But AlexKP, known to is friends as Alex Petersen, could very well make all of the above happen. He could stand in the middle of Denmark on a mountain of tuna salad so high that Starkist would come running to offer endorsements. That's because Petersen was the very first winner of the 2010 World Championship of Online Poker, beating out exactly 9,000 other players in a $215 six-handed no-limit hold'em contest for a first prize of more than $257,000.

And the tuna salad?

Well, Petersen, like a lot of other young poker pros, is a fairly focused individual. What's more, he's Danish, which I've found increases the focus exponentially based on the proximity to Copenhagen. With that in mind, the pro of five years is fairly terse when describing his talents off the poker table.

"I'm a pretty fast runner on 100m, suck at backgammon, and make an awesome tuna
salad!" he declared.

This answer came in reply to a query about what people would find most interesting about him. All things considered, any of the above would be topics for discussion. Chunk tuna or albacore? Has he worked on his backgame and some better anchor strategies? How fast is pretty fast?

But all of this discussion is probably for naught really. Why? Because Petersen is a poker player first, last, and all points in between. He's being interviewed about a massive poker win after taking the very first title in the 2010 iteration of the biggest online poker tournament series in the world. Why would he want to talk about anything other than poker?

Any attempt to draw him out of poker discussion is one that resulted in a false lead or, perhaps, a bit of flirting. When asked what he might say if we met at a bar, he replied,"I would probably tell you you looked nice, that my moms says I'm a good guy, and if we should head back to my place." E-mail interviews are interesting.

Alexander Petersen: His mom says he is a good guy

That's the thing, really. You can't expect a guy who is talented enough to win a WCOOP event to be able to turn off his poker focus with 60 events left to play. He just pocketed a monster purse, the biggest of his career to date. Although he's a terror at the cash game tables and has booked six-figure wins there, his tournament game hasn't posted anything so large as this WCOOP victory.

During last year's EPT London festival, Petersen played in the European Poker Championships at The Vic and took down Event #9--the £1,500 + £150 NLHE affair--for £45,900. The kid undoubtedly has game. He also has a bit of moxy about him. Up against Team PokerStars Pro Dennis Phillips on the way to the WCOOP Event #1 final table, Petersen ran a series of bluffs that still make him proud. "Not because they were good spots or anything like that," he said. "I just wanted to show the (expletive) bluff!"

And that's the life of a a young Danish pro who just won a quarter million bucks. It's the story of a guy who can't play backgammon, who runs fast, bluffs for the fun of it, might be a bit of a player in the bars, and makes a mean tuna salad.

To see how he made the money to finance it all, read our 2010 WCOOP Event #1 final table report.

Nobody's perfect, but PokerStars is working to get there. 

Once again, PokerStars has been listening to what its players want, and is now set to release a long list of features on its software.

We've had a sneak peek at what's coming and can offer this preview. Please note, the features will only appear after the software has been updated, which should happen by the end of the week.

Session Options - PokerStars is introducing an integrated platform that easily allows you to manage your state during a session. When you are playing you will notice a small additional icon on each of your tables that gives you easy access to the Session Options. From there you can Sit out on all tables, Sit out next Big Blind on all tables, Resume play on all tables that you are sitting out on, and end your session gracefully - Sit out next Big Blind on all tables and close them. For immediate feedback about the state of your session, the table icon will change from a green play sign when you are sitting in on all tables, to a yellow play/pause icon when you are sitting in on some and sitting out on other tables, to a red pause icon when you are sitting out on all tables.

Auto buy-in - Auto buy-in allows you to instantly buy in after left-clicking Seat Open without any intermediate steps. Simply set up your buy in preferences once, and the next time you sit at a table you will automatically buy in. Auto Buy-in can be set up through "Options" > "Auto-Buy-In (Ring Games)..." or by clicking on the link in the traditional buy-in dialog. Want to buy in as an exception for a different amount? Simply right-click on 'Seat Open' and the traditional buy-in dialog will show up.

