Aug 30, 2019 The German #1 all-time money earner and #4 in GPI World Rankings, Rainer Kempe, has become the ambassador of the online poker room GreySnowPoker, owned by the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma and licensed and regulated by the Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission. Total life earnings: $21,427,270. Latest cash: $559 on 06-Sep-2020. Click here to see the details of Rainer Kempe's 159 cashes. Rainer Kempe Rules $25,000 Challenge, Off to Good 2019 Start. In the $25,000 challenge, a record 151 entry field came to the fore to battle for the championship. While some of the usual suspects.
The U.S. Poker Open is just two weeks away, and right here on Poker Central, we are counting down to one of the most exciting high roller series of the year by talking to your favorite players and the biggest Championship contenders. Starting with one of the hottest players only 30 days into 2019, we caught up with Rainer Kempe who’s currently battling it out at the Aussie Millions.
Watch nine straight days of final table action on PokerGO from February 14-23 by subscribing right now. Learn more about the U.S. Poker Open and its full structure and schedule by clicking this link.
“I’m traditionally on the side of not believing in momentum or streaks in poker, but sometimes it’s hard not to,” Kempe said as he ripped off three outright wins in the first 25 days of the year.
“I believe that poker is about being consistent and getting yourself into good spots and then you’ll win some tournaments eventually.”
The 29-year old German pro has done just that winning the $50,000 High Roller in the Bahamas for $908,100 followed by winning the $10,0000 Turbo Knock Out event for $117,280 and just last week the $25,000 Challenge at the Aussie Millions for $587,261.
Rainer Kempe Interview
In 2018, Kempe started out similarly, leading the Player of the Year race heading into April after grabbing a win at the PCA followed by three big scores in Macau for a total of $2.5 million and a second place in the partypoker €25,000 Barcelona event.
Currently ranked second on the 2019 Player of the Year race, Kempe points out a distinct difference with last year’s strong start.
“The difference with 2018 is that I had a lot of qualifying scores to get a lot of points. It looked promising but to actually win POY those don’t really matter that much. You need outstanding results throughout the year and that’s why this year is already more exciting from that perspective with these results.”
Despite it only being January, Kempe believes he has a much better chance of competing for one of the game’s most prestigious honors. A player’s best 13 results make up their Player of the Year points total, and Kempe’s eager to grind to the last day.
“There’s no need to get overly attached to a goal that I have very limited control over, but If push comes to shove I’ll be happy to play both Five Diamond and EPT Prague in December!”
So far, Kempe’s most exciting to have won the Aussie Millions high roller in which he beat Chino Rheem and Toby Lewis for the championship ring. This event, with its slow structure and deep stacks, had extra meaning since Kempe did one better than his first big shot at a win during the 2015 Aussie Millions when he finished second in a $1,000 event.
“That ring was pretty much the first trophy I got close to in my career as a professional and it’s nice to get that one now, four years later.”
Looking ahead at what’s to come, Kempe is excited for the prospects of competing in the PokerGO Studio for 10 straight days of U.S. Poker Open action and the added $100,000 for the overall championship winner.
“It’s incredibly hard to say no to a rake free high roller series that generates two straight weeks of great action along with the added bonus of $100,000 for the championship winner!”
Riding a confidence-high, the 2016 Super High Roller Bowl winner will be one of the top contenders at the U.S. Poker Open, but he won’t undersell that running good is a big part of the equation to hoist the trophy on February 24th.
“There is a point to be made about confidence and people being intimidated when you’re on a heater like that but then again, especially when I think about my two wins at PCA this year, I can say with a fair amount of certainty that I won those tourneys because I was the person who ran the best out of everybody who entered that day.”
The World Poker Tour DeepStacks continued its international leg over the weekend at South Africa’s Emperors Palace Hotel Casino Resort. It was there that poker power couple Maria Ho and Rainer Kempe – who were guests of Shuffle Up Poker South Africa – laid claim to three titles between them.
For Ho, she topped a 387-entry field to win the $1,000 buy-in WPT DeepStacks Johannesburg Main Event for $69,166. The win, the third of her storied poker career, brought Ho’s lifetime earnings up over $2.7 million.
Ho: “I have played a lot of WPTs, so it’s nice to come here and take one down.'
On the final day, 29 players returned to action with Ho, who this summer was inducted into the Women in Poker Hall of Fame, in the chip lead. She maintained it all the way to the final table, where she would notch three knockouts before making it to heads-up play against Riyad Khan.
In the final hand of the tournament, Ho had doubled into a big lead when she shoved the button holding king-five offsuit. Khan called off with jack-eight offsuit. Despite flopping a gutshot, Khan failed to come from behind and had to settle for second place and $49,246 in prize money.
“I have played a lot of WPTs, so it’s nice to come here and take one down,” Ho told Royal Flush Crew’s Caitlyn Howe after her win. “It feels good to win. To be the final person standing in a tournament is what we do this for.”
Others to cash the tournament were Joseph Rahme (12th - $5,879), Uriel Levy (22nd - $2,905), Kenny Morgan (28th - $2,144), and Jason Strauss (36th - $2,144).
Official Final Table Results
| Position | Player | Country | Prize in ZAR | Prize in $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maria Ho | United States | ZAR 1,000,000 | $69,166 |
| 2 | Riyad Khan | South Africa | ZAR 712,000 | $49,246 |
| 3 | Justin Uys | South Africa | ZAR 458,000 | $31,678 |
| 4 | Joe Abreu | Portugal | ZAR 290,000 | $20,058 |
| 5 | Rob Fenner | South Africa | ZAR 223,000 | $15,424 |
| 6 | George Levine | South Africa | ZAR 185,000 | $12,796 |
| 7 | Shadley Abrahams | South Africa | ZAR 155,000 | $10,721 |
| 8 | Steven Radloff | South Africa | ZAR 127,000 | $8,784 |
| 9 | Jarred Solomon | South Africa | ZAR 101,800 | $7,041 |
Here’s a look at Maria Ho’s winner interview with Caitlyn Howe:
Rainer Kempe - Poker Player
Rainer Kempe Claims Two Titles
Maria Ho’s significant other, Rainer Kempe, also had a big showing in South Africa winning not one, but two titles. The first came on September 30 when he topped a field of 15 entries to win Event #1: ZAR200,000 Super High Roller Freezeout for $81,270.
Rainer Kempe Maria Ho
A week later, he was at it again, this time as one of 59 entrants competing in Event #5: ZAR20,000 Big Roller Semi NLH for $28,358.
“Spent some time in South Africa Taking home some trophies. Let’s hope I’ll get less hate for it than that dentist dude,” Kempe joked on Twitter after his wins, referencing the animal trophy hunting controversy in the mainstream news.
Between them, Ho and Kempe won $178,794 in prize money while in Johannesburg.
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