Makhija Discusses His New Role with DoylesRoom.net
February 10th, 2010 Amit Makhija has had a successful poker career since he began traveling on the tournament trail in 2008. He has made final tables at both the World Series of Poker (fifth place at the 2008 $10,000 pot-limit hold’em world championship), and the World Poker Tour (second place at the 2008 Legends of Poker). He has $2,446,261 in career earnings, and his consistency has been impressive during his first two years on the road.
He is also a force online, and he is a well respected high-stakes heads-up player. This string of early success has led Makhija to be picked as a member of the Brunson 10, a group of young players that represent DoylesRoom.net that were handpicked by Doyle Brunson.
Card Player caught up with Makhija recently, and he talked about being selected for the exclusive group of young players, as well as what his sponsorship duties include.
Ryan Lucchesi: What did it mean to you to be picked as a member of the Brunson 10 to represent DoylesRoom.net?
Amit Makhija: It’s a great opportunity to become a member of that team. They’re doing a lot of good things. They’re trying to get some young people for the team, and they’re really putting together a good group of poker minds that are among the best young players in the world. It’s an honor to be a part of that.
RL: Did it mean so much more because you knew that Doyle Brunson was involved with the selection process?
AM: To me that was one of the biggest parts, because one of his main criteria was if he thought the players were going to be around for a long time. That’s tough criteria, because he has seen so many people come and go over the years. It’s an honor that he thinks I have what it takes to make it.
RL: What is the key to staying consistent during the course of the year in each tournament and cash-game session that you play?
AM: You just have to keep your head clear and not worry about past results. You can’t let the past have any affect on your future. You have to make sure that each decision is as good as it possibly can be. You always have to be working on your game, because if you’re not getting better then you are getting worse, because everyone else is working on their games. A lot of people get complacent really quick. I always try to work really hard at poker. I try to have no ego and make the best decisions possible.
RL: What is your involvement with the DoylesRoom.net website?
AM: We have a lot of input with the website. There is an e-mail circulating around that we voice any issues that we think they can improve on. They’re working on improving the software, which was one of the big issues, I think. We have a weekly conference call where the DoylesRoom president calls us and we discuss ways to improve the site, as well as different promotional things we can do to help the site. We have a lot of input.
It’s not like a lot of deals where it is just a deal to wear a patch. We are definitely very involved with the site, and we are determined to make it one of the best sites to play on online. It’s really cool.
For more information on The Brunson 10, visit DoylesRoom.com.
Original member of The Brunson 10 remains in Caribbean tournament with healthy chip count after money bubble bursts
Las Vegas, Nevada - January 8th, 2010 2010 is starting off quite profitable for The Brunson 10. DoylesRoom.com's Amit Makhija will finish in the money of the 2010 Caribbean Adventure at Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island and he's on track to become a serious contender for the top multi million-dollar prize.
With just over 100 players left on Day 3, Amit Makjija sits strong with 370,000 chips as of 6:30pm on Friday. The $10,000+300 buy-in event features a first-place prize of $2.2 million. With 1,529 entries, 224 spots will pay out.
Amit Makhija has emerged from 2009 as one of The Brunson 10's top contenders. He finished in 26th place in the Doyle Brunson 5 Diamond World Poker Classic, winning $28,569 for his performance. He also finished in the top 10 in five online poker and bricks-and-mortar poker room tournaments.
The Brunson 10 is Doyle Brunson's team of elite poker talent. Sharing the spotlight with Amit Makhija on the team are Chris Moorman, Alec Torelli, Zachary Clark and Dani Stern. Doyle Brunson, poker's biggest legend, will continue to handpick members to fill the five vacant spots on The Brunson 10.
For more information on The Brunson 10, visit DoylesRoom.com.
Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic Day 4
Las Vegas, Nevada - Dec 17th, 2009 The Doyle´s Room family of players was down to only one representative by the time day 4 started at the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio. Amit "Amak316" Makhija came into the day 22nd of the remaining 36 players and was able to make his way inside the money but lost a coinflip soon after and was eliminated from the tournament short of a final table appearance.
The top 27 players made the money and after Hasan Habib was eliminated in 28th place it wasn´t long before Amit had his chips in the middle. After the money bubble he only had 280k chips with the blinds at 6,000 / 12,000 and a 1k ante and when he picked up AJ suited and was faced with a raise to 30k he moved all in. Matt Waxman called with his pocket sevens and in a standard race situation the smaller pair held up to eliminate Makhija in 26th place for a payout of $28,569.
Even with all of Doyle´s group of players eliminated play rolled on in the tournament named after Brunson. A full five levels of play brought the field down to the final 16 players, led by Curt Kohlberg who is coming off a recent WPT final table at Foxwoods where he finished in 5th place. Going into the playdown day of the Five Diamond Kohlberg has 2,856,000 chips and leads the charge towards a second consecutive WPT main event final table. Play will continue tomorrow until the 16 are trimmed to only 6 who will then return the next day to play it out for the title and nearly $1.5 million first prize on the WPT TV set.
