WBCOOP Midway Update

The blogger competition at Pokerstars has been quite fun thus far. It has generated a ton of freindly socializing at the tables and in the forums/blogs, especially amongst all the PokerSchoolOnline members. It has also generated a bit of confusion. Let’s look at that first.

Last year, we voted on the best blog via PokerNews. A winner was then chosen by Pokerstars from among the top ten. This was fun, but being popular does not necessarily corralate with being the best – or does it? This year, we haven’t seen anything at PokerNews. Being curious, I mailed Pokerstars support. 15 minutes later I had an answer from Ginou on the Support Team.

”This year, players are not required to vote on the blogs. The winner will be decided internally by a judging panel.”

Great service as usual – thanks Ginou!

There was another issue as well. Participants were supposed to get 10 tickets to be used in any of the 30 WBCOOP events. Many got 20 or 30 tickets. I got 20, but they were adjusted to 10 the following day. Yesterday, However, I noticed that all my remaining tickets had been removed!? I fired off another mail to Support. Once agian, it didn’t take long for them to reply with an explanation of what had happened. Apparently, my blog was accidentally submitted twice. I don’t know if this was something I did, or a technical glitch. Either way, while correcting the number of enties and tickets issued, they removed more than they should have. They reinstated my remaining six tickets immediately. So, no harm, no foul. This turned out to be lucky for me. Had it taken longer to fix my tickets, I wouldn’t have been able to play in last night’s Event 18.

Thus far I have played in five events netting me 50 leaderboard points, 3 SCOOP tickets and a WBCOOP Main Event ticket.

Event 2 PLO 6-Max (102nd for a $5 ticket)

Event 7 NLHE 6-Max

Event 8 NLHE

Event 12 Stud H/L (74th for a $5 ticket)

Event 18 PLO Turbo (8th for a $33 ticket)

Playing scheduled tourneys makes me appreciate how great Zoom and SnGs are. They always fit my schedule no matter when when I want to play. With the WBCOOP, I have had to make my schedule fit the game times which is not always easy. The four o’clock games are while I’m preparing dinner for the family. I’m usually picking up one of the kids from practice when the  eight o’clock games are starting, and the midnight games make for a very late night. Playing is well worth the effort though.

Due to the times and the fact that the tickets were free, I have played in several events where I really don’t know what I’m doing. This has been fun and a great way to gain some experience playing something other than No-limit Holdem.

In Event 2 PLO 6-Max, I won a few big pots early then time banked my into the money. This ensured my spot in the Main Event. By the time we neared the  bubble, my stack was so short that I had no fold equity and time banking was my best option.

Events 7 and 8 were supposed to be my strong runs, but neither went too well. KK

Event 12 was Stud H/L. This was my first time to play any form of stud poker online. I didn’t have high expectations. My approach was similar to PLO8 though. I only played hands that had potential for scooping the pot. This worked surprizingly well. The few hands I played got great flops and big pots giving me a nice stack after the first hour. This tourney was going to be an all nighter and I doubted I had much of a chance at winning it. So, at one in the morning, I sat out confident that my stack would carry me into the money.

Event 18 PLO Turbo. I love anything turbo, but haven’t played much PLO. I like hi/lo better. This turned out to be a very fun tourney. I landed on a table with several PSOers. ggervacio was there (congrats on cashing in the Sunday Million!!!!)  TrustySam was there (and cashed too!!!). As usual, she made sure everyone was happy with her positive, friendly comments. A bit later one of PSOs big guns, ahar010, got seated with us. He caught a bad case of ”right move, wrong result”, but it was fun playing against him while it lasted. We had a PSO party going on for a while, but finally I got moved to a new table.

Similar to event 12, I played a pretty tight range of starting hands. I know enough to judge my own hands, but didn’t even try to put others on a range. It was fit or fold post flop for me all night. Thankfully, I either flopped well or got lucky in most of the hands I played. I was chipleader early on and remained among the top spots all tourney. I went to the final table with the 3rd largest stack. With eight players remaining I was UTG and  the chipleader was in the big blind. I look down at AA66.

There were several short stacks on the verge of getting blinded out and I would have preferred not to tangle with the chipleader, but AA66 seemed too good to pass up. I made a 3x raise for about 20% of my stack. I was afraid that a smaller raise would get a string of callers. By making a solid raise, I hoped that I would isolate the chipleader since nobody would want to tangle with a utg raise looking strong and a deep stacked chipleader. This worked. It folded around to the big blind who 3-bet me for most of my stack. He hadn’t been getting out of line, so I gave him credit for having a real hand.

This was where my lack of knowledge became an issue. AA66 looks strong, but I had four different colors AND no connectedness. I had no idea of hand equities in PLO. How does my hand compare to something like KQsJ10s? Nevertheless, I got the situation I wanted and 4-bet all in. The chipleader had AsQdQhJh and made a straight on the river knocking me out in 8th. I still don’t know if I made a good play or bad play. I’ll have to get the hand analyzed by someone who knows PLO.

This was a great evening. Running deep in a game that I’m not that familiar with makes for a fun, low-stress tourney. All the socializing at the tables, especially with the PSOers, made for a huge added value!

