Jack Keller, The Murderous Player

  Jack Keller was an excellent player at all poker forms. He was remarkable for his love to take risks. When Seven-Card Stud was popular Jack was know as on of the strongest stud players. And the answer to the question: “Is Jack a good lowball player?” was always the same: “Murderous”.  In 1983 the game of PL Omaha became very popular. As you know Seven-Card Stud is a rather poor form of poker. So, when Omaha appeared Seven-Card Stud was almost superseded. And Jack fell in love with that game. As you know, the next year Jack became the World Champion but this was also the year when he began to promote Omaha.  Keller played like many other successful players – aggressively, sometimes – too aggressively. Maybe because he never worried about money. Though – why should he? He was an outstanding tournament and money player. The only one thing that spoils the whole picture was his substance abuse. Sometimes it was a problem for other people. Don’t think he earned his nickname “Gentleman” because of the being one. He acquired it from the press corps of “Gentleman Jack” when he was working at the stock market.  Jack Keller died in Tunica in December 2003 leaving us a big list of his wins:1) 1984 – Seven-Card Stud – 1st place2) 1984 – NL Holdem (Championship Event) – 1st place3) 1987 – NL Holdem – 9th4) 1988 – Limit Holdem – 2nd5) 1988 – NL Holdem – 31st6) 1989 – PL Omaha – 9th7) 1991 – PL Omaha – 8th8) 1992 – NL Holdem – 8th9) 1993 – Limit Holdem – 2nd10) 1993 – Limit Omaha – 1st11) 1993 – NL Holdem – 6th12) 1993 – Limit Holdem – 3rd13) 1996 – PL Omaha – 3rd14) 1996 – Limit Holdem – 13th15) 1997 – PL Omaha – 4th16) 1997 – Limit Holdem – 17th17) 1998 – NL Holdem – 22nd18) 2001 – Limit Holdem – 12th