Fossilman wins WCOOP PLO title
September 19, 2007
Greg Raymer, the 2004 World Series of Poker champion, and Team PokerStars member won the 2007 WCOOP Pot-Limit Omaha title overnight.
He overcame a field of 772 players to claim the $168,362.40 first prize, and his first World Championship of Online Poker bracelet.
The annual PokerStars event is continuing to draw strong fields, with this years Pot-Limit Omaha championship having exactly one less entry than last year.
Raymer experienced connection difficulties during the tournament, and at one stage was absent from the table for 20 minutes.
Raymer had this to say on the PokerStars Blog;
"The disconnect totally sucked, as you can imagine. At first I tried to re-establish it, disconnecting and reconnecting the network, restarting my computer, but it soon became clear that the problem was not inside my house or computer, but somewhere else with the cable. Fortunately, my Internet came back soon enough, so I was able to continue playing as normal."
During heads up play, there were a few heated discussions between Raymer, his opponent - O.Mustang - and PokerStars support staff. O.Mustang was being quite rude and suggesting impropriety when Raymer won hands by calling on the river - strange from what you would think is an experienced online player.
When asked what he thought of the contentous behavior of his opponent, Raymer commented.
"I wouldn't say contentious. I would just say that he was getting rather whiny. The funny thing is, I can get bad beat several times in a row on PokerStars, and then when I win a simple coin-flip hand or the like, the losing player will whine in the chat box about the games being rigged in my favor. Obviously, this is just sour grapes on their part, and reflects NOTHING about the reality of the situation. Also, I think that this player quite possibly had little if any experience with heads-up PLO. I mean, why would he think it’s a big deal for me to call with the dumb end of the straight? I mean, it's not like a full table, where you often give your opponents credit for the nuts when you don't hold them yourself. Most of his whining seemed to reflect this misunderstanding, as I would call him down with hands that are quite weak by full table standards."
This was Fossilman's first WCOOP bracelet, and it sounds like it will be an achievement he cherishes.
"This means a LOT to me. As far as I am concerned, this is only a small step shy of winning a WSOP bracelet. While I have had some very good results in the last 3 years, I haven't really WON anything since the Main Event in 2004. So, winning this tournament is a fantastic feeling."
The championship continues through to the main event on Sunday September 30, which will have a guaranteed prize pool of at least $5 million. Entry is open to all PokerStars members.
