Julia
Born and raised in the jungles of Cat Tien, Vietnam, Julia is a new breed of no-limit hold’em player. Her maxim is one of anti-aggression. Julia will attack the SuperSeries final table with hundreds of calls, limp/calls and check/calls. She’ll finish the night playing a very respectable 62/2/0. But don’t let that fool you. If she’s got a pair, she’s going with it. A healthy dose of tunnel vision and a complete lack of knowledge of esoteric things like hand ranges, expected value and pot odds require an above-average amount of lucksackery and a bushel of stickiness – on these accounts Julia WILL NOT disappoint. A word of caution – beware of that low card on the river because it surely just gave Julia two pair. Victory for Julia will depend on one factor and one factor only …
Grant
one of the regular fish at the fcpc, Grant can donk it up with the best of them. maybe it was the Ontario air that slowly destroyed the cognitive cells of his brain or perhaps the relentless beats he has taken over the years with us, but Grants game has eroded into an episode of old time hee-haw. you can see the explosion of joy when he peeks down at a pocket pair (especially the ducks) late in any tournament because he knows its gonna get dirty! anything from 2s to Aces or heck, even a T7 non-suited, if you wait long enough you' eventually ll see the Grant blow-up. if he did'nt own a White Spot I'm sure most of the peeps would have voted him off the island 3 years ago or declared him the weakest link. the two things Grant does have working in his favour is his fabulous good looks and gentleman's charm. however, most fcpc regulars feel that one day Grant will be incarcerated for overplaying with his hand.
240
A local boy born in Vancouver, 240 picked up his moniker in the 3rd grade. Now toying with an upgraded and updated nickname of 340, 240 will approach the SuperSeries final table with his standard methodical poker methodology – fold, fold, fold. Thankfully the final table structure is ultradeepstacked and 240 can wait for his 5 playable hands, JJ+ and AKs. While some would say that playing 3/3/2 is exploitable – the FCPC is just the place for a player like 240. Rife with fish that will religiously call reraises and stack off with 33 and ATo, 240 will just get it in good and pray to hold up. Coming off a three-year non-cashing streak, 240 has already claimed 2 prelim victories in the SuperSeries and now sets his eyes on the big prize. Victory will require an above-average dealing of ultra-premium hands.
JV
hands down, the smartest retard on earth. In poker it is not unusual to see a player profess his superior intellectual capacity and knowledge of poker game theory to all who will listen and then get beaten soundly by (according to him) a player with significantly less brain power. this pretty much sums up JV at the fcpc. when he bluffs he loses, when he bets he wins, yet he cant figure out how to do either properly against fcpc fishcakes. he might think he plays a tight-solid game but ultimately his loose-donkey style converts the fcpc fish into sharks eating up his stack until the inevitable "suckout from hell" when he is forced to jam or fold. his self-professed "4 year bad run" is seemingly never going to end because the poker world is full of myopic lunatics unable to comprehend his level 10 thinking. in the end, JV will git 'er all in with Jacks only to have villains A4 not-suited river a red flush with the lowly 4. when he gets knocked out he will announce
"I hate this f'n place."
he will return next week.
Hondro
There are many memorable poker players that we can remember from the fcpc – but none of them have made such a lesser impact on us than John Hondronikolis. descended from the hilltops of Kalamata in the Peloponnese Periphary of Greece, the Hondro is an unassuming, smoking hot greek pool boy who got his start in poker when he met John Agelakis in the local Kitsilano steam bath. the Hondro was responsible for rubbing the clients down with oil, but that is a story for another time. the Hondronikolis can mesmerize opponents into playing bad and is the master of "how to change gears". usually, we see him shift from 1st into 2nd (he has nothing higher) when he knows he is playing waaaay too many hands per hour. if he is roaring it up in 2nd gear playing 3 hands/hour he is totally capable of shutting down into 1st and playing his more comfortable 1-2 hands in 60 minutes. aggressive is not in his vocabulary or his poker arsenal and probably it'll be a few hours after we begin to remember he is even there. ultimately, the Hondro will go down in flames very early in this, the biggest game of his poker life.
Simon
Another local boy, Simon has lived a life of complete delusion. A
self-proclaimed collector of chips, Simon is well known as a complete and utter
lucksack. Have no fear; Simon will arrive at the Superseries final table with
his horseshoe and a healthy dose of self-delusion. Statistically he’ll play a
nice gentle 30/14/3 but don’t let yourself get sucked in - his
well-above-average hand reading skills will, as always, help him win 92% of his
60/40, flips and 40/60s (all-in preflop). The key for the other 5 final table
participants will be to suckout on his big hands early so that he is forced to
fold his way to the shootout, flip-em-up portion of the tournament with as few
chips as possible. An excellent performer in championship events, Simon will
again be a favorite for victory.