WCOOP Strategy

So i'm playing in event #2 of the WCOOP (NLHE, $500 + $30) on pokerstars this sunday, and i was wondering if anyone had any advice. 2500 starting chips and the same blind structure as a normal tournament only with 30 minutes levels. I'm thinking i should play fairly tight for the first hour at least, though maybe everyone will be thinking that, or maybe it'll be a total donk fest and i'll need a miracle to even survive. So anyway, i don't know. Any comments, suggestions, advice would be appricated.

-n

I think that when skilled players(like you) who are used to smaller buy ins($11). They think theyve gotten rid of all those donky idiots. I think there are gonna be a lot of idiots and players that call all in with Arag and KJ, a bunch of people and donkeys will satelite to it

You'll be surprised how few people get knocked out in the first hour.

Prepare mentally for a marathon. Have a good nights sleep the day before. And dont feel under too much pressure to do anything dramatic in the first 3 hours. Try a few moves, but generally keep it very steady. Absolutely no rush.

I would play tight.aggressive and see what style the other players are playing. You would also need luck. So, good luck and let us know how you do!

Any other advice welly? I might switch from a different WCOOP I won into this one.

I was reading how the "pro's" prepare for tournies and this could be helpful.

They do a lot of reading of their favourite poker book.

I suppose it is just like last minute revision for exams when at school

Prepare yourself for playing for a good 12 hours. Dont have it in the back of your mind 'i need to go to bed' or 'i need to do this tomorrow'. If you work on mondays then believe in yourself enough to say 'i will be in this tournament for the next 12 hours. I dont care about work. I will worry about work after those 12 hours are up'. Never make any decision based on the fact that 'in 3 hours time I need to do xyz so I think i'll call'. Only make decisions based on what is in front of you. Its a long one, accept it and be patient.

It may be a Sunday, the day of poker, the day of multi-tabling the big MTTs, but only play this one tournament and give it your full focus.

Dont contribute to the pool of dead money. Just because you may be taking it steady, doesnt mean you are sat there waiting for AA/KK. When the blinds are low see some flops with your 97 suited etc, imply some odds. Dont sit there passive. In these tournies there are enough of those people already. Dead money waiting to be taken. If you want to dedicate 500 chips to getting in amongst the cards then certainly do.

If you get a fairly low table number then appreciate that you will be there with some of the same people for a long time, so table image is important. Work your table image (whether it be good or bad) to your advantage. There is no reason why you also cant get some good notes on the people at your table as you will have seen them in quite a few hands. Dont stake your life on these notes, but they may help on more marginal decisions.

Having only 3000 chips after first hour and only 4000 after the 2nd hour is no problem.....Dont panic! If you get knocked out in the first 2 hours you better be damn sure you're are posting a double-gut suckout HH

Anyway, good luck. I think this tourney will be a good one to go for Joose, as opposed to the rebuy one you were considering.

I'm with Welly on the not too tight approach as you mentioned about the blind structure being 30 min, that allows you to see more flops with average cards, the blinds are low enough for this, so with 2000 starting chips the blinds will probably start off 20/40, so definately not too tight and good luck.

yeah, i don't plan on multi tableing or anything, and i would like to see a lot of flops early on. i like the above advice though, i'll have to remember that. thanks

the blinds actually start at 10/20 to 15/30 to 25/50. don't even see an ante for 3 and a half hours

-n

ya nate i have the w$215 to spend so im either going to fork over the rest of the $ to enter the same tourney as you or try to win an entry into it via the $98 SnG or the $78(i think) SnG. If that doesn't pan out I will be in the heads-up match play NLHE event.

that was an amazing post though welly

there is a $200 limit hold'em event, #7 i think, and a $300 pot limit, short handed event if you don't want to spend quite so much money and you're into anything other then NL. i'm playing the cheaper of the two HORSE events too, which i think will be a good one, plus i have a lot of FPP's to blow on satellites if i want to. the heads up event kind of scares me, though its probably better then the rebuy. the last 3 WSOP main events winners are already signed up for the $500 event #2, and i remember Helmuth played it last year, and there'll probably be more pros, so i don't know if that's a good thing or not. i think its kind of cool. either way i can't resist playing it. other then the main event it'll have the biggest prize pool, though that's probably not the best way to look at it.

