Everybody ready? Here we go, on the count of three. One…Two…Three…

#FUCKCROAKS!

Of all the people from Lex Veldhuis’s Twitch community who have travelled to Namur for Lex Live, only one of them has had others frequently coming up to them and swearing. All in the name of fun, I should point out.

That person is Croaks, also known as Adrian, and he’s one of Veldhuis’s Twitch moderators. As a cornerstone of the community, we caught up with Croaks at the welcome party to find out how he got into Twitch, what it takes to be a moderator, and the history behind his namesake meme.

PokerStars Blog: Hi Croaks. Where does that name come from?

Croaks: I was looking for a PokerStars username, and I didn’t know the English meaning of the word back in the day. I just wanted something English-sounding, that sounded kind of cool. Somehow Croaks got in my mind. I don’t know how!

Do you still play on PokerStars?

Yeah, I play a lot. I’ve actually been playing a lot the past two weeks, lots of Spin and Gos, grinding six-max hyper turbos. I usually don’t play during streams because I’m busy with other stuff. Sometimes I play one table because I’ll try and get on the same table as Lex to try and troll him! Those are usually $11 hypers. But normally I just get to my own grind afterwards.

I bet it’s quite common for viewers to register tournaments purely for the chance of playing on the same table as Lex and getting on stream.

Yeah, especially in those hypers! They usually only have a few hundred runners, and you’re just waiting for there to be a spot open on Lex’s table. The chances are pretty good to end up on his table.

How did you come to start working with Lex?

It’s a long story. It started off with me discovering Twitch poker in general, back when Jason “JCarver” Somerville was doing his streams, and I watched him for a long time. Before Lex had even started streaming I was a big part of the community, talking in chat, watching streams etc. When Lex started streaming I was watching a lot, and I saw him becoming one of the biggest streamers in Twitch poker. Jason wasn’t streaming as much as he was focused on building Run It Up behind the scenes.

I was kind of a troll in Lex’s stream one and a half years ago, but still a very active member of the community. At some point, I think I made a joke about being Lex’s moderator. Like, “ModCroaks” or something. But then I got to be the mod! I don’t know how it happened. I think I became an honorary mod for one day or something. But after that, Lex was like: ‘Maybe Croaks is actually good at it’. That’s how it happened, and I’m still mod!

What are your working days like?

Since I’ve also been working with Jason at Run It Up Studios, this is my full-time job now: to mod. So it’s kind of like an everyday job. I get up in the morning, I get ready for the stream, just like I’d get ready for work before. It’s a real job for me.

A lot of people might not though what it takes to be a Twitch mod. What can you tell us about it?

I can understand why people might say it’s more chilled than other jobs, and I agree with that, but there are situations–particularly during Sunday streams when it gets super busy and Lex is playing more than ten tables at a time–when it gets busy on my side too. I’m keeping track of payouts, making commands in our chat, and keeping an eye on the chat at the same time. There are a few people who post stuff that shouldn’t be in chat, so I’ve got to keep an eye on it.

We heard you’ve put together a quiz for Lex Live?

Yeah, we’re going to have the Lex Live pub quiz on Saturday, and my fellow mod RuthAnnK and I had to come up questions for it. We organised it, it’s been a lot of fun. I think anyone who has been part of the community for a long time can get a good score in it, so it’s not super hard. But you’ve got to know about poker, you’ve got to know the poker pros and events from the past.

How did #FuckCroaks come about then?

Well, I was a troll. Back in the day, I’d troll a lot. I’d make small donations just so I could get a voice message on stream to troll Lex. A few other people started doing the same, so it worked out. But at some point, Lex had a stream where someone donated $10 and just said: “Fuck you”. That’s where the “Fuck you <3” meme came from. One of our regular other trolls, aside from me, he donated and said: ‘why do we say fuck you, when we could say fuck Croaks and blame him for everything bad’.

It’s fun. I’m not mad about it all. I’m a troll myself, so I just see it as a fun meme. It’s actually crazy how many people have come up to me at this live event already and say “Fuck Croaks!”. Even online, I’m not kidding, when I’m playing on PokerStars tables people ask “Are you Croaks?” or say “Fuck Croaks” every single day.

What’s it been like for you to watch Lex’s streams get bigger, both in terms of tournament buy-ins and viewers?

It’s insane. It’s great to be a part of it. He’s been doing so well. It’s become so big. When he peaked at 34,200 viewers, I could never have imagined he’d do that when I first started watching. Usually, people go to Twitch to watch games, but there were 34,200 people sitting at their computers watching a guy play cards. It’s insane. It’s awesome for the game of poker. I love poker, it’s why I do all this. I enjoy the game of poker, and I just want to see Twitch poker grow.

Lex is doing the best, and it couldn’t be going any better. He peaked at 8,000 subscribers on Twitch, as a poker streamer. A guy who plays cards. If you understand Twitch, you know how big that is.

Finally, how have you been enjoying Lex Live so far? 

I’ve met a lot of people. I’ve been kind of nervous before, especially meeting Lex. He was an idol of mine. A couple of years back I watched him on the PokerStars Big Game. I was watching him with Daniel Negreanu and others, and now I’m working with him, and Jason too. That’s why I was so nervous about meeting him, but when I actually met him he greeted me like a friend he’d known for so long. Now I work with him every fucking day!

Have events at Lex Live inspired you to start playing poker? Click here to open a PokerStars account.

EPT Sochi Main Event
Dates: March 25-29, 2019
Buy-in: 191,800₽ ($2,900 approx)
Entries: 758 (inc. 195 re-entries)
Prize pool: 145,500,000₽ ($2.21 million approx)

At the end of Day 1A of the €225 Lex Live Main Event, Lex Veldhuis said he’d be happy if this tournament got 500 runners. Little did he know, for when play wrapped up after last night’s final Day 1 flights, there would be more than double that amount.

The first edition of the #LexLive main event just passed 1000 people. Can’t believe it. Thanks everyone for showing up.

— LexVeldhuis (@RaSZi) March 29, 2019

The grand total of 1,064 entries (including 343 re-entries) means the €100K guarantee was well and truly smashed. The final amount was almost double that amount too, with €196,148 set to be split between the final 111 players. A min-cash is worth €492, but here’s a look at the top prizes:

WHAT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT?

