Carlos Casaprima

Spanish Player Carlos Casaprima Wins The Second Edition Of The Chilipoker DeepStack Open Marrakech

For the second year running, last weekend the Chilipoker DeepStack Open took place in the Casino de Marrakech with Spanish player Carlos Casaprima taking home €31,786 (Dirhams 356,004).   Carlos successfully beat fellow runner-up Vicente Ortiz and the other 249 players during the three intense days of poker!

For its third stage in 2011, the Chilipoker DeepStack Open chose to move its chips back to the Casino de Marrakech after the huge success in November 2010.   Sun, heat, mouth-watering buffets and loads of fun were the usual key ingredients with a great selection of Moroccan, French, German, Spanish and Scandinavian players taking part.   The perfect formula of the Chilipoker DSO was the same as usual: a buy-in of €550, players enjoyed a starting stack of 50,000 chips, with levels of 60 minutes.

On the top of his cash winnings, Carlos Casaprima as a DSO VIP player also got the chance to win an extra DSO ticket after kicking out one of the bounty players. In total, a dozen Chilipoker players who accumulated over 1,000 FPPs by playing online did not leave the casino empty handed thanks to the DSO VIP promotions.  Two players either won a laptop, iPad or a Beats by Dr. Dre headset.   Moreover the three DSO VIP players who finished closest to the bubble (40^th, 44^th and 48^th) also saw their Chilipoker player account increase by €735 (Dirhams 8,091).   To find out all the details of the DSO VIP status and promotions, visit www.deepstackopen.com.

After the first three 2011 stages, Costa Brava in March, Cannes in April and Marrakech last weekend, the Chilipoker DeepStack Open will next move to Portomaso Casino in Malta between the 6th and the 9th October, to Vienna between the 3^rd and the 6^th November and will finally come back to the Casino de Marrakech in December for the last stage of the year.

At the end of the Chilipoker DeepStack Open Season 2011, the three players who will finish at the top of the leaderboard will each a full year of DSO seats for 2012, including buy-ins, accommodation and cash for transportation for every stage. The current leaderboard is available online on www.deepstackopen.com , where you can also find all the details regarding registration and online qualifications for the next stages.

Official results of the Main Event of the Chilipoker DeepStack Open Marrakech Summer:

1^st: Carlos Casaprima – €31,786 (MAD 356,000) -Spain

2^nd: Vicente Ortiz – €19 746 (MAD 221,150) -Spain

3^rd: Bensamoun Olivier – €12 040 (MAD 134,850) -France

4^th: Hsissen Mehdi – €7 946 (MAD 89,000) -Morocco

5^th: Jacquin Cyril – €5,539 (MAD 62,040) -France

6^th: Lahlou Omar – €4,575 (MAD 51,240) -Morocco

7^th: Sacrispeyre Patrick – €3,612 (MAD 40,450) -France

8^th: Rabut Eric – €2,889 (MAD 32,360) -France

9^th: Atkin Stuart – €2,408 (MAD 26,970) -UK

After Marc and Pawel, let’s get back on one of our best players, who will be going to Las Vegas for the 4th time! We already interviewed Norson for the “unstack me if you can” challenge, but let’s focus on the event of the year, the WSOP.

Norson, can you please introduce yourself again for our readers please?
My name is Norson Saho, 32 years old, from Sao Paulo, Brazil. I am an online poker player.

How long have you been playing poker for and how did you discover the game?
I started to play poker about 5 years ago. I used to work at the Quality insurance service of a gaming company and when I went to the dentist I was reading an interview in a magazine about a Brazilian player making a living from poker and I was like, “this gotta be a joke”. Then I made a little research on the web about him and I finally figured out poker was a game of skill, and I decided to give it a try.

What do you play? What limits and what’s your favorite?

I started playing SnG and then played them for about 2 years moving from the micro stakes to the high stakes. Mostly in the euro sites. For the last 3 years I’ve been playing NLHE MTTs which is the game I enjoy the most right now. I also play a little bit of live cash game but nothing too high such as 2/5 or 5/10. My favorite MTT is the $100 Rebuy on Chili because the field is not so big and the structure is great. I think that’s where I am most profitable.

