Gambling Today

The curve beteeen learning poker and becoming a champion can be as long a a lifetime or as short as the time it took PokerStars player pes4fans to win a WCOOP bracelet. Though he asked repeatedly for a chop in Event #17, his opponents refused. Germany’s Pes4fans responded by winning the whole thing. Here’s what he had to say when it was all over.

Q. Tell me a little about yourself.

pes4fans: I’m 20 years old and live in Trier in the western part of Germany I love poker as much as I like soccer and I’m more a calm boy who is a little crazy too.

Q. Any particular meaning or story behind your screen name?

pes4fans: I had a website about Pro Evolution Soccer so I used that name a lot even if it is silly.

Q. How long have you been playing poker?

pes4fans: For a year.

Q. How did you learn to play?

pes4fans: I watched a celebrity poker show and learned the basics and then I started playing at PokerStars for play money.

Q. What was it like to make a final table at WCOOP and finish as well as you did?

pes4fans: It was an incredible experience, especially because I’ve only played poker for one year and it was my biggest buy-in tournament ever.

Q. What do you do when you’re not playing poker?

pes4fans: I start going to university next month studying economics.

Q. Is this your biggest win to date or have you had others?

pes4fans: Yes by far. My next biggest was almost $10k.

Q. What is your best poker game?

pes4fans: NL Holdem 6 handed

Q. Any goals for your poker play?

pes4fans: I want to go step-by-step to higher limits and make some money. And one day I want to play the WSOP, but first I have to improve my offline poker skills.

Q. If you have a basic poker philosophy, what is it?

pes4fans: Trust your instincts. That helped me a lot today and I had some real good reads and bluffs.

Q. Is poker a game that is played a lot in your family, or are you the only one who plays?

pes4fans: My family doesn’t like poker at all but I’ll teach them a lesson by telling them what I won.

Q. Is there a lot of live poker in your hometown? What’s it like there?

pes4fans: We have a casino here and I’ll go there soon. Haven’t been there yet so I can’t tell you how it is.

Q. Is there anybody you look up to in the poker world? Heroes?

pes4fans: Daniel Negreneau, Humberto Brenes and Phil Ivey.

Q. Do you have any plans for the money you won in WCOOP?

pes4fans: I’ve got no idea, I’ll save most of the money and maybe buy some stuff like a PS3.

For the full story of pes4fan’s win, check out the 2007 WCOOP: Event #17 Final Table Report.

Cardinal7 has been playing casino poker for seventeen years and in that time he’s won a lot of tournaments. What’s more, there have more than a few times that he’s won more than the $67,000 he won in Event #7 of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker. That said, the pro poker player (who prefers to remain anonymous) is elated to have taken down the WCOOP tournament.

“It was a great feeling to win a WCOOP event. I have won B&M events but never won a major online event,” he said. “It is an incredible feeling to win against such a huge field — by far the biggest field I have ever beaten.”

Cardinal7 (the screen name is an homage to John Elway, in case you were wondering) is a full-time pro who is always looking out for the right money-making opportunities. A HORSE specialist, Cardinal7 also excels in both limit and no-limit hold’em. He’s been playing on PokerStars for two years.

In just a few short sentences, Carinal7 can sum up a winning poker player’s outlook on the game and life.

“My overriding goal in poker is to play my best at all times. There are more talented players, but I try to consistently play my best and to never lose focus. I am strong in these areas,” he said. “My basic poker philosophy is not to allow results (good or bad) to affect my play. My plan is to play more poker with the money that I won, always important to maintain a healthy bankroll. I respect all the players who have stood the test of time in poker.”

For the entire story of Cardinal7’s win, see the 2007 WCOOP: Event #7 Final Table Report

Jalla79 won more than $67,000 in Event #3 of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker. The full-time pro from Sweden marks the win as not his biggest, but one of the bigger scores he’s put together recently. The money is headed straight for his bankroll.

“It was a great feeling, as it always is to reach FT,” he said. “It was special because of WCOOP and to win it was really nice.”

Jalla79 has been playing poker for around three years, half of that time at PokerStars playing Pot-Limit Omaha and No-Limit Hold’em tournaments. With seven tables left in the six-max event, the Swede realized he was on his way to a big score.

“I hit a straight against AA and took a huge pot, after that pot I felt pretty sure I would make the final table,” he said. “I got the feeling that this one is mine, because the players start to think more and tighten up. I had a monster stack and I am a very aggressive player and knew that my stack wouldn’t become smaller.”

Jalla79 gas been a gambling since he was a youngster. Now 27 years old, he spends his off time with his girl friend and watching his favorite soccer team, Solna AIK, on the field.

When he’s not playing on PokerStars, jalla79 hits up his local casino where he plays in the big monthly tourneys. While the cash game action is, in his estimation, good, he prefers to stick to the tournaments.

“I see my self as a tourney player,” he said.

Now, does everybody else.

For the full story on jalla79’s win, read the 2007 WCOOP: Event # 3 Final Table Report.

When the 2007 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker kicked off, it did so in style. The winner, samh33, won an impressive $155,561 in the no-limit short-handed hold’em event. Not bad for a guy who quit his job in Janauary to focus on poker. Looks like he’s made his nut for the year. Here’s an interview with samh133.

samh133

Q. Tell us a little about yourself.

samh133: I’m 25 years old and I play poker for a living. Life is good.

Q. How long have you been playing poker?

samh133: 2 1/2 years.

Q. How did you learn to play poker?

samh133: I started playing like 5 $ games in our garage and I think my brothers were trying to teach me at first. They had to teach me that J2s wasn’t a good hand to play. But after I started getting serious about it, I signed up for a training site, cardrunners.com. It helped out a lot. I also read forums and talk hands with other good poker players.

Q. Any particular meaning or story behind your screen name?

samh133: It’s my name and weight class I used to wrestle in college.

Q. What was it like to make a final table at WCOOP and finish as well as you did?

samh133: It was a great feeling to win a tournament this big. I think this was the first tournament that I had ever won and it was just a great feeling.

Q. Are you a full-time player or do you have a regular job?

samh133: I was an accountant, but I quit to pursue poker in January of this year.

Q. Do you have any plans for the money you won in WCOOP?

samh133: I’ll probably invest most of it.

Q. Is this your biggest win to date or have you had others?

samh133: This is my biggest win but I’ve had 2 3rds this year for about 35k a piece.

Q. Any particular moments in the tournament when you thought, “I’m going to make the final table?”

samh133: I got in first early on in the tournament and I thought I had a chance to make the final table but I obviously had a long way to go. After I recovered from being in last place with 54 players left and won a couple of key flips, I knew I was going to win it.

Q. Any goals for your poker play?

samh133: Always improve and try to keep moving up stakes.

Q. Is there a lot of live poker in your hometown? What’s it like there?

samh133: No, and theres really no good casinos nearby either. I just play $20 homegames with my friends once in a while. It’s fun to do once in a while though.

Q. Is there anybody you look up to in the poker world?

samh133: I respect most of the NLHE players because I know all the work that it takes to get there. I guess a few players that stand out are Stinger, Taylor, and Brian Townsend.

For a full reporting samh133’s win, visit, the 2007 WCOOP: Event # 1 Final Table Report.

When we saw the screen name spielraum.at, we knew it seemed familiar. So did the name behind the winner of Event #2 of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker. As it turned out, spielraum.at as appeared on this blog’s pages before. Last time we ran across him, it was the 2005 World Cup of Poker. He was representing Team Austria. Now, Florian Oberauer is a WCOOP bracelet-holder.

Florian Oberauer

Q. When you’re not busy winning WCOOP bracelets, what do you do with your time?

Oberauer: I am 33. I like to travel very much. I qualified for a Magic pro-tour in San Diego this summer. So, I went to Las Vegas with some friends. I lived in a ranch with all the German poker pros for two weeks this summer and played lots of Chinese Poker.

Q. Tell us about was it like to make a final table at WCOOP and finish as well as you did?

Oberauer: Its a very exciting experience to play more than 14 hours in a tourney and finally own all chips, but not really because of the money. I really wanted this bracelet. World champion in Wild West poker…NICE!

Q. How long have you been playing poker?

Oberauer: More than 20 years

Q. How long have you been playing at PokerStars?

Oberauer: Since 2004

Q. Is there anybody you look up to in the poker world?

Oberauer: I am a fan of Sigi Stockinger

Q. Besides poker, do you do anything else professionally?

Oberauer: I have 3 Magic: The Gathering shops in Salzburg, Vienna, and, Berlin.

Q. You won more than $20,000 playing a game few people play. What are you going to do with the cash?

Oberauer: It just boosts my bankroll. This is my biggest win to date.

Q. What is your best poker game?

Oberauer: Heads-up and 7-card stud.

Q. Was there any particular moments in the tournament when you thought, “I’m going to make the final table?”

Oberauer: After I survived the first two hours, although I lost four times with a set against a higher set, I was sure luck would turn around.

Q. If you have a basic poker philosophy, what is it?

Oberauer: Courage has to be honored.