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Archive for the ‘2009’ Category
2009 WCOOP: Barry and Behind the Scenes
Monday, August 31st, 2009
You may not know Bryan Slick, but you know his work. To put a finer point on it, you know what he calls, "his baby."
Slick is the man in charge of making sure $40,000,000 worth of poker tournaments go off without a hitch. Slick runs WCOOP from an underground bunker guarded by armed mercenaries and a few cats. If something goes wrong (as it very rarely does), it's on his back. If it goes right, he'll pretend he got lucky. It takes a lot of people to make a successful WCOOP, but when it goes off, it happened in large part because Slick obsessed about it for months at a time and went sleepless for several weeks. He's mildly insane, relentlessly obsessive, and proud to call WCOOP his ward.
That is a long introduction to a 20-minute piece put together by our friends over at PokerStars.tv. The 2009 WCOOP Preview show tells you all you need to know about WCOOP and offers a behind-the-scenes look at the tournament series from Mr. Slick himself.
The video also features an interview with Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein. You can hear what he has to say and learn a lot more about WCOOP by clicking on the little box below Barry's mug.
Watch WCOOP 2009: Preview Show on PokerStars.tv
As you should know by now, WCOOP starts on Thursday and will continue for more than two weeks. You can check in with WCOOP.com to plan how you'll win.
In the meantime, enjoy the video above.
2009 WCOOP: Mercier looking for breakout performance
Monday, August 24th, 2009Jason Mercier wins. That's what he does. Put him on the EPT, he wins. Put him in the WSOP, he wins. Play him in a game of Hi-Ho Cherry-O, he'll win. That said, despite his many years on PokerStars, he has yet to go really, really deep in a World Championship of Online Poker event. As he explains below, he's ready to change that tout suite.
by Jason Mercier
As the start of the WCOOP gets closer and closer, I am getting more and more anxious. I have looked over the schedule and planned out what events I will be playing. This year's WCOOP has even more events and more of a variety of events to choose from than last year. I hope to play around 25 events this year. Last year I was travelling in Europe during the entire WCOOP and played very few events. This year I am really looking forward to playing more than half the events.
I haven't had much success in previous WCOOPs, which is one of the reasons that I am so motivated this year. My best result in any WCOOP event so far was getting 50th in a 1k WCOOP event in 2007. I am going to be in Barcelona for the EPT for the first week of this year's WCOOP, so I am planning on only playing a few of the WCOOPs while there, but will be playing almost every event starting September 11th when I arrive home.
When starting a WCOOP, you have to understand that these tournaments take much longer than a standard online MTT. It's a much slower structure and a lot of times the stacks are much deeper. If you're not used to playing long hours, get ready, because you're in for a wild ride if you go deep in a WCOOP event.
Winning a WCOOP bracelet would mean a lot to me. I have been playing on PokerStars ever since I started playing poker. It was the first site that I ever played on, and it's the only site I play on now. Winning a WCOOP bracelet is one of the things that I have not done yet in my poker career, and that makes it one of my most important goals I hope to accomplish.
Jason Mercier is a member of Team PokerStars Pro USA. WCOOP starts September 3.
2009 WCOOP: Negreanu lays out war plan
Friday, August 21st, 2009
Daniel Negreanu is a man with a plan. Although he is going to be jetting all over the globe for live tournaments and trying to fit in some golf time in the sweet September weather in Las Vegas, he's got his eye on some big time events in this year's World Championship of Online Poker. With less than two weeks to go before the first WCOOP event, Negreanu has been kind enough to tell us the events on which he is planning to focus. Oh, and be sure to check out the prop bet potential at the end of his post...
by Daniel Negreanu
So it's that time again.
Time for the WCOOP where you'll see all the best online and live players grinding it out online at PokerStars.com in an awesome series of tournaments. My favorite thing about the WCOOP is that there is a little something in there for everybody in terms of buy-in and game type. It's not just no-limit hold'em everyday. I mean, they have a Badugi tournament! How cool is that?
I've looked over the schedule and there are a few events in particular that really catch my eye:
question about it! I love playing all the games and that's the game I normally play at PokerStars.com anyway, usually in the $400-$800 game.
with pros and I'm excited about it. I grew up playing mostly H.O.R.S.E. in my mid-twenties, grinding it out at Bellagio.
So that's a glimpse at a few of the events that I'm really looking forward to, but I also plan on playing several of the smaller events throughout the WCOOP, depending on my schedule.
September is also a good golf month in Vegas, so I just might have to bring my laptop out to the course and multi-task! Can Elky break 90 and win a WCOOP at the same time? Ha, there's a challenge where I think I might have a chance.
Daniel Negreanu is a member of Team PokerStars Pro
2009 WCOOP: Steve-Paul Ambrose opens his playbook
Monday, August 17th, 2009
With just 16 days to go until the start of the biggest online tournament series in the world, the anticipation is near its peak. Bankrolls are being assembled, schedules created, and family members sent to the hinterlands until October. We are please to report Team PokerStars Pro Steve Paul-Ambrose is ready for action and opening his playbook such that we mere mortals can see how he went from humble university student to Team Pro. Below are a few tips from the man known as stevejpa.
by Steve Paul-Ambrose
The WSOP has come and gone and now that I'm over another year of missed chances at a gold bracelet there, I'm ready and excited at the prospect of winning one in WCOOP. Each of the three years I've played I've had numerous cashes and semi-deep runs, but I've yet to break through and final table or win one. With ever growing fields, it takes a fair bit of luck to make a run like that, but here are a few things to remember along the way.