Why do you play on Chilipoker ?
The field is great, the software improved a lot in the last years, the support is also excellent and the structure of the MTTs is also pretty good. Plus the promotions are always nice. I can’t complain

Have you ever been to Las Vegas before, and have you played the WSOP before?

This will be my 4th trip to Vegas.
In 2008 I went there just as a vacation.
In 2009 I played the Main Event and busted at the end of day2, but I was very nervous and didn’t play my A game. I got short on day1 and could not get anything going my way on day2. I had about 11bb and shoved 44 from the cutoff and the BB had QQ.
In 2010 I played the Main Event and did pretty good until a hand against Cole South. I was chipping up nicely until this hand where I am the chip leader at the table with 160bb, and Cole South was second with 155bb. In a nutshell I flopped middle set and he flopped top set and my Main Event was pretty much over in that hand.

How did you qualify this year and was it difficult?

I won the Tuesday qualifier for the Main Event. There was only one seat and as far as WSOP sattelite goes it was not so tough. I think in the heads-up, the opponent was a low stakes player something like average buyin of 1 dollar, so he was playing extremely cautious and as soon as I noticed that, I started pressuring him pretty hard with 3-bets pre-flop and putting a lot of pressure post flop.

What events are you going to play once you are in Las Vegas?

My initial plan for WSOP events are: #48($1.5k), #50($5k), #54($1k), #56($1.5k) and the Main Event ($10k) (full schedule here). I think I will go with a friend and there will be at least 300 Brazilians more so you can expect a lot of VAMOOOOOOO there.

Is it going to be your biggest event ever? What other major events have you played before ?
It will be the biggest together with the previous years. I played EPT Deauville this year and some LAPTs.

Other than you, who do you think has a good chance for a bracelet this year ?
Jason Mercier, Mike McDonald and Elky would be my bet. (the question was asked before Elky won his bracelet, nice one Norson. edit: Jason Mercier just won the $5,000 PLO SH event.)

You manage to reach the heads up of the main event, in November. What do you do?
Try not to do anything crazy… yet. Probably hire some top Heads-up specialist for some million dollar tips.

What can you say to all the chilipoker players to make them want to support you during the WSOP?
I know I am not as charming as Liz Lieu but it’s important to have a plan B
So if you wanna send some good thoughts it will be very welcomed. I am a believer of positive thinking. That’s THE SECRET!

What do think about the Chilipoker team for the WSOP and about the fact that we Connect Players?

Even though we are small in numbers I would expect good and big things to happen there.
Connecting players is certainly a good thing. Getting to know each other can only generate growth in strengthening the relations and exchanging information not only about the game but about life in general. There is always something new to learn.

Thanks Norson, and Good luck for the series!

We will keep you posted on the chiliblog, facebook and Twitter, on how our team is doing! We just heard that an other player from Switzerland qualified 2 nights ago, and we will introduce him too!

Hi all,

As you may know now, as i’ve been writing on this blog for a few months, I am a poker fanatic. I love this game

Sunday night, after a nice weekend around Malta, either on a boat or on the seafront (let’s face it, mostly in the water), I decided to take part into the WSOP mega supersat qualifying for the Main Event in Las Vegas.

Everyday, I’m in touch with our qualified players, who will soon leave for the WSOP. Unfortunately, when they will all get to the Rio, a few minutes before the “shuffle up and deal”, I will be here in Malta (ok, it could be worse, i’ll give you that). So on my way back from the beach, I felt like giving it a go. Why couldn’t I join them in Las Vegas.
Chilipoker was giving away 30 packages worth $13,000 to go and play the main event.  After a nice cash out last weekend, I tought I could invest in this supersat and try to make the most of it.

586 players took part into this online tournament, and it was going to be a long way. First table, first danger: Norson Saho is sitting at the same table. Norson is one of the best players on Chilipoker and already qualified for a few events at the WSOP. At least I knew who he was, so I wasn’t going to play too many hands against him, especially out of position.

