Meet Team Kitten, Poker's New Cats on the Block
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The tournament poker circuit is often a lonely road, as solitary grinders light out for the territory ahead of the rest, travelling from stop to stop in search of that life-changing score.
Poker's original legends - hardened men like Doyle Brunson, Stu Ungar and Puggy Pearson - scoured the Earth like lone wolves, silently stalking their prey while warily regarding the concept of camaraderie as merely more competition to contend with. Even today, the game's greatest player in Phil Ivey walks alone, pursuing personal poker glory without an entourage to speak of, amassing an amazing list of accomplishments without aid or assistance.
The modern generation of poker prodigies approaches the game from a different perspective, realizing that there is strength in numbers and protection to be offered by the pack. Gangs of gambling men like The Hendon Mob - comprised of Joe Beevers, Barny Boatman, Ross Boatman, Ram Vaswani - and The Crew - led by Dutch Boyd and Scott Fischman - have come together to prove that poker can be a collective pursuit.
Today, modern poker crews like the Big Cock Poker brigade - birthed by brothers Ralph and Aaron Massey - are making noise on the live circuit, adding talented players like Jake Bazeley and Zohair Karim to the roster while revolutionizing the way an individual game like poker is played. The spoils of victory are shared, as is the agony of defeat, and all the while every moment of triumph or tragedy is experienced on a collective basis.
Poker's newest band of brothers hails from the East Coast, as several aspiring stars from Pennsylvania and New Jersey who cut their teeth in Atlantic City have come together to form Team Kitten Poker. And after today's rousing final table run by Team Kitten member Kevin Grabel - who would go on to secure a four-way chop in this event for a $127,652 payday - the poker world will soon come to realize that having nine lives is always better than living on one's lonesome.
We first came to know Team Kitten this past January, when member Ray Ross reached the final table of Event 3 ($560 NLHE Reentry) for a 6th place finish and a $12,895 score. Ross was obviously bolstered by the boisterous show of support from his fellow Kittens, and although Ross couldn't be here today, his comrade Grabel did him proud nonetheless.
With the four-way chop for a six-figure score, Grabel bagged the biggest bounty of Team Kitten's brief tenure on the tournament circuit (several members of the crew have similarly sized paydays in the online arena). Now armed with a bolstered bankroll - and the confidence which comes whenever a major milestone is met - Team Kitten Poker is poised to pounce on the poker scene and make their presence known.
Judging by the outpouring of support on Twitter, finding a more deserving group of guys will be difficult task indeed:
Congrats to my boy @kevingrabel for taking down the 1 mill at the borgata.. Chopped for 127k!! #TimeToPartyFollow @TonyL0C0
Huge congrats to @kevingrabel of #teamkitten for chopping the 1 milly @BorgataPoker for 127k. Here he is celebrating http://t.co/f3U8TknEU7Follow @TheReader23
GL @kevingrabel going coast to coast today @BorgataPoker #SpringPokerOpen @TeamKittenPoker #topcatFollow @TaddisVonBaddis
The official Team Kitten Poker feed on Twitter had a more succinct rundown of their recent accomplishment, proving that no matter where a journey begins, having companions along for the ride when you finally reach the destination makes all the difference:
