After getting elected as Coach, I was fortunate enough to join the Pokerclub.be team in their quest for glory at the Everest Poker 12 Hour Poker Sports Challenge.
Que ?
A team based poker tournament, including sports challenges, with a WSOP main event package & Side event package at stake.
During the sports challenges, you could win additional chips for the poker tournament. Even if you were already eliminated, these challenges could put you back in the game.
The team consisted of 18 players: 12 people qualified through special restricted freerolls on everestpoker, 3 people were elected (best sportsman, best coach and most valued pokerplayer), and 3 community moderators.
I took off from Leuven in the morning, together with Fees and Jeanke Nissan. When arriving in sunny Aachen, we immediately received a free club-tshirt (including the PCB logo on the back), virtually unlimited free beer and a lunch buffet.
After this buffet, we started off with the first sports challenge: the Gladiator fight. We had to elect one team member, who had to face off against a member from one of the other communities (pokerinfo.be, pokerinfo.nl, pokernews.nl, pokercollege.nl and Everest).
After this, everyone was really warmed up for the first poker action. Everyone got 2000 chips, but the teams who did well in the challenges, already got a bonus up to 750 extra chips. But with blinds at 25-25, 50-50 and 50-100 as the first levels, it started out "gemütlich". I had some bad luck with my table draw: jeanke nissan at my left, and left from him was Armijn, co-founder of pokerinfo.nl.
***getting too tired to continue writing in full sentences ... you'd get bored anyway.***
Other interesting events:
* We played 0-0 in soccer against pokerinfo.be, but we crushed the Everest team with 4-2.
* Sam really impressed friends & foes with his basketball skills. We ended first in the second Sports challenge !
* We totally rocked in the "skippyball" challenge, due to the excellent coordination of Fees.
* Rope-pulling is rigged: the team with most weight almost always wins.
* The most beautiful girl present there, was a member of OUR team. (and YES, there were plenty of other women).
* 4 Pokerclub.be members made the final 15 players.
* 2 Pokerclub.be members (Sam & Hans) made the final table.
* 2 Pokerclub.be members were eliminated 9th and 8th at the final table :(
Stuff we got for free from Everest today:
* beautiful, sunny location
* excellent tournament directors & materials (rockets.nl)
* lunch buffet, dinner buffet, dessert buffet, all you can drink beer, 4x soda
* tshirt
* cap
* 1 Main Event + 1 Side Event Package
* Entertaining sports activities: soccer, basketball, gladiator, rope pulling, skippyball.
THANK YOU EVEREST !
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Rail Radio Tonight - WSOP Special
Rail radio starts around 8.30pm. Tonight's broadcast will include a WSOP special, aside the regular excitement of following Flemish online poker players, in the big sunday tournaments.
You'll have chance to win a Copag deck of playing cards of your choice (regular or jumbo indexes) with following contest:
Send us the name of your favorite Main Event winner, together with the list of the 3 different poker chips available in the Pokerbrothers Store and your guess of how many people will vote for your favorite Main Event winner.
So, to sum it up, send:
* The name of your all time favorite Main Event winner (click here for the full list)
* The names of the 3 kinds of poker chips, available in the Pokerbrothers Store.
* The number of people (you think) will choose the same Main Event winner as you.
From the people who voted for the most popular Main Event winner, we'll send a copag deck to the player who's closest to the number of people voted for the guy.
Send this to: Ares@pokerbrothers.be
If you have a decent Mic and a HEADSET (for your own audio) and skype you're also welcome live on the show. We'll also have different WSOP topics about which you can send us your opinion (either through email, or through the skype account "pokerbrothers").
* WSOP tournament structure
* No more rebuy tournaments this year
* Full of fish, or star-studded champion tournaments ? Playing in the WSOP or do you prefer the side events
* Online qualifiers: which sites offer the best value for money
* Travel tips: hotels, airlines, casino's ... you name it.
Click here if you don't know how to tune in on the radio, or if you want further information about "Rail Radio".
You'll have chance to win a Copag deck of playing cards of your choice (regular or jumbo indexes) with following contest:
Send us the name of your favorite Main Event winner, together with the list of the 3 different poker chips available in the Pokerbrothers Store and your guess of how many people will vote for your favorite Main Event winner.
