When you win a seat to play in an EPT, LAPT or APPT, you are sent formal form e-mails for registration. There are microsites dedicated to that specific event and extensive descriptions of the available hotels. Once you arrive onsite, banners are hung everywhere informing you are at a PokerStars event. You are greeted by a host of people at welcome tables with all types of information and a big goodie bag with various PokerStars items. Everything is very high class and buttoned up.

I won my seat on PokerStars to the 2003 Main Event and my experience was quite different. I received a personal email congratulating me and letting me know when the Main Event was. I was given a phone number and an email address for any questions.

My hotel was booked for me at Binions Horseshoe by PokerStars. When I arrived, there was no one greeting me or telling me where to go. I checked-in and called Dan Goldman (my contact from PokerStars) to let him know I had arrived. He instructed me to come to his room to collect my WSOP player bag.

I walked into his hotel room and was greeted by two guys in a hotel room watching ESPN. It was a standard room with about 20 player bags sitting in the corner. I introduced myself and came in to collect my bag. It was very informal and easygoing.

Both guys had been there for a few days sitting In the small hotel room handing out these bags. There weren't any signs or the huge player bags you see today. I got a bag with a few shirts and a handshake wishing me good luck. There was very little traffic into their hotel room, giving me time to ask questions about the WSOP and what was going on. I felt like I was walking into a buddies room to talk poker and that was pretty much PokerStars pre-2003!

Today it is glitz and glamour.

Just a few years ago, it was two guys in a hotel room.

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I haven't seen much of Sammy in the last eight years and didn't know what to expect from his game. I knew my game had improved a lot since that magical day. In 2003, my plan was to apply pressure and take any 50-50 shot I could to bust him. I felt outclassed in 2003 and most certainly was, but I had a strategy to negate his experience and it paid off.

Fast forward eight years. I feel very confident going into this match, and feel like I am the better player today. I have put a lot of time in to improve my game and played many heads up matches against top competition online at PokerStars. I knew going in, this game was going to play out differently than 2003, in that I would be more patient and control the action more than I was able to do in 2003. I felt good, but had zero idea what Sammy's game was like eight years later and was eager to find out.

The format of this match would be the best two out of three matches. The first match would be starting chips from the final hand at the 2003 WSOP (5.4 million for me and 2.9 million for Sam). The second match would be flipped stacks and the final would be even stacks. After some thought I felt I had the worst of the structure since I am playing someone I haven't seen in years. I was supposed to win the first match having the lead to start with. However, in a heads up match, the longer you play the more you learn about your opponent. I thought having the big stack first was a disadvantage in that I would know more about Sammy in the 2nd and 3rd match when I had a shorter stack.

That being said, I felt comfortable that I could play my game and come out on top.

I didn't know what to expect from Sammy. Was he going to go all 2003 and try to run me over? Would he be very sticky throughout hands? Or had his game changed completely? I really felt going in that I was not going to be able to bluff him but would be able to make large very thin value bets. Given what I knew of Sammy, my plan was to play pot control, play position, and get value from made hands.

Match #1

Sam started with the button and we were off in our historic heads up match. The blinds would be 20k-40k with a 5k ante. First hand out Sammy sends a message; Raise to 200K! Sammy was here to gamble and apply pressure I thought. My first thought when Sammy opened the first three pots with 5x raises was GG Sammy. If Sammy were going to continue this line of play, he would be chewed up. I was shocked to see the big raises and it actually put me at ease. After five minutes, I knew I had a better than average chance to win the match. Sammy applied pressure and I made some light calls early in to see how he was playing different hands. The match got to about even in chips which was not good obviously, but in the process I picked up some valuable info. Sammy was overplaying hands and paying off every bet I made as well. I made a few adjustments and the match quickly went in my direction. I got him down to 11 big blinds and got it all in bad with an A8 vs and AT. This hand plays itself with 11 big blinds, I was happy to call his shove here and expect to have the best hand more than 50% of the time. As it turns out I had to get lucky, did so on the turn, and took the first match 1-0.