'Seat me' - When you select a table that has empty seats in the ring game lobby, you will notice a Seat Me button below the traditional Go to Table. Clicking Seat Me automatically opens the table for you and sits you in one of the empty seats on the table. If you have Auto Buy-in enabled, you will be automatically bought in for the desired amount; if not - the usual buy-in dialog will appear. In this way taking a seat can be a single-click process from the main lobby.

Sit out next big blind - PokerStars has changed the existing Sit out next blind check box on fast tables to Sit out next big blind, and have added the new check box to regular-speed tables as well.

Stack tables layout - PokerStars has added the ability to Stack all your tables in addition to the already existing Cascade and Tile. This feature can be accessed either from "View" in the main lobby, or through the Table Layout menu on the table. Shortcut key is Ctrl+8.

Average Stack column - This is a new column in the lobby which shows the average stack of the sitting in players on the table.

No Chat in table tooltip - When you have lost your chat you now have the ability to display No Chat in your table tooltip by activating "Options" > "Show No Chat in tooltip". This option is only available if you have lost your chat privileges - if you are able to chat at the tables this option would not show.

Notes reliability - PokerStars has changed the way notes are saved so that you do not lose your notes when the client is closed in a non-conventional way.

Remove from all waiting lists button - The waiting list dialog ("Requests" > "Waiting on Tables...") now has a "Remove me from All Waiting Lists" button.

Link to last hand when dealing stops - You will now be able to access the last hand when dealing stops. The Previous link will remain active on the table instead of disappearing. Do note that usually the last hand is the cancelled hand, and the red Replay button will not open a hand that has been cancelled. To look at the last complete hand, click on the Previous [Hand ID Number] link and use the Instant Hand History.

Display Bet Amounts defaults to on - This option is now enabled by default on new installs and activated for players who have not explicitly disabled it.

Advanced action Check moved - To avoid mis-clicks when selecting the Check advanced action we have re-positioned Check slightly higher so that it does not overlap with the Call (Amount) check box which appears when someone bets before you.

Tournament Tickets dialog improvements - The window accessed through "Requests" > "Tournament Tickets" has been improved. Among other things, it will now list all tournaments that accept a specific ticket typed.

Once again, those updates will only be in effect after the client programs are updated, which should happen by the end of the week.

I turned up at the Corn Exchange ready to play although still rather ill. Walking around the room before hand I didn't recognise too many people but what I must comment on is the amount of young players that were there for UKIPT Edinburgh. When I first started playing I
was one of only a handful of players under the age of 26 that ever played the bigger tournaments, or any tournament come to think of it. Nowadays, I feel like more of the old guard having not played as many UK-based tournaments in recent times, as multiple teenagers and players in their early 20s with vast knowledge from the internet and a feeling of invincibility dominate their tables and really crank up the aggression in comparison to a few years ago.

Armed with my medicine and most likely superior knowledge of what it takes to navigate my way through a tournament field I sat back and let the young guns battle it out on my table whilst occasionally keeping them in line to let them know I was still around. So quietly I chipped up from the initial starting stack of 15k to 25k. I had been very active from the button but had shown down a good hand virtually every time. I then ran a huge bluff on a
very nice guy called Asif from Manchester with 74o I put him all in on the river of AK7Q6 and he made an almost instantaneous call with KQ to take me back to below starting stack. In hindsight I think I should have just let him have it and I tried too hard to win this pot which maybe he saw through.

As we were at the 200-400/50 level I decided it was time to start ruffling a few feathers and try to boost my stack back to a more healthy position as the next level of 300-600/75 is a relatively huge jump and I don't really want to be stuck on 12k. I raised more and more pots and players were getting out of my way, I kept finding myself in tricky situations debating whether to bet or check with 2nd and 3rd pair. These are the situations that
separate the good players from the best. I feel like I handled these situations OK overall but definitely nowhere near the level I would have liked to. Maybe I was being too much on the passive side worrying too much about letting myself get bluffed.

Last hand before the dinner break I was back to 20k which felt good after the mishap taking me down to 12k. I re-raised an early position short stack with A-K ready to take him on when Asif decided to 'cold 4 bet' from the blinds. There was no doubt in my mind what he had and I folded pretty quickly face up and he laughed showing me one ace - and later on he confirmed that he had both bullets.

