We have on file an excel document that gets circulated to our tournament reporters prior to a big online series on PokerStars. It’s nothing fancy, just a list of every major online tournament winner. Anyone who has ever won a COOP, be it World, Spring or Turbo, as well as Sunday Million, earns a place on it. So far this incomplete list contains more than 1,500 names and gets longer every week.
Forgetting this meager, rather unsatisfactory honours board for a second, COOPs are easily the biggest tournaments anywhere online; the big titles that every player wants to win at least once in their career. They’re emblematic of having achieved something in poker, regardless of how long or short your career in the game proves, and synonymous with success.
And behind these numbers are the stories, many quite memorable, that remain fond memories for the players involved. So with this being the Billionth Tournament Carnival we asked a few of our Team PokerStars Pros for their stories.
Time to create your own most memorable moment?
Their answers revealed a mixture of emotions, from relief, to frustration, as well as sheer unadulterated joy. All though were integral to the career of each player, whether as vindication or as a source of self-belief that is mandatory in order to succeed. That can be tricky if you miss out first time.
“The time I finished second in the $10K H.O.R.S.E. event in the WCOOP really stands out for me,” said Andre Akkari. “It’s one of my best memories and one of my worst. I wanted to win so much and it was very disappointing to come so close without getting the bracelet. But to get that far and win around $200K was amazing for me. There were so many great players at the last couple of tables, too — Daniel Negreanu, Chris Moneymaker, Barry Greenstein — so when I look back on it I know it was a great achievement to get as far as I did.”
Andre Akkari, feeling a lot better about things
Of course, “if at first you don’t succeed” has been the battle cry of many a champion (as well as, by definition, a fair number of failures). That was certainly a sensation felt by Bertrand Grospellier after he finally got his first WCOOP title, what he described as his most memorable tournament on PokerStars, after several near misses.
“It came after such a long string of close calls including three final tables the previous year,” said ElkY. “It was a $500 buy-in event (with one rebuy and one add-on). I was short in it for the longest time as well, which made it all the more rewarding when I managed to come back and win.”
Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier: So many great moments to choose from
That sense of proving oneself was an experience shared by Jason Mercier. When he won the $10k 8-game WCOOP title in 2012 he was hardly a player lacking silverware. On the contrary, in addition to his EPT title, Mercier had by then racked up some 12 titles, including two WSOP bracelets, and millions of dollars in prize money. And yet it was that online tournament two years ago that stands out.
Jason Mercier: 2012 WCOOP win was special
“That was the first big mixed-game tournament I ever won, at least as far as online tourneys go,” said Mercier. “It was such a stacked final table — Daniel Negreanu, Scott Seiver, Ben Yu, and Niki Jedlicka were all there — and it was so cool just to get that far and then actually to win it. It was one of those tournaments where I knew all of the best mixed-game players were participating, and so it felt great to take it down”
Quality of opposition is key on such occasions, determining the tournament’s vintage, so to speak. Then then it doesn’t always take the best opposition to make a final memorable. As Chris Moneymaker explained, the satellite that won him a seat into the 2003 WSOP Main Event (for details of how that turned out type “Moneymaker” into Google), has a pretty special meaning, but there has been another PokerStars event that stands out since.
Chris Moneymaker: “Well there was that WSOP Main Event satellite in 2003…”
“The one that comes to mind was the $10K WCOOP event where I made the final table along with Orel Hershiser,” he said. “I grew up a big Hershiser fan, and it was a pretty cool experience to make that deep run and then sit at the final table with him and Jonathan Little and some other tough opponents. Later I got to meet Hershiser at the PCA and we had fun reminiscing about that tournament.”
Then there are those times where everything simple goes as you hope it would. It’s hard to think of George Danzer, the current WSOP Player of the Year, ever having a slump. But there was (allegedly) a period when, instead of winning three WSOP bracelets in a year, Danzer was faced with a string of near misses.
Seriously? A slump? George Danzer in action
“I remember when I won my first WCOOP bracelet, it was a PLO rebuy event,” said Danzer. “I had been running pretty badly just before that. Then in that event I ended up running kings up against aces three different times. It was a six-max tourney with a lot of aggressive play, and I kept getting double-suited kings in spots where it made sense to go all in. All three times my opponent had aces – and all three times I won the hand! The third time it happened at the final table. It was one of those tournaments where everything just seemed to go my way, and it was a nice way to break out of my slump.”
Jake Cody was another player with nothing to prove when he won his bracelet, although it did provide a little vindication for a player primarily known for his online results.
Nothing to prove: Jake Cody
“For me the most memorable tournament I ever played on PokerStars had to be the two-day $2K SCOOP event I won back in 2011 for about $235,000,” said Cody. “That happened just a few weeks before I won a WSOP bracelet in Las Vegas, so obviously my confidence and morale was through the roof! It was great to win a major online tournament, too, because I’m mostly known for my live achievements.”
Lastly, it’s not all about the major COOPs. Sometimes the smaller or regional events provide as much delight, as well as the simple satisfaction of having done well.
Pierpaolo Fabretti: still a champion after all these years
“I have a couple of fond memories of tournaments I played on PokerStars. One is of the time I final tabled the Sunday Million (on the main site when it was still possible for me to play there), ultimately finishing fifth. The other was when I won a bracelet in the ICOOP (Italian Championship of Online Poker) over on PokerStars.it in 2011. Both involved outlasting large, tough fields and they were both very satisfying for me, looking back.”
You could be making your own fond memories during the Billionth Tournament Carnival. Find all the details you’ll need to do so by clicking here.
Stephen Bartley is a staff writer for the PokerStars Blog.
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