Canadian Andrew Pantling is perhaps one of Canada’s best kept poker secrets; but that is just how he wanted it. Usually reported as a Toronto resident, but known to make Malta his home as of late, when it comes to poker, Pantling doesn’t stay put in one place very long. With career live tournament winnings of nearly $830,000 over just the past three years and half years, Andrew has had his share of the spotlight none the less. With major cashes spread across the APPT, EPT, WSOP, WSOPE and Irish Open…his profile pages fly as many countries’ flags as a hippie hitchhiker’s backpack.
Pantling seems particularly strong as a short handed or Heads Up player and his track record proves him more than proficient in mixed poker disciplines; already having won the €5000 EPT Heads Up Championship, as well as a variety of final tables that include Pot Limit Omaha and the European 8 Game Championships.
While pretty common knowledge and now out in the open as far as today’s online poker communities are concerned, when “Clockwyze” first entered the online scene his identity came shrouded with a little bit of mystery. Back in 2009, players really started to take notice of a relatively new comer holding his own in some of the nose-bleed high stake cash games being played against Full Tilt’s most popular top ring game earners. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that since his arrival, he was about 1.3 million dollars up in the nosebleed games before anyone even knew what hit them.
Not unlike Victor Blom, with more prying, digging and speculation it came to be widely accepted that Andrew Pantling was indeed the online wrecking ball known as “Clockwyze”. Yet, much like the story of “Isildur1” used to be, trying to put together concrete evidence was like searching for the proverbial needle in the haystack.
While he doesn’t deny his online identity, Pantling doesn’t appear too interested in putting it in the limelight either. Talking to Andrew, it is clear he just goes out to play and win, a point he certainly pounded home in the World Series of Europe 2010. Right from the get go of the £2500 6-Max No Limit Hold’em Event, Andrew would dominate, until finally finding himself facing popular player Phil Laak heads up in battle for the bracelet. Laak would eventually chalk up his first WSOPE bracelet, but despite finishing just shy, Pantling far from fell apart didn’t end his felt crushing run there.
Whether wanted or not, many eyes were locked on the Canadian player as he closed the gap on the final table of the WSOPE £10,000 No Limit Hold’em Championship. While Pantling would fall a few eliminations short of Day Five, it wasn’t before collecting $83,481 USD worth of the London prize pool for his eleventh place finish. A fine addition to the $162,763 he was awarded in Event #1 and $27,542 he would score right after for an eighth place finish in the £5000 Heads Up event.
Andrew concentrates on his own businesses these days, but where he will strike next on the felts is usually anybodies guess. Early into the 2011 World Series of Poker, Pantling’s name is already up on the results pages again, having beaten his first table to make the money in Event #13, a $1500 No Limit Hold’em “Shootout”. The game still underway and like the player himself, only time will tell if this will be the one that earns Andrew his bracelet. After that, even at the WSOP, it’s hard to say whether Andrew will be more interested in the tournament play, or blending in at an unsuspecting softer cash table…