Curt Kohlberg - 2,856,000
Faraz Jaka - 2,768,000
Danny Alaei - 2,422,000
John Juanda - 1,851,000
Chad Batista - 1,550,000
Joe Cassidy - 1,445,000
Josh Arieh - 1,067,000
Shawn Buchanan - 1,007,000
Steve O'Dwyer - 826,000
Carter King - 805,000
Eric Hershler - 796,000
Mike Sowers - 661,000
Matt Waxman - 641,000
Joe Elpayaa - 446,000
Scotty Nguyen - 339,000
Lee Salem - 275,000
After strong showings during Day 3, Doyle Brunson and Brunson 10 member Dani Stern bust out of the 5 Diamond World Poker Classic. Amit Makhija heads into Day 4 within reach of final table.
Las Vegas, Nevada - Dec 17th, 2009 Doyle Brunson has busted out of the tournament named in his honor, but he´ll still be well represented in the WPT Doyle Brunson 5 Diamond World Poker Classic when play resumes today at Noon in Vegas at Bellagio. After a chip count rollercoaster ride that saw Amit Makhija go from 59th place to one of the top spots, the Brunson 10 member heads into Day 4 with enough chips to rally back to the top.
Stated poker legend Doyle Brunson, "All of the members of The Brunson 10 had a good run at Bellagio and I´m proud of every single one of them. Amit´s still in it, he´s on my team of pros for a reason and I really think he´s going to keeping building his chip stack until he´s on top. Just watch."
Amit Makhija will resume play with 423,000 chips. While the Brunson 10 pro was short-stacked during most of the tournament, he rallied late in the day to position himself among the chip leaders. By the end of the day, he had dropped back down to 22nd place.
With the top 27 players finishing in the money, Amit Makhija is still in a position to add to his nearly $2.5 million in lifetime poker winnings. In last year´s WPT Doyle Brunson 5 Diamond World Poker Classic, Makhija earned $21,620 for a 79th place finish.
The Doyle Brunson 5 Diamond World Poker Classic will resume today at Noon at Bellagio in Las Vegas with 36 players remaining. The $15,000+400 buy-in tournament features a $4,761,450 prize pool. The top 27 players will finish in the money.
Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic Day 3
Las Vegas, Nevada - Dec 16th, 2009 Everywhere he goes Doyle Brunson is a fan favorite and has the poker world rooting for him to do well, but that sentiment is only amplified at the Bellagio in December when the poker world comes together for the last major tournament of the year, named after the Godfather of poker. The Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic saw its namesake make a strong run on day 2 putting himself near the top of the chip counts going into day 3, but the run ended when Doyle was eliminated midway through the third day of play in the 6 day tournament.
Of the 130 players that started the day only 36 made it through to day 4, and Doyle wasn't the only Brunson or member of the Doyle's Room family to fall during day 3 play. Todd Brunson came into the day as the third shortest stack and after an early rally his fate went south again and he was eliminated from the tournament. The newest member of the Brunson 10 also saw his tournament run end during the days play. Dani Stern was all in on the turn with a pair of queens against an opponent that had KQ on a jack high board. The other player had a gutshot straight draw and the overcard king that would help him on the river and his 7 outer got there with a king to bust Stern from the tournament. Hoyt Corkins was also ousted from the tournament late in the day.
Fellow Brunson 10 member Amit Makhija was short stacked for a lot of the tournament but rallied later in the day to build up to 900k in chips and put himself among the chipleaders. The day ended on a down note for Makhija as he dropped to 423,500 by the end of play, but he is still in 22nd place of the 36 remaining players and could easily make a final table run. The first order of business when play starts back tomorrow at noon will be getting into the money and from there play will continue for a full five levels or until the field is reduced to 10 players. The next day of play will bring the field down to the final 6, who will then return the next day to play it out for the title under the lights and cameras of the World Poker Tour's TV set.
For now Danny Alaei holds the top spot with 1,664,500 with Steven Landfish and Josh Arieh both also over the 1 million chip mark. Here are how the top 10 stack up going into day 4 play:
Danny Alaie - 1,664,500
Steven Landfish - 1,172,500
Josh Arieh - 1,112,000
Scotty Nguyen - 981,500
Matt Waxman - 951,500
Joe Elpayaa - 921,000
Jamie Rosen - 803,000
Mike Sowers - 801,000
Matt Stout - 700,500
Joe Cassidy - 689,500
Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic Day 2
Las Vegas, Nevada - Dec 15th, 2009 Doyle Brunson took advantage of the registration policy and entered the tournament named after him part way through day 2 play. Once at the tables it didn´t take long for Doyle to put his name up towards the top of the chip counts along with on the title of the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic.
Doyle was able to bust his friend and fellow big game player Eli Elezra to quickly build a stack and finished the day with a solid 283,000 chips putting him in 15th place in the chip counts. The final number of entrants came in at 329 players and 130 are left after 10 levels and 2 full days of play. The top 27 will make the money.
