2021 Michigan Championship of Online Poker (MICOOP)

One player who recently jumped into the field is 42-year-old Riky "RikyOneTime" Lara, a father of four girls and married to "a super supportive" wife.

Hailing from southwest Detroit, Lara is a $1/$2 and $2/$5 no-limit hold'em live grinder who started to play more tournaments before the pandemic hit.

"I play most of my cash game poker sessions at Motorcity casino in Detroit," he told PokerNews. "I also like hit up MGM Grand poker room when I’m trying to change things up. I do travel to the World Series of Poker (WSOP) every year to grind cash games. I usually stay three weeks to a month each year to grind these juicy cash games."

In addition, Lara is a regular at mid-major tour stops such as the Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT), Heartland Poker Tour (HPT), and WSOP Circuit in the Ohio, Chicago, and Indiana areas.

"I do most of my traveling alone but I usually link up with friends from the felt at the WSOP," he said. "From time to time, I’ll take my wife with me on a road trip to a poker tournament."

It's an enjoyable experience for Lara, who grew up in what he called a "bad neighborhood" in Detroit, one rife with gangs, drugs, peer pressure, and a ton of violence. Poker has been a vehicle away from all of that.

"Poker for me all began at a very young age. I remember sitting at the kitchen table with my grandmother, my mother, and my Aunt Carmen, who’s probably the reason for me being a poker player. We’d stay up playing Mexican bingo for nickels, dimes, and quarters all night, and every time I won a bowl of change, I remember thinking it was the greatest thing ever.

He continued: "It wasn’t just about the quarters for me though. For me, it was more about the win. After that, I started playing five-card draw and some seven-card stud with the grown-ups. Even when I got to the age of 15 I found a way to go play poker at other people’s houses. There would be a table full of grown-ups drinking smoking cussing and then there would be me.

When he and his wife first got married 20 years ago, they were barely making ends meet, but that didn't stop him from playing a weekly $25 buy-in tournament.

"We’d get around 8-10 people and somehow I always would win or chop. That money helped us out in so many ways. We even almost depended on it every week to help out with everything. That’s where my wife’s strong support came from when it comes to playing poker for me. She really enjoyed watching me play poker. So when it comes to any games even if there out of town she’s the first one getting me out the door to go grind."

Prior to PokerStars coming to Michigan, Lara had never played online.

"I know it’s going to be such a big change for me," he said. "I’m looking forward to the challenge and trying to see the positives in online poker. Instead of having to buy airfare or lodging or renting a car, I can try to makes some money in the comfort of my own home in my PJs. I look forward to putting a lot of time and energy into online tournaments since I’m mainly a cash game player."

In addition to MICOOP, Lara has been dabbling in $0.50-$1 and $1-$2 NLH.

"I don’t want to just dive in and make mistakes so I’m taking it slow and getting used to things. I do love how much faster the game is and how much bigger the game plays compared to live. I’m just paying way more attention to betting patterns and the timing of each bet."

PokerNews will be keeping an eye on Lara as he competes for MICOOP glory.

In Level 7 with blinds of 300/600, "JBzDAD" limped under the gun and action folded to "Johnanthony55" in the small blind, who raised to 2,400. "C0LD_W0RLD" called in the big blind and "JBzDAD" also called. The flop came and "Johnanthony55" continuation-bet 3,600, receiving a call from "C0LD_W0RLD" and a fold from "JBzDAD".

"Johnanthony55" continued with a second barrel of 7,200 on the turn and "C0LD_W0RLD" raised all in for 14,690. "Johnanthony55" called.

"C0LD_W0RLD":
"Johnanthony55":

"C0LD_W0RLD" had a better two pair but still needed to fade the two remaining nines in the deck along with club flush outs and jack outs to Broadway. The river was safe and the double was shipped their way.

Player	Chips	Progress
C0LD_W0RLD	43,780 43,780	43,780
JBzDAD	35,310 -4,700	-4,700
Johnanthony55	9,310 9,310	9,310

In Level 8 with blinds of 350/700, last night's champion "9NINENINE" is atop the counts with a stack of over 123,000. They are joined only by "corykapoot" as the only two players to have more than 100K.

Here's a look at the top stacks with a little over an hour remaining in the late registration period. So far, 73 entries have been recorded, meaning just a dozen more are needed to reach the guaranteed prize pool of $20,000.

