Our Verdict:
Eric Lynch aka ‘Rizen’ is without doubt in the top 10 online poker players in the world. He has made a terrific living from playing online and this year has successfully made the transition to the offline game.
He came 24th out of over 8,700 (good for $495,000) in the World Series of Poker main event and finished on the final table in the WSOP’s $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em event, adding a further $105,000 to his bankroll.
But for those who love to play high limit multi-table tournaments (MTTs) online the name ‘Rizen’ will be well-known and if you find yourself playing against him be very afraid.
His internet poker career really started when he won the Million Dollar Guaranteed Tournament on PokerStars in May 2006, bagging $156,000. Since then the Kansas-based player has won various tournaments online including many $100k, $150k and $200k MTTs.
He had a moderate (for him) September 2006 taking 3rd in the $200k Guaranteed on PartyPoker and 3rd in a $100 $9 rebuy tournament on PokerStars, for a grand total of ‘just’ $27,000 in cashes. Oh the shame!
If you want to improve your game you can go to any big nightly MTT on Party or ‘Stars’, use the ‘Find a player’ facility and seek him out. Click on the ‘Observe Table’ button and just watch this guy play.
You can also see what ‘Rizen’ is up to by visiting his blog (he is included in our list of famous players' blogs) which he updates pretty frequently. He has also made guest appearances on www.pokerxfactor.com where you can get training videos by him.