John Hennigan – world1969

Hennigan has his own 'World's World' table on Full Tilt. Picture courtesy of Poker Listings.

You don’t see many Stud specialists frequenting the high stakes online cash games but John Hennigan is an exception to this rule.

Playing as ‘world1969’ on Full Tilt, the former pool hustler is a regular in the biggest live Stud games around, including the minimum $200,000 game organised by Larry Flynt which features some of the worlds greatest all-round players. And he has been transferring these skills online in recent months, even having a ‘World’s World’ table created on Full Tilt for anyone who fancies taking him on. This is a 6-max, $1,500/$3,000 game which features a rotation of ‘RSE’: Limit Razz, Limit Stud Hi & Limit Stud Hi/Lo. Not many can rate to be a favourite over him there and he has booked big Stud wins over the likes of David Benyamine & Daniel ‘djk123’ Kelly in recent times.

Known in poker circles as ‘Johnny World’, supposedly as he will gamble on anything in the world (hence the ‘world1969’ alias), Hennigan has also been seen dabbling in the high stakes H.O.R.S.E., NLH & PLO games with mixed success. Though he pocketed over $140,000 in the H.O.R.S.E. action & almost $200,000 in NLH from July-December 2008, he also dropped more than $600,000 in the Omaha Hi/Lo games over the same period. No tracking is currently available for the Stud tables but we would assume that his winnings there (when he gets action) more than compensate for any losses he may accumulate elsewhere.

Though not as well known as other regulars in the Bellagio ‘Big Game’ such as Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius & Barry Greenstein, there is no doubt that Hennigan is a fantastic player. The Philadelphia native boasts live tournament winnings of over $3.2million, including two WSOP Bracelets and a WPT Title, taking down the 2007 Borgata Open for over $1.6million. Though some online players doubt his skills in the more popular forms of the game (see this Two Plus Two post for an example), his two bracelets have come in H.O.R.S.E. & NLH and he also took down the 2008 WSOP ‘Ante Up For Africa’ Event for $136,860 to prove that he still has what it takes. When desbribing Hennigan, Greenstein said that: “John is an extremely likeable guy with a self-deprecating sense of humor. John’s A-game is on a par with anyone’s.”

With the increasing popularity of games such as o8 & H.O.R.S.E, it is surely only a matter of time before online players with gamble will start to take up Stud. As a result, we think that ‘world1969’ may become an increasingly well-known figure in the high stakes Full Tilt games. Though he may want to continue keeping a low profile, his skills at the table should make him an interesting fixture in the online games for a long time to come.