Check out the Michael Woods Invitational webpage to find out why you shouldn’t miss a chance to play!
WSOP Weekend: Meet our winners!
By the end of the WSOP Weekend, three HollywoodPoker.com players won themselves a seat to the WSOP and a chance to win the coveted title of world champion.
Of course, HollywoodPoker.com will be putting on quite a show at the WSOP! We’ll have a booth there featuring our HollywoodPoker.com girls, celebrity interviews, celebrity autograph sessions and prize give-aways! Of course, you should also come to cheer on the home-team! Five incredible HollywoodPoker.com will be tearing up the felt at this esteemed poker event!
Root for James Woods, Vince Van Patten, Bob Goen, Greenaroo28 and Emir28!
Read a bit about three of the players who will be representing us at the WSOP. They’re all incredible and they’re all HollywoodPoker.com homegrown!
Sam Greener, a.k.a. Greenaroo28 - WSOP Casting Call Winner
“I’ve never been on a plane before”, Sam admits, laughing. “In fact, the furthest I’ve ever been is Buffalo”.
Well, at least this Toronto boy is making a good start of his flying career. As HollywoodPoker.com’s Casting Call champion, Greenaroo28 will be flying to Vegas to vie for the title of World Champion in the 2005 World Series of Poker. Doubtlessly, he’ll do us all proud. This guy’s fast, furious and puts up some serious competition.
After all, Greenaroo28 had only been playing at HollywoodPoker.com for a month before he accumulated enough Poker Points to qualify for the Casting Call tournament. It seems he knows how to make good use of his time – as is evident by Friday night’s stellar performance.
“About midway through the tournament, I got a big chip lead – which was amazing. I didn’t get nervous until the final table”, he tells me.
It’s understandable. Greenaroo28 has played in his fair share of live tournaments since he first started playing with his Sunday night poker posse, but the Casting Call tournament was a whole other ball-game. Still, he had some serious support and encouragement to cheer him on.
“My brother works in a bar downtown and he signed into the tournament lobby when I was at the final table. I had about 20 people at that bar watching. I even got calls wishing me luck - it was amazing!”
It is amazing – but not as amazing as the thousands of HollywoodPoker.com player’s that will be cheering you on at the WSOP!
Congratulations Greenaroo28 – and good luck!
Emir Anderson, a.k.a. Emir1982 – WSOP Celebrity Shootout Champion
I'm a 23yr old guy from Denmark. I'm Studying medicine at Århus University. I’ve been playing poker for 9 months now, mostly online, but lately I've made a few bucks on live poker. I like the tension of live poker.
The Celebrity Shootout was a blast!
I was down to my last $2 on my account, which was fine since I had (and still have) a big exam coming up very soon. I couldn’t find any $2 sit ‘n' go tables but then I saw the $2 qualifier to the Celebrity Shootout - so I gave it a shot and won.
I started on a table without a celebrity. Soon, I had doubled my stack and was moved to a table with a celebrity. I tried to play my cards as tight as I could and I got lucky a few times. One time I was all in, pre-flop with KK against AA and caught a K on the river!
Next I was moved to a table with celebrity player, Nicholas Gonzalez. He was a strong player with a pretty large stack and he made some bold moves and bought the pot quite often. Soon, some of the players picked up on that and we were able to get a lot of his chips. I was constantly around 35th-25th place in chips.
Then I made a BIG mistake and lost a lot of chips on a bluff. As a result, I got booted down to a 57th place with around 250 players. Bye-bye Vegas!.
But my luck was about to change. A few hands later, I was able to catch a few all-ins and win. Back in business!
At this point I was in 11th place. Now, as blinds constantly increased, people started to get knocked out fast. I was trying to lay low for a while, until I was guaranteed a cash-winning ranking. When the worst case scenario became winning around $100, I started to play a bit more loosely and was able to double my pot on a close ended straight.
Slowly, the blinds rose very high, and I stole them quite a few times with a classic "on the button" raise (3xBB or so). However, the remaining players were very skilled and managed to read me often. Just before the final table, I got lucky against one of the major chip-masters. This gave me the chip-lead from the start at the final table. Now the stakes were high and the other players were frighteningly good. They quickly took a lot of my chips with strong raises and all-ins which I didn't dare to call. Four players with short stacks were forced to go all-in. My buddies (who were present and cheering) and I were starting to feel the adrenaline rush. I realized that I had to make some strong raises to be able to play against these guys. One time, I managed to raise 80k three times in a row without the other players calling me! When I went on to raise 80k for the fourth time, I had pocket rockets. Fortunately for me, one of the other guys went all-in and I called him.
The last two players, honeycomb_1 and Beast51 were good at pushing me around.
Honeycomb_1, in particular, made my life miserable. At hand #999,455,464, she had pocket 8's and I had A9. I raised pre-flop and she called. The A came on the flop and she went all-in. I figured that if she had big-slick, she would re-raise pre-flop - so I called her, and won!
Now it was heads-up against Beast51! I had a major chip lead. He played his chips very well and before I knew it, he had taken a lot of mine.
The final hand:
I had 10h,Qc. I made my "classic" 80k raise and he went all-in almost instantly.
He had to have something. Did he have high cards or a pocked pair? He moved in too fast to have high cards. So, high or low pair? It was impossible to tell. If he had a low pair, I'd still have a 50% chance to go to Vegas. I didn't want to play against this player any longer than needed. My nerves were shredded paper-thin by this time. If he won this hand, I'd still have some chips left - and a shot at Vegas.
So I called him.
When the 10 flopped, I almost threw up.