A massive field of 497 entries on Day 1C meant there was not an empty table in the entire Grand Casino de Namur. Add the 82 entries from the Day 1C turbo flight, and that’s 579 unique entries on the night.

Nadia Wanzi topped the turbo

Job Trekpop bagged the end-of-day chip lead in the main flight with 404,500, while Nadia Wanzi finished top from the turbo with 309,000. Neither managed to eclipse the 514,000 stack of Day 1B chip leader Soufiane Gherbi, so he’ll be the overall chip boss when Day 2 kicks off at 4pm today.

Having arrived on Thursday night, both Fintan “easywithaces” Hand and Felix “xflixx” Schneiders sat down to play last night. Alas, despite a hot start, Hand would bust before the night was through. Schneiders fared better, however, and bagged up 73,500 (good for 18 big blinds).

Other notables to advance yesterday include Steven ‘Aka_nosebud’ Eckl (167,000), Jorden Verbraeken (163,000), and Christophe de Meulder (38,000). It was a case of third time’s a charm for Frenchman Kalidou Sow, who eventually made it through with 140,000 on his third bullet last night.

You can read through the live updates here.

Unfortunately for Veldhuis’s Twitch community, we lost some of the online qualifiers. Sanne ‘Antim00n’ Bombeek won a full package to this event via a €3.30 satellite on PokerStars, but she busted halfway through the day. Her husband, fellow Lex Veldhuis community member Bart ‘Rizn00’ Verboven, also exited with a couple of hours left on the night.

#LEXLIVE

Here’s a look at some your tweets:

I am so jealous.

1. Wish I was at #lexlive as it looks like a ton of fun
2. Wish I had a cool name like lex that would make a rhyme https://t.co/L98GRminkx

— Chris Moneymaker (@CMONEYMAKER) March 29, 2019

Good and bad news… Good: bagged #LexLive main event for Day 2 with 309K! Bad: most awesome pub quiz in the history of mankind starts in 6 hours and I am nowhere near my bed… pic.twitter.com/nvokoEemG7

— KaboomPoker (@KaboomPoker1) March 30, 2019

Bagged 255K on day 1C of Lex Live Main Event in Namur. Tomorrow day 2 will resume with 2K/4K blinds Let's have more fun and make some moolah #LexLive

— Sertofiets (@Sertofiets) March 29, 2019

Tüte izzzda!
73.500 sinds geworden.
Morgen geht es mit Tag 2 weiter. Jetzt aber gute Nacht. Kroko out. #LexLive pic.twitter.com/xcSfy9faMw

— Flix (@xflixx) March 30, 2019

MORE FROM LEX LIVE: CROAKS INTERVIEW | PARTY TIME VIDEO | DAY 1B RECAP | MEET THE QUALIFIERS | WATCH VIDEO FROM DAY 1A

Enjoying Lex Live? You can play poker for free on PokerStars. Simply click here to open an account.

While it’s serious business over in the €225 Main Event, last night at Lex Live was all about fun.

The €60 FU Friday Flip was a side event most members of Lex Veldhuis’s Twitch community had circled from the off, and 56 of them (including this humble PokerStars Blog writer) took part. Here’s how it worked:

Lex Veldhuis plays the FU Friday Flip

Players started with 15,000 chips, blinds at 100/100, and a ten-minute clock. The hyper-turbo structure then saw the clock paused at the end of each level, and all players put five big blinds in the middle. The dealer deals one card face up and one card face down to each player at each table and then lays down a flop. At this point, all players can reveal their hidden cards, and the turn and river are dealt. Whoever has the best hand at the end scoops a huge pot, and play resumes as normal into the next level.

The idea is based on Veldhuis’s Friday home games that he holds on his Twitch streams. Each Friday he would have an all-in flip out for his community members, but the tweak to the live version means there’s actually some play in it.

We’re doing a new tournament format here. At the end of every blind level the whole table has to do a 5 bb flip. Just did the first flip and it’s awesome.

— LexVeldhuis (@RaSZi) March 29, 2019

Veldhuis was of course in attendance, as were the likes of Ben “Spraggy” Spragg, OP-Poker’s Nicholas Walsh, Morten “Zeeth” Ottosen, Twitch moderator “Croaks”, and many more.

OP-Poker’s Nick (centre left) and Croaks (centre right) flip out

Unfortunately for community member Markus ‘L4zy_pigeon’ Borel, he became this event’s bubble boy. The eventual champion was Christopher Hooper, who won €926 and the first Lex Live Beaker trophy of the festival.

MORE FROM LEX LIVE: DAY 1C RECAP | CROAKS INTERVIEW | PARTY TIME VIDEO | DAY 1B RECAP | MEET THE QUALIFIERS | WATCH VIDEO FROM DAY 1A

Oh, and how did PokerStars Blog get on, I hear you cry?

Well, after a good start (including winning the third flip), we busted. But we did get to bust Spraggy beforehand. So, y’know, every cloud.

Our pocket kings hold up to bust Spraggy with pocket nines

Have events at Lex Live inspired you to start playing poker? Click here to open a PokerStars account.

Following on from last night’s FU Friday Flip tournament, there was more fun to be had today at Lex Live in Namur.

Saturday afternoon saw Lex Veldhuis and his Twitch community take over the amazing Barnabeer bar in the city centre for a good old fashioned pub quiz. In this quiz, though, there was only one subject.

Lex Veldhuis.

How well did his community really know the man they’ve spent hours railing, supporting, and interacting with? This was the best way to find out, and trust us when we tell you, these guys came prepared.

When it comes to the man himself, nobody knows Veldhuis better than his mother, who was in attendance. Veldhuis’s fiancee Myrthe was also taking part.

MORE FROM LEX LIVE: DAY 2 LIVE UPDATES | FU FRIDAY FLIP | DAY 1C RECAP | CROAKS INTERVIEW | PARTY TIME VIDEO | DAY 1B RECAP | MEET THE QUALIFIERS | WATCH VIDEO FROM DAY 1A

Benjamin “Spraggy” Spragg, Fintan “EasyWithAces” Hand, and Felix “xflixx” Schneiders were all in the house too, testing their knowledge. But in a way, they’d already won.

You see, midway through the quiz Veldhuis announced that the four players with the highest quiz score would be taking part in a private sit and go tomorrow, streamed live on Veldhuis’s Twitch channel. The event will be a tag-team tournament, with each winner paired up with one of the PokerStars Ambassadors. They can sub in and out whenever they wish.

