Cliff Josephy – Poker Player Profile
Unlike the scores of young players who have been dominating online play in recent years, Cliff ‘JohnnyBax’ Josephy started his poker career much later. After attending the University of Michigan, Josephy moved to Syosset, New York to start a family and work as a stock broker. It was there that he met Eric ‘sheets’ Haber who became his friend, teacher, and business partner. Ever since 2002 – the year he decided to take the game seriously – JohnnyBax has been one of the most consistent poker players in the world.
As of this writing, JohnnyBax holds the record for longest reign atop the PocketFives.com online tournament player rankings. He has extremely impressive results over the last few years, including a win in the FTOPS X Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo event for $46K. In 2009, he won PokerStars’ $1K Super Tuesday for $68K and the $85K Guaranteed for $46K. He is currently ranked 38th in the online rankings.
On the live tournament circuit, Josephy is most known for entering the 2005 World Series of Poker $1500 Seven Card Stud event having never played stud. In a true testament to his uncanny understanding of poker, Josephy won the tournament and $192K. In 2006, he cashed in second at the UB.com Aruba Poker Classic for $446K. A month later, he took second at the World Poker Finals in Mashantucket for $187K. More recently, he narrowly missed his second WSOP bracelet, taking third in the 2009 $5K Pot Limit Omaha for $166K. All told, Josephy has over $1.5 million in live tournament earnings.
Interestingly enough, Josephy’s biggest poker score wasn’t his own. JohnnyBax and sheets were the sole backers of 2009 WSOP Champion Joe Cada, which means they received half of the $8.5 million dollar first place prize money.
Along with Haber and Scott ‘mindwise’ Pendergast, Josephy started PokerXFactor, a premier online poker training site. Currently, he serves as lead instructor and part owner, which allows him to play less poker and spend more time with his family.
Related Poker News:
- Online Poker Pro Cliff Josephy Places Second in Aruba
- Online Poker Hero on GSN
- Ultimate Bet Signs on New Star Poker Player
- Online Poker Report: ‘JohnnyBax’ Takes Stars Super Tuesday
- FTOPS X Roundup: ‘frankly perfect’, Cliff Josephy Snare FTOPS Avatars
- Online Poker Pros Make Videos
- New UltimateBet Pros Seek To Calm Cheating Scandal
- International Poker Pro Tony G Opens Online Poker Room
- PokerStars Sponsors JohnnyBax’s Stable in WSOP Main Event
- World Poker Finals Main Event Leader
- Vanessa Rousso Signs Endorsement Deal With EQ Labs
- Taylor Paur
Poker terminology:
- SIDE POT - When an active player runs out of money during the course of a hand, the remaining players participate in a second or SIDE POT for the rest of the hand. Additional side pots are possible if several players run out of money at different points in a hand.
- TABLE STAKES - A standard rule whereby during a hand players can only bet the money they have on the table. If the bet to a player is more than the player's stack, that player may call with all his chips and be eligible to win only that portion of the pot he contributed to equally. A side pot is created, for which only the remaining players may compete.
- LOCK - A hand that cannot be beat under any circumstances. Also: NUTS.
- TO GO - The current betting level, as in "$20 to go" meaning every player must contribute $20 (total) or drop. A $10 raise would then make the pot "$30 to go".
- EXPECTATION - The long-run [dis-]advantage of a given situation, specifically without reference to any particular outcome. I.e., what you figure to win [lose] on average after a large number of repetitions of the same situation.
- HOOK - A Jack. So named because the "J" resembles a hook.
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