Quantcast
Channel: PokerStarsBlog.com
Viewing all 9066 articles
Browse latest View live

WCOOP 2015: Arctic-cool Trymean77 ices victory Event #23 ($215 PLO KO)

0
0

PLO is treacherous enough, but the Knockout element added a succulent financial incentive to bust as many opponents as possible. Sweden's Trymean77 survived a difficult final table in Event #23 that included kuhns89 (three-time SCOOP champion) and theNERDguy, otherwise known as last year's runner-up in the 2014 WCOOP Main Event. With two players to go, Trymean77 was pitted against a surging MaxSinctin who had just ambushed kuhns89 in third place with quad Aces. Despite the heads-up deficit, Trymean77 rallied with a sensational come-from-behind victory to become the newest WCOOP champion.

2015 WCOOP Event #23 $215 PLO Knockout attracted 1,368 players. They generated a prize pool worth $277,704. The regular pool was $221,274.00 and the bounty prize pool was $56,430.00. The top 171 places paid out, with $37,617.45 set aside to the eventual champion. Each player collected a bounty worth $41.25 per elimination.

With 20 players left in the hunt for a WCOOP crown, sslazio904 (Russia) became the first player to pass 1M. As the tournament inched toward the final table, sslazio904 solidified his lead.

With 10 to go, action was hand-for-hand and short-stacked 9I_Be3yH4uk tried to double up with [Ad][7c][5d][4d] against sslazio904's [Ks][Jc][Js][7h]. However, the board ran out [Qc][8s][7s][Jh][3d] and sslazio904 turned a set of Jacks to win the pot. Russia's 9I_Be3yH4uk bubbled off the final table in tenth place and sslazio904 picked up another bounty.

WCOOP2015_E23_FT.jpg

WCOOP Event #23 - Final Table Chip Counts:
Seat 1: Trymean77 (867,014)
Seat 2: kuhns89 (500,813)
Seat 3: sslazio904 (1,444,576)
Seat 4: tvtotaliwin (634,101)
Seat 5: zidix (309,458)
Seat 6: RadioSurvive (1,070,993)
Seat 7: fer_90_1 (531,774)
Seat 8: MaxSinctin (615,204)
Seat 9: theNERDguy (866,067)

The final table commenced during Level 31 with blinds at 12.5K/25K and chip leader sslazio904 was one of two players over the 1M barrier; RadioSurvive was the other with a little over 1M. Meanwhile, zidix treaded water as the short stack. Austria's kuhns89 won three SCOOP titles, but was seeking WCOOP #1. Brazil's theNERDguy, finished second at the 2014 WCOOP Main Event. Oh, and don't forget about zidix, who was a bridesmaid in a 2015 TCOOP.

PLANET TELEX: theNERDguy eliminated in 9th place

The final table played for almost 30 minutes before we saw the first bustout. During that time frame, Trymean77 seized the lead. Brazil's theNERDguy attempted to double up but got ambushed by Aces... theNERDguy limped for 15,000, Trymean77 raised to 90,000, and theNERDguy called for 60,000. The flop was [Ad][Td][8h] and fireworks ensured when theNERDguy checked, Trymean77 fired out 90,000, theNERDguy check-raised to 450,000, Trymean77 re-raised to 1.53M, and theNERDguy called all-in for 177,317.

theNERDguy: [Ah][9d][6d][5d]
Trymean77: [As][Ac][Js][6s]

Trymean77 flopped a set of Aces, but theNERDguy flopped a nut-flush draw and gutshot draw. The turn was the [3s] and the river was the [2c]. Trymean77's set of Aces held up to win the pot (and collect a bounty). Alas, theNERDguy whiffed on both draws and never improved. For a ninth-place finish, theNERDguy took home $2,389.75.

HIGH AND DRY: fer_90_1 eliminated in 8th place

One of the shorties failed to double up. RadioSurvive kicked off the hand with a raise to 139,990 fer_90_1 shoved for 268,532 and RadioSurvive called.

fer_90_1: [As][Qc][4d][2s]
RadioSurvive: [Kd][7d][6s][3d]

The board finished up [Kh][Qh][7c][3s][6c]. RadioSurvive flopped top pair, turned two pair and rivered a higher two pair to win the pot (and collect a bounty). Colombia's fer_90_1 could only make a pair of Queens and failed to avoid an elimination. For eighth place, fer_90_1 earned $4,314.84.

FAKE PLASTIC TREES: RadioSurvive eliminated in 7th place

RadioSurvive opened to 140,000 and kuhns89 called 100,000. The flop was [Kc][6h][5c]... kuhns89 checked, RadioSurvive moved all-in for 255,721, and kuhns89 called.

kuhns89: [Ah][Th][8d][7c]
RadioSurvive: [Ks][Qc][9c][6s]

RadioSurvive flopped top two pair and a flush draw, whereas, kuhns89 only flopped an open-ended straight draw. The turn was the [Td] and the river was the [9s]. RadioSurvive whiffed on a flush and kuhns89 won the pot with a ten-high straight. Also, kuhns89 picked up the bounty. RadioSurvive busted in seventh place, which paid out $6,527.58.

With six remaining, Trymean77 led with 3.2M and tvtotaliwin was on life support with under 100K.

THE BENDS: tvtotaliwin eliminated in 6th place

Super-shorty bit the dust. MaxSinctin opened to 140,000, Trymean77 raised to 355,555, tvtotaliwin called all-in for 56,597, and MaxSinctin also called. Three-handed. The board finished up [Tc][5s][3d][2s][9h] and MaxSinctin tabled [Ac][As][Jd][2c] to win the pot with a pair of Aces. MaxSinctin also earned a bounty for knocking out tvtotaliwin. Sixth place paid out $8,740.32.

BULLET PROOF... I WISH I WAS: sslazio904 eliminated in 5th place

Former chipleader made a final stand but ran into Aces. Russia's sslazio904 opened to 175,000, MaxSinctin bumped it up to 450,000, and sslazio904 called all-in for 85,301.

sslazio904: [8s][8h][7c][5h]
MaxSinctin: [As][Ad][Qs][6s]

The board finished up [Kc][Jc][6c][9d][2d]. Despite picking up a straight draw on the turn, sslazio904 never got there and pocket eights never improved. MaxSinctin's Aces held up to win the pot and the bounty. For fifth place, sslazio904 $10953.06.

With four to go... MaxSinctin held a sizable lead with 4.2M, followed by Trymean77 's 1.6M, and kuhns89's 660K. Meanwhile, zidix was trailing with 290K.

STREET SPIRIT (FADE OUT): zidix eliminated in 4th place

Short-stack ninja zidix opened to 175,000, kuhns89 bumped it up to 550,000, and zidix called all-in for 330,232.

kuhns89: [Ks][Kd][9d][9s]
zidix: [Ac][Qh][Th][5c]

The board finihsed up [8s][6d][4h][2c][Ts]. On the turn, zidix picked up a Wheel gutshot draw, but never got there. Kings held up for kuhns89, who dragged the pot and earned another bounty. Russia's zidix was knocked out in fourth place, which paid out $15,046.63.

With three remaining... MaxSinctin led with 3.9M, followed by Trymean77's 1.8M, and kuhns89's 1M.

DEAL

Action was paused to discuss a deal after MaxSinctin dropped 1M in chips. At that point, MaxSinctin sat atop 2.9M, followed by Trymean77's 2M and kuhns89's 1.8M. Any deal had to leave $5,000 on the table to the eventual champion. The numbers were floated: MaxSinctin $28,337.34, Trymean77 $26,729.37, and kuhns89 $26,208.89. Everyone quickly agreed. With a money deal in place, action resumed.

SULK: kuhns89 eliminated in 3rd place

Despite the deal, three-handed went a while. During Level 35, Trymean77 won three pots totaling 1.1M to seize the lead.

When short-stacked kuhns89 attempted to double up, kuhns89 was ambushed by a monster. All the money went in on the flop of [Ac][8h][7c]. kuhns89 checked-raised all in for 844,416 and MaxSinctin called.

kuhns89: [8s][6d][5d][3c]
MaxSinctin: [Ah][Ad][9d][7s]

MaxSinctin flopped a set of Aces and kuhns89 picked up a straight draw. The turn was the [As], which filled in quads for MaxSinctin. The meaningless [2c] fell on the river. Although kuhns89 made a final stand with two pair (Aces and eights), it was severely inferior to MaxSinctin's quad Aces. MaxSinctin won the pot and collected yet another bounty. Three-time SCOOP champ kuhns89 was  denied a WCOOP and knocked out in third place, which paid out $26,208.89.

HEADS-UP: Trymean77 (Sweden) vs. MaxSinctin (Russia)
Seat 1: Trymean77 (2,511,034)
Seat 8: MaxSinctin (4,328,966)

With two to go, MaxSinctin held the lead, but you got a eerie feeling anything could happen.

Trymean77 went to work immediately and chipped away at the MaxSinctin lead. It wasn't very long before Trymean77 pulled even and MaxSinctin lost the momentum. As soon as Trymean77 took the lead, the Swede never looked back.

MY IRON LUNG: MaxSinctin eliminated in 2nd place; Trymean77 wins WCOOP Event #23!

Going into the final hand, Trymean77 chipped up to over 6M and MaxSinctin was down to 745K. MaxSinctin four-bet shoved for 745,725 with [Ah][Jh][7d][6s] and Trymean77 called with [As][Qc][Tc][5d]. The board finished up [Jc][8d][3c][Qs][8h]. MaxSinctin lost with two pair (Jacks and eights) vs. two pair (Queens and eights). MaxSinctin flopped a pair of Jacks but Trymean77  turned a pair of Queens to eventually win the pot with a rivered two pair. Trymean77 also an 11th bounty for the bustout.

Russia's MaxSinctin was knocked out in second place, which paid out $28,337.34.

Congrats to Sweden's Trymean77, who earned a first-place pay day worth $31,729.37 for winning WCOOP Event #23.

WCOOP-23: $215 PL Omaha (Knockout)
Entrants: 1,368
Prize Pool: $277,704 (Regular Prize Pool: $221,274.00; Bounty Prize Pool: $56,430.00)
Places Paid: 171

1. Trymean77 (Sweden) $31,729.37 * + 11 bounties
2. MaxSinctin (Russia) $28,337.34 * + 11 bounties
3. kuhns89 (Austria) $26,208.89 * + 11 bounties
4. zidix (Bulgaria) $15,046.63 + 5 bounties
5. sslazio904 (Russia) $10,953.06 + 12 bounties
6. tvtotaliwin (Switzerland) $8,740.32 +4 bounties
7. RadioSurvive (Australia) $6,527.58 + 16 bounties
8. fer_90_1 (Colombia) $4,314.84 + 10 bounties
9. theNERDguy (Brazil) $2,389.75 + 11 bounties

* = Denotes a deal among the final three players

Visit the WCOOP home page to view the complete schedule of remaining events. Plus take a peek at the leader board and find out who is in contention for Player of the Series.

Want to play on PokerStars? Click here and sign up for an account and start playing .

Pauly McGuire is an author and freelance contributor to PokerStars.


WCOOP 2015: chickensssss hunts and pecks his way to a win in Event #22 ($1,050 NL Omaha Hi/Lo, 6-Max)

0
0

Some folks wait their entire lives to avenge a final table loss. In this case, chickenssssss only took four months. Our fine, feathered friend final tabled the $215 NL Omaha Hi/Lo in this year's SCOOP, but ultimately finished fourth while Gambler4444 went on to claim the title. Now, he had a second chance, and on an even bigger stage in the WCOOP $1,050 NL Omaha Hi/Lo Championship. Standing in his way, however, was one of the most consistent... and consistently feared players in the poker world. Englishman Stevie "stevie444" Chidwick has WCOOP and SCOOP wins under his belt and 41 career cashes in WCOOP events. He's also fresh off a runner-up finish in the $10,000 Stud Hi/Lo championship at the 2015 World Series of Poker. When Chidwick won a huge pot to top 1 million in chips with five players remaining, it looked like we might be writing a different headline. However, chickensssss went on a heater during four-handed play, doubling through Chidwick and eliminating TCOOP champion rtspurs in fourth place. Chickensssss forged ahead and snapped off Chidwick's A-A-2-K to send him home in third place and had a quick sprint to the finish, earning his first WCOOP bracelet and over $50k.

The WCOOP NL Omaha Hi/Lo championship closed registration with 239 entrants, and a $239,000 prize pool. The top 30 places were paid, with $54,970 set aside for first place.

Day 1 played down to the final 18 and reached that mark after 17 levels. Finland's AngryJuice topped the overnight chip counts, closely followed by stevie444.

End of Day 1 top 5 stacks

AngryJuice (Finland) 267,339
Stevie "stevie444" Chidwick (Mexico) 247,451
nizmo jiz (Australia) 224,510
MarekW13 (Poland) 220,876
Giffordonian (South Korea) 169,199

Other notable Day 1 survivors included Shawn "buck21" Buchanan (16th place) and Benny "toweliestar" Spindler (9th place).

Action resumed Sunday at 5pm EDT and it was a slow crawl going from 18 players to 7. It took close to three hours to reach the final table bubble and it took another 40 minutes to burst. At last, with the blinds up to 2,500/5,000, Day 1 chip leader AngryJuice open-shoved for 115,776 on the button and rtspurs called from the big blind.

AngryJuice [Ac][6d][9h][Tc]
rtspurs [Ad][3c][8d][Kh]

AngryJuice only made a pair of nines on the [Kc][9c][8h] flop while rtspurs hit top and bottom pair, the [Kd] turn improved rtspurs to kings full and left AngryJuice drawing dead. A meaningless river [Qh] finished the board and AngryJuice departed in seventh place, setting the final table.

2015_WCOOP_Ev22_FT.jpg

Final table chip counts

Seat 1: chickensssss (398,229 in chips)
Seat 2: rtspurs (297,320 in chips)
Seat 3: MarekW13 (224,998 in chips)
Seat 4: jj20002 (78,705 in chips)
Seat 5: nizmo jiz (837,327 in chips)
Seat 6: stevie444 (553,421 in chips)

Jj20002 was by far the shortest stack when the final table began and, no surprises, was the first player eliminated. He open-shoved for 106,000 from UTG and rtspurs looked him up from the small blind.

jj20002 [Ah][3c][8d][Qh]
rtspurs [As][6s][7s][Kd]

The [Ad][Kc][7c] flop gave rtspurs top two pair, while jj20002 picked up a low draw. The [8s] turn was no help to jj20002, and the [Jh] river meant no one would make a low. Rtspurs's aces and kings held up to scoop the pot and jj20002 was eliminated in sixth place.

Owing to the 30-minute levels and the small blinds relative to the stack sizes, five-handed play continued for almost an hour and a half. The only significant chip movement while five-handed came when stevie444 raised preflop and nizmo jiz called from the big blind. Although both players checked the [Jd][5s][2h] flop and checked again when the [4h] turned, fireworks went off on the [3h] river. Nizmo jiz bet 90,000, stevie444 shoved for 736,576 and after a long tank, nizmo jiz called. Stevie444 turned over [As][5c][8h][Kh] for a king-high flush and a wheel for low, while nizmo jiz also showed a monster hand with [Ac][4c][6d][Qh]-- a six-high straight and the same low. Stevie444 took the high pot and half of the low pot, moving up to 1.03 million in chips, while nizmo jiz dipped to 267,000.

The blinds were up to 5,000/10,000 when nizmo jiz three-bet MarekW13's opening min-raise to 80,000. MarekW13 called and they saw a [Js][Jd][6h] flop. MarekW13 check-called nizmo jiz's 59,400 bet and checked again when the [Kd] turned. Nizmo jiz moved all-in for 212,564 and MarekW13 called.

MarekW13 [Ad][2h][Jc][Kc]
nizmo jiz [Ac][Ah][4s][7s]

MarekW13 revealed jacks full of kings and nizmo jiz needed an ace to survive. However, the river fell the [6s] and the five-handed stalemate broke as nizmo jiz hit the rail in fifth place.

Chickensssss flourished during four-handed play. Down to 393,000, he called stevie444's preflop small blind shove with [As][2s][Tc][Th]. Stevie444 revealed [Ah][5s][6h][9d]. Chickensssss made jacks and tens against stevie444's jacks and sixes on the [Jc][Jh][6s][Qh][4s] board and doubled to 814,000. Then, six hands later, chickensssss opened for a min-raise to 24,000 and rtspurs shoved for 219,000 from the small blind. Chickensssss called.

rtspurs [As][2s][6h][Tc]
chickensssss [Ad][4h][5s][7d]

Chickensssss flopped sevens full of fours and turned a 7-5-4-2-A low while rtspurs made sevens and deuces with a 7-6-4-2-A low. Chickensssss scooped the pot while rtspurs went out in fourth place, good for $19,120.00.

When three-handed play commenced, chickensssss was in front with 1.06 million, MarekW13 held 839,000 and stevie444 was the short stack with 484,000.

Three-handed play saw the rise of MarekW13 while stevie444 lost ground. On a board of [Kh][9c][7h][7d][3s], chickensssss check-called bets from MarekW13 on the flop, turn and river before being shown [Kd][Ks][Th][9s] for kings full. Chickensssss mucked and MarekW13 scooped the 730,000 pot. Stevie444 fell all the way back to 183,000 in chips, but doubled through chickensssss when his [2d][4h][5h][6d] made jacks and fours on a [Kh][Qs][4c][Jc][Jh] board.

However, stevie444 couldn't keep it going. With the blinds up to 7,000/14,000, chickensssss opened for 28,000 on the button and stevie444 shoved from the big blind.

stevie444 [Ac][As][2h][Kh]
chickensssss [Ad][3h][4d][9s]

Stevie444's aces held on the [Qc][3d][2s] flop while chickensssss picked up a low draw and a gutshot wheel draw. The [5d] turn filled it and chickensssss's high hand improved even further on the river when the [Jd] landed to make him an ace-high flush. Chickensssss scooped and stevie444's quest for a second WCOOP title came to an end for now, with a third-place finish.

2015_WCOOP_chidwick_Ev22.jpg

Stevie "stevie444" Chidwick, third place

Heads-up chip counts

Seat 1: chickensssss (1,420,289 in chips)
Seat 3: MarekW13 (969,711 in chips)

Following three heads-up pots, all won by chickensssss, our final two agreed to pause the action and discuss a potential deal. Here's how they stacked up at the time:

chickensssss 1,523,889
MarekW13 866,111

Final table host Adrienne "talonchick" Rowsome had provided them with ICM numbers for a chop when chickenssssss proposed leaving $5,000 on the table for the winner instead of the required $1,500. MarekW13 balked at $5k and proposed $3,000 instead. They decided to meet in the middle and both parties accepted the ICM deal, leaving $4,000 in play.

After the deal was made, these two played only 16 more hands. Chickensssss won all but four of them.