By the way you can find his interview I made right here.

Observation period

I started my satellite by observing what was happening at the table. I normally try to begin my tournaments by playing a lots of hands, while the blinds are low. Lots of small cards, suited connectors, one gapers, two gapers (three gapers? :p ) and mostly played small ball. But here it was different. The goal is not to win the tournament, but to reach top 30. I decided to play pretty tight, and only in position. Obviously you don’t see good cards too often, and when I finally saw a pair of queens, I was pretty keen to 3bet Norson aka llllllliiilllliiillllllll. The thing is, 3 players called me. And with a king on the flop, that was it… I gave up on my queens, and skipped to the next hand… This was pretty much a desert. Not only no cards, but no spots… After a few levels, I was down to 15 big blinds, and when the button raised again on my small blind, I thought KJ was good enough to push it all. He would fold most of the time anyway… He called with AJ. 30% to stay alive. Not much is it? The flop gave us AQx and the turn, a Ten, made me smile. I was back in the game, just bellow average.

Cruise control

From there, I got slightly better cards and ended up playing a bit more. A guy decided (on tilt) that it was good enough to shove his 20BB under the gun with pocket nines, and I was happy enough to call from the button with kings. That’s when i managed to be 10k above average, top 40, with 250 players left. More time to wait for better cards, and wait for players to kill each other. The goal was clearly to reach the top 30, and not to be chip leader. I was on cruise control, stealing the blinds from time to time on the weaker players. A couple of Anna kournikovas (AK), or AQ, aslo helped to win a few pot on the flop or on the turn. Almost no bluff. This was a very standard tight play.

Finally, the structure (which was nice don’t get me wrong -5,000 chips and 15 minutes levels-) caught up with me, and I was down to a few blinds. I pushed a first time with AKo, and wasn’t called. The hand after that, a player raised under the gun, and I pushed my 12BB from the button with AQs. He snapped call with KK and, although I had 12 outs with my flush draw on the turn, the kings held.

Tha was it. 1.30am and the deception of not going to Las Vegas with the Chiliteam. I will be connecting players, but from Malta. I hope these guys will do great because there is a number of great players out there, waiting for the right spot to make a great performance, and why not, become rich and famous. I won’t be one of them, at least not this year

If you also played this satellite, come talk about it with me on Facebook or on twitter!  It’s always great to talk about hands we played, talk about strategy, or sometimes just to whine about a good old bad beat!

After introducing our first qualified player for the WSOP, Marc Esteve, let’s continue this week with our second player.

#2 Pawel ZIELONY aka LuckyGilmor

Pawel can you please introduce yourself for our readers please?
My name is Paweł Zielony and i’m from Poland , i’m an online poker player and on my free time, I play basketball.

How long have you been playing poker for and how did you discover the game?
I have been playing poker for 3 years and I learnt it at college.

What do you play? What limits and what’s your favorite?
I play Heads Up  sit’n'go $100 to $200 NLHE and sometimes MTTs.

Why do you play on Chilipoker ?
Chilipoker is a one of the best ipoker skin and it is friendly for polish players

Have you ever been to Las Vegas before, and have you played the WSOP before? Was it a dream?
No I never went to Vegas before. My dream is not exactly to play the main event. My dream is to WIN the main event and become one of the top poker players. Playing the main event will be just a start!

How did you qualify this year and was it difficult?
I played the sunday $500 satellite. It was difficult but when the tourney went to final table, i think i showed some good skills and then, I won a couple of preflop all ins and that was it.

What events are you going to play once you are in Las Vegas?

Unfortunatly i can’t come to vegas earlier so i will only be playing the main event  Also, I am taking my girlfriend with me.

Is it going to be your biggest event ever? What other major events have you played before ?
Yes its the biggest  and my first live event.

Other than you, who do you think has a good chance for a bracelet this year ?
I think that this year these guys have a chance for a bracelet: Gus Hansen , Erik Seidel, Tom Dwan and Viktor Blom.