Match #2

I was super confident going into match 2, even with the short stack. Sam used his stack very well and took about half my stack in the early going. Sam had changed his strategy to open limping the button with every hand except premium holdings. Gus Hansen recently used the strategy and I am sure it has its merits, I don't think it is an effective playing style. It was a big change from the first match and I commend Sammy with completely changing his style and making me play a different game in Match 2. The limping took me off guard but, I made a few changes and got back in the match. I ended up taking the lead in the match and had him on the ropes on a 6 6 7 board. We were essentially all in, him holding A7 and me 88. This heads up was going to end after just two matches, I was feeling great obviously. This all changed when Sammy spiked the Ace on the river and won the 2nd match.

Match #3

I was unhappy with the result of match 2, but very happy with how I had played in the first two matches. I felt in control and had a pretty good idea of where Sammy was in most hands. Sammy came out in match 3 with a blend of his first two matches with big pre-flop raises and open limps mixed in. Match 3 started out horribly for me, flopping pretty good heads up with KT on a T36 board. Sammy had been playing top pair pretty aggressively and I felt pretty safe when he check raised my flop bet. I almost re-poped but didn't see many advantages in doing so in this match. An A hit on the turn and Sammy checked. The turn doesn't change anything in the hand (or shouldn't) so I felt comfortable making a pretty large bet. Sammy responded by shoving in. I have no idea what he had, but don't think he is ever bluffing me here. He either flopped two pair or a set I felt, so I folded. Will be curious to see what he had on TV. I battled back to closer to even when the hand of the match developed. I raised with J2 and the flop came JT2 with two hearts. I was opening every button at this point and Sammy was checking every flop dark. This flop was gin until I was raised by Sammy. Sammy's range here is pretty wide with this wet of a board, unfortunately for me he held the exact hand I had beaten 8 years earlier TJ. I had caught a cooler and was 2 outs away from being beaten by Sammy in the rematch. All the confidence I had felt throughout the match was gone. I felt great and real felt in control of all 3 matches, however it was all irrelevant as I was basically dead. And then it happened, the nice 2 on the river to double me up and cripple Sammy. After that it wasn't long till we got it all in, Sammy reraised all-in for about 16 big blinds. I had a borderline hand, but felt like I could be ahead with K J often enough to warrant a call. Luckily for me I had Sammy dominated with his K 10 and I was able to hold and take the 3rd match and claim victory.

Summary

Sammy played very different that what I had ever imagined. One of the goals heads up is to keep your opponent guessing and constantly react to your opponent. I think Sammy did this very well. He played two very different styles throughout the three matches and deserves a ton of credit and had me on the ropes for sure.

Sammy played well ,and at the same time I am very happy with the way I played in the match.

Follow Chris on Twitter @CMONEYMAKER

Before

We had our draw last night. In the first round, I drew John Racener. This is probably the best event of the year outside of the main event, because of the simple fact that I love playing Heads-Up, and this is such a star-studded field. It's a really tough draw any person you get. I'm happy I got Racener. It should be a fun match. I pretty much know how he's going to play, so I have my game plan going in and I feel very confident that I will move forward. It's definitely going to be a long match, I believe. I think he's going to be really patient and wait for me to make a mistake. I'm not going to push action too much, but I'm going to try and push him around a little bit. It should be probably the longest match of the day unless something really weird happens.

This tournament is a little bit different than most other Heads-Up events throughout the year as it's made for TV, so the blind structures move faster than what you would normally see in a Heads-Up event. Some Heads-Up event matches can last 2-3 hours, while a long match here is probably an hour long. Most matches are designed to last 30 minutes or so. So, you don't see a whole lot of play here, but you just have to adjust your strategy and play a little bit more aggressively and look for spots to put your money in. You've got to pick up information quickly.

The good thing is in this field is you're going to know who the players are, and you have either played with them in the past or know someone who has. So, like with Racener, I will have information already on my opponent before I sit down to play.