-n

i have half a mind to make a run at the main event satellites.

gl if you do. i was planning on playing at least one of the FFP main event satellites assuming they do more of them

-n

won another satty so i should be there with yas.

okay, i know it wasn't much more for him to call, but still, i was a little suprised, especially considering he thought about it for almost a minue before calling. i was pretty much dead anyway... oh well, at least i cleared my bonus and i got HORSE next weekend to look forward to.

-n

PokerStars Game #6322692897: Tournament #40000002, $500+$30 Hold'em No Limit -
Level V (75/150) - 2006/09/17 - 18:55:43 (ET)
Table '40000002 373' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: nateofdeath (1170 in chips)
Seat 2: MetalHead123 (4290 in chips)
Seat 3: vladan (2708 in chips)
Seat 4: Pingpang863 (3895 in chips)
Seat 5: NU Gatsby (5396 in chips)
Seat 6: johndif (1490 in chips)
Seat 7: bodebode (3685 in chips)
Seat 8: OPETTAJA (6720 in chips)
Seat 9: Junior (2286 in chips)
vladan: posts small blind 75
Pingpang863: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to nateofdeath [7h 7s]
NU Gatsby: folds
johndif: folds
bodebode: folds
OPETTAJA: raises 150 to 300
Junior: folds
nateofdeath: raises 870 to 1170 and is all-in
MetalHead123: folds
vladan: folds
Pingpang863: folds
OPETTAJA: calls 870
*** FLOP *** [Qs 8d 6s]
*** TURN *** [Qs 8d 6s] K♠
*** RIVER *** [Qs 8d 6s Ks] 9♦
*** SHOW DOWN ***
OPETTAJA: shows [Kh 9h] (two pair, Kings and Nines)
nateofdeath: shows [7h 7s] (a pair of Sevens)
OPETTAJA collected 2565 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2565 | Rake 0
Board [Qs 8d 6s Ks 9d]
Seat 1: nateofdeath showed [7h 7s] and lost with a pair of Sevens
Seat 2: MetalHead123 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: vladan (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: Pingpang863 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: NU Gatsby folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: johndif folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: bodebode folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: OPETTAJA showed [Kh 9h] and won (2565) with two pair, Kings and Nines
Seat 9: Junior folded before Flop (didn't bet)

ul Nate,

just got busted out myself, just over 1500th postion I think it was.

Started well. My 2nd table was a table of TAGs, sat there as dead money. Worked it slowly from 1800 chips up to 6100.

163rd out of 3740 at end of first hour, and 718th out of 2432 after hour 2.

Ran into trouble in two hands in the 3rd hour. Ultimately was left launching later with QQ running into AA and I was gone.

Slightly better display than the Razz, but, hey, just getting warmed up

won a few more satties, so im going to play the rebuy tourney since i have the $w to throw around on rebuys+add ons now.

hey joosebuck, looking good in the rebuy, keep it up!

-n

gg Nate

not our day again eh

132nd after 2nd hour (4731 chips)...looking good...

Started to crank it up in hour 3. Got up to just under 6k, then had KKK at 4th street get cracked by villian hitting 6's full on 7th street. Massive pot.

The gods were unkind following that

A sidenote of interest, Micon was at my table. Didnt see anything worth $150 for 'The Micon System' there. I refrained from mentioning it to him though.

gl at the next one

hahaha the micon system

this might have been my last run at the 'COOP this year, unless i can win another seat, as the buy ins are getting bigger and i can't really afford it.

i was just never able to get anything going in the HORSE event, never got higher then 3500 in over 3 hours. i can't complain, i enjoyed playing it.

gl if you play more welly. at least we had one CC cash

-n