Personal Details

Where do you come from? Which city?
My name is Ryan Hurst and I live in Toronto, Canada.

Who old are you?
I’m 32 years old and I’ve been playing poker professionally for a few years now.

What is your current occupation? I think you’ve mentioned that you are fulltime player at the moment – what have you done before?
The online poker scene suits me quite well since all of my jobs previous to poker were computer related, either multimedia development or technical support.

...PokerIsland...

Where did you get in contact with the PokerIsland promotion? Why did you qualify?
I first heard about the PokerIsland promotion while playing on bwin. I saw a picture of the infinity pool from the villa and set it as the picture for my desktop background to use as motivation to play well and make money. By chance I saw a $1.10 qualifier for PokerIsland on bwin and decided to play it while I was playing my regular scheduled tournaments. I was lucky enough to qualify for the weekly final tournament through that and by winning the weekly final I got a spot on the island. 

Did you aspect to stay for 7 weeks in island’s paradise?
Although I felt my chances were good against the competition I definitely didn’t expect to stay for 7 weeks, I was lucky to do so. 

This question should interest all fans of PokerIsland – what is the life in almost decadent luxury like?
The daily adventures to wonderful nightlife and the most beautiful locations, the in-house chef and that absolutely gorgeous villa would be enough to impress anyone. But it was the people that really made the experience. Over 7 weeks I met players from around the world, got to know the crew and some of the local islanders and I can’t overstate what a bunch of amazing people my new friends are.

The special deals on PokerIsland were the “luxury experiences”. Which one did you like most?
I was there for 7 weeks and I don’t know if I could pick just one favourite luxury experience, not sure if I could pick one per week, never mind the fact that the people made everything from archery to sitting by the pool a memorable time. One that comes to mind is a beach on a neighbouring island that we took a few different boats to over my 7 weeks. Some of us would swim in from the boats through the greenish blue water to a beach side restaurant where we’d have lunch and drinks. I’ve never seen such a beautiful beach in my life, with anchored boats just off the shore and amazing mountain ranges in the background. With great new friends from around the world and settings like those the word luxury doesn’t come close to describing the experiences we had. 

A very difficult question – which week did you enjoy most?
Like all the players the first week there was something truly special for me. There were two players, a Frenchman and a Russian, who welcomed me to the island and really started the trip on the right note for me. Although we didn’t get to know each other that well the first week it’s also when I met Kyle Clark, the New Zealander, who became a good friend over the following weeks.

For all future PokerIsland-players: What about your poker-tactics at the breakfast poker table? How did you win so many tables?
The reason why I had success with the breakfast poker matches was probably a combination of having more experience with live play than my competition and my level of aggression. The matches were only one hour long and the person with the most chips after the hour was the winner. Being ultra aggressive usually resulted in me having a chip lead early in the match, which obviously gives a big advantage later in the game.

...Poker-History...

When did you start playing poker?
My Godfather taught me how to play poker when I was very young, but I started reading about strategy and taking the game seriously about 10 years ago.

By now (in the post-PokerIsland–era), how many hours do you play poker per day?
I took a couple of weeks off when I first got back from PokerIsland, but for the past few days I’ve been back on my regular schedule playing maybe 10 to 12 hours per day.

What was your biggest hit (except PokerIsland)?
I’m not really sure of my biggest win, but the same month I won the trip to PokerIsland I finished 11th in the Grand Tournament on bwin which I would consider a good win for me and it paid $15,000 USD.

What was your favourite hand on PokerIsland?
My favourite hand on PokerIsland was the one I always say is the only guaranteed winner. It was the uncontested hand, the one they fold to and I win without showing.

...bwin Poker team...

What are your expectations as a member of the bwin Poker team?
My expectations for the coming year as a bwin Poker team member are to have a good time on the trips. To meet some more great people from around the world and hopefully make some decent money while doing so.

Do you know any other bwin poker players?
I know a few players that have been on trips with bwin from playing online as well as the ones I’ve met at PokerIsland, some of which I’d call good friends. To name a few: DJ_Stiff, Billybillard, TheSheep63 and Nuts.

To which “big” tournament (WSOP, WPT) are you looking forward? Is next year’s WSOP-winner our Ryan Hurst? Why not?
I’m assuming Eastgate is the winner of the 2008 WSOP Main Event, I don’t watch much poker on television most of the productions seem like circus acts to me. When I first started playing poker to be the world champion was my dream, like anyone who took the game seriously. Now that the fields are so large most people say you’re lucky if you make the final table of the Main Event in your lifetime.

For the PokerIsland fans – what is the main reason to try everything to get on PokerIsland 2009?
The main reason for other people to try to get on PokerIsland for 2009 is that it’s the only way I know to turn $1.10 into a $100,000.00 sponsorship while you have an unforgettably amazing time with a bunch of great people.