And who were the winners?

1st – Sanne Bombeek (Antim00n)

2nd – Milko van Winden (Milkovw)

Tied 3rd Tjenno Eskes (TjennoE)

Tied 3rd – Ben Martin (TheBenMartin98)

Those four will be paired up with either Lex, Spraggy, Fintan or Felix tomorrow in a draw tomorrow. Players five through eight received a goodie bag for their efforts.

Are you ready to take the quiz yourself? Then grab a pen and paper and get comfortable!

TAKE THE LEX LIVE PUB QUIZ!

Jot down your answers as you scroll through the quiz. You’ll find the answers at the end. Good luck!

Round 1:

1) When is Lex’s birthday?

2) What was Lex’s biggest score on Twitch and how much did he cash for?

3) Everyone knows him as Lex, but what is his real first name?

4) What was Lex’s longest stream (in hours)?

5) What date did Croaks become mod?

6) When was Lex’s first stream?

7) How many years has Lex been part of Team PokerStars?

8) How many countries has Lex streamed from, not counting IRL?

9) How many subs did Lex peak at?

10) What’s Lex’s daily sub record?

Round 2:

1) Lex is part of Team liquid, what game did he play?

2) Who was Lex’s first sub?

3) What’s Lex’s Final Table song (Artist + title)?

4) Lex doesn’t smoke weed these days. What’s the only thing he smokes?

5) How many ball fail clips are there?

6) Which member of Team PokerStars (past or present) did Lex teach poker to?

7) What did Lex do for 1,000 subs?

8) What is Lex’s biggest online score apart from Twitch?

9) How many labels does Lex have?

10) What is Lex’s favourite movie?

Round 3:

1) What’s Lex’s fiancee’s first name?

2) How old is Lex?

3) What is Lex’s favourite beer?

4) What kind of car does Lex drive (colour + brand)?

5) Which PokerStars tournament was called the “Lex Veldhuis Open”?

6) Which Dutch football player do people say Lex looks similar to?

7) Which Twitch Streamer does Lex watch the most?

8) What is Lex’s favourite Dota Hero?

9) What’s the correct amount of big blinds to raise to with A8 offsuit?

10) What game does Ruthann really want Lex to play, but secretly he’ll never finish?

Round 4:

1) Who is the fastest Mod on Twitch?

2) Who is Lex’s personal poker coach?

3) How many steps does Lex walk a day on his treadmill?

4) Who is better at Dota, Spraggy or Lex?

5) What was Eklusis’s name on Twitch before Eklusis?

6) In what city did Lex propose to Myrthe?

7) What’s the best sauce on steak?

8) What’s Lex’s favourite SNES game?

9) What’s the most kills Lex has got in a win on H1z1 on stream?

10) What’s the buy-in of the first tournament Lex ever won on stream?

Round 5:

1) Does extemp_re have an O or 0 in his name?

2) How many 6’s are in “mpadam”‘s Twitch name: 2 or 3?

3) Who edits Lex’s YouTube videos?

4) What did Lex do for reaching 500 subs the first time?

5) The faster you run from me…?

6) What Mini Game did Lex use to play on breaks?

7) What tournament did Lex call the “daily donation” when he was playing in Canada?

8) How many seconds are on the countdown in the last scene of Lex’s intro scene?

9) What’s Lex’s biggest live tournament score?

10) What hand did Lex call Doyle with on High Stakes Poker?

Round 6:

1) What’s Lex’s lowest tier donation song?

2) What’s the most Final Table’s Lex has ever got in one stream?

3) What is Lex’s gamer tag (get the spelling right!)?

4) Which three trolls from Lex’s viewers did a birthday video for him in 2017?

5) Who’s the bodybuilder in the motivation videos Lex used to watch?

6) What scares Lex the most?

7) Who is Lex’s favourite player on the triton episodes?

8) Name three players that Lex has tagged as “legend” on PokerStars?

9) What’s the first video on lex’s Youtube, that is NOT a guitar hero gameplay?

10) What was the most amount of bounties Lex has won while playing the $7.50BB all in every hand?

ANSWERS

Round 1:

1) Dec 29th

2) $1050 Thursday Thrill for $56k

3) Alexander

4) 25 hours

5) Dec 24th

6) Feb 29,2016

7) 10 years

8) 4

9) 8,007

10) 1,327

Round 2:

1) Starcraft 2

2) Delloor

3) Sway – Still Speedin’

4) FOOLS

5) 18

6) Fatima Moreira de Melo

7) Blow Up Week

8) 3rd in the Sunday Million for $77K

9) 13

10) American Beauty

Round 3:

1) Myrthe

2) 35

3) Hertog Jan

4) Matte Black BMW

5) $22 PLO Turbo

6) Robin van Persie

7) Gorgc

8) Shadow Fiend

9) Four

10) Hollow Knight

Round 4:

1) RuthAnnK

2) bencb

3) 10,000

4) Lex

5) Wheresmyelephant

6) Prague

7) Mayonnaise

8) Secret of Mana

9) 12

10) Big $16.50

Round 5:

1) It’s a 0 (zero)

2) Three

3) extemp0re

4) 24-hour stream

5) The faster you fall

6) Slither

7) $215 Bounty Builder

8) Three

9) $277K

10) 9♠2♠

Round 6:

1) Rockstar

2) Six

3) RaSZi

4) itskiwishaun, croaks, jobtrekpop

5) CT Fletcher

6) Clowns

7) Tan Xuan

8) C. Darwin2, girafganger7, etxnl01, €urop€an, Isildur1, poker@luffyD

9) The ElkY fight

10) Seven

How did you get on?

Tweet your results to us at @PokerStarsBlog, and make sure you tag @RaSZi too!

Have events at Lex Live inspired you to start playing poker? Click here to open a PokerStars account.

Watch a live-streamed sit and go featuring Lex, Spraggy, Fintan, Felix, and four members of the Twitch community. After that there will be Main Event coverage.

Yesterday we told you about the Lex Live Pub Quiz. It was a special event for everyone who attended.

One of the most fun stream-related experiences I’ve had so far. Check out the video to catch the feel of the live event. 👀.

Winners of the pub quiz play a sng for €6500 euro combined live on my channel at Noon CET https://t.co/UhGNFWBnPI

— LexVeldhuis (@RaSZi) March 30, 2019

The four winners of the quiz will now be playing a tag team sit and go (each of them paired with a PokerStars ambassador). There’s €3,000 for the winner.

