Those who have been following PokerNews' World Championship Of Online Poker (WCOOP) round-ups may have seen Danish player "AresVaettur" in the table of results. The Dane took down WCOOP 63-M: $530 NLHE 6-Max Turbo for $36,161, an impressive prize but one that many likely scanned past.
However, there is more to this victory than meets the eye because "AresVaettur," a PokerStars regular, was only playing in this tournament because he turned a $1.50 Power Path ticket into a WCOOP ticket bundle. Today, "AreVaettur," Toke Gerding Jensen to his friend, talks exclusively to PokerNews.
Check Out This Crazy WCOOP Satellite ROI; $1.50 into $68,000!Prepare to be amazed
Jensen is a 33-year-old copywriter from Odense who works from the home he shares with his girlfriend of 13 years. Once work is out of the way, he loves playing online poker. Like many grinders, Jensen's introduction to the game was televised poker.
"Back when poker was biggest, I watched all the greats both in EPTs and WPTs, and the drama and theatre of it all just excited me. When I grew up, I started playing all sorts of different tournaments, and I got more serious about it with age. I started off playing spin & gos, then micro-stakes tournament. In 2018, I had my first, for that time, big score, when I won a Hot $3.30 at PokerStars for over $700."
Fastforward to today, and Jensen's love for poker is still strong, and he can often be found playing the $3.30 Bounty Builder on-demand tournaments, Power Path, and other turbo tournaments under $10 at PokerStars.
Although Jensen is a micro-to-low-stakes player, he played in a $25,000 buy-in tournament in 2019: the PokerStars Players Championship (PSPC).
In the lead-up to the inaugural PSPC, the Poker in the Ears podcast ran a freeroll league. The winner received a Platinum Pass, which granted entry to the PSPC tournament, accommodation, and travel expenses.
The league progressed to the final night, and Jensen was topping the leaderboard. However, in an awful stroke of luck, he could not log into his account and ultimately fell short of winning the Platinum Pass, but his journey was not over; not by a long stretch.
"James and Stapes invited me onto the podcast to a quiz about Bojack Horseman. I assumed the prize would be a $109 Sunday Million ticket as it normally was, but they decided to shock me live on air with a Platinum Pass!"
Jensen made his way to The Bahamas to play in the biggest buy-in tournament of his life. He may not have come out on top, but that honor went to fellow Platinum Pass winner Ramon Colillas; the experience was out of this world.
"The tournament itself was insane. At first, I was told I was going to start out on the main feature table. To be part of history in that way was VERY exciting to me, but I ended up being "relegated" to the secondary feature table, and with this being only my second-ever live poker tournament, I was woefully unprepared. But I played my game, did myself proud and came home with a bad beat story and a bad bluff shown to the world. It was truly a fun trip!"
The Power Path is honestly the best value on PokerStars
In August, with the 2024 WCOOP rapidly approaching, Jensen jumped into a $1.50 Power Path tournament as he does during most of his sessions. That $1.50 eventually turned into a Silver Pass worth $2,500, and Jensen redeemed it for a WCOOP ticket bundle.
"The Power Path is honestly the best value on PokerStars. The $1.50s are always running, and the players have little to no idea what satellite ICM is, which I take advantage of every day I play. I always sprinkle in the power paths during my sessions, and that ended up paying off when I won a silver pass in August. The redeemable options for the passes are so enticing and I ended up using it for a WCOOP tickets bundle. If I win a gold pass, I will definitely go to an EPT stop though, so look out!"
Jensen is the first to admit that his shot-taking in WCOOP events hadn't exactly gone to plan, and he found himself with only one ticket of the bundle remaining, one worth $530. He used his ticket to enter WCOOP 63-M: $530 NLHE 6-Max Turbo, which drew in 394 entrants and boasted a $197,000 prize pool.
"It was the last ticket left from the bundle and a min cash would have secured my money back on the tickets' overall value. I had not had a good series up to this point. The last 30 minutes were crazy on the final table, and I have watched the replay back multiple times (and I have notes on 13 hands, on things I should have probably done differently)."