With the chip counts essentially back to where they started heads-up, MarekW13 opened for a 28,000 min-raise. Chickensssss called and they saw a [9s][8h][4d] flop. Chickensssss checked, MarekW13 bet 29,400 and chickensssss raised to 161,000. Marek13 shoved and chickensssss called.

MarekW13 [Qs][Jd][Jh][Tc]
chickensssss [4h][6s][7h][8c]

When the money went in, MarekW13 had a pair of jacks and an open-ended straight draw while chickensssss held two pair eights and fours, a low draw, and a gutshot straight draw. The [Qc] turn made MarekW13 a queen-high straight, but chickensssss rivered the [8d] to make eights full, clinching the WCOOP bracelet.

Congratulations to chickensssss, our 2015 WCOOP NL Omaha Hi/Lo champion! He banked $50,356.78 for the win, while runner-up MarekW13 earned $42,853.22.

Two more weeks of WCOOP action awaits! Check out the WCOOP homepage for satellite information and a full schedule of events. Still don't have a PokerStars account? What are you waiting for? Click here and sign up today.

Event #22: $1,050 NL Omaha Hi/Lo Championship
Entrants:239
Prize pool: $239,000
Places paid: 30

1. chickensssss (Canada) $50,356,78*
2. MarekW13 (Poland) $42,853.22*
3. Stevie "stevie444" Chidwick (Mexico) $28,680.00
4. rtspurs (Ireland) $19,120.00
5. Martin "nizmo jiz" Kozlov (Australia) $14,340.00
6. jj20002 (Venezuela) $9,799.00

*= reflects the result of a heads-up deal that left $4,000 in play for the winner

WCOOP 2015: RuiNF among the big winners over busy weekend

0
0

We're into Day 9 of WCOOP 2015. Here's the latest update with 23 of 70 events now completed.


Today's highlights:

There were ten WCOOP results over the weekend, but highlights included:

--Rui "RuiNF" Ferreira adds a WCOOP title to the SCOOP title won earlier this year in Event #14.
--Nlzkm9 beats the likes of Ben Vinson and Chris Brammer to win Event #15.
--Chillolini won Event #18, but Jason Somerville almost stole the show again, Twitching his way to third place (and watched online by 27,000 people).
--Trymean77 finally won a big one, taking down Event#23 to collect more than $31,000.


racks_of_chips_playmoney_14sept15.jpg


Round up of latest results

In short it was a busy weekend. But here's the (slightly) longer version.

Rui "RuiNF" Ferreira won Event #14 ahead of 1,454 entries (there was an optional re-entry). It marked his second 'COOP success of the year following his SCOOP success last year. It was not his only result this weekend. He nearly made it two titles in as many days, finishing sixth in Event #19. Al Rash has the report.

Nlzkm9 from Hungary won Event #15 to collect $57,362. As Martin Harris reported, it required getting through a difficult final table, one that included Ben "vindog03" Vinson, and Chris "NigDawG" Brammer. But he did so to collect a first bracelet.

A lot of players might have attracted some attention over the weekend, but only Jason Somerville could officially back it up with numbers. In his case that number was 27,000 - the number of people who tuned in to watch him reach the final table of Event 18 live on Twitch. It wasn't a record (he set that several days prior when that tally reached 34,000) but they did see him come close again. This time he finished third to eventual winner Chillolini. Check out the report by Kristin Bihr for the full story.

Lastly, a hat tip to Trymean77, a former Women's Sunday winner, who once said she could win the small ones but never the big ones. She proved herself totally wrong in fine style this weekend, winning Event #23 for more than $30,000. Read Pauly McGuire's report here.

Here are those scores in full:

Event 14: $215 NL Hold'em (Big Antes, Optional Re-Entry)
Entrants: 1,454 (418 re-entries)
Prize pool: $374,400
Places paid: 234

1. Rui "RuiNF" Ferreira (Czech Republic) $59,904.00
2. pkace666 (United Kingdom) $44,928.00
3. Ryan "ProtentialMN" Laplante (Canada) $33,696.00
4. Mike "munchenHB" Telker (Cyprus) $24,616.80
5. leitalopez (Argentina) $17,784.00
6. sosickPL (Poland) $13,852.80
7. imluckbox (Australia) $10,108.80
8. serhiy1989 (Ukraine) $6,552.00
9. funwheel (Thailand) $3,744.00


Event 15: $215 PL Omaha (1R1A)
Entries: 740 (405 rebuys, 418 add-ons)

Prize pool: $312,600

Places paid: 99

1. Nlzkm9 (Hungary) $57,362.10
2. kalashn1kovv (Slovenia) $40,950.60
3. wuutti (Finland) $30,947.40
4. UziStuNNa (Hungary) $23,288.70
5. Ben "vindog03" Vinson (United Kingdom) $16,255.20
6. MeJohann (United Kingdom) $13,129.20
7. Christopher "NigDawG" Brammer (United Kingdom) $10,003.20
8. akia86 (Germany) $6,877.20
9. magic_mente (Slovenia) $4,063.80



Event 16: $1,050 NL Hold'em (Progressive Super-Knockout, Thursday Thrill SE)
Entrants: 1,828
Prize Pool: $1,828,000 (Regular prize pool: $914,00; Bounty prize pool: $914,000)
Places Paid: 216

1. Liskacha (Bulgaria) $149,941.70 + $37,760.20 bounties
2. actaml (Poland) $109,680.00 + $40,795.84 bounties
3. leopeluca (Argentina) $82,260.00 + $12,248.03 bounties
4. Negriin (Argentina) $61,238.00 + $16,976.54 bounties
5. Francisco 'chiconogue' Nogueira (Brazil) $43,415.00 + $14,031.23 bounties
6. FaZeHigh (Netherlands) $34,275.00 + $23,873.99 bounties
7. Howié (Belgium) $25,135.00 + $14,881.81 bounties
8. gray31 (Canada) $15,995.00 + $10,226.56 bounties
9. pablotenisis (United Kingdom) $9,140.00 + $7,140.62 bounties


Event #17: $700 NLHE 6-Max, 3-Stack
Entrants: 959
Prize pool: $637,735.00
Places paid: 120

1. Patrick "pads1161" Leonard $108,415.51
2. Roman "RomeOpro" Romanovskyi $81,311.21
3. Manni1822 (Germany) $61,860.29
4. JJ@mess (Czech Republic) $43,047.11
5. HKN291209 (United Kingdom) $30,292.41
6. OMGACEACEACE (Poland) $19,132.05


Event #18: $1,050 7-Card Stud Hi/Lo Championship
Entrants: 185
Prize pool: $185,000
Places paid: 24

1. Andre "Chillolini" Messmer (Norway) $40,237.50
2. raconteur (United Kingdom) $28,675.00
3. Team PokerStars Pro Jason "jcarverpoker" Somerville (Canada) $22,200.00
4. Orjan "Aftret" Skommo (Norway) $15,725
5. TIETYMM (Germany) $10,175.00
6. raidalot (United Kingdom) $8,325.00
7. dimas78 (Russia) $6,475.00
8. Mikal "mikal12345" Blomlie (Norway) $5,087.50


WCOOP-19: $320 NL Hold'em (Turbo, Zoom)
Entrants: 1,916
Prize Pool: $574,800.00
Places Paid: 252

1. moshmachine (Russia) $91,968.00
2. kylef89 (Sweden) $68,976.00
3. antroff (Sweden) $51,732.00
4. Siegmann (Denmark) $37,793.10
5. Barrrii (Belgium) $27,303.00
6. Rui "RuiNF" Ferreira (Czech Republic) $21,267.60
7. Yayoshow (Canada) $15,519.60
8. VicBiggs (Canada) $10,059.00
9. WiljamK (Finland) $5,748.00


Event #20: $109 NLHE (Optional Re-Entry)
Entrants: 7,268
Prize pool: $726,800
Places paid: 990

1. SQUA99 (Romania) $85,205.12*
2. 10111420 (United Kingdom) $85,368.81*
3. mr.valerius (Russia) $79,885.13*
4. DiegoCheblii (Brazil) $39,974.00
5. live@pompeii [two re-entries used] (Mexico) $30,525.60
6. AA Full Mike (Netherlands) $23,257.60
7. Raaadzio91 (Poland) $15,989.60
8. @TrashBlade@ (Brazil) $8,721.60
9. guimoura (Brazil) $5,632.70
* denotes a three-way deal


Event #21: $530 NLHE Progressive Super-Knockout
Entrants: 2,394
Prize pool: $1,197,000
Places paid: 308

1. fixfixfix (Switzerland) $95,760.72 + $25,707.39 in bounties = $121,468.11
2. Nomarbles1 (Canada) $71,820.00 + $25,468.63 in bounties = $97,288.63
3. firas71 (Brazil) $52,129.35 + $20,959.86 in bounties = $73,089.21
4. AntagSS (Ukraine) $35,910.00 + $1,671.87 in bounties = $37,581.87
5. 4erepashka (Russia) $26,932.50 + $7,804.55 in bounties = $34,737.05
6. NhFy (Sweden) $20,947.50 + $4,020.49 in bounties = $24,967.99
7. lov10k (United Kingdom) $14,962.50 + $6,126.93 in bounties = $21,089.43
8. GaryT20 (Ireland) $10,174.50 + $4,345.69 in bounties = $14,520.19
9. FONBET_RULIT (Russia) $5,386.50 + $5,142.56 in bounties = $10,529.06


Event #22: $1,050 NL Omaha Hi/Lo Championship
Entrants: 239
Prize pool: $239,000
Places paid: 30

1. chickensssss (Canada) $50,356,78*
2. MarekW13 (Poland) $42,853.22*
3. Stevie "stevie444" Chidwick (Mexico) $28,680.00
4. rtspurs (Ireland) $19,120.00
5. Martin "nizmo jiz" Kozlov (Australia) $14,340.00
6. jj20002 (Venezuela) $9,799.00
* reflects the result of a heads-up deal that left $4,000 in play for the winner


WCOOP-23: $215 PL Omaha (Knockout)
Entrants: 1,368
Prize Pool: $277,704 (Regular Prize Pool: $221,274.00; Bounty Prize Pool: $56,430.00)
Places Paid: 171

1. Trymean77 (Sweden) $31,729.37 * + 11 bounties
2. MaxSinctin (Russia) $28,337.34 * + 11 bounties
3. kuhns89 (Austria) $26,208.89 * + 11 bounties
4. zidix (Bulgaria) $15,046.63 + 5 bounties
5. sslazio904 (Russia) $10,953.06 + 12 bounties
6. tvtotaliwin (Switzerland) $8,740.32 +4 bounties
7. RadioSurvive (Australia) $6,527.58 + 16 bounties
8. fer_90_1 (Colombia) $4,314.84 + 10 bounties
9. theNERDguy (Brazil) $2,389.75 + 11 bounties
* Denotes a deal among the final three players


For all the WCOOP 2015 results so far, check out our aptly named WCOOP results page, which also has links to all final table reports.


Top ten winners

It wasn't all WCOOP this weekend, with the biggest winners from the weekend Majors listed below:

WCOOP 2nd Chance 25: $1,050 NLH [8-Max, Optional Re-Entry]: tRaMp$d0PrAy (Mexico) $91,390.00
$530 Sunday 500: filfedra (Czech Republic) $84,150.00
$109+R Sunday Rebuy: GeraldoCesar (Brazil) $63,029.50
$215 Sunday Supersonic [6-Max]: blanconegro (Mexico) $57,754.79
$215 Sunday 2nd Chance: Spowi07 (Austria) $50,592.00
WCOOP 2nd Chance 26: GOGOGOGO#1 (Germany) $43,257.51
WCOOP 2nd Chance 24: EvnomiYa (Russia) $39,664.77
The Weekender: $530 NLHE [8-Max, 2-Day]: elmerixx (Finland) $38,712.69
$215 Weekly Turbo NLHE: phounderAA (Czech Republic) $33,928.20
$109 Sunday Kickoff: RuiNF (Czech Republic) $32,512.00

Click here for the full list of tournament results on PokerStars for the weekend of September 12-13, 2015.

Coming up today

Today
Event #27: $100 PL Omaha (6-max Progressive Super KO) 11.00 ET
Event #28: $300 NL Hold'em (6-max) 14.00 ET
Event #29: $665 7-Card Stud Championship 17.00 ET

Still to play
Three events conclude today
Event #24: NL Hold'em (Sunday Warm-Up SE) 88 of 6190 remaining
Event #25: NL Hold'em (8-max, High Roller) 42 of 340

To look ahead at the entire schedule visit the WCOOP 2015 homepage.


Leader board

The leader board now has some meat on it, with 23 of the 70 events now completed. Two final tables this weekend did wonders for RuiNF who jumped into the lead with 215 points (8 cashes), some way ahead of second placed Dzmitry "Colisea" Urbanovich with 165 points. Jason "jcarverpoker" Somerville has also moved into the top ten thanks to his second final table. He's tied for fourth place with 155 points (4 cashes).


wcoop_leaderboard_14sept15.jpgClick to enlarge

Find all the leader board details right here


Tweet of the weekend

An easy decision...



On to week two

We're not in to week two of WCOOP 2015 with more than 50 events still to play. Discover everything there is to know about the Championship on the WCOOP homepage, and as always send any thoughts or comments to us on Twitter: @PokerStars Blog.


Stephen Bartley is a staff writer for the PokerStars Blog.

Shark Cage returns for Season 2

0
0

It's the poker series like no other. It puts players under a spotlight, others in a large purpose built cage, and pretty much everyone into positions of either glory or very public humiliation - all for our enjoyment.

So with that in mind we're delighted to announce that the PokerStars Shark Cage is back, with Season 2 starting tomorrow night*, or technically Wednesday morning at 00.10 UK time on Channel 4 - or 12.10am depending on how you like your time.


shark_cage_14sept15.jpg

Heat one comes complete with some high profile shark bait. Team Pros Chris Moneymaker and Daniel Negreanu take their seats ready to take on golf pro Sergio Garcia. At stake will be a seat at the final or almost certain embarrassment of social media.

What's more there's a chance for viewers to win seats in a weekly freeroll by taking part with the Play Along App, which you can download here. You get to make the same decisions, just without having your mistake put on YouTube if it all goes wrong.

Subsequent shows will follow every week, with the likes of Phil Ivey, actor Don Cheadle, soccer legend Ronaldo, and star of Season one Miss Finland, aka Sara Chafek, all making appearances later in the season.

Here's a little taster:


That's all to come. To find out more about Shark Cage, and to relive some of the highlights from Season one, visit PokerStars.tv.

* An earlier version of this post said it was on Tuesday morning. Our apologies.


Stephen Bartley is a staff writer for the PokerStars Blog.

WCOOP 2015: MaPuHo4Ka09 walks the line for $150K in Event #24, $215 NLHE (Sunday Warm-Up SE)

0
0

Gamble. Too much of it leaves a poker player's fate to the whims of the deck. Too little, though it can result in an opportunity to climb the pay ladder, does the same. Finding the sweet spot is all about shifting gears as necessary, and while doing so can't guarantee a win, it's the only to get in position for one. Ukraine's MaPuHo4Ka09 had the gamble to make it through thousands of players back in 2013, ultimately taking sixth place in the first event of that year's SCOOP series. Today, two years on, MaPuHo4Ka09 threaded the needle perfectly and wound up with the bracelet and more than $150,000.

Event #24, the second Sunday Warm-Up Special Edition of WCOOP 2015, was even bigger than the first. The 6,190 players represented a 20 percent increase over last week's Event #2 field and built a $1,238,000 prize pool paid out to the top 810 players. They played 30 levels on Sunday, whittling that field down to just 88 players before calling it a night. Among those who collected paychecks before that point were several Red Spades, including Team Pros Eugene Katchalov (195th place, $693.28), Kosei Ichinose (611th, $396.16), and Jason Mercier (726th, $359.02), as well as Team Online's Mickey "mement_mori" Petersen (529th, $420.92) and Grzegorz 'DaWarsaw' Mikielewicz (774th, $346.64).

Day 2 kicked off at 11:00 a.m. ET with 10K/20K/2.5K blinds and antes. The stakes increased tenfold to 100K/200K/25K over the next four and a half hours, and the field shrank to just these nine players:

Seat 1: TrondheimAAA (8,017,663 in chips)
Seat 2: ItourAdAstra (3,344,480 in chips)
Seat 3: ValterBr@nco (3,340,463 in chips)
Seat 4: KillerNorbit (10,387,496 in chips)
Seat 5: MaPuHo4Ka09 (8,118,327 in chips)
Seat 6: nizmo jiz (2,082,861 in chips)
Seat 7: rSMig (5,453,310 in chips)
Seat 8: majster88 (15,433,106 in chips)
Seat 9: Z-ENERGIES (5,722,294 in chips)

WCOOP-25 2015 ft.jpg

Martin "nizmo jiz" Kozlov has made some strong showings here at PokerStars this year, with final table appearances in the Super Tuesday and SCOOP #37-H before making the final of WCOOP 2015 Event #22 yesterday. He doubled up several times just before the final table and still came in with the shortest stack, so he didn't waste any time putting his few chips into play. He was dealt [Ac] [Tc] on the second hand and moved all-in for 2M chips in the big blind after TrondheimAAA opened for 400K in middle position. TrondheimAAA, who won the $5,000,000 guaranteed Sunday Million back in January, called with [As] [7s] and took the loss on the [4c] [Ks] [4h] [2d] [5d] board.

The pots stayed small, mostly under 10 big blinds, for the rest of the level. Once the blinds and antes rolled over to 125K/250K/31,250, though, ItourAdAstra picked up [Ad] [Td] under the gun, raised the minimum, and called all-in when Z-ENERGIES jammed from the big blind. Z-ENERGIES called with [Jc] [Jh], which held up after the board came [7s] [2c] [4h] [9d] [4d] to eliminate ItourAdAstra in 9th place ($9,904).

The small-pot pattern kept up from there and Kozlov picked up a few pots along the way, leveraging the short-stack all-in move to climb from 4M to 5.6M, putting two other players between himself and immediate danger. An exception to the trend came up when TrondheimAAA and rSMig were both dealt huge starting hands and clashed pre-flop. TrondheimAAA opened for 750K under the gun with [Qc] [Qh] and moved all-in for 7.1M when rSMig re-raised to 1.9M in the small blind with [Ac] [Ah]. Had a queen fallen, rSMig would've been left with just three and a half big blinds, but the [2s] [9d] [Jc] [Kc] [3h] board was safe and TrondheimAAA headed to the rail in 8th place ($15,475).

rSMig had moved into the lead with that 15.1M-chip pot just ahead of majster88, whose stack had only dropped a few big blinds since the beginning of the final table. But any semblance of order was dashed by the volume of confrontations going the short stacks' way. ValterBr@nco was the shortest with 2.3M but doubled up with kings two hands later to pull into a virtual tie with nizmo jiz and MaPuHo4Ka09. The latter player pulled away from the pack first thanks to a bit good fortune, doubling up to 10.3M on a three-outer with [Ac] [Qh] after three-betting all-in over the top of Z-ENERGIES's opening raise with [Ah] [Kc]. And then Z-ENERGIES defended the big blind with [Ad] [Td] against rSMig's button steal with [Ks] [8d], staying alive with a double to 7.2M to close out the blind level.

