This weekend marked the beginning of the PokerStars World Championships Of Online Poker (WCOOP). Plenty of top poker pros were on hand for the beginning of festivities. “WCOOP starts today,” Tweeted J.C. Alvarado prior to the start of action. “Instead of the typical vape and movie Sundays, today will be serious with the comfy chair, dual monitors, and Pandora.” New PokerStars sponsored pro David Williams was also a part of the action, Tweeting, “Playing the first event of the PokerStars WCOOP now! Gonna be a full day of online tournaments on PokerStars.”
A good example of the dedication of the pros to the WCOOP, Jon “PearlJammer” Turner summed it up with his Tweet: “Huge 3 week online grind starts tomorrow, and I feel very good about my game right now-hope it proves to be more than a feeling!” UB.com’s Adam “Roothlus” Levy echoed Turner’s thoughts in evoking “The Jersey Shore” in a humorous manner when he Tweeted, “Good to be back in LA! Now, time to GTL for the next month! Grind. Tan. Laundry. Grind. Tan. Laundry.”
As Sunday’s trio of tournaments began (including a $10,000 High Roller event), various players kept their followers updated on Twitter. “9001 players for #wcoop event 1 and a 1st prize of 270k,” reported Daniel Negreanu. “About 6700 players left and the High Roller starts in 20 min on PokerStars.” Almost immediately following that Tweet, Negreanu had disappointing news for his fans: “Played 40k pot board was J234 I had 56 vs J3 all in on the turn in a limped pot. 3 on the river I have 1300 left yuk.”
Negreanu wasn’t the only one lamenting his run as the WCOOP started. “Out of event #1,” Jennifer “Jennicide” Leigh Tweeted about her start. “(I) couldn’t win a race. 03 starts in a few minutes, hope I got the run bad out of my system!” Lex Veldhuis seemed to be in the same situation, but he also Tweeted how he was going to handle the remaining tournaments on Sunday: “Running ridic bad today. Just busted highroller and 6-max WCOOP. Gonna finish the rest of them drunk.”
Several of the top pros in the WCOOP tournaments had at least a little success to show for their hours on the virtual felt. “Cashed in WCOOP event one (six max) for a lil cash, and still in the other two WCOOPS for today!,” Vanessa Rousso Tweeted to her fans. “Finished 27th in the 10k high roller #wcoop and min cashed the 1k 2nd chance. Frustrating end to the night,” Jason Mercier Tweeted reluctantly. Maria “Maridu” Mayrinck joined in on the misery by chirping, “LOL min cash w/ not even $200 profit after busting 11K people. waste of a gorgeous day. And thus begins another WCOOP.”
For those that weren’t on the virtual tables of PokerStars, many were sweating the final table of the World Poker Tour’s High Roller tournament on Sunday. Justin “Boosted J” Smith was at a stacked final table that included PartyPoker sponsored pro Antanas “Tony G” Guoga, former WSOP $50,000 HORSE champion Freddy Deeb, and French poker legend Bruno Fitoussi. “At casino now for WPT High Roller televised Final Table,” Smith Tweeted on Sunday prior to the start of the final table. “8 people left. Let’s see if I can start off my London trip this year great and win!”
As he battled through the difficult final table, “Boosted J” was fairly quiet. Once play was down to three, however, Smith decided to let his followers know what was going on: “3 people left. Tony G, Freddy Deeb and myself… bluffed off 200k and I have about 420k.” Over the next two hours, however, Smith was able to defeat the two veterans to win the WPT London High Roller tournament, Tweeting, “Feels sooooo good to have finally won a tournament… especially a WPT.”
As a finale to the WPT tournament (and perhaps the best Twitter story of the week), Smith recounted a conversation he had during the dinner break, when none of the eight remaining players had been eliminated. “Random tidbit from last night. During dinner break at about 8:30 p.m. I was eating at a table in the restaurant next to Mike Sexton,” Justin began. “I told him I thought the line on the Final Table ending was 4:19 a.m. and he could lay 20 cents and take either side, which he declined.” Smith finished the story and the celebration of his WPT championship by tweeting, “I won at 4:19 a.m. lol.”
Finally, the Women in Poker Hall of Fame dinner was held on Saturday night, inducting Kathy Liebert, Jennifer Harman, and Billie Brown into the exclusive club. The party went deep into the night, with fellow Hall of Fame member Jan Fisher Tweeting to welcome her fellow members as the party wrapped up, “WIPHOF-amazing…. congrats to Jen, Kathy, and Kelley. Thanks to Jeffrey Pollack and Nolan for sharing their thoughts from the stage. FUN!”
Harman was humbled by the attention from the gala, Tweeting simply, “I had a great time last night. Thanks for everyone’s support.” Liebert honored her fellow nominee by Tweeting, “I enjoyed the WIPHOF induction last night. I really liked @jenharman speech. She was very sweet and of course a great role model.”