The quiz winners were:

1st – Sanne Bombeek (Antim00n)

2nd – Milko van Winden (Milkovw)

Tied 3rd Tjenno Eskes (TjennoE)

Tied 3rd – Ben Martin (TheBenMartin98)

MORE FROM LEX LIVE:

TAKE THE PUB QUIZ | DAY 2 COVERAGE | FU FRIDAY FLIP | DAY 1C RECAP | CROAKS INTERVIEW | PARTY TIME VIDEO | DAY 1B RECAP | MEET THE QUALIFIERS | WATCH VIDEO FROM DAY 1A

Have events at Lex Live inspired you to start playing poker? Click here to open a PokerStars account.

With both the Main Event and High Roller down to the one or two tables, we caught up with the man of the week, Lex Veldhuis, to gauge his reaction on what’s been an incredible festival. 

That’s almost it, folks. Sadly, the first ever Lex Live festival is almost over (although not quite, as we’re still yet to discover who will become our Main Event champion).

We’ve had a blast getting to meet everyone from Lex Veldhuis’s Twitch community, playing some poker (how fun was that FU Friday Flip event?), and giving you a sense of what this event has been like.

But how does Veldhuis feel about everything? Over one last beer (OK, that’s a lie!) we sat down for a chat. Here’s what he had to say.

PokerStars Blog: Hey Lex. With everything starting to wind down, what has the Lex Live experience been like for you?

Lex Veldhuis: The crazy thing is, tomorrow when it’s done, everybody is going to head home and think: ‘Whoa, what the fucking hell happened last week?’. It’s been such a storm. There are still so many people hanging out, there’s still so much social interaction going on. Right now, in my head, it’s still not even close to finishing.

It sounds like you’re happy with everything?

I couldn’t be happier with everything. All of the tournaments were massive, not just the Main Event. The High Roller had a lot of people. There were lines and lines of people for the bounty tournament. I believe there were 180 people on the waiting list. Absolutely incredible.

What do you think it’s going to be like on your streams from now on?

I’m really excited to see what it’s going to be like on the channel and in the Discord. How is this going to progress? The deep connection that people have made, how is this going to play out on the channel? I think it’s going to be even more awesome and interactive. I would have said intimate, but intimate makes it sound like a small group. But lots of people showed up and everyone has felt included. It’s been a wild ride. It hasn’t really set in yet.

Has anything surprised you?

The Main Event numbers, for sure. I thought that was pretty incredible. It’s weird because the community has been exactly the way I hoped it would be. Everyone has been so insanely social and open. I thought there would be much more ice-breaking going on, y’know? Everybody settling in, some people skirting on the edges then joining on the second day etc. But everyone showed up for a beer and a chat. I was actually surprised by how comfortable everyone was with each other immediately.

What’s the feedback been like from the community members who couldn’t be here?

I think the way PokerStars Blog has been covering the event, people have really been able to get a feel for the way Lex Live has been. I think a lot of people in the Discord who couldn’t come will definitely be there next time. It’s just a massive stepping stone. It’s crazy to think that this was the first one when you look at the stuff we’ve done and how many people were here.

Is it safe to assume that this is going to be the first of many Lex Live festivals?

Yeah, it’s always dangerous to say, but I think I can say it’s almost 100 per cent sure that we’re going to do it again.

As for destinations, I have no clue. I usually like long-lasting working relationships, and to me, it’s going to come down to the same things: what’s the infrastructure like in the casino? How easy is it for people to get to travel-wise? etc. I’m going to listen to a lot of feedback from community members over the next few weeks, put that all in a document, and see what kind of improvements we can make.

What I’ve really loved about hosting it at the Grand Casino de Namur is the hang-out area right next to the poker area. We have a bar, a lounge, and a big poker area. It’s pretty cheap too! Everybody is coming here on a budget and putting money aside to get here, so all of that stuff will be taken into account. I think this venue provides some really good stuff for us, and they’ve done a really great job.

Are you looking forward to getting back on stream?

Yeah for sure. Thursday and Friday I’ll be back on stream. I’ll be doing some commentary on a high stakes cash game also for the first time. And then after that, it’ll be Sunday streaming. I can’t wait for the Sunday stream. It’s going to be Sunday tournaments all day, I’ll get to catch up with everybody, and from there it’s going to be the road towards the Spring Championship of Online Poker.

Do you know anyone still in the Main Event or the High Roller?

I don’t think so. Spraggy just busted the High Roller in 10th, which is nice, y’know? He’s had a few big cashes lately and we don’t want him to…he’s just the most annoying winner ever! He always needs to let everyone know!

Have events at Lex Live inspired you to start playing poker? Click here to open a PokerStars account.

April Fools’ Day is a special kind of holiday, a day when it’s okay for you play jokes on your friends. You’re allowed — encouraged, even — to be deceitful, to lie, and as a result to profit at others’ expense.

If you think about it, April Fools’ Day is a little like being at a poker table. In both situations it’s fine for you to try to trick others. In both you are also constantly on the lookout for others trying to trick you. And it’s all okay, permitted by the “rules” of the game (or day).

In a way, April Fools’ Day is all about bluffing — and bluff catching.

There are a few ways such joke-making could be said to resemble the different kinds of deception that inform poker strategy.

1. Jokes and Bluffs: Having Permission to Lie

Our friend Joe Stapleton of PokerStars TV has been known to crack wise now and then while commenting on poker. I thought I’d ask him about how telling a joke can be like making a bluff.

“What I like best about both bluffs and jokes is that in both cases, it’s actually acceptable to lie,” Stapleton says. “Nobody is going to get mad at you afterward for lying. Well, not usually.”

He’s right. If you can pull off a bluff, well, that’s part of the game. Similarly, when you say “knock-knock” and someone answers “who’s there?” no one expects you to respond truthfully. It’s make-believe time.

As Stapleton points out: “No one ever says WHAT? You mean a priest, a rabbi, and a minister WEREN’T all in lifeboat altogether? F*** YOU!”

Joe “Stapes” Stapleton: Professional liar

2. Jokes and Bluffs: Telling a Believable Story

Knowing how to tell a joke isn’t that far removed from knowing how to play poker. In fact, the April Fools’ prank actually evokes a common formula for joke-telling.

