Ever watch someone who just could not lose? Four-team parlay and a 10/1 on the card? Winner! Finds a quarter on the ground and throws it into a slot machine that someone just lost $500 on? Jackpot! No parking spaces around the holidays at a busy mall? The little Audi in the front job just left! In tonight's 2012 WCOOP Event #25 $50,000 Stud tournament, near the end it seemed as though no matter what happened up to the finish, osten was going to be taking away the bracelet at the end.
Near the sixth hour of play, the 48 player money bubble was rapidly approaching as such as Team PokerStars Pro Alex Kravchenko and Team Online's Anders "Donald" Berg dropping out close (58th place and 64th place respectively) to make at least $542.92 of their $320 buy-in back.
Mike "Timex" McDonald, last seen at the EPT Barcelona Super High-Roller final table finishing fifth for €215,100) would cash (finishing in 46th place) for slightly less than in Spain ($542.92), but for JohnSmith of Russia there would be no min cash after busting in 49th place on the stone bubble.
For the two Team PokerStars Pros that made the cash this evening they played the part of bartender closing up their tables for last call.
George Danzer has already picked up his shiny 2012 WCOOP bracelet (and second overall) after winning Event #10 this year for $69K and managed to string together enough Player of the Series points to currently sit in a tie for fourth with mikal12345. With a PCA package, EPT Grand Final package, and 2013 TCOOP Main Event ticket for the series title every point acquired is one step closer to hoisting the champion's trophy.
Tonight as the stakes moved up to 2K/4K ante 400 Danzer was left with 6,004 chips and raising with the [7h] on the door. He would get calls from Ris3_Aga1nsT and Bassysaffari as three players looked at fourth street. Danzer would shove in his remaining 1,604 chips receiving two calls. All quiet on fifth, but on sixth street Ris3_Aga1nsT decided to get the remaining 8,815 into the middle as Bassysaffari flipped up...
Ris3_Aga1nsT: [Kh] [Qh] / [As] [Jc] [2d] [Ac] / [9c]
Bassysaffari: [3c] [3d] / [3h] [4c] [Td] [Ad] / [Qc]
GeorgeDanzer: shows [9d] [7c] / [7h] [6d] [Qs] [2s] / [8s]
... rolled up treys as Danzer could not manage to advance his split sevens finishing in 41st place ($542.92) and picking up a couple more Player of the Series points since current series leader utvekklo2 sat this one out.
It was closing time for Team Pro Victor Ramdin as well at Table 35 with under three big bets left as the stakes moved up to 3K/6K ante 600. Showing the [4h] Ramdin would complete as 2011 WCOOP Event # 27 champ Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah would raise and glenizem made it three bets. Ramdin made it clear he was not stopping until all of his chips were in the middle to see all seven cards, four bet and Leah folded as glenizem made the call. The rest of Ramdin's chips went in on fourth street as glenizem exposed buried aces, combining with the one on fourth, making trips [Ac] [Ah] / [3d] [Ad] [4s] [7s] / [Ks]. Ramdin's split fours [Kh] [4d] / [4h] [5d] [2c] [Qc] [8d] bricked as the lights went out in the pub one by one until Table 35 was shutdown for the evening as Ramdin took a ratty zipper-topped envelope labeled 25th place holding $771.52 home with him for the balance of the night.
padjes, with a 2012 SCOOP watch tucked away (Event #27-L) was just two tables away from making another major final table. Unfortunately, only eight can be seated tonight for the Event #25 bracelet and padjes' 17th place finish ($1,114.42) would not allow for a SCOOP/WCOOP double title tonight.
Our final nine would enjoy the eighth hourly break before coming back to the nerve wracking hand-for-hand play as busting in ninth pays $2,000.25 and the winner taking home $20K on top of that.
Perhaps a bit of a history lesson from the WCOOP as Lee Jones announced at the 2005 WCOOP Main Event final table
"You're at the final table of the richest tournament of ANY kind in online history.".
