THAY3R: Player Update: December 2008

Thayer Rasmussen has long been an online MTT legend but in 2008 he has turned his attention to live tournaments in a big way – and with great success.

At the start of the year Shaun Deeb bet ‘THAY3R’ $25,000 that he could record more 5-figure live cashes in the forthcoming 12 months and according to our estimations he should be cantering to a comfortable victory in that particular prop. Rasmussen seems to have the Indian sign over his college buddy – there was also the infamous 100/1 bet at $100 Deeb wagered that a side with 2 losses in the College Football Championship could make the final game – and sure enough Deeb was made to eat his words and cough up a cool $10,000!

It’s not as if Thayer needs the money as he has again demonstrated this year why he is regarded as one of the world’s top tournament Hold ‘Em players in any guise. With PokerStars prizes of over $1.2million he then gained extended TV time at the final table of the 2007 WPT Mandalay Bay Championship, where he finished 4th for $131,170 after some fascinating tussles with Jared ‘TheWacoKidd’ Hamby. He has continued to be a consistent live casher since (probably due to the prop bet), with three WPT cashes and a string of other scores in major events around the west coast. His biggest prize in 2008 to date came in the WPT Borgata Open, where he finished 12th for $65,000 but also cashes for five-figures in two other Bellagio World Poker Tour events.

THAY3R hasn’t abandoned his online roots, however, and his bread and butter is still the Sunday majors across the sites. In particular he had a successful WCOOP, with two final tables in the $500 Re-Buys (7th, $22,689) & $1,000 NLH (6th, $33,107), as well as a 4th in the $500 NLH Second Chance for $39,487. The latter is particularly impressive considering the level of opposition on the final table; BOKPOWER, rivermanl & sheets were all in attendance as well.

Other major scores this year include outright victory in the PokerStars $100 Re-Buys ($19,470), the Full Tilt Re-Buys of the same buy-in twice (over $38,000) and the Ultimate Bet $75k GTD ($21,735).

With another $25,000 from Shaun Deeb seemingly in the bag, it seems as if Thayer has really caught the live bug and an extended spell at the TV tables is a definite possibility in 2009.