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"Everyone should play in a live PokerStars tournament!" exclaimed Donatas Vlasovas after his experience of playing in the PokerStars Cup in Dublin over the weekend. "It was an amazing experience and I would highly recommend it to everyone."

Don won his entry to the event via a promotion at PokerSchoolOnline, but you can read more about his path to the event in another story. This story is about his experience of the event now it has come to a close for him.

When asked if he would recommend playing in a live tournament to someone who hasn't tried it before he replied "Yes, absolutely, it's a must. There's nothing to be afraid about. Everyone has been really nice to me during my time here in Dublin. I was worried that I might not have the skill level to play at a major live event but that fear was soon alleviated when I sat down at the table. I spent the early stages watching those around me and soon realised I was just as good as most of them."

Those tentative early stages were tough in the sense that Don was pretty card dead for the first two hours of the tournament.

"I was really happy with the way I was playing and I don't think I made too many mistakes, but I wasn't getting many good hands and my stack whittled down to 10 big blinds. I realised that it was now time to make some all-in moves".

He did double-up to twenty big blinds but soon after that he hit his exit hand.

Don with his girlfriend here in Dublin

Don meets Mickey Petersen

"I shoved with QJ-suited and got called by K-10 off-suit and unfortunately I didn't improve as the board ran-out. It wasn't to be my day," he said, looking around the tournament room at the RDS in Dublin. "The whole experience has been super though, I could not ask for more and I'm so happy. PokerStars have really impressed me with the efficiency of how they run their events. It's a huge event and everything seems to just run so smoothly."

Over the course of the weekend Don got to meet some high-profile players such as Mickey Petersen and Felipe 'Mojave' Ramos. He also had his first live TV interview when PokerNews chatted to him about his experience and tonight both Don and his girlfriend will be sipping-back the complimentary drinks at the PokerStars Players party.

Stepping into the limelight

We here at PokerSchoolOnline are pretty sure this is not the last we will see of this energetic young player and he'll be back at another live PokerStars event in the very near future.

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Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com]