As you surf the web on April 1, you might well come across a headline or three purporting to be real that is in fact a complete fiction. More than you usually do, anyway.

One of my favorite examples of this sort of thing was George Plimpton’s article for the April 1, 1985 issue of Sports Illustrated about an up-and-coming pitching prospect for the New York Mets named Hayden Siddhartha “Sidd” Finch who could reportedly throw a fastball 168 miles per hour.

Some readers, missing the date, believed the story. After all, there were photos of the guy (or a guy) in uniform with current Mets players. And even though a lot of the details of Finch’s story seemed outrageous, there was no disclaimer suggesting any of it might be fake. Heck, baseball season was just starting, a time when baseball fans are more willing than usual to dream.

Mets fans in particular were thrilled.

Lots of jokes work in a similar way. If you buy the set-up, the joke has a better chance to land. Same goes for bluffing. If your opponent thinks your big bet is “truthful,” you’re more likely to earn the fold you desire.

“The more believable each one is, the more likely they are to have the desired effect,” Stapleton says. “This is why you laugh much harder at a ‘guy does into a doctor’s office’ joke than a ‘two dinosaurs were waiting in line at the DMV’ joke.”

“If not, I’d really like to play poker with you,” he adds.

3. Jokes and Bluffs: Seeking a Payoff

So two dinosaurs were playing poker, and one of them check-raised all in. Problem was, he clearly had a drawing hand and no straights or flushes were possible. The story wasn’t believable, the other dino called, and the bluffer’s stack was suddenly extinct.

Bad bluff. Bad joke, too.

“If your joke or bluff isn’t believable, you don’t get paid off,” Stapleton says. “‘This is not a credible line’ could be used to describe both a bad bluff and a bad joke.”

Players who are consistently successful in online or live tournaments and cash games know the importance of building credibility before bluffing, be it over the course of previous hands or on earlier betting rounds.

The same goes for joke teller. If the audience doesn’t buy it — or (more often) isn’t willing to suspend disbelief — there ain’t gonna be any payoff.

So keep all that in mind, jokesters, when you slip on your poker face and try to bluff your friends and co-workers today. Lie proudly, make it believable, and get paid.

All eyes in the poker world will be on the PokerStars tables this month as we celebrate the 13th anniversary of the most revered online tournament of them all: the PokerStars Sunday Million. It takes place on April 14, 1pm ET. As you may have read, there’s a $10 million guarantee and a guaranteed $1 million first prize. But who’s going to win it?

Predicting a winner in a tournament with many thousands of entrants is nigh-on impossible. So let’s say this right from the start: the eventual champion almost certainly isn’t going to get a mention in this article series. But it’s still worth taking a look at some of the most likely contenders. If we were drawing up a betting market, here are a few folks who would at least attract a specified price.

MORE ON THE ANNIVERSARY SUNDAY MILLION:
WHO’LL WIN: PART 2 | STRATEGY ADVICE | QUALIFY FOR FREE | ANNOUNCEMENT
SAVE THE DATE: APRIL 14, 1pm (ET)

We have had some help from PokerStars’ data analysts, who have been able to provide us some charts of top performers in tournaments similar in structure to the Sunday Million. Their input is crucial in the second part of this series. But we’ve also spent some time looking at the PocketFives rankings, which gives the best idea of who is currently hot in the tournament world, as well as looking more broadly across the poker world for some other big hitters.

PocketFives’ top three

For more than a decade, PocketFives has tracked the great and the good of online tournament poker, and players still consider elevation to the highest echelons of the rankings to be the clearest indication that they’re doing something right. We’ll begin our hunt for the Sunday Million 13th Anniversary tournament winner at the top of the PocketFives chart:

Roman “RomeOpro” Romanovsky
At time of writing, Ukraine’s “RomeOpro” is ranked No. 1 on PocketFives’ tournament poker rankings, with 337 outright tournament wins (across all sites) and close to 500 other top-three results. On PokerStars alone, RomeOpro — a.k.a. Roman Romanovsky — has more than $6 million in online winnings. More importantly, he is a high-volume player in good form, which explains his current ranking. Barely a day passes without a significant online tournament cash by Romanovsky, often several of them, and the $215 Sunday Million buy-in is precisely his ballpark.

Niklas “Lena900” Åstedt
No discussion of online tournament poker can take place without a mention of “Lena900”, the online moniker of Sweden’s Niklas Åstedt. Swedes have been dominant at the online tables since the inception of the game (“aggro Scandis” have tormented the tables for more than a decade), and Lena900 is among the very best of them all. He first hit the No. 1 spot in March 2016 and has been in the top three pretty much ever since. He has Super Tuesday and SCOOP titles to his name, and has been to the Sunday Million final table at least twice.

Simon “C. Darwin2” Mattsson

Simon “C. Darwin2” Mattsson
Where Lena900 goes, “C. Darwin2” has likely been before. Though not necessarily the origin of the species, C. Darwin2 is very much the epitome of the formidable Swedish tournament grinder, who spent huge portions of 2016 as the world No. 1 and also scaled the summit in both of the following years. He has more than $7.3 million in tournament scores on PokerStars alone, including COOP accolades and a Sunday Warm-Up win. He also has around $1.3 million in live tournament results, where he tends to go by his “other” name: Simon Mattsson.

The rest of the PocketFives top 10 is similarly stacked with heroes. If all/any of the following fire in the Sunday Million, they are going to stand a high chance of making a deep run: “girafganger7” (UK), Patrick “pads1161” Leonard (UK), Johannes “Greenstone25” Korsar (Sweden), Ramiro “ramastar88” Petrone (Argentina), Conor “1_conor_b_1” Beresford (UK), Andras “probirs” Nemeth (Hungary), and Robin “robinho” Ylitalo (Sweden).

All-time superstars

If you’ve watched any online tournament poker over the past 10 years, you’ll have seen sensations come and go. But at the same time, you’ll have seen some sensations come and stay, seemingly immune to the enormous variance inherent in the game.

It’s a fair bet that all of the following players will be playing the Sunday Million Anniversary tournament this month, and for them it will be just another tournament in a career spanning years. But despite their status as veterans, their skills are as sharp as ever.

Sami “Lrslzk” Kelopuro: Finnish boss, with great success at tournaments as well as cash games, both live and online. Lrslzk still sits 12th in the global rankings, and is No. 1 in Finland.

