Ben Tollerene is an American professional poker player who specializes in online high-stakes cash games winning nearly $4 million in his career. He’s also had success on the live tournament circuit with over $2 million in live tournament winnings, including first place in the inaugural PokerStars Championship Panama $50k Super High Roller. Tollerene defeated 32 other entrants in the May 2017 NL Hold’em event to capture the title and first place prize of $538,715.
Ben started his poker career with a $500 deposit on Full Tilt, where he quickly grinded up a bankroll and eventually settling in at $25/50 NL. He had a little luck along the way, however, Tollerene has always been a hard worker, putting in countless hours of trial and error and analysis while at school (he has a degree in Finance from Texas Tech University).
After Black Friday, he moved to Vancouver to continue playing on the virtual felt – a move indicative of his passion for the game. Not long after, he met Doug Polk, where the two engaged in a coaching deal that recently became a public ordeal in which you can read about at HighStakesDB.com.
In short, Polk claims to have coached Tollerene in NL Hold’em in exchange for PLO coaching. After Polk did his part, Tollerene allegedly backed out of the deal in last minute. Due to these accusations aimed, Tollerene told his side of the story in this lengthy 2+2 post. Basically, Tollerene acknowledges a coaching deal was made, but he couldn’t give coaching because he had to respect his “partner in PLO”, who was not comfortable to share information with Polk.
In 2013, Tollerene sat down with Viktor “Isildur1” Blom at $500-$1,000 PLO Cap, and when the night was over, he had dropped a staggering $1.7 million. He ended up winning it all back within the next 24 hours, but according to Tollerene, the experience helped him reach a new level of mental stamina and emotional control.
I was playing very well the night I lost $1.7 million. I had a few moments of intense stress but they faded quickly, and I continued to execute and play my best. My self-worth as a poker player is not dictated by how much money I win or lose because that is often out of my control. I put, to the best of my ability, all of the emphasis on the things that are within my control: my strategy, execution, mental control, and so on. Because I was content with my performance, I was able to come back the next day and execute my strategy again and succeed.
Tollerene added that “it’s been a slow build-up to reach [a] point” where he could deflect a horrific downswing by maintaining composure and normalcy in his life. He has pride in being able to prove to himself that he can handle the worst-case scenario and stay in control. He said he knows that there will always be bad days in the life of a poker pro. Well, according to his lifetime graph on HighStakesDB.com, his bad days have been few and far between 😉
