Our Verdict:
Aaron Kanter, aka gotcha55, is probably best known for his fourth place finish in the 2005 WSOP Main Event, collecting a cool $2 million for his efforts. Aaron also plays under the names 011180 and get_that.
Kanter is 10% mortgage broker and 90% professional online poker player and, just like the WSOP champions in 2003 and 2004, Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer respectively, Aaron earned his crack at the WSOP's big prize in 2005 via an online satellite.
There are mixed feelings regarding Aaron’s success at the 2005 WSOP. Some forum comments refer to him as a "total luckbox" and "complete donk". Such views are mainly due to the big suckouts that were shown on the ESPN coverage of the main event. But it's beyond question that a player who can wade through a field of more than 5,000 players to make the final table possesses more than a modicum of skill.
Whatever your feelings about gotcha55's luck/skill ratio there is no doubt he's hit the big time and is consistently mashing up the online majors. During one 10-day period in May he took home more than a quarter of a million dollars when he won the opening event of The Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) for $94k and followed up with second place in PokerStars' Sunday Million 10 Billionth Hand Special, collecting $160k on a chop when heads up, That was some feat considering the tourney had more than 10,000 runners!
Aaron seems to cash in an online tournament at least twice a week and recently took down one of Full Tilt’s Sunday $200 £400K Guaranteed events for another cool $45k, pushing his yearly earnings to nearly $500k. Not bad for a player slated in some quarters for being a complete donkey!
Kanter has returned to the WSOP this year. At the time of writing he had cashed twice, finishing 32nd in the $5,000 buy-in World Championship Mixed Hold'em for $13,778 and then pulling down $23,576 by finishing 18th in a $1,500 No Limit Hold'em event.
Before you write him off, look at the results, guys - they speak for themselves!!