With so many young poker talents out there, it can be difficult for anyone in particular to stand out from the crowd – but Byron Kaverman has proven himself to be an exception.
One of the ‘Rounders’ generation – brought to the game via the cult movie – the 29-year old from Fort Jennings, Ohio had initially planned on a soccer career – but online success, followed by his surprise big win at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in 2011, changed things completely.
His ‘nowhere to hero’ run landed him $320,840 and propelled him into pro status and a new life of travel and poker tournaments, and over the next few years Kaverman would find himself living out of a suitcase and loving it.
Highly-respectable showings and cashes around the world over the following 2 years evidently proved a good testing ground for Kaverman, and in the spring of 2014 he started a remarkable run with his runners-up spot in the WPT $15k re-entry at the Borgata Winter Open securing him $ 727,860, followed a week or so later by a 5th place finish in the EPT Grand Final $25K High-Roller, good for $467,406.
If 2014 was a good year, then 2015 has been a phenomenal one for the young American – by now re-located to the California coast. An amazing run from January to March on the US ‘High-Roller circuit’ brought him 2 wins and 2nd place, almost $1milllion in earnings and a huge jump in the GPI (Global Poker Index) rankings.
This summer was equally kind to the aggressive young player, lifting the WSOP $10K 6-handed event for $ 657,351, finishing just off the final table of the High-roller One for One Drop a week later –good for $332,596 – and then picking up $409,219 for coming 3rd at the $10K buy-in Bellagio Cup XI.
Final tables in 7 of his last 8 events show just how good a player he is and to top it off (and the year isn’t over yet!) he lifted the title and $ 475,355 at last week’s EPT Malta High-Roller.
Young, talented, rich and capable of playing aggressively even at the highest tournament levels, Byron Kaverman is now number 1 in the GPI rankings and – if he can keep up the same form next year – a shoo in for many more big titles.
Away from the tables, his love of soccer still shines through and he has created a summer indoor soccer team in Las Vegas aimed at poker players, and would like to coach soccer someday.
