The PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) live blog coverage is brought to you by Martin Harris and Change100. Follow us on Twitter at @PokerStarsBlog, e-mail us at blog@pokerstars.com, and be sure to see our previous WCOOP coverage.
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6:22pm–100 remain
There are currently 100 players remaining in the WCOOP Main Event. Udon Wannit has had a late surge to move into the chip lead with 1,738,782, well clear of HEMIpowerSWT in second with 1,100,679. slammedfire and TheMasterJ33 are also still hovering right at the million-chip mark.
6:18pm–”P” stands for poker, not politeness
BigRed0000 just lost most of his stack in a preflop all-in confrontation versus Chong94. BigRed0000 had the advantage with [As][Kh] versus Chong94’s [Qs][Ac], but a queen flopped and BigRed0000 couldn’t catch up. Chong94 moved up to 449,217, while BigRed0000 slipped to 85,561.
As they say, hilarity ensued…
aquaregia67 said, “ul”
BigRed0000 said, “really aqua?”
BigRed0000 said, “was that ul?”
BigRed0000 said, “thank.”
BigRed0000 said, “you”
BigRed0000 said, “I didn’t know”
tommyboy83 said, “ya he is village idiot of table”
aquaregia67 said, “is that so suckout boy”
aquaregia67 said, “thats what i get fo rbeign polite”
tommyboy83 said, “=)”
6:08pm–Xaston puts out hotstuff38’s fire
hotstuff38 opened with a raise from middle position to 14,200, and Xaston reraised to 38,200 behind. It folded back around to hotstuff38 who pushed all in for 221,633 total, and Xaston called.
hotstuff38 showed [Qc][Kh] and Xaston [9d][9s]. The flop came [Th][3d][Jd], giving hotstuff38 the open-ender. The turn was the [Jh], then the river came the [9h], giving hotstuff38 that straight but Xaston the better hand with a full house.
hotstuff38 is out in 109th, while Xaston climbs into the top 10 with 816,133.
6:00pm–Chip counts, first hour break, Day 2
Level 24
Blinds 3,000/6,000, antes 750
Players remaining: 111 (of 2,144 entered)
Average chip count: 386,306
First prize: $1,715,200
Team PokerStars Pros eliminated:
Jan Heitmann — 141st
5:46pm–Up, down, then out for J.C. Tran
Well, that was an exciting 45 minutes of poker for J.C. “area23JC” Tran. After building his stack back up to above-average status early on, Tran had a table change followed by a crippling hand that knocked him way back down to less than 20,000.
With just 16,573, Tran pushed all in with [Jc][8c] and found himself up against two opponents — cabbie182 with [7d][7s] and HuGaDaS with [Ad][Th]. The flop came [9h][Kc][7c], giving cabbie182 a set though Tran the club flush draw. The turn was the [2s], but the river brought the [5c] and Tran survived that one with 54,219. Meanwhile, HuGaDaS was eliminated in 120th as cabbie182 claimed the side pot.
Tran’s luck didn’t last long, however, as two hands later he was reraising all in versus cabbie182 with [Ac][6c] only to be called by cabbie182’s [Ad][Qh]. The community cards came [7d][3s][7s][Kc][5h], and Tran goes out in 117th place, earning $15,544 for his efforts.
5:41pm–The millionaires club
Jason “TheMasterJ33″ Dewitt — chip leader heading into Day 2 — continues to maintain his advantage during the early going this afternoon, pushing out to more than 1.16 million.
But close on his heels is Daniel “djk123″ Kelly, owner of not one but two WCOOP bracelets this year. Kelly right now is the only other player with more than a million, currently sitting with 1,043,836.
5:40pm– Don’t mess with the Flack
With the action folded to him in the small blind, Layne “reloadthis” Flack opened for 17,000 and tdomeski moved all in for 124,514 from the big blind. Flack quickly called, his [As][Kc] dominating tdomeski’s [Ad][Ts]. Flack’s hand held up on the [Qh][Jd][7s][5d][6h] board and tdomeski hit the rail while Flack chipped up to over 545,000.
5:32pm– Jason Dewitt movin’ on up
After Jvilchez13 opened for 12,500 from the cutoff, Jason “TheMasterJ33″ put in a pre-flop three-bet to 45,000 from the button. Jvilchez13 responded with a shove for all 162,872 of his chips and Dewitt made the call, turning over [7c][7d]. Jvilchez13 was looking for some help with his [Jc][Th], but couldn’t find it on the [Ks][9d][9c][2d][Ah] board and hit the rail in 149th place while Dewitt’s stack soared to over a million in chips.
5:30pm–Heitmann’s eight-trey cracked, out in 141st
Team PokerStars pro Jan Heitmann began Day 2 in 47th place, though met with difficulty early on and was down to 137,923 when the following hand went down.
troyones opened with a raise to 15,000 (3x) from the button, then Heitmann shoved all in from the big blind. troyones thought a beat, then called, showing [Td][Ad], well ahead of Heitmann’s humble [8s][3s].
The board came [Tc][As][2h][Qh][2d], and Heitmann typed “gg” as the last member of Team PokerStars hit the virtual rail in 141st place.
Team PokerStars Pro Jan Heitmann
5:23pm–ilovepoker95 loves being on the right end of straight
ilovepoker95 just claimed a few more chips while knocking out a short-stacked THEDUTCH4141. A hand of [Jc][Ah] encouraged THEDUTCH4141 to get all of the chips in the middle preflop, and ilovepoker95 was there to compete with [6h][6d].
The flop came [5d][4h][2h] and the turn [3d], giving both players straights but ilovepoker95 the better one. The river was the [Kd], and THEDUTCH4141 is out in 147th place. Meanwhile, ilovepoker95 currently has 512,718, putting him in 23rd place.
5:06pm–Tran on the move early
J.C. “area23JC” Tran — winner of the WCOOP Main Event in 2006 — started Day 2 with a below-average stack and has started the day making an effort to change that situation, pronto.
With the blinds 2,500/5,000, Tran just now opened with a raise to 12,600 from under the gun, and dw2006 reraised to 29,855 behind him. It folded back around and Tran made the call.
The flop came [Js][6h][7s]. Tran checked, dw2006 bet 36,755, Tran check-raised to 80,000, dw2006 pushed all in, and Tran called with his remaining 73,103.
Tran showed [7c][7h] for the flopped set of sevens, while dw2006 showed [Ts][As] for the nut flush draw. The turn was the [5d] and river the [3h], and Tran catapults up to 394,120 — good for the top 40 at the moment. dw2006 now has slipped to 120,999.
5:00pm– Cards are on the screen!
Our 178 remaining players are back in action.
4:50pm–WCOOP Main Event Day 2 set to begin
Day 2 of the World Championship of Online Poker main event is about to begin. Sunday, 2,144 people started. One hundred seventy-eight of those players made it through nearly 13 hours of play and will now sit down to fight for the $1.7 million first prize.
We will, of course, be keeping an eye on every one of those remaining players, with a little bit of focus being reserved for chip leader TheMasterJ33, Team PokerStars Pro Jan Heitmann, and now-two-time bracelet winner djk123.
djk123, tenth in chips and gunning for third bracelet of 2009
Here’s how the numbers look as we prepare to resume play.
Level 23
Blinds 2,500/5,000, antes 625
Players remaining: 178 (of 2,144 entered)
Average chip count: 240,898
First prize: $1,715,200
Let’s just pause for a moment and talk about what Daniel “djk123″ Kelly has already accomplished in this year’s WCOOP. He had an auspicious start, taking down Event #2, $215 Razz, then went on to cash eight more times in WCOOP events over the next two weeks. Then today, while building a stack in the $5,200 buy-in NLHE Main Event, Kelly entered the $10,300 High Roller H.O.R.S.E. event. By the time Day 1 play was finished in the Main (Kelly finishing up with 555,410, good for tenth in chips out of 178 players), he was going for his second WCOOP bracelet at the H.O.R.S.E. final table. Like Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo and now Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier (who picked up his second bracelet tonight in Event #43), Daniel Kelly became a double-bracelet winner and now sits atop the Player of the Series leaderboard for the 2009 WCOOP. Not bad for a 20-year old Villanova junior.
Some of the biggest names in poker rounded out the 103-strong field in this event, creating a $1,030,000 prize pool. 16 places were paid, with first place set to earn $252,350.00. Team PokerStars Pro comprised nearly 14% of the field with George Danzer, Greg Raymer, Barry Greenstein, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Daniel Negreanu, Vanessa Rousso, Ylon Schwartz, Chris Moneymaker, Sebastian Ruthenberg, Gavin Griffin, and Joe Hachem all taking a shot. Coming away with cash finishes were Katja Thater (13th) and Chad Brown (10th), while Noah “Exclusive” Boeken made the final table.
Here’s a look at how our final six stacked up as action got underway:
Seat 1: wallfly (130,889 in chips)
Seat 2: NoraFlum (199,643 in chips)
Seat 3: matchpoint20 (65,956 in chips)
Seat 4: Noah “Exclusive” Boeken (119,336 in chips)
Seat 5: Jorj95 (13,396 in chips)
Seat 6: ozenc (137,007 in chips)
Seat 7: Daniel “djk123″ Kelly (163,978 in chips)
Seat 8: Matt “Hoss_TBF” Hawrilenko (199,795 in chips)
With little more than two bets left in his stack, Jorj95 exited in eighth place on the second hand of the final table after putting his last 10,000 in before the flop in a hand of Omaha hi/lo. Both djk123 and wallfly called and continued betting on the side, wallfly check-calling bets from djk123 on every street of the [Ts][9s][5h][6s][4d] board. Djk123 was betting for a good reason, turning over [As][8c][7s][3h] for an ace-high flush and a 6-5 low. Wallfly made the same low, but only had nines and fours for high with his [Ah][9h][4s][3c], earning a quarter of the side pot and a quarter of the main. Djk123 took down the rest, and Jorj95 mucked, his WCOOP run at an end with an eighth place finish for $30,900.
The game switched over to Razz and matchpoint20 was able to hang on for another fifteen minutes before playing a pot with ozenc. After djk123 brought it in with the [Ks], matchpoint20 completed to 3,000, ozenc raised to 6,000 and matchpoint20 made the call.
Ozenc made the low board on fourth street and lead out, matchpoint20 making the call. He kept the lead on fifth and fired again, matchpoint20 looking him up despite catching a second brick. Ozenc led again on sixth street and matchpoint20 called, having caught a deuce. Ozenc set matchpoint20 all in for his last 2,500 on the river and he made the call, turning over [3h][5c][9c] in the hole for a 9-5-4-3-2 low, but ozenc had the better low, showing [7s][8h][9c] for a, 8-7-6-5-4 low. Matchpoint20 hit the rail in seventh place, earning $41,200 for his finish.
Meanwhile, wallfly was coming off a disastrous Omaha Hi/Lo level, having lost nearly every pot he played to take his stack from 105,000 down to 29,000. Luck wasn’t on his side in Razz either, his stack eroding all the way down to 5,204 before he got the rest of his chips in the middle on third street against Noah Boeken.
Boeken made a T-6-4-2-A low while wallfly finished the hand with a pair, heading to sleep with a sixth place finish and an extra $51,500 in his PokerStars account.
Sitting on 90,000 in chips while his other four opponents were all hovering around 200,000, Boeken was able to hang on with a short stack for a full forty-five minutes. Boeken took a significant hit on a stud hand against Hoss_TBF, losing nearly half his stack when his flush draw failed to come in against Hoss_TBF’s two pair, then sustained another blow when ozenc scooped him in a stud hi/lo pot with a queen-high flush. Despite being left with only 10,000 in chips, Boeken refused to give up and managed to double up several times before falling back down to 11,000. With only two bets left and facing the blinds in limit hold’em, Boeken raised to 10,000 from early position and was three-bet by Hoss_TBF. Boeken called all in, showing [Tc][6c] while Hoss_TBF tabled [Qd][9s]. It was all but over on the flop when a queen hit, and though Boeken picked up a flush draw on the turn, the river blanked out, his tournament at an end in fifth place. For his performance, Boeken earned $66,950.
Four-handed play was a long, hard grind, lasting well over 150 hands. While ozenc and djk123 steadily chipped up, Hoss_TBF and NoraFlum found themselves slipping toward short-stack status. Omaha hi/lo was especially rough on Hoss_TBF, who tumbled from 135,000 chips to 63,000 during the level. Not one to give up easily, Hoss_TBF fought for every last chip before finally getting his last 5,600 in on third street against NoraFlum in a stud hand. Unfortunately for Hoss_TBF, NoraFlum had buried aces that improved to trips on the river, sending him to the rail in fourth place for a $92,700 payday.
Despite knocking out Hoss_TBF, NoraFlum was still on the short stack with 64,000 while ozenc was up to 593,000 and djk123 was on 372,000. NoraFlum lost most of his stack in a stud hand where he folded on the river to ozenc, then made a stand a few hands later, getting his remaining 12,000 in chips in on third street against djk123.
NoraFlum was looking at an uphill climb with split fours against djk123’s buried tens and couldn’t pull a miracle, djk123 rivering two pair to KO NoraFlum in third place. He took home a hefty $133,900 for his performance.
Ozenc started heads-up play with a 1.7 to 1 chip lead over djk123:
Seat 6: ozenc (645,713 in chips)
Seat 7: djk123 (384,287 in chips)
Heads-up was nothing short of a marathon, lasting 141 hands. Though ozenc started off with a solid chip lead, he quickly lost it to djk123, who pulled nearly even with him on this hand of seven-card stud.
From there, djk123 simply dominated the rest of the match, hitting hand after hand in the stud and stud hi/lo rounds. Aces up. Kings up. A nine high straight. Hard as he tried, ozenc couldn’t get his stack to head in the other direction. After djk123 scooped a stud hi/lo pot with an eight-high straight, ozenc tried to make something happen on the next hand, but was run down again by two pair.
In what would be the final hand of the tournament, djk123 had the bring-in with the [Th] and ozenc completed showing the [Ad]. Djk123 made the call, and they went to fourth street, where ozenc caught the [7c] and led out for 8,000, djk123, showing [Th][7h] raised, ozenc reraised all in and djk123 made the call.
Though djk123 had four to a flush on fourth street, neither player made as much as a pair until sixth street when ozenc paired his four. Djk123’s hand, though was rife with outs, needing a heart, a six, a seven, or a jack on the river to scoop or an ace, four, five, or eight to make a low to split. He hit a six, making a pair of sixes to take down the hand and seal up his second WCOOP victory of the year! In addition to the champion’s bracelet, djk123 pocketed $252,350 while runner-up ozenc earned $175,100.00.
Daniel “djk123″ Kelly, $10,300 High Roller H.O.R.S.E. champion
WCOOP Event #44 ($10,300 High Roller H.O.R.S.E.) Results
1. Daniel “djk123″ Kelly $252,350.00
2. ozenc $175,100.00
3. NoraFlum $133,900.00
4. Matt “Hoss_TBF” Hawrilenko $92,700.00
5. Noah “Exclusive” Boeken $66,950.00
6. wallfly $51,500.00
7. matchpoint20 $41,200.00
8. Jorj95 $30,900.00.
Djk123 is now atop the 2009 WCOOP leaderboard, but can anyone catch him? Check out the WCOOP page for details. For highlights and replays from the first 43 WCOOP events, head over to PokerStars.tv for the finest in poker multimedia.
Event #43, the last of the $215 buy-in no-limit hold’em events in this year’s WCOOP series, drew a whopping 9,220 entrants, making for a $1,844,000 prize pool. That was well beyond the $1 million guarantee, and the eighth time during the series we’ve seen a prize pool of greater than $1.5 million. (There’d be one more WCOOP event with at least a $1.5 million prize pool, of course — the Main Event, with more than $10 million up for grabs!) The top 1,350 finishers would be cashing in this one, with first place scheduled to earn a nifty $263,323.20.
After nine-and-a-half hours of play, the field had been whittled down to 250 players, with Team PokerStars pros Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier in 12th, Victor Ramdin in 22nd, and Barry “barryg1″ Greenstein in 90th. At that point, 0926ricsi held the chip lead with 683,105, followed closely by LakersGTD, kezug, ångvälten, and HN Kakaroto.
At the 11-and-a-half hour mark, they were down to 100 players. Greenstein had departed in 203rd, followed by Team PokerStars Holland Pro Lex “RaSZi” Veldhuis in 152nd. But Ramdin was still there in 42nd, and Grospellier had chipped all of the way up to second place, just behind LakersGTD who was nearing the 200,000 mark.
ElkY would soon overtake LakersGTD and claim the chip lead. With five cashes already this WCOOP and a bracelet in Event #38 (NLHE $530 + 1R1A), the London-based French pro appeared to be gearing up for yet another deep run in an WCOOP event. (Click here to read ElkY’s reflection on his WCOOP win for the PokerStars blog.)
Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier
ElkY would maintain his lead over the next ninety minutes, and while LakersGTD would briefly sneak in front at around the 13-hour mark, with 50 players left ElkY was back on top with more than 3.7 million, followed by LakersGTD, KNtheKid, kezug, and ixi0n. Victor Ramdin was still there, too, sitting in 13th.
LakersGTD would subsequently retake the lead, and would maintain the advantage for the next few hours, during which time Ramdin would finally be eliminated in 22nd place. LakersGTD’s stack began to dwindle, while jm18 pushed out in front. Then, 16-and-a-half hours after the tourney began, bundesmiro knocked out LakersGTD in 10th place, and the final nine were set:
As most of the final nine traded congratulations with one another, Team PokerStars Pro George Danzer, host for this final table, chimed in as well, adding a special message to Grospellier by calling him “sick” for making yet another deep WCOOP run. “ty ty george,” replied ElkY. “I’ll try to make you guys proud once again ”
Just one orbit into the final table, Grospellier set to work doing just that. With the blinds 60,000/120,000 (15,000 ante), Grospellier opened from the button with a raise to 267,896, then Trippple_A reraised all in for 1,643,006 from the big blind. ElkY made the call, showing [Ac][Kd] to Trippple_A’s [Qd][As]. The community cards came [Ts][9c][Th][7s][8d], and Trippple_A was out in ninth.
It would take another 40 minutes before the next elimination. Profesigh opened from under the gun with a raise to 344,777, Elky called, then bundesmiro pushed all in from the big blind for 2,060,628. Profesigh called, and ElkY stepped aside. bundesmiro showed [Ah][Td] and Profesigh [7c][7s]. The flop came [7h][4c][9d], giving Profesigh a set. The turn was the [Ts], pairing bundesmiro, but no river card could take the hand from Profesigh, and bundesmiro was out in eighth.
Meanwhile, jm18 had fallen below the 2 million mark, becoming one of the table’s short stacks. jm18 would open-shove all in for 1,861,140 from middle position, and kezug called from the small blind. kezug showed [9h][9c] and jm18 [Ts][Ad]. Again we’d see a flopped set, as the flop came [4d][9s][Qs]. The turn was the [4h], giving kezug a full house and closing the door on jm18 who ended the night in seventh.
With six left, chilipepp had pushed out in front with more than 16 million, followed by jektiss with 12.26 million, then ElkY with just under 6 million. A series of unfortunate hands for kezug had suddenly made him the new short stack. Then came a hand when it folded around to kezug in the small blind who open-pushed all in for 243,414. KNtheKid didn’t waste much time calling from the BB, showing [Ks][Jh] to kezug’s [Ac][7d]. kezug was okay through the turn — [3s][Qh][Qs][Td] — but the [9s] on the river gave KNtheKid the straight, and they were down to five.
Soon afterwards, with the blinds now 100,000/200,000 (25,000 ante), Profesigh was raising from middle position to 444,444, and got two callers in chilipepp (small blind) and ElkY (big blind). The flop came [Ad][5c][Kd]. chilipepp checked, ElkY bet 567,896, then Profesigh raised all in for 4,044,371. chilipepp folded and ElkY made the call.
ElkY showed [Ac][5s] and Profesigh [5d][Kc] — both had flopped two pair, though Grospellier’s was the better hand. Watch as the turn and river didn’t help Profesigh, who was eliminated in fifth:
That hand would push ElkY near the chip lead, though he’d lose a chunk back to chilipepp soon thereafter, making him the short stack with four to go. He’d survive an all-in versus KNtheKid, though, to move back into third place. Then came a hand in which jektiss opened with a raise to 700,000, then KNtheKid reraised all in for 5,211,403. jektiss quickly called, showing [Qs][Qh] while KNtheKid had [7d][Ad]. The board came [9d][6h][Tc][4c][3s], and KNtheKid was out in fourth.
At that point, jektiss and chilipepp asked ElkY about possibly making a deal, but Grospellier said he wasn’t interested, so the remaining trio played on. After 18 hours of poker, jektiss had over 21 million, chilipepp about 16.2 million, and ElkY 8.85 million.
Grospellier managed a swift double-up through chilipepp. After a flop of [3s][3d][7s], chilipepp checked, ElkY bet 678,965, chilipepp check-raised all in, and ElkY instacalled, showing [4h][3h] for trip treys. chilipepp had [2h][7h], and after the [8c] turn and [Ac] river, Grospellier was now in second and chilipepp the short stack. ElkY would take another chunk off of chilipepp in a subsequent hand when his preflop four-bet forced chilipepp to fold, after which came this chatbox exchange:
chilipepp: u should fold there elky
ElkY: i should
ElkY: i don’t really like to fold
chilipepp: new things are often good 4 u
ElkY wasn’t listening, and on the very next hand was again not folding, and rather opening with a raise to 600,000 from the button. chilipepp reraised to 1,555,555 from the big blind. ElkY shoved all in, and chilipepp called with his last 5.69 million. chilipepp showed [Qh][Qs], well ahead of ElkY’s [8c][8h]. Until the flop, anyway — [8d][Jd][6s]. The turn was the [6c], giving Grospellier a boat. chilipepp was looking for one of the two remaining queens to save him, but the river was the [3c] and chilipepp landed in third.
When heads-up play began, ElkY and jektiss were almost dead even in chips. jektiss had 23,400,235, just ahead of the Team PokerStars Pro who had 22,699,765.
After 14 hands, jektiss still had a slight edge when he opened with a raise to 600,000 (2x) from the small blind/button, and ElkY called from the big blind. The flop came [Jd][5c][6h], and both checked. The turn brought the [8c], and ElkY fired a bet of 678,965. jektiss called.
The river was the [9s]. ElkY checked, jektiss bet 1,555,555, ElkY check-raised to 5,678,965, jektiss reraised all in, and Elky called with his remaining chips. jektiss showed [Th][7s] for a jack-high straight, but ElkY had [Tc][Qh] for a queen-high straight. That hand left jektiss with just under 1.8 million, and it would just take three more hands for ElkY to claim the last of his opponent’s chips.
In the final hand, ElkY opened from the button by pushing all in, and jektiss called. ElkY showed [8c][Th] and jektiss [Kh][As]. The flop — [Jd][3c][Js] — and turn [7d] — were safe for jektiss, but the [Ts] on the river meant Grospellier had claimed his second WCOOP bracelet this fall.
Congratulations to ElkY, the second player to score two WCOOP bracelets in 2009 (along with Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo)!
One more day of WCOOP action, as Day 2 of the Main Event plays out later today. Come back to the PokerStars blog for complete coverage, and check the WCOOP site for all of the results from this year’s series.
By far, it is the pinnacle of the year in online poker. The World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event is the largest online tournament of the year by virtue of its $10 million guarantee alone. The money in play and the prestige of the WCOOP title combine to bring some of the game’s absolute best to the tables, and PokerStars is inundated with fans observing the tables, railing their favorite players, and getting a glimpse of the high-stakes action.
When the 2009 WCOOP Main Event got underway on Sunday, September 20, the magnitude of it all was clear. Registration for the $5,000 + $200 buy-in event ended with 2,144 entrants, which put the prize pool at an impressive $10,720,000. Though only the top 306 finishers were set to receive any portion of it, it was the stunning $1,715,200 first place prize that caught everyone’s eye. The winner of the two-day online tournament would win more money than most live tournaments could ever hope to offer, becoming more than a millionaire in less than 48 hours. And the second place finisher? That person will also be a millionaire.
While those numbers sink in, let’s get to the details of the day, as provided to us by David Aydt, Martin Harris, Change100, and Brad Willis in the Main Event Day 1 Live Blog.
First, to concentrate on the final table payouts that will come into play as the tournament nears on Monday, those prizes are:
Next, let’s get to the players. The PokerStars Pro Team was out in force for the event, and WSOP Main Event champions like Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem, Peter Eastgate, Tom McEvoy, and Chris Moneymaker competed in the same field as stars known for their work outside of poker, such as tennis legend Boris Becker and television superstar Jason Alexander. But the majority of the massive list of Team members did not make it near the money, giving way to the cards early in the tournament.
Those Team PokerStars players nearing the money, though still not cashing, were Chad Brown (492nd), Angel Guillen (435th), Veronica “Princesa” Dabul (428th), Vanessa Rousso (421st), Gaulter “stockcar99″ Salles (396th), Ylon Schwartz (370th), Alex Gomes (351st), Bill Chen (340th), and Leo Fernandez (365th). And exiting just inside the payout window was Katja Thater in 305th place.
Also in the field was the 2008 WCOOP Main Event champion, Carter “ckingusc” King, though he was knocked out by xaroCjes in 2031st place early in the day.
When the field thinned enough to hit the money, it was GoMukYaSelf who moved all-in with pocket kings and PeachyMer with the call holding [Ac] [Jd]. When an ace hit on the turn, GoMukYaSelf was ousted on the bubble in 307th place.
Play continued through the last few levels of the day with two PokerStars representatives still in action. Baseball legend and not-too-shabby poker player Orel Hershiser was certainly looking to do more than simply cash in the tournament, and amidst Level 21 action, he doubled up to stay alive for another day:
RSS readers click through to see replay
Not long after, Rabbiej doubled through Hershiser with A-6 versus K-Q, leaving the Cy Young award winner with less than 10,000 in chips. Two hands later, Hershiser pushed with [Ts] [7s] against the [Kh] [Th] of Mudvaynes, and the board came [3d] [Ks] [Tc] [As] [7d] to knock Hershiser out of the tournament in 217th place.
Meanwhile, Team Pro Jan Heitmann of Germany had been sitting near or at the top of the leaderboard through the better part of the day, making an impressive run toward the second day of the Main Event. His chip stack fluctuated throughout the latter part of Day 1, though he didn’t take a big hit to his stack until late in Level 21 when he lost a 232K pot to pakd650.
Jan Heitmann
By the time Day 1 action came to a close, TheMasterJ33 had jumped out to a serious chip lead after having recently won a 350K pot against SkaiWalkurrr with pocket sixes that held up to [Ad] [Qc]. That propelled TheMasterJ33 to the top, and the accumulation of chips continued to extend the lead over the rest of the pack.
Play stopped at the end of Level 22, and the tournament was paused, set to resume at 5:00pm ET on Monday, September 21, which was 11 hours and 10 minutes from break time. Players would start at the beginning of Level 23 with blinds 2,500/5,000 and a 625 ante, with 178 players still in the running and the average chip stack holding 240,898.
2009 WCOOP Main Event Top Ten Chip Counts:
Team PokerStars Pro remaining:
47. Jan Heitmann (321,457 chips)
All of the 2009 WCOOP information can be found on its special WCOOP website, and replays of the events can be found at PokerStars.TV. And tune in to this blog on Monday for the live chronicle of events as Main Event finds its new champion!
After holding the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure on a cruise ship in 2004, it moved the growing event to the Atlantis Resort and Casino in 2005. PokerStars also decided it wanted to hire a blogger…just for the week…to cover the event. That blogger was me.
Within minutes of my being on the assignment, somebody pulled me aside and pointed to a young guy I’d never seen before.
“That’s Terrence and he used to work with us,” I was told.
That was the first time I saw Terrence Chan.
The 2005 PCA happened to coincide with Chan leaving his job at PokerStars where he had been a large part of creating the top notch customer support system and team. He was moving on to play cards professionally.
Over the course of the next few days, I noticed Terrence’s former co-workers seemed impressed with him. It was as if they knew he could play, but didn’t know he could play.
Chan showed them they were right. He made a run all the way to 20th place in that tournament. During that week, he became a friend and person I genuinely enjoyed covering.
Since then, I’ve watched him almost win a WSOP bracelet and win hundreds of thousands of dollars in the live tournament world. And those hundreds of thousands are only what he wins when he’s not really working.
In the years since Chan first played poker in 1999, he’s turned himself into a fierce and feared high-stakes heads-up and six-max limit hold’em player. Because it’s very rare to find that particular blend of poker in live games, Chan’s efforts are aimed almost entirely online.
Over the years, I have written quite a bit about Chan on this blog, and each year he gives me more to write about. Last Spring, he won two limit hold’em SCOOP events in one night. Now, he’s won a WCOOP bracelet.
At 28 years old. he does it all as he travels around the world, training in Mixed Martial Arts, and living what appears to be a pretty great life.
With all that in mind, I asked Chan a few questions the day after he won. Here’s how he responded.
***
PokerStars Blog: Were there any particular moments in the tournament when you thought, “I’m going to make the final table?”
Chan: Strangely, the first time I thought this was with 11 players left and I was in third place. I did some quick math in my head and figured I was a pretty solid favourite to final table. Of course you really never know, and at any given point you can just lose 2-3 big pots and go broke.
PokerStars Blog: How would you describe your basic philosophy as it pertains to poker?
Chan: There is always a correct play. We may not know what it is, but we know it is there.
PokerStars Blog: You’re friends with a lot of the members of Team PokerStars Pro. Did you end up facing any of them during your victory?
Chan:I started at a table with Bill Chen and was at tables late in the tournament with both Ylon Schwartz and Chad Brown.
I tortured Bill. I won like every hand I played against him and busted him early. I kind of felt bad ,of course, since he’s a good friend. I played very few pots against Ylon. I played a lot of pots against Chad, and in the early going he was torturing me and accumulating a big stack of chips, but in the end I won a gigantic pot off him with set over set (TT vs 55). He never really fully recovered from that.
PokerStars Blog: Who do you look up to in the poker world?
Chan: I have always — despite not being a very mathy person myself — looked up to the most mathematical and analytical minds in the game. Guys like Bill Chen, Jerrod Ankenman, Chris Ferguson, Andy Bloch and so many others who have done real original work in the areas of poker, math and game theory blow my mind. These guys — and others — who have done real work and I have mostly just ridden their coattails to success.
PokerStars Blog: Really? Two SCOOP and one WCOOP in one year? What have you got figured out that nobody else knows?
Chan Again, I have a fantastic support system. I have the best friends in the world to learn from.
PokerStars Blog: When you’re playing, it seems so automatic. How did you develop the ability to play hands on auto-pilot?
Chan: Hundreds of thousands of hands of high-stakes limit hold’em — that’s pretty much it! When you’ve played that many hands, you’ve pretty much had nearly every hand on nearly every flop (or at least a similar one) after every betting sequence!
PokerStars Blog How often does it happen that you actually have to think for more than two seconds about what the correct play is?
Chan: Actually, there are a lot of decisions where I wish I had more than a
second to decide. However, I’ve played enough to know that if I’m unsure about a decision, that it necessarily must be a close decision (otherwise I would know clearly what the right play was). It would actually be worse to play really fast and suddenly stop and think about a decision every so often, since my opponent would be able to infer that I wasn’t 100% confident about my decision. Regardless of whether the game is online or live, if you play at a fast pace, it is better to make a quick decision that might be slightly wrong than to give away the tell that you have a tough decision.
PokerStars Blog: In the grand scheme of things, $60,000 isn’t that big a win for you, but at the same time, you seemed really intent on winning. Why?
Chan: Actually, when it got down to like 50-100 players or so, I was actually thinking “Heh, it’d be kind of cool to make the final table.” I never really thought about winning. I thought making the final table would be cool because I’d still get some props after the SCOOP performances.
At one point during 4-handed play I lost a number of pots and was the short stack and thought I was about to bust. At that point I was even okay with going out fourth. But once I got the chip lead 3-handed, I thought, “Now I’m going to be really upset if I don’t win.”
For some reason I just felt that I had to win, that my friends and even total strangers who had known what I had done in the spring wanted me to win. People want to see Roger Federer win Grand Slams, Tiger Woods to win golf majors, Anderson Silva to knock people out and so on. Once I got down near the end and had all of the interwebs cheering for me, I got to feel what that’s like for a few brief moments. And that definitely motivated me.
PokerStars Blog: You seem to spend more time on the road than you do at home. Why? Any thoughts of settling down?
Chan: It’s not so much more that I spend more time on the road than at home that I just think of the concept of “home” as more fluid than most people. I like to go places for a month or maybe a couple months at a time and just experience what it’s like to live there.
I certainly may settle down in the future. But for now I am single with no kids, unattached from the world, so I see no reason to. Settling down is totally reasonable for people who have wives and kids and stuff, but if you don’t have any of those things holding you down, then why not enjoy what the world has to offer? If I were to find the right person that I would want to settle down with, then obviously I would do so. But it’d have to be a pretty special person to make me do that (and they’d have to be willing to put up with me!).
PokerStars Blog: You play online cash games almost exclusively. Is it just impossible to find the kind of live action you need or do you just prefer online?
Chan.: Casinos won’t typically spread a heads-up game, nor are there usually even 6-max tables for limit hold’em live. Also, a lot of the action I get are from players in not only the U.S. but also various parts of Europe, so unless those people happen to be where I am, I’m more likely to be able to play them on PokerStars than in any given casino.
But even without these things I prefer online poker. I can show up and leave when I want without issue, I don’t have to carry a ton of cash around or make arrangements at my bank to wire money. I can quit my session and go to the gym with ease (which is very important to me). I can sit and wait for an opponent and pop in a movie and watch it until someone shows up. It’s just a combination of conveniences that makes it so much superior to the live experience.
***
Congrats again to Terrence Chan for his first WCOOP title and once again proving why I wouldn’t play him at anything over $4/$8 HORSE, and that would only be if I were looking for lessons.
The PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) live blog coverage is brought to you by David Aydt, Martin Harris, Change100, and Brad Willis. Follow us on Twitter at @PokerStarsBlog, e-mail us at blog@pokerstars.com, and be sure to see our previous WCOOP coverage.
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5:50am–WCOOP Main Event Day 1 ends
Day 1 of the World Championship of Online Poker main event has just come to a close. After nearly 13 hours of play, 178 of the starting 2,144 players remain. We’ll have a wrap up in just a bit, but for now, here are some of the biggest stacks.
Also, be sure to join us back here in in eleven hours for Day 2 live blog coverage.
Level 23
Blinds 2,500/5,000, antes 625
Players remaining: 178 (of 2,144 entered)
Average chip count: 240,898
First prize: $1,715,200
Only a few hands after losing half his stack to Supa4real, Justin “Boosted J” Smith limp-reraised all in pre-flop with [6c][6d] and got a call from Tonimonntana with [Ad][Ks]. Smith kept his lead on the [Qh][Jh][8h] flop as well as on the [Jc] turn, but Tonimonntana hit a Broadway straight on the river when the [Th] fell, sending Smith to the rail only minutes before the end of Day 1.
5:39am–Three-barrel bluff, one new chip leader
SkaiWalkurrr came in for a raise with [Qc] [Ad] and when he got called by TheMasterJ33, things got sticky. SkaiWalkurrr fired on each of the three streets on a [9d] [5s] [2c] [4d] [2s] board and each time TheMasterJ33 called him down with [6h] [6d]. The resulting pot was worth more than 350,000 and pushed TheMasterJ33 to the chip lead with 821,000.
5:38am–Boosted J’s stack halved
Sitting on over 311,000 in chips, Justin “Boosted J” Smith opened for 10,200 from UTG+1 and was met with a three-bet to 32,000 from Supa4real. Smith called and they saw a [Td][8d][4s] flop. Smith checked, Supa4real moved all in for 145,885 and Smith made the call. It was overpairs for both, Smith’s [Jd][Js] trailing Supa4real’s [Qh][Qd]. The [9d] on the turn gave both players straight draws, and the [Jc] on the river not only made Smith a set of jacks but filled Supa4real’s queen-high straight, sending Smith’s stack tumbling all the way down to 132,000.
5:34pm–New chip leader crosses 800,000 mark
Budapest’s pakd650 just cracked QTgirlE3’s pocket kings with ace-queen for a 408,000 pot. That pot puts him over the 800,000 mark and gives him the chip lead.
5:32am–Tmay420 smoked in 208th place
After opening for 9,785 from the cutoff, Tim “Tmay420″ West was put to a decision for his entire stack after Natemower moved all in for 171,859 from the small blind. West made the call, only to find his [As][Jh] dominated by [Ac][Kc]. No help for West on the board and he hit the rail in 208th place while Natemower moved up to 234,000 in chips.
5:27am–Orel Hershiser eliminated
Orel Hershiser had been running well over the last couple of levels, chipping up from the 30,000 range to over 75,000 during his stint on Table 59. With the blinds up to 2,000-4,000, Hershiser opened for 12,000 from the button, onlyto have Rabbiej shove for 65,000 from the big blind. Perhaps sensing weakness, Hershiser made the call, turning over [Ks][Qd] to Rabbiej’s [Ad][6c]. Hershiser, however, couldn’t improve on the [Jh][Ts][2d][8h][6d] board and came off the mound in 217th place for a $10,184 score.
5:17am–djk123 double-dips with ease
With five players remaining in the $10,300 H.O.R.S.E. event, Daniel “djk123″ is fourth in chips, all while continuing to play in the Main Event, where he is presently 15th of 221 players remaining. His feat has not gone unnoticed by his opponents in the H.O.R.S.E.
Hoss_TBF said, ” dj, maybe you should sit this one out, focus on the 5k main event”
djk123 said, “hah”
Hoss_TBF said, “gl there ”
djk123 said, “ty”
djk123 said, “can we make this one nl too”
5:13am–RaSZi no more
Lex “RaSZi” Veldhuis hadn’t been able to get much going over the last few levels, his stack hovering between 40,000 and 60,000. With the blinds up to 1,500-3,000/375, Veldhuis looked down at pocket jacks and was probably more than happy to shove for his remaining 43,235… only sam2price woke up with pocket queens. No love for Lex on the board and he exited in 258th place.
5:12pm–Heitmann building back
After a bad hour or so that saw Team PokerStars Pro Jan Heitmann going the wrong way he’s managed to build his stack back to around 350,000, a lot of those chips coming when his ace-king held up against ace-queen just moments ago.
5:02am–PiKappRaider gets caught
After Mudvaynes opened for 7,669, Steven “PiKappRaider” Burkholder decided to three-bet light, holding [Qc][Td]. Mudvaynes called and PiKappRaider hit top pair on the [Th][4c][3h] flop. Mudvaynes checked, PiKappRaider bet 23,600 and Mudvaynes called. The turn came the [5s] and Mudvaynes checked again, allowing PiKappRaider to bet 23,600. Mudyvanes flat-called again, and checked when the [8d] hit the river. PiKappRaider bet 28,800 and Mudvaynes called, showing [Jh][Jc] to take down the pot, leaving PiKappRaider on 165,000 in chips. After the hand, Mudvaynes was up to 472,000, good for eighth in chips.
5:00am–Last Day 1 break
Level 21
Blinds 1,500/3,000, antes 375
Players remaining: 256 (of 2,144 entered)
Average chip count: 167,500
First prize: $1,715,200
Team PokerStars Pro Katja Thater made it past the bubble in the main event, but then quickly ran pocket tens into pocket queens and went broke. She finished 305th place.
4:39am–Ouch. Just ouch. Bubble bursts
GoMukYaSelf had something to say before he acted.
“Don’t call,” he said and then pushed in his 19,000 chips.
PeachyMer didn’t listen and…well, he called with [Ac] [Jd].. a good but behind the short-stack’s pocket kings.
Of course, you know what happened. It waited until the turn, and then the ace popped up. PeachyMer could only say…”"omg im SO SO SORRY.”
My guess is GoMukYaSelf was thinking something along the lines of…”you can stuff your sorries in a sack.”
We are now sickly in the money.
4:28am–Pure bubble
We are now hand for hand on the pure bubble. Only one more person will exit with no cash.
4:14am–Tran gives bubble kick in the ribs
In the continuing tales of bubble abuse, former WCOOP champion J.C. Tran is showing off his abusive side. MaxErosAmore came in for a raise and Tran called. Both players check a [7h] [6d] [8d] flop. On the [Ks] turn, Tran bet 7,500 and MaxErosAmore min-raised him. Tran didn’t think long before putting MaxErosAmore all-in. Tran got the fold he was looking for and then showed [4c] [4s].
MaxErosAmore then…well, he called Tran a bad name. It was the kind of name that usually invovles a letter ‘f’ but in this case used the letters ‘ph.’
Tran simply replies, “It was good, right?”
We’re gonna guess…no.
4:06am–Justin “Boosted J” Smith slapping bubble around
Now 12 players off the money, Justin Smith is using his experience to pick up some chips. He’s chipped up by nearly 100,000 chips in just the last few hands with some pretty impressive bubble abuse. If it were illegal, he’d get already be convicted and sentenced.
4:00am–11th hour break
Level 19
Blinds 1,000/2,000, antes 250
Players remaining: 323 (of 2,144 entered)
Average chip count: 132,775
First prize: $1,715,200
Those players who know how to abuse the bubble (and we’ll assume most of the people in this tournament know what they’re doing in this regard) are now working their game to its full effect. With 328 players remaining, we’re just 22 players from the money.
Go get those blinds and antes, folks!
3:47am–Dorinvandy picks up aces at the perfect time
Scott “dorinvandy” Dorin just scored a massive double-up, eliminating chicken&boot and putting himself amongst the top 25 in chips. After chicken&boot opened for 4,000 and Underoath57 flat-called, dorinvandy made it 14,400 to go. Chicken&boot four-bet to 30,400, Underoath57 got out of the way, and dorinvandy moved all in for 139,415. Chicken&boot called, his [Ah][Qh] in dire shape against dorinvandy’s [As][Ad]. The board ran out [Js][5d][2s][6c][8d] and dorinvandy scored a double-up to over 286,000 in chips.
3:41am–Leo Fernandez, Alexandre Gomes Eliminated
They call them “ace magnets” and right now, Leo Fernandez could tell you why. On a flop of[As][8c][3d], SJMags checked to Fernandez, who bet 3,200. SJMags raised to 9,600, Fernandez moved all in for 23,107, and SJMags called, turning up [Ad][3s] to Fernandez’s [Kd][Ks]. No miracle for Fernandez on the [4c] turn or the [9c] river and he exited in 365th place.
Moments later, Alexandre Gomes’ tournament life was on the line after getting all 84,000 of his chips in the middle before the flop holding [Ad][Qc] against Empire2000’s [Ac][Kd]. Though both players flopped an ace, Gomes couldn’t pair his kicker and ended his run in 351st place.
3:28am–Momentum on djk123’s side
Daniel “djk123″ Kelly already has a WCOOP bracelet, having won the $215 Razz event. He’s currently fifth in chips with ten players remaining in the $10,300 H.O.R.S.E. event, and only moments ago, doubled up in the Main Event in dramatic fashion. After M@d@M@d@D@ne opened for 4,000, Kelly three-bet to 9,800 only to be met with a shove, M@d@M@d@D@ne having him covered. Kelly made the call for his remaining 48,000 turning over [Qh][Qd] to M@d@M@d@D@ne’s [Jd][9d]. The flop was an unbelievable [Qs][Jh][9c], Kelly hitting top set while M@d@M@d@D@ne flopped bottom two pair. The turn was the [7d], the river was the [3c] and Kelly took down the monster pot, his stack soaring to 174,135.
3:26am–Elsewhere in WCOOP
There are two other WCOOP events trying to finish up tonight. The $10,300 HORSE event has ten players remaining, including Noah “Exclusive” Boeken and Chad Brown.
Meanwhile, the $215 NLHE contest is down to 24 players, among them ElkY and Victor Ramdin.
3:19am–So long, Ylon
As we near the bubble, we must bid goodbye to Ylon Schwartz. His pocket nines couldn’t outrun pocket queens, all-in pre-flop. He’s out in 370th place.
3:11am–The S.S. “Princesa” Sinks
Veronica “Princesa” Dabul opened for 4,200 from early position and got a call from buck21. Dabul check-called a 6,700 bet on the [Qd][Jc][Th] flop, then checked again when the [Jh] hit the turn. Buck21 bet 11,980, Dabul moved all in for 37,250 and buck21 called. Though Dabul had turned trip jacks with [Ah][Jd], buck21 hit a full house with [Qs][Js]. The river was the [Ts], making Dabul an inferior boat and she ended her evening in 428th place.
3:08am–Salles crashes
Team PokerStars Pro from Brazil Gualter Salles had a chance to triple up with pocket nines all-in against A-K and A-Q. Both the queen and ace fell and Salles was eliminated ini 396th place.
3:00am–Break leaders and numbers
Level 18
Blinds 800/1,600, antes 200
Players remaining: 395 (of 2,144 entered)
Average chip count: 108,556
First prize: $1,715,200
2. Jan Heitman — 456,687
63. Ylon Schwartz — 178,603
2:55am–Orel Hershiser doubles
Entering short-stack territory with 26,323 in chips, Orel Hershiser called Sussie Smith’s opening raise to 3,025 along with DTA4, and all three players checked the [7c][7d][3c] flop. The turn came the [Ks] and Hershiser and Sussie Smith checked to DTA4, who bet 7,000. Both Hershiser and Sussie Smith called. When the [9c] hit the river, Hershiser moved in for his remaining 16,123 in chips. After a long tank, Sussie Smith folded, and Hershiser collected the pot, taking his stack up to 48,473.
2:51am–New chip leader breaks 500,000
We have a new chip leader and he’s the first person to break the half-million mark. Sitting over at Table 18, iggymcfly has 507,000, a 50,000 lead on second place Jan Heitmann.
2:50am–Dani “supernova9″ Stern eliminated
High-stakes cash gamer and budding reality TV star Dani “supernova9″ Stern was probably looking to take this pot down before the flop, but instead ran into a monster in the big blind. With the action folded to him on the button, Stern shoved for 19,498 holding [Kd][8s], but ran into 00’s’ [Js][Jh] in the big blind. Stern couldn’t improve on the [7h][7s][2s][9c][Td] board and ended his WCOOP run in 424th place.
2:42am–Vanessa Rousso eliminated
Vanessa Rousso was being patient and waiting on a hand with which to double up. She got it all in with pocket jacks versus pocket kings.
And she was drawing dead on the flop.
Her opponent, alexos888 flopped quads and Rousso was out in 421st place.
2:27am–Chad Brown eliminated
Chad Brown’s hopes for a WCOOP title now hinge on the $10,300 H.O.R.S.E., as he was just eliminated from the Main Event. After Justin “Boosted J” Smith opened for 3,200 from early position, Brown moved all in for 30,526 and his old nemesis reddeevil called. Smith got out of the way and the cards went on their backs, [Qd][Ks] for Brown and [Ad][Kh] for reddeevil. Though both players caught top pair on the turn, Brown was in kicker trouble and exited in 492nd place. In the H.O.R.S.E. event, however, he’s in ninth place with 15 players remaining.
2:24am–Heitmann continues to run good, re-takes chip lead
Jan Heitmann is proving he can win in just about any way. He can win with monsters, win on coinflips, and win when he is behind. The most recent example came when he won a pot worth more than 130,000 with pocket queens all-in pre-flop against pocket kings. He flopped his queen and ended up with queens full by the river. He now has 430,000 and has been joined by Katja Thater at his table. She is sitting on 80,000.
2:21am–shaundeeb, joiso eliminated
Perpetual TLB topper Shaun Deeb was just eliminated after an attempt to move his opponent off a pot on the turn. Deeb checked the [Qc][Qh][4h] flop over to mysterio6044, who bet 4,250. Deeb raised to 11,424 and mysterio6044 made the call. When the [7s] hit the turn, Deeb moved all in for his remaining 28,565 and mysterio6044 snap-called, turning over [Qd][Jd] for trip queens. Deeb had a flush draw with [Ah][Jh], but couldnt fill it on the river, the [Ts] falling to send him to the rail in 537th place.
Also meeting his tournament end in the last few minutes was Alexander “joiso” Kostritsyn, who got his money in with [9d][9s] against Veronica “Princesa” Dabul’s [As][3s]. Dabul flopped the nut flush, however and Kostritsyn’s tournament came to an end in 527th place
2:17am–Dankes all around
Word of Jan Heitmann’s early performance is spreading. People are showing up in the chat bar with as many well-wishes as he can handle. Each one of them is getting a “Danke” in response.
2:08pm–New chip leader firing at 400,000
The WCOOP main event has a new chip leader. Over at table 132, slammedfire is sitting on 394,000. He happens to be sitting across the table from Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso who is trying to work with 23,000 stack and Team PokerStars Pro Brazil Gualter Salles on 40,000.
2:02am–Brown’s down (but not out)
Chad Brown may be happy to chat with his pal Orel Hershiser now that he’s taken a seat over at Table 2, but he wasn’t too pleased with what happened in this hand, where he lost more than half his chips. Hobbes200 was the initial raiser, opening for 3,000, both Brown and reddeevil making the call. Hobbes200 led out for 6,600 on the [Jd][Ts][8d] flop and both opponents called. When the [2d] hit the turn, both Hobbes200 and Brown checked to reddeevil, who bet 20,000. Hobbes200 folded, but Brown made the call. Borwn checked the [4s] on the river, reddeevil bet another 20,000 and Brown called, only to see reddeevil’s king-high flush with [Kd][Td]. Brown mucked, his stack down to 39,000 while reddeevil climber to over 154,000.
2:00am–Heitmann continues to lead at break
Level 16
Blinds 600/1,200, antes 150
Players remaining: 536 (of 2,144 entered)
Average chip count: 80,000
First prize: $1,715,200
Maria Mayrinck — 657th
Steve Paul-Ambrose — 760th
Dennis Phillips — 800th
Hevad Khan — 864th
Boris Becker — 982nd
ElkY — 1007nd
Humberto Brenes — 1,012nd
Vicky Coren– 1,107th
Ivan Demidov — 1152nd
Grant Levy — 1206th
Noah “Exclusive” Boeken — 1284th
Gavin Griffin — 1323rd
Jason Mercier — 1519th
Tom McEvoy — 1609th
Andre Akkari — 1635th
Victor Ramdin — 1676th
1:50am–Kostristyn crumbles
Once up to nearly 100,000, Alexander “joiso” Kostritsyn just saw most of his stack evaporate on a single hand. Holding 55,800 in chips, he opened to 2,300 and bluffdeez503 three-bet to 6,275. Joiso came back with a reraise to 13,400 only to have bluffdeez503 move all in for 39,786. Joiso made the call, his [Ac][Qc] up against [Ks][Kc]. The board ran out [Jh][8d][9d][4c][Jc], bluffdeez503 raking in the nearly 82,000 pot, leaving Kostritsyn on the short stack with 15,900 in chips.
1:41am–Turner squeezes, Heitmann gets the juice
It really did seem like a good time to squeeze. There’s no questioning Jon “PearlJammer” Turner’s move. After seeing a raise and chip leader Jan Heitmann call, Turner pushed from the small blind all-in for 22,472. The original raiser folded, but Heitmann called for an additional 20,000.
Turner held [8d] [7d] and Heitmann turned over [Ac][Jc]. Turner was fortunate. He turned a straight on a [2c] [6c] [9d] [Th] board. Then the squeeze went wrong when the [Tc] came on the river to give Heitmann the flush.
Heitmann now has 375,000.
1:39am–Thater triples
Within the space of two hands, Katja Thater has managed to triple her stack. After a raise from rondalf, a three-bet from eirivi and a four-bet from PokerNoob999, Thater shoved for her remaining 19,752. The first two raisers folded and PokerNoob999 called an additional 3,200, his hand caught in the proverbial cookie jar with [6d][9d]. Thater’s [Ad][Kc] held up and she more than doubled to 47,900. On the next hand she added another 14,000 to her stack after three-betting all in on the turn, the board reading [Ac][8h][3d][Qc]. Her opponent, rondalf, folded and Thater took her stack up to 61,000.
1:27am–Deeb slips, gboro780 down
Down to 15,606 in chips, Steve “gboro780″ Gross moved all in over the top of petteytheft’s opening raise and earned a call. Though gboro780 had the dominating hand with [As][Kd] against [Ah][Qs], a queen flopped, ending gboro780’s WCOOP hopes.
Meanwhile, Shaun Deeb’s chip count took a huge hit tumbling from 135,000 to 53,000 after this cooler of a hand against skier_5.
1:20am–Heitmann has an acute case of Run Good
In just the past few minutes, Team PokerStars Pro Jan Heitmann has moved up over the 330,000 chip mark. First he made a pair of jacks stand up against a pair of fives (and got paid). Then he stacked another player after turning fours full of nines against a player who made a flush on the river.
1:00am–Break time numbers
Level 14
Blinds 500/1,000, antes 150
Players remaining: 693 (of 2,144 entered)
Average chip count: 61,875
First prize: $1,715,200
Steve Paul-Ambrose — 760th
Dennis Phillips — 800th
Hevad Khan — 864th
Boris Becker — 982nd
ElkY — 1007nd
Humberto Brenes — 1,012nd
Vicky Coren– 1,107th
Ivan Demidov — 1152nd
Grant Levy — 1206th
Noah “Exclusive” Boeken — 1284th
Gavin Griffin — 1323rd
Jason Mercier — 1519th
Tom McEvoy — 1609th
Andre Akkari — 1635th
Victor Ramdin — 1676th
12:56am–Terrence Chan runs into rivered two-outer…and is out
Recent WCOOP bracelet winner Terrence Chan came in for a raise to 2,000 and Belebacsi re-raised to 5,250 from the button. Chan called and they saw a flop of [5c] [4d] [Ad]. Both players checked. On a turn of the [5h], Chan bet out 6,400 and got a call. The river was the [Kd]. Chan bet 14,400, Belabacsi moved all in for 58,643 total. Chan snap-called with [5s] [As] for fives full of aces. Unfortunately for Chan, Belabacsi had [Kh][Kc] and Chan is gone.
12:53am–No one believes shaundeeb
Shaun Deeb’s reputation as a hyper-agressive player just paid off big time for him. After deamon10 opened for 1,850 from middle position, Deeb put in a reraise to 5,353 from the button. Perhaps not concvinced of the strength of Deeb’s hand, deamon10 moved all in for 28,891 and Deeb insta-called, turning over [As][Kc] to deamon10’s [6s][7s]. The flop gave both players a sweat, coming down [Ks][Qh][3s], Deeb hitting top pair while deamon10 had a flush draw. He couldn’t fill it on the turn or river, however, the [Ac] and the [9h] falling to send him to the rail. Deeb raked in the pot and is now on a very comfortable 97,458 in chips.
Watching from the rail, two-time WCOOP bracelet winner Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo offered this bit of analysis.
g0lfa said, “no one ever believes”
12:39am–Magician Jan Heitmann = New chip leader
If you’ve never seen Team PokerStars Pro Jan Heitmann perform an impromptu magic show, we highly recommend it. We watched one at a bar late night in Monte Carlo a couple of years back and are still pretty amazed. Perhaps more amazing is what we just witnessed in the WCOOP main event. He just managed to pull three rabbits out of a hat on one hand. Jack rabbbits, to be precise.
When hoodini10 came in for a raise, Heitmann bumped it again to 4,500. His opponent called and they saw a flop of [Jc] [Jd] [3h]. Heitmann led at it for 9,300, hoodini10 raised to 23,500, Heitmann made it 58,000 and hoodini10 pusked all in for another astounding 100,000. Heitmann made the call and turned over [Jh] [As]. Hoodini10 held an unfortunate [9s][9h]. With a king on the turn and the case jack on the river, Heitmann won a monster and moved into the chip lead with 286,000.
12:38am–Dennis Phillips eliminated
So often in this game, we live by the river and die by the river. Unfortunately, the latter just happened to everyone’s favorite St. Louis Cardinals fan, Dennis Phillips. Phillips got the rest of his chips in on the turn holding [Ac][Kc] with the board reading [Ks][Qc][4s][8c] and got a call from JBT449 with [Kh][Th]. The [Td], however cruelly spiked on the river, to end Phillips’ WCOOP Main Event run in 800th place.
12:34am– Tran claims another big name
J.C. Tran has his sights set on another big finish. He just put another big name in the elimination column. His flopped set of fours just beat Nenad Medic’s pocket eights. They got it all in on a jack-high flop. Tran is up above 160,000 chips and currently sits in 14th place.
12:22am– Dwan down, former champion Tran up
Superstar Tom Dwan has an exceptionally active past two hours, and it’s ended in his demise. Starting with nearly 35,000 in chips, he called a raise from former WCOOP champion J.C. Tran. The flop came down [Kc][Th][6h]. Tran bet out 3,000 and Dwan raised to 9,160. Tran moved all-in and Dwan called for his last 23,000. Tran held [Td] [Ks] to Dwan’s…gulp…[As] [Ac]. Tran rivered an unnecessary ten for the full house. Dwan went out 873rd. Tran, meanwhile, is in 20th place with 48,000.
12:20am–Barry Greenstein bites the dust
We’re unsure if he had his laptop on a food tray while multitabling in a live cash game, but Barry Greenstein just played his last hand in the WCOOP Main Event. Greenstein opened for 1,600 from earnly position and reloadthis called from the big blind. The flop came down [Ks][4s][3s] and reloadthis check-called a 2.400 bet from Greenstein. The turn came the [Ad] and reloadthis checked over to Greenstein, who bet 4,800. Reloadthis raised to 17,400 and Greenstein called all in, turning up [Kc][Kh] for a set of kings while reloadthis showed [As][Th] for top pair and the nut flush draw. The [5s] on the river was a disaster for Greenstein, reloadthis hitting his flush to take down the pot and end Barry’s WCOOP run.
12:11am–Schwartz ahead, behind
Team PokerStars Pro Ylon Schwartz just managed to get [Jd] [Jc] all-in pre-flop versus cantbeat’s [Jh] [As]. The board ran out [5d] [Ac] [Td] [5s] [4c] and Schwartz fell below 80,000 in chips. Meanwhile, cantbeat got himself back up over 35,000.
12:08am–Recent eliminations
Here’s a quick look at some notable eliminations from the last hour:
8. Jan Heitman –149.565
69. Chad Brown — 95,400
71. Ylon Schwartz — 94,308
Team PokerStars Pros Eliminated:
Boris Becker — 982nd
ElkY — 1007nd
Humberto Brenes — 1,012nd
Vicky Coren– 1,107th
Ivan Demidov — 1152nd
Grant Levy — 1206th
Noah “Exclusive” Boeken — 1284th
Gavin Griffin — 1323rd
Jason Mercier — 1519th
Tom McEvoy — 1609th
Andre Akkari — 1635th
Victor Ramdin — 1676th
11:50pm–joiso nabs 48k pot with river shove
Alexander “joiso” Kostritsyn had quite the late night last night on his way to his runner-up finish in WCOOP Event #42, $2,100 8-Game. Now, after only a precious few hours sleep, he’s sitting on a robust 80,000 stack in the Main Event, a good portion of it acquired on this hand.
With the action folded to him on the button, joiso made a standard raise to 1,800. MrTile three-bet to 5,000 from the small blind and joiso called. MrTile led out for 6,500 on the [Tc][5h][3c] flop and joiso smooth-called. The turn camed the [Qc] and MrTile fired out again, this time for 12,000. Again, joiso called and they went to the river, which fell the [3d]. MrTile checked, joiso moved all in for 33,212 on the river and after a lengthy think, MrTile folded, conceding the pot to joiso, who increased his stack to 81,442.
She says, “CURSES. I flop a set for the first time in 147 years, against someone who can’t pass a flush draw. Grr. WCOOP over for another year.”
11:30pm– dorinvandy puts the pressure on
Last year’s WCOOP $10K High Roller champion Scott “dorinvandy” Dorin just scored himself a near-double up after putting his opponent to a decision for more than half his stack on the river. Baletta opened for a min-raise before the flop, dorinvandy flat-called from the small blind and toniQ78 made a small raise to 3,000 from the big blind. Both baletta and dorinvandy called. The flop came down [Jc][8h][2s], dorinvandy checking over the toniQ78, who bet 5,000. Baletta got out of the way and dorinvandy called. Dorinvandy checked against when the [5d] hit the turn and toniQ78 fired again for 9,000. Dorinvandy min-raised to 18,000 and earned a call. The river was the [Qd]. No checking this time, as dorinvandy moved all in for his remaining 17,821, sending toniQ78 into the tank. After letting nearly two minutes tick off his time bank, toniQ78 folded and dorinvandy raked in the pot, taking his stack up to 73,361.
11:25pm–Dwan sinking
Tom Dwan is one the way down and now has just over his starting stack. This tough hand was what started the downslide.
11:20pm– AJKHoosier1 eliminated
Sitting on 18,954 in chips and facing an opening raise from FeiteFrank and a reraise from floes, AJKHoosier1 went for the four-bet shove, most likely hoping to pick up the pot right there. Though FeiteFrank gave up his hand, floes made the call, his [Ac][Kd] dominating AJKHoosier1’s [Kh][Jd]. No help on the board for AJKHoosier1 and he hit the rail while floes doubled up to 40,578.
10:58pm–Break time numbers
Level 11
Blinds 250/500, antes 60
Players remaining: 1,145 (of 2,144 entered)
Average chip count: 37,449
First prize: $1,715,200
49. Chad Brown — 88,615
52. Ylon Schwartz — 87,862
Team PokerStars Pros Eliminated:
Ivan Demidov — 1152nd
Grant Levy — 1206th
Noah “Exclusive” Boeken — 1284th
Gavin Griffin — 1323rd
Jason Mercier — 1519th
Tom McEvoy — 1609th
Andre Akkari — 1635th
Victor Ramdin — 1676th
10:54pm–Dennis Phillips doubles through Brian “tsarrast” Rast
Dennis Phillips has been short-stacked on a tough table for some time now, having to contend with ComeOnPhish seated to his right and Brian “tsarrast” Rast on his left. Down to 6,605 in chips, he mada a move, shoving from UTG+1 after gibralter11 limped in for 500. Tsarrast moved all in for nearly 26,000 behind him and the rest of the table folded, leaving Phillips heads-up with Rast for all his chips. It was the [Ah][Kd] for Phillips against Rast’s [As][Qs], the board running out [Jc][4s][2h][2s][3h] to put Phillips in healthier territory with 14,490 in chips.
10:45– Notables in the Top 50
Now more than five hours into the tournament, we’re starting to see some notable names in the top 50.
With the action folded to him on the button, ZeeJustin made it 1,050 to go and was met wiht a three-bet to 2,400 from pleasepick in the small blind. ZeeJustin called and they saw a [Kc][Jh][3h] flop. Pleasepick checked to ZeeJustin, who bet 2,000, then raised all in for the 6,493 he had behind. ZeeJustin made the call, his [Kd][Js] having outflopped pleasepick’s [Kh][Qh]. Pleasepick was looking for a queen or a heart on the turn or river to survive, but missed his outs, the [2c] and the [Ad] falling to send him to the rail. ZeeJustin raked in the pot, taking his stack up to over 109,000, good for the top ten in chips.
10:22pm–RaSZi rising up the leaderboard
Team PokerStars pro Lex “RaSZi” Veldhuis is currently sitting on over $52K in chips, looking to improve on a solid run in the WSOP $40K NLHE Event this summer. Despite being eliminated by fellow Team PokerStars pro Greg Raymer in that event, Veldhuis banked $277,940 in the event and has been a welcome addition to the PokerStars family.
While typing this up, RaSZi snagged a 9,050-chip pot and is now up to 56,725.
Team PokerStars Pro Holland Lex “RaSZi” Veldhuis
10:17pm–Up and down for Unassigned
Moments after that hand with 10Gunman, Terrence “Unassigned” Chan was suddenly knocked back down to less than 14,000 after losing a preflop all-in race with booboobutt. In that hand, Chan’s pocket queens fell to booboobutt’s Big Slick when an ace fell on the turn.
Then, on the very next hand, Chan doubled back up to 28,334 in a hand versus Sumpas. Sumpas had raised preflop from the button with [Ac][5s], and Chan called from the big blind holding [3h][5h]. Chan would manage to turn a heart flush, and when Sumpas rivered trip aces, he’d pay off Chan’s all-in bet.
10:10pm–Chan stares down 10Gunman, lives to tell tale
10Gunman raised to 900 from UTG, and Terrence “Unassigned” Chan called from the button. The flop came [7s][5s][Jc]. 10Gunman bet 1,800, and Chan called. Both checked the [4h] turn.
The river brought the [Tc]. This time 10Gunman bet 3,300, and Chan raised to 12,000. 10Gunman thought a moment, then let it go.
Chan has chipped back up to 34,175.
10:00pm–Chip counts at five-hour mark
Level 9
Blinds 150/300, antes 40
Players remaining: 1,462 (of 2,144 entered)
Average chip count: 29,329
First prize: $1,715,200
Team PokerStars Pros in Top 100:
80. Chad Brown — 60,752
Team PokerStars Pros Eliminated:
Jason Mercier — 1519th
Tom McEvoy — 1609th
Andre Akkari — 1635th
Victor Ramdin — 1676th
9:49pm–Looking for chips down under
New Team PokerStars Pro Emad Tahtouh is currently sitting on 28,753 chips out on Table 71.
The Australian pro is no stranger to big events, having final tabled in the 2006 WSOP $5K PLH event for $71K, finished runner-up to fellow Team PokerStars Pro Vicky Coren in the 2006 3,500 British Pound NLHE EPT London event for $538,357, and earned a fifth-place finish in the 2007 APPT Macau High Roller event for $64K.
Emad’s bright smile here is just to retrieve your chips
9:45pm–Dang river cripples dangodokodang
Player dangdokodang just lost a race with pocket queens against !AAelTigre’s [Jd][Ac] when an ace fell on the river.
That hand leaves dangdokodang with just 8,675 chips as we approach the next break — a steep hill to climb for the winner of WCOOP Event #14 ($320 Mixed Hold’em) to get back into contention.
9:39pm–ElkY gets the shocker
ElkY just got his stack sliced in half by the shocker icon’d goodvibe1 after rivering a wheel to goodvibe1’s superior hand. Watch ElkY turn into the aggressor post-flop in the video below, but he was unable to catch up to goodvibe’s turned flush:
We were reporting earlier T1ckT0ck’s speculations about what could be done with that $1.7 million-plus first prize. Since then, T1ckT0ck has steadily built a sizable stack, making the prospects of actually having to make such a decision marginally more likely. Still a long, long way to go, though.
After taking three pots of more than 25,000 in quick succession just now, T1ckT0ck is now up to 157,349 — the only player with more than 100,000 at the moment.
9:17pm–Big slick does the trick for Bonomo
Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo raised to 750 (3x) from under the gun, and it folded around to nanonoko who reraised all in for 4,962 total. Others got out of the way, and Bonomo called, showing [Ks][Ac] to nanonoko’s [Tc][Td].
The flop came [2h][Kd][8d], putting Bonomo in front. The turn was the [9c] and river the [Qh], and nanonoko said “gg” while hitting the virtual rail.
Bonomo is now up to 56,177.
9:12pm–Poker: The only place you’ll find an “I” in team
With the blinds 125/250 (ante 30), Team PokerStars pro Gavin Griffin led out by raising UTG to 625. It folded around to fellow Team PokerStars pro Chad Brown who called in the small blind, and both saw a [Jh][5h][8d] flop. Griffin pushed out a 1,250 chip bet after Brown checked, and after a few blinking icons, Brown made the call.
The [8c] came on the turn. Again Brown checked, and Gavin fired a 3,000 bullet into the pot. This time Brown wasted no time check-raising to 6,000 total. Griffin mucked quickly as Brown scooped up the 10K pot.
Brown is currently at 50,771 chips and Gavin Griffin holding at 23,340.
Gavin proudly displaying his PokerStars colors
9:03pm–Chip counts at four-hour mark
Level 7
Blinds 100/200, antes 25
Players remaining: 1,718 (of 2,144 entered)
Average chip count: 24,959
First prize: $1,715,200
Team PokerStar Pros Eliminations:
John Duthie — 1847th place
J.C. Alvarado — 1856th place
Chris Moneymaker — 1881st place
Joe Hachem — 1992nd place
Daniel Negreanu — 2012nd place
8:49pm–vince vegas sends Str8$$$Homey straight home
Str8$$$Homey just tangled again with vince vegas, and it didn’t go so well for the WCOOP bracelet holder. With the board showing [4s][5s][9h][3h][Qh] and 6,225 in the middle, Str8$$$Homey bet 4,000, leaving just 5,600 behind, then vince vegas raised to 10,000 — enough to put Str8$$$Homey all in.
Str8$$$Homey went into the tank. “Show?” he asked vince vegas, who offered no response. Finally Str8$$$Homey made the call with his [5c][5d] for a set of fives. Alas, vince vegas had [2h][4h] for the rivered flush, and Str8$$$Homey is out.
vince vegas now has more than 83,000 — good enough for fourth place at the moment.
8:37pm–Jacks really are okay for Coren
Team PokerStars Pro Vicky Coren has fallen back to 9,000 chips but found a few laying on the table in a hand against foxdadou. After Coren raised to 600 with the blinds at 100/200 ante 25, Foxdadou took the small blind discount and called to see a [5d] [5h] [6c] flop. Coren bet 800 after foxdadou checked, and the small blind made the call.
The [5c] came on the turn and both players checked. The river brought the [7c] which got foxdadou to lead out for 1,200. After a quick thought, Coren made the call with pocket jacks [Jc][Jh] on the draw heavy board. It was the right decision, as foxdadou only produced [Jd][7c], sending the 5,625-chip pot to the Team PokerStars Pro.
Coren sitting with a few more chips at the WSOP
8:31pm–Don’t I know you from somewhere?
We were just checking over at Table 164, where TheMasterJ33 has taken the chip lead in the tourney with 86,767. The conversation there, however, wasn’t about TheMasterJ33’s progress thus far, but about another player — jcada99.
Player D.K.5 just asked “you’re the guy that made it to the main event final table??” “ya,” answered jcada99.
Indeed, that’s Joseph Cada, the 21-year-old from Michigan who will be in fifth place at the start of November’s final table at this year’s World Series of Poker Main Event. In other words, in better shape than Cada currently is in this tourney, where he’s short-stacked at the moment with less than 14,000.
8:22pm–Barry finds a stacked table
Team PokerStarsPro Barry “barryg1″ Greenstein has a few new friends out on Table 20. Hikkespett has a Sunday Million final table to credit. Online pro Jason “JasonGray” Gray who is spotted regularly at EPT events, and Scarer who is currently in the top 25 in chips as we move into blinds of 100/200 with 25 antes (Level 7).
8:15pm–g0lfa sent to clubhouse
Two-time 2009 WCOOP bracelet winner Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo had a rough afternoon, and found himself down to just 6,230 near the end of Level 6 when the following hand took place.
Player erichuaongdu opened with a raise to 450 from middle position, and it folded to g0lfa who called from the big blind. The flop came [5d][Ad][7c]. g0lfa bet 550, erichuongdu raised to 1,500, g0lfa reraised to 4,500, erichuongdu shoved all in, and g0lfa called with his remaining 1,260 chips.
g0lfa showed [Jd][Td] for the flush draw, while erichuongdu turned over [6d][4d] for a lesser flush draw plus an open-ended straight draw. The turn was the [2c] and g0lfa was still good. But the river brought the [3h], giving erichuongdu the straight and prompting the following post-hand analysis from g0lfa:
No third WCOOP bracelet for D'Angelo. Meanwhile, erichuongdu now has 24,778.
8:10pm--iCeVeNoM looking for more
The recent winner of WCOOP's Event #17 Triple Shootout Saul "iCeVeNoM" Khalili was 8th in chips at the third break and looking to add on to the $90,000 he won at Event #17. Check out his winner's interview here.
Saul "iCeVeNoM" Khalili
8:06pm--A long way to go
A little while ago over at Table 181, xoxol73 just asked the rest of the table "how many levels do we play today?"
The answer to that question is 22 one-half hour levels, with the survivors then returning tomorrow afternoon (Monday) at which point they'll play until just one has all of the chips -- all 42,880,000 of them!
8:00pm--Chip counts at three-hour mark
Level 6
Blinds 75/150, antes 20
Players remaining: 1,908 (of 2,144 entered)
Average chip count: 22,473
First prize: $1,715,200
25. Friend of Team PokerStars Orel Hershiser -- 52,433
7:50pm--No limit to the fun
Terrence "Unassigned" Chan just took a couple of decent-sized pots in a row to bounce back to 17,665 after having taken that hit earlier when simmsux made quad jacks against him. Afterwards, Chan, who has two SCOOP titles and one WCOOP title -- all three in limit hold'em events -- expressed some confusion afterwards:
Unassigned said, "sorry, what's going on here?"
Unassigned said, "i figured the main event had to be a lhe event. do ppl play other games?"
7:45pm--ElkY slowly chips up to 30K mark
Better known for his aggressive play and wild swinging chip stack, ElkY is finding the fold button once or twice tonight and has slowly crept up to a 30K chip stack with timely bets as the blinds are hovering at 75/150 with the introduction of 20 chip antes at the moment.
Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier as Mr. Conservative checking out the table
7:38pm--Hearts in action
Thanks to our crack research department we've found the mysterious results of Team PokerStars Pro Holland Joep van den Bijgaart's bust out hand. Apparently some hearts were broken as Bijgaart got involved in a three way all-in when all three players flopped a heart flush on this flop: [Ah] [6h] [5h]
The 75K pot went to MaxErosAmor who is currently second in chips as the blinds hold steady at 60/120.
Bijgaart had this to say about the hand:
“I just can’t put the guy on a king-high flush. I was 100% sure he would reraise that on the turn or something because there are so many bad cards for him to come.”
7:31pm–LadyMaverick hits her draw
Team PokerStars pro Vanessa “LadyMaverick” Rousso opened with a raise to 299 from middle position, and a short-stacked Shantaram called from the big blind.
The flop came [Kh][9s][6h]. Shantaram checked, Rousso bet 480, then Shantaram pushed all in for 3,487 total. Rousso made the call, showing [8h][7h] for an open-ended straight draw plus a flush draw. Shantaram turned over [Kd][8d] for a top pair of kings.
THe turn was the [Ts], giving Rousso her straight, and when the river came the [Qd], Shantaram was out. Rousso is now just over the 30,000-chip mark.
Yes, LadyMaverick was that happy to hit her draw
7:24pm–Str8$$$Homey looks for better spot
Str8$$$Homey, winner of 2009 WCOOP Event #23 ($320 NLHE, 10-min. levels), opened with a raise to 360 from early position, then vince vegas reraised to 960 behind. It folded back around to Str8$$$Homey who called.
The flop came [9s][8d][Qd]. Str8$$$Homey checked, vince vegas continued for 1,560, and Str8$$$Homey skedaddled. Str8$$$Homey now has 23,975, while vince vegas is hovering just below the top ten with 54,927.
7:18pm–New Main Event champ to be crowned
On ckingusc’s table Zak0707 raised to 300 with the blinds at 50/100 as ckingusc flat called as did both blinds xaroCjes and PureCash25 to see the [3s] [8s] [Kd] flop. Both blinds checked their option as Zak0707 bet 1,000 chips and ckingusc pushed his depleted stack of 6,620 in the middle.
Zak0707 was then check-raised by xaroCjes all in for 14,080. Zak0707 didn’t like the hand much anymore and folded as xaroCjes exposes big slick [Ks] [Ac] and ckingusc had the nut flush draw [As] [Qs]. The defending champ had to watch the board brick out [8c] on the turn and [Kh] river and finished the event in 2031st place.
7:13pm–romashka55 rises, Danzer down… and out
Team PokerStars Pro George Danzer kept mixing it up through the first four levels, and as Level 5 began found himself back down to 16,790 when the following hand took place.
zivziv raised to 300 from middle position, th9nip called, then romashka55 reraised to 1700 from the button. Danzer repopped it to 5,250 from the small blind, and it folded back around to romashka55 who shoved all in. Danzer called with his remaining chips.
GeorgeDanzer: [Qh][Ah]
romashka55: [Ks][Kd]
The board came [5c][8d][9d][8c][4c], and Danzer is an early casualty, out in 2,026th place. romashka55 now has 33,925.
7:08pm–Not something you see every day
Out on Team PokerStars Pro Noah Boeken’s Table #199 is something this author hasn’t seen at PokerStars before. bluffblocker is one of the few Supernova Elite which a player earns by acquiring one million VPPs in a calendar year which opens to prizes such as free entries into live events and… the WCOOP Main Event. bluffblocker is currently at 20,151 chips and winning $1.7 in a freeroll wouldn’t be half bad now would it?
7:01pm–Chip counts at two-hour mark
Level 5
Blinds 60/120, antes 15
Players remaining: 2,040 (of 2,144 entered)
Average chip count: 21,019
First prize: $1,715,200
26. Friend of Team PokerStars Orel Hershiser — 43,012
57. Team PokerStars pro Chad Brown — 38,252
6:57pm–Early innings strong for Hershiser
Friend of Team PokerStars Orel Hershiser has been building up nicely here in the early going, more than doubling his starting stack. Just now, with the blinds 40/80, he opened with a huge raise to 640 and got a caller in diablo17172 from the button and stessse from the big blind.
The flop came [2s][5h][Ac]. It checked to Hershiser who bet 960, and only stesse called. Both checked the [Ah] turn. The river then brought the [5d]. stessse checked, Hershiser again bet 960, and stessse called.
Hershiser showed [Kh][Ks] for kings and aces, and stessse mucked. A few hands after that one, the former Cy Young Award winner was up over 44,000.
6:48pm–Seed planted a cooler
Watch below as Supernova Seed85 take a huge pot of Zak0707 when both of them make a hand on the [Qd] [Td] [4s] flop:
RSS readers click through to see replay
And with the set over set Seed85 doubled up to over 47K as Zak0707 slid back to 33K in chips.
6:35pm–Chatting with Chan
Terrence “Unassigned” Chan, who followed up his stunning two-bracelets-in-one-day performance at last spring’s SCOOP event with yet another victory in the 2009 WCOOP Event #39 ($1,050 6-max. LHE), took a seat in this one late in Level 2. Soon after his arrival came this exhange with a tablemate:
TheMatadorCC said, “unassigned, thoughts on other chans?”
Unassigned said, “there are others?”
TheMatadorCC said, “how was being in rounders?”
Unassigned said, “it was good, except they cut out my love scene with famke janssen”
TheMatadorCC said, “ah unlucky”
TheMatadorCC said, “what did you have against mike, did you just think he was a stupid tourist?
Unassigned said, “actually it was just that i got paged by my relaxation therapist and had to go”
TheMatadorCC said, “oh i see”
A railbird tried to inform everyone at the table TheMatadorCC was thinking of Johnny, not Terrence, but it seemed clear everyone understood the joke.
The joking quickly ended, though, when Chan found himself was involved in this big hand versus simmsux which resulted in Chan — a.k.a. “Unassigned” — losing nearly half his stack. Take a look:
RSS readers click through to see replay
6:31pm–Defending champ takes a hit
Zak0707 opened for 240 with the blinds at 40/80 as ckingusc and ffplaya22 came along for the [9s] [7h] [4s] flop. Zak0707 led out for 650 chips as ckingusc flat called while ffplaya22 took a phone call. On the [9h] turn Zak0707 increased to a 2,000 chip bet as ckingusc covered and pushed Zak0707 all-in minus 50 chips. Zak0707 would call all-in exposing [7s] [7d] for the turned boat while ckingusc held [8h] [6h] for the turned open ended straight flush draw.
The two outs did not hit on the [8s] river as Zak0707 doubled up with the 18,880 chip pot and the defending champ went down to 10,370 chips.
6:25pm–Bloggers = Coolers
All was fine until they broke down the table Joep van den Bijgaart (WSOP interview found here) was at, then looked up to see he finished in 2089th place. Maybe next year will be luckier for the new Holland pro.
6:16pm–Team Holland Represents, Bijgaart over the starting stack
Newly anointed Team PokerStars Pro Holland Joep van den Bijgaart also known as “Pappe_Ruk” is currently sitting on 22,560 as the first break hit. Shown below at the WSOP this summer is looking to improve on the final table he had at the $1,500 Limit Hold Em’ Shootout event and to get more people to be able to pronounce his name correctly.
Bijgaart still pondering why people can’t pronounce his name, but takes their chips the same
6:11pm–What would you do?
With the prize pool having been settled, players over at Table 19 are discussing that gawdy first prize of $1,715,200:
T1ckT0ck said, “what would you guys do with 1.7mill?”
Markush13 said, “lol”
WhatArunAA said, “put it with the rest”
Markush13 said, “+1″
Markush13 said, ” “
rsxpunk said, “buy a rocket car”
rsxpunk said, “and a golden house”
T1ckT0ck said, “i’d go buy me some gum”
T1ckT0ck said, “cause my breath smells like onions”
T1ckT0ck said, “just had a fajita”
T1ckT0ck said, “then donate the rest”
WhatArunAA said, “id donate it all to church”
T1ckT0ck said, “yeah”
WhatArunAA said, “for god gave me the opportunity”
T1ckT0ck said, “church and breast cancer”
Markush13 said, “ty”
WhatArunAA said, “so he deserves it all”
T1ckT0ck said, “my auntie is a breast cancer victim”
T1ckT0ck said, “so i wanna donate $ towards those charities”
T1ckT0ck said, “church”
T1ckT0ck said, “and rest to my families who are all in debt =\”
6:08pm–The Numbers
With registration having closed with 2,144 entrants, the prize pool totals a new online poker tourney record of $10,720,000. The top 306 finishers will be making the money in this historic event.
Here’s how the payouts are scheduled to go at the final table:
Our chip leaders are all hovering at around the 50,000-chip mark at the moment. We’ll get you top ten counts starting with the next break. Meanwhile, here are how some Team PokerStars people are faring in the early going:
37. Team PokerStars pro Angel Guillen — 35,885
42. Friend of Team PokerStars Orel Hershiser — 34,795
44. Team PokerStars pro Chad Brown — 34,522
5:55pm–Chad Brown putting on pressure, earns a decent pot
“<" swam in a 180 raise from UTG as Chad Brown and Cruzecontrol called but jakoon1985 in the small blind three-bet to 1020 as both "<" and Chad Brown made the call to see the [5c] [4d] [3c] flop. jakoon1985 followed through with a 1,875 bet as "<" found other waters but Brown made the call. On the [As] turn jakoon1985 checked as Brown bet 3,120.
[Kd] on the river and jakoon1985 checked again to Brown as he bet 4,080 which jakoon1985 gave up the 13,290 chip pot as Brown moved up to 28,117 in chips.
Team PokerStars Pro Chad Brown at the WSOP
5:52pm–T1ckT0ck’s timing off in hand with Eastgate
Player T1ckT0ck opened with a raise to 155 from the cutoff, and Team PokerStars Pro Peter Eastgate called from the button. The flop came [2d][2h][9h]. T1ckT0ck bet 175, then Eastgate raised to 600. T1ckT0ck paused a beat, then reraised to 1,400. Eastgate then promptly raised again to 2,940 total. T1ckT0ck again paused, then put in yet another raise — this time to 4,800. Eastgate called.
The turn was the [Kh]. T1ckT0ck checked, and Eastgate quickly fired 4,000 into the middle, leaving himself about 6,000 behind. T1ckT0ck made the call.
The river was the [Td]. T1ckT0ck again checked, and this time Eastgate bet just 2,000. T1ckT0ck called, showing [9d][Jh] for nines and deuces. Eastgate showed [Th][7h], and claimed the pot.
The defending WSOP Main Event champ now has 26,350, while T1ckT0ck slips to 12,490.
5:43pm–A tiny Danzer pot
Team PokerStars pro George Danzer, winner of Event #19 ($320+R PLO), has started out the day his usual aggressive self, open-raising several pots each orbit as he starts to build his stack.
Just now, after zivziv limped in for 60 from early position, Danzer raised once again to 180, and all folded but zivziv. The flop came [Js][6c][Ac]. zivziv checked, Danzer bet 300, and zivziv called. Both players then checked the [4s] turn and [9h] river.
zivziv showed [6d][6s] for a set of sixes and Danzer mucked, having lost only a piddling amount on the hand. Danzer sits with just under 24,000 at the moment.
5:40pm–Easy as 1-2-3-4 ElkY chips up
ElkY snags an early pot after three-betting fumbo420 to 567 from the big blind as fumbo flat called behind. ElkY bet 678 on the [6c] [Kd] [Kh] flop as fumbo420 raised to 1,380 as ElkY elected to call. Both checked the [6h] on the turn, but fumbo420 took leave from the hand when ElkY bet 1,234 on the river [3h] and raked in the 3,924 chip pot to move up to 21,640 in chips.
5:32pm–New and improved prize pool
And there it is, $10 million guarantee has been met as we stand at nearly 2,100 players with late registration still available to replace the 34 players we’ve already lost. Its almost certain that the 2,185 record will be broken, stay tuned.
5:29pm–g0lfa misses the green, loses one to Levy
Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo has earned himself two WCOOP bracelets this year, taking down both Event #18 ($320 8-game mix) and Event #29 ($320 PLH/PLO). Today D’Angelo finds himself at Team PokerStars Pro Grant Levy’s table, and just now was involved in a relatively big hand with the Australian.
The hand began with xoxol73 opening with a raise to 150 from UTG, then Levy reraising to 450 from the next seat. It folded around to g0lfa who reraised again to 1,150 from the cutoff. All got out of the way except for Levy who made the call.
The flop came [8s][5d][3s]. Levy checked, g0lfa bet 1,450, and Levy called. The turn brought the [Ks]. Levy checked again, g0lfa bet 2,840, and Levy called once more.
The river was the [As], prompting a bet of 6,650 from Levy. “you prolly have the QQ with the spades,” typed g0lfa on seeing the fourth spade hit the board. “std” (standard), he added. g0lfa spent a solid 60 seconds of his time bank before letting the hand go.
Levy chips up to 27,515 after that one, while D’Angelo now has 13,856.
5:25pm– Beware of aces and defending champs
Defending WCOOP Main Event champion ckingusc is out on Table 28 after scoring his first of the 2009 WCOOP Main Event ckingusc got involved with ffplaya22 two hands later. ffplaya22 raised to 150 from UTG as it was folded around to ckingusc in the big blind who made the call. [3c] [4s] [Ts] on the flop got a check from ckingusc and 250 chip bet from ffplaya22. ckingusc made the call to see the [6s] on the turn and both put on the breaks and checked for the [Kc] on the river. ckingusc made a 500 chip bet which was called by ffplaya22 who turned up [Ah][Ad] blowing away the [Qs][Td] held by the champ for the small 1,825 chip pot.
5:19pm–Jovial Gent shows logikon the door
With the blinds 25/50, logikon opened with a preflop raise to 200 from middle position and was called by ghost crab on the button and Jovial Gent in the big blind. The flop came [2c][7h][Td]. Jovial Gent checked, logikon bet 250, and ghost crab folded. Jovial Gent then check-raised the minimum to 500, and logikon called. The turn was the [Ah].
Jovial Gent again checked, and this time logikon bet 2,100. Jovial Gent again check-raised — to 6,300 this time — and logikon called.
The river brought the [Qs] and an all-in push from Jovial Gent. logikon made the call, turning over [As][Kc] for top pair-top kicker. But Jovial Gent had [7d][7c] for a set of sevens, and logikon became another of our early exits.
5:15pm– Gavin Griffin and Chad Brown set to do battle
Two Team PokerStars Pros are out on Table 135, WCOOP bracelet holder (2006 HORSE) Chad Brown and poker’s “Triple Crown” winner Gavin Griffin displaying his VIP Supernova stars are out at Table 135 all set for the long haul with blinds starting at 25/50 and 20,000 chips. They are joined by a < but we'll reserve judgement on < 's play for later.
5:08pm–More than $1K per minute!
20,000 chips gone in a flash!
Louis Dubois opened with a raise to 180 from early position and got two callers, including purjo1. The flop came [9h][Tc][5s]. Dubois continued with a bet of 400, purjo1 raised to 1,200, the third player got out, and Louis Dubois called.
The turn was the [4c]. This time Louis Dubois checked, purjo1 bet 4,150, Louis Dubois check-raised to 8,300, purjo1 pushed all in for 18,620 total, and Louis Dubois — whom was barely covered — made the call.
Louis Dubois showed [9d][9s] for a set of nines, but purjo1 had [Th][Td] for the better flopped set. The river was the [8s], and Louis Dubois is quickly done.
5:05pm– Five minutes in 1,900 signed up
Hundred players away from the $10 million prize pool and 285 away from the eclipsing last year’s mark of 2,185 runners. Unfortunately for danylaroo2, BOLLPOKER, Louis Dubois, and gunning4you they will not be allowed to rebuy as they’ve already busted.
4:57pm–Newly minted WCOOP Bracelet Holders in the field
Two Team PokerStars Pros snagged bracelets from this year’s record breaking 45 event schedule. Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier (Event #38 champ, write up shown here) and George Danzer (Event #19, winner’s interview link here)
4:51pm–1,700 and counting
We’re keeping an eye on the total number of entrants for today’s $5,000 + $200 buy-in event. A total of 2,000 runners will be needed to match the $10 million guarantee. At the moment 1,700 have registered, but that number will surely climb as we approach the first hands, and registration will remain open for another hour after that.
Last year’s Main Event drew 2,185 entrants, creating what was at the time the largest-ever prize pool for an online tournament of $10,925,000. Stay tuned to see if this year’s WCOOP Main Event sets a new standard.
4:25pm–2009 WCOOP Main Event set to begin
The World Championship of Online Poker is ready to begin in just about half an hour. Stick with us for the most comprehensive coverage of the event from beginning to end.
When anybody wins a big tournament, there is usually a sense of excitement and surprise. When ElkY wins a tournament, people are starting to yawn.
No, not literally. It’s still exciting, but ElkY winning something or getting close to it has become so commonplace that people are starting to expect it.
Fortunately there is still one guy who gets excited about ElkY winning tournaments. That is, of course, ElkY.
He was gracious enough to send us some of his thoughts following his recent win in the 2009 WCOOP Event #38.
by Betrand “ElkY” Grospellier
The WCOOP events have always been my favorite online tournaments, and it keeps getting better and better every year.
My favorite part is definitely the great structures, but the guarantees are also amazing and so many satellites run on PokerStars that anyone gets a chance to participate. That is a great thing.
Last year I had an amazing WCOOP series, but ultimately I can never be really satisfied without a title. That’s what I live for. I would easily trade 20 final tables for one single win. because the feeling is just incomparable. When you make the final table and you played well all tournament, you can’t regret anything and it’s nice, but winning it all is just so different.
You can just imagine how thrilled I was to finally win that WCOOP bracelet after five years of playing in the series. It was such a tough tournament, too; I was only a few cards away from elimination a couple of times and the final three tables were filled with all the greatest online players.
When we got to the final table, even though I’d been playing for 13 hours, I could feel it was finally my time in the WCOOP. The adrenaline was pumping so much that I didn’t even feel tired. After I won I was exhausted, but at the same time so excited that I still couldn’t sleep for the next six hours!
It also meant a lot to me because these days I don’t have the chance to play online quite as much due to my very busy live tournament schedule. I’m very proud I was able to accomplish that feat of defeating 1100+ players once again in a tournament, and to come back where it all began for me–multi0tabling on PokerStars.
Now I gotta be ready and prepare because WCOOP is far from over, the WCOOP main event is my favorite online tournament of the year and I’m so ready to play my best once again. I hope to see all of you there,
Good Luck !
ElkY is a member of Team PokerStars and has won just about everything you could ever imagine.
There are hopes that the 526 players who forwarded their $530 buy-ins for tonight’s WCOOP Event #41 Pot Limit Omaha Heads-Up Matches found plenty of things to do in between the match levels. The prize pool did surpass the $250,000 guarantee, but the near 21 hours to the tourney’s completion surpassed this author’s estimated end time. As with all heads-up matches they can end in two hands or given the excellent structure of WCOOP events, two hours. Names like TLB champ Shaun “shaundeeb” Deeb (22nd), Rabscuttle (46th), and 2009 WCOOP Event #40 champ PiMaster (48th) who we hope is ok after back-to-back extended nights, dotted high up on the board of in-the-money finishers.
natronjoe123 and umbrillo definitely set the tone for the lengthy night as they battled heads up for several hours getting into the round of 256 causing every remaining contestant to flood their chat box with ahem… “encouragement” to end their epic heads-up battle and rise to the money chop off level. natronjoe123 was all-in twice only to pull out a win against umbrillo’s superior preflop hand and the railbirds were left with more “encouragement” to speed along their fun as it reached the 500/1,000 blind levels when they started with just 15K each fold was met with contempt from the crowd as finally umbrillo rivered a deuce to six straight all-in preflop to get the tournament rolling forward to the round of 256 and one step closer to the money.
In the round of 256 it was internet sensation Shaun “shaundeeb” Deeb working against the Wall-e icon’d Percussion in a lengthy battle to determine who was walking away tonight with some cash and who just paid $530 for a long heads-up Pot Limit Omaha tutorial. After being down late in most of the match, the stalwart of the tournament leader board pulled out a victory and advanced into the money and the round of 128. In the last heads-up match, Danny “THE__D__RY” Ryan was battling for the final spot in the round of 128 and the $526.00 guaranteed cash that came with it. Ryan would get his shortened stack in with [Qs] [Qh] [6d] [6h] against house_advntg’s [2s] [Ks] [Kd] [8s] but couldn’t hit the set or heart flush on the [4c] [9c] [8c] [4h] [5c] to become tonight’s bubble boy as 128 players rejoiced to their new found cash.
The lone Team PokerStars Pro in the money was Humberto Brenes fell in the round of 64 (56th place) collecting $1,052.00 for the night.
As the tournament rolled on to the final sweet sixteen, players like 2007 WCOOP Main Event fifth place finisher AB_illusive hung on to their seats with cooler hands like the one below that eliminated ChanceCU in 15th place:
RSS readers click through to see replay
The hand would end with flopped quads for AB_illusive, and the very unfortunate rivered nut full house for ChanceCU. The victim stood little chance of walking away from that boat and couldn’t as ChanceCU lost the hand and settled for ninth to sixteenth place money ($2,893.00). In other sweet sixteen action, GambleAB, who already had two final tables in the 2009 WCOOP series (Seventh in Event #4 and Sixth in Event #20), took on Joker$OnYou and advanced to the final eight after hour number sixteen ticked off the tournament clock leaving just VIP Goldstar robert07 and rkruok’s match to determine who would advance to the pay jump to $8,153.00 for making the elite eight. robert07 earned the ticket with a rivered straight against rkruok’s flopped set of eights sending rkruok out in ninth place ($2,893.00).
After grinding it out for almost 17 hours three of the four final eight matches lasted less than ten minutes as the players continued to enjoy extremely deep stacks starting with 960,000 chips and 1,280/2,560 blinds and 15 minute levels. AB_illusive made short work of well-known young gun Andy McLEOD silencing the Australian after knocking him down to 213,467 chips when both would push their chips in preflop as AB_illusive’s aces [Ad] [5c] [Qh] [Ac] would hold on the [3c] [Js] [6s] [4c] [Td] board against the kings [Kc] [7h] [Ks] [Ts] of Andy McLEOD sending the SCOOP Event #11 and 2008 WCOOP Event #16 (in PLO no less) champion home in eighth place ($8,153.00). GambleAB and hartwith joined AB_illusive quickly in the final four as all glazed over tournament eyes moved to the robert07 versus Scary_Tiger match…
… and those eyes would stay there for nearly two hours as Scary_Tiger maintained the chip advantage over robert07 for the most part. After being all-in and facing a set of eights, robert07 would turn a flush taking a sizable 1.4 million chip pot. With the blinds at 6,400/12,800 and a now 3:1 chip lead robert07 would lean on his opponent until Scary_Tiger was left with a 1.6 million to 200K chip deficit facing a bet that put him all-in on a [Td] [5d] [6s] flop. Scary_Tiger would make the call holding a pair of kings [Kd] [Ks] [9s] [3c] as robert07 flipped up [6h] [9d] [Js] [Th] for two pair. The board would blank out [7h] and [4c] for Scary_Tiger as the predator was tamed in fifth place ($8,153.00) setting up the semifinals.
Semifinals 1: robert07 vs. GambleAB
robert07 vs. GambleAB
Much like the GambleAB’s quarterfinals match this was of the blink-and-you-missed-it variety. The two players started with very deep stacks (1.92 million chips) and blinds (2,560/5,120) but that did nothing to prevent the match from concluding in seven hands. The first big swipe came from robert07 on hand number four after calling a raise from GambleAB on the button the two would view the [4s][Kd][3c] flop. robert07 would check as GambleAB followed through with a 25,600 chip bet and faced a check-raise to 92,160. GambleAB made the call to see the [Th] turn as robert07 this time led out for 155,120 and it was GambleAB who became the aggressor with a raise to 399,360. But, robert07 flat called to see the [Jc] river and led out again for a pot-sized bet that GambleAB couldn’t find a call as robert07 took a 2.6 million to 1.1 million chip lead.
In the decisive hand GambleAB would start off with a three-bet preflop as robert07 made the call. Watch the chips fly into the middle after flop in the video below:
RSS readers click through to see replay
robert07’s flopped set of fours holding [2h] [5s] [4s] [4h] would fade the club flush draw of GambleAB’s [5h] [3h] [Qc] [5c] on the [4c] [3c] [8h] [Td] [Js] board as GambleAB notched his third deep run at this year’s WCOOP taking fourth place ($15,780.00).
Semifinals 2: AB_illusive vs. hartwith
AB_illusive vs. hartwith
As with the quarterfinal matches, one match lasted about the time it takes to eat an Oreo cookie while the other lasted a few packages worth (while dunking them in milk of course). AB_illusive would start this match off red hot winning the first nine hands in a row in taking a slight 2.2 million to 1.5 million chip lead. hartwith would score the first major pot of the match three betting to 1.3 million on the river with the board showing [Kh] [2h] [Js] [5h] [Qd] and AB_illusive was forced to concede the 1.9 million chip pot. AB_illusive would come back while being down 2.7 million to 1.1 million after doubling up on this hand below:
RSS readers click through to see replay
The rivered full house overcoming hartwith’s turned flush and higher kicker with trips meant AB_illusive was back in business taking a 2.2 million to 1.6 million chip lead. AB_illusive would extend that lead about twenty hands later after rivering a flush and getting hartwith to pay off a sizable 303,000 chip value bet for a one million chip pot. Three hands later AB_illusive would end the match after calling a three-bet from hartwith with the blinds at 5,120/10,240 to see the [3c] [4s] [8s] flop. Both would check as the [Th] on the turn got them both excited. hartwith would lead out for 102,400 as AB_illusive came over the top with a pot bet to 430,080 and hartwith would four-bet all-in to 838,997 as AB_illusive made the call showing [4h] [Jh] [6d] [Td] for a turned two pair versus the [Qh] [7c] [8d] [Qd] queens of hartwith. [9h] on the river meant the end of a very long night for hartwith in third place ($15,780.00).
Finals: AB_illusive vs. robert07
Playing for the bracelet: AB_illusive vs. robert07
Players again started with massive stacks (3.84 million) and the small blinds starting at 5,120/10,240 to allow these nocturnal players plenty of play after battling to get to the bracelet match for over 19 hours.
In hands twelve and thirteen the two would trade million chip pots as AB_illusive carved out an early 4.2 million to 3.4 million chip lead. The pot sizes stayed relatively small moving into the 7,680/15,360 blind level until robert07 extracted a 460,080 chip value bet from AB_illusive and 1.4 million chip pot after rivering a full house holding [6d] [5s] [Qs] [4c] on a [4s] [9s] [2c] [Qc] [Qh] board as all AB_illusive could do was muck and watch robert07 take the lead 4.9 million to 2.7 million.
At the twenty hour mark robert07 was still in the lead 4.9 million to 2.7 million as the blinds moved up to 10,240/20,480 but AB_illusive started to gain some traction with several unanswered three-bets, winning 11 of 12 pots in the process and closing the lead to 4.7 million to 2.9 million.
After the five minute break and blinds being bumped to 12,800/25,600 here’s how robert07’s lead looked:
Seat 1: AB_illusive (2508279 in chips)
Seat 2: robert07 (5171721 in chips)
A little spark for AB_illusive came after the blinds were bumped again 15 minutes later to 15,360/30,720 winning eight of nine pots and ending with an all-in preflop shove by both players holding aces. robert07 was suited in spades and sure enough two spades would hit the flop, but no more appeared and the chips went back to their owners as AB_illusive carved out a 4.2 million to 3.4 million chip lead.
That lead would hold until this hand where AB_illusive tried to find a river fold but couldn’t:
RSS readers click through to see replay
The pivotal cooler finally came in the form of turned quads for robert07 [7d] [7h] [Qh] [6d] and rivered full house for AB_illusive [3s] [8c] [9s] [Jc] on the [9h] [Jd] [7c] [7s] [9c] board as both players got it all in on the river as AB_illusive took his time before ultimately calling the three-bet shove by robert07 and lost the 7.1 million chip pot.
Down to 575,118 chips after the huge cooler, AB_illusive would take one pot worth 426K but six hands later both players would commit their stack to a [8s] [5d] [Ks] flop . AB_illusive was holding the nut flush draw and a pair of fives [As] [6h] [9s] [5s] as robert07 made a quick call with pocket queens and the queen-hi flush draw [Qs] [Ad] [Qc] [2s]. The spades missed again as the [Kc] turn and [2d] river handed the well-earned WCOOP Event #41 bracelet and $52,600.00 first prize to robert07 after a staggering 20 hours and 48 minutes of play. Ironman AB_illusive deserves props for the aggressive play and almost walking away with the bracelet but took home $26,300.00 as the runner-up.
Once the video and crew take a quick nap, you’ll see the event recaps at PokerStars.TV as well as the WCOOP main page as we gear up for tonight’s live blogging of the WCOOP $5,200 buy-in Main Event with a $10 million guarantee. Also on tap today is the high roller $10,300 H.O.R.S.E. tourney.
Every poker player has his back-in-the-day story, and most poker players who didn’t have their day around a casino have a story of a game they played where they paid to play.
Just about any city without a casino has a list of people willing to host poker games for a cut of the action, and unlike Vegas, it’s not 10% up to $4. It’s not uncommon to find games (even small games) where $20 gets raked out of every pot.
It was just that kind of highway robbery that led one of our newest WCOOP winners to where he is today.
“In my previous hometown, the live poker was all underground games with extremely large rake,” Brent “Astrolux85″ Roberts told us recently.
The 24-year-old college graduate went from that environment to playing live and online where he has since turned himself into a successful professional poker player, and a pretty wealthy one. Just a few days back, Roberts won $210,000 in 2009 WCOOP WCOOP Event #36.
“It was extremely exciting,” he said. “It has been a very long time since my last big online MTT final table. These chances don’t come everyday, so I wanted to make the best of it, of course.”
Roberts’ WCOOP win almost matches his biggest single win ever. Less than a year go, Roberts won the WSOP Circuit event at Harrah’s in Atlantic City for $285,000. He currently has more than $800,000 in live winnings to go along with his untold number of online cashes.
“I learned poker by discussing strategy with friends. Having two poker playing college roommates when I was a senior in college is when it really clicked, regardless of having prior success,” he said.
With a WSOP circuit ring and WCOOP bracelet in his trophy case, it’s now on to winning a WSOP bracelet.
With the ranks of Team PokerStars Pro growing every day, it’s pretty common for a WCOOP player to run into a member of the Team at the table. It’s less common to meet a member of the Team with whom you have shared a pretty significant moment.
That’s exactly what happened to Chris “PiMaster” Viox when he entered the WCOOP $215 WCOOP NLO8 event a couple of days ago. He ended up right across the ethereal table from Barry Greenstein.
“Which is kind of ironic,” Viox said, “because his last bracelet at the WSOP in Razz in 2008? I final tabled it with him.”
Viox went on to take third and watch Greenstein win the bracelet. When they met in WCOOP, the results would be different. Greenstein finished in 19th and Viox walked away with a WCOOP bracelet.
“It was a huge relief because I had been in the midst of a long stretch where I just couldn’t get anything going,” he said after the win.
Viox, a 33-year-old married father of two from Illinois, is a full time poker player who uses his spare time to invest money for friends and family. In just the past few years, he’s won nearly $400,000 in the live poker world, not to mention no small amount of cash online.
“[The WCOOP win] is my second largest score behind a 3rd place in the Sunday Million on Stars for $85,000. I have four or five live scores better than this,” he said.
After that third place Razz finish back at the WSOP in 2008, Viox hasn’t run incredibly well. Now, with a big WCOOP win, he once again is starting to feel good.
“I am just trying to get things going more consistently in the right direction,” he said. “I’ve been about even since the 2008 WSOP. So, this is a nice step forward.”
The PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) live blog coverage is brought to you by Martin Harris and Change100. Follow us on Twitter at @PokerStarsBlog, e-mail us at blog@pokerstars.com, and be sure to see our previous WCOOP coverage.
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