With seven players still in the hunt, the value of the 8.8M-chip average stack dipped to 29 big blinds as the 200K/400K/50K blinds and antes began. But with MaPuHo4Ka09 gobbling up orphaned pots on a climb to north of 19M chips, most of the remaining players' stacks were considerably smaller. rSMig was down to just 2.2M and moved in on a steal with [Qd] [9d], running into majster88's [Ah] [Js] to end the day in 7th place ($27,855).

No gamble, no future

Talk of a deal came up and a few players were willing to discuss their options, but Martin Kozlov flatly refused, so no negotiations took place. He cited an Australian saying: "no gamble, no future." Then he promptly three-bet-shoved with [3d] [3s] and survived a race against majster88's [Ac] [Qh] to double to 11M chips. "nizmo have u ever lost an all in pre in your life? wow," typed KillerNorbit, who three hands later would be the beneficiary of some good fortune after three-betting all-in from the big blind with [Ac] [Qh]. Original raiser MaPuHo4Ka09 called with [Qc] [Qs], only to lose the 14M-chip pot when the [Jc] [3d] [Ks] [6h] [Th] board gave KillerNorbit a Broadway straight.

WCOOP-25 2015 ft six-handed.jpg

Got the gamble yourself? You could have a WCOOP future of your own. Click here to get a PokerStars account today.

A cascade of big pots followed in the next few hands as ValterBr@nco doubled to 13M with [8d] [8c] against nizmo jiz's [Ad] [Jd]; Z-ENERGIES's [Tc] [Ts] held up against ValterBr@nco's [Ah] [Ks] for a double to 13.8M; and nizmo jiz's [Ah] [Kc] cracked KillerNorbit's [Qd] [Qh] to double the Aussie to 11.3M.

It was clear that everyone at the table had the gamble, but KillerNorbit's future turned to past before the others. The New Zealander three-bet all-in with [Td] [Th] from the big blind after majster88 opened the pot for a minimum raise in the cutoff, only to run up against [Qd] [Qh] when majster88 called. A ten would have given KillerNorbit the 16.5M-chip pot and left majster88 with just 220K, but a set on the [5d] [8h] [Qc] flop was all it took to eliminate KillerNorbit in 6th place ($40,235).

13 hands passed with just one flop before Martin Kozlov reinforced his opponents' image of him by surviving another pre-flop all-in confrontation. This time the opening raiser he three-bet, ValterBr@nco, held [Kd] [Kh] for a 69 percent chance to beat Kozlov's [Ah] [Kc], but Kozlov had made a Broadway straight by the turn to double to 13.2M. He opened the next hand with a raise to 1M, then four-bet all-in after majster88 re-raised to 2.7M on the button. That left him heads-up with ValterBr@nco, who was all-in for 1M with [6h] [2s] in the big blind. Kozlov's [8d] [8s] held up and ValterBr@nco bowed out in 5th place ($52,615).

A time to settle

All that action left the chips distributed like this:

Seat 5: MaPuHo4Ka09 (9,272,323 in chips)
Seat 6: nizmo jiz (17,480,532 in chips)
Seat 8: majster88 (16,717,907 in chips)
Seat 9: Z-ENERGIES (18,429,238 in chips)

WCOOP-25 2015 ft four-handed.jpg

MaPuHo4Ka09 was working with about 15 big blinds and went on the offensive, picking up a few steals before flopping a Broadway straight against Z-ENERGIES with [Ad] [Jd] to climb to 17.1M. Deal talk cropped up once again and Martin Kozlov initially preferred to stick to his gambling ways, but after some prodding by the others he relented and had a look at the numbers. They were willing to take the ICM values, but Kozlov held out for $10,000 more. He would eventually end up leveraging his image for $7,000 more than ICM, and with his agreement play resumed for a WCOOP bracelet and the remaining $20,000.

The action picked up immediately. majster88 was the first to go all-in, doubling to 22.3M with [Ad] [Ah] against Z-ENERGIES's [9c] [9h]. Kozlov was next and he, too, doubled, flopping a pair of nines with [Ah] [9h] to stay ahead of MaPuHo4Ka09's [Ac] [7c]. Two hands later he caught a nine-high straight on the [5c] [8d] [7d] flop in the big blind with [9h] [6s] after calling a small raise from Z-ENERGIES. Kozlov slow-played and checked, and Z-ENERGIES chcked behind with [Ad] [4d] for the nut flush draw. The [Qd] brought the draw home and Z-ENERGIES flat-called 2.4M, coaxing Kozlov into moving all-in on the [5s] river. Z-ENERGIES called and took the 23.7M-chip pot with the flush, leaving Kozlov with 6.3M.

His efforts to get the extra $7K in the deal paid off on the next hand when he shoved all-in from the small blind with [Ah] [7h]. majster88 called in the big with [Kh] [9h] and caught his card on the river of the [3h] [3s] [Tc] [Td] [9s] board, the pair of nines sinking Martin "nizmo jiz" Kozlov in 4th place ($125,631.40).

That pot pushed majster88's stack to 31.4M, and a four-bet shove over the top of Z-ENERGIES's re-steal on the next hand was good for another 7M chips. That left Z-ENERGIES with 17.5M, and MaPuHo4Ka09 lurking in both players' shadows with a lonely 5.8M. But within four hands the Ukrainian player would be heading on to heads-up play while Z-ENERGIES collected a payout.

First, MaPuHo4Ka09 called in the big blind and won with [Ad] [2c] after Z-ENERGIES shoved with [Qh] [Jd]. Z-ENERGIES then opened the next hand all-in from the button with [6h] [6s], and MaPuHo4Ka09 called with [As] [7d]. The [7h] [Td] [Qc] [3h] [Th] board gave MaPuHo4Ka09 a pair of sevens for the 20.4M-chip pot, and Z-ENERGIES bowed out in 3rd place ($118,585.92).

majster88 held the lead with 37.5M chips to MaPuHo4Ka09's 24.3M, but the latter moved slightly ahead five hands later after three-betting before the flop, leading out when it came [3s] [Ad] [8h], and betting small when the [Ah] came on the turn. Four hands after that MaPuHo4Ka09 called small bets out of position on the flop and turn before making the nut flush with [Ac] [9c] and getting paid on the river.

WCOOP-25 2015 ft hu.jpg

That left majster88 reeling. Down nearly 2-to-1, the Polish player fell further to 13.2M over the next five hands and finally jammed with [Kc] [5s] on the button. MaPuHo4Ka09 called with [6h] [6s], which held up on the [8s] [8d] [7c] [Jh] [Ac] board to bring the tournament to its conclusion.

As runner-up, majster88 collected $115,190.50 from the four-way deal, topping a previous career best of $3,810. MaPuHo4Ka09 earned the champion's bracelet and the extra $20,000 after the deal, for a total prize of $150,338.68. That's also a new high point for MaPuHo4Ka09, topping a previous best of more than $16,000 from a final table appearance in the final table of the low-tier first event of SCOOP 2013. Congratulations to both players, and to the others who shared in the deal, on their big days at the WCOOP tables.

WCOOP 2015: Event #24, $215 No-Limit Hold'em (Sunday Warm-Up SE)
Entrants: 6,190
Prize pool: $1,238,000
Places paid: 810
1. MaPuHo4Ka09 (Ukraine) $150,338.68*
2. majster88 (Poland) $115,190.50*
3. Z-ENERGIES (United Kingdom) $118,585.92*
4. Martin "nizmo jiz" Kozlov (Australia) $125,631.40*
5. ValterBr@nco (Brazil) $52,615
6. KillerNorbit (New Zealand) $40,235
7. rSMig (Canada) $27,855
8. TrondheimAAA (Norway) $15,475
9. ItourAdAStra (Hungary) $9,904
* - denotes results of a four-way deal

Jason Kirk is a freelance contributor to PokerStars Blog.

WCOOP 2015: Germany's tobi123456 beats Andrew "RunThisTable" Lichtenberger heads-up to win High-Roller Event #24 ($10,300 NL 8-Max, Optional Re-Entry)

0
0

Germany's tobi123456 thwarted Billy "b8chatz" Chattaway's attempt at winning an elusive Triple COOP. Earlier this year, 8chatz won a TCOOP and SCOOP, but needed a WCOOP win to secure a Triple COOP. With four remaining, tobi123456 picked off b8chatz in fourth place. When it got to heads-up, tobi123456 found out why Andrew "RunThisTable" Lichtenberger's nickname is "Lucky Chewy." When tobi123456 initially failed to knock out RunThisTable, he glimpsed at the magical powers of Lucky Chewy, who survived five consecutive all-in attempts to get back into contention. When tobi123456 got a second opportunity to finish off RunThisTable, the German did not waste that chance and knocked out RunThisTable in second place.

2015 WCOOP Event #25 $10,300 NL High Roller (8-Max, Optional Re-Entry) attracted 340 total entrants (300 runners plus 40 re-entries). They boosted the prize pool to a whopping $3,400,000, which obliterated the initial $2M Guarantee. The top 48 places paid out with $654,500.00 originally set aside to the inevitable champion.

andrew_lichtenberger.jpg

Runner-Up finish for Andrew "RunThisTable" Lichtenberger

The money bubble burst late on Day 1 and notables like shaundeeb (47th place) secured themselves a min-cash worth $16,150.00. Day 1 ended with only 41 players. Toatee (Uruguay) retained the lead with a shade under 365K. Fred_Brink (Denmark) was right behind with 364K and the mexican222 was third with 363K.

WCOOP Event #25 End Day 1 - Top 10 Chip Counts:
1. Toatee - 364,994
2. Fred_Brink - 363,973
3. mexican222 - 363,072
4. BrynKenney - 280,998
5. tobi123456 - 249,092
6. paulgees81 - 245,397
7. Festivuss - 236,264
8. 68ioweyou1 - 173,969
9. ICEMAN2710 - 164,511
10. takechip - 154,576

On Day 2, the action got off to a swift start and did not hit a lull until the final table was set. With 28 players remaining in the hunt, mexican222 rocketed into the lead by snapping off takechip's [Kc][Kd] with [As][4c]. The [Ac] spiked on the river, which sent ripples through the cosmos. Malta's mexican222 won the pot, staved off elimination, doubled through takechip, and surged into the top spot with 463K.

With 20 to go, ICEMAN2710 and whereisdonny became legit contenders for the lead. Both players raced by the 500K mark and were hovering around 700K.

With 15 players left, mexican222 returned to the top spot after picking off tonkaaaa in 15th place and fading tonkaaaa's flush draw. Holding [As][Qh], mexican222 flopped a pair of queens and rivered trips.

With 11 to go, Tomatee seized the lead and became one of the first players to pass 1M in chips. Tomatee busted ISILDR in 11th place with [Jd][Jh] vs. [9s][9h]. Tomatee turned a set of Jacks and rivered a full house to win the pot and seize the lead with approximately 1.3M.

With nine to go, action went hand-for-hand on the final table bubble. We were treated to a classic showdown when Fred_Brink attempted to double up with [As][Kc] against ICEMAN2710's [Jh][Jc].  Former WCOOP winner Fred_Brink  would have to wait another day to win a second bracelet because ICEMAN2710'sJacks held up to win win the pot. Fred_Brink was knocked out in ninth place.

WCOOP2015_FT_E25.jpg

WCOOP High Roller Event #25 - Final Table Chip Counts:
Seat 1: RunThisTable (743,279)
Seat 2: mexican222 (447,045)
Seat 3: ICEMAN2710 (872,334)
Seat 4: b8chatz (198,800)
Seat 5: tobi123456 (590,339)
Seat 6: whereisdonny (481,010)
Seat 7: elmerixx (291,266)
Seat 8: Tomatee (1,475,927)

The final table began just before the start of Level 28 with blinds at 6K/12K and a 1.5K ante. Uruguay's Tomatee led the pack with 1.47M, while the U.K.'s b8chatz was the shortest stack left with 198K. The final table featured 4 SCOOP champions (b8chatz, RunThisTable, mexican222, and tobi123456), but no one had yet to break through to the WCOOP winner's circle. Despite being 8/8 in chips, Billy "b8chatz" Chattaway was seeking an elusive Triple COOP but he had yet to win a WCOOP. 2015 has been a banner year for b8chatz with victories at the 2015 TCOOP and 2015 SCOOP. Meanwhile... Andrew "RunThisTable" Lichtenberger won a SCOOP in 2009, Alexandros "mexican222" Kolonias won a SCOOP in 2014, and tobi123456 won a SCOOP earlier this year. Last year, Lichtenberger came close to winning another COOP, but he was a runner up in a WCOOP rebuy event.

Level 28 Highlights: The final 8 played through a full level without a bustout. Big stacked Tomatee chipped up from 1.47M to 1.63M. Not much upward movement aside from the mexican222 who moved into second overall. ICEMAN2710 incurred the biggest loss with almost half his stack gone. Meanwhile, b8chatz was still last in chips, but inched closer to 6th and 7th overall.

Level 29 Highlights: Tomatee slipped to 1.48M, but continued to hold steady in first. Germany's tobi123456 had nice mini-run and surged to second overall, while closing in on 1M. ICEMAN2710's slide continued and b8chatz was no longer alone in the basement as the short stack.

Level 30 Highlights: Tomatee retained the spot, but the pack caught up... tobi123456 was right behind with 1.2M and RunThisTable was hovering around 1M. Although b8chatz moved up to 6th in chips, he was still short with barely 300K.

JANIE JONES: whereisdonny eliminated in 8th place

After three levels of play, we finally saw the first bustout at the tail end of Level 30. Two of the short stacks cannibalized each other when whereisdonny got crippled after trying to take out elmerixx with [As][Ts] versus [9d][9s].

The big stack put whereisdonny out of his misery when whereisdonny moved all-in for 56,031 and made a final stand with [Kd][9c]. Tomatee called with [4h][4d] and flopped a full house. The board finished up [Jh][Js][4c][Ad][3d] and Tomatee won the pot. For an eighth-place finish, Thailand's whereisdonny earned $76,500.00

Level 31 Highlights: Behold the rise of mexican222. Early in the level, the lead changed hands for the first time in hours. In the first of two big hands, mexican222 doubled through tobi123456 with [Jh][Js] against [Ah][Qh] to win a 1M pot, then took the lead a couple hands later by winning an uncontested 900K pot against Tomatee.

REMOTE CONTROL: elmerixx eliminated in 7th place

No much longer after the first bustout, the herd got trimmed when another short stack failed to double up... tobi123456 open-shoved for 869,769 with [Ac][3s] and shorty elmerixx called all-in for 250,452 with [7s][7h]. The board ran out [As][Jc][3h][Ts][2d]. The Ace on the flop sunk elmerixx's hopes of doubling up. For a seventh-place finish, Finland's elmerixx took home $93,500.00.

With six to go... mexican222 (1.26M) held a slim lead over Tomatee (1.16M), tobi123456 (1.15M), and RunThisTable (912K). Rounding out the rest was b8chatz (400K) and ICEMAN2710 (198K).

LONDON'S BURNING: ICEMAN2710 eliminated in 6th place

New sheriff in town... tobi123456 took lead with 1.7M winning 920K pot against Tomatee with [Qc][Qh] .

Two short stacks rumbled. ICEMAN2710 open-shoved for 318,739 and b8chatz re-shoved for 402,200. ICEMAN2710 was flipping with [Jc][7d] against b8chatz's [5c][5d]. The board finished up [Js][9c][6d][6s][5s]. ICEMAN2710 flopped a Jack to take the lead, but b8chatz rivered a full house to come from behind to win the pot. ICEMAN2710 was knocked out in sixth place, which paid out $127,500.00.

With five to go... tobi123456 led with 1.5M followed by RunThisTable (1.3M), and mexican222 (794K). Both short stacks were roughly even with 765K -- b8chatz and Tomatee.

COMPLETE CONTROL: Tomatee eliminated in 5th place

Tomatee got ambushed by Aces. RunThisTable opened to 67,500 and Tomatee called from the big blind. The flop was [Qh][5d][3c]. Tomatee check-called a 57,375 bet from RunThisTable. The turn was the [Ac] and Tomatee check-called a 96,390 bet from RunThisTable. The river was the [Jh]. Tomatee checked, RunThisTable fired out 685,843, Tomatee called all-in for 467,492. Tomatee flopped a pair of Queens with [Qc][Td], but RunThisTable led all the way with [As][Ah] and even turned a set of Aces. Uruguay's Tomatee busted in fifth place, which paid out $178,500.00.

New leader with RunThisTable closing in on 2M, followed by tobi123456's 1.5M, mexican222's 912K, and b8chatz's 648K.

During Level 34, RunThisTable accumulated more than 50% of the total chips in play and raced toward 2.7M.

DENY: b8chatz eliminated in 4th place

Two of the short stacks went at it again, but this time b8chatz got crippled when he lost a race with [8d][8s] against mexican222's [Ad][Jc]. An Ace on the flop spelled doom for b8chatz and he lost a 1.1M pot.

Clinging to life support, b8chatz busted shortly after. In the battle of the blinds, b8chatz bombed it all-in for 227,090 with [Js][7s] and tobi123456 called from the big blind with [Jh][Th]. The board ran out [8h][3c][2d][6c][Jc]. Both players rivered a pair of Jacks, but tobi123456 won the pot with a higher-kicker.  Billy "b8chatz" Chattaway busted in fourth place, which paid out $263,500.00. Billy "b8chatz" Chattaway narrowly missed his shot at winning a Triple COOP.

With three to go, RunThisTable led with 2.7M, followed by tobi123456 (1.3M) and mexican222 (1M).

I FOUGHT THE LAW: mexican222 eliminated in 3rd place

RunThisTable opened to 90,000, mexican222 moved all-in for 1,124,315 with [Ah][Kd] and RunThisTable called with [Td][Tc]. Flipping for third place. The board finished up [Ac][9c][4c][Kc][Qs]. Although mexican222 flopped a pair of Aces, RunThisTable flopped a flush draw. The turn filled in an Ace-high flush for RunThisTable, who won the pot Alexandros "mexican222" Kolonias' two pair was not good enough to win and he was dunzo in third place, which paid out $365,500.00.

HEADS-UP: RunThisTable (Canada) vs. tobi123456 (Germany)
Seat 1: RunThisTable (3,686,992)
Seat 5: tobi123456 (1,413,008)

With two remaining, RunThisTable was ahead 3.6M to 1.4M.

