in the $40k GTD (March, $26,496) & the $65k GTD (April, $20,288) – all in the space of just 6 months.

It’s fairly obvious, then, how Kelly knocked Chad Batista off the top of the World Rankings and is an absolute rock in the top 10, but what really sets the Maryland native apart from the rest is his willingness to take on the best in the world in games you would not expect him to have an edge in. In May ‘djk123’ was spotted playing heads-up $200/$400 H.O.R.S.E. against none other than Daniel Negreanu, a game selection most online pros would see as a suicide mission. However, KidPoker described Kelly as ‘pretty decent’ as the battle ended almost honours even. ‘imabigkidnow’ has also been seen playing $500/$1000 Stud Hi/Lo on Full Tilt and even in the $300/$600 H.O.R.S.E. games with the likes of Mike Matusow and Allen Cunningham. These games are not usually ones for the young guns and you have to give credit to Kelly for his apparent fearlessness and his knowledge of some of the less glamorous forms of the game is highly commendable in the modern age of poker.

He is rightly spoken of in the same breath as Moorman1 & AJKHoosier and with the resume he is putting together, djk123 could well be one of the best all-round players anywhere by the time he is at the WSOP tables.