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Just 6 days until the start of the 2009 WCOOP at Pokerstars! For online poker players, this is the most exciting time of the year, with huge prize pools and bro-crushing bragging rights.
If you’re new to online poker, or just new to Pokerstars, this is the ideal time to get your Pokerstars account. Not only is the World Championship of Online Poker about to start, but a few weeks ago Pokerstars finally got rid of their puney little $50 bonus that they’ve had for years, in favor of a huge $600 bonus.
With 45 events and a $40 million guaranteed prize pool, the 2009 WCOOP will be the most exciting ever. On September 3rd, the 2009 WCOOP will start with a $1,250,000 guaranteed, short-handed NL Hold’em tournament. This event has a $215 buy-in, and satellites are running at this very moment for as little as 1 measly dollar. If don’t have $1 in your account, do you have 100 FPP’s? If you do, that’s good enough for a satellite entry too!
2 hours after event #1 starts, there will be a $200,000 guaranteed Razz tournament. Wait, read that again. I said a $200,000 Razz tournament! To put this into perspective, many poker rooms don’t have $200,000 NL Hold’em tournaments, let alone Razz tournaments. If you’re even half-way decent at Razz, this is a huge opportunity (since there are so many terrible Razz players). This tournament also has a $215 direct buy-in, and it’s very possible that Pokerstars will have to overlay to cover the guarantee. If I’ve encouraged you to play in this tournament and you end up taking it down, I’ll expect a nice commission. (Not holding my breath)
There are 14 events with guaranteed prize pools over $1 million, and 31 events with prize pools over $400,000. It all wraps up on September 20th with the 2-day, $10 million guaranteed Main Event. The Main Event is a $5,200 NL Hold’em tournament and the winner should make enough to be able to buy 4 Yankee’s tickets, plus a little left over for a hot dog. Actually, the top prize will likely exceed $1.5 million!
This years events include a wide variety of game choices, including Omaha, Stud, 2-7 Triple Draw, Razz, 8 Game, HORSE, and even Badugi tournaments. When was the last time you saw a $100,000 Badugi tournament? The answer is never, at least not online.
Most events have buy-in’s that range from $109-$530, and like I mentioned above, satellites start for as little as $1 or 100 Frequent Player Points. There are literally hundreds of satellite tournaments running every day, and considering that every donkey around has at least $1 in their account, good players have a huge advantage playing in these. Lots of players take it for granted that they can’t realistically turn $1 into an event seat, so there are many of them that play terribly and donk off their chips early.
So, to do well in satellites, see a lot of cheap flops whenever you hold a hand with potential. In the early stages of these tournaments, all the donkeys are still in the tournament. This means that you want to have a chance to hit big with hands like 6, 8 of spades. When you hit big hands, you’ll be able to take down big pots and start building a stack early.
Don’t be afraid to overbet when you hold the nuts in early stages of the tournament. Remind yourself that players are more likely to pay you off now than they are later in the tournament, so go after the big pots when you have a chance. Getting a big stack early will allow you to play smarter later, and take a few hits along the way.
For more information, and to play in the 2009 Pokerstars WCOOP, write down the Pokerstars bonus code Stars600 and marketing code PSA1037. You will need to enter the marketing code when you register your new account, and the bonus code when you make your first deposit. Used together, new players can get the new 100% bonus, and up to $600 free!