THE RISE AND FALL OF LUCKY CHEWY

Early on tobi123456 pulled even after winning a 1M pot with [Kd][6s] against RunThisTable's [Ac][Jc]. RunThisTable lost the lead shortly after.

RunThisTable and tobi123456 got into a preflop raising war. tobi123456 five-bet shoved for 2,481,241 with [Ts][Tc] and RunThisTable called with [Ah][Qd]. The board finished up [Jc][5h][2c][Jd][Th]. RunThisTable never improved and tobi123456 won the 4.9M pot with a full house.

RunThisTable was crippled and left with 127,518. Ah, behold the legend of Lucky Chewy who survived five consecutive all-in attempts...

1. RunThisTable quickly doubled up with [Qc][4h] against tobi123456's [6h][5s].

2. RunThisTable rivered a pair of Jacks with [Jd][5s] to double through tobi123456's [Qd][4c]

3. RunThisTable doubled up again and woke up with [Ac][Ad], which held up against tobi123456's [Ts][3h].

4. RunThisTable trailed all the way to the river with [Qs][3s] against tobi123456's [Kd][4s], but RunThisTable rivered a pair of Queens to double up yet again.

5. RunThisTable finally got above 1M after avoiding another elimination and doubling up with [Ah][2d] against tobi123456's [Ks][8s].

After that flurry, RunThisTable settled down and the two returned to momentary normalcy with tobi123456 barely holding a 3-1 edge.

At the end of Level 36, RunThisTable embarked on a mini-rush winning 4 out of 6 pots to pull even. RunThisTable finally seized the lead when he won a 1.5M pot out-kicking tobi123456's pair of Queens. RunThisTable topped out at 2.9M, but that was as high as he'd get.

Midway through Level 37, as the final table reached its fifth hour, tobi123456 counterattacked to regain the lead and returned to a 3-1 edge.

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES: RunThisTable eliminated in 2nd place; tobi123456 wins WCOOP High-Roller Event #25

Going into the final hand, RunThisTable trailed 3.8M to 1.2M... tobi123456 opened to 135,555, RunThisTable shoved for 1,274,908 and tobi123456 called. RunThisTable attempted to double up with [Kc][Jc] against tobi123456's [9s][9c]. The board finished up [7c][7d][5c][2h][2s]. RunThisTable flopped a flush draw, but never got there. Pocket nines held up for tobi123456, who won the pot and the tournament.

For a terrific runner-up performance, Andrew "RunThisTable" Lichtenberger earned $484,500.00.

Congrats to Germany's tobi123456 for winning the Higher Roller Event #23. First place paid out $654,500.00.

WCOOP-25: $10,300 NL Hold'em (8-Max, Optional Re-Entry, High-Roller)
Entrants: 340 (300 entries; 40 re-entries)
Prize Pool: $3,400,000
Places Paid: 48

1. tobi123456 (Germany) $654,500.00
2. Andrew "RunThisTable" Lichtenberger $484,500.00
3. Alexandros "mexican222" Kolonias $365,500.00
4. Billy "b8chatz" Chattaway (United Kingdom) $263,500.00
5. Tomatee (Uruguay) $178,500.00
6. ICEMAN2710 (Russia) $127,500.00
7. elmerixx (Finland) $93,500.00
8. whereisdonny (Thailand) $76,500.00

Visit the WCOOP home page to view the complete schedule of remaining events. Plus, take a look at the leader board to find out who is in contention for Player of the Series.

Want to play on PokerStars? Click here to sign up for an account and start playing now!

Pauly McGuire is an author and freelance contributor to PokerStars.

WCOOP 2015: Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah grabs Event #27, 2nd bracelet ($215 PLO 6-Max Prog Super-KO)

0
0

With more than $4.7 million in live tournament earnings -- including more than a dozen titles, a WSOP bracelet, and a $5K NL Turbo win at the 2014 PCA -- Canada's Mike Leah is no stranger to collecting trophies, bracelets, or whatever other hardware comes with winning poker tournaments. He'd even won a WCOOP bracelet before tonight on PokerStars where he plays as "goleafsgoeh."

Now Leah has a WCOOP bracelet for his other wrist, too, after having taken down Event #27, a $215 six-handed pot-limit Omaha event featuring progressive super-knockout bounties. Leah topped a field of 1,777 to earn the win and a total of $37,226.91 counting all the bounties he collected.


2015-WCOOP-27-leah-2.jpg

Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah after his 2014 PCA win

That big field built a total prize pool worth $355,400 (half regular prize pool, half bounties). It took about six hours for the group to be whittled down to 228 players and the money bubble to burst, at which point BROCKLESNARR was in first position with the chip lead and nearly $1K worth of bounties already.

Four hours after that BROCKLESNARR had recently gone out in 20th for a $1,021.77 cash plus over $2K worth of bounties, and with 12 players left 75TGI was in first position.

xllllll (12th), Michael "ShiFtYFiNGeR" Guzzardi (11th), and uknowProsky* (10th) were the next players eliminated, each earning $1,777 from the regular prize pool and as much as twice that amount (for xllllll) in bounties.

Asul was the next knockout in ninth, then a short while later JWilshere_19 (eighth) and Doncabelero (seventh) were both knocked out in the same hand, with those three each earning $2,665.50 from the regular prize pool with only Asul taking away more than that in bounties.

75TGI still had a big stack -- and the most bounty money collected to that point -- but Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah had moved ahead and into first position for the start of the six-handed final table.


2015-WCOOP-27-finaltable.jpg

Seat 1: 75TGI (Germany) -- 2,230,486
Seat 2: Orjan "Aftret" Skommo (Norway) -- 530,055
Seat 3: Jonas "Palsgaard1" Palsgård Christensen (Denmark) -- 1,700,705
Seat 4: Mayu "marroca5" Roca (Colombia) -- 1,347,266
Seat 5: Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah (Canada) -- 2,491,103
Seat 6: youngblood51 (Germany) -- 585,385

The final six battled a short while, then as the tournament moved into its 13th hour a hand arose that saw Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah open with a min-raise to 80,000, then youngblood51 three-bet to 300,000 from a seat over. It folded back to Leah who called, and the pair watched the flop come [9s][7h][Jh].

Leah led with a bet more than the 145,788 youngblood51 had behind, and the latter called all in. It was [Ad][Qh][5d][4h] and a flush draw for Leah while youngblood51 turned over [As][Ac][Kh][5s] for an overpair of aces. The turn then brought the [6h], filling the flush, making the river no matter, and sending the two-time SCOOP winner youngblood51 railward in sixth.

About five minutes later 75TGI min-raised to 80,000 from UTG and got two callers in Mayu "marroca5" Roca (small blind) and Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah (big blind). The flop came [3c][2c][Js], and it checked to 75TGI who bet 120,000. Roca then raised to 520,000, causing Leah to fold. 75TGI made it 1.8 million to go, and Roca called with the 867,538 he had behind.

Roca had [Kc][Jd][Tc][3c] for top two pair and a flush draw while 75TGI had [Ad][Jh][7s][3d] for the same two pair. The turn was the [6d] and river the [6h], turning both players' two pair into jacks and sixes, with 75TGI's ace kicker winning the hand to end the one-time WCOOP winner and one-time SCOOP champ Roca's run in fifth.


2015-WCOOP-27-roca.jpg

Mayu "marroca5" Roca

Four-handed play proceeded with 75TGI having retaken the lead with Leah the nearest big stack while Orjan "Aftret" Skommo and Jonas "Palsgaard1" Palsgård Christensen battled with stacks of 15-20 big blinds.

Then came two knockouts in two hands, with Leah collecting both bounties.

First it was Orjan "Aftret" Skommo limping from the button to see a [5c][Kc][4d] flop with Leah playing from the big blind. Leah checked, Skommo bet 125,000, Leah check-raised to half a million, Skommo pushed for 513,409 total, and Leah called.

Skommo had [As][Kd][9s][4h] for kings and fours while Leah had [Qd][8d][3c][2c] for both flush and straight draws. The turn was the [Jd], keeping Aftret in front, but the river was the [5d] to complete a backdoor diamond flush for Leah, and Skommo was done in fourth. That makes seven cashes for Skommo and a second fourth-place finish after achieving the same result in Event #18 ($1,050 7-Card Stud Hi/Lo).


2015-WCOOP-27-skommo.jpg

Orjan "Aftret" Skommo

The next hand saw Christensen raise the pot to 175,000 from the button and both Leah and 75TGI call from the blinds. The flop came [2s][Ts][Ah], Leah bet 210,000, 75TGI folded, Christensen raised all in for 261,761, and Leah called.

Palsgaard1 turned over [Ad][Qc][6c][3d] for a pair of aces while Leah had [As][Td][9s][6s] for aces and tens. The river was the [3s] to give Christensen a lesser two pair, then the [4d] river changed nothing, stopping Christensen in third, his fifth cash of the WCOOP.

Those two pots helped Leah close the gap somewhat as leader 75TGI started heads-up play with just over 5.15 million to Leah's 3.73 million.

The pair battled nearly a half-hour, reaching the break that came to mark the day's 13-hour mark. By then Leah had grabbed the advantage, sitting with just about the same stack his opponent had before up almost 5.16 million to 75TGI's 3.72 million.

They'd push back and forth for another 20 minutes, with 75TGI briefly grabbing the chip lead before Leah seized it back again. Then with Leah having pushed back up over 6.76 million to 75TGI's 2.11 million, the final hand took place.

The blinds were 40,000/80,000, and after a button raise to 160,000 from Leah and a call from 75TGI, the flop came [3h][6h][2s]. Both checked, then after the [Js] turn 75TGI check-called a bet of 160,000 from Leah.

The river brought the [3s] and a bet of 480,000 from 75TGI. Leah responded with a pot-sized push and 75TGI called with the 1,316,237 behind.

75TGI turned over [As][Td][Tc][4s] for an ace-high flush, but Leah had [Kc][Jc][Jd][7d] for jacks full of treys, good for the pot, the last bounties, and the WCOOP bracelet.



Congratulations to Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah who earns his second WCOOP title after earning his first in a Badugi event back in 2011.


2015-WCOOP-27-leah.jpg

Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah

WCOOP-27: $215 PL Omaha (6-Max, Progressive Super-Knockout)
Entries: 1,777 

Prize pool: $355,400

Places paid: 228

1. Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah (Canada) $28,432.42 (+ $8,794.49 in bounties)
2. 75TGI (Germany) $21,324.00 (+ 6,787.46 in bounties)
3. Jonas "Palsgaard1" Palsgård Christensen (Denmark) $15,993.00 (+ $3,709.36 in bounties)
4. Orjan "Aftret" Skommo (Norway) $10,662.00 (+ in $1,858.58 bounties)
5. Mayu "marroca5" Roca (Colombia) $7,108.00 (+ in $3,044.52 bounties)
6. youngblood51 (Germany) $4,193.72 (+ in $3,521.08 bounties)


We're still not even halfway through the huge 70-event WCOOP schedule. Check the the WCOOP page for the full remaining schedule.

Haven't gotten a PokerStars account yet? Join the world's biggest site now.



Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

One winner (and friends) set for a memorable Lads Night In

0
0

A few weeks ago we launched a charity contest that offered one winner the chance to play a private Lads Night In home game with Team Pro Jake Cody, in London, with all the trimmings and accommodation taken care of for the winner and his friends. At the same time you could raise some money for a truly worthwhile cause.


jake_cody_lads_night_in_15sept15.jpgYour Lads Night In host: Jake Cody

To enter the winner needed only to tweet the line-up for their dream home game. Phil Honey, a father of three from Buckinghamshire, did that, impressing the judge (Cody) with his choices. And so he and some lucky friends will be headed to London on September 25, for what should be a night to remember.


phil_honey_15sept15.jpgLads Night In winner Phil Honey

But before that, his dream home game would look like this:


Seat 1: Scotty Nguyen. Proper Old Skool and without doubt my ultimate poker hero.
Seat 2: Victoria Coren Mitchell. Funny, intelligent and a winning smile = a lethal combination.
Seat 3: Mike Tindall. Having seen this sporting legend play a few competitions he comes across as totally fearless and a really nice guy.
Seat 4: Shannon Elizabeth. Not sure I need many reasons for the call up. She plays poker and is a total hottie.
Seat 5: Curtis Martin. I'm a big NFL fan and huge Jets supporter. This guy is a legend in that sport.

We spoke to Honey about his home game, and what poker means to a bunch of friends who once a month put real life aside to play cards.


Lads Night In 2_15sept15.jpgPokerStars has teamed up with Prostate Cancer UK to host Lads Night In

"For me the number one thing is that is has to be fun," he said. "As with many things in life it's all about balance - don't play too often so everyone is longing to play, make sure there's something for those people who bust out early, keep things competitive yet friendly, keep the prize money attractive but make sure the buy-in isn't too much for those that might not have as much spare cash.

"Having a night out with mates is great escapism for everything else. When you're locked in a hand you don't worry about work issues or problems at home as you need to concentrate 100%."

But, as Honey pointed out, a home game is all about the people. Dream line ups or one thing, but really, a reality line-up is just as good, and in our view every home game should have a player nicknamed "Lazarus". Check out the Lads Night In line-up below. Some characters may sound familiar.


"Richard 'Dogfish' Honey. Always the flamboyant one and loves playing the table bully. His strengths are his flair and his ability to make others react to what he's doing rather than the other way around.

"Simon 'Robson Green' Rofe. Extreme Fishing!!! This one is a danger. Plays lots of flops and if he is 100% focused on his A-Game he'll take down top spot. Loves 5-6 suited. When it comes to Heads-Up he's the best we have.

"Rupert 'Pinewood' Warren. He might not quite be 'Hollywood' but he has a great understanding of the game. Favourite hand is 10-8 and 'Never a Jack without an 8'. His biggest strength is that he knows exactly how everyone else plays better than they do and has an uncanny knack of guessing people's hole cards.

"Alexis 'No Fear' Panayiotou. In my opinion he's our outstanding player. I'd love to see him take down a really big tournament as I genuinely think he has it in him. Completely fearless and very astute. The only chink in his armour is that he's having a terrible year with us.

"Pete 'The Street' Panayiotou. 'The Street' because every time we play he picks up loads of houses. Could be first out or just as likely he can steamroller the lot of us in an hour. It's horrible to go up against him when he's the chip leader.

"Jason 'JBJacks' Bennett. A really, really superb all-rounder. Consistently at the top of our leader board every year and won our Championship in 2010 and 2013 so has earned everyone's respect. He's had some notable on-line wins but his weakness is live cash games, especially if mixed with a lot of Drambuie.

"Richard 'AnyTwo' Evens. Burst into our group by winning The Open in 2011 and soon established himself as a regular. Has a background of playing brag and whatever you do, don't bluff this guy - he will always call you, sniffing them out like a police dog.

"Dan 'Lazarus' Rangecroft. It is hard to knock this player out. Like a cat with nine lives he's always there at the end of a game. His biggest asset is the way he thinks about every decision and really pieces together how people have played a hand. Due a big win.

"Phil 'HoneyMonster' Honey. You've already heard enough about me - I'm just the lucky one.


Like a lot of players, Honey and his home game crowd caught the hold'em bug watching Late Night Poker in the 1990s, and gave two cards a try as well as their usual game of five card draw or Stud.

Then they adopted the TV show format ("It capped people's losses, which wasn't happening in messy cash games") and took money from the prize pool to buy a table and chips. Years later the same regulars meet every month, using a points system to create an end of year champion. And with it being a home game there are a few unique varieties thrown in, as Honey explained.

"Our 'normal night' consists of a couple of very familiar NLHE sit & go tournaments but we also play a MONTE (Mental-One-Night-Turbo-Event), Bounty Games, the £5 re-buy is always a great laugh. There's DOSH (Draw, Omaha, 7 card stud and Hold'em), a cash-night and a High Roller event for those that can afford it. The Tag-Team and 'The AshesRyder Cup' team events have come and gone."

All this contributes towards a Grand Final night at the end of the year, with a winner takes all tournament. "Ultimately you get the coveted title and bragging rights for at least 12 months."

But behind what should prove a fun night is a good cause. The idea behind Lads Night In is to increase awareness of prostate cancer, with players encouraged to raise money by taking part in a home game and donating the proceeds. The money goes to Prostate Cancer UK.


Honey is among those who has experienced prostate cancer in his own family.

"My father and his brother both suffered with enlarged prostates once they were into their 60's," he said. "An enlarged prostate doesn't always mean prostate cancer but if anyone starts having trouble when they take a leak they really should find themselves an hour and make an appointment to see their GP.

"I'm very happy to my Dad came through that ordeal and has made a great recovery. Before they operated on him they made him lose weight so he's been down the gym and has never been fitter.

"Most blokes are awful when it comes to health issues but events like Lads Night In are really helping."


Lads Night In 1_15sept15.jpg

So looking ahead to that night in London what is he hoping for when he looks up at Jake Cody across the table?

"It's not top priority but I'd like to win some money off him," said Honey. "I think it's great he's prepared to play with a complete set of donkeys but if we could just learn a few things off him then I'll be very happy.

With that spirit it seems a good night is in store. And who knows, maybe Cody himself will be the real winner.

"If he does well enough - he's more than welcome to join our Grand Final night in December where Christmas jumpers or fancy dress will earn players an extra 500 chips."


You too can play a part by visiting the PokerStars Lads Night In homepage. There you'll find how you can help by hosting your own home game to raise money for Prostate Cancer UK.


Stephen Bartley is a staff writer for the PokerStars Blog.


Matteo Mutti bests IPT crowd in Nova Gorica

0
0

Two hundred sixty-five players crowded into Casino Perla this week for the Italian Poker Tour's first Season 7 stop in Nova Gorica. One of them, Matteo Mutti, walked away with the title and lion's share of the €257,050 prize pool.

Mutti's win earned him €60,000 and Nova Gorica crown.

Matteo_Mutti_is_the_winner.jpg

Heads-up against fellow Italian Christian Favale, Mutti called in with [Qd][5d] vs. Favale's [Ah][9h].

Mutti's heads up opponent was former PokerStars Team Online Christian Favale, from Italy, who took second place for Euro 36,000. The board ran out [Kc][5c][Jd][8d][5h] to give Mutti the win, the cash, and a nice PokerStars watch.

The IPT's next stop will be in Malta 21 - 25 October 2015 where it will join with the European Poker Tour for a massive two-week-long festival. You can win packages on PokerStars right now that award €1,100 IPT buy-ins and €400 for expenses.

WCOOP 2015: Big win for tobi123456 while Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah wins second bracelet

0
0

We're into Day 10 of WCOOP 2015. Here's the latest update with 26 of 70 events now completed.