You manage to reach the heads up of the main event, in November. What do you do?
I think i will crush my oponnent easily because of my HU experience

What can you say to all the chilipoker players to make them wanna support you during the WSOP?
Keep your fingers crossed for lucky rivers

What do think about the Chilipoker team for the WSOP and about the fact that we Connect Players?
I think is a very good idea because you give us an easy opportunity to  exchange our thoughts and experience about the game!

Are you looking forward to meeting Liz Lieu ? :p
I always want to meet a poker star so I am looking forward to it very much!

Thanks Pawel, and Good luck for the series!

We will keep you posted on the chiliblog, facebook and Twitter, on how our team is doing!

We ‘ve already told you a few times, but here at chilipoker, we love poker. We are a team of passionate, and very often, on the weekends, we go to our local casino to play cards.

Last weekend, our FBI team (Fabulous, Beautiful, Intelligent, remember ? ) went to play the Malta Poker Live Adventure, at the casino @ Portomaso.

With a €330 buy in, and 350 players, this was gonna be a hell of a tournament. €100,000 garanted and even a WPT package on top of the 20 grand first prize for the winner. We certainly were ready!

Alex played on day 1A and unfortunately, this wasn’t gonna be the best experience ever. He didn’t make it to day 2. On day 1B, Feliciana and I bought in and started to play. After 15 minutes, i was down to 7,000 chips from the 25,000 we had. Not the best start is it? Straight away, I didn’t panic, and started to think it would be a nice story if i could win that tournament.
I stayed very patient, and eventually i doubled up. When pre flop i re raised with AK, i was happy to see a flop king high. I did my continuation bet, like Dan Harrington told me to, and when on the turn,  the Italian player check raised me all in, i had no choice but to call. He had a flush draw and an open ended straight draw, and my top paire top kicked held.

From that, i managed to grind a little, increasing my stack up to 50,000 with almost never going to showdown. Eventually, a 3 barrel bluff is not gonna work on a local, and i’m back to 22,000…. Roller coaster :)

I’ll end up day 1 with 47,000 chips, with an average of 58,000. Happy to still be alive, considering the terrible start i took. Un fortunately, Feliciana, on her side, wasn’t that lucky. Seating at a very crazy Italian style table, where players were not scared to go all in with queen high, she reached the diner break with less that 10 big blinds… She eventually doubled up, craking Aces but she then lost a crucial coin flip KQ vs 33.

Back for Day 2

On the second day, with 150 players left, and a new table, the start is not gonna be any better that on day 1. Totally card dead, i managed to lose half of my stack, just because of the blinds. I’ll finally double up when after a raise from a local, i will shove my 10 big blinds with A9 from the button. She calls and the flop gives us a nice A98. From that, i then managed to steal the blinds from time to time, and keep my stack bellow average, but not too short stack. After changing tables for the 5th time, i had to move. With 20k in the middle just with the blinds and antes, and with a stack of 45k, i pushed 3 or 4 times in a row with hands such as J4 … I was never called. Finally, under the gun, i was called when i pushed with a pair of 10. It was a coin flip against AJ and with a J on the flop, but also a ten, it was my turn to collect some chips. The hand right after, when everybody folds and the SB is obviously trying to steal my BB, it is to me an obvious call with A5s. He holds a pair of tens, totally the top of his range, and I am lucky enough to hit the Ace on the turn. I’m now seating behind a nice 270k, where i was only around 80k 3 hands before…

Last hand before the diner break. I raise from the SB with 55. The BB calls. The flop gives Q96. We both check. The turn is a 4 and I proceed to my delayed Cbet. He calls. There is 2 hearts and 2 spades on that board. The River is an other Queen, that he never has. I decide to check call any bet, but after a good 3 minutes reflexion, he gives up and check with King high and a missed draw.