In a really pushy game of poker Ryan finally made it. He dominated the headsup against Dimitry and finally made his move with a K5 (suited of spades) against Dimitrys A2 (suited of spades) - the board showed K39 10 K.

Congratulation Ryan - welcome to the Team bwin!

We are all looking forward to see you in Vegas.

Thank you for a great time on PokerIsland.

 The Ranking in the PokerIsland Final are:

1st Ryan, 2nd Dimitry, 3rd Klaus, 4th Fabien, 5th Kaspars, 6th Felix, 7th Yann, 8th Miklos, 9th Redmond, 10th Kyle.

The Pokerisland final was played and streamed on OCZ Technology Computers. Thanks for a great support.

Watch the PokerIsland Final live and online. Right here on PokerIsland.tv. Our 10 poker master battle tonight at 8 o'clock for the ultimate victory!

Click right here to get connected to the live stream.

Cold snap on PokerIsland. And no way to play poker at the teahouse outside. We had to go inside, where it was cosy and warm. It felt a little bit like coming from the outside after a skiing trip, hanging out at the chalet. But don’t get a false impression. The players were quite quiet and concentrated. A lot of tension at the table and everybody really wanted to win! Today there was no second and third winner, winning at least another week on PokerIsland. Because this was the last Weekly Final. The last week. The last game on PokerIsland for this year. 

Ryan started with 6000 chips, Christian with 4000, Kai, Klaus and Bernie with 3000 chips. Blinds 25/50 and the game started quite aggressive. A lot of bets and folds. Then finally we had a showdown. The board showed 9/J/A/J/8 and Christian bet 300, only Bernie called. Christian with 9/3 against Bernie with Q/10 hitting a straight! Nice start in the game.

Blinds 50/100… Blinds 100/200 and the game started to rumble. Klaus won some hands by strong bets accumulating his stack. Christian won two raise races going all-in. Then Bernie, small stack by now had to make a move to stay alive. And he did raising 500 pre flop, Ryan reraised 1600 forcing Bernie all-in. Bernie with A/J against Ryan’s A/Q. The flop came down with 6/K/K. Still a fair chance for both. On the turn A they both hit the 2^nd pair. And even if the river came down with a J, Bernie was kicked out of the game first! Goodbye Bernie! And Ryan was chip leader by far.
Then Kai’s time had come. Going all-in with A/6 called by Ryan with Q/5. On the board we had K/2/7/3/4 and Kai doubled up!

Blinds 150/300. Christian with 2775, Kai 5150, Klaus 3225 and Ryan with 7850 chips. Kai tried to keep up his lucky hand going all-in another time. This time Klaus called. Kai with Ah/10h against Klaus Kh/Qh. On the flop 7/10/2 touch down for Kai! But the turn came down with a Q. The J on the river didn’t change anything. So nice double up for Klaus the Hellraiser.
Kai with 450 chips left had to try it, and he did. Already next hand he went all-in pre flop. This time Ryan called but Christian reraised all-in. Still, Ryan called. Ryan with K/2, Christian with pocket 7 (7/7) and Kai with 5/2. On the flop 5/2/3 Kai and Ryan hit the pair of 2s. Not enough yet to beat Christian. Turn 3 and river Q smashed Kai and Ryan. So Kai had to leave the table second and Christian this time doubled up.   

Blinds 200/400 and three players left in the game. Ryan pushed and played quite aggressive. Klaus and Christian tried to hold up. Ryan bet pre flop 1200, Christian went all-in and Ryan called with 7/7 against Christians Ah/Kh. On the flop 2/2/K Christian hit the over pair. But on the turn 7 Ryan hit the trips and on the river 7 four of a kind! And next man down. Farewell Christian!

Heads up between Klaus 5500 and Ryan 13 500. Ryan played very aggressive and Klaus folded down his stack for a while. Till blinds were 300/600 and Klaus’ time had come. Again Ryan wanted to steal Klaus’ big blind going all-in - but he called! Klaus with 8/9 against Ryan’s 8/2. In the end the board showed 5/7/J/6/5 and all of a sudden Klaus is back in the game. A few hands later, the flop showed 10/6/6 Ryan bet 1000, Klaus reraised 2000 and Ryan went all-in. So did Klaus with Q/6 against Ryan’s 10/9. Hard to beat these trips Ryan! Turn and river came down with 8/9 and Klaus again doubled up. Klaus now with 13 000 and Ryan with 6000 left.

Only chance to come back for Ryan was to play aggressive now. And he did. Raising 1200 pre flop but Klaus called. The flop came down with Ac/3c/5c and again Ryan bet 1000 and Klaus went all-in. Ryan called with 8/2 against 7c/10c by Klaus. Flush already and Ryan was almost out. Turn and river 6/8 sealed Ryan’s fate! Congratulations Klaus! Good luck for the big final next week!