Today's highlights:

--MaPuHo4Ka09 wins Event #24, the Sunday Warm-Up special edition, for a first prize of more than $150,000.
--tobi123456 win the 8-max High Roller worth more than $650,000, plus a WCOOP bracelet to add to a SCOOP.
--Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah, switches live success for online, winning Event #27 and his second WCOOP bracelet.


poker_chips_scoop_15sept15.jpg


Round up of latest results

The Sunday Warm Up is typically big, but turn it into a WCOOP and things get crazy. The beneficiary this time was MaPuHo4Ka09, who earned a first prize of $150,000. Read the full report by Jason Kirk on the PokerStars Blog.

Then there was the 8-max High Roller, with a prize pool of $3.4 million from which eventual winner tobi123456 took an enormous $654,500. As Pauly McGuire reported, the competition was fierce but the stakes high, with Andrew "RunThisTable" Lichtenberger finishing second.

Finally popular pro Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah won his second WCOOP bracelet in Event #27. Leah has more than $4.7 million in live tournament earnings, as well as success online. This win was worth $28,432 to the Canadian, plus $8,794 in bounties. Heath Chick has the full report.

Here are the scores in full:


Event #24, $215 No-Limit Hold'em (Sunday Warm-Up SE)
Entrants: 6,190
Prize pool: $1,238,000
Places paid: 810

1. MaPuHo4Ka09 (Ukraine) $150,338.68*
2. majster88 (Poland) $115,190.50*
3. Z-ENERGIES (United Kingdom) $118,585.92*
4. Martin "nizmo jiz" Kozlov (Australia) $125,631.40*
5. ValterBr@nco (Brazil) $52,615
6. KillerNorbit (New Zealand) $40,235
7. rSMig (Canada) $27,855
8. TrondheimAAA (Norway) $15,475
9. ItourAdAStra (Hungary) $9,904
* denotes results of a four-way deal


WCOOP-25: $10,300 NL Hold'em (8-Max, Optional Re-Entry, High-Roller)
Entrants: 340 (300 entries; 40 re-entries)
Prize Pool: $3,400,000
Places Paid: 48

1. tobi123456 (Germany) $654,500.00
2. Andrew "RunThisTable" Lichtenberger $484,500.00
3. Alexandros "mexican222" Kolonias $365,500.00
4. Billy "b8chatz" Chattaway (United Kingdom) $263,500.00
5. Tomatee (Uruguay) $178,500.00
6. ICEMAN2710 (Russia) $127,500.00
7. elmerixx (Finland) $93,500.00
8. whereisdonny (Thailand) $76,500.00


WCOOP-27: $215 PL Omaha (6-Max, Progressive Super-Knockout)
Entries: 1,777 

Prize pool: $355,400

Places paid: 228

1. Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah (Canada) $28,432.42 (+ $8,794.49 in bounties)
2. 75TGI (Germany) $21,324.00 (+ 6,787.46 in bounties)
3. Jonas "Palsgaard1" Palsgård Christensen (Denmark) $15,993.00 (+ $3,709.36 in bounties)
4. Orjan "Aftret" Skommo (Norway) $10,662.00 (+ in $1,858.58 bounties)
5. Mayu "marroca5" Roca (Colombia) $7,108.00 (+ in $3,044.52 bounties)
6. youngblood51 (Germany) $4,193.72 (+ in $3,521.08 bounties)



For all the WCOOP 2015 results so far, check out our aptly named WCOOP results page, which also has links to all final table reports.

Coming up today


Three more events to start, three more to finish...

Today
Event 30: PL 5-Card Omaha Hi/Lo (6-max, 2R1A) 11.00 ET
Event 31: NL Hold'em (Super Tuesday SE) 14.00 ET
Event 32: FL Omaha Hi/Lo Championship (8-max) 17.00 ET

Playing to a finish today
Event 26: NL Hold'em (Sunday Million SE) 9 of 3,418 remaining.
Event 28: NL Hold'em (6-max) 26 of 2014 remaining
Event 29: 7 Card Stud Championship, 14 of 138 remaining


Leader board

RuiNF leads for a second day, although the gap to second place was narrowed by Aftret of Norway, who finished fourth in Event #27.


wcoop_leaderboard_15sept15.jpgClick to enlarge


Get all the leader board standings for WCOOP 2015 right here


Tweet of the day


Fact of the day

William "B8chatz" Chattaway fell short of a Triple Coop in Event 24. But the $263,500 he won for fourth place was the largest of any UK player so far in WCOOP 2015.


On to Day 11

WCOOP 2015 continues until Sunday September 27 and the Main Event. Find out everything there is to know about the Championship on the WCOOP homepage, and good luck to everyone taking part. Send us your thoughts and comments to us on Twitter: @PokerStars Blog.


Stephen Bartley is a staff writer for the PokerStars Blog.

The cheapest & easiest way to get into the WCOP Main Event

0
0

All credit to Bryan Slick and the other creative minds in the PokerStars tournaments bunker, there are a lot of darned ways to get a World Championship of Online Poker Main Event. You have a lot of choices.

But maybe you don't have a lot of time.

Maybe you don't have a lot of money.

This is how you get your seat without a bunch of steps to step, ladders to climb, or hoops to jump through.

It costs $1. There are no rebuys to think about. You won't have to wade through a long series of satellites. Want to know more? We have all of it below.

Ready to sign up for PokerStars? Click here to get an account.

2015-WCOOP-phase.jpg

On September 27 at 14:01 ET, there is a Phase 2 WCOOP Main Event satellite that guarantees at least ten $5,200 WCOOP Main Event seats. How do you get in? It's simple.

Right now, you can play $1 Phase 1 100-player turbo SNGs that are running all the time. The top 10% of each of those advance to Phase 2 and use whatever chips they've accumulated to battle against everyone else who's made it to Phase 2.

If you don't make it to Phase 2 the first time, you can keep trying. As of this moment, only 117 people have qualified for the second phase.

Have a buck and wanna take your shot? Just search for "WCOOP Main Phase" in the WCOOP satellite tourney filter and get to work.

Need a PokerStars account? Click here to get one.


is the PokerStars Head of Blogging.

Watch Jason Somerville crush Twitch record

0
0

So, it was a weekend night when you might expect a lot of people to be face-down in a pillow or face-up to the sky, howling at the Saturday night moon. It was on a night just like that on which we found 27,000 people watching Twitch hero Jason Somerville play a split pot stud game.

Scholars will look at this night at some point when they discuss the people who followed Somerville to colonize Mars, and they will say, "This was the night he got them."

It was a Twitch record for a poker stream, and one of the damnedest things we've ever seen. There aren't a lot of people out there who like to play stud poker anymore, and I'd bet there are fewer people who actually like to watch someone else play it.

But there it was. There was Jason Somerville with the population of a small American city watching his every check, bet, and fold.

If you missed it (read: if you, too, were howling at the moon), we have the bulk of the video below.

Ready to sign up for PokerStars? Click here to get an account.




somerville_twitch_record.jpg

Ready to sign up for PokerStars? Click here to get an account.




is the PokerStars Head of Blogging.


WCOOP 2015: wiisssppppaa quietly wins the "small matter" of $275,850 in E#26

0
0

It started with a tweet...

It seems like it was a good Sunday for Andy 'wiisssppppaa' Taylor - a British online pro with more than $1M in online tournament earnings. On Monday he celebrated a successful day by returning to play in Event#26 of the WCOOP 2015 - a $700 special edition of the Sunday Million. He entered the day 92nd of a remaining 256, and sent out a tweet to his followers letting them know.

So on Tuesday, it was somewhat odd to see that wiisssppppaa hadn't tweeted at all.

You see, he'd made the final table of 9 in this event - which had 
3,418
 entries and a prize pool of $2,272,970. But there was no word from Taylor on Twitter of this achievement. I assumed wiisssppppaa was just quiet by name, quiet by nature. He simply sat down at his computer on Tuesday evening and went to work.

And then he went and won it. His first WCOOP title, and biggest online score to date in the staggering $275,850.02 first place prize (following a four-way deal). Well wiisssppppaa, if you won't give yourself a shout out - we'll do it for you.

The final table

Seat 1: ham1l_I0n (Ukraine) 4,709,670
Seat 2: Thor 'osten' Hansen (Norway) 3,972,325
Seat 3: Andy 'wiisssppppaa' Taylor (United Kingdom) 2,562,273
Seat 4: nemesis278 (Russia) 5,486,853
Seat 5: Keith 'Kungfumonk' Johnson (United Kingdom) 1,553,483
Seat 6: ModzillaPL (Canada) 5,028,414
Seat 7: flopped6810 (Canada) 2,832,943
Seat 8: asq201 (Australia) 3,792,176
Seat 9: ratboy x (Canada) 4,241,863

WCOOP26-1.jpg

This was a strong line-up. Canada's ModzillaPL had more than $1.3m in tournament winnings, and was no stranger to massive final tables after finishing 7th in the 9th anniversary Sunday Million $9m guaranteed in March 2015 for $336,550. We also had two other players based in Canada: flopped6810 is an accomplished player with a Sunday Warm Up win under his belt, while ratboy x has more than half a million in winnings.

Our chipleader coming into this event was Russia's nemesis278, whose biggest tournament score came from a win in the Sunday Storm for $29k in June 2014, while Keith 'Kungfumonk' Johnson is a well-respected British high-stakes player who took down the inaugural Eureka Poker Tour title for €58,400 back in 2011 and won the €2k IPT High Roller in March of this year for €144,500.

Then we had ham1l_I0n from the Ukraine, a regular at the $100/$200 6-max cash tables on PokerStars, and asq201 from Australia. But arguably the player we were most happy to see at this final table was Thor 'osten' Hansen - a legendary player considered the "Godfather of Norwegian poker". Not only does Hansen have a WCOOP title, he's also living an incredible and inspirational life - check out this heart-warming interview with Sarah Herring at EPT11 Barcelona in 2014 and you'll see what I mean.

Thumbnail image for ESPT_Barcelona-277_Thor Hansen.jpg

Thor 'osten' Hansen - the Godfather of Norwegian poker

Cards in the air

It was a dream start for wiisssppppaa. Having entered the final nine with the second lowest chip stack, he immediately doubled up and shot into second place. With the blinds at 50,000/100,000/12,500, ham1l_I0n min-opened and Thor 'osten' Hansen three-bet to 862,500. The hefty raise didn't scare wiisssppppaa though, who four-bet jammed all in for 2,549,773 total. The rest of the players folded as did the original raiser, leaving osten to make the call.

wiisssppppaa: [kc][ac]
osten: [jc][jd]

The flop fell [7c][3s][2h] - not much help to the player at risk. The turn, however, was a big help - the [8c] meant any club, ace or king would secure the double up for wiisssppppaa. The [3c] on the river completed his flush and he was now sitting pretty.

Shortly after we lost our first player. Keith 'Kungfumonk' Johnson came into the final table with the shallowest stack and had to get busy early. With a stack of just under 15 big blinds he opened to 200,000, and it folded around to nemesis278 in the big blind who made the call. The flop came [jd][ah][6h] which nemesis278 checked over to the original raiser, who put out a continuation bet of 240,000. Now nemesis278 shoved and Johnson snap called. He was in front with the [qh][ad] but he'd need to hold against his opponent's [kh][jh]. The [8d] on the turn was safe, but the river proved deadly; the [jc] gave nemesis278 trips and the Kungfumonk couldn't live to fight another day. Johnson's consolation prize for 9th? $18,183.76.

The action never stops

The next player to have his tournament on the line was Norway's Thor 'osten' Hansen, who doubled up with [Jc][Js] against ModzillaPL's [as][qc], then picked up another 700k pot shortly after to get himself right back in it.

Flopped6810 wouldn't be so lucky. With the blinds now 60,000/120,000/15,000, ham1l_Ion made it 240,000 and the action folded to flopped6810 in the big blind who shoved for 2,076,891 and was called. It was [as][ts] for flopped6810, and he'd need help against his opponent's [ks][ad] - but it wasn't to be. The board ran out [js][kd][5c][5h][9s] and the Canadian won $29,548.61 for his 8th place finish.

Having picked up some steam not too long prior, the legend that is Thor 'osten' Hansen would leave this tournament in 7th. The blinds had gone up again and asq201 min-opened only to see osten shove for 2,628,104. He called and the cards were revealed: [Qs][Ac] for osten against the [jh][js] of asq201. It was a race we'd already seen tonight and on that occasion osten won the flip, but he couldn't do it twice. No ace or queen on the board meant the "Godfather of Norwegian poker" became our 7th place finisher - good for $52,278.31.

We were down to six players. In just one hand we'd be down to four.

Double elimination? Let's make a deal

Poker can be a cruel game. Try taking a look at the image below and telling us otherwise.

WCOOP26-8.jpg

The blinds were 80,000/160,000/20,000 and ModzillaPL made it 352,000 to play. ratboy x called, and nemesis278 bumped the price of poker up to 1,024,000. Now ModzillaPL shoved enough to put both players all-in, and ratboy x called (for 3,926,444) as did nemesis278 (for 4,349,606). Nemesis278 had the hand he'd been waiting for - [as][ah], while ratboy x had the second best holding with [kc][ks], and trailing them all was the original raiser with [qd][qs]. ratboy x faced guaranteed elimination unless a king peeled off, while ModzillaPL would lose more than half his stack.

As you can see from the image above, lady luck shone on ModzillaPL in this one. Unlucky nemesis278, but we hope you enjoy the $97,737.71 for 5th. Ratboy x, who had less chips at the beginning of the hand, was our 6th place finisher and won $75,008.01.

And how did the other players react at this? Well, the instant pay jump up two spots was very welcome indeed.

"Cooler town" said asq201, while wiisssppppaa simply said "Like!"

The 4 remaining players agreed to view ICM chop numbers, and were presented with the following amounts.

ModzillaPL: $278,109.54
wiisssppppaa: $243,850.02
asq201: $218,114.27
ham1l_I0n: $172,119.54

WCOOP26-4.jpg

$30,000 was left to play for the winner. The players seemed to be on the verge of agreeing, before the shortest stack ham1l_I0n said "$188,000 and I agree" - which was not met well by wiisssppppaa who replied "Good luck with that". It was a feeling MozillaPL, the monster chip leader, shared - but asq201 said he was willing to give up the roughly $16,000 to secure the deal. He did, and the deal was done. The cards were back in the virtual air.

ham1l_I0n and asq201 double, then one of them busts

Having just locked up $188,000, the short stack got a much-needed double up through second shortest, when in a blind versus blind hand ham1l_I0n won with pocket aces against asq201's ace jack.

The pain was short lived as asq201 then doubled up himself through the chip leader. Asq201 moved all-in for 3,043,241 under the gun and was called by ModzillaPL in the big blind, who was way ahead with [ah][qd] against [5d][as]. The flop was favourable to asq201 though, and the eventual board of [ts][5h][3d][3c][6h] secured the win.

The player shortest going into the deal would be the first to exit after it. ham1l_I0n shoved for his last 1,796,006 with [qh][8c] only to run into the pocket rockets of wiisssppppaa, and that was all she wrote - we were down to three.

The two big stacks seemed to be running away with it at first, but asq201 staged quite a comeback, managing to get his stack above 6,000,000. Then, with the blinds at 100,000/200,000/25,000 he had his breakthrough.

Wiisssppppaa raised to 450000, ModzillaPL folded and asq201 three-bet to 996,000. After the Brit made the call, we saw a flop of [Ts][Qs][Qh] which caused asq201 to continue his aggression with a 675,000 bet. Now wiisssppppaa elected to raise 925,000 more to 1,600,000 only for asq201 to shove for 5,635,205 which was called.

WCOOP26-10.jpg

asq201: [Td][Th]
wiisssppppaa: [Js][9s]

Both players had flopped huge, but the full house of asq201 was way ahead. Only the king or eight of spades could win it for wiisssppppaa - meaning the [as] turn and [ad] river were no good. A big pot shipped to asq201 and wiisssppppaa was down to just over 3 million.

But this is poker, and anything can happen...

Wiisssppppaa's first double up came when his [4s][4d] held up against ModzillaPL's [as][qs]. Then he did it again four hands later, when his [jd][qs] outflopped ModzillaPL's [7c][7d]. Back up to almost 14,000,000, the momentum was truly on the Brit's side, but asq201 wasn't being shy about putting chips in the middle either. The player who gave up $16,000 earlier became an even bigger chipleader when he took down an almost 6,000,000 pot by flopping a flush and checking it all the way against wiisssppppaa. But in the very next hand the Brit doubled up again when his [5h][5d] held up against the [ad][kd] of asq201.

Exhausting this poker business isn't it?

Well, there was no rest for the wicked as we soon had our third place finisher. ModzillaPL had been chipleader for much of the final table, but with a few flips having gone against him, he found himself all-in on a board of [3d][kh][2s][8d] with [5d][6d] chasing either a diamond or a four against asq201's set of threes. The [ah] on the river changed nothing though, and the player who locked up the most money in this tournament was gone, taking his $278,109.54 and hitting the rail.

The chip stacks were fairly even throughout the heads-up battle, until one massive hand swung the tournament in the Brit's direction. Wiisssppppaa opened the button to 675,000 (with blinds at 150,000/300,000/37,500) and faced a three-bet from asq201 to 1,200,000. After calling, the flop fell [ks][3d][9s] and asq201 continued for 1,237,500, which again was called. Now asq201 opted to check, leading to a bet of 3,465,000 from wiisssppppaa. Asq201 called and the river was the [6h], and he checked it once more. Wiisssppppaa took his time and shoved for 11,936,412 with 11,880,000 in the middle. Asq201 went deep into the tank and eventually folded.

"I think I folded the best hand," asq201 wrote in the chat.

"I think you did too," came the response.

And three hands later it was over. A pre-flop betting war led to an all confrontation between wiisssppppaa's [9c][9h] and dominating chipstack against asq201's [ac][js]. The flop of [4c][ks][9s] practically sealed our second place finisher's fate, but the [2s] on the turn provided some hope for a flush. The [ah] was not the suit he was looking for though, and the Brit took this one down for his first WCOOP title and biggest online score to date.

WCOOP26-12.jpg

A big shout out to Andy 'wiisssppppaa' Taylor - winner of Event#26.

WCOOP-26: $700 NLHE [Sunday Million SE] $1.5M Guaranteed

Entries: 3,418

Prize pool: $2,272,970
Places paid: 432

1. Andy 'wiisssppppaa' Taylor (United Kingdom) $275,850.02*
2. asq201 (Australia) $202,233.81*
3. ModzillaPL (Canada) $278,109.54*
4. ham1l_I0n (Ukraine) $188,000*
5. nemesis278 (Russia) $97,737.71
6. ratboy x (Canada) $75,008.01
7. Thor 'osten' Hansen (Norway) $52,278.31
8. flopped6810 (Canada) $29,548.61
9. Keith 'Kungfumonk' Johnson (United Kingdom) $18,183.76

*indicates prize money after a four-way deal was made

Fancy winning a tournament quietly yourself? There are plenty of WCOOP events left for you to play.