Player	Chips	Progress
9NINENINE	123,871 66,788	66,788
corykapoot	107,000 59,400	59,400
Surge_Ibaka	96,023 71,023	71,023
URNOTGOOD05	85,589 29,747	29,747
beardedbadger	73,547 34,575	34,575
Djonbert	67,615 1,435	1,435
JaDoncic	63,918 9,728	9,728
twicetimes2x	59,206 14,075	14,075
RudyGTC	55,928
FamilyGuy2021	54,475 54,475	54,475
Smullins1015	50,430 50,430	50,430
Jbird401	46,471 46,471	46,471
jTizzle450	44,504 -6,484	-6,484
JBzDAD	42,870 7,560	7,560
Bearly8s	42,160 42,160	42,160

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In Level 9 with blinds of 400/800, "URNOTGOOD05" limped in from the hijack and "TheColenelAngus" limped behind in the cutoff. "twicetimes2x" made a pot-sized raise of 4,400 on the button and saw "TheColonelAngus" become the only caller.

The flop came and "TheColonelAngus" checked. "twicetimes2x" continuation-bet 5,400, half the size of the pot, and "TheColonelAngus" check-raised to 13,200. "twicetimes2x" called.

"TheColonelAngus" then slowed down on the turn , checking over to "twicetimes2x" who jammed for 15,856. "TheColenelAngus" made the call for all but 1,430 of their own stack.

"twicetimes2x":
"TheColonelAngus":

"twicetimes2x" had jammed their overpair into a full house, one that also had a king among their hole cards. Thus, only could earn them the pot and it did not fall on the river to result in them being eliminated from the tournament.

Player	Chips	Progress
URNOTGOOD05	105,798 20,209	20,209
TheColonelAngus	70,342 70,342	70,342
twicetimes2x	Busted

In Level 10 with blinds of 500/1,000, "santasworkshop" raised to 2,200 in the hijack and called a three-bet to 8,100 from "grandma1967", who was on the button.

"santasworkshop" led out for 13,275 on the flop and "grandma1967" went all in for slightly more, totaling 16,732 "santasworkshop" called.

"grandma1967":
"santasworkshop":

"grandma1967" got it in with a pair of aces and the nut flush draw against the flopped top two pair of "santasworkshop". The turn gave "santasworkshop" an even better two pair, but it also gave "grandma1967" the nut flush. "santasworkshop" failed to catch the full houseon the river and "grandma1967" doubled with the nuts as a result.

Player	Chips	Progress
grandma1967	51,164 51,164	51,164
santasworkshop	37,526 -29,805	-29,805

Andrew "autokorekt" Korby has been on a nice little run on PokerStars Michigan thanks to winning three tournaments in two days. While none of them were official MICOOP events, it was still a nice little heater for the 32-year-old who has been playing the game since the age of 14.

Korby, a full-time pro from Farmington, first took down the $100 NLHE Nightly Stars by besting a 134-entry field for $2,731.11. He followed that up by besting a 45-entry field to win the $200 Bounty Builder PKO for nearly $3,000 more. Finally, he would claim a $20 nightly title for another $1,340.

"Nothing crazy but still not bad," he told PokerNews. Korby usually plays $1-$2 and $2-$5 pot-limit Omaha but has been grinding tournaments now that PokerStars has come to Michigan (he's happy to no longer be traveling over the border to Windsor, Canada to have to play).

"It's nice to have some early success on the new Michigan PokerStars as it's been a long time coming since we've been able to play on here," said Korby, a self-taught player who as put in "lots of hours" and experienced "crazy swings" playing PLO.

According to The Hendon Mob, Korby has $51,701 in live lifetime earnings dating back to 2011. That includes a career-high $9,661 for finishing second in a 2015 Wynn Summer Classic $300 NLH event.

Player	Chips	Progress
Andrew "autokorekt" Korby	36,040 5,800	5,800

In Level 11 with blinds of 600/1,200, last night's runner-up "Batmanstein" raised to 2,400 five-handed from the hijack and received a call from "Zeke232323", who defended their big blind. The flop came and "Zeke232323" check-called a continuation-bet of 5,400 from "Batmanstein".

The turn was and "Zeke232323" led out, shoving for their last 9,422. "Batmanstein" quicklly called.

"Zeke232323":
"Batmanstein":

"Zeke232323" was behind their opponent's pair of aces, holding a pair of deuces and the nut flush draw. The river gave them a third deuce, resulting in making the best hand to score the double.

Player	Chips	Progress
Zeke232323	35,044
Batmanstein	34,778