That’s more than enough from me already LOL! Good luck to all bloggers with the remaining tourneys. Sandtrap777, we are all rooting for you! He is currently high up on the leaderboard. And good luck to all bloggers in the ”Best Blogger” competition as well. I think Raiser has a real shot at a repeat with all his good deeds.

Roland GTX

Roland GTX: Best Moment on Pokerstars

Roland GTX
I've been a regular at Pokerstars since 2008 and
 this is my third year taking part in the WBCOOP.

I have always gotten a kick out of landing at a table with big name players whether it be spacegravy, Boku87 or a Pokerstars Pro like Johnny Lodden. I vividly remember being struck by fear and awe back in 2009 when Shaun Deeb got seated next to me in a tourney . I was thrilled to death having that guy at my table, but scared to death to even consider playing a hand postflop against him. To be quite honest, I did my best to stay out of any hand that he decided to play - LOL!

No, I can’t boast that I stacked one of these players. They are all scary good and I was just another bug to be crushed.  But, watching players of this caliber grind, seeing the hard work they put into their game and the skill they bring to the table has always been a great source of inspiration. Moreover, I do have something in common with them.

We all play poker for the love of the game...for the thrill of running deep. We all play with a desire of making a final table... with the dream of winning.

Playing with the pros has given me some great memories, but my best moment playing on Pokerstars was when I experienced the dream for myself.

Last August I registered for a $5.40 turbo Knockout tourney. There were 2960 entrants and a 12K prize pool.

I had an average stack size throughout the early stages of the tourney. With about 300 players remaining I finally won a big hand becoming chip leader at my table - nice! I was ready to put my big stack to good use and I got dealt some big hands. Unfortunately, I lost the chips pretty quickly when my AKs bricked against pocket pairs twice in a matter of minutes. This was looking to be another ”almost” deep run. I was disappointed, but managed to keep my focus.

I stayed alive by apparently picking good stealing spots. Not getting called kept me in the game, but it kept my stack short as well. With 50 players remaining I was in 46th place, short stacked, and very desperate. I got dealt AK again and moved all in from early position. The table chip leader 3-bet trying to isolate me but the big blind joined the action making an all in call. Both opponents had pocket pairs. I bricked the flop and could feel the sweat brewing on my forehead. I bricked the turn and felt a tear of frustration welling up. And then I rivered an A tripling my stack - oh yeah! I was still alive, but still under the average stack size.

Half an hour later were nearing the final table bubble. I really wanted to make my first final table of a scheduled tournament. Squeaking my way to a final table didn’t sound like fun though, nor did it seem like a realistic option. It folded around to me in mid-position. I decided that I wanted to play my 55. I shoved and got insta-called by the big blind holding AK. Now it was the villain’s turn to miss every street. My five’s held, I doubled up, and "presto", I was sitting with an average stack at my very first final table!

I wanted to text my poker buddies so they could rail me, but I was afraid of jinxing myself - LOL! My pulse was racing and I felt great. Now I was playing to win. But, would I have the guts to pull the trigger when the time came?

I did a quick check on the other players at the table. None of the others seemed too scary thankfully, except for one solid MTT grinder. He was the first to get knocked out of the final table though. He shoved 88 from the small blind and the big blind woke up with 99 knocking him out. I didn't play many hands except for re-raising all in against the chip leader who kept minraise-folding preflop. That felt great! I proved to myself that I could pull the trigger.

Players kept getting knocked out and eventually we were down to the final four. There was one big stack while the rest of us were pretty equal. This was a turbo so the blinds and antes were high.  Everyone was in push – fold mode.

I called a preflop shove holding AQs and had the villain dominated as he was holding A4. My hand held. We were down to three and I was now the chip leader for the first time in the tourney.  A few hands later I called another all in, this time from the short stack. His 99 was no match for my JJ.

Finally, I was where I had dreamed of being, heads up at the final table of a real tourney. First place was worth $1872 and second paid $1397. This was going to be my biggest cash no matter what happened, but I wanted to win. I wanted to know that feeling of pure elation, no second guessing myself and no regrets.

I had a 4:1 chip lead and the villain was passive. I kept hammering away at the villain’s stack for ten hands and got him down to shoving range. Then I picked up A6o in the small blind and decided that was good enough to go with. I shoved and the villain called with A10. My emotions plummeted when I saw that he had me dominated. But a 6 on the flop put me ahead and another 6 on the turn ensured the win! Triple fist pump – oh yeah! Victory was mine!

The three and a half hours it took to play the tourney were filled with emotional ups and downs charged with fear, excitement, and adrenaline. Making my first final table, achieving my first big win and taking home my largest online cash definitely made for my best moment on Pokerstars!

Sharing that moment on both of my blogs resulted in a ton of great feedback and support which allowed me to savor the moment even longer. Poker is best shared with friends!

You can find me at the Pokerstars forum PSO: www.pokerschoolonline.com

Here on my blog: www.rolandsroom.blogspot.com

And on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RolandGTX @RolandGTX

Remember to vote for your favorite blog entry at PokerNews once the voting starts!

GL and have fun at the tables!

Roland GTX