Don't have a PokerStars account? Then what are you waiting for - sign up today.

Jack Stanton is a professional journalist and a freelance writer for PokerStars.

WCOOP 2015: Sweden's bajskorven8 notches second WCOOP bracelet with 6-Max win in Event #28

0
0

Four years ago at the 2011 WCOOP, bajskorven8 went on a rush to win a Heads-Up event to secure a first WCOOP bracelet. With nine players remaining in this year's Event #28, bajskorven8 seized the lead. At that point, only eight other players stood in the way of bajskorven8 becoming a repeat WCOOP winner. When it got heads-up against Canada's Jigs Flippin, bajskorven8 quickly overcame a chip deficit. At that point, bajskorven8 froze any of Jigs Flippin's forward momentum. The icy cool bajskorven8 methodically chipped away at Jigs Flippin's stack and won Event #28, which marked a second career WCOOP bracelet for the Swede.

2015 WCOOP Event #28 $320 NL 6-Max attracted 2,014 runners. They created a prize pool worth $604,200, which tripled the initial $200K Guarantee. The top 252 places got a cut of the pool, with $95,161.50 initially set aside to the champion.

Day 1 ended with only 26 players remaining. TeamWispy (Costa Rica) led the pack with 1.05M, followed by CHELitw (Argentina) in second with 1.02M.

The action at the onset of Day 2 proceeded at a brisk pace. Less than 30 minutes into Day 2, we were down to the final three tables. CHELitw led with 1.5M and only rmgil was the only other player over 1M. With 14 to go, Romania's treidei3 seized the lead after knocking out Chirkov77 when [Kh][Kc] held up against [Ad][Jc]. At that point, the lead was a hot potato that got passed around every few hands. With 12 remaining, Monio81 surged to over 1.8M after knocking out angrymoron with [As][Ts] against angrymoron's [8h][8d]. The [Ad] spiked on the river and angrymoron was busto in 13th place. With 9 to go, Sweden's bajskorven87 passed 2M and took over the lead after picking off J. Gelades in 10th place with [9d][9c] vs. [As][9s].

Canada's G's zee bubbled off the final table in seventh place when G's zee's [As][2s] lost to bajskorven87's rivered four-flush with [Kh][Qs].

WCOOP15_FT_E28.jpg

WCOOP Event #28 - Final Table Chip Counts:
Seat 1: FU_15 (547,313)
Seat 2: bajskorven87 (4,137,711)
Seat 3: Monio81 (2,258,835)
Seat 4: forcadellmg (514,301)
Seat 5: Jigs Flippin (2,005,265)
Seat 6: Skrigepas (606,575)

The final table commenced during Level 35 with blinds at 12.5K/25K and 3,125 ante. Sweden's bajskorven87 was seeking a second WCOOP (won a bracelet in 2011) and began the final table with a hefty lead and a big stack in excess of 4.1M. Both of the short stacks, FU_15 and forcadellmg, had between 514-547K. Final table featured legendary online grinder Nick "FU_15" Maimone, who has seven figures in career earnings, but still seeking his first COOP title.

TOO HIGH: FU_15 eliminated in 6th place

Short-stacked FU_15 never had a chance to get anything going until he woke up with [Qs][Qh]. Alas, he got beat down by Big Slick... bajskorven87 min-raised to 60,000, Jigs Flippin called, FU_15 shoved for 481,888, bajskorven87 bailed, and Jigs Flippin called. Heads-up. Jigs Flippin's [Ad][Kh] hit the flop, turn, and river when the board ran out [Ah][6h][5h][Kc][Ac]. Jigs Flippin won the pot with a full house, and FU_15 became the first player to bust at this 6-max final table. Sixth place paid out $13,534.08.

With five remaining, bajskorven87 led with 5M, followed by Jigs Flippin (2.7M), Monio81 (1.5M), and the two shorties -- forcadellmg and Skrigepas -- held an average of 371K.

VISIONS: forcadellmg eliminated in 5th place

Short-stack ran into the proverbial "ace on the river." Monio81 min-raised to 70,000, forcadellmg bombed it all-in for 409,072 with [9d][9s], and Monio81 called with [Ac][Qc]. The board finished up [3d][2s][Th][5d][Ad]. Monio81 turned a gutshot Wheel draw, but riverd a pair of Aces to win the pot. For fifth place, Mexico's forcadellmg took home $23,684.64.

With four to go, bajskorven87 was still out in front with 5.5M, followed by Jigs Flippin (2.4M) and Monio81 (1.6M). Skrigepas took on the role of the shorty with 490K.

LIVING FOR THE CITY: Skrigepas eliminated in 4th place

Shorty Skrigepas did not waste any time before attempting to double up. Skrigepas open-shoved for 410,325 with [Qs][Jh], and Monio81 called with [2c][2s]. The board ran out [6s][5c][3s][Th][4c] and Monio81 actually rivered a six-high straight to win the pot. Denmark's Skrigepas never improved and busted in fourth place, which paid out $34,741.50.

With three remaining in the hunt... bajskorven87 held roughly 50% of the chips in play with 5.07M with Monio81 at 2.5M and Jigs Flippin at 2.4M.

Couple hands later, we had a new leader... on a board of [9s][8s][2d][Qc][7h], Jigs Flippin won a 4.3M pot with [Jh][Td] for a Queen-high straight against bajskorven87's [Qs][9d].

GOLDEN LADY: Monio81 eliminated in 3rd place

Holding 1.34M, Monio81 made a final stand with [Ah][8s] against Jigs Flippin's [Kh][Kd]. Jigs Flippin flopped a set of Kings and won the pot with a full house against Monio81's two pair when the board finished up [Kc][7c][6d][As][7h]. Monio81 was knocked out in third place, which paid out $52,867.50.

HEADS-UP: bajskorven87 (Sweden) vs. Jigs Flippin (Canada)
Seat 2: bajskorven87 (4,106,269)
Seat 5: Jigs Flippin (5,963,731)

With two to go, only one player stood in bajskorven87'sway of winning WCOOP bracelet #2. When heads-up began, Jigs Flippin held the slight edge 5.9M to 4.1M.

During the first ten minutes of heads-up, bajskorven87 pulled even after winning a pot with a better two pair. Eventually, bajskorven87 surged ahead 6M to 4M.

At the start of Level 40, bajskorven87 embarked on another blitz and won 11 out of 12 hands to chip up 7.1M to Jigs Flippin's 2.9M.

HIGHER GROUND: Jigs Flippin eliminated in 2nd place; bajskorven87 wins second WCOOP bracelet with win in  Event #28

Another mini-rush for bajskorven87, who won 8 out of the last 9 hands. Going into the final hand, bajskorven87 amassed a monstrous lead with a 9.4M stack versus Jigs Flippin's paltry 676K. Jigs Flippin made a valiant final stand with [Ad][5s] against bajskorven87's [9h][9c]. The board ran out [Ks][Js][6s][Kh][Td] and bajskorven87's nines held up. Jigs Flippin busted in second place.

For a runner-up performance, Canada's Jigs Flippin took home $70,993.50.

Congrats to Sweden's bajskorven87 for winning Event #28, which marked a second career SCOOP victory. First place paid out $95,161.50.

WCOOP-28: $320 NL Hold'em (6-Max)
Entrants: 2,014
Prize Pool: $604,200
Places Paid: 252

1. bajskorven87 (Sweden) $95,161.50
2. Jigs Flippin (Canada) $70,993.50
3. Monio81 (Bulgaria) $52,867.50
4. Skrigepas (Denmark) $34,741.50
5. forcadellmg (Mexico) $23,684.64
6. Nick "FU_15" Maimone $13,534.08

Visit the WCOOP home page to view a complete schedule of remaining events. Plus, find out who is a top of the Leader Board.

Want to join in on the action at PokerStars? Click here and sign up for an account and start playing!

Pauly McGuire is an author and freelance contributor to PokerStars.

WCOOP 2015: TIETYMM puts a bow on Event #29, $700 Stud Championship

0
0

Every poker variant is a skill game. But seven-card Stud, with dead cards to keep track of and more betting streets than other games, has long been considered one of the most demanding of its players. That often means smaller crowds playing Stud than other, faster-paced games like hold'em, but for those who master Stud's intricacies there are just as many rewards.

When it comes to tournament play, those smaller crowds translate to a mathematically easier path to a title than your typical no-limit hold'em behemoth. That makes them attractive for players looking to pick up Player of the Series points and build on earlier successes to make a run at the title and all the prizes that come with it. Two such players ended up heads-up for the title in Event #29, the $700 Seven-Card Stud Championship, and in the end it was TIETYMM, a past Sunday Million and WCOOP chopper, who emerged with the bracelet.

A small and unimpeachably elite field of 138 players showed up for this year's WCOOP Seven-Card Stud Championship, putting up $700 each to build a $91,770 prize pool. The two-day event paid just the top 24 players, only nine of whom would collect their payouts before the end of the first day of play. Besides Event #6 winner Matt "plattsburgh" Vengrin (19th place, $1,147.12), Bryn Kenney (17th, $1,147.12), and Shaun Deeb ($1,605.97), two Red Spades cashed. ElkY bowed out early in 21st place and Eugene Katchalov finished in 15th, the last player to cash out before play paused overnight.

Randy "RolldUpTrips" Ohel, a past WCOOP finalist in no-limit hold'em and badugi, held the chip lead with 189,266 chips when Day 2 kicked off at 5:00 p.m. ET. Kiryl "angrymoron" Radzivonau, a 2012 Sunday Million champion, was five big bets back with 157,041 chips. And sitting in third with 153,438 chips was Fresh_oO_D, a past WCOOP and SCOOP finalist already holding 100 Player of the Series points thanks to three deep runs and two other cashes since the start of WCOOP 2015.

All three would remain in the field when the final table began 73 minutes later, though angrymoron coasted in on fumes:

Seat 1: ilushan (103,317 in chips)
Seat 2: Multifox (135,784 in chips)
Seat 3: TIETYMM (217,821 in chips)
Seat 4: osten (85,420 in chips)
Seat 5: angrymoron (29,688 in chips)
Seat 6: RolldUpTrips (348,966 in chips)
Seat 7: lennart (203,823 in chips)
Seat 8: Fresh_oO_D (255,181 in chips)

WCOOP-29 2015 ft.jpg

Joining those three in this final were five other players with notable past accomplishments. Russia's ilushan was a 2013 SCOOP Stud hi/lo finalist. Austria's multifox was appearing at a WCOOP Stud final table for the second straight year. Two-time WSOP bracelet winner Thor "osten" Hansen was seeking a second WCOOP Stud bracelet to go with the one he won in 2012. TIETYMM had taken fifth place in Event #18, the Stud Hi/Lo Championship, just three days prior. And Christer "lennart" Johansson, winner of the $109 heads-up limit hold'em event during the very first WCOOP back in 2002, was a four-time SCOOP 2014 finalist, all in different games - Stud, PLO, Triple Draw, and Badugi.

You can't build an impressive tournament resume of your own if you aren't playing! Click here to get a PokerStars account today.

Coming in with just three big bets forced angrymoron into action early, but it didn't bring a knockout. He took the first two pots without a fight and then stacked up to 100K with a split pair of kings against RolldUpTrips's split pair of eights. Instead, ilushan would end up busting first.

The Russian player made a ten-high straight by fifth street in a hand against Fresh_oO_D but lost out on the 109K-chip pot when Fresh_oO_D, who had a pair of tens and a jack-high flush draw at that same point, picked up a fifth club on the river. That left ilushan with 36K, which had been cut in half by the time the Russian was able to get all-in nine hands later with a split pair of sixes. That turned into jacks and sixes on seventh street, but multifox had already made a king-high heart flush to win the 112K-chip pot, so ilushan bowed out in 8th place ($2,523.67).

Short-stacked Stud veteran Thor Hansen survived his first all-in hand in style, turning a split pair of eights into trips on fourth street to move ahead of RolldUpTrips's split pair of kings, then rivering the case eight for four of a kind and the 87K-chip pot. Another 80K-chip pot two orbits later, won uncontested from Multifox on seventh street with (x-x) [Kc] [6s] [3c] [5h] (x), kept Hansen off the bubble for the time being.

angrymoron took his place after losing a pot to RolldUpTrips, who had limped into the pot after angrymoron posted the bring-in. angrymoron checked with the [2d] up and then check-called bets on fourth, fifth, and sixth before leading out on seventh with a board of (x-x) [2d] [Jd] [6s] [4h] (x). angrymoron called RolldUpTrips's raise but mucked when he showed a ten-high straight made by fifth street.

angrymoron got his last 38K in the middle two hands later after starting with a split pair of queens and raising after TIETYMM completed to 6K with the [Ad] showing and Thor Hansen called with the [7s] up. TIETYMM re-raised to 18K to drive Hansen out and then called angrymoron's fourth bet, showing ([Qc] [4d]) [Ad] [Th] when angrymoron finally got all-in on fourth street. The queens stayed ahead through sixth street, but TIETYMM made a pair of aces with the [Ah] on seventh and angrymoron left in 7th place ($3,211.95).

WCOOP-29 2015 ft six-handed.jpg

Thor Hansen's earlier reprieve hit its expiration date on the next level. With just 58K in chips and the table playing 8K/16K stakes, Hansen raised with the [Kc] showing and a pair of eights in the hole after Multifox opened with the [Tc] up. Multifox called the raise and then check-called Hansen's bets all the way to the river, showing down an unimproved split pair of tens. Hansen's own board had run out with out improvement as well, so his quest for another WCOOP Stud title ended in 6th place ($4,129.65).

Davids and Goliath

With 230K more than anybody else and the next three biggest stacks all clustered together, Fresh_oO_D was able to step up the aggression at the table five-handed table. First a 136K-chip pot came the German player's way in a pot against TIETYMM after what appeared to be a steal attempt with ([3h] [Qh]) [Tc] became a full house thanks to a runner-runner-runner-runner combo of three jacks and a queen. With all four other players holding onto stacks worth 232K or less, Fresh_oO_D was able to steal the bring-ins and antes liberally.

That left the others to dance around the leader and take each other on. The beneficiary of that was TIETYMM, who closed out the 8K/16K level by winning seven out of eight pots. Two of those came at Fresh_oO_D's expense, but the others were against the other shorter stacks, including one worth 160K against RolldUpTrips with after being stuck with the bring-in, calling with a split pair of deuces, and making fives and deuces on fifth street. Three hands later, when the stakes rolled over to 10K/20K with 2K antes, TIETYMM closed out the run with a 113K-chip pot won from lennart, who folded on sixth street with four clubs showing on TIETYMM's board. Those eight wins in the span of 11 hands left TIETYMM with 550,097 chips, less than 400 chips behind Fresh_oO_D.

Multifox was the short stack at that point with 37K, which had shrunk to just 27K five hands later when the Austrian player was dealt a split pair of queens and raised after Fresh_oO_D opened with the [Qh] showing. TIETYMM called behind with the [3c] showing and two more treys beneath it for rolled-up trips, and then called again when Fresh_oO_D raised to 30K and Multifox called all-in. TIETYMM got one value raise out of Fresh_oO_D on fourth street before checking fifth and driving the German player off with a bet on sixth. By the point the trips had become treys full of tens, good enough to take the 137K-chip side and main pots and eliminate Multifox in 5th place ($5,047.35).

Four orbits later it was lennart's time to go. The Swede completed with a split pair of jacks and called when TIETYMM raised to 20K, then check-raised to 20K on fourth street with [Js] [3s] showing against TIETYMM's [6s] [Th]. lennart check-raised fifth and the two players got four bets in apiece, the last 22K going in on sixth with those jacks still unimproved. They were up against a similarly unimproved, but better, pair of queens that had been buried below TIETYMM's [6s] door card. Both players made two pair on seventh street, leaving the situation the same, and that knocked lennart out in 4th place ($7,800.45).

RolldUpTrips's six-big-bet stack would shrink to just 49K over the next 35 hands amid the constant assault of his opponents and the antes. Those remaining chips went in the middle after completing to 12K with ([Kc] [9h]) [Th]. TIETYMM, who had the bring-in with the [6d] up, held another six below for a pair and raised. RolldUpTrips was all-in two bets later, and when neither player improved, the sixes took the pot and RolldUpTrips finished in 3rd place ($11,012.40).

An all-Germany final

With the stakes at 12K/24K/2.4K, two accomplished players from Germany faced off for the 2015 WCOOP Seven-Card Stud Championship:

Seat 3: TIETYMM (802,319 in chips)
Seat 8: Fresh_oO_D (577,681 in chips)

After TIETYMM won the first hand with a queen-high straight to take down a 244K-chip pot, the two discussed a deal for close to 10 minutes before calling them off to keep playing. With TIETYMM holding better than a 2-to-1 advantage, they would continue to play for the next 35 minutes and come up against the 8:55 ET break. Though Fresh_oO_D did manage briefly to take a lead of about 80K during that stretch, TIETYMM won back-to-back pots worth just over 290K apiece to close out the hour.

Fresh_oO_D came out of the break with two straight wins, the first worth 102K and taken down on sixth street with a pair of eights showing on-board. The second saw Fresh_oO_D bring it in with a split pair of treys and have them hold up through seventh street against a king-high flush draw for 262K. That left Fresh_oO_D within two big pots of retaking the lead, but those pots would never come around.

WCOOP-29 2015 ft hu.jpg

Instead a turning point came six hands later when Fresh_oO_D had the bring-in with the [8h], defended, and picked up a pair of jacks with the [Jc] on fourth and [Js] on fifth. TIETYMM had opened with the [Kd] showing and improved to a pair of kings on fifth with the [Ks], and then to kings and sevens with the [7d] on sixth street. Fresh_oO_D called down but mucked (x-x) [8h] [Jc] [Js] [6h] (x) and slid back to a stack of 236K.

Defending another bring-in three hands later, only to muck when TIETYMM had [9s] [8s] [6s] showing by fifth street, left Fresh_oO_D with 153K. All but 11K of that disappeared five hands later as Fresh_oO_D called down TIETYMM's bets only to fold on seventh with a (x-x) [9s] [Td] [6h] [Ah] board, and TIETYMM made a pair of fours on the following hand to beat Fresh_oO_D's pair of treys and end the tournament.

With no deal in place, Fresh_oO_D settled for $14,224.35 as the runner-up. TIETYMM collected $19,960.35, the bracelet, and the title of 2015 WCOOP Seven-Card Stud Champion. Congratulations to both players!

