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) !

Nelson Dantas, one of our qualified players for the WSOP Main Event, just made his biggest cash out in a live event. Qualified for no more than $300 on Chilipoker.com, he just won over $40,000 finishing 236th out of 6,900 players, in the most prestigious tournament in the world.

Above average almost every day until day 4, he made it to day 5 with a stack around 279,000 chips, below average. He was happy and in the money.

Unfortunately, as he explains on his Facebook, he lost two big pots although he started favorite with AA, and then ended up losing a crucial coin flip, holding 33 vs AK.

236th for $40,654, the best ever live result for Nelsinho, who only had one Hendon Mob line until today, already in the WSOP Main Event two years ago -535th for $23,196-

We are very proud of him and we hope he will qualify for some more major tournaments on Chilipoker.com !

We’ve been introducing them week after week, and we are now already through the day 1 (our players played Day 1D), and the day 2 (Day 2B for us).

Unfortunately, Liz Lieu, our sponsored player, didn’t make it to day two, following a very tough decision.

A terrible set up for Liz Lieu

On the button with KK, she decided to 3bet a passive player who open raided under the gun. This same player made it 4bet and she called. This was level 5, on the blinds 100-200. With 7,500 in the pot already, the player UTG made a Cbet for 6,125, and raised for over 18,000, with 26,000 behind. The opponent moved all in, and the poker diva made the call. Classic opposition between the American Airlines (AA), and the Cowboys…

picture by Hugues Fournaise

On the other hand, it didn’t take long for us to realize that most of the players we had sent to Sin City where pretty solid players. Apart from Pawel, who was going to Las Vegas for one of his first live event, Patryk, Norson, Nelson and Marc are all professional players, and some of them where playing the main event for the 2nd or 3rd year in a row.

After losing Patryk Slusarek during Day 2, all our spicy eyes are now focused on Norson Saho, with a very nice stack a little under 250,000. Nelson Dantas, also made it to day 3, with 110,000 chips. They both from Brazil, and both above an average of 73,448 chips.

On the other hand, Pawel Zielony, and Marc Esteve, are a bit shorter. Marc is seating behind 58,500, a few chips away from the average. He will have to hold and play a solid game, but everything is possible for him. Pawel, with 57,400, is pretty much in the same situation.

Chilipoker sends 4 players to day 3

Chilipoker Players:

- Norson Saho : 248,600

- Nelson Dantas :110,500

- Marc Esteve : 58,500

-PAwel Zielony : 57,600

The chip leader at the end of day 3 is Ben Lamb, with 551,600 and will be a serious candidate for the final table.

Top Nine:

1- Ben Lamb : 551,600

2- Kevin Saul : 542,200

3- Aleksandr : 478,600

4- Ryan D’Angelo : 462,300

5- Tuan Vo : 434,500

6- Guillaume Darcourt : 410,500

7- Nicolas Fierro : 405,000

8- Narendra Banwari : 404,800

9- Stéphane Albertini : 400,100

6865 players started this WSOP main event, with a buy in of $10,000, and they are 2804 hoping to be part of the november nine, the lucky nine players who will come back in November to play the final table of this main event, and succeed to Jonathan Duhamel, from Canada, the 2010 World Champion of Poker.

The play will resume on Thursday, and we will try to give you some updates.

This week, an other brazilian player!

NELSINHO DANTAS:

Nelson, can you please introduce yourself  for our readers please?

My name is Nelson Dantas, I’m 35 years old, live in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and i own a marketing agency. My second life is: Poker Player.

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

I’ve been playing  poker since 2002 and I started to play live in 2004. When I was younger i used to play five cards draw, and since I found Texas holdem, I never went changed back.

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

I always play Texas holdem. I don’t usually play many cash games, and usually go for tournaments. My favourite tournaments are the guaranteed with $109 to $300 dollars buy in. When I  play cash, I usually go for  $1/$2 tables.

Why do you play on Chilipoker?

I’ve known Chilipoker for some time, but I had never played there myself. When I started, my goal was to play the WSOP qualifiers and try to get a package for the  WSOP Main Event. I discovered that this Mega Super Satellite was the online tournament that was giving more on the guaranteed package and decided to play it, and all went well. Hope to keep playing there and keep winning tournaments.

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

This is my fourth year in Las Vegas to play the WSOP main event. On the first year I went there because I was the Brazilian online champion, what guaranteed me a seat on the main event. That year i fell right near the bubble. With that came a sponsorship offer from another site which i accepted. On the second year with the sponsorship, I played the main event again and finished 535 th, being the second best Brazilian that year. And last year I also played the main event, but did not manage to get to day 3. I hope that this year i can get to the 6^th day.

How did you qualify this year and was it difficult?

I qualified by playing the satellite on Chilipoker with 30 packages guaranteed. Any tournament that awards 5% of the field is, we can say,  tough. But I tried to play a solid game to grow my stack continuously so that in the end of the game i would not have the problem to bust on the bubble. So I happen to pick up AA right on the third hand, where i was BB and the button had KK, forced an all in pre flop and doubled up right from the start. From there onwards I always managed to keep myself in the top 30. In the final i tried to keep myself within the top 15, and end up working just fine. GUARANTEED PACKAGE TO THE WSOP MAIN EVENT !

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

I will arrive in Vegas on the 5^th and i want to play some tournaments at the Caesars, the Wynn and the Venetian, but from the WSOP I wanted to play just the main event. My focus this year is on the main event.

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

The main event is always the biggest event played by anyone, but i played several big tournaments, especially in Brazil.

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

The main event is very hard, not many people have a chance to get there, and the field is monstrous (around 7000 players) which does not give any favouritism to anyone. There are many aspects that influence a tournament where there are 9 days to find out who is the champion.

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

Going to focus even more to win, won’t let the opportunity slip through the fingers, in case i get to HU, but in case i get to HU the first thing i would do was to buy an apartment in Las Vegas to spend more time there. I Would also help some philanthropic identities here in Brazil.

What can you say to all the Chilipoker players to make them want to support you during the WSOP?

In the beginning i’ll post step by step of the main event on my twitter and facebook live, and also will pick a % to do a Freeroll on the site for all my followers.

Follow me:

Twitter: @nelsinhodantas

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/#!/NelsinhoDantas

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

I think it’s very interesting because it gives a strong base and safety to us players, besides we have contact with other players from the same team to exchange experiences and all…

Are you looking forward to meeting Liz Lieu?

Yes, always. Let’s see if she can give some luck to the WSOP event. hehehe

Thanks Nelson, and Good luck for the series!!

In other news today, our CEO Alexandre Dreyfus and Also Norson Saho, made it to day 2 in the event #54 at the WSOP, a $1,000 NLHE. Norson has 17,500 chips and Alex about 15,000. There are 360 players left and they both are between 160th and 200th so far. Good luck to both of them!

la fete du poker

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!