Alec Torelli also chose to enter the tournament during day 2 play, but for him the strategy didn´t work out. Alec was eliminated with about an hour left in day 2 play when he flopped a pair of aces with his A4. His opponent also flopped a pair of aces with A6. Alec picked up a flush draw on the turn and had most of the deck to chop the pot but a six hit on the river giving his opponent two pair and eliminating Alec from the tournament. Other day 2 entrants included Hoyt Corkins and Todd Brunson. Both finished the day short of the 60k chips they started with. Hoyt finished up with 41,700 and in 120th place while Todd is almost at the very bottom of the chip counts in 128th place with only 24,600.
Amit Makhija, Dani Stern and Zach Clark all started play during day 1 and at the end of the second day Amit is in 59th place with 142,000 and Dani has 120,200 putting him in 70th place. For Zach Clark day 2 marked the end of his tournament run.
Players will return on Wednesday at noon to play another five levels. Doyle has Hoyt at his table along with Steve Zolotow, Carter King, Jamie Rosen, and Glen Chorny.
Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic 2009 Day 1
Las Vegas, Nevada - Dec 14th, 2009 Day 1 is complete and registration is still open at the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio. Recently the Bellagio adopted a policy of allowing registration through 8 levels of play, which goes over halfway into day 2 play. The interesting registration ruling drew a lot of attention at the last Bellagio event, but at the end of the day it didn´t really seem to have that much of an impact on the tournament.
Of the roughly 290 players that took to the tables today 235 made it through the 5 levels of play and will be back tomorrow for another full day of play. Anyone that decides to register late will start play with the same 60k starting stack that players starting on day 1 entered the tournament with, but will be coming in facing some stacks that have grown to over 200k. Darryll Fish leads the way with 236,625 and Jon Turner is in 2nd with 227,325.
Three Brunson 10 members were seen in action today as Zach Clark, Amit Makhija and Dani Stern all took to the tables. Chris Moorman and Alec Torelli still have the chance to enter the tournament if they wish and Doyle Brunson and Hoyt Corkins have made it known that they plan to enter play on day 2 taking advantage of the later registration.
Makhija finished the day ranked 54th with 100,750 chips, Stern is in 79th with 82,750 and Clark is 144th with 57,500 but will also be slightly behind any players that register over night or before the start of play tomorrow who will enter the tournament with 60k stacks. Tournament play resumes at noon for day 2 action.
Doyle was spotted playing in the big game in Bobby´s Room at the Bellagio as day 1 play was underway in the tournament. While Doyle might not like the long forced hours of tournament play it is hard to keep him away from a good cash game session in Bobby´s room.
Doyle Brunson´s Site Launches New Campaign Featuring Young Pros
San Jose, Costa Rica - Aug 18, 2009 DoylesRoom announced this week that it was launching a new campaign, featuring some of best and brightest talent that the online community has to offer.
"I´m in the process of recruiting what´s called The Brunson 10," said Will Griffiths, the new vice president of global marketing for DoylesRoom. "We´re looking to pick people who are under 25, who are achieving at the highest level, and who have potential at becoming the future legends."
The site has selected Alec Torelli, Amit Makhija, and Zach Clark as the first three members of the exclusive 10-member group. The seven remaining members will be selected and announced in the months ahead.
"It´s definitely just such an honor to be selected by them as one of the 10," said Clark, the nephew of the late Chip Reese and the winner of nearly $2 million in tournament earnings. I´m definitely going to try to live up to it."
Torelli said the fact that DoylesRoom was focused on such a select group of representatives was a major reason he decided to sign with the site.
"It´s really cool that it´s very exclusive. One of my big concerns about signing with a site was because these days, what´s another pro with a website? Everyone´s a pro on Full Tilt or Stars. It´s so diluted, that being a pro on a website isn´t really something you aspire to — not to say that the pros are bad or that the deals aren´t great for them," said Torelli, who final-tabled the World Series of Poker´s new $40,000 event this summer.
According to Griffiths, all of the players of the Brunson 10 will hold clauses in their contracts that reward them as the site grows, further incentivizing them to make the poker room as great as it can possibly be. Not only will they wear DoylesRoom gear in live tournaments, they will advise the site on what it must do to become a better site.
Clark believes that with the Brunson 10´s feedback, the site can establish itself as one of the premiere places to play.
"There are a lot of improvements that they can make and that they need to make. But there´s tremendous upside for them," said Clark. "I see big things for DoylesRoom."
The new pros are clearly psyched to be on board with the biggest name in poker.
"We have the legend as our mentor," said Torelli. "He´s just done so much for the game."
With a number of new pros to target in DoylesRoom´s popular bounty tournaments, the site´s players will also be competing for the new Vegas Experience´ packages, which include luxurious weekend trips to Las Vegas to hang out with Brunson and the new pros.