As streaks go, it might not have been as mind-numbing as Byron Nelson's winning 11 consecutive pro golf tournaments or Cal Ripken, Jr. playing in 2,632 straight games, but an against-the-odds poker run came to an end recently on Bodog. Each week, Bodog awards that week's winner of its Tournament Leaderboard Challenge the chance to play a heads-up match against one of the Bodog pros (Josh Arieh), who had gone unbeaten in 14 consecutive matches against the TLB winner, the player who accumulates the most points each week through Bodog's weighted system of evaluating its tourney results.
Sooner or later, Arieh's streak was bound to end, and 20-year-old Johnathan Westra finally turned the trick. In knocking off Arieh, Westra collected a cool $14,000, a prize that had built each week due to Arieh's own run of knocking off the previous challengers. Despite the fact that Arieh could be assumed to have a healthy advantage over many (if not all) of his opponents, 14 consecutive triumphs still pushes probability to the limit. After all, a severely outgunned opponent could adopt some variation of a heads-up "Kill Phil" strategy and expect to win much better than one try in 14.
Still, the streak lasted until Westra solved the Arieh puzzle. "Pretty much everybody thinks of Arieh as being an aggressive player and play a little bit tighter against him," Westra said, in the press release. "I just tried to play him aggressive after the flop instead of playing with him pre-flop. I tried to get him to invest his money instead of him just getting in pre-flop."
Next, Westra has his sights set on David Williams, another player who he rates as very aggressive and a difficult challenge. "From previous experience I've learned that I'm not as good against aggressive players as I am against tighter players," added Westra, so I'd like to play Williams again."
Ed Note: Take your chance to play Williams, Arieh, and others at the tables of Bodog by signing up….today.
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