Until recently, Charlotte Van Brabander was better known for beating the guys at video games than poker. A year ago, at age nineteen, she made a name for herself as a member of a female team who played the game Counterstrike at the World Championship on Online Gaming.

Now Charlotte is turning some of that natural aggression toward a new arena. She came in twenty-fifth in the Benelux Championship of Online Poker that wrapped up on December 21. The ten day series included eleven events and was designed for players in Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. Charlotte outlasted 278 of the game’s toughest players in the Main Event, including PokerStars Team Pros Matthias de Meulder, Christophe de Meulder, Thierry Van den Berg, Joep van den Bijgaart, Ruben Visser, Thierry van den Berg and Pieter de Korver.

Charlotte has been practicing a lot by playing the tournaments in the PokerStars Women’s League. She says that the women in the league are more aggressive than the men she’s played against. Her belief is that men perceive women to be tight at the table, and she likes to use that image to her advantage when she plays against them. She is currently studying criminology and law at university, so it sounds like she is taking the academic approach to her mental game as well.

Charlotte revels in the challenge of showing that women can be as good as men in video games and poker, and her quote on the subject sums it up. “Beating guys gives me an extremely happy feeling.” So gentlemen, you’ve been warned. Charlotte’s “happy feeling” is bound to make some of the men at her table miserable at the next event.

Tags: belgium | benelux | luxembourg | netherlands | pokerstars | ruben-visser | table | thierry van den berg | video-games

Almost exactly one year ago, it took Eugene “MyRabbiFoo” Katchalov nearly 24 straight hours of poker to capture the WCOOP heads-up title. Katchalov won 11 consecutive matches during this feat of endurance and should probably have received a medal, a stiff drink, and a new puppy along with his his bracelet for making it through the marathon session. For WCOOP 2010, however, the powers that be at PokerStars showed their players (and bloggers) some mercy and transformed Event #12, $215 Heads-up NLHE, into a two-day event. After an extremely manageable nine and a half hours of play, the 2,307-strong field was cut to the 64 runners who will return to the virtual felt tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. EDT to play down to a new WCOOP champion.

Over 30 members of Team PokerStars Pro and Team PokerStars Online came out to prove their heads-up prowess and compete for a share of the $461,400 prize pool. Among them were Barry Greenstein, Anh Van Nguyen, Thierry Van Den Berg, Anders “Donald” Berg, David Williams, Bertrand Grospellier, George Danzer, Gualter Salles, Jason Mercier, Joe Cada, George “jorg95″ Lind III, J.P. Kelly, Daniel Negreanu, Marcello Del Grosso, Chris Moneymaker, Randy “nanonoko” Lew, Orel Hershiser, Steven “stevejpa” Paul, Tom McEvoy, Vicky Coren, Victor Ramdin, and Steven “stevesbets” Jacobs. 256 places paid and the 64 players who survived Day 1 were all assured a payday of at least $1,384.20. Four Team Pros finished in the money– Marcello Del Grosso (205th), Jason Mercier (96th), Tae Joon Noh (74th), and Steven Paul (72nd)– while David Williams and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier will return for Day 2.

The Red (Spade) Army

Barry Greenstein won his Round II match when starcity85 moved all-in on the turn after making tens up when the board paired fives. Greenstein called with pocket jacks and they held up to send him through to the next round. His third-round match against fydor_8 ended in a coinflip, Greenstein’s pocket fours holding up against [Ah][8s]. However, Greenstein finished outside the money in 384th place when his ten-high straight fell to N00000ooooo’s king-high straight.

Marcello Del Grosso made quick work of his Round 4 opponent, winning his match in only five hands. All the money went in before the flop, Del Grosso’s [5d][5h] trailing MCLegend’s [9d][9c]. Del Grosso, though, got lucky and flopped a set. In the final hand of his Round V match, Del Grosso tried to move his opponent off top pair, shoving over Aptok’s his check-raise with only [Ah][2h] on a [Kh][3c][2s] flop. Aptok called with [Kc][8c] and made trips on the turn when the [Ks] fell. The river was the [Th] and Del Grosso exited in 205th place.

