Satellites have already started on Chilipoker.com, so log into your account right now, and start playing ! (if you don’t have an account, you can get one by clicking here)

Stay tuned with us all week long for more infos about up coming tournaments and satellites, presentation of our very new DSO team, interviews and promotions !

So in the middle of the week, Ophélie and Alex, our DSO organisers, and me, a community manager on Holiday eager to play a quality poker tournament, flew to the Austrian capital, looking for a good atmosphere, and some Schnitzels ! Adrien, a good friend of us, came along for some good fun.

First things first, make sure our players will be comfortably seated on the casino chairs. We all sat at a cash game table

After going broke one by one, we called it an early night as the day after, everybody had to get up to go and meet the DSO players, do the registrations, or play the actual tournament. 170 players took part in Day 1A. It looked like the field was gonna be smaller than the previous year, where 505 players had taken part in the first ever DSO Vienna.

My tournament went rather bad. The 50k starting stack went down to 21k, then back to 83k, then down again… My table was rather tough and weird, and i couldn’t find many spots. I finally managed to double up when in a 3 way pot, holding 88, i was happy to put all the chips in against a guy who tought it was smart to push with KK on a flop AQ8 :p i Back doored a full house, and i got the lucky news that i was the 3rd DSO VIP player of the day to hit a full house, and got rewarded with a BOSE Headset ! At least, i didn’t grind 1000 FPPs on Chilipoker.com for nothing

Anyway, long story short, I busted 20 minutes before the end of day 1, on a cloin flip. LOL @ tournament poker

At least i would enjoy the rest of the week with my friends, and play some cash games. yeah right. let’s not talk about this.

Saturday was day 2, but saturday waas also the Chilipoker party for the DSO VIP players. Little cocktails with little chilis inside, quite spicy. Very nice. There was also quantity of drinks for anybody else who wanted to try more local (or international) drinks. :p

Anyway, overall a very nice weekend. Everyone agreed on coming back next year. That’s what it’s like during a DSO. A great atmosphere lots of poker !

Next stage is Marrakech and it looks like we’re all going so make sure you book your flights ASAP and we’ll make sure there is some more of that red cocktail with chilizzzzzz over there

Well, although it is really hard to be a November Nine, like Matt Gianetti, who is warming up quite well lately, even winning the WPT Malta, it is also very hard to deep run in a tournament when about 7,000 players started (and even more when the buy in is $10,000). Well, two of our players, Nelson and Norson, decided that this year they would take the Chilipoker colors up high. Nelsinho Dantas won the chilipoker “last longer” and finished 236th in this event. Eventhough he didn’t reach the money, Norson certainly distinguished himself from the rest of the field.

A chilipoker player at the feature table

While trying to build a decent stack for the rest of the day, Norson was brought to a new table, like is always happen during a long tournament. A couple of sharks were waiting for him at this very same table, as poker pros Daniel Negreanu and Sami Kelopuro were already bullying the table.

Whatever the issue, we were glad to see our colors on ESPN, when we started to watch the 2011 WSOP Series.

You will find Norson playing a couple of hands on the feature table on the pokercast website, at 1:18:20 onwards.

WSOP 2011 With Norson Saho

Norson at the WSOP 2011 feature table

There is one tournament that we are all waiting for, and for many reasons: the Chilipoker DeepStack Open in Malta.

The main one is that Malta is the home of many gaming companies, including Chilipoker. We have been organizing the Chilipoker DeepStack Open for two years now, going from an entertaining Irish City, to a beautiful Spanish resort. This is now time for all at once. The fun, the sun, the parties, the poker environment.  We are going to make sure that you make of this experience, one of the best in your poker life.

The casino is located a few miles from our headquarters, and we all live in the Saint Julians-Sliema area, where the casino is located. By the time the tournament comes, you could be sitting with the Chilipoker Crew, sipping a good old Cisk in the sun (Folks, drinking is bad).

We are expecting the tournament to be sold out online, and so far it is looking good. The tourney is getting lots of attention from players in Italy, France, England, Scandinavia etc … We should reach the 500 players mark. Added to one hour levels, and 50,000 chips per players, you will add to the sun and the party time, lots of blood! (not actual blood, i’m talking about action at the tables !)

Super Satellite – Don’t Miss Out

Since August, we have been organizing a series of online qualifiers (DSO a la Carte), but tonight starts our Chilipoker DeepStack Open Super Satellite. For €88, you could win a €1150 package (flight, hotel, buy in etc …) and join us in Malta!

A bit too much for your modest bankroll? Well not a problem, because you can qualify for as little as €1 on Chilipoker.com.

So don’t wait and register for tonight’s satellite ! We are waiting for you, in Malta !

And if you don’t believe you can have fun during a DSO, ask Liv Boeree ;o) !

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

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!

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!

#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!

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!

The supershow is THE affiliate conference in Europe where all the igaming industry gets to meet each other, do business, exchange. We call that networking.

Of course, Chiligaming was attending, and our marketing and affiliate managers made the trip to the city of Molly Malone, from Malta, going through the ashes of Grimsvoetn in Islande.

Supershow 2011

As soon as they get back they will talk about their trip on the Share The Chili blog, but from what we’ve heard it was a hell of a week.

They got to intoduce a bit more Chiliconnect to everyone, and we are happy to hear lots of positive feedback on it. Obviously, we are very eager of any kind of constructive feedback on this topic, whether is it in a comment on the blog, on on Twitter, or our Facebook page.

Andrea, our casino manager, was here too, representing Chilicasino. There will be lots of good news coming in the future regarding our Casino games so stay tuned and follow Inside Chilicasino!

IGSOP

This year Chilipoker was the proud sponsor of the IGSOP in Dublin. All the players had fun, while the Dealers could all proudly wear a Chilipoker T-shirt, and a hat. Seeing the poker tables with our logo reminded us of the WPT in Marrakesh and it is a nice feeling.

Our numerous qualified players did well, and we hear that one of them even reached the final table! Once again, more news soon on Inside Share the Chili!

While our crew is coming back today (apparently the ashcloud is being nice today), and so you can wait for the report from our affiliate team, here are a few pictures from Dublin!

Enjoy!