*Popup*:
"You just won more money than a Danish student earns in 6 months and by the way: You are going to Vegas!"
Surreal.
No need to tell that we had a nice party that night. Drinks on me guys!
After I got home I couldn’t sleep.
June 24th, I have my exam in pathology. There’s no need to tell that I haven’t been studying much, but what the hell – I’m going to the WSOP in Vegas!!!
Bob Goen, a.k.a. – Last Star Standing in WSOP Celebrity Shootout
As our last celebrity standing, Bob Goen (co-host of Entertainment Tonight) won a ticket to the WSOP. When asked about his triumph, Goen remarked, "I can't believe this. Me - playing for the bracelet? I've never been good at accessorizing, but I'll try and make www.hollywoodpoker.com proud."
We’re sure you will, Bob. Great playing and best of luck at the WSOP!
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Player Spotlight: daddy766
If you want to be in the Spotligh, e-mail me at hollay@hollywoodpoker.com. If you’re chosen for the week’s Player Spotlight, you’ll win a HollywoodPoker.com tournament ticket!
Spotlight on...daddy766!
Boy, I love this site! Where else can I hone my fledgling poker skills at very little cost, or even for free, and brush elbows with celebrities at the same time.
I know that some people say celebrities are just regular people who happen to have jobs that put them in the public spotlight, but I sure get a thrill when I get a chance to talk to them and even play against them. I've chatted several times with James Woods - one of my favorite actors and one of the best in the business (entertainment business that is) - and he talked to me just like I was another one of his poker buds. That's pretty exciting for a mere mortal like me. My only other brush with fame was many years ago when I worked for a department store and I helped Dionne Warwick load a bunch of fine china into her limo. I would rate my online chats with James higher than the Dionne encounter, even though she did tip me very well (hmm...maybe one of these days I can get some of James' money at a poker table).
Now for some personal data - in case you're the type that likes that kind of stuff. I live in beautiful Colorado, USA with my wife and four kids. When I'm not working at my cushy (haha!) government job, selling on my eBay account, trying to help my wonderful, patient and understanding wife, or taking my son to baseball tournaments, or etc, etc, my favorite hobby is online poker.
I've been playing poker for about seven months (exclusively at HollywoodPoker.com of course), and tend to play in no-limit hold’em tournaments. I enjoy the sit-n-go tournaments because I seem to do the best in them (win about 20 to 30 percent of the time, and in the money about 50 to 60 percent of the time). I also really enjoy the freerolls because they're a great opportunity to practice poker skills - even if it's a little different than when everyone has paid to play. My most memorable moment so far at HollywoodPoker.com was winning one of the Sunday $250 freerolls a few months ago. I was able to stick to my game for the whole tournament and had just enough luck to outlast 299 very good poker players. It was a fantastic feeling!
What else can I say? I can't imagine that any site has as much to offer as HollywoodPoker.com: celebrities, excellent variety of games and formats, unparalleled support team, and a wonderful poker community! I hope to see you all at the tables, and if you see me first, make sure you say hi.
~daddy766
Write to Win
You could win a HollywoodPoker.com tournament ticket for submitting an article in our Write to Win promotion! All you have to do is write about the week’s topic and send it to julie@hollywoodpoker.com.
This week's topic:
The WSOP Weekend at HollywoodPoker.com!
Did you play in the Celebrity Shootout or the Casting Call tournament? Tell us about it!
Congratulations to last week's winner -Totter-, who has scored an HP tournament ticket! Also, congratulations to EALPS, who won HP gear just for voting for a favorite submission!
-Totter-'s winning entry:
Sitting here with pocket aces
Mind wandering to other places
When the action comes to me
I raise the big blind by three
Two opponents call
Just then I drop the ball
The flop comes jack, king, king
I feel a little sting
Will my pockets get busted
Will they hold up
Pushing all in, I feel like a shmuck
Set of kings hold up
Pocket aces suck!!!
~-Totter-
Vince Van Patten’s Tip: Dealing with Defeat
Suffice it to say I made I drastic mistake in the Celebrity Shootout and proved to everyone that those sorts of mistakes are costly.
I was prepared to settle in for the night and seriously play my A game at the Celebrity Shootout. Of course, I was also there to have fun, but I really wanted to stay in for the long haul.
Here’s what happened: I thought I called $10 on the small-blind, but the player before me had raised the whole stack. I had a 7,8 off-suit. It was brutal. As usual, I was chatting in the lobby and not paying attention – a bad habit of mine I’ve told you all about before! I have trouble trying to concentrate on the game and chat, but I just really enjoying chatting with all the players and get easily sidetracked.
Still, I am truly excited to have been part of online poker history. The Celebrity Shootout had the biggest celebrity turnout for an online poker tournament ever. HollywoodPoker.com just keeps on getting bigger and bigger and better and better – it’s really incredible to think of how we are all part of history in the making.
Playing at HollywoodPoker.com is something I always look forward to. The players are fantastic, friendly and always a pleasure to pit my skills against. I really look forward to meeting the WSOP Weekend winners Greenaroo28 and Emir1982 at the WSOP! Looks like I’ll have some tough competition!
See you all around the site!
~Vince Van Patten
Weekly Poll: Vote to Win!
When you cast your vote, you are automatically entered in a random draw to win HP gear! There are already tons of winning players who are happily decked out in style - don't miss out on your chance to join the ranks of the well-dressed!
This week's poll question:
Which celebrity couple would you most like to see split up?
Go to the 'Hollywood Poker Forum' to vote!
Hollywood Poker Extra Archive