Jason Mercier won a flip for all the bones in his Round II match, his [Kh][Qs] rivering top pair against 1$sickDisea$e’s pocket eights. In the third round, Mercier called a pre-flop raise with [Kh][4d], then made trips when the flop came down [8d][4c][4h]. Mercier check-raised the flop, got a call, then got two more streets of maximum value after Nanette-1965 made top pair on the turn. Round IV saw Mercier get it in bad pre-flop, his [Ad][7s] dominated by [As][Jd]. However, Mercier flopped a seven and turned another one, taking down the match with trips. Winning Round V also took another stroke of luck as Mercier rivered trips against an opponent who made aces up. Check it out.

Mercier met his tournament end in the final round of Day 1, moving all-in with [7h][8h] on a [9h][8d][2d] flop. Xxndavisxx called with [7c][Tc], turned a straight when the [6d] fell, then rivered a better straight with the [Jc], sending Mercier to the rail in 96th place.

Steven “stevejpa” Paul was able to win five matches, but not a sixth. Paul lost most of his stack when he five-bet shoved pre-flop with [Ac][3h] only to run in to GoGators86′s pocket kings.

“Sigh i’m the worst,” he said as the board blanked out.

Paul was eliminated on the next hand after turning top two pair only to have his opponent river a broadway straight. His run ended with a 72nd place finish.

The Texan and the Frenchman

David Williams won his Round III match when he rivered a king-high flush against SizouSayz’s queen-high flush. In the fourth round, his decisive hand came when he three-bet shoved over morten85′s 120-chip min-raise. Morten85 called the additional 4,002 with [Ac][Kd], but Williams’s pocket sevens flopped a set. The last of morten85′s chips went in on a [5h][Qc][Kd][Qs] board, Williams making the call. Although morten85 turned trip queens with [Qd][Jh], Williams had [Kh][Kc] and took down the match with kings full.

The decisive hand of Williams’ Round V match saw all the money go in on a [Qs][2s][Th] flop, Williams holding top two pair with [Qc][Ts] while ezhik09 was in dire shape with [Qd][4c]. A short time later, Williams punched his ticket to the final 64 when he called a four-bet shove with [As][Ac] and saw his hand hold up against MagicMan111′s [Ah][Qs].

Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier took down his third-round match when his pocket jacks held up against pocket eights. Grospellier sealed up his Round IV match when his straight draw came in against a set, then scored another KO in Round V with pocket kings against [As][Qs]. In the sixth round, ElkY had pulled out to a 4-1 chip lead when DEEZZZ_NUTS decided to make a move. DEEZZZ_NUTS led out for 120 on the [Js][Jd][5h] flop, Grospellier min-raised to 240 ad DEEZZZ_NUTS shoved for 1,784. Grospellier made an easy call and he advanced to the final 64 once the [9c] hit the turn and the [6d] fell on the river.

The best of times, the worst of times

So, you know that sick, anxious malaise that comes over you when you’ve bluffed off all your chips drawing dead? Mattsim23 had to be drowning in it after he made an ill-timed move on Kevin “BeL0WaB0ve” Saul in their Round V match.

Saul, however, was eliminated in the sixth round on a wicked cooler. Innamon opened for a min-raise to 100, Saul three-bet to 325 and innamon called. Saul led out for 342 on the [As][Tc][9s] flop, and innamon called. The turn paired the board with the [Ts] and Saul fired again, making it 755 to go. Innamon shoved for 4,461.

“I hate hero folding,” Saul said as he called off the rest of his stack.

Both players turned over trip tens, but innamon had the better kicker with [Qh][Th] while Saul held [Td][6d]. The river was the [5d] and Saul exited in 128th place, earning $922.80.

#1 Lucky who?

Dope West was so tardy to his Round IV match that his opponent #1_Lucky_One had no choice but to allow him to be blinded off after sitting out for as long as he could.

#1_Lucky_One: used 50 secs of my clock
#1_Lucky_One: and waited max time every hand all i can do
#1_Lucky_One: stealing i clould have bsuted him already ***
1_Lucky_One: I could have blinded him out already 100%
#1_Lucky_One: I could speed hit call
#1_Lucky_One: everyhand
#1_Lucky_One: Instead of waiting max time
#1_Lucky_One: waiting seems fair
#1_Lucky_One: 64 secs left on my clock
#1_Lucky_One: giving him cachance

As #1_Lucky_One waited for dope west, the observer chat seemed to indicate that the man behind the screen name was actually 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth. However, since #1_Lucky_One did not confirm his identity, we cannot definitively say it was him. What we can tell you is that once dope west showed up and read some of the chatter, he was flabbergasted at the potential identity of his opponent.

dope west: what happen
dope west: he was easy on me?
#1_Lucky_One: Yes I folded anf doled
dope west: OH MAN
dope west: phil hellmuth?
dope west: seriously my idol
dope west: PHIL THANK YOU FOR INSPIRING and being a gentleman and waiting
#1_Lucky_One: whoever i am, your welcome
#1_Lucky_One: lol

Dope west ended up busting #1_Lucky_One. All the money went in before the flop, dope west with [Kh][Kd] and #1_Lucky_One holding [Ac][Qc]. Dope west flopped top set but #1_Lucky_One could not live up to his name and pull out a miracle.