After having a quick meal with Ash Mason and Jake Cody (11th) we came back ten minutes too late and eventually I found myself all-in with J-J v A-K. The K high flop wasn't too good but the sweet J on the river took me to my peak of the tournament. I then moved tables and after chatting away for a bit looked down at A-Q in the SB after a raise and a call. I 3 bet and then the original raisor 4 bet it to 11k total with 21k behind. He looked incredibly nervous and I had seen him talking to a couple of mutual friends who I knew were
good players. I find people tend to be over aggressive against me as they see me
wearing a Team PokerStars Pro badge and assume I'm bluffing all the time. I decided
to go with my instinct and put him all in which turned out to be a big mistake as he had K-K but luck was on my side as I rivered a club flush to take me to 65k which is what I finished the day on.

Still being relatively early and players having a few drinks at the bar we decided to go to a show called the Late Late Show. In Edinburgh they have 'Fringe Festival' which I believe is a week-long festival mainly for comedy. The city was buzzing all weekend and I really did enjoy it and what was even better was this show was taking place two minutes from the George hotel. So I went with Liv Boeree, Jake Cody, Simon Mitchell and a rather merry Ben Jenkins. The show was quite good and funny but I would have personally preferred more comedy sketches as the host Paul Zenon was very amusing and the music just didn't really do anything for me, but that is my own personal opinion.

After meeting with performance coach Steve Ward in the morning I then filmed a sit down interview with fellow Team Pros Vicky Coren, Julian Thew and Jude Ainsworth alongside the host Nick Wealthall. Back to the job at hand as I felt confident about going far in this tournament and felt like I was playing well and survived after some good fortune.

Unfortunately, I ran Kings into Aces and that was the end of that adventure. Debating between the Stars party and playing the £300 side event I decided it would be more fun
to play poker, have a few drinks (not too many though as still not feeling 100%) and maybe go afterwards to the party. I was sat with Neil Channing who is always entertaining and he wanted to crossbook with me which means if one person wins money then the other player has to payout the same on top. So if I came 6th for £1,000, Neil would have to give me £1,000 on top. I thought it would be fun and in hindsight should have done it but I was paranoid that I would lose the first time I ever did this so maybe I will do it next time.

I managed to amass a monster stack and the ran fairly bad towards the end of the day and ran set into set to get knocked out.

I really enjoyed Edinburgh, if I'm being honest it was way better than I imagined and I didn't even really see all that much of the place. I look forward to going back again and hope it is a leg of season 2 of the UKIPT.

Congratulations to Nick Abou Risk who won £50,000 and a £5,000 seat into EPT
London, well deserved from what I've heard.

Good luck everyone

The main Red Dragon event saw 314 entries making it the second largest ever and awarded HKD $2,859,912 in total prize money, with HKD $643,000 going to the winner, James McCarty.

James McCarty

.
"PokerStars and Grand Lisboa are always striving to offer the ultimate poker experience for the players," said PokerStars Macau operations manager Danny McDonagh, "The team has worked hard and it's rewarding to see the three biggest Red Dragon events this year."

After 14 grueling hours on Sunday's Day 3 Final McCarty, from Japan, took the trophy. When it was three-handed it appeared as if local hero Ginger Keong was destined to bring home the title to Macau for the first time. He had over half the chips in play and seemed to be grinding down the competition, but McCarty had a key hand where his pocket aces not only eliminated a player but simultaneously decreased Keong's stack to 400,000.

The two remaining players entered heads-up play with McCarty holding a commanding 7-to-1 chip lead. Keong made some progress moving all-in each hand where McCarty folded. Eventually, McCarty made the call on the fourth shove and showed a dominating Q-9 against Keong's Q-2. The board wouldn't improve either player's hands which meant McCarty would take down the pot and main event.

"I come here (to PokerStars Macau) every couple months and specifically like the deep tournament structure," said the 27-year old winner. "I feel I played well but also got lucky at the right time."

