The October Cake Poker PLB Competition, sponsored by Cake Poker and PocketFives, has concluded. PocketFiver apology7 took first place in both the High Stakes and Low Stakes competitions to win a paid trip to the Punta Cana Poker Classic in the Dominican Republic along with $600 in Cake Poker tournament tickets.Placing second in both competitions was fellow member lancyhoward1, who was awarded $1,150 in total tournament entries as a result. Louisiana's nevertilt22 and KzooHustlin finished third and fourth respectively in the High Stakes contest, earning $400 and $150 in tournament tickets.
In the Low Stakes competition, Qu1ncy placed third overall and walked away with a $250 tournament ticket, followed by jasonmog1 in fourth place. nevertilt22, J_RAHFF, Doke, stbroce42, KzooHustlin and bergeroo all received $109 tournament entries for finishing in the Top 10 of the Low Stakes competition.
PocketFives caught up with apology7, whose real name is Ryan, to discuss his victory in the PLB competitions and look forward to next week's live tournament action in the Dominican Republic:
PocketFives: You won the High Stakes competition by approximately 85 points. Talk about competing over the last month.
apology7: Well, it was actually really close. There was almost a 3-4 way tie going into the last day of the competition. Several weeks in, I realized I was going to have to play the nightly schedule in order to accumulate enough points to win - so I'd do my daily schedule then I'd register at night on my laptop and just 1-3 table the Cake tournaments. nevertilt22 and lancyhoward1 were also putting in a lot of hours and the three of us were probably putting 70+ hours a week in towards the tail of the competition. Luckily, I was able to close it out on the final day with two clutch wins or it would have been really close.
PocketFives: Your big breakthrough seemed to come at the end of the month in the $12K Guaranteed. Can you walk me a bit through that tourney and what it meant to you?
apology7: Yeah, that tournament runs at 9:00pm and it was one of my last shots to accumulate a lot of points. I remember PocketFiver KzooHustlin also being at the final two tables with me and I was worried a win from him would mean I would lose the competition. He had been really active as we got short-handed before the final table. During one hand, I was dealt KK in the big blind and he raised the button with a 20bb stack. I normally like to just 3-bet jam here but since he had been so active I figured his range included a ton of hands that would fold to my shove so I just elected to flat.
It ended up working out because he stacked off with K9 in a pretty standard spot after flopping top pair. I ran really good the rest of the tournament and had about 75% of the chips in play 3-handed so it was an easy heads-up win.
PocketFives: How did you get started in poker originally?
apology7: Like most players I started off in college. I was kind of late to the 'poker boom' and remember not knowing how to play until way after it exploded in popularity. I began learning the game with play money on PartyPoker and I think I played that for about 8 months in 2005 before I actually ever deposited any real money. I started with $30 and managed to build it up to what it is today. I was a pretty small time player in college and devoted most of my time to my schooling and social life. I didn't have many expenses then so I made basically enough to get by. After college, I got a professional job and absolutely hated it. Fortunately or me the company collapsed and everyone was laid off. I began playing poker full time after that and have really gotten a lot better now that I devote 40-50 hours a week on the game.
PocketFives: Are you excited about the trip to Punta Cana?
apology7: Yeah, I'm really excited. I'd really like to spend more time traveling and not just spending time in casino towns like Las Vegas and Atlantic City. This is a really great opportunity to explore other cultures and see the world. I'm taking my girlfriend along too - we both could use a vacation.
PocketFives: Have you had big live poker experience before?
apology7: I played a few WSOP circuit events in Vegas this summer and I also recently went to Borgata for my first WPT event. I didn't have any success this year so I'm a little bummed out. I plan on playing more large buy-in live events in the future but merely for the opportunity of possibly hitting a monster score. You just can't play enough to even out variance so it just feels too much like gambling to me. I'm a grinder at heart.
PocketFives: Is there anything else you want to add?
apology7: Good work to all the guys who placed in the Cake Poker PLB Competition. I look forward to competing with you all in the future.
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PocketFives would like to thank all members who participated in this exclusive competition, and wish apology7 the best of luck as he competes in the Punta Cana Poker Classic next week! If you would like to support exclusive contests like these, you can sign up for a Cake Poker account through PocketFives in November and receive 33% rakeback. As a rakeback customer, you'll also have an opportunity to compete in our monthly $60,000 Rake Race that is exclusive to PocketFives and its rakeback partners.
Following is a rundown of the Cake Poker PLB Competition final results:
High Stakes Leader Board Final Standings
1. apology7 - 533.53
2. lancyhoward1 - 448.75
3. nevertilt22 - 432.94
4. KzooHustlin - 430.73
5. bergeroo - 415.83
6. Doke - 391.56
7. OU_dlanger610 - 349.32
8. OHBEEVEE - 334.44
9. minh86 - 331.39
10. J_RAHFF - 330.53
Low Stakes Leader Board Final Standings
1. apology7 - 1,117.06
2. lancyhoward1 - 1,017.44
3. Qu1ncy - 878.09
4. jasonmog1 - 825.22
5. nevertilt22 - 739.93
6. J_RAHFF - 600.84
7. Doke - 558.72
8. stbroce42 - 544.44
9. KzooHustlin - 517.09
10. bergeroo - 464.34
Canada
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