Anatoly “nl_profit” Filatov: Has live and online tournament scores of more than $3.5 million, and has SCOOP and WCOOP titles, five years apart.

Chris “Big Huni” Hunichen: Former online No. 1, with victories in Super Tuesday, Sunday Warm-Up, Sunday 500 and WCOOP. First recorded online cash came in 2006, so has been doing this a loooong time, both from his native United States and adopted home of Costa Rica post-Black Friday.

Chris “Big Huni” Hunichen

Connor “blanconegro” Drinan: Has retreated from the live scene a little in recent years (despite $11 million in tournament cashes) but is still crushing online, where he’s putting in more volume than ever. Has a second and fourth place in previous Sunday Millions.

Chris “Moorman1” Moorman: It’s kind of a mystery how Chris “Moorman1” Moorman hasn’t won the Sunday Million. He has won nearly 400 major online tournaments and amassed online tournament cashes of more than $15 million, more than anyone else in the world. Although he has been based in the USA for a couple of months, the Sunday Million Anniversary may be able to tempt him back to an online poker-friendly country.

Calvin “cal42688” Anderson: When you’ve won the Sunday Warm-Up and the Sunday Second Chance, surely it’s only a matter of time until you scoop the big one? Well, that’s not necessarily true, but Calvin “cal42688” Anderson has been at the top of the online game for 12 years and is still recording major cashes across all sites. This time?

All format crushers

If you’re good at online poker, chances are you’ll be all right in the live environment, too. The same broadly applies vice-versa, although many of the top-ranking live tournament players tend now to focus on high roller events around the world and play online increasingly infrequently. However while these five players might be best known for their live results, they continue to put the volume in online. And a $10M guarantee is still a $10M guarantee, no matter how big your average buy-in.

Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer: Despite sitting 11th on the all-time live tournament poker money list, and being a regular on the super high roller scene, Steve O’Dwyer has been in a rich vein of online form over the past six months. Playing from his adopted home of Amsterdam under the screen-name “MrTimCaum”, O’Dwyer hit a new high of seventh on the global online tournament rankings after he won his first WCOOP title last autumn. He has been a regular across the sites in 2019, too, and when O’Dwyer is playing, O’Dwyer is winning.

Kristen “krissyb24” Bicknell: Canada’s Kristen Bicknell still puts in a huge amount of online play despite migrating with great success recently to the live environment. “krissyb24” plays, and wins, on the PokerStars High Roller series, and has numerous tournament scores at all buy-in levels.

Ole “wizowizo” Schemion: Ole Schemion does his best to avoid the spotlight whether you encounter him at the online or the live tables. But for such a publicity-shy player, he has what must be a frustrating habit of continually winning things. If Schemion decides to sit down for this Sunday Million, that habit could easily continue.

Ole Schemion: An equal opportunities crusher

Shawn “buck21” Buchanan: With eight COOP titles to his name, and $7 million in live tournament earnings, it’s worth listening to Shawn “buck21” Buchanan. “The key is to be one of the ones staying ahead and working hard, which for me includes playing lots of hours and seeing the trends of the game at the moment and then thinking of ideas that can work well against them,” he told PokerStars last month. No one would be surprised to see us tapping him up for a winner’s interview again in a few weeks.

Dominik “Bounatirou” Nitsche: An indefatigable presence both at the online and live tables, Dominik “Bounatirou” Nitsche has the kind of appetite that marks out the very elite. Barely a week passes without a major score, and with the live tournament schedule all but clear on the weekend of April 13-14, Nitsche is all but certain to play the Anniversary event.

A recap of the major results from this weekend on PokerStars…

• Sweden’s “42ayay” wins the Knockout Sunday Milly for $91K
• Another weekend, another big win for “€urop€an”
• “elmerixx” wins $2,100 Sunday HR, finishes 3rd in Sunday 500
• Two big scores for “Tomatee”

SWEDEN’S “42ayay” WINS THE MILLY FOR $91K

This weekend saw a big batch of Sunday Majors, including the Sunday Million, converted to a Progressive KO format for what we called “Knockout Sunday.” The biggest prize (as usual) was in the Sunday Million, where an enormous field of 12,790 players combined for a $1.279 million prize pool.

After a touch over 15 hours of play, Sweden’s “42ayay” locked up the $63,416 top prize plus another $28,055 in bounties. Romania’s The39player, the only other player to grab five figures’ worth of KO prizes, finished in second for $46,015 with another $10,652 in bounties.

ANOTHER WEEKEND, ANOTHER BOUNTY BUILDER WIN FOR “€urop€an”

Last weekend was big for Finland’s Samuel “€urop€an” Vousden as he made four final table appearances and took down two titles. This week he only appeared at one final table, but he made it count.

Samuel “€urop€an” Vousden

“€urop€an” had to fire two bullets to get there but he took down the title in the Sunday $530 Bounty Builder HR. (One of his two wins last weekend was a daily High Roller Club Bounty Builder tourney.) Between the top prize and bounties, “€urop€an” bagged a total of $88,679.

“elmerixx” WINS $2,100 SUNDAY HR TITLE, 3RD IN SUNDAY 500

While “€urop€an” was dominating the Bounty Builder on Sunday, another player from Finland grabbed the biggest freezeout prize of the weekend in the $2,100 Sunday HR.

Past Super Tuesday champ Tomi “elmerixx” Brouk topped the 1,142-player field and earned $63,707 for the win. And then for good measure, “elmerixx” went on to take third in the Sunday 500, winning another $18,810.

TWO BIG SCORES FOR “Tomatee”

Also of note this weekend was a strong pair of runs by SCOOP 2018 champ Francisco “Tomatee” Benitez — who, interestingly enough, was the runner-up to “elmerixx” when the latter won his Super Tuesday title in 2017.

Francisco “Tomatee” Benitez and friends.

For finishing in third place, “Tomatee” earned $24,959 plus $3,240 in bounties in the $2,100 Sunday HR. “Tomatee” then followed that up by winning the High Roller Club $1,050 Sunday Warm-Up for another $56,499.

TOP 5 RESULTS FROM THE HIGH ROLLER CLUB

TOP 5 RESULTS FROM THE WEEKEND MAJORS

You can always find the best resources for learning poker at PokerStars School. Here’s a look what’s in store for you this week.

Play the Sunday Million 13th Anniversary special — for free

With its $10 million guaranteed prize pool and $1 million guaranteed prize for the winner, the Sunday Million 13th Anniversary Edition on April 14th is going to be a very big deal.