I’m up to 368k at the dinner break, and I finally have a good stack to play the bubble time, and play my aggressive game. This is gonna work quite well as i’m gonna travel through the bubble and increase my stack significantly up to 400k. I raise QQ, a guy moves all in for 200k with JJ. and a Jack on the flop takes away the chip lead from me. Down to 220k, I still don’t panic and finally arrive to a new table. he blinds have increased and under the gun, i shove my 7BB with A3 suited, and get called my AK. I hit a straight, and i’m back in the game. I’ll even get lucky once more when from the button, i shove KQ to still the blinds of two guys who were short stacked, and get called once again by AK… We will both his a straight (again), and my stack is unchanged. The chip leader moves to my right, and everytime he is gonna raise, i’m gonna move all in. I will double up my stack with never showing a hand. :p

I finish the day by busting out an other short stack QQ vs A7s and i reach the final table with the 5th stack, with 1,240 millions.

Final table

The final table is rather interesting as we are 5 with almost the same stack. The 4 short stack are going to bust quite quickly, and we can then fight among bigger stacks. I manage to lose some of my chips, but finally, i win a coin flip to bust another Italian.

A bad bluff and a lost coin flip later, i finish 4th of this tourney, out of 350 players! Nice run. The colors of Chilipoker were brought to a final table, and I have never been so proud to were that patch on my chest! (report of my final table in french and english here).

Yes, we do love poker, but on top of that, we are proud to work for this brand!

Chilipoker, connect players !

As we were explaining last week, we didn’t wait for the WSOP to start, to qualify our own players.

The past few weeks, lots of players fought to get a chance to win a package that would take them to their dream destination: Las Vegas.

Today, we are going to start the indroduction  of our 4 qualified players with an interview every week (with more to come hopefully).

#1 Marc ESTEVE aka MarcEsteve12

Marc can you please introduce yourself for our readers please?

My name is Marc and I’m a 29 years old male from Barcelona, Spain. Until lately, i was the owner of a mobile phones store but because of the crisis, I’ve had to close it. I now try to live of poker but I have only just started.

How long have you been playing poker for and how did you discover the game?

I have started to play 5 cards draw about ten years ago, from time to time, with friends.  Regarding Texas Holdem, I have been playing for 3 years now, and I aslo started by playing only with friends. For 2 years, I have been playing more regularly, and it’s only these past two months that I’ve decided to play more seriously.

what do you play? What limits and what’s your favorite?

I play mostly Texas Holdem No Limit although i play Pot Limit Omaha from time to time. Most of the time I like playing live tournaments, cash games, and finally online poker five to six hours a day, on different networks. Whether i play online or live, i play low to medium limits. The past year and a half, i managed to make about $60,000 mostly in tournaments.

Why do you play on Chilipoker ?

I discovered this poker room with the Chilipoker DeepStack Open in Lloret de Mar, Costa Brava, where i finished 5th, and then i won the package for the DSO in Cannes, still on Chilipoker.com. At the moment, I am 6th in the leaderboard, and we’ll see how it goes in Marrakesh from the 23rd of June. The reason I play on Chilipoker is because they have really good satellite tournaments.

Have you ever been to Las Vegas before, and have you played the WSOP before?

No I’ve never been to Las Vegas before. I couldn’t make it last year because of personal reasons linked ot my business. I’m very excited to be able to travel this year thanks to Chilipoker. It’s all inclusive, I get to play the main event. What else can I ask for?

How did you qualify this year and was it difficult?

I saw the online satellite while I was going through the lobby as I didn’t know it very well yet. The first time I played it, it had been classified though another sat of cheaper buy in, around $15, but i busted in 5th position. So the following week, I decided to try again and Boom! I was delighted! When I got to the final table with 3 times as many chips as the second player, i started to play really aggressively and I managed to get rid of the 9 players left.

What events are you going to play once you are in Las Vegas?

I decided to go to vegas a few days before the main event, in order to play some side events in the WSOP. I will be in Las Vegas from the 30th of June until the 17th of July.

Are you going on your own, or with friends?

I will be going with some friends who already were in Vegas last year.

Is it going to be your biggest event ever? What other major events have you played before ?

This is going to be the biggest event I’ve ever played and I think the WSOP main event is the tournament every poker player wants to play once in his life, whether amateur or professional.

