Poker Charity

It’s time once again for the World Championship of Online Poker and something about this event series specifically transforms my weekly poker grind into something almost magical. In WCOOP, PokerStars (http://psta.rs/1WMnGaU) manages to capture the excitement of some of the biggest live series in the world, and bring that right into people’s homes.

I remember a few years back, when I took very selective “shots” at WCOOP titles and I remember feeling flurries of excitement. I would think to myself, this is my shot. It felt like winning a WCOOP title would unlock so many opportunities that were not accessible to me at that point in my poker journey. I think that my mindset back in those days, put a lot of subconscious pressure on me to perform and my initial excitement would slowly become more like a nervous energy that would keep me from playing my A-game. Now that I’ve met some of those goals, (being an ambassador for the game, being named a PokerStars Pro) I feel like that nervous energy goes away. I am left with just being excited and grateful that I get to play the game I love with the wonderful amounts of support I receive from the Twitch and YouTube communities as well as social media.

None of that is to say, however, that, I’m still not hungry (insert fat joke here, Kappa) for those ever elusive WCOOP titles. It is just a completely different feeling and experience to play in such a prestigious series without nearly as much pressure. I can now play a very full schedule, allow myself to enjoy the excitement, and prepare myself mentally and physically for what will practically be a poker marathon. I am training for WCOOP as much as I possibly can.

When talking about poker, people like to use the word “grind” to characterize the life of a professional poker player, and while, being honest, often times the normal poker schedule can have a way of running together, and tournaments can start to feel the same after a while, WCOOP feels completely different. With every single tournament, there is the added incentive of a championship. There is more than money at stake, there is the allure of being a champion. Becoming a WCOOP Champion, once the cards have all been dealt and all the chips have been collected is something that no one person can dispute, criticize, or take away from you. It’s something I haven’t experienced yet and I am going to fight like hell for it.

Going into this year’s WCOOP, I wanted to find a way to allow my audience(s) to experience some of the thrill of a major poker series even if their bankroll or geographic location would normally prevent them from doing so. With that in mind, I have created two series that will coincide with WCOOP. One is JCOOP (http://goo.gl/DVFV6J), or Jaime’s Championship Of Online poker, which will feature the same formats as the tournaments I am playing on any given day with much smaller buy-ins. The second series is known as KappaCOOP, which is a play money series designed to attract players who are not ready to, or because of geographic location, cannot participate in real money tournaments. I will be playing those events as well and awarding a prize to anyone who knocks me out of a tournament as well as prizes for the top finishers in any given tournament.

I am beyond excited and grateful that I get to play poker, a game I absolutely love, and share it with all of you. This game affords me so many wonderful opportunities that I wouldn’t otherwise have access to. If the excitement of WCOOP weren’t enough, I am also in the process of moving to Montreal, to start a Stream House with Kevin Martin, Jeff Gross, and my brother, Matt Staples. With the help of my friends at Poker Refugees (http://bit.ly/PokerRefugees), we’ve found a house that perfectly suits our needs. I cannot wait to stream from and show you all the new location. I will be putting up a lot of action on PokerMarket (http://bit.ly/PokerMarket), so you can buy pieces of WCOOP action. You can follow all of the WCOOP action live on Twitch (http://bit.ly/PSTwitch), or watch highlights on my YouTube channel (http://bit.ly/PokerStaples). For some insight into the life of a pro poker player, you can subscribe to my vlogging channel (http://bit.ly/Jaimestaples) and follow me on social media! Vamos!

Discord Server: http://bit.ly/PSDiscord

Personal Facebook: http://bit.ly/PerFacebook

Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/PSGroupFacebook

SnapChat: http://bit.ly/PSSnapchat

Twitter: http://bit.ly/psTwitter

Instagram: http://bit.ly/PSInstagram

PokerStaples Merch: http://bit.ly/PokerSStore