The 2016 November Nine: Seat 5, Cliff Josephy

Each week leading into the World Series of Poker final table we’ll profile one player who will be vying for the championship. Our profiles are sponsored by Advanced Poker Training, one of the world’s top poker training sites. At AdvancedPokerTraining.com you can play up to 500 hands per hour of full-ring, six-max, sit-n-go or full MTTs against thousands of intelligent computerized opponents, with instant advice, weekly training plans and much more. It’s the fastest way to ignite your game!

When Muttontown, New York’s Cliff Josephy sits down to begin the final table of the 2016 World Series of Poker Main Event at the end of October, he will be more than just the chip leader.

At 51-years-old, Josephy will be the oldest player in the final nine. With two WSOP bracelets and $2,641,620 in career live tournament earnings coming into the Main Event, he will also be the most accomplished. Plus, considering he was ranked the top online poker player in the world back in 2005, he is recognized as one of the best teachers of the modern game from his days starting the PokerXFactor.com training site. Josephy is also widely known to have financially backed a stable of hundreds of players online and off, including 2009 WSOP Main Event champ Joe Cada. Given his ranking, reputation and time in the game, Josephy’s also one of the most experienced players in the game.

As a result, Josephy knows as much as anyone coming into the WSOP. There’s no guarantee he’ll win the tournament and collect the $8 million first place prize that awaits the champion, but at this point, he has to be the favorite.

“This is the goal,” Josephy told PokerNews just moments after the 2016 November Nine was set. “We have a loftier goal than just making the final table, right, but right now, we’re on the right path.”

Josephy was a New York stock broker-turned-analyst back in 2003 when he went to visit his father down in Florida. He’d often played Hearts on his computer to pass the time. After he saw coverage of the WSOP Main Event on ESPN on the flight down south, and watched his father play a little online poker during the visit, the game quickly consumed him.

Online poker became Josephy’s new hobby. After some advice from a client and friend to read a few informative poker books, he found a ton of success right out of the gate. So much so that poker soon became more than just a hobby.

“I was just a stock broker,” Josephy explained. “I got some training from some very bright people and soon I began to understand the reasons behind the different stock moves. I learned how to analyze stocks and I essentially became an analyst. I did a lot of business with a lot of the different hedge funds in New York, and then, one day, I fell in love with poker.

“I was working at a firm and that firm was transitioning to another firm and I didn’t want to go, so I just started playing poker instead, and luckily I found success right away. I just said ‘I’m going to try playing poker’ and it worked out right away.”

Under the screen name “JohnnyBax,” Josephy starting winning big online tournaments from the outset, collecting multiple seats to major live tournaments like the WSOP Main Event through online satellites on a regular basis. He reached legendary status in the online world almost immediately, earning the top online player ranking on PocketFives and winning his first WSOP bracelet in 2005 — in what also happened to be his first ever Seven-Card Stud tournament.

Josephy and the same friend who offered the poker reading advice soon partnered up to back a huge stable of successful players both online and live. Before long, he also began to teach other players the secrets to their success through the …

continue reading in source www.pokernews.com