WCOOP 2015: Event #29, $700 Seven-Card Stud Championship
Entrants: 138
Prize pool: $91,770
Places paid: 24
1. TIETYMM (Germany) $19,960.06
2. Fresh_oO_D (Germany) $14,224.35
3. Randy "RolldUpTrips" Ohel (Mexico) $11,012.40
4. Christer "lennart" Johansson (Sweden) $7,800.45
5. Multifox (Austria) $5,047.35
6. Thor "osten" Hansen (Norway) $4,129.65
7. Kiryl "angry moron" Radzivonau (Belarus) $3,211.95
8. ilushan (Russia) $2,523.67

Jason Kirk is a freelance contributor to PokerStars Blog.


WCOOP 2015: Bracelets, bad beats, and Badugi

0
0

We're into Day 11 of WCOOP 2015. Here's the latest update with 29 of 70 events now completed.


Today's highlights:

--Wiisssppppaa can out shouting to win Event #26 and a first prize of $275,000.

--There was a second WCOOP bracelet for bajskorven8 in Event #28.

--TIETYMM earned a first bracelet in the Stud Championship, earning nearly $20,000


racks_of_chips_16sept15.jpg


Round up of latest results

As Jack Stanton pointed out in his report for the PokerStars Blog, wiisssppppaa is a tweeter. So when he went quiet during the closing stages of Event #26 that could only mean good things. It later proved the case, as the UK pro won his first bracelet and a first prize of $275,800. The report is well worth a read, and includes a screen shot of one three-way hand that only a picture will do justice to.

In Event #28 it was bajskorven8 who had something to shout about, winning a second WCOOP bracelet in the 6-max event. That was worth more than $95,000 to the Swede who can now show off jewellery on both wrists. Pauly McGuire has the full story.

Meanwhile in Event #29 Thor "osten" Hansen was reaching his second final table of the night in the Stud Championship (having cashed behind wiisssppppaa earlier on). Hansen earned $4,129 (and $56,407. 96 on the night), but it was TIETYMM who took the bracelet, and a first prize of nearly $20,000. Jason Kirk was on hand to write it up.

Here are the scores in full:


Event #26: $700 NLHE [Sunday Million SE]
Entries: 3,418

Prize pool: $2,272,970
Places paid: 432

1. Andy 'wiisssppppaa' Taylor (United Kingdom) $275,850.02*
2. asq201 (Australia) $202,233.81*
3. ModzillaPL (Canada) $278,109.54*
4. ham1l_I0n (Ukraine) $188,000*
5. nemesis278 (Russia) $97,737.71
6. ratboy x (Canada) $75,008.01
7. Thor 'osten' Hansen (Norway) $52,278.31
8. flopped6810 (Canada) $29,548.61
9. Keith 'Kungfumonk' Johnson (United Kingdom) $18,183.76
* indicates prize money after a four-way deal was made


Event #28: $320 NL Hold'em (6-Max)
Entrants: 2,014
Prize Pool: $604,200
Places Paid: 252

1. bajskorven87 (Sweden) $95,161.50
2. Jigs Flippin (Canada) $70,993.50
3. Monio81 (Bulgaria) $52,867.50
4. Skrigepas (Denmark) $34,741.50
5. forcadellmg (Mexico) $23,684.64
6. Nick "FU_15" Maimone $13,534.08


Event #29, $700 Seven-Card Stud Championship
Entrants: 138
Prize pool: $91,770
Places paid: 24

1. TIETYMM (Germany) $19,960.06
2. Fresh_oO_D (Germany) $14,224.35
3. Randy "RolldUpTrips" Ohel (Mexico) $11,012.40
4. Christer "lennart" Johansson (Sweden) $7,800.45
5. Multifox (Austria) $5,047.35
6. Thor "osten" Hansen (Norway) $4,129.65
7. Kiryl "angry moron" Radzivonau (Belarus) $3,211.95
8. ilushan (Russia) $2,523.67


For all the WCOOP 2015 results so far, check out our aptly named WCOOP results page, which also has links to all final table reports.


Coming up today

Three to start, three more to finish

Today
Event 33: $665 FL Badugi Championship 08.00 ET
Event 34: $300 NL Hold'em (6-max, optional re-entry) 11.00 ET
Event 35: $300 PL Omaha w/rebuys (6-max) 14.00 ET

Still to conclude
Event 30: 11.00 ET, PL 5-Card Omaha Hi/Lo (6-max, 2R1A) 10 of 396
(Chillolini going for a second WCOOP bracelet in a week)
Event 31: 14.00 ET, NL Hold'em (Super Tuesday SE) 58 of 1,624
Event 32: 17.00 ET, FL Omaha Hi/Lo Championship (8-max) 25 of 208
(Naoya "nkeyno" Kihara returns in 8th place while Jason Mercier is in 18th. Others include Bryn Kenney, mikal12345, and shaundeeb)


Video of the Day

Watch Team Pro Jason Somerville break the Twitch record on his way to a WCOOP final table.



We're not saying you need to Twitch it, but you can open a PokerStars account in minutes and take on WCOOP yourself by clicking here. Not only will you have access to the full WCOOP schedule, but you can enter any one of the WCOOP satellites now running. Get all the details you'll need on the WCOOP homepage


Leader board

Fourth place in Event #27 moved Aftret up one place into top spot on the WCOOP Player of the Series leader board, with 240 points. That's narrowly ahead of previous leader RuiNF, now in second place, with 230.

TIETYMM, a winner yesterday moves into the top ten, as do shaundeeb. Jason "jcarverpoker" Somerville also remains in the top ten.


wcoop_leaderboard_16sept15.jpgClick to enlarge

Find all the leader board details right here


Today's dubious fact

Players from Canada and the United Kingdom are in a race to top certain statistics in WCOOP 2015.

Canada is $4,869.30 ahead of the UK in terms of Money Won by Country
Canada (with 1,005) is 69 cashes ahead of the UK
Canada and the UK each have 24 final tables
The UK (with 6,500) has had 27 more entries than Canada
Players from both Canada and the UK have won three events


Image of the day

A picture says a thousand words. In this case most likely all of them expletives...


three-way-allin_16sept15.jpgclick to enlarge


On to Day 12

WCOOP continues today as we head towards the half way mark. Find out everything there is to know about the Championship on the WCOOP homepage, and good luck to everyone playing this weekend, whether in WCOOP or other events. Send us your thoughts and comments to us on Twitter: @PokerStars Blog.




Stephen Bartley is a staff writer for the PokerStars Blog.



Negreanu, Mercier, Moorman favorites to win $51,000 WCOOP Super High Roller

0
0

We've been writing about WCOOP for a long time. We've written just about every story possible. But this...well this is a new one.

Today, PokerStars announced it is opening a betting market on the $51,000 WCOOP Super High Roller on September 20.

That's right. You can now bet on the outcome of the most expensive event in WCOOP history. As it stands, the favorites are people you might expect.

Team PokerStars Pros Daniel "KidPoker" Negreanu (6 WSOP bracelets, 1 SCOOP title, #1 on All-Time Money List) and Jason Mercier (3 WSOP bracelets, 2 WCOOP and 4 SCOOP titles), along with Chris "Moorman1" Moorman, who has more than $6.5m in cashes at PokerStars, are the current early favorites at odds of 13.00 (12/1, +1200), with a host of other star names among the frontrunners.

daniel_negreanu_22jun15-thumb-450x300-264542.jpg

As of right now (and it will change, be sure), these are the top odds:

Jason Mercier - 13.00
KidPoker - 13.00
Moorman1 - 13.00
PokerNoob999 - 15.00
lechuckpoker - 15.00
philbort - 15.00
mrGR33N13 - 15.00
CrownUpGuy - 15.00
wizowizo - 15.00
Ike Haxton - 15.00
ZeeJustin - 15.00
ElkY - 15.00
Mrsweets28 - 15.00
Timex - 15.00
Isildur1 - 15.00
zangbezan24 - 17.00
Sauce123 - 17.00
Danny98765 - 17.00
jcarverpoker - 17.00
SirWatts - 17.00

"It's already the most talked about online tournament of the year," said. Stephen Fisk, Managing Director of Sports Betting at PokerStars. "With the added spice that having a bet on it brings, fans and players from around the world can rail their favorite player and win money even if they don't have a spare $51k lying around."

This is the first time that the PokerStars sports betting team has offered wagers on poker. Betting will be available to players in jurisdictions where PokerStars already offers sports betting on PokerStars' .COM, .EU, and .UK licenses.

The betting market will stay open until the official start time of the tournament, 12:30 ET on September 20. Once play begins no more bets will be taken until the end of Day 1, although the market will be updated and opened again at some stage before the start of Day 2.

Ready to go? Click here!


is the PokerStars Head of Blogging.

WCOOP 2015: Last laugh for nafnaf_funny, Event #30 champ; Connor Drinan 2nd ($215 PLO H/L 5-Card, 6-Max, 2R1A)

0
0

All right, folks... we're up to Event #30 of this year's World Championship of Online Poker on PokerStars. Spread across the 70 events of the series are a mind-boggling number of variations on our favorite card game, and with Event #30 there were a number of wrinkles adding to the fun.

With a $215 initial buy-in, the game was pot-limit Omaha. That's four hole cards (typically), not two. Also, they played it "hi/lo," making for lots of split pots and scoops. It was short-handed, too (6-max), meaning more action for all. Players could rebuy twice and add-on once as well, which added excitement during the period before late registration closed.

Finally, just for extra funsies, they added an extra hole card, making it "PL 5-Card Omaha H/L (6-Max, 2R1A)." Got all that? Good.

After a long first day and short second one, Russia's nafnaf_funny came away with the victory, claiming a WCOOP bracelet and $38,040 first prize after outlasting Connor "blanconegro" Drinan heads-up to win. Here's the story of nafnaf_funny's triumph.


2015-WCOOP-30-bracelet.jpg

A total of 396 took part in the event, and with 340 rebuys and 215 add-ons the total prize pool added up to $190,200 -- nearly twice the $100K guarantee. It took a little over six hours on Day 1 for that field to play down to 54 players and the cash bubble to burst, at which point Singontiko, playing from the Netherlands, was leading the way.

Later Tuesday night they reached the scheduled end of play with just 10 players left, Singontiko having been the last eliminated in 11th place to earn a $2,662.80 payday.

Among those who remained, eventual champ nafnaf_funny enjoyed the end-of-day chip lead by a wide margin with almost twice the stack of the nearest challenger. Connor "blanconegro" Drinan and a couple of former SCOOP champs, Gambler4444 and Jamie_KK, were part of the final 10 as well. So was Chillolini, the Norwegian who outlasted Team PokerStars Pro Jamie Somerville and several other tough final tablists to win this year's Event #18 ($1,050 7-Card Stud Hi/Lo Championship).

Here's how the counts looked during the overnight break:

1. nafnaf_funny (Russia) -- 1,214,777
2. lozzz (United Kingdom) -- 652,084
3. Connor "blanconegro" Drinan (Mexico) -- 634,252
4. snafer1 (Poland) -- 449,974
5. Chesnokkk (Belarus) -- 407,348
6. Gambler4444 (Austria) -- 356,843
7. AngryJuice (Finland) -- 355,826
8. Chillolini (Norway) -- 265,867
9. Jamie_KK (United Kingdom) -- 221,153
10. Afrodaviac (Norway) -- 196,876

In the very first hand of Day 2, Jamie_KK was felted by Chesnokkk to finish 10th (worth $2,662.80). Then close to a half-hour after that Afrodaviac fell in a hand against leader nafnaf_funny to finish ninth ($4,184.40).

Over the next few minutes came two more knockouts, with nafnaf_funny responsible for both. First Chesnokkk went out in eighth to the leader, then Chillolini fell in seventh, with both earning $4,184.40.

With an even greater lead for nafnaf_funny, the final table was underway.


2015-WCOOP-30-finaltable.jpg

Seat 1: snafer1 (Poland) -- 369,058
Seat 2: Connor "blanconegro" Drinan (Mexico) -- 719,060
Seat 3: AngryJuice (Finland) -- 282,698
Seat 4: lozzz (United Kingdom) -- 696,430
Seat 5: nafnaf_funny (Russia) -- 2,418,803
Seat 6: Gambler4444 (Austria) -- 268,951

It only took a few hands for nafnaf_funny to earn yet another knockout to trim the field to five.

With the blinds at 10,000/20,000, Angry Juice opened with a pot-sized raise to 70,000 from the button, then nafnaf_funny repopped it to 220,000 from the big blind. AngryJuice then pushed all in for 252,698 total and the leader called.

Angry Juice showed [Ah][Qh][7h][5s][4c] while nafnaf_funny had [Ac][As][Th][9d][8h]. The board ran out [Kh][3d][Kc][Qc][Ad], which gave nafnaf_funny a winning full house and ended Angry Juice's run in sixth -- one spot better than the seventh-place showing (and final table near-miss) Angry Juice had in Event #22 ($1,050 NL Omaha Hi/Lo).

A short while later a change occurred at the top of the counts when Connor "blanconegro" Drinan managed a huge double through nafnaf_funny to take over first position.


2015-WCOOP-30-drinan.jpg

Connor "blanconegro" Drinan

They'd just crossed the day's one-hour mark when the next elimination occurred. The blinds were still 10,000/20,000, and after nafnaf_funny opened for 46,872 from the cutoff, snafer1 three-bet to 160,616 from the SB, leaving just 33,442 behind. nafnaf_funny reraised back, and snafer1 called all in.

snafer1 had [Ac][Qs][9d][3d][2c], hoping to scoop both halves of the pot with high and low cards, while nafnaf_funny also had a two-way starter with [Ks][Kh][8c][3c][2h]. But the [Td][Ts][Kd] flop took the low out of the equation, giving nafnaf_funny a full house and leaving snafer1 drawing dead to finish fifth.

The blinds increased to 15,000/30,000, and a hand arose that started with a min-raise from the button by lozzz with Gambler4444 calling from the big blind. The flop came [Ks][2h][3s], prompting an all-in push for 133,704 by Gambler4444. lozzz made the call.

With [Kh][Jd][9c][4h][3h] Gambler4444 had two pair (kings and treys) and a not-so-great chance for a low, while lozzz had [Ac][Ad][Qc][8s][4s] for aces and a draw to the nut-low hand. The turn and river then brought a pair of eights -- [8c], then [8h] -- which gave lozzz trip eights and an 8-4-3-2-A low to scoop the pot and knock Gambler4444 out in fourth.

Three-handed play continued thereafter, with nafnaf_funny soon retaking the lead and pushing up to more than 3.2 million to the 1.1 million of Drinan and just under 440,000 for lozzz.

Then with the blinds at 20,000/40,000, nafnaf_funny raised to 90,000 from the button and lozzz called from the big blind. The flop came [5c][7s][2d]. lozzz checked, nafnaf_funny bet 82,174, lozzz shoved for 348,655, and nafnaf_funny called.

lozzz had [Td][7h][4d][3c][2h], having flopped a 7-5-4-3-2 low along with two pair and a straight draw. Meanwhile nafnaf_funny had [Ac][6d][5s][5d][4h], having both a better low (7-5-4-2-A) and a better set of fives. The turn was the [Ts] and river the [9h], and with lozzz's knockout they were down to two.

Heads-up started with nafnaf_funny sitting behind a stack of just over 3.66 million, more than three times Drinan's 1.08 million.

The latter chipped up slightly over the next nine hands, then on the 10th one the blinds were 20,000/40,000 when nafnaf_funny raised to 92,000 from the button, blanconegro called, and the flop came [6s][Td][3d].

Drinan checked, nafnaf_funny led for 124,680, Drinan check-raised to 558,040, nafnaf_funny reraised back, and Drinan called all in with the 534,312 he had left.

blanconegro: [Kd][9c][8h][8d][2c] -- king-high flush draw to high, 8-6-3-2 draw to low
nafnaf_funny: [Ks][Th][Tc][5c][3s] -- set of tens (high), backdoor low draw

The turn brought the [6c], pairing the board and giving nafnaf_funny a full house to lock up the high half of the pot. Drinan could still survive with a split if an amenable low card fell, but the river was the [Ts].

nafnaf_funny had to grin at least at having made quads -- and probably even laughed out loud -- as the card meant winning the pot, first prize, and the bracelet.

Congratulations to nafnaf_funny who adds a WCOOP title to a MicroMillions victory back in 2012.

WCOOP-30: $215 PL 5-Card Omaha H/L (6-Max, 2R1A)
Entries: 396 (340 rebuys, 215 add-ons)
Prize pool: $190,200
Places paid: 54

1. nafnaf_funny (Russia) $38,040.00
2. Connor "blanconegro" Drinan (Mexico) $28,149.60
3. lozzz (United Kingdom) $20,922.00
4. Gambler4444 (Austria) $14,455.20
5. snafer1 (Poland) $10,556.10
6. AngryJuice (Finland) $6,752.10


We're nearing the halfway point in the 70-event World Championship of Online Poker. Check out the WCOOP page for the full skinny regarding the remaining schedule of events.

Haven't gotten a PokerStars account yet? Join the world's biggest site now.



Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

WCOOP 2015: gettingpwned wins second COOP title in Event #32, $1,040 FL Omaha Hi/Lo Championship

0
0

Conquering any of the tournaments necessary to become a PokerStars Triple COOP winner is a tough job, but titles in the annual Turbo Championship are particularly tough to come buy since the fields are generally enormous and the turbo structures make the outcomes more unpredictable. When gettingpwned managed to win a TCOOP Razz event for the win earlier this year, that made a WCOOP title the next most difficult step to earning a Triple COOP, since there are fewer event on the WCOOP schedule than there are during the Spring Championship. Now gettingpwned is one SCOOP title away from that coveted Triple COOP thanks to a win in today's Event #32, the $1,040 Omaha Hi/Lo Championship.

The total field came to 208 players at the end of late registration, for a $208,000 prize pool with $42,120 awaiting the winner. Only the top 32 players cashed, and then only the first seven of them collected their payouts before the end of Day 1. The other 25 players broke for the night at the end of the 2,500/5,000 level.

grindhardcor (229,007 chips), bokkie87 (162,741), and gettingpwned (154,671) topped the leaderboard overnight, and the rest of the field was stacked with well-known players like Bryn Kenney (128,866), Shaun Deeb (42,048), Martin "nizmo jiz" Kozlov (43,725), and Ben "BensBenz" Yu (85,406).

Team Online's Naoya "nkeyno" Kihara was in good shape with 104,358 chips for eighth place, while Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier was further back in 18th with 45,671. Mercier couldn't get any traction when play resumed, though, and was the second player to go in 24th place ($2,080). It marked his 10th cash of the series, good for 20 Player of the Series points.

jason_mercier_barcelona_hr2.jpg

Several other players ranked high in the Player of the Series race would fall short of the final table on Day 2 as well. Deeb entered the day in 6th place and earned another 30 points when he finished in 11th place ($4,160). Kozlov was 10 points ahead of Deeb and tied for 4th place on the leaderboard at the start of the day, also earned 30 points when he bubbled the final table in 9th place.