The Asia Player of the Year (APOY) race is closer than ever as Team PokerStars Pro Raymond Wu now has numerous players within range of passing him in the standings. Fellow Team Pros Bryan Huang and Celina Lin each have four final tables on the year and are ranked 2nd and 15th respectively. Macau Millions winner Justin Chan also improved his rank moving from 7th to 4th on the leaderboard. Only 12 tournaments remain before the APOY award is announced in November where the winner receives a one-year sponsorship with PokerStars Macau.

The next MPCC takes place from November 2-7 and the HKD $20,000 buy-in main event offers a generous HKD $3,500,000 guarantee. You can qualify free at PokerStars.net - go to the 'Events' tab, then click 'Macau'.

It's not looking so simple anymore, is it?

Shootout tournaments are a curious beast, and in the case of WCOOP Event #5, players needed to beat one six-handed table to reach the money and three to earn their way to the final table. A capped field of 1,296 players turned out, the $388,800 prize pool blowing past the $300k guarantee. 216 places were paid with first place earning $62,208.36, a fantastic Labor Day payday if we've ever seen one.

Nearly two dozen Team PokerStars Pros threw their hats in the ring including Barry Greenstein, Bertrand Grospellier, Henrique Pinho, Joe Hachem, Johnny Lodden, George Lind III, J.P. Kelly, Juan Maceiras, Daniel Negreanu, Randy "nanonoko" Lew, Grayson "spacegravy" Physioc, Steven Paul, Chris Moneymaker, David Williams, and Jan Heitmann. Four Team Pros cashed: George Danzer (71st), Anders Berg (144th), Pat Pezzin (181st), and Johannes Steindl (195th). Other notable finishes included David "WhooooKidd" Baker (63rd), Tristan "Cre8ive" Wade (46th), Chad "lilholdem954" Batista (34th), Kevin "BeL0WaB0Ve" Saul (26th), Thayer "THAY3R" Rasmussen (25th), Steve "MrSmokey1" Billirakis (16th), and Ari "BodogAri" Engel who just missed the final table, finishing in eighth place.

FlyingSumo was the last player to win his third-round match, four-bet shoving pre-flop on Johnnyy0423 with [Ah][Jc] and earning a call. Johnnyy0423's [Ac][9s] was dominated and did not improve on the eight-high board, sending us to the final table. Stacks were reset to 5,000 chips and blinds started at 25/50.

Seat 1: Zgaga (5,000 in chips)
Seat 2: FlyingSumo (5,000 in chips)
Seat 3: J0hnny_Dr@m@ (5,000 in chips)
Seat 4: DalconOpeaN (5,000 in chips)
Seat 5: GB2005 (5,000 in chips)
Seat 6: vluff (5,000 in chips)

Each player at this final table bore some impressive results on PokerStars. FlyingSumo has three wins in the Nightly Hundred Grand. GB2005 won the Sunday Million in January 2007 and the Battle of the Planets in November 2008. Zgaga represented Slovenia in the World Cup of Poker IV, and vluff won the Sunday Warm-Up just over a year ago for a $134,000 score. J0hnny_Dr@m@ final tabled the Sunday 500 only ten weeks ago and DalconOpeaN was the runner-up in that same tournament on July 18 of this year, earning nearly $64,000. All of them were gunning for their first WCOOP title.

J0hnny_Dr@m@ quickly assumed the role of table captain and pulled out to an early lead, increasing his stack to 12,000 by the end of the second level. His gains came at the expense of GB2005, Zgaga and DalconOpeaN, who fell to around 2,000 chips apiece. DalconOpeaN managed to work his stack back up to around 3,500 when he found himself on the wrong end of a coinflip. With the blinds at 50/100, DalconOpeaN opened for 300, GB2005 shoved for 3,205 and DalconOpeaN made the call, his [9h][9d] up against [Ks][Td]. A ten hit the flop and although DalconOpeaN picked up an open-ended straight draw on the turn, the river blanked out and he was crippled, left with only 255 in chips. They went into the pot two hands later, but DalconOpeaN's [Qs][8s] did not improve against FlyingSumo's [Kd][5s] and he exited in sixth place, earning $9,642.24.