1. Stay aggressive. In order to get deep in these big field tournaments, you need to accumulate a lot of chips. That means not being afraid to put chips in the pot, or get all the money in when you have an edge.
2. Stay patient. WCOOP events have phenomenal structures, so while you need to be willing to gamble and accumulate chips, there's no need to force things if the right situations don't present themselves. No online tournaments, and few live ones, have structures as good as those you'll see during WCOOP, so use that to your advantage.
3. Don't get discouraged. It's always tough to play your A-game throughout a tournament series. Busting a few huge tournaments a day takes a big toll on you mentally. As much as possible try to ignore your results and just take it one tournament at a time. Also, a day off now and then never hurt anyone.
4. Play your best. Going along with the above, you'll play so many hands over the two and a half week, 44 event schedule that it's easy to get caught up in what has happened and stop focusing on what is happening. Just focus on making the best decisions you can and hope the results go your way.
There's nothing new in the above advice, but when you get caught up in the excitement of a big series like WCOOP, it's easy to forget. I know I play my best when I'm focused and having fun, so here's hoping I, and everyone reading this, can stay positive through WCOOP and play my best. Oh, and maybe win a bracelet or two.
Steve Paul-Ambrose is a member of Team PokerStars Pro
2009 WCOOP: Brown ready for action
Friday, August 14th, 2009
Team PokerStars Pro Chad Brown is not only a deserving member of his spot on Team PokerStars Pro, he is also a frequent contributor to the PokerStars Blog. He's been having a year of final tables and is planning to do just as well in the 2009 World Championship of Online Poker. We asked him to give us his thoughts on the world's biggest online tournament series.
by Chad Brown
The World Championship of Online Poker is coming up and with my recent success at the WSOP (2 final tables) and another final table right after that in Tunica at the World Poker Open, I am really excited to play in WCOOP. In poker you go on streaks, both hot and cold. A lot of players take breaks when running cold. But when you're running hot, you just can't wait to play in the next big event and WCOOP has just what the doctor ordered.
I'm expecting record prize pools, as PokerStars has grown even bigger than the year before. And for you players that don't have the big bankrolls, there are plenty of tournaments with the smaller buy ins that still have big cash prize pools. And of course, there are always plenty of satellites for the bigger buy ins. What's more, you're going to be able to play with many members of Team PokerStars Pro.They will all be playing in many events and this gives you an opportunity to play and chat with some of your favorite players. So, even if your not at my table, please come to my table and say hi.
Best of luck to you all.
Chad Brown is a member of Team PokerStars Pro and plays on PokerStars under the name ChadBrownPRO.
2009 WCOOP: The man who beat ElkY
Wednesday, August 12th, 2009It's not easy to beat Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier heads-up. Just ask the people who faced him at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, the WPT Festa el Lago, or any other of the countless tournaments ElkY has won.
There is one man, however, who has done it and won more than half a million bucks for the trouble. That man is known in the real world as Steve Jacobs. If you've played on PokerStars at any point in the past several years, you probably know him better as stevesbets.
That's your man right there when he sat down for an interview with the PokerStars video blog team. He looks nice enough, but he managed to keep one of the toughest heads-up opponents in the world from snagging a WCOOP bracelet last year.
The event was the WCOOP $25,000 Heads-Up World Championship. In 2004, Jacobs had placed third in the 2004 WCOOP Heads-Up event, and despite his obvious skill, a lot of people would have put their money on ElkY. After all, it was ElkY.
But, by now, we all know that Jacobs beat ElkY and scored himself a place in WCOOP history. If you don't know the whole story, you can read our report from last year: Stevesbets defeats ElkY for bracelet.
Now, nearly one year later, we've had the chance to sit down and talk to Jacobs about the experience.
Watch WCOOP Champion: Steven 'stevesbets' Jacobs on PokerStars.tv
If we haven't said it enough by now, WCOOP starts in just a couple of weeks. You can plan most of your September by going over to WCOOP.com Also, if you'd like to take part in some qualifiers with really good value, check out the WCOOP Extreme Satellites.
2009 WCOOP: Greenstein’s tips
Monday, August 10th, 2009
Team PokerStars Pro is a vast and deep well of resources when it comes to all things poker. Whether it's high stakes cash games or deep stacked tournaments, Team PokerStars Pro has somebody who can talk to you about it. When it comes to the World Championship of Online Poker, there are few people on the team who can even come close to the expertise of Barry Greenstein. With WCOOP just a few weeks away, we thought it would be good to get Greenstein to give us a few pieces of advice.
by Barry Greenstein
My advice to WCOOP competitors is: Go for it.
Don't just play to last. A survival strategy may get you into the money but it will rarely get you to the final table. If your opponents show weakness, bluff them out of their shoes.
In order to win large field tournaments, you have to build up a big stack that you can intimidate people with. It's not like cash games where people will call you for all their chips knowing they can buy in again. After every checked down hand that you lose, you should always decide if you could have won the pot by bluffing, and if so, you have to decide if the signs were there that you could have gotten away with that bluff.
If you have a WCOOP series with a several early bustouts and a few big finishes, you'll do much better than having a majority of slightly above average finishes.
Barry Greenstein is a member of Team PokerStars Pro and is one of the top cash and tournament players in the world.
