German News

Katja Thater is the new star of the German poker scene. Despite a lot of criticism from some German tournament players, I selected Katja to play on our team at the Poker Nations Cup in Cardiff. She did a great job there, finishing second in her heat and playing the first rounds of the final table. Her charming attitude combined with her outstanding mental presence at the table caught a lot of remarkable attention. Several interviews in magazines and TV appearances followed, and PokerStars invited her to the World Series of Poker as a sponsored player. Katja managed to make her way into the money in two events ($1,500 seven-card stud and $2,000 pot-limit hold'em), impressing the Las Vegas poker scene, as well. PokerStars immediately asked her to become a full member of the official PokerStars team, which she happily agreed to. Now, the sky is her only limit, and I'm pretty sure that she will make her way.



Another German-speaking guy is a media favourite right now. I'm talking about Austrian Siggi Stockinger, who won the E-WSOP trial in Vienna in March. The final table was broadcast by the German TV station DSF in July, with an above-average program quote. Siggi has been a poker pro for many years, and is well-established in high-limit pot-limit Omaha cash games all over the world. His dominating performance in Vienna's even and his inspiring Austrian charm were well-recognized by the TV audience, and brought Siggi into the ramp light. I can imagine that it's only a question of time until one of the major global players will become aware of the Austrian and offer him a contract as a sponsored player.



A common saying is that the worst day of the year for a poker player is the day he is knocked out of the WSOP main event. But I can tell you about one special moment that is even worse. It's the moment you realize that you will not participate in the main event. I went to the WSOP with a lot of optimistic dreams in my head. The WSOP always treated me nicely in previous years, as I made the money in several tournaments. This year, everything simply worked out wrong. I played seven events prior to the main event, and never made it into the money. Twice, I went out on the bubble, and in the other tournaments, I didn't make it to the dinner break. The $2,500 no-limit hold'em event was the shortest WSOP tournament I have ever played in my life. In the third hand, I found myself in the big blind with pocket nines. Everybody except the small blind folded and he raised my $25 big blind to $100. I decided to flat-call him, as I at least wanted to see the flop. With 9-4-2 rainbow, it came down perfectly for me. He bet out $150 and I just called him, trying not to lose him. The turn brought the 6, and he bet out $450. With two spades on the board and a lot of straight draws, I decided to show some real strength and raised all in. After 30 seconds of thinking, he called my all-in bet with his pocket aces. Of course, the river gave him his two-outer, and I was history. With a big Texas smile on his face, he said "At least you were able to bring all your chips into the pot when you were good." He wished me farewell, and grabbed the pot worth $5,000. After several more of these kinds of disasters, without a sponsorship contract and without winning a seat online, I decided to give myself only one shot at the big one in the form of a $1,000 buy-in single-table satellite. Down to three players, I held a comfortable chip lead started wondering, if the poker gods would have mercy enough to give me an entry to the main event. Then, the inevitable happened again. I lost three hands in a row with at least a 70 percent chance to win the pot (A-Q versus A-8, K-Q versus Q-J, and 8-8 versus 5-5). When I was walking out of the Rio convention centre, I realized that I had already joined the "boulevard of broken dreams" before the event had even started. Well, who said that the life of a poker player is always easy going?



Michael Keiner is an independent German poker pro on the international tournament circuit, and he maintains his own website at http://www.michaelkeiner.de/.