16 Dec 11
What To Watch Out For In The PokerStrategy.com TV World Championship
Barry Carter shares his views on what will make the final edits of the PokerStrategy.com TV World Championship, when it is aired on the Poker Channel next year.
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| Champion Eric 'Biggie1982' Loschan |
It was very different to anything I have done before, perhaps mainly because I knew none of the guys when the event started, but by the time the last card was dealt I felt I knew them as well as any final table I've witnessed.
Despite there not being many household names, I feel that enough stories were created during the event that the TV audience will keep coming back for more.
Although they started as random screen names, by the time this final started we had 8 very clearly defined characters at the table.
In fact, the action started exactly how anyone who paid attention to the heats would expect. Young aggressive favourites
znah & 
xenboy started the pressure from the get-go. Hungarian coach
Axleska quietly and solidly accumulated chips while staying under the radar, and 
SwapShop rode another variance roller coaster. Martin77BG used his TV tournament experience to nearly take down the title, and 
Biggie1982 once again thrived in a tough environment showing he has learned a thing or two in his time as a poker writer. Perhaps the main disappointment from the final was the quick exit of CEO Dominik Kofert. He showed some aggression early, but unfortunately never really got going, finding himself on the end of several coolers to bust in 8th place.
However, this was for the benefit of the live stream viewers, as Dominik put in a great shift alongside myself in the commentary booth.
The SwapShop Roller Coaster
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| Swapshop rode a variance roller coaster |
He had already garnered a lucky reputation in his heat, but he really excelled himself this week.
Very early into the final, he found himself down to less than one big blind, and looking to be the first one out of the door.
But, one orbit later he was back to nearly an average stack after a round of good fortune (Most notably catching running nines on the turn and river against Dominik Kofert), and managed to survive the bubble and cash in 4th place for $3,000.
Saviorhun No Underdog
If I had been rooting for anyone in this tournament, it was Saviorhun of Hungary.As a poker journalist, 99% of the players I meet tend to have a high opinion of their own game.
So it is always nice to meet a modest player. Saviorhun was telling everyone he had no chance before his first heat, which he won of course. Despite this win, he was equally as modest ahead of the final, telling us all the other players were better than him.
It seems like he is either very humble, or very shrewd, because he put on a fantastic performance in the final. He was incredibly loose aggressive, so much so in fact that it that it made me question whether this humble manner was, in fact, a clever plan to exploit his table image.
Although he bust in 6th place, the rest of the table did not know what to make of him until then, and he was one of the stand-out players in the final.
Martin77BG Nearly Does The Double
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| TV Champion Martin77BG |
That is because he was one player away from becoming a double TV tournament champion.
Martin has only played live a handful of times, but one of those times was winning Face The Ace, a similar televised studio poker tournament.
Which meant that he had a rare mix of live inexperience, but TV tournament experience.
And he looked like he was going to win it too. He cruised through his heat quicker than anyone, and after a slow start in the final he found himself with half the chips in play three handed and really turning on the pressure.
Biggie1982 Writes His Own Headlines
But he was denied by PokerStrategy.com writer Eric 'Biggie1982' Loschan.On paper, you would have him as one of the underdogs. He had without the toughest heat of the tournament, labeled the 'table of death', heat 2 featured two coaches (
dapapst & 
TwiceT) and successful German Pro 
Swordfish007. In the final he was up against several other pros (and of course his boss, Dominik Kofert), the pressure of the money, and the TV spotlight - all things you would expect someone who spends most of his time reporting on the game to struggle with.
But that is not how it went down, and you didn't have to spend very long watching Loschan to realise he was anything but an underdog.
He made the table of death look easy, and certainly did not look out of place among its stellar line up. In the final he was putting the pressure on right from the start, recovered from a bad beat very well, and eventually took the title down with a strong confident performance, hardly making any noticeable mistakes.
In fact, depending on how the show is edited, it might not come across that he was a PokerStrategy.com writer at all, as he could easily be mistaken for a pro with how he played, and how he conducted himself throughout the event.
I can't wait to see what the edited versions of these shows look like. Having been so close to the event obviously I have my own perception of the main stories will look like, but it might come across completely different when it is trimmed down to a one and a half hour show.
The one thing I can guarantee you is the PokerStrategy.com TV World Championship certainly was not boring, and I for one hope that we will get a chance to do it again next year.
You can watch the PokerStrategy.com TV World Championship early next year on the Poker Channel.
| PokerStrategy.com TV World Championship Final Table |
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| Finishing Position |
Name | Payout |
| 1st | Biggie1982 |
$20,000 |
| 2nd | Martin77BG |
$12,000 |
| 3rd | Axleska |
$7,000 |
| 4th | SwapShop |
$3,000 |
| 5th | znah |
$0 |
| 6th |  Saviorhun |
$0 |
| 7th | xenboy |
$0 |
| 8th |  Korn |
$0 |
by Barry Carter
#1
vhallee, 16 Dec 11 18:18
There's better pictures of Erik which you could have used for this news imo: http://i.imm.io/d3g4.jpeg