So, to sum it up, send:
* The name of your all time favorite Main Event winner (click here for the full list)
* The names of the 3 kinds of poker chips, available in the Pokerbrothers Store.
* The number of people (you think) will choose the same Main Event winner as you.
From the people who voted for the most popular Main Event winner, we'll send a copag deck to the player who's closest to the number of people voted for the guy.
Send this to: Ares@pokerbrothers.be
If you have a decent Mic and a HEADSET (for your own audio) and skype you're also welcome live on the show. We'll also have different WSOP topics about which you can send us your opinion (either through email, or through the skype account "pokerbrothers").
* WSOP tournament structure
* No more rebuy tournaments this year
* Full of fish, or star-studded champion tournaments ? Playing in the WSOP or do you prefer the side events
* Online qualifiers: which sites offer the best value for money
* Travel tips: hotels, airlines, casino's ... you name it.
Click here if you don't know how to tune in on the radio, or if you want further information about "Rail Radio".
Monday, May 11, 2009
Rail Radio Wrap up
We had a lively show yesterday night, including two live appearances through Skype.
Diamond8 talked about the Rijkenberg case, backing of players in (international) tournaments and the tax issues.
Curve, the victim of the 9lives hacking attempt gave his views on the whole situation and explained why he decided not to prosecute his hacker.
LOLBehindYou (fees) managed to finish just in the money during the sunday warmup. At the break, both he and SpaceyFCB were around 13.000 chips. SpaceyFCB was feeling confident and challenged anyone to a "last longer bet" of 1k€. Good for him no one took the action, because 15 minutes later his jacks were looking good against AK on the turn, but the river brought a deadly ace.
Also congratulations to ScanX, who managed to qualify for the WSOP through a Unibet Qualifier.
You can listen to yesterdays show, by clicking the link 10th of may, in the righthand menu.
No rail radio next sunday, but we'll keep you updated this week about the Unibet Open, taking place in portugal. PopKoRn will be there to defend the Pokerbrothers honour.
Diamond8 talked about the Rijkenberg case, backing of players in (international) tournaments and the tax issues.
Curve, the victim of the 9lives hacking attempt gave his views on the whole situation and explained why he decided not to prosecute his hacker.
LOLBehindYou (fees) managed to finish just in the money during the sunday warmup. At the break, both he and SpaceyFCB were around 13.000 chips. SpaceyFCB was feeling confident and challenged anyone to a "last longer bet" of 1k€. Good for him no one took the action, because 15 minutes later his jacks were looking good against AK on the turn, but the river brought a deadly ace.
Also congratulations to ScanX, who managed to qualify for the WSOP through a Unibet Qualifier.
You can listen to yesterdays show, by clicking the link 10th of may, in the righthand menu.
No rail radio next sunday, but we'll keep you updated this week about the Unibet Open, taking place in portugal. PopKoRn will be there to defend the Pokerbrothers honour.
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Rail Radio - Short Recap
We had a few text reactions to the topics, as well as one player discussing live his point of view on the skills you need as a poker player, vs the skills you need to get a degree & a daytime job.
Furthermore, there were a few anonymous testimonials about how different players handle their winnings, and their views on taxes.
Click here to replay tonight's broadcast
All feedback is welcome ! Should we attempt a live discussion again ? Should we stick to the tournament reporting ? We're also open to other suggestions.
Furthermore, there were a few anonymous testimonials about how different players handle their winnings, and their views on taxes.
Click here to replay tonight's broadcast
All feedback is welcome ! Should we attempt a live discussion again ? Should we stick to the tournament reporting ? We're also open to other suggestions.
Rail Radio Tonight - Q&A session (Semi-) professional poker in Belgium
Tonight a different rail radio show than the usual, although I might keep an eye on people playing the sunday million.
Tonight, I'll broadcast a Q&A session on skype, about all the stuff related to playing poker seriously in Belgium//Flanders. You can send all your questions to Ares@pokerbrothers.be, or ask them LIVE through the skype account "pokerbrothers".
