20th August 2015 was a sad day for the world poker community as Chad “lilholdem954″ Batista passed away at a young age of 35 years. A Florida native, Batista was known for his aggressive play under screen names – ‘lilholdem954′ & ‘M8kingmoves.’ A group of his admirers led by P5er “Wiscomurray” are planning to re-live one of his best online e tournament wins which was on Full Tilt Poker. Batista triumphed the $322 buy-in FTOPS XV event in 2010 for a payday of $225,000. Playing under the screen name of “jse81″, Batista outplayed 4,680 players winning the FTOPS title.
Twitch Video Session
Wiscomurray came up with the idea to honour Batista by replaying the event over Twitch – a hand history viewing party – for the global poker community to see.
“I think it would be a lot of fun to replay the tournament win from start to finish, while being able to view his hole cards the entire time, and gain some insight into just how good he really was,” Wiscomurray posted on a PocketFives forum. “At the same time it will be fun for the whole online community to come together and tell their stories and memories about their experiences with Chad at the tables.”
Batista won over $5 million in online poker and approx. $1 million in the live events in his poker career. He was one of the players who were hit hugely by the Black Friday. “After Black Friday, Chad was suicidal because he said he had nothing to live for and he had no good way to get other employment because of his past mistakes,” posted ‘barryg1′ on 2 + 2. “After we talked, he convinced me he wouldn’t hurt himself, but after seeing how it turned out, I realize he inadvertently killed himself anyway as many of us will do as we disregard our health in this lifestyle.”
Date Clash With Special Sunday Million
The organizing group of the FTOPS win video session on Twitch has proposed the date of 20th March which is the 7 month anniversary of Batista’s demise. However, it clashes with the 10th anniversary of PokerStars Sunday Million wherein $10 Million guaranteed prize pool will be up for grab. Wiscomurray and the other co-hosts may finalize a date other than 20th March in coming days.