You can use that information to sort of get a baseline of how you're going to play against your Heads-Up opponent and use that as a starting strategy, which I've done with John. I know that going in, he likes to control pots. He likes to play in position. When the money goes in, he's going to have a big hand and other than that, he's going to try to keep the pots small and play really controlled small pots.

My goal is to make him uncomfortable, try to push him, put a ton of pressure on him, make him play pots he doesn't want to play, and ultimately grind him down. When all the money goes in, he might have the best hand, but I will have quite a few outs, and I'll have a pretty sizable chip weight I believe. My plan is to keep grinding him down, and he's going to have to double through me several times to keep in the match. At least that's the plan going in. I will see how it goes.

In the middle

Well I am back after the NBC Heads-Up event with some updates. The first match against Racener was pretty back and forth for the first two levels, and I held a slight chip lead when the big hand developed.

John limped his button, and I checked a 3-5. The flop fell 2 4 6. After I check-raised him on the flop, he moved all-in. I really felt at this point that he was holding a set of twos or a 4-6 type hand. Obviously, my money is going in the middle here with the nuts, and I was pleased to see that he only held A-6. This is about as good as it gets, and I was happy to be a huge favorite to advance.

Advancing was great but my next match loomed large. I was pitted against the winner of the Phil ivey vs. Daniel "jungleman12" Cates match. Neither of these two players are who you want to see sitting across from you at a poker table.

I ended up playing Jungleman12. Going in, I knew this match would be completely different than my Round 1 match. Daniel is a heads-up specialist, and I knew he would be putting tons of pressure on me.

There are two ways to combat the pressure from him: either be more aggressive, or make hands and let him hang himself. I have a lot of experience playing top-notch heads-up players, so I felt confident I could play well here.

In the match I got off to an early lead and found he was not nearly as aggressive as I had imagined. I made two super-light calls in the match that were both correct. These two calls probably slowed him down and made him think twice before running bluffs on me.

Once I saw he was done bluffing, I had a good idea his big bets were going to be for value, so I folded a pretty large hand later where I think he had it. After about 30 minutes, he was visibly frustrated, and I held a little better than 2-1 chip advantage. The blinds were starting to get high, and I decided to go for the knock-out blow.

I re-raised him preflop with an ace-ten and he shipped all-in. I know at this point I am behind here. He has not gotten out of line at all and wouldn't here knowing I will call pretty light.

Even though I know I am behind, there was enough in the pot to warrant a call. Also, against an opponent as good as Daniel, you need to take chances when you have the knock-out blow available. Sure enough, he flipped up AK and I needed to get lucky. The ten came and I advanced. I don't like getting my money in really bad like that ever, but against a super opponent, sometimes it happens. I was just pleased to be moving on to face Doyle Brunson.

As part of Team Pokerstars Pro I get the opportunity to travel the world and play poker. I have been to many countries as an ambassador to PokerStars, but never to Romania. I was first asked to go to Romania instead of going to my original destination of Costa Rica this week. I agreed and began to do some research on the country so that I would know what to expect.

I knew little about the place and its people, and thought playing in the PokerStars Romanian Open was a great opportunity to see a place I would never pick out on the map as a place to go for vacation. After a 15-hour journey I arrived in Bucharest ready to jump into the poker scene.

The first thing I noticed was the cold weather - about 45 degrees. The ride from the airport to the hotel was long for a short distance. I learned from my driver that the short drive will be awhile as traffic is always an issue in Bucharest. The city has almost 3 million people and the highways are always packed. I arrived at the hotel and was pleasantly surprised. I made my way down to the tournament area and met with the tournament director who informed me that this was the first tournament of this size in Romania and everyone was very excited to see how many would show. The turnout was great, over 300 people (the cap was set at 300 originally) and the Romanian players were eager to play.

