The captains are ready and the teams are set, and both Lex Veldhuis and Benjamin Spragg are ready to battle once again as the PokerStars WCOOP League takes centre stage this month.
And the pair have both selected strong teams, with Veldhuis selecting Denis “aDrENalin710” Strebkov as his first pick, after Strebkov’s SCOOP Overall Leaderboard winning performance helped him to SCOOP League victory.
Meanwhile, Spraggy will be hoping the likes of Kelvin “kelvin_fp:ar” Kerber and Simon “C. Darwin2” Mattsson can help him to victory this time around. Be sure to check out the teams here and read on to see how Lex and Spraggy are feeling ahead of the WCOOP League.
League Adds New Dimension, says Spraggy
Despite finishing as runner-up in the SCOOP League, Spraggy says he had great fun with the new format and said it added something to an already incredible major online poker festival.
“I thought it added a nice extra dimension,” said Spraggy. “You had people grinding for points, sweating the captains and following which teams were performing well, and which teams weren’t.”
Veldhuis agreed, saying that the new dynamic added extra narrative to the festival.
“A rivalry between team pros, and then with a team made up of pros, amateurs and qualifiers – it creates stories,” said Veldhuis. “I’m always for that sort of stuff. It’s one of those things where there are wins everywhere.”
And while both Spraggy and Veldhuis will be eyeing up individual success at the WCOOP tables, the League format allows the community to come together, says Spraggy.
“A rivalry between team pros, and then with a team made up of pros, amateurs and qualifiers – it creates stories”
“As an individual, you want success in poker,” said Spraggy. “But this is a nice way for people from all levels to come together, and play with this mentality hoping we all come out on top in the end — as a team.”
Preparations Underway for WCOOP League
Now it’s WCOOP’s turn for the League treatment, and Veldhuis says that he’s already putting in the work ahead of the festival.
“Last time I knew during SCOOP League I knew I was sort of going to tryhard it. Then we had the draft and I saw how hard people were trying. Texting players and messaging them to find out.
“It’s going to be bigger and more competitive than ever”
“This time round knew some things would help take it to the next level. We have two new team captains on top, so that’s going to be a fun twist on everything. I was definitely better prepared this time around, let’s put it like that.”
While the two will undoubtedly renew hostilities, two new captains in the shape of Sebastian Huber and Andre Akkari will add an extra level to the event.
“It’s going to be bigger and more competitive than ever,” said Spraggy. “I’m looking forward to battling with Lex again. Just because SCOOP and WCOOP have a little distance between them, we don’t really take any time off from that competitive edge.
“Lex was a runaway leader last time, and he had a really good team. So I think I’m ready to battle harder this time.”
While the focus for the most part was on the captains — especially with Veldhuis grabbing a WCOOP title during the course of the festival — there is extra involvement for the poker community.
Veldhuis said that he had more pro players messaging in his chat, telling him they’d busted Spraggy or they’d done his team a favor.
“It’s cool to have that sense of community in something like more. It’s an extra sense of involvement. People have their favorite players and they also want to cheer on community members.
“But it goes further than that. Even if I lost an all in to somebody that was on my team, some sicko pro player that I’ve never spoken to before, they might say in the chat “for the team, for the point’s” — that’s cool. Things like that allows people to sort of step away from that and see the bigger fun picture.”
And with the Draft done and WCOOP only days away, does Lex have any predictions?
“Easy win. It was a blowout last time and this time around it’s going to be easy work.”
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