Bluffer’s style works for him

"Good call."

Mark Kroon says that a lot at the poker table, which is what happens when you like to apply pressure to opponents on the river, even while holding nothing but air.

Sometimes you get caught. Kroon is used to it.

"Good call."

"I play a lot different than most people," Kroon said, "and I think I make people play different than they normally do."

Of the 69 players who started Day 6 of the World Series of Poker‘s $10,000 buy-in No-limit Texas Hold ‘em World Championship on Monday, chances are none bluff as often as Kroon. And while the 54-year-old sports bar owner from Madison, Wis., gets picked off by his opponents now and again, it‘s Kroon‘s entertaining and unpredictable style that enabled him to make his second deep run in the Main Event since 2013.

Kroon was eliminated Monday night in 43rd place and pocketed $164,086. Zvi Stern of Israel with 13.865 million chips led at the 10:30 p.m. break with one level of play remaining.

The tournament continues at noon today at the Rio Convention Center with Day 7 and will stop when nine players remain. Those players will return for the final table Nov. 8 at the Rio‘s Penn & Teller Theater, with the winner to receive $7.68 million.

"Not a lot of people get second chances, especially when you‘re in a field of 6,000 people," Kroon said early Monday at the end of Day 5. "There‘s not a lot of people that can get the kind of chips that I get, and there‘s certain ways to go about it. I‘m very fortunate to be able to have that style of play. There‘s a lot of risk-reward with it. Unfortunately, sometimes I don‘t take my foot off the gas."

Kroon‘s family owns Players Sports Bar, which had a poker table in the corner and a pretty good cash game in the old days. During the mid- to late-1980s, a student from the nearby University of Wisconsin named Phil Hellmuth would show up on Saturdays and walk away with most of the money.

"I hated the guy because he always won," Kroon said. "He used to just come in there and beat up on everybody."

Hellmuth famously went on to win the 1989 Main Event, but the two were not in regular contact until 1997 when Kroon traveled to Las Vegas and won a tournament at the Four Queens. Kroon eventually became one of the original professional online poker players, winning hundreds of thousands under the screen name "P0ker H0,"€ and joined with Hellmuth to promote now-defunct Ultimate Bet. The two have been close friends ever since.

"I‘ve learned a lot from him from poker," Kroon said. "He‘s just been really good, helping me not imploding. It‘s just been really good to have someone like that with the knowledge. It‘d be like having Tiger Woods as your caddie."

Two years ago at the Main Event, Kroon had a chip stack the size of a 1964 VW Bug and was the overwhelming leader entering Day 3 before he bluffed off most of stack. Kroon went on to finish in 430th place for $24,480.

Kroon again was near the top of the leaderboard this year, and after Hellmuth busted out on Day 4 in 417th place, he texted Kroon and offered to coach him for the remainder of the tournament. Hellmuth sat at an empty poker table and watched Kroon play Saturday night, mere hours after being eliminated, and he was sweating Kroon from the rail the past two days.

"He‘s a really colorful character and just a really, really fun guy," Hellmuth said. "I took a little of the risk out with my advice. He can still get the rewards, but there‘s a better way to do it."

Kroon opened Day 6 in 27th place with 3.25 million chips but lost about one-third of his stack in the first half hour as Erasmus Morfe caught Kroon trying to bluff with king high. He then lost a coin-flip hand holding pocket sevens against the ace-eight of Upeshka De Silva before being eliminated by Kelly Minkin, the last woman standing.

"It‘s nice that I‘ve had this deep run and (Hellmuth) is here to help me. I can‘t thank him enough for that," Kroon said. "There was a really big moment (Saturday) where I bluffed off half my chips, and I sat there for a while. And then I got up and walked over to Phil and he goes, ‘I might have done the same thing.‘ And that really put me at ease."

Contact reporter David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidSchoenLVRJ.