WCOOP Event #13 was one of those tournaments that seemed like it would run all night long and into the next day. Maybe it was the Progressive Knockout format that made everyone play with a little more heart and gusto. The protracted final table lasted much longer than anyone anticipated. When action whittled down to two players, the tournament reached its 16th hour. Nejra222 (Netherlands) and ducksoup44 (Costa Rica) were exhausted and mentally drained, yet they both survived a field of 2,820 runners to get to the final two spots, so neither was going to give up so easily. The sensational heads-up battle went back and forth for almost an hour as momentum shifted every few minutes. But then it finally happened. Nejra222 delivered a devastating knock-out blow and became the last person standing.
WCOOP Event #13 $215 NL [Progressive KO] attracted 2,820 runners. They created a total prize pool of $572,460, with $456,135 set aside to the "regular prize pool" and $116,325 set aside for bounties. The top 360 places paid out, with $72,071.27 set aside to the champion. The guarantee for WCOOP Event #13 was set at $250K, which was easily doubled.
Progressive KO tournaments add a spicy twist to the usual bounty tournament. A percentage of each KO bounty is automatically added to the surviving player's current bounty. Your individual bounty started at $41.25 and increased with every player you knocked out. The key is not to just knock out as many players possible... but rather... there's an added incentive to knocking out someone who has taken out a significant amount of players. By the time 100 players remained, most of the field had their bounties in excess of $100, or more than 2.5 times the original $41.25 bounty.
Several familiar faces were in this Progressive KO event. Team PokerStars Pros taking a shot at a WCOOP crown included... George Danzer, Jonathan Duhamel, Max Lykov, Celina Lin, Matthias "mattidm" De Meulder, Chris "chrisdm" De Meulder, and Johnny Lodden. Meanwhile, Mickey "mement_mori" Peterson was one of the few Team Online members grinding their way to a potential WCOOP title.
Only one notable cashed -- Matthias "mattidm" De Meulder -- who managed to bust out shortly after the money bubble popped. Short-stacked De Meulder made a final stand with [Ad][9c] and shoved all-in for 9,605. DYBYDX tried to pick him off with [Ts][8h]. The board ran out [Kh][Qc][6d][8s][Js]. DYBYDX turned a pair of eights, which was good enough to win the pot. Matthias De Meulder failed to improve and headed to the virtual rail in 269th place, which paid out $364.90.
Austria's meusel bubbled off the final table in 10th place after getting taken out by yosimachi, who earned a bounty worth $201.04 for busting meusel. Meanwhile, yosimachi's bounty was bumped up an additional $50.26 to a total of $320.98. With nine remaining, the final table was set.
WCOOP Event #13 - Final Table Chip Counts:
Seat 1: blahdy (275,265)
Seat 2: semen500 (1,865,310)
Seat 3: Nicolsan777 (1,195,850)
Seat 4: AsjBaaaf (1,317,531)
Seat 5: yosimachi (2,393,782)
Seat 6: Just_lucky76 (1,093,489)
Seat 7: jaggalo1231 (599,417)
Seat 8: ducksoup44 (1,978,281)
Seat 9: Nejra222 (3,381,075)
The final table commenced during Level 35 with blinds at 12.5K/25K and a 3,125 ante. The chip leader was Nejra222 with 3.3 million, while blahdy was the short stack with 275K. The biggest bounty at the final table was $320.98 (yosimachi) and the smallest was $71.24 (Nicolsan777).
blahdy eliminated in 9th place
Short-stacked blahdy became the first player to exit the final table. On the fateful hand... semen500 min-raised to 60,000, blahdy shoved over the top all-in for 194,015, and semen500 called. Coin flip with blahdy taking [Kd][Qc] into battle against semen500's [9h][9s]. The board ran out [4s][2d][3s][5d][7d] and semen500's pocket nines held up when blahdy failed to improve. Malta's blahdy took home $3,877.14 for a ninth-place finish.
Meanwhile... semen500 earned a KO bounty worth $107.58, and semen500's bounty jumped $26.89 to a total of $200.36.
jaggalo1231 eliminated in 8th place
After a couple of levels of inactivity, we finally saw another elimination. Just_lucky76 bumped it up to 89,321, jaggalo1231 moved all-in for 300,667, and Just_lucky76 called. Just_lucky76 trailed with [Ah][8h] against jaggalo1231's [Jh][Js]. The flop was [Jc][9h][3d] and jaggalo1231 flopped a set of Jacks. The turn was the [7c] and the river was the [Th]. Just_lucky76 caught running cards to fill in a straight. Alas, jaggalo1231's set of Jacks were run down. For an eighth-place performance, jaggalo1231 collected $6,613.95.
Meanwhile, Just_lucky76 earned a KO bounty worth $84.59, and Just_lucky76's own bounty jumped $21.14 to a total of $228.09.
With seven to go... Just_lucky76 held the lead with 3.7 million, while AsjBaaaf was the shorty with 549K.
semen500 eliminated in 7th place
Nejra222 min-raised to 120,000, shorty semen500 bombed it all-in for 673,896, and Nejra222 called. Nejra222 was behind with [As][Qs] against semen500's [Kh][Ks]. However, the board ran out [5c][5d][4c][2c][Ah] and an Ace on the river sunk semen500's hopes. Pocket cowboys were ambushed, and Nejra222 dragged the pot with two pair -- Aces and fives. Russia's semen500 was knocked out in seventh place, which paid out $11,175.30.
Meanwhile... Nejra222 earned a KO bounty worth $160.29, and Nejra222's own bounty jumped $40.07 to a total of $208.93.
With six remaining, Just_lucky76 held the lead with approximately 4.2 million, while Nejra222 sat in second overall with 3.3 million. Nicolsan777 held the shortest stack at 915K.
AsjBaaaf eliminated in 6th place
AsjBaaaf min-raised to 120,000, big stack bully Just_lucky76 bumped it to 273,931, AsjBaaaf re-raised to 616,161, and Just_lucky76 only called. The flop was [Jc][Jd][2d]. AsjBaaaf bet 404,040 and Just_lucky76 called. The turn was the [6s]. AsjBaaaf moved all-in for 1,455,851 and Just_lucky76 called. Just_lucky76 was way ahead with [Js][Ts] and trip Jacks. AsjBaaaf tabled [Ks][Kc]. The river was the [5c] and AsjBaaaf had Kings brutally cracked. Just_lucky76won the pot and AsjBaaaf busted in sixth place, which paid out $15,736.65
Meanwhile, Just_lucky76 collected another KO bounty, this one was worth $224.48. Just_lucky76's own bounty increased $56.11 to a total of $284.20.
With five to go, Just_lucky76's leading stack swelled to 6.8 million.
Nicolsan777 eliminated in 5th place
Nejra222 open shoved 3,025,417 and short-stacked Nicolsan777 called all-in for 327,952. Nejra222 was way behind with [8c][4d] versus Nicolsan777's [Ac][2s]. Alas, the board ran out [Qh][9c][6d][8d][3h], and Nejra222 turned a pair of eights to win the pot. Nicolsan777's Ace-rag failed to improve and that's all she wrote. Moldova's Nicolsan777 collected $20,298.00 for fifth place.
Meanwhile, Nejra222 collected a KO bounty worth $57 and Nejra222's own bounty bumped up $14.24 to a total of $223.17.
With four to go.... Just_lucky76 led with 5. million, ducksoup44 is second with 3.6 million, Nejra222 was in third with almost 3.5 million, and yosimachi brought up the rear with 1.1 million.
yosimachi eliminated in 4th place
Short-stacked yosimachi open-shoved for 1,886,768, and Just_lucky76 re-raised all-in to isolate for 3,504,379, and everyone else got out of the way. Heads-up. Just_lucky76 led with [Js][Jd] against yosimachi's [9c][9d]. The board ran out [Qh][8h][5d][Kd][Jh]. Just_lucky76 (unnecessarily) rivered a set of Jacks and won the pot. Israel's yosimachi busted out in fourth place, which paid out $26,683.89.
Meanwhile, Just_lucky76 add a $256.79 KO bounty, and Just_lucky76's own bounty jumped $64.19 to a total of $348.39.
With three players remaining... Just_lucky76 retained the lead with approximately 5.6 million. In second place was ducksoup44 with 4.96 million, and Nejra222 was last with 3.5 million.