"When the last hand was going down, I was filled with anxiety, and therefore, I was playing WAY too fast. I was shaking, and when I saw it was a flip, I leaned closer and closer to the screen as it was happening. It was my final table of the day. And when the pocket fives held, I broke down a bit. I had some people from GJs discord that was following along without seeing my cards. When the hand was over, we jumped on a discord call and celebrated. I was elated, overstimulated, and completely exhausted, but also really happy."
| Rank | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toke Gerding "AresVaettur" Jensen | Denmark | $36,161 |
| 2 | Viktor "papan9_p$" Ustimov | Belarus | $26,301 |
| 3 | grinder1992 | Bulgaria | $19,130 |
| 4 | Fabiano "Kovalski1" Kovalski | Brazil | $13,914 |
| 5 | Stefan "baeks22" Schillhabel | Austria | $10,120 |
| 6 | AchoBogdanov | Bulgaria | $7,360 |
| 7 | klem90 | Austria | $5,888 |
The "GJ" Jensen mentioned is none other than PokerStars ambassador Georgina "GJReggie" James. Jensen counts James as a good friend, and is active in her community, so much so that the $3.30 Bounty Builder Turbo on Demands are called "Ares Specials" in James' community!
The victory was made sweeter because this event drew in some of online poker's most prominent players. The likes of Alexandros "Pwndidi" Theologis, "FAL1st," Fabiano "Kovalski1" Kovalski, Brunno "botteonpoker" Botteon, and Jensen's heads-up opponent Viktor "papan9_p$" Ustimov were just a handful of stellar names he had to contend with. However, rather than being overwhelmed by facing such talented opponents, Jensen just stuck to his guns and played his A-game.
"The funny thing... I am really bad at remembering online tags, and because I never play high stakes, I didn't really know. But those in the community following along and celebrating every ladder told me, when we got to the final table, 'Oh, it's just $25M worth of cashes at your table. Easy work.' It was almost just a meme the fact that I was there. But it was brilliant to be there. Whenever I've been in higher buy-ins earlier, I have sometimes refrained from bluffing and other times I have overcompensated to try to fit in. This time, I found a balance. AND the cards really went my way. I played my best poker, AND I got lucky. That is the only way I can win a tournament of this magnitude, when all those crushers are my opponents."
Jensen's stack dwindled to only three big blinds at one stage of the final table, but he began eyeing the first-place prize after twice doubling up. A short time later, thanks to the turbo blind structure, Jensen defeated Ustimov heads-up, became a WCOOP champion, and saw $36,161 land in his PokerStars account balance.
"My plans are to pay off me and my girlfriends' student debts. I will increase my buy-ins a bit, too, don't get me wrong, but I am not willing to go crazy with it. I know this was a lucky punch. I will not be going to high stakes before I do more studying, so for now, I am just erasing debt and making life a bit sweeter for my partner and me."
Before Jensen returned to the daily grind, we asked him what he would say to other PokerStars players who are undecided about playing Power Path tournaments.
"It is the best value on the site. Plain and simple. Sprinkle it into your sessions. No matter if you want to build bankroll with ticket packages or if you want to experience poker live. This is the way."
The 2024 WCOOP is rapidly nearing its thrilling conclusion, but there's still a lot of poker to be played. This weekend sees thetrio of No-Limit Hold'em Main Events shuffle up and deal, with buy-ins of $109, $1,050, and $10,300.
Each of the WCOOP Main Events has several options for PokerStars players dreaming of competing for a share of a seven-figure prize pool, but who may not have the bankroll required to buy in directly.
There are special edition Spin & Go tournaments, boosted satellites throughout the weekend (including an $11 buy-in with 300x $109 seats guaranteed), and Jensen's favorite route: Power Path.
Jensen is living proof that you don't have to spend a lot to win big at PokerStars. Check out the WCOOP Main Event satellites, Spin & Go, and Power Path options, and make the next PokerNewsarticle all about you.