Benny “toweliestar” Spindler may look like a puerile, impressionable young man at the live poker tables, but his mental skills and elevated intelligence for the game of poker have earned him quite the reputation, not to mention about $4 million in cash game and tournament profits combined. His aggressive nature on the felt has been known to infuriate his opponents, including the traditionally steel-hard mentality of Annette Obrestad who dubbed Spindler an “a**hole” during one tournament.
Spindler was born in Darmstadt, Germany in 1986. As a young boy, his competitive nature was apparent. He fought his way to a C+ ranked StarCraft player before finishing his education. Straight out of high school, Benny began utilizing his adept faculties for card games. His sights have been set on a straight and narrow, phenomenally successful path ever since.
The young German poker pro started by playing online in low stakes cash games. It wasn’t long before his monikers – towelie, toweliestar and psychobenny – became well known at the higher stakes tables. He built up a sizeable bankroll along the way and in 2007 decided to take a run at his first live poker tournament.
Success in the tournament field was not instantaneous, but he did claim his first win, a 10th place finish, at the Austrian Classics in September of that year, worth just over $1,000. In 2008, he worked the tables at the Spring Poker Festival and toiled his way to a $5,085 cash for a 6th place finish playing NL Holdem. That would be his only tournament cash of the year. Fortunately, 2009 would be a lot more kind to Benny Spindler.
On January 5th, Spindler hit the big money with a 7-digit cash at the Main Event of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. He whittled his way into 3rd, collecting a monstrous $1,100,000. Two months later, he realized his first outright victory with a 1st place win at the Spring Poker Festival for another $25k.
Benny’s success has seen exponential growth in both tournaments and cash games. He has earned 17 live tournament cashes, three 1st place victories and the coveted title in the EPT London Main Event of Season 8. That triumph earned him not only the EPT title, but his largest live tournament cash to date, $1,221,498.
Benny “toweliestar” Spindler’s presence on the cash tables continues to strike fear in the hearts of his opponents, particularly since the fall of 2011. According to High Stakes DB, between August and September, his bankroll skyrocketed from a negative status to near $800k, staying above the half-million mark ever since.
Towelie, who took his alias from the blockbuster film Donnie Darko and the animated series South Park, has pocketed some extraordinary pots on the cash tables at PokerStars. Some of his most memorable opponents include Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, Davin “mTw-DaViN” Georgi and Jens “Jeans89” Kyllonen.
Benny Spindler has scooped up more than 10 hands worth over $100k, his largest being a $154,683 pot in $50/$100 PL Omaha on September 20, 2011. Widen the scale to cover any hand valued at $15k+ and the German poker pro has more than 1,000 pots racked up from online poker cash tables. Like most young career poker players, Spindler has his ups and downs on the felt, but Spindler has shown a lot more control over the last year and is considered one of the top rising poker stars across the globe.