Recently in Katja Thater Category

Normally, during a break between levels, I’ll catch up players for updates from a primary source. With Team PokerStars Pro Katja Thater I take a different approach. Few players are as focused as Katja during a tournament and prefer not to be disturbed. Just ask her husband Jan von Halle.

“The best word I could use is ‘patient’. ‘Patient’ and ‘aggressive’.”

As reported earlier Katja’s day 2 was one of those where you strap yourself in and hit the gas. Maybe you’ll spin off the road leaving a glorious trail of destruction. Or maybe you’ll speed past a few people, putting some distance between yourself and the pack.

With a huge stack yesterday the last level saw Katja endure a chip stack collapse. Finding herself down to 18,000 from 280,000 she was forced to refocus and effectively start again. Testament to the kind of player she is she persevered and made her way back to safety and 240,000.

“She’s very confident” said Jan. “She believes no one has an edge against her and that she can play better than most.”

It’s the kind of attitude and never-say-die spirit that sees her into the last 40 players.

Jan, who is also the founder of the German PokerStars blog, went out of the HORSE event himself in level ten yesterday after a bad 45 minute spell. Kenny Tran acted as vanquisher.

“He ignored me for about three hours and then all of a sudden introduced himself and we started talking. From then on he won every hand against me! It must have been magic or something.”

It’s the first time either Katja or Jan have played in the HORSE, “We were more responsible last year!” But after a good year - which included a bracelet in the Razz event for Katja 12 months ago and multiple cashes for each of them - they opted for a healthy mixture of ‘something to prove’ and ‘what the hell’, taking their seats at the start of one of the World Series’ most anticipated event on Wednesday.

It’s been a memorable summer for Jan also, in keeping with his results from 12 months ago when he cashed four times and made the final table of the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em - albeit making only a brief appearance.
“I was the first player out. I moved with 9-2 off-suit. Whoosh... I’d do it again!”

This year was memorable for another final table and fourth place in the Pot Limit Hold’em, but also for something else, as I was about to find out...

“Did you hear how I missed a royal flush?”

This sounded good.

“I was on a table with all the top players and I overlooked a royal flush. I even checked behind two times! I’d been working in the office full time for six months – I was tired. I thought I had a black jack not a red one, so I figured I just had the straight.”

Trying to hide that kind of embarrassment isn’t easy and it’s now one of the most popular stories on German poker forums, alongside a picture of Jan with a t-shirt reading “Royal Flush, checked behind.”

“It wasn’t a big pot anyway” added Jan in consolation.

Still, worth the t-shirt...

“Yeah, I think so...”

Back to Katja though, who currently sways to the massage tempo. Whilst she's been playing the HORSE her husband has busted out of two tournaments. She's in for the long haul. Her stack? That’s now somewhere on the sunny side of 300k.

At the first half of the dinner break (it's staggered in two groups tonight) Freddy Deeb stepped up to Blogger Central with a simple request. The man may be flush with cash and traveling the world to play in poker tournaments. Alas, he had no iPod charger. Fortunately, we did. For the loan, Deeb said, "You can listen to my music if you want."

Naturally curious, I asked, "And what kind of music is that?"

"Lebanese," he said, then quickly added as if it was necessary, "not Japanese."

With Deeb gone, we turned our focus to the half of the field that had to wait to eat. Among them was Team PokerStars Pro Katja Thater who, unfortunately, will get to take dinner break earlier than the rest of her fellow players. The word on the street says Thater flopped top pair with big slick but ran into someone else who had two pair.

Others on the Team are faring better. Bad news for Julian Thew is great news for Andre Akkari. It was Thew's kings versus Akkari's aces that sent Thew to the rail. Tuan Lam has also worked his stack up to nearly 40,000 by the dinner break. A cursory look at the tables makes it appear as though Johnny Lodden has stepped up to the chip lead. Despite losing with aces vs. AK (all-in preflop), he still has nearly 60,000 chips.

For a complete look back at coverage from the first half of play today, check out the following links.

Fortunes by the Sea
Picture perefect on the Cote D'Azure
The party before the poker
The Hunt for the Title Begins
Titans clash
Never too soon for some
Profile: Andre Akkari
Greg Raymer: All clammed up
The Negreanu guarantee?
The Stolzmann Crown
Flashing lights and sparkle on table Isabelle
PokerStars Player Lounge

Finally, just in the Blogger Central, a look at last night's PokerStars Welcome Party. It's about the cloest thing you'll get to being there, without having to directly confront your childhood fear of men in masks. Confused? Just watch.