THREE-WAY DEAL
Nejra222 snagged the lead and after winning a pot worth almost 6 million when Nejra222's [As][Tc] outflopped Just_lucky76's [Jd][Jc]. Nejra222 sat on a stack worth 5.7 millon, just a bit more than ducksoup44's 5.3 million. Former leader Just_lucky76 slipped to last in chips with 3.0 million.
Action was paused to discuss a deal and money chop. The initial deal was rejected by Just_lucky76, but after some quick negotiations, everyone agreed on the second deal. Those details included: Nejra222 ($55,579.62), ducksoup44 ($54,392.66), and Just_lucky76 ($50,000). An additional $5,000 was left on the table to the eventual champion. The final three agreed on the terms and play resumed.
Just_lucky76 eliminated in 3rd place
Just_lucky76 must've had some sort of ESP. After holding out for a few more dollars in the money chop, Just_lucky76 busted on the first hand after play resumed. Another cooler. Just_lucky76 bombed it all-in for 3,056,365 with [6c][6d], but ducksoup44 woke up with [Td][Tc] and snap-called. The board ran out [Ks][3h][2d][8h][Qs] and ducksoup44's pocket tens held up. Just_lucky76 busted out in third place, which paid out exactly $50,000.
Meanwhile, ducksoup44 earned a KO bounty of $278.72, while his own bounty was bumped up to $305.93, or $69.67 more after Just_lucky76's elimination.
HEADS-UP: Nejra222 (Netherlands) vs. ducksoup44 (Costa Rica)
Seat 8: ducksoup44 (8,336,508)
Seat 9: Nejra222 (5,763,492)
With two to go, ducksoup44 held the heads-up edge.
This tournament headed into its 16th hour. The final two were exhausted but gave each other one heck of a battle. Early on in heads-up, Nejra222 avoided an elimination and doubled up with [Jd][Jh] against ducksoup44's [4h][4d]. The two flip-flopped in chip counts and Nejra222 took the lead.
Despite the fatigue, these two played heads-up for over thirty minutes when Nejra222 finally surging over 10 million. Nejra222 attempted to knock out ducksoup44, but ducksoup44's [Jc][Jh] held up against Nejra222's [Ks][6c] and he doubled up.
ducksoup44 eliminated in 2nd place; Nejra222 wins WCOOP Event #13
Nejra222 chipped up back over 10 million and finally delivered the ultimate knockout blow. Nejra222 min-raised to 280,000, ducksoup44 moved all-in for 3,773,598, and Nejra222 called. Classic race. Nejra222 trailed with [Ad][Jc] against ducksoup44's [5s][5c]. The board ran out& [Ah][Th][8c][6s][Qs]. Nejra222 flopped an Ace to win the pot and ship the tournament.
Nejra222 also collected a KO bounty worth $244.7. His own bounty increased $61.18 to $284.35, but the eventual champion in a bounty tournament gets to keep their own bounty.
For a gutsy runner-up performance, ducksoup44collected $54,392.66.
Congrats to Nejra222 for earning $60,579.62 for first place in addition to a sleek new WCOOP champion's bracelet.
Check out the final hand in the re-player:
2013 WCOOP - Event #13 $215 NL Progressive KO - Final Table Results:
Entrants: 2820
Total Prize Pool: $572,460
Regular Prize Pool: $456,135
Bounty Prize Pool: $116,325
Payouts: 360
1. Nejra222 (Netherlands) - $60,579.62**
2. ducksoup44 (Costa Rica)- $54,392.66**
3. Just_lucky76 (Norway) - $50,000**
4. yosimachi (Israel) - $26,683.89
5. Nicolsan777 (Moldova) - $20,298.00
6. AsjBaaaf (New Zealand) - $15,736.65
7. semen500 (Russia) - $11,175.30
8. jaggalo1231 (Czech Republic) - $6,613.95
9. blahdy (Malta) - $3,877.14
** denotes a deal among the final three
Visit the WCOOP homepage for the remaining schedule of events. Also, check out the leader board and find out who is the front runner for Player of the Series.
Pauly McGuire is an author and freelance contributor to PokerStars Blog.