BAS IS THE REAL DEAL! .At only 18 years of age Bas became the first EMS player to final table in a major online event. To many this came as no surprise as he has shown immense promise during the short time he has been playing online. He took 3rd prize and $84K of which $50K was paid out to EMS members who staked him to play the WCOOP 1 event. This is sure to be the first of many big wins for the Devon poker ace who has already won more than 100K from online mtts.
Bas's thoughts on WCOOP #1 -
17 hours later, 4600 players later, I finished 3rd for $85,000 from a $215 buyin.
it's still weird to think about it..., it feels like a fairytale. I remember on the day feeling very focused and very nervous as I had been running bad for a few weeks, and had lost a lot of confidence. I very quickly felt more confident as it was short handed and my table was extremely weak,
I was trying to play very aggressive and really got stuck in to my table.I doubled up with a few nice pots, and then I just kept on going. Then I had a nasty table, very aggressive, I picked up JJ and raised it up, 1 caller. Board came A J x, with 2 of a suit, I bet and got called, turn was a 3 I think, I checked, he bet, I shoved, he called with A3 and flush draw, my hand held and I was big stacked.
I got even bigger stacked when I had 66 on a 8 8 6 board, the caller pre flop
had been making so many moves on me, I bet, he raised, I re raised, he shoved representing the 8, I was never folding, he showed KQ!
A few hands later I finished him off with AQ vs KQ, and suddenly I was the chip leader!
With 639 players left, I had 75000 chips, and was in 1st, with 534 paid.I proceeded to just take down lots and lots of pots and going well, then i had AJ vs JJ on a x x J A board, and lost almost half my stack. I built it all back up again slowly, and got into the money more than safely.I had been going about 5 hours by then, and about 4 hours later, I was still on the same stack! I just could not get anywhere, completely card dead, no chance to steal.
I became short stacked from about 100 left, but I kept the patience even though I was beginning to feel ill. I was short stacked all the way until the last 12, where I was about 10th of 12. I then got a double up with AK vs A2 and won a nice pot with AQ, and then took someone out with AQ vs 53, meaning I was up to 3rd and in sight of the final table!
I had been playing over 15 hours by then and at the break I was feeling really sick, I went outside and tried to keep focused, I came back feeling better, But I was struggling to stay awake.
We finally reached the final table (last 6) with $10,000 guarenteed, and I was in 3rd I think with about 2.4 million chips. I decided to sit patient and go up the money, it didn't take long for 1 to go out, meaning we were up to $19,000. I then tried to up the aggression and re raised a button steal with K5, which I'm so glad got through. We were down to 4 not long after, guarenteed $37,000.
Then with 4 left I was in 3rd I think, as the person who came into the final table as Chip Leader proceeded to donk off over 5 million chips, and ended up going out in 4th. I was guarenteed $65,000 then, we decided to deal. I was the shortest stack and was more than happy to deal, ended up with an extra $20,000 and being guarenteed $85,000,and playing for $46,000 and bracelet for 1st.
I went out not long after with top pair vs set, I was so knackered I wasn't really bothered at the time, I was completely overwhelmed, it was such a long night.
It definitely was 1 of the best days of my life, I just wish I could have got more results after in the rest of the series.
What also made it even better was even though I had to give $50,000 to stakers, it felt like I had done a great thing not just for myself. I was so proud and still am to the day of what I achieved. The key thing is to always to believe in yourself, and to believe in others like my stakers did, even when you are down, never give up.
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