Poker Stars: Clarkatroid

Who says you have to be under 21 to mash up the online poker scene? Adam Clark, 37, shows the kids how it’s done…

Adam ‘clarkatroid’ Clark is one of poker’s rarest breeds: an old school internet player who is still grinding with the young guns.

The 37 year-old prides himself on his ability to keep up internet stamina levels and by his own admission is probably the oldest 9 tabler in the UK.

Today Clarkatroid focuses on cash games and is clearing more than most British players can dream of (July saw him up $73,000 including MTTs, his best ever, and August saw him up $57,300). But if you haven’t heard of him it’s probably because Clark has willingly tried to stay under the poker radar: a rare breed indeed in the modern age of poker celebrity.

His story into poker sounds like a scene from the good ‘ol pre-Moneymaker days: «I started playing poker while on a world trip 8 years ago. Staying in a youth hostel opposite the Elvis Chapel for 5 dollars a night, myself and my best friend ended up stuck in Vegas for 6 weeks, where I discovered HoldEm in the not so glamourous Sahara Casino on the strip. We were the fish and got stung by the locals. But they fed us for free and gave us cocktails, so we stayed until we spent our daily budget of 30 dollars each. The world trip was supposedly for 6 months but we stayed in Vegas for 4!!!! We simply couldn’t get out.»

Like everyone else, Clark had caught the poker bug. This led him to take the plunge of depositing at the very inception of online poker, when he says there were just 3,000 players grinding at peak hours. It was here where he would first meet the likes of JohnnyBax, jcamby & thebeat to do battle on the virtual felt. He says «It’s nice to see ‘Bax is still doing the business at the highest level».

So if you thought online poker was all about the young guns, you’ve been pawned. Clarkatroid is turning over on average $30k a month – one of the highest poker livings earned by any UK player.

In the current climate where online poker stars are rising to poker fame as high as that of the live legends (and, therefore, gaining lucrative sponsorship deals), he believes now is the time to raise his profile and let the world know that being of legal age to play in Vegas does NOT automatically rule you out as the next acclaimed online superstar.

Anyway, do these young’uns even know the meaning of the word grind? How about literally grinding your bones to oblivion? Clarkatroid suspects he has a carpal tunnel in his fingers and has recently acquired and ergonomic joystick with which to boost his hefty bankroll whilst avoiding an ‘injured at work’ lawsuit.

Now that is definitely where the word ‘sick’ comes into play. Watch out Annette_15; Clark_37 is on your back FTW!

You can play with Clarkatroid on PokerStars and Full Tilt.Want to read more about Adam’s escapades? Check out his blog.

Source: PokerVerdict.com

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