Make sure to check back in at 5 p.m. EDT tomorrow for the final six rounds of play. If you have yet to get in on the WCOOP action, well what are you waiting for? Head over to the WCOOP page for more information and a complete schedule. If multimedia is your thing, make your way over to PokerStars.tv for the best of WCOOP in moving pictures.

Tags: bracelet | david-williams | final | grospellier | idol | jason-mercier | mercier | money | online | opponent | turn | victor | victor-ramdin | virtual | williams

by Thierry van den Berg
When I think about the PokerStars World Championships of Online Poker, I think about the biggest online tournaments of the year and life-changing prize money. Every player can, with a bit of luck, win a large amount of money and the WCOOP will change the life of many people.

For the pro’s it’s different. Players like me invest large amounts in the WCOOP and we have to make at least one final table to break even. Amateurs, on the other hand, are extremely happy when they make a final table because the money is so huge.

That’s the beauty of the WCOOP; pros and amateurs competing together to win the biggest prizes in online poker. The first prize is often more than $100,000 and sometimes more than a $250,000. On the other hand, WCOOP one of toughest series of the year because the fields are so big. More often than not you have no idea who you are playing against but when you get deeper in a tournament the edge of the pros is pretty big. And that’s because of our preparations.

WCOOP tournaments will run easily for more than 12 hours and every players needs to be focused the whole time. Everybody gets tired after a 12-hour session and it’s just how you handle the pressure while you’re exhausted. For amateurs it’s tougher to play sessions that long because they simply aren’t used to the amount of pressure and the huge prizes. Also, they are more tired than us pros and that’s where we have the biggest edge in the WCOOP. That’s also one of the reasons that you see a lot of pros at the final tables.

I always try to start fresh at a big tournament. Obviously my goal is to win a tournament and I think you have more chance to win a big tournament when you live a healthy lifestyle. Before I played in the World Series of Poker I already changed my lifestyle. I work out regularly and I make sure I don’t eat too much fast food or other food that contains too much fat. I also eat a lot of vegetables. Besides food it’s also important to get enough sleep during a tournament series.

I stayed at Palms Place for the last two years during the WSOP and it’s perfect for poker players like me. You can get enough rest and you are not living in a casino the whole day. It helps you to focus more on your game and my healthy lifestyle is one of the reasons I have cashed three times in a row in the WSOP Main Event.

For the WCOOP I also try to change my rhythm a little bit. I sleep in the morning or afternoon and I play at night because the WCOOP is mostly during the night. With this rhythm I narrow the edge on the American players who have a big advantage because of the better time zone.

Personally I can’t wait ’till the WCOOP starts. I have a couple of nice cashes in the NLHE tournaments and my biggest result is a 2nd place in the $320 single rebuy WCOOP 2nd chance in 2008. I really want to break my personal record and I am ready to put a win on my resume. I still don’t have a bracelet around my arm and after a WSOP bracelet, the WCOOP bracelet is the goal of every poker player.

The best tournaments in my eyes are the two-day tournaments. You start with a lot of the chips and the blind structure is so good that it will give us lots of play during the whole tournament. I always feel good in these deepstack tournaments and I am really looking forward to playing in those events. During SCOOP I made Day 2 of the $2,100 NLHE event but unfortunately I came short in 36th place.

Last but not least I want to recommend the satellites to the WCOOP main events. A satellite is ideal because most of the time you can enter a Main Event for less money than the regular buy-in. I played a lot of satellites for bigger events in the past and the money you save with satellites is the first money you win. Satellites are running now and you can find them in the PokerStars Lobby under Events >>WCOOP, or by visiting the official WCOOP site.

Good luck, and I hope to see you at the tables.

Tags: beauty | biggest | ept | food | life | online | pokerstars | rhythm | SCOOP | wcoop | World Series of Poker | world-series | wsop