I’ll give you a quick and final update now about the last events at the World Blogger Championship of Online Poker aka WBCOOP. It was the first time that I played in such big series of tournaments, in spite of that it were just freerolls. They felt like big tournaments and events so I was pleased to enter the stages and there were some big cash tickets to win.

Event 5 was the 8-game freeroll where I talked about it previously as I was a little bit cautious because there were some games that I had never played before. As the name already says, there are 8 different types of poker to be played during 8-game. We began with Limit Triple Draw 2-7, followed by Limit Hold’em, Limit Omaha Hi/Lo, Limit Razz, Limit Stud, Limit Stud Hi/Lo, NL Hold’em and finally PL Omaha. There were 1536 entrants to play with all a starting stack of 2000 and again 153 tickets to deserve.

I’ve read a little bit about those unknown games before and I played very tight like I had to. As most of the games were known as Luck and Drawing games, I’ve read that I should only draw to the Nuts. So I did, waited for my chances and took advantage of the players who didn’t knew the games at all. After a real rollercoaster ride making some draws and losing some, I finished Event 5 in a very good 62th place !! That earned me another SCOOP- ticket, namely a $16.50 one.

Event 6 was another NL Hold’em event with 1939 Entrants and a starting stack of 2000. This time I didn’t get many sexy flops, river or premium preflop starting hands. So I just hung in there, waiting for the right spot that finally never came. On the contrary I went out in 325th place when I finally had a big hand in the hole, namely pocket Kings. And like the last 70% of the time with that starting hand, I ran into the powerful Pocket Rockets, or Aces. It’s getting really frustrating that it’s always happening to me, so I won’t be that suprised that I’m going to fold the kings once in the near future when they raise again after my reraise. Never fold them preflop earlier before.

Event 7 was the big Main Event where we played NL Hold’em, of course. There were 2062 entrants this time, with each a starting stack of 2500. The ticketprizes went up for the Main Event for all of the first 153 players. First place finish got a nice $3.150 entry ticket.

I played very good at the Main Event, tight-agressive, fighting for every pot while I was sitting on the famous rollercoaster again. It’s hard to follow some gameplan when you always have to take control of those swings of emotions and frustrations. But I managed it well until I got pocket eights in the Big Blind, and one raise before me in the cut off position. I just called- mistake there- and after a rainbow flop of J 2 6, I checked to him with the thought of moving all-in after he betted. He did that and I shipped as he called me  with 9-2 leaving him with only 5 outs, which of them came on the turn as the nine appeared. Very unlucky exit for me there !!!  It was probably the unexperience at a big tournament that cost me my place because I should have raised it preflop. Well I still went out in 109th place and a fourth ticket, namely a $$22 one this time.

SUMMARY :

Event 1 / NL Hold’em  / finished 235th place / Winner : Devlsbnkroll from Casselberry

Event 2 / PLO / finished 122th place / Won $11 ticket / Winner : CDRLT from Milford

Event 3 / NL Hold’em / finished 1159th place / Winner : skllzdatklls from Las Vegas

Event 4 / NL Hold’em / finished 20th place / Won $33 ticket / Winner : barrelproof7 from Wuerzberg

Event 5 / 8-Game / finished 62th place / Won $ 16.50 ticket / Winner : maverick600 from Staten Island

Event 6 / NL Hold’em / finished 325th place / Winner : Suivokal from Veselaya

Main Event / NL Hold’em / finished 109th place / Won $22 ticket / Winner : BelaLany from Munich

So the WBCOOP were very successful for me with four cashes and 4 tickets to play at the Spring Championship of Online Poker. I hope that my gained experience from the WBCOOP to run deep in a big tournament will help me to cash in the SCOOP and expand my bankroll. I’ll keep you up to date in spring when they begin !

Cheers,

J.M.

I’m here with an update of the last 3 events at the WBCOOP where I played in and I can tell you right now that I scored very good there, maybe a little bit easier with a lot of sit-outers but I think that’s pretty normal in a freeroll !! I’ll show you now how they each went.

Event 2 was the Pot Limit Omaha game, also known as PLO. A game that I don’t play that often and where I still need a lot of experience but I like the game. It’s full of action and you can make tophands with it. I like the drawing part of it, but that’s also the dangerous side of the game. You should only draw to the Nuts. Not like in Hold’em where sometimes a Jack-high flush could be enough to drag the pot. We started the event with 1634 players, starting stack of 2000 and again 153 tickets to win.

I played tight and waited for the right moment to draw to the Nuts. I didn’t got that many big flops but as they were a lot of sit-outers and players who thought they knew how you play PLO. People were wondering why they lost with three A in their hand and one on the board: ‘ Hey, I had Quads and I just lost to your Straight ??!!? ‘ , extremely funny to watch. Because you know that the difference between PLO and Hold’em is that you ALWAYS must use TWO hole cards and THREE cards on the board. So I hung in there and finally went out at the 122 place which earned me a $11 ticket to play at the SCOOP.  So this Blog has more benefits than I thought;) .

Event 3 was back a NL Hold’em game. There were 1843 entrants, starting stack of 2000 and again 153 tickets for the SCOOP to win. After a quick double up with pocket Kings , I sat down at a table with a lot of sit-outers. So it’s difficult to play with 4 players and I misplayed some hands, where I thought too much and lost my stack pretty soon. But hey, playing with only 4 men and getting A-10 looked like Gold to me. Unfortunately I ran into the Ladies (= Pocket Queens) and it held up.  A wise lesson for the future I guess. I went out in 1159th place.

