It’s that time of year again for the WBCOOP, and this time round, I’m going to be flying the FTR flag. I’ll also be recording the events for you guys to rip apart my play, and I’ll be setting up some threads in the forum for your responses.
This article, as my competition entry, is about my best moment while playing on PokerStars. Thing is, I have so many. I’m going to ignore my best results (an easy thing to do), and my superb play (also easy to do). The best times I can remember while playing on PokerStars involve playing games with friends, whether we were involved in last longer bets, playing in Home Games, or railing friends playing in some of the bigger tournaments, or sitting higher stakes cash games than I could afford.
The camaraderie we felt was great. The fact we could ask other people’s thoughts on how we played a hand while all the information was so fresh in everyone’s mind was amazingly helpful and it helped that a lot of the players were so much better than me. My game has moved on in leaps and bounds since I’ve been part of this discussion group.
Some of our group do have a problem with combinations. Mainly the combination of red wine and Badugi. The really depressing thing is, the one guy in particular who has this issue is far better at ‘dugi drunk than I am sober! I’ve sat there on Friday and Saturday nights, watching him play Badugi HU SnGs, cash games and MTTs, knowing that he’s 3 sheets to the wind, barely able to type and loving every second of it. Thing is, so did we. We knew he wasn’t going to miss the money if he lost (not that he always did) and we have been known to head him off from playing some silly levels that he’d get crushed at. As a group, we try to look out for each other.
Not that all we do is talk about poker, we have been know to set the world to rights by “politarding” up chat boxes, with discussions as broad as civil service appointments, gay marriage and US gun control. that’s the thing, we are all massively diverse people, from different backgrounds, countries, and political ideologies. The only thing that has really brought us together is poker, and while some of us are better than others, we are all lovers of the game, and it’s particular quirks.
That’s what online poker, and Pokerstars has done for us, brought us together. As a worldwide group, we probably wouldn’t have met without it. I wouldn’t have as many happy memories of watching my friends play, having them rip apart my play and rib me about missing value or discussing some of the more serious part of the world. These are the best moments that PokerStars has given me, and I for one, thank them.
If you don’t have a PokerStars account yet, you can download the client here, and if you use the Marketing code “FlopTurnRiver” you’ll get access to our freerolls and added value tournaments.