WCOOP Champion Clayton Newman's Surprising Choice: Why He Plays Micro-Limits

Clayton Newman, known as cnew27 on 2+2, is a WCOOP champion who won the WCOOP #15 tournament in Pot-Limit Omaha Short Deck with a $215 buy-in. Despite his extensive experience and substantial bankroll, Newman continues to play micro-limits. Newman has played hundreds of thousands of hands on mid-stakes and won several hundred thousand dollars in MTTs. He prefers cash games over tournaments but earns most of his money from MTTs.

Newman's online MTT profit by the end of 2009 was close to $400,000. He has two cash finishes in the main events of the World Series of Poker and one final table in a $2,500 WSOP No-Limit Hold'em tournament. Newman won a $26,000 jackpot in a local poker club, increasing his bankroll to NL500 level. His bankroll management is rated at 99 out of 100 on the nit scale.

Newman played $2/$3 and $5/$10 NL in offline games, recording results and calculating standard deviation. His win rate for $2/$3 NL is 10.3 bb/hour with a standard deviation of 49.8 bb/hour. For $5/$10 NL, his win rate is 13.7 bb/hour with a standard deviation of 43.3 bb/hour. Despite his success, Newman decided to quit offline poker because he feels it doesn't suit his personality.