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 Hoyt Corkins learned to play
poker from his father when he was growing up in rural Alabama. His father taught him how to play with a "no fear" attitude.
Occasionally he was able to play in the weekly cash game his father hosted when he was only a teenager. When he wasn't involved in the
hands, he watched his father play and noted how the other players reacted to him. He took that knowledge and uses the skill when reading
poker players on the tournament circuit.
Hoyt won the 1992 World Series of Poker Pot Limit Omaha event, but stopped playing poker for more than ten years. He started playing major
tournaments again in 2003 and decided to concentrate on the World Poker Tour and World Series of Poker (at least as far as tournaments are
concerned). Hoyt sometimes plays poker just to relax and said that the game is not just about the money for him. He likes No Limit Holdem
because of the action and because it is considered the glamour game. He also likes to play Pot Limit Omaha.
When Corkins began playing again in 2003, he came back at the top. In November 2003, he won the
Foxwoods World Poker Finals No Limit Holdem
World Poker Tour event. Along the way, third place finisher,
Phil Hellmuth handed him a memorable nickname meant as a putdown:
"Mr. All-In".
After I originally posted the profile, I talked with Hoyt more in depth about that WPT tournament. I asked if he read Phil's Cardplayer
article regarding the tournament and he told me he did, but he did not have one bad thing to say about Phil. Hoyt said he doesn't mind
if people think he is "Mr. Move All-in" because it could help him in his game. We discussed his play at Foxwoods and he humbly
said the cards were falling for him that day. He was lucky to catch a couple of river cards. I tried to get him to say something about
Phil and he only stated that Phil deserved to finish higher than third place.
Mr. All-In's aggressive style soon managed to get him to another final table, this time at the
Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure. Hoyt had a 3-to-1 chip lead over
Gus Hansen when he called an all-in steal move by Gus before the flop.
Gus held T9 of diamonds while Hoyt had a
dominating hand of A9 of clubs. A flop of Q92 put Hoyt
far in the lead, but a heartbreaking ten came on the turn and a blank on the river to give Gus new life. After Gus managed to get a slight lead
over Hoyt, they played an all-in hand where Gus had two pair and Hoyt a flush draw and
gutshot straight draw. The river gave Gus a full house and the title.
I had heard Hoyt wasn't feeling well on the
Pokerstars cruise, so I asked him about it. He said he felt sick with the flu and
it was wearing, but he wouldn't blame anything about his game that day on that. I was impressed with his finish especially considering he didn't
feel well. He did not get lucky on the final hand, but he played it correctly and that is the best way to finish a tournament in my opinion.
He had another World Poker Tour final table finish at the Legends of Poker Event at the
Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles in 2006. He finished third behind winner Joe Pelton and
Frankie O'dell.
In 2007, Hoyt won his second World Series of Poker bracelet in the $2500 six-handed No Limit Hold'em event. He also finished second to Mike Matusow
in the WSOP Tournament of Champions freeroll in 2005. |
