Poker Words - A Poker Blog: WSPL Goes To Vegas Season 2

After a bunch of slacking and general laziness, and a some false starts, we're finally ready to start season two of the West Suburban Poker League's WSOP adventure. Assuming no one backs out in the next 12 hours or so we'll have nine players again this year.

Entrance for the league is $600. There will then be 12 tournaments, on Sunday nights, starting tonight. The top two finishers of each tourny will get $150 and $50. The remaining money will go to the top two winners of the league to enter one of the $1500 WSOP events. Their winnings at the WSOP will be split amongst the group 20% for the player, 10% for everyone else. I think the winner should get a higher percentage, but not everyone agreed, and rather than delaying the start of the league while we argued over it, I gave in. Chances are it won't matter any way.

Here is a list of the players.

Greg AKA Smack. Greg won last year. I think he had his spot locked in by week 9. He week he would either win, or go out early. Most often it seemed, he would win. Greg did not fair too well in the WSOP, getting bounced in the first couple hours. His is play is such that if he gets chips early he's very difficult to get rid of, but if things don't work out well early on, he can get himself short stacked pretty quick. Unfortunately ( or maybe fortunately). Greg is out this season. His wife is pregnant and due around the time of the WSOP so he has to take a year off. Him not being in increases my odds of winning a spot by a great deal, but I think it also decreases our odds of cashing in the WSOP.
Mark. Mark is the new guy in the league. He's been in a few of our live games, but I don't think I've ever played with him. I think he's a decent player just from conversations we've had, but I'm not really sure what to expect. Odds of making the WSOP: 1/5
Me. Your hero and the person we all really want to win this thing. Odds 3/7
Shane. Shane came in third place last season. He's definitely one of the more improved players in the league, but I'm not real impressed with his skill. He plays a pretty conservative passive game. Odds 1/12
Rich. Rich plays a lot of heads up online. I did manage to beat him heads up last year, but I think I had to hid a one or two outer to do so. He came in just a point behind Shane last year, and I expect him to do well again this year. Odds 2/7
Archie. Archie doesn't play online, other than this league and I think that cost him last year. He also ran into smack a number of times at the end of tournies and it just didn't work out for him. He was one of my picks to win last year, and if I had to pick anyone to win this year it would probably be him again. Odds 1/3
Jason aka Cookie. I'll probably still refer to him as Cookie this year since there is another Jason in the league. Cookie the random aggressive non-caring belligerent crazy that you either love or hate to have at your table. He did real well early on in the league when no one gave him credit for anything. He also managed to win hands in which he was way behind more often than not. At one point he complained that the game was moving too fast because the poker client kept popping up over his Star Wars Galaxy game that he was simultaneously playing. He went on to win that tourney. He faltered in the second half of the league so we luckily did not have to rely on him in Vegas. Depending on his interest levels he could do pretty well. I don't think he'll be able to maintain the required level of interest for the whole season. Odds 1/8
Aaron. Aaron is the most likely to leave the table in a tilty rage. He won back to back weeks last year and got super cocky, only to finish the league in 7th place. He has gotten way better though. Last year I considered him dead money. This year he has a reasonable chance at making a run. He's also been playing a lot of live poker so hopefully that will help. Odds 1/5
Noah. Noah is probably the most competitive amongst us, and usually a pretty good player. I think he ran into bad beats at the hands of Cookie more often than anyone last year. He's getting married shortly after the league ends though so I expect him to get distracted towards the end. Especially if he doesn't get off to a great start. Odds 1/4
Jason. Jason likes to gamble. I think most of us in the league do, but I think Jason probably does it the most. Unfortunately for him, sports betting, and not poker is his strong suit. I haven't played with him outside of this league, but I get the impression that he hasn't played much outside of friendly dealer call it type games. I don't think he's studied the game as much as the rest of us and that will be his downfall. He's not a bad player, and would probably do well against a random guy on the street, but the competition in this league is a little better. He did have a newborn during last season, so that may have been a distraction as well. Odds 1/12