Event 4 was another NL Hold’em game and I was pretty determined that I was going to play a lot better than yesterday, with more patience and courage. There were 1876 entrants, starting stack of 2000 and the same ticket amount as before. There are always some morons in Freerolls that just go all-in at the beginning of the tournament. I’m pretty sure that you know them;). Well I got AK against that guy so I took a shot and it finally held up for once. A nice quick double up for me.

But I was unlucky later on when I had Tens against KK in a blind vs. blind situation, almost nothing I could do there. I was down to only 2 BB or so, and get some quick triple up with A-8, flopping my Ace. Then I got another double up when the small blind went all-in with garbage on my big blind and I held Pocket Rockets (= AA) :p I liked that move !! Some hands later I woke up with a pair of Jacks…

So I was pretty lucky there but really nothing I could do. Blame PokerStars for such sick boards I always say. Why did he shove anyway with his pair of sixes ?!? So I held that big stack for quite a while as the tournament went on and on. I bluffed at the right times and value betted when I had to. I even was 8th in chips at a moment but I lost some blinds and antes, those were already very high at the moment, as we were just with around 50 players. I made it really far and was playing some excellent poker, always hanging around the average chip count. The one thing that I missed was that I didn’t got any action with my top hands( AA, KK, QQ), which I got a couple of times. But then I got the Aces again on the button…

So as I got another big hand, the biggest of all pre-flop, I decided not to raise the first raiser and just played it tricky, as I knew that I had the button and that he was short stacked and always made a continuation bet. The unexpected news was that the tight Big Blind was in also. So that was already a sign that I should look out, but I was blinded by the Aces as I got finally some action with the best hand. I should have fold it after the bet and the reraise on the flop, but hey we played for 5 hours and I was tired. But it was a mistake to shove my rockets at that board. The queens got lucky and I went out in 20th place.Which was still a fantastic result after I just had only 2 BB left at one time. I earned a $33 ticket to play at the SCOOP with that finish. Hopefully I can make the same run there:)

SUMMARY :

Event 1 / NL Hold’em  / finished 235th place / Winner : Devlsbnkroll from Casselberry

Event 2 / PLO / finished 122th place / Won $11 ticket / Winner : CDRLT from Milford

Event 3 / NL Hold’em / finished 1159th place / Winner : skllzdatklls from Las Vegas

Event 4 / NL Hold’em / finished 20th place / Won $33 ticket / Winner : barrelproof7 from Wuerzberg

Tonight we’re playing Event 5 : 8-game !! I don’t think that’s my kind of game but I’m going to play tight and hopefully get some luck with all the drawing games.Keep your fingers crossed for me and I see you again again soon !!

Cheers,

J.M.

I’ve been accepted to play in the World Blogger Championship of Online Poker. So everyday I’m going to report about it , telling you my experiences and results. The WBCOOP holds seven different events, each time another game of poker. You can’t win any cash prizes in the WBCOOP, but you can earn tickets for the SCOOP, Spring Championship of Online Poker. There are some very big cash prizes to win, so I hope that I can win a ticket to play there.

Yesterday was the first event, playing No Limit Hold’em. There were 1740 entrants with a starting stack of 2000, without any Add-ons of Re-buys. The starting blinds were 10/20 and there were various tournament tickets to win for the first 153 players, going from a $11 Entry for number 153 to the biggest ticket for the winner of the first Event, a $1,050 Entry.

I had an early double-up when he got this hand sitting in the Big Blind…

Yes baby, Action Dan strikes again !!!! So the button limped to the blinds and we saw the flop with 3 players and I flop 2 pair. The Small Blind immediately bets out for 2/3 of the pot and I instantly decide to raise big there with two pair, as there were different straight – and flushdraws on the board. Then the Small Blind goes all-in after the button folded and left me with a big decision early on in the tournament. Normaly I have the patience to wait long enough in a tournament for the right moment and playing the small ball poker strategy.

But you have to go when you’re the favourite holding the best hand. I was pretty much sure that he had the lowest two pair (3-6) or a flush/straightdraw and with the power of Action Dan on my side, I decided to gamble and put my stack on the line. I called and saw him turning over the 9-8 suited giving him the gutshot straight flush draw and making me a 59% favourite. The turn was pretty awful for me giving him the flush, it left me with only 9% and 4 outs. But I knew the power of Action Dan and the Ten of Diamonds on the river was so hot, making me the full boat. Nice start !!!

I reached further on the event winning some small pots, but was pretty card dead throughout it. So I was waiting to move all-in when the chance was there and I could double up. Then I flopped top pair sitting in the Big Blind with K-10 on a dangerous board with all diamonds, which I hadn’t. The stackleader at the table called me with the Ace of Diamonds in his hand giving him 12 outs, 9 diamonds and 3 Aces. The turn was a blank but the river was the Ten of Diamonds, again, giving me two pair but him the nut flush. I was out in 235th place, just not into the prizes. I’m pretty sure that I would have made it when I doubled up there, but well there still are other events to come.

The final winner of the first event was ‘Devlsbnkroll ‘ from Casselberry.

See you again tomorrow for Event 2 , PLO or Pot Limit Omaha !!!  I’m really looking forward to that event, hopefully doing it better than the first Event and improving my PLO skills.

Cheers,

J.M. aka Romaric85

You all know that I only play at PokerStars online and I recently discovered something new that they’re organizing. The World Blogger Championship Of Online Poker (WBCOOP) are coming soon at the end of January and smallball-poker.com is definately IN.  I’ll keep you up to date about my results and experiences during the different Events. So keep your fingers crossed for me and hopefully I could win an Event.

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! This PokerStars tournament is a No Limit Texas Hold’em event exclusive to Bloggers, you too can take part by registering on WBCOOP

Registration code: 968041