Note: if you want to be live on the air, you're welcome, but you need headphones (the sound of the radio can NOT go through your speakers). If you have headphones and a mic, feel free to dial in.
All the questions that arrive, and topics that will be discussed, will be answered with help from a few known and anonymous poker players.
Some of the topics:
* Staying in Belgium, or moving to another country ?
* What does it take to gain an income from poker ? How can you assess if you would be able to pull it off.
* What are the positive and negative consequences ?
* Playing poker full time for a few years - Will the hole in your CV be a problem ?
* (incoming question through email) Evolution of poker: will the fishpond ever dry up ? Is there a chance (online) poker will evolve in ways that are negative for (semi-) professional players. Are there any backup plans ?
Show should go live around 8pm.
Info about how to tune in and listen
Tonight, I'll broadcast a Q&A session on skype, about all the stuff related to playing poker seriously in Belgium//Flanders. You can send all your questions to Ares@pokerbrothers.be, or ask them LIVE through the skype account "pokerbrothers".
Note: if you want to be live on the air, you're welcome, but you need headphones (the sound of the radio can NOT go through your speakers). If you have headphones and a mic, feel free to dial in.
All the questions that arrive, and topics that will be discussed, will be answered with help from a few known and anonymous poker players.
Some of the topics:
* Staying in Belgium, or moving to another country ?
* What does it take to gain an income from poker ? How can you assess if you would be able to pull it off.
* What are the positive and negative consequences ?
* Playing poker full time for a few years - Will the hole in your CV be a problem ?
* (incoming question through email) Evolution of poker: will the fishpond ever dry up ? Is there a chance (online) poker will evolve in ways that are negative for (semi-) professional players. Are there any backup plans ?
Show should go live around 8pm.
Info about how to tune in and listen
Friday, May 01, 2009
Pokerbrothers defeated - EPT Update
Unfortunately, me and PopKoRn were the two first players to get eliminated in the Late Night Stars of Poker show yesterday.
If you saw the show, a first comment is that they only showed a very limited number of hands. At the start of my last hand, I was down to about 10.000 chips (from the original 20.000), and blinds were 1000-2000. I was on the small blind and the button (Mathias, who was playing aggressively) raised, and I went all-in with AQ suited. He quickly called with AK, making me a huge underdog. No miracle queen, and I was sent to the bar.
PopKoRn raised from the button, and the player on the big blind (again Mathias) asked him how much he got left. Blinds were 1500-3000 if I'm not mistaking, and PopKorn had about 12.000 left. Mathias went all-in, and PopKoRn said "I might be behind here, but given the blinds I need to call", and flipped over KQ. He was a favorite against Mathias J5.
All in all, it was a great experience to be on the show, and we look forward to see the finals.
In the meanwhile, the EPT Grand Final is taking place in Monte Carlo. Although Kenny Hallaert got eliminated early on, he managed to win a triple shooutout event, for about €20k. Yesterday Marc Naalden and Annette Obrestad ended the day as chip leaders. Because the dutchman lives in antwerp (and uses the antwerp logo as his avatar on pokerstars), we're rooting for him !
If you saw the show, a first comment is that they only showed a very limited number of hands. At the start of my last hand, I was down to about 10.000 chips (from the original 20.000), and blinds were 1000-2000. I was on the small blind and the button (Mathias, who was playing aggressively) raised, and I went all-in with AQ suited. He quickly called with AK, making me a huge underdog. No miracle queen, and I was sent to the bar.
PopKoRn raised from the button, and the player on the big blind (again Mathias) asked him how much he got left. Blinds were 1500-3000 if I'm not mistaking, and PopKorn had about 12.000 left. Mathias went all-in, and PopKoRn said "I might be behind here, but given the blinds I need to call", and flipped over KQ. He was a favorite against Mathias J5.
All in all, it was a great experience to be on the show, and we look forward to see the finals.
In the meanwhile, the EPT Grand Final is taking place in Monte Carlo. Although Kenny Hallaert got eliminated early on, he managed to win a triple shooutout event, for about €20k. Yesterday Marc Naalden and Annette Obrestad ended the day as chip leaders. Because the dutchman lives in antwerp (and uses the antwerp logo as his avatar on pokerstars), we're rooting for him !
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