That was seven years ago and tonight's bubble boy just happened to be seated when Lee made that proclamation. PICKLED EGG would go on to take fourth in that tournament, winning $242,775 and was looking at making another WCOOP final table seven years later (for a little bit smaller stakes) and a second of this year's series (Runner-up in Event #9). The EGG however broke just short of taking home the elusive bracelet after unsuccessfully trying to jar split fours from Bassysaffari's hand with an ace on the door as the chip leader notched the winning two pair on fifth (and three pair on sixth) [4d] [2s] / [4s] [9c] [2c] [9s] / [3d] as PICKLED EGG could only find the other two fours in the deck on fourth and fifth [8h] [Qd] / [Ac] [4c] [4h] [Jh] / [7h] to finish in ninth place tonight ($2,000.25).
Seat 1: glenizem (16736 in chips)
Seat 2: Bodhisattva6 (264109 in chips)
Seat 3: osten (235474 in chips)
Seat 4: kingsofcards (102200 in chips)
Seat 5: cal42688 (223696 in chips)
Seat 6: mitdadu (203733 in chips)
Seat 7: ale6ka (255409 in chips)
Seat 8: Bassysaffari (603643 in chips)
Now you see glenizem and now you don't
One hand and a $571.50 pay bump earned by glenizem at the final table as the short stack had only 736 chips over a big bet, 8K/16K ante 1,600 stakes. Just one second by Calvin "cal42688" Anderson wished the table a "glglglgl" glenizem was all-in after the doorcard [3h] laid in front of the avatar. Only ale6ka wanted to come along for the ride showing a [9h] on top and exposing three to a straight [8s][7s]. glenizem would pair up the down card ace [Qc] [Ac] / [3h] [Ks] [Ts] [6h] / [Ad] on the river taking over ale6ka's pair of nines from fourth street [8s] [7s] / [9h] [9s] [4c] [Kc]. But the rivered [7c] gave ale6ka the small 45,472 chip pot, but got everyone one step closer to the bracelet as glenizem took home $2,571.25 in eighth place.
kingsofcards meets cal sitting on his boat
Just six hands later and the stakes holding at 8K/16K ante 1,600 kingsofcards was looking to mix it up with cal42688 after completing and three-betting Anderson's raise. cal42688 made the call with a [6c] on the door to kingsofcards' [9h]. Fourth street brought a bet from kingsofcards and call as neither player had an exposed pair but fifth changed that as both players paired their doorcards and got the rest of kingsofcards' tournament funds into the middle. Buried tens plus the pair of nines on fifth for kingsofcards [Ts] [Tc] / [9h] [Qs] [9d] [4c] / [Jd] was good until Anderson drew the four-outer on the river as his sixes up became fives full [5h] [5d] / [6c] [2s] [6d] [Qh] / [5c] eliminating Tom "kingsofcards" Marchese in seventh place ($3,143.25). Another deep run for Marchese in this year's WCOOP as he took 15th ($5,715.14) in Event #13.
Calvin "cal42688" Anderson - no second WCOOP bracelet (yet)
It would take a big hand to get him out, and Norway's osten was just the person to do it. Watch below:
A runner-runner-runner full house [Td] [Qs] / [Ks] [7d] [Qc] [Qd] / [Kc] would edge out Anderson's split tens that managed a runner-runner-runner flush [Th] [6d] / [Tc] [4h] [5h] [2h] / [Qh]. cal42688 would not become a two-time WCOOP champ but would earn $4,286.25 in sixth place.