PokerStars School wants to put you in the $10M Guaranteed 13th Anniversary Sunday Million

Here’s an even bigger deal: there are two different ways you can play this tourney for free through PokerStars School.

Question of the Week

Your first path to free Sunday Million glory is the Question of the Week.

This week one lucky PS School member will win a $215 ticket to enter the tournament. All you have to do is answer this simple question in at least 50 words:

Consider the following scenario…

You’ve made it to the final three of the $10M Sunday Million 13th Anniversary. $1 Million is guaranteed for 1st place, and your two opponents want to make a deal:

Would you be interested in making a deal or prefer to play?
What strategy would you use to ensure you get the best possible deal?

You have until this coming Sunday evening to post your answers here. The PS School forum moderators will select a winner on Monday morning.

Free Spin & Go tickets

PS School is also giving away free Spin & Go tickets that could win you a seat in the Milly.

Leading up to the 13th Anniversary Sunday Million, PokerStars is running special $5 Spin & Go tournaments. Not only can you can win up to $1 million, but you could also score an entry into the big tournament itself.

MORE ON THE ANNIVERSARY SUNDAY MILLION:
WHO WILL WIN? PART 1 | PART 2 | STRATEGY ADVICE | ANNOUNCEMENT

PS School is giving away 25 tickets for these special $5 Spin & Go tournaments. All you have to do is visit this page and leave a comment below before April 11 explaining what would you do with a million dollars. The best 25 answers as selected by PS School staff will receive a $5 Spin & Go ticket.

Winners Wall: Learning poker on Twitch

Twitch is a fantastic resource for poker fans, especially those who are looking to improve their game. In this week’s Winners Wall interview, PS School member Mike “merseymike5” Heaps talks about how much the school’s Twitch streams with Pete “Carroters” Clarke have helped his game.

Pete “Carroters” Clarke spreads his poker knowledge via Twitch

“I saw Pete stream for the first time last year and ever since I always try not to miss one of his streams,” says Mike. “To get that level of teaching for free is amazing. As a result of PokerStars School and Pete’s training, I can proudly say that I’ve won 20+ MTT’s this year at micro stakes and increased my bankroll by 400%!!!”

Other new PokerStars School content you might enjoy

• Strategy: Short Stacking in Cash Games
• Twitch: Carroters plays the Community Tournament
• Video: Playing the Bubble
• Video: Short Stack Post Flop Play

Open a PokerStars account today and start learning from PokerStars School. Click here to get started, and then click here to register for PokerStars School.

All eyes in the poker world will be on the PokerStars tables this month as we celebrate the 13th anniversary of the most revered online tournament of them all: the PokerStars Sunday Million. It takes place on April 14, 1pm ET.  As you may have read, there’s a $10 million guarantee and a guaranteed $1 million first prize. But who’s going to win it?

Predicting a winner in a tournament with many thousands of entrants is nigh-on impossible. So let’s say this right from the start: the eventual champion almost certainly isn’t going to get a mention in this article series. But it’s still worth taking a look at some of the most likely contenders. If we were drawing up a betting market, here are a few folks who would at least attract a specified price.

Last time, we glanced at some of the established megastars of poker, both online and in the live environment, all of whom should be strong contenders in the anniversary event. But with the help of the PokerStars card-room staff, we’ve also been able to look at some of the top performers in tournaments just like the Sunday Million, and from that group have been able to select another few names worth watching.

MORE ON THE ANNIVERSARY SUNDAY MILLION:
WHO’LL WIN: PART 1 | STRATEGY ADVICE | QUALIFY FOR FREE | ANNOUNCEMENT
SAVE THE DATE: APRIL 14, 1pm (ET)

The poker data specialists ran a search for tournaments with a $215 buy-in, the same as the Sunday Million, which had a guarantee of at least $1 million. From this, we’ve been able to determine which players have won the most money from these events; who has the most outright victories; who plays the most; and who has the best ROI. Our future champion may be lurking among them.

We’ve been here before

As we saw in Part 1 of this series, some of the greatest names in online poker have never won the Sunday Million. But there are some players who have done so more than once.

Artem “veeea” Vezhenkov: Three wins in Sunday Million-like tournaments

According to our data analysts, seven players have won a $215 buy-in $1M guaranteed tournament twice over the past five years. And one of them, Russia’s Artem “veeea” Vezhenkov, has done so three times. His total haul through 297 tournaments played at this level is $646,609, and when you also factor in that veeea has multiple Super Tuesday victories, plus a WCOOP title, he emerges as a clear frontrunner.

According to PocketFives, veeea’s lifetime cashes across all sites online total $8.4 million. He also popped up at the recent EPT Sochi Main Event, cashing in 61st, shortly after making the final table of the EPT Open. Vezhenkov is a real talent.

The other six multiple winners are:

“Internett93o” (Brazil), “thx4urm0n3y” (Canada), “VinceVegaMFR” (Brazil), Rob “robtinnion” Tinnion (UK), Mantas “bagoch” Bagočius (Lithuania), and Scott “Aggro Santos” Margereson (UK). Of those, Aggro Santos is best known to followers of live poker as Margereson makes regular appearances on the European tournament circuit. All of these six can all claim to have been here before, and thus all will rightly be considered ones to watch.

Scott “Aggro Santos” Margereson: Another two-time Sunday Million winner

Show them the money

Over the past five years, three players have won more than $1 million from tournaments at this level: “Xavi666” (Panama), “DrUPSWING” (Denmark/Germany) and “Daenarys T” (Netherlands). To the surprise of perhaps nobody, they owe their seven-figure totals primarily to previous anniversary Sunday Million events.

Xavi666 won the 11th Anniversary event in April 2017. DrUPSWING won the 8th Anniversary event three years before that. And Daenarys T won the “Take 2” version of the 2018 tournament, telling PokerStars Blog shortly afterwards that he slept for one hour and then bought a Rolex.

None of these three play what might be called high volume at PokerStars anymore, at least not at the $215 buy-in level. They have each registered for fewer than 100 tournaments of this size in the past five years, and a return to the winner’s circle for the 13th Anniversary tournament would represent a lightning striking twice occurrence. It’s not impossible, but it’s not particularly likely.