I sat down to play the tournament with my standard plan for playing poker with unknown players. I will play very tight and observe the players. I don't get involved early and want to see what style they play. After about an hour I had pretty much established my whole Romanian poker strategy. NO BLUFFING. Romanian poker players are gamblers and believe strongly in luck. The first thing I notice both in the tournament and the big cash game I would later play is that the Romanians open with 5-7x raises compared to the 3x raises which are more common. Also, you can expect to get 4-5 callers with these raises. It is quite different than what I am used to seeing on the poker tour, so I had to adjust my strategy to play premium hands and play them for maximum value. I made it through the day relatively easy as one of the chip leaders, I never had much issue and was a nice tourney day overall.

The next day was an off day so I decided to get out and see the area and other casinos. Casinos in Romania are small but extremely nice. Each has a lavish buffet set up and they are very well designed. Each casino has several roulette tables and blackjack tables, but craps is not played in Romania. Each casino also has two or three poker tables where the games they play are rather large. I learn from talking with players that Romanians play less poker hours but higher stakes. Again, they are gamblers. I sit to play in a 25-50 game and notice right away the 5-7x raises.

You notice two more things when playing in a Romanian casino that is different than in other areas of the world. First, smoking is allowed at the table and many Romanians smoke, therefore filling the air with cigarette fumes. Secondly, it is incredibly loud. If you play poker in most places, people are quiet and focused on the game. You could hear a pin drop as someone contemplates calling a big all-in or during hands. Not in Romania, everyone is talking, everyone is having a good time. I have never seen people talk as much and have so much fun at a poker table. It truly was a blast to play with the Romanian players, they love to talk and they love to have fun.

I have always told people that poker should be fun and it is a social game that you should celebrate with friends. Here in Romania they truly live that every day. They love to play and have fun while they are doing it. Bad beats are laughed about and losers give the winner a high five after hands. Always having fun, it is quite amazing here.

Any poker player looking for a great fun poker game should look into Romania. The stakes vary from 3-6 nl to 50-100 plo at the casinos I visited. But at every level and every casino the people were the nicest and most talkative I have ever seen. This is a great country to play poker in and amazingly fun. I have been very impressed with Romania and its people. I have made several friends while I have been here and look forward to coming back.

As a side note, I learned something I didn't know previously about my friend Daniel Negreanu. Everyone knows he is from Canada, but I learned his name is of Romanian descent. Daniel speaks Romanian very well also. I would say Daniel embodies what I think of when I think of a Romanian person. He is outspoken, friendly to everyone, a gambler, and someone that loves life and lives it to the fullest.

by Chris Moneymaker

I have been playing a lot of poker the past to weeks on PokerStars.com gearing up for the WSOP. As I played, observers asked tons of questions. The most common recently is how many cashes do you have this year? The answer has been the same for two weeks now.

ZERO.

That's right ZERO cashes at the 2008 WSOP.

This sounds really bad/sad for a professional poker player 39 events into the Series to not have cashed. Well, thankfully for me it is not that bad, since you have to play to win. If you have been in the Rio this month, you have seen tons of poker celebrities roaming the hallways, but you haven't seen me. I have been at home with my family during the WSOP. I did make a trip out to Vegas and played in Event #1 the 10k PLH event. I busted out with 11 min left in Day 1 and played very well to make it that far, so I was pleased.

So why am I not playing many of the preliminary events? Well there are two reasons. First, historically I have never played many preliminary events at the WSOP. After winning in 2003, I played:

Secondly, I am having the best time of my life with my family. In 2006, my wife and I rented a house out in Las Vegas and planned on moving out there for the entire WSOP. We landed the day before Event #1 and got into our rental car. It was 115 degrees when we landed and miserable.

After one day in the heat we decided it would be better if our one-year-old daughter was back home in a cooler environment. I stayed at home with her and from that point forward I made a decision that I wanted to enjoy seeing my daughter grow up.

I travel a lot as it is and being gone for a month from my family is not something I choose to do. It doesn't help the fact that my daughter's birthday is in June, making it impossible to travel during that time. Anyway, I am making the trek to vegas on Sunday to play in the five remaining events of the WSOP. Hopefully, in a few weeks when someone on PokerStars.com asks how many times did you cash at the WSOP? I will say something other than ZERO.

Good luck on the tables