About twenty minutes later, Zgaga's turn raise couldn't shake J0hnny_Dr@m@ from a multiway pot. J0hnny_Dr@m@ was the initial raiser, making it 300 to go, and both vluff and Zgaga called from the blinds. The flop came down [8s][7h][6h] and the action was checked around. When the [2s] hit the turn, vluff led out for a min-bet of 120, Zgaga raised to 450, J0hnny_Dr@m@ called and vluff got out of the way. The river was the [4c] and Zgaga checked to J0hnny_Dr@m@, who bet 1,280. Zgaga made the call, only to watch J0hnny_Dr@m@ roll over [Ks][5s] for an eight-high straight. Zgaga's stack was slashed in half. Less than an minute later, Zgaga got the rest of his chips in the middle with [Ah][Qs], dominating vluff's [As][9c]. The [Th][8s][5d] flop was safe for Zgaga, but vluff paired his kicker when the [9d] hit the turn. The river was the [Ac] and just like that, Zgaga was gone, earning $15,552 for fifth place.

FlyingSumo was knocked down to less than 2,000 in chips when he got his stack in the middle with an open-ended straight flush draw against GB2005's overpair, but did not improve. Three minutes later he picked up [Ks][Kh] and three-bet shoved over J0hnny_Dr@m@'s 300-chip opening raise. J0hnny_Dr@m@ called with [Ad][9c] and spiked top two pair on the [Ac][9h][5c] flop. The turn was the [3d], the river was the [2c], and FlyingSumo was knocked out in fourth, collecting $23,328.

When play turned three-handed, J0hnny_Dr@m@ took down the largest pot thus far at the final table, his overpair holding up against GB2005's top pair:

After that hand, GB2005 was left on only 3,000 in chips. He tried to move vluff off his hand pre-flop, three-betting all-in after vluff opened for 385. Vluff, however, made the call with [Kc][Qs], catching GB2005's hand in the proverbial cookie jar with only [Qc][9c]. The board ran out [Ah][Ac][Ks][8s][9h]and GB2005 departed in third place, earning $34,992.

J0hnny_Dr@m@ held a 2-1 chip lead over vluff as heads-up play commenced.

Seat 3: J0hnny_Dr@m@ (19,351 in chips)
Seat 6: vluff (10,649 in chips)

Vluff's stack was quickly reduced by half after J0hnny_Dr@m@ flopped top pair, top kicker with [Ah][Kd] and had his value bets pair off on each street. However, vluff quickly regained his lost chips on this hand, putting them back to where they started their heads-up battle:

When the scheduled 15-minute break began at 4:55 a.m. EDT, J0hnny_Dr@m@ once again held a 2-1 chip lead and asked vluff if he was interested in discussing a deal. Vluff agreed to look at chip count chop numbers, but instantly rejected the proposed payouts once they were calculated. Play resumed, and it lasted all of one hand.

Vluff opened for 400 from the button, J0hnny_Dr@m@ raised to 1,299 and vluff four-bet to 2,789. J0hnny_Dr@m@ moved all-in and vluff made the call.

vluff [Tc][Ts]
J0hnny_Dr@m@ [As][Ks]

J0hnny_Dr@m@ all but sealed his victory on the [Kh][8c][3h] flop. Vluff needed to find a ten on the turn or river to survive, but the [7s] and the [2h] fell instead, ending his tournament with a second-place finish and $46,656 while J0hnny_Dr@m@ captured his first WCOOP bracelet and $62,208,36.

WCOOP Event #5 - $320 NLHE 6-Max Shootout Results

1. J0hnny_Dr@m@ ($62,208.36)
2. vluff ($46,656.00)
3. GB2005 ($34,992.00)
4. FlyingSumo ($23,328.00)
5. Zgaga ($15,552.00)
6. DalconOpeaN ($9,642.24)

Thinking about giving the WCOOP a whirl? Check out our WCOOP page for all the information you can handle. And if you missed any of the action, check out PokerStars.tv for all the highlights.