What else does the winner of the 2008 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event need? How about a win in the Sunday Million? Carter ckingusc King, who was part of a five-way chop in the WCOOP Main Event last year for $1.26 million and officially emerged as its champion, took down the Sunday Million last week, adding another $193,000 to his bankroll. You can find him sitting at number 59 on the PocketFives.com Online Poker Rankings and regularly can regularly spot him at some of the world's largest live and online poker tournaments. So what does a Sunday major win feel like for a player who has already experienced a seven-figure payday? PocketFives.com sat down with King to find out.On March 22nd, the Sunday Million attracted 7,906 entrants, building a $1.58 million prize pool for the PocketFiver to take down. Comparatively, 2,185 players turned out for the WCOOP Main Event, one of the richest online poker tournaments ever held. King told PocketFives.com, "Both of them are pretty large, but the WCOOP field was definitly tougher. Also, I was short-stacked more in the WCOOP than in the Million." Despite the differing tournament fields, King came out on top of each for a combined $1.5 million.
King also has a sixth place finish in a $2,500 buy-in Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) tournament held last year for $101,000. Other top scores include an eighth place effort in the PokerStars Sunday 500 at the beginning of March for $11,000. In a week-long span that began at the end of April, 2008, King took fifth in the Super Tuesday for $21,000 along with another fifth place showing, this time in the Sunday Mulligan, for $12,000. In the Sunday Million, he entered the final table second in chips and logged a big win with A-J against A-K. He was able to accumulate chips and turn on the aggression from there. Had he lost the critical hand with A-J, he would have been left with about 20 big blinds. Instead, he became the chip leader. King told PocketFives.com, "Most players are lucky to final table either the Sunday Million or WCOOP Main Event, and really almost no one will do both. To do that and win feels great."
Starting in May, you'll be able to find King seated at many of the $5,000 buy-in and under No Limit Hold'em tournaments as well as the Main Event of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP), which boasts a $10,000 buy-in. He explained, "I might also play a Pot Limit Omaha $5,000 or $10,000 event. I find Stud to be extremely boring in a tournament setting." Carter took 264th in the 2007 WSOP Main Event for $45,000 and finished seventh in a $1,500 Pot Limit Hold'em event last year for $34,000. When he heads to the WSOP in 2009, he won't have the option of entering rebuy tournaments, which were scrapped from this year's schedule. King commented, "I think that getting rid of the rebuys was a pretty dumb decision, especially the Pot Limit Omaha and No Limit Hold'em ones. They are a great variant of tournament poker."
On the subject of rebuys, King speculated on why they may have been axed: "I think the reasons for it, such as buying bracelets, is just because some players felt that others had advantages in games like 2-7 Triple Draw, but they don't. Therefore, they just got rid of all of the rebuys on that principle. It's unfair for the $1,000 No Limit Hold'em Rebuy to be affected, especially with its large field size." Last year, the two No Limit Hold'em rebuys attracted 766 and 879 players. This year, they'll be all but a memory.
So how does a mainstay of tournament poker tweak his game in order to improve? King revealed to PocketFives.com, "I have always felt that my mid game was the weakest. Oftentimes, I'll get a stack and it dwindles or I'll spew it in the middle part of a tournament, so I'm working on getting the proper controlled aggression for that stage." Reviewing his hand histories is the PocketFivers' method of learning.
He lives on a lake in South Carolina with Dan USCswimmer White and David Bakes Baker (pictured at right), two upstanding PocketFivers. In fact, Baker is ranked 31st and won the Sunday 500 last October for a healthy payday of $91,000. He followed up that performance with a second place showing in the same event for $66,000 on March 8th. White is fresh off the largest online poker cash of his career, a $37,000 bankroll boost for finishing fourth in the $1K Monday on Full Tilt. King owns a 20 foot pontoon boat and takes his two dogs out for a boat ride with regularity. He also enjoys grilling ribs with his roommates.What else does King have up his sleeve? Stay tuned to PocketFives.com to find out.
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