Kozlov's exit set up this final table with 8,000/16,000 stakes:

Seat 1: gettingpwned (351,525 in chips)
Seat 2: grindhardcor (387,357 in chips)
Seat 3: Team Online Naoya "nkeyno" Kihara (93,634 in chips)
Seat 4: Julian "jutrack" Track (214,638 in chips)
Seat 5: Ben "BensBenz" Yu (166,074 in chips)
Seat 6: Bryn "BrynKenney" Kenney (355,460 in chips)
Seat 7: bokkie87 (136,022 in chips)
Seat 8: Maicoshaa (375,290 in chips)

WCOOP-32 2015 ft.jpg

Interestingly, though several had already picked up leaderboard points from deep runs in other events, it was the first final table of this WCOOP for all eight players. Bryn Kenney's six previous cashes included a final-table bubble in Event #25 and 17th place in Event #29, while Naoya Kihara took 15th in Event #12; gettingpwned, 38th in Event #12; jutrack, 12th place in Event #22; and Ben "BensBenz" Yu 15th and Maicoshaa 14th in Event #18. Only grindhardcor and past SCOOP winner bokkie87 had no prior cashes during WCOOP 2015.

With half of the players clustered at the top and the other half, it took more than 40 hands to find the first knockout. But one the first pay jump was out of the way, things began falling into place in a hurry.

bokkie87's first cash of the series was also the first of the final table. The Dutch player came in a few big bets ahead of Naoya Kihara but trailing everyone else at the table. Only about a third of those chips remained by Hand #45, when the past SCOOP O/8 winner was dealt [Ah] [Tc] [6h] [2h] in the cutoff. Raising committed half those chips, and the rest went in on the river, called off with the board reading [5s] [9s] [2c] [Qh] [5d] for fives and deuces. grindharcor was in the big blind with [Jh] [6d] [5c] [3d] for trip fives, though, and that knocked out bokkie87, a past SCOOP Pot-Limit Omaha Hi/Lo champion, out in 8th place ($5,720).

The second consecutive knockout of a past SCOOP winner came along five hands later when Bryn Kenney was in the big blind with [Ac] [Td] [4s] [2d]. Three bets before the flop and three bets after it got him all-in against BensBenz, a finalist in the 2012 WCOOP 8-Game High Roller event who had attacked from the small blind with [Ks] [9d] [6c] [2c]. Yu's pair of nines and a flush draw turned into a full house by the river of the [Tc] [8h] [9c] [Kc] [9s] board, topping Kenney's tens and nines to scoop the pot and knock Kenney out in 7th place ($7,280). He couldn't add a WCOOP title to his 2010 and 2014 SCOOP wins, but he did pick up 35 Player of the Series points to move up to 11th place in the rankings.

Naoya Kihara was behind the 8-ball now with just 40K in chips, and seven hands later he ended up sunk in a battle with another short stack. Holding [Ad] [Qd] [6c] [5c], he had just enough chips to three-bet when grindhardcor raised under the gun. grindhardcor called there and got Kihara's last 4K in the middle on the [Ts] [3c] [Qs] flop, showing down [As] [9c] [3h] [2c] for a pair of treys. That trailed Kihara's pair of queens only until the [2s] on the turn made treys and deuces. The Team Online pro still had 52 percent equity there with the best low draw and plenty of ways to win the high, but the [9h] shot both sets of potentialities by improving grindhardcor's two pair. With that, Naoya "nkeyno" Kihara bowed out in 6th place ($9,360), collecting 50 Player of the Series points to move into 14th place in that race.

naoya_kihara.jpg

Naoya Kihara earned the highest-ranking of his five WCOOP 2015 cashes so far

EPT10 Prague champion Julian "jutrack" Track, gettingpwned, and grindhardcor were all working with stacks worth six big bets or less at this point. While they were all technically at risk the whole time, in practice it was Track who found danger the most frequently. He opened one hand on the button and called a 24K bet from chip leader Maicoshaa on the [Kh] [6h] [Qh] [As] turn before folding on the [7c] river. Then he got four small bets' worth of his chips in before the flop with [Ad] [Ts] [8s] [7d] and the other bet's worth once it came [9d] [Js] [As] for a flush/straight combo draw. BensBenz had the straight draw blocked with [Ah] [Qd] [Jh] [Th] and two pair besides, but the [6c] turn and [4d] river bailed Track out with an 8-7 low to stay alive. Track survived another all-in five hands later thanks to an ace on the river to steal the high half of the pot from gettingpwned's [Ks] [Kc] [5h] [4h], which made a low with that same ace.

The end of jutrack's line came in the crossfire between gettingpwned and BensBenz after getting all-in for 50K before the flop with the other two putting in 64K apiece. BensBenz led on the [9h] [9d] [4s] flop and gettingpwned called, and then the action went bet-raise-call on the [7h] turn. Both checked the [Jd] on the river, and BensBenz showed down [Ah] [Js] [8h] [3s] for jacks and nines. gettingpwned turned over [As] [Kh] [Ts] [9c] to take the 186K-chip side pot with trip nines, and then took the 168K-chip side pot as well when jutrack mucked and exited in 5th place ($11,440).

Three of the remaining players now had stacks worth at least 13 big bets, but grindhardcor wasn't one of them. The player from the U.K. had just three before hitting a set and a 6-5 low with [6c] [5h] [5d] [3d] to scoop a pot and double through Maicoshaa. Another win uncontested on the turn helped, too, but losing a pot out of position to Maicoshaa when the leader hit a full house on the river with [Kc] [4h] [4d] [2d] knocked grindhardcor back down to 75K and back in the line of fire.

After taking off two hands in the blinds grindhardcor survived two consecutive all-in situations, only to end up in another on the next hand. Calling Maicohaa's raise in the big blind with [Ah] [Kh] [Qh] [8h] resulted in trips on the [Jc] [Ac] [Ad] flop and the rest of grindhardcor's stack going in the middle. Maicoshaa called on the [4d] turn with [As] [Kd] [Jd] [Tc] for a full house, leaving two kings for a chop and three queens for a win, but the [4c] came instead. That gave Maicoshaa the 175K-chip scoop with aces full of jacks, and grindhardcor left the tournament in 4th place ($17,680) - not a bad result for a first WCOOP cash of the year.

There's still time to earn your first WCOOP cash of 2015! Click here to get a PokerStars account today.

Maicoshaa (1.12M chips) and gettingpwned (412K) were both prepared to look at numbers for a potential deal with the table three-handed, but BensBenz, who had 539K, said, "no thanks, friends would prefer i play." That brought "ok gl" messages from both opponents and set off a 35-hand span that saw all three players winning significant pots. gettingpwned came out ahead, climbing to 808K, and BensBenz managed to avoid much significant damage, holding on to 397K. A three-big-bet loss on the following hand when Maicoshaa turned a wheel straight cut that stack to 277K, though, and two hands in the blinds reduced it further to 197K.

Yu managed to to win a 170K pot from gettingpwned but another out-of-position confrontation with Maicoshaa when the stakes climbed to 25K/50K would prove fatal. He limped and called Maicoshaa's raise, then check-called on the [Td] [6d] [4h] flop, [Th] turn, and [2c] river before mucking when Maicoshaa showed [As] [Ts] [9c] [3c] for turned trip tens. That left Yu with only 2,803 chips, and two hands later he was eliminated in 3rd place ($23,920).

WCOOP-32 2015 ft hu.jpg

The game was then paused for a brief negotiation that left $1,500 left and the bracelet on the table for the winner. That got the players back to the action, but having a deal in place didn't force the pace. The duel spanned 136 hands and saw both players take their fair share of pots, with some of gettingpwned's coming on the verge of elimination after dropping to just 158K with 25K/50K stakes in the early going. Soon enough the tables had turned and it was Maicoshaa down to 556K, before a 480K scoop brought the Russian back up to within less than one small bet of gettingpwned.

As the heads-up match passed the one-hour mark, the stakes were up to 40K/80K and the two players were still within two and a half big bets of each other. Finally gettingpwned scooped a 720K-chip pot with the nut diamond flush holding [Ad] [Jd] [Jh] [7h], dropping Maicoshaa to 571K, and then took another worth 400K with trip sevens to leave Maicoshaa with less than one big bet. After chopping one more pot, gettingpwned won the next and brought the tournament to a close.

With the win, gettingpwned earned the extra $1,500 for a $36,700 total prize, plus a WCOOP win to go along with that previous TCOOP victory. No COOP title is ever an easy task, but with a few dozen opportunities to win during SCOOP 2016, the German player will certainly stand a chance of becoming the latest Triple COOP winner .

WCOOP 2015: Event #32, $1,050 FL Omaha Hi/Lo Championship (8-max)
Entrants: 208
Prize pool: $208,000
Places paid: 32
1. gettingpwned (Germany) $36,700*
2. Maicoshaa (Russia) $37,660*
3. Ben "BensBenz" Yu (Mexico) $23,920
4. grindhardcor (United Kingdom) $17,680
5. Julian "jutrack" Track (Germany) $11,440
6. Team Online Naoya "nkeyno" Kihara (Japan) $9,360
7. Bryn "BrynKenney" Kenney (Mexico) $7,280
8. bokkie87 (Netherlands) $5,720
* - denotes results of a heads-up deal

Jason Kirk is a freelance contributor to PokerStars Blog.

WCOOP 2015: aricontre denies RuiNF second bracelet and wins Super Tuesday SE Event #31 ($1,050 NL)

0
0

It's been a good week for Rui "RuiNF" Ferreira who won Event #14 and notched his first WCOOP victory (but second overall COOP title). Five days later in WCOOP Event #31, Rui "RuiNF" Ferreira's good fortune continued as he advanced to the final table in a marathon-like Battle Royale that seemed like it would never end. Alas, Ferreira luck finally ran its course when he busted in fourth place after getting ambushed by aricontre's pocket Aces. Some of that "good juju" was transferred from Ferreira to aricontre, who rallied back from a 3-1 deficit during a grueling hour-long heads-up match to win Event #31.

2015 WCOOP Event #31 $1,050 NL Super Tuesday Special Edition drew 1,624 runners. The created a prize pool worth $1,624,00. The top 198 places paid out with $272,020.00 set aside for the champion.

The Super Tuesday SE Day 1 ended with only 58 players making the cut. Canada's bluffyou15 ended Day 1 as the big stack with 962K.

The action Day 2 picked up early on and went from a meandering to brisk pace. With 27 to go RuiNF out in fron with 1.8M. With 19 to go ¿¿toneecho?? surged over 2M and seized the lead when [Jh][Jd] held up against Be@trixKiddo's [Ah][Kd].

With 11 left in the hunt, Hoegh93 catapulted into the lead after doubling up with [Kd][Kh] against WhaTisL0v3's [Ad][Jh]. WhaTisL0v3 flopped a Broadway straight, but Hoegh93 flopped a set and turned a boat.

With ten to go, action went hand-for-hand, Brazil's paranoid999 failed to double up with a dominated [Kd][Ts] against bartek901's [As][Kc]. An Ace on the flop sealed paranoid999's fate in tenth place.

WCOOP15_FT_E31.jpg

WCOOP Event #31 - Final Table Chip Counts:
Seat 1: onel4play (1,517,575)
Seat 2: WhaTisL0v3 (843,808)
Seat 3: Hoegh93 (3,234,485)
Seat 4: ¿¿toneecho?? (2,203,987)
Seat 5: RuiNF (190,2073)
Seat 6: bartek901 (1,535,418)
Seat 7: aricontre (1,192,241)
Seat 8: bluffyou15 (2,892,776)
Seat 9: TISSO1709 (917,637)

The final table commenced during Level 42 with blinds at 15K/30K and a 3,750 ante. Denmark's Hoegh93 sat atop the big stack with 3.2M, while Malta's WhaTisL0v3 was the shorty with 843K. The final table included Rui "RuiNF" Ferreira, who won a 2014 SCOOP and shipped a WCOOP five days ago. Meanwhile, Javier "aricontre" Contreras once went deep at the EPT11 London and he once finished third in the Sunday Million.

By the end of Level 43, bluffyou15 took over the lead and passed 4M when bluffyou15's [Jc][9c] outflopped ¿¿toneecho??'s [As][Ks] to win a 2.1M pot. The short stack was aricontre with 890K.

onel4play eliminated in 9th place

After almost an hour of inaction, we saw our first bustout at the final table. Short-stacked onel4play open-shoved for 286,420 with [As][7d] and WhaTisL0v3 called with [6s][6d]. The board ran out [Qs][6h][5c][Tc][Jd]. WhaTisL0v3 flopped a set of sixes and sealed the deal. For a ninth place finish, Romania's onel4play took home $16,727.20.

With eight remaining, bluffyou15 led with 4.3M and bartek901 was right behind with 3.95M. Meanwhile, RuiNF was short worth 818K.

Hoegh93 eliminated in 8th place

It's never pretty to get it all in with A-Q vs. Big Slick. Alas, Hoegh93 min-raised to 90,000, bartek901 re-raised to 219,500, Hoegh93 four-bet shoved for 869,697 with [Ad][Qc], and bartek901 called with [As][Kc]. Neither player improved on a board of [9s][3s][2d][3h][7c] and bartek901 won the pot with Ace-King-kicker. For eighth place, Hoegh93 earned $30,856.00.

With seven to go, bartek901 led with 4.5M and bluffyou15 was not far behind with 4.1M. The shorty was ¿¿toneecho?? with 500K.

¿¿toneecho?? eliminated in 7th place

Another incident of A-Q vs. A-K. This one was borderline regicide... aricontre opened to 153,000, WhaTisL0v3 shoved all-in for 1,099,409 with [Ad][Qd], ¿¿toneecho?? called all-in for 668,428 with [Ah][Kc]. The board ran out [5s][3d][2h][Qc][7h]. WhaTisL0v3 turned a pair of Queens to win the pot. ¿¿toneecho??'s Big Slick never improved and even missed a gutshot Wheel draw for a potential chopped pot. For a seventh-place finish, ¿¿toneecho?? earned $47,096.00.

With six remaining RuiNF was the new leader with 3.5M, but the shortstack -- TISSO1709 -- had 2.2M.

TISSO1709 eliminated in 6th place

Six-handed lasted a full level before someone busted... aricontre opened to 184,000, TISSO1709 shoved for 1,313,575 with, and aricontre called with [As][8h]. The board finished up [Tc][Td][4d][7c][9s] and neither player improved, yet aricontre won the pot with an Ace-nine-kicker. Germany's TISSO1709 was knocked out in sixth place, which paid out $63,336.00.

With five remaining and the final table approaching its fourth hour... aricontre rocketed to over 7.3M, followed by RuiNF (2.7M), bluffyou15 (2.6M), WhaTisL0v3 (2M), and bartek901 (1.4M).

WhaTisL0v3 eliminated in 5th place

Five-handed went quick all things considered. WhaTisL0v3 bombed it all-in for 1,305,832 with [Kc][Jd] and aricontre called with [As][Qs]. The flop was [Jc][Td][2d] and WhaTisL0v3 took the lead. The turn was the [6h] and the river was the [Qc], which improved aricontre to a pair of Queens. WhaTisL0v3 was dunzo in fifth place, which paid out $7,9576.00.

With four to go, aricontre was still ahead with 7.6M, followed by bartek901 (3.8M), RuiNF (2.9M), and bluffyou15 (1.7M)

RuiNF eliminated in 4th place

Looks like RuiNF will have to wait another day to win a second WCOOP bracelet... aricontre opened to 246,000, RuiNF bombed it all-in for 2,594,497, bartek901 shoved for 4,482,138, and aricontre called all-in for 4,155,252. Three-way.

aricontre: [Ah][As]
bartek901: [9h][9s]
RuiNF: [Ad][Qc]

Aces in a three-way pot made aricontre nervous. The board ran out [Ks][7c][5d][Jc][6d]. Pocket Aces held up for aricontre, who won both the main pot and the side pot. bartek901's pocket nines were no good and bartek901 was crippled with a left with barely 80K. RuiNF failed to improve A-Q and busted out in fourth place, which paid out $110,432.00.

bartek901 eliminated in 3rd place

Two hands later, it was all over. bartek901 called all-in for 107,658 with [Ad][3s] but ran into aricontre's [Jh][Jd]. The board finished up [8d][4s][2h][Jc][6c] and aricontre won with a set of Jacks. Mexico's bartek901 earned $150,220.00 for a third-place finish.

HEADS-UP: aricontre (United Kingdom) vs. bluffyou15 (Canada)
Seat 7: aricontre (11,747,887)
Seat 8: bluffyou15 (4,492,113)

With two to go, aricontre appeared to have a decent edge. This matched lasted approximately an hour before someone finally went down.

After the first thirty minutes, bluffyou15 pulled even after winning a 2.5M pot with two pair. The tides had turned and bluffyou15 was ahead 3-1 in chips. But then aricontre embarked on a tsunami of a rush with the biggest destruction coming when aricontre won an 8M pot by snapping off bluffyou15's [Qs][Qd] with [9s][8c] (for a turned straight to beat two pair). The two pulled even and at that juncture, aricontre never looked back.

bluffyou15 eliminated in 2nd place; aricontre wins WCOOP Event #31 Super Tuesday SE!

Once aricontre saw daylight and pulled even, it was only a matter of time before this event was over...  aricontre dragged 12 out of the last 13 hands to bink this tournament.

On the final hand...  bluffyou15 trailed 11.9M to 4.3M... bluffyou15 min-raised 280,000, aricontre re-raised to 847,029, bluffyou15 four-bet shoved for 4,296,882 with [Ad][9h], and aricontre called with [Ah][Th]. Neither player improved on a board of [Jd][6d][5h][8d][4c]. aricontre won the pot with an Ace-ten kicker.

For a runner-up finish, bluffyou15 earned $19,8940.00.

Congrats to Javier "aricontre" Contreras for winning Event #31 Super Tuesday SE. First place paid out $272,020.00.

WCOOP-31: $1,050 NL Hold'em (Super Tuesday SE)
Entrants: 1,624
Prize Pool: $1,624,00
Places Paid: 198

1. aricontre (United Kingdom) $272,020.00
2. luffyou15 (Canada) $198,940.00
3. bartek901 (Mexico) $150,220.00
4. Rui "RuiNF" Ferreira $110,432.00
5. WhaTisL0v3 (Malta) $79,576.00
6. TISSO1709 (Germany) $63,336.00
7. ¿¿toneecho?? (United Kingdom) $47,096.00
8. Hoegh93 (Denmark) $30,856.00
9. onel4play (Romania) $16,727.20

 Visit the WCOOP home page for a complete schedule of remaining events. Plus, find out who is in contention for Player of the Series.

Want to join in on the action at PokerStars? Click here and sign up for an account and start playing!

Pauly McGuire is an author and freelance contributor to PokerStars.

Viewing all 9066 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images