osten taking over
As the stakes moved up to 16K/32K ante 3,200 mitdadu was running low after Bassysaffari grabbed a few big pots from the Russian. Down to 77,333 chips and showing a [Jd] mitdadu would raise the complete by osten with a [7c] as osten made the call. Bet-call on both fourth and fifth as mitdadu laid out the remainder of the stack creating a 169,066 chip pot. osten exposed [8h] [6c] / [7c] [Qd] [4c] an inside straight draw as mitdadu had nearly all overs, and an open-ended straight draw [Qc] [Ts] / [Jd] [Ac] [9c]. Both playered paired on sixth which should have meant mitdadu retained the lead, but osten paired the queen [Qs] and mitdadu caught the lowest pair possible at this point on the Russian's board [9s]. A brick for both players on the river and mitdadu's [3c] was not enough to overtake the lead, busting in fifth place ($6,000.75). Chalk up another big final table for mitdadu, taking home fifth place in the Sunday Warm-up back in December for $31,280.00
osten osten win win
The Norwegian turned up the heat on the final table and toasted two players back-to-back. With the stakes at 20K/40K ante 4K VIP Supernova Bodhisattva6 was determined to get a short stack of 130,618 chip into the middle as quickly as possible as raising the complete by Bassysaffari then calling the three-bet by osten. Similar run of betting on fourth as osten led out, Bodhisattva6 raised, osten three-bet, and Bodhisattva6 called showing a [9d][Ts] to osten's [Kd][8h]. Fifth saw Bodhisattva6 get the remaining 6,618 chips in the middle as Chinese player could not improve on the split nines [4c] [9s] / [9d] [Ts] [Jh] [6c] / [2d]. It was needed as osten started with buried ladies and rivered an unnecessary two pair [Qc] [Qh] / [Kd] [8h] [Jc] [7d] / [8d] to knock out Bodhisattva6 in fourth place ($8,858.25).
The very next hand saw a massive 839,235 three-way pot with someone going to heads-up play for the bracelet against the seemingly unstoppable osten. Watch below:
Fifth street would be capped with ale6ka all-in and Bassysaffari would bet sixth as osten called, the players showed:
osten: x x / [6c] [4d] [9c] [Td]
ale6ka: x x / [As] [8c] [5d] [5c]
Bassysaffari: x x / [Th] [8h] [2h] [9s]
Bassysaffari also bet the river, but osten woke up and raised as you could almost hear Bassysaffari sigh while making a crying call, and sure enough osten flipped up [2c] [Qc] / [6c] [4d] [9c] [Td] / [7c] for the rivered flush collected the whole 839,235 chip pot as ale6ka mucked and enjoyed a third place cash ($12,287.25) chalking up another big time final table after placing sixth in April at the Sunday Warm-up ($22,789.00)
It's all osten all the time
No doubt this was osten's night.
Staying aggressive throughout, hitting the big river card just before heads-up play, and then each time Bassysaffari would make a run at the chip lead, osten would swat the UK player away as if to say "this is my night, and that's my bracelet".
No better example than the final hand as the heads-up play would end exactly at 2300 EST (well 23:00 and 36 seconds) ending the tournament after ten hours of Stud. With the stakes at 25K/50K ante 5K, osten in full command after taking down nine of the last ten pots, only giving up a very small double up on the previous hand, the two would cap the bet on fourth street, as all of Bassysaffari's 174,578 chips sat in the middle awaiting the fate of the seven cards dealt. On fifth street Bassysaffari caught a pair of sixes and another one showed up on sixth [Th] [6d] / [7d] [Ad] [6h] [6c] to blow blast osten's split sevens [7c] [As] / [7h] [Kc] [Jd]. osten could not catch the case seven, oh but the Norwegian could, as the [7s] hit on sixth and added nothing on the river [3s]. Bassysaffari needed to pair something on the board to stay alive, but bricked instead [4h] handing the 2012 WCOOP Event #25 title and $22,002.91 to osten!
Players entered: 381
Places paid: 48
Buy-in: $320.00
Prize Pool: $114,300.00
First place: $22,002.91
2012 WCOOP Event #25 $50,000 guaranteed Stud results (09-10-12):
1. osten (Norway) $22,002.91
2. Bassysaffari (United Kingdom) $16,287.75
3. ale6ka (Belarus) $12,287.25
4. Bodhisattva6 (China) $8,858.25
5. mitdadu (Russia) $6,000.75
6. Calvin "cal42688" Anderson (Mexico) $4,286.25
7. Tom "kingsofcards" Marchese (Canada) $3,143.25
8. glenizem (United Kingdom) $2,571.25
David Aydt is a freelance contributor from Minnesota