As I said, i play at a level a lot lower than what i would be able to afford. I already took part in some EPT and WPT side events (€1,000, €1,500) and a main poker event in Barcelona for €1,650, the EMOP still in Barcelona for €1,000, and several stages of the Spanish Championship. Two weeks ago, i played the Estrellas Poker Tour in Alicante, Spain, for €1,000. This season, i will be taking part in all stages of the Chilipoker Deepstack Open, and next week I will probably play the Unibet Open in Barcelona (€1,650). To summarize, i play tournaments with an average buy in of €1,500, because my bankroll doesnt allow me to play higher.

Other than you, who do you think has a good chance for a bracelet this year ?

Since I can’t pick me or Phil Ivey (who won’t be playing the series this year), the choice is quite hard! ;o) To be honest, the field is so wide that a pronostic is almost impossible. I think someone like Gus Hansen has good chances this year.

You manage to reach the heads up of the main event, in November. What do you do?

I would be so happy that I would go crazy! Who wouldn’t?

What can you say to all the chilipoker players to make them wanna support you during the WSOP?

For every player who will support me if I manage to be a November Nine later this year, I will give them 0,01% of my payout! ah ah a h ;o)

What do think about the Chilipoker team for the WSOP and about the fact that we Connect Players?

I think it’s really good to try and create a team spirit so everybody can feel more supported.

Are you looking forward to meeting Liz Lieu ? :p

I think I remember playing with her once in Barcelona for the EPT in 2010, the €1,000 side event and it will be nice to see her again.

Thanks very much for your answers Marc, and good luck for the series!

We will obviously keep you posted on how Marc is doing during the main event. If you too want to join our team and qualify for the WSOP, find more info on this page!

Next week, you will discover another player from our Chilipoker WSOP team!

Hello everyone!

As you all know, the World Series Of Poker have started in Las Vegas, USA. It’s that time of the year when all the players migrates to Nevada to try and make money, running after a gold bracelet, synonym of a World Champion title.

Like we do every year, once again in 2011 we are hosting a few qualifiers for the series.

So far, on top of our poker Diva Liz Lieu, we already have 4 lucky players who will be flying to Vegas for one or several events of the WSOP.

In the next few weeks, we will introduce you to our qualified players, and we are counting on you to cheer for them during the series!

You already know one of them, as Norson Saho is also on a huge streak in our Unstack Me If You Can promotion. He just won the heads up for the 5th week in a row, along with a total of $7,500 ! Norson aka lllllillliiiiiiiiiilllllllllll on Chilipoker.com, has qualified for 3 events of the WSOP, including the main event worth $10,000 buy in itself and we heard that he might even play a couple more…

our 4 qualified players are:

-Norson Saho, aka  lllllillliiiiiiiiiilllllllllll,  Brazil

-Marc Esteve, aka MarcEsteve12, Spain

-Pawel Zielony, aka LuckyGilmor86, Poland

-Patryk Slusarek, aka WIkRambo, Poland

The WSOP Main Event will start the 7th of July, and we will make sure you know our players before that! Full schedule is available on the official WSOP website.

The WSOP have started and although some players are creating a polemic following the black friday, everybody is excited and this year promises to be a good one, even if the field tends to be a little smaller. Then main actors of the industry will gather around and if you are a poker fanatic like we are, you might wanna make sure you follow the poker news! We are being quite active on Twitter, where we tweet and retweet the most important news throughout the day.

So far, the $25,000 heads up championship got a field of 128 players, and players like Gus Hansen and Tom Dwan ended up creating big action. The “Great Dane” finally managed to make a huge come back in this HU match to defeat Durrrrr. Can Hansen manage to win another HU tournament after his bracelet during the WSOPe in London? Jake Cody or Yevgeniy Timoshenko are still in the last eight too. more updates on www.wsop.com.

The event #3 has started too, an omaha high low split eight or better, and players have now made it to day 2. Event #4 will be starting today, and this $5,000 NLHE event has been expected by a lots of players. Whether you support players like Daniel Negreanu, David Benyamine, Barry Greenstein, or a less known player from your country, you can expect to see them from today, at the beautiful Rio, Las Vegas!