PSO Testimonials - Kaelaine's Story
Tunica was terrific. I got to watch some great players play some great poker and share that experience with you. And thanks for all the emails -- you readers are what it's all about and I appreciate hearing from you.
Among the souvenirs I brought back from my inaugural tournament-blogging trip was the "Poker Flu" that everyone was passing around. I managed to fight it off until my last day in Tunica, when I just couldn't hold out any longer. This is also the day I got an email reminding me that on Saturday, just four days hence, I would be playing an online tournament with a one-in-twelve shot at a $10,000 buy-in to this summer's World Series of Poker.
What?!!?!? Where can an average person like me play a freeroll with a 1-in-12 shot at a $10K buy-in?? PokerSchool Online, that's where.
What, you say, is PokerSchool Online, besides being that tab at the top of pokerschoolonline.com that you always ignore? PokerSchool Online, or PSO, is the best $15 I ever spent.
PSO is an online community, or school, where we can play poker, learn about poker, improve our game, share experiences with other like-minded poker players, and, best of all, win sponsorships! All for only $15 a month, or less than you would spend on a week's worth of Starbuck's Caramel Macchiatos.
In 2005, I won a $25,500 seat at the World Poker Tour Championship through PSO. What did it cost me?? Fifteen dollars a month.
Also in 2005, PSO began a new promotion to find the best No Limit Hold'em Tournament player at PSO, called the PSO Championship. The NLHE PSO Champion would get a $10,000 seat at the 2006 WSOP sponsored by PSO. When I heard about this promotion, I set out to win it. Am I the best NLHE tournament player at PSO? I doubt it, but I am probably the most determined.
To win the seat, you had to first win a given month by taking a special $200 PSOC bankroll and building it up as much as you could during the month, buying into special PSOC tournaments and winning them or cashing in them to build the bankroll.
The member with the highest bankroll at the end of each month would play in the freeroll the following January to determine the PSO Champion. I decided that March would be my month, as I was preparing for the WPT Championship in April. In that month, I turned my PSOC $200 into PSOC $4,824. That was enough to win the month and was also the highest monthly bankroll seen all year. Then all I had to do was wait until January 2006 for the 12-player freeroll, which took place this past Saturday.
So there I was, sitting at my computer in my bathrobe, sniffling, sneezing, box of tissues at the ready, playing for my dream: a seat in the World Series. Four hours and half a box of tissues later, I was the last player sitting. I had outlasted 11 other excellent NLHE players to win the PSO Championship.
Later this year, I will be sitting down at the Rio with an estimated 7,999 other people to realize my dream of playing in the World Series of Poker -- thanks to PokerSchool Online, the best $15.00 I ever spent.