Richard “ThEcLaiMEer” Trigg: Serious contender

However, if we look a little further down the table topped by these three previous anniversary winners, we do find some more serious contenders. The British duo of “hdjgkfkgsdl” and Richard “ThEcLaiMEer” Trigg have each played close to 300 tournaments of this size in the past five years, registering cashes of $935,615 and $752,159, respectively. Similarly Sweden’s “Sasuke234” has $730,902 tournament cashes at this level, from a career resume that shows a lifetime total of more than $10.5 million across all sites.

It could be you! Click to get a PokerStars account. and play the Sunday Million.

ThEcLaiMEer and Sasuke234 in particular need to be considered very seriously as contenders to win any online tournament they enter. Both are consistently in the global top 10 of tournament players (Sasuke234 has been as high as second; ThEcLaiMEer was as high as fourth in 2014). Sasuke234 has won 126 online tournaments outright; ThEcLaiMEer has won nearly 300. And, most importantly, their big $215 buy-in tournament totals represent only a fraction of their overall hauls.

Neither has won the Sunday Million, at least not in the past five years, but these two undoubtedly have the pedigree to put that right this month.

Volume, volume, volume

You’ve got to be in it to win it, and over the past five years there is no one in world poker who has been in it more than Johannes “Greenstone25” Korsar.

Johannes “Greenstone25” Korsar: Been there, done that

Records show he has played more than 300 tournaments on PokerStars at the $215 buy-in level — and has booked a decent profit, too. In a 12-year professional career, Korsar has $12.3 million in online tournament cashes. He’s never won the Sunday Million, but he at least has had the practice.

On the subject of high volume players, we find Greece’s “Velouxiotis” with more than 390 buy-ins (and a $50,000+ profit) at this level, and also Russell “rdcrsn” Carson. From the 78 players who are in the 300+ club, it’s probably worth also picking out Johan “busto_soon” Van Til. His username has been promising something it hasn’t delivered for more than 12 years. He’s a former Sunday Million champion as well.

All about the ROI

Looking more closely at our list of tournament results, it’s probably worth dwelling for a moment on the column labelled ROI (or “return on investment”). Arguably this is the way we really figure out the consistent performers.

At the top of the ROI list, we of course find players who have essentially hit and run on the Sunday Million. Bulgaria’s “kapchin”, for example, finished second in the 12th Anniversary Sunday Million this time last year and won $707,574. That was kapchin’s first and last tournament at this buy-in, securing the kind of ROI it might be tempting not to ruin by actually playing again. Greece’s “moutsoun75” is in a similar boat. He finished fourth in the same tournament last year and was similarly playing at that level for the only time.

Kyle Julius: A regular, and a regular winner

(According to our records, the two players who have actually won Sunday Million-level tournaments the first and only time they played it are Hungary’s “mrw8419” and “EVERFR0ST” from Finland.)

However, if we restrict our searches to players who have played at this level more than 100 times, we find Lithuania’s “benislovas” whose 109 appearances have earned him an average $7,828 each time, with one outright win.

“a.urli” of Canada is not far behind — he won the 10th Anniversary Sunday Million — while there’s another familiar name in the top five of this list: Kyle “KJulius10” Julius, whose 103 tournaments at this level have netted him $381,100, including one win.

When we restrict this search further, to players who have a minimum 200 or 300 appearances at this level, we begin to see some established bosses rising to the top. Just take a look at the following lists:

Average win, more than 200 tournaments played:

Average win, more than 300 tournaments played:

Again, it is worth reiterating that the attempt to pick a winner from this event — which will have tens of thousands of runners — is essentially impossible. However, everyone mentioned above has reason to consider themselves well positioned for a crack at the title… and a first prize guaranteed to be at least $1 million.

NB: All stats correct at time of writing.

You can win tickets into one of five Spin of the Day freerolls every day on PokerStars. You might even find yourself with a story to tell.

Like “LoCoSi”, a married father of three college-aged kids, from Ontario Canada.

A graduate of the Mike Sexton/Vince van Patten era, he found himself turning that daily spin into a few hundred dollars last month. Not bad for a $0.01/$0.02 player.

His is not the story of high stakes poker you might usually find here. His is more ground level. Proudly so. He’s no gambler, he’s a poker player. It’s about fun, not the fame (or fortune).

Still. A win worth a couple of hundred dollars. What’s not to love about that?

“I’m probably the epitome of your casual recreational player.

“I’m not here to support a family. I just enjoy the game and it’s a great way to clear my head when I need a break.

“Multi-tabling takes some focus and I’ll often do that as stress relief. For me, that means playing $0.01/$0.02 full ring.

“I’ve had more money on the site and I’ve played for bigger stakes, but bad sessions with high losses would affect my mood, and I wanted this to be fun.

Play one hand every day on PokerStars to earn a free Spin of the Day. You could win Spin & Go tickets, or entry into one of five daily freerolls

“$0.02 blinds sounds low, but the average player is actually pretty good… versus free play, which tends to be the exact opposite of low stress fun.

“I actually started out on PokerPages and converted free points into real money… which allowed me to transfer $20 over to Poker Stars (eons ago).

“So, what does $457.25 mean to me?

“From an entertainment perspective, it was absolutely amazing.  My son and I were having a hoot watching it play it out.

“From a GTO perspective… I certainly didn’t deserve second place.  I simply folded my way into some cash.

“From a life perspective… Honestly, it would take a jackpot for me to consider withdrawing funds, so it’s still just part of the game.

“I’ll most likely evaluate the new bank roll, sharpen my skills with a few podcasts, then push into bigger levels with a massive over-estimation of my actual abilities… and then I’ll comfortably settle back into playing $0.01/$0.02 to kill some time.

“That, along with maybe a 1% chance that I’ll just buy into the Sunday Million and turn a freeroll into a real party story to keep in my back pocket.”

The inaugural Lex Live Festival played out in Namur last week. Here’s what went down.

ALL OUR CONTENT FROM LEX LIVE:

LEX VELDHUIS INTERVIEW

DANNY DE VOS WINS MAIN EVENT FOR €29,300

TAKE THE PUB QUIZ

DAY 2 COVERAGE

FU FRIDAY FLIP

DAY 1C RECAP

CROAKS INTERVIEW

PARTY TIME VIDEO

DAY 1B RECAP

MEET THE QUALIFIERS

VIDEO FROM DAY 1A

Have events at Lex Live inspired you to start playing poker? Click here to open a PokerStars account.