WCOOP News - World Championship of Online Poker

Mikal12345 Wins WCOOP POY, Danzer Third

Wed, 26 Sep 2012 08:17:47 -0700

That honor went to Norway’s Mikal12345 who cashed 15 times and locked up two WCOOP bracelets this year.

Mikal12345 picked up a 2013 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure package, a 2013 EPT Grand Final package, a 2013 TCOOP Main Event ticket and a custom chip set for being the best player of the 2012 WCOOP.

Russian Ti0373 actually finished in second place in this year’s WCOOP Player of the Year contest thanks to making four final tables, taking down two bracelets and winning $357k. He will receive PCA and TCOOP packages for his efforts.

Meanwhile Danzer ended up in third place but will receive a consolation prize of a 2013 TCOOP Main Event ticket.

Here’s a complete look at the top 10 players on the 2012 WCOOP POY leaderboard including their final point totals:

1. mikal12345, Norway, 395 2. Ti0373, Russia, 345 3. Team PokerStars Pro George Danzer, Germany, 315 4. TryToExploit, Poland, 270 5. Steve “Illini213” Barshak, Costa Rica, 265 6. utvekklo2, Sweden, 260 7= djk123, Australia, 255 7= Jon “PearlJammer” Turner, Mexico, 255 9= Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov, Ukraine, 250 9= Thor “osten” Hansen, Norway, 250 9= Ami “UhhMee” Barer, Canada, 250

Definitely a few notables on the leaderboard with Dan “djk123” Kelly having won his record fourth WCOOP title in this year’s series.

Fellow U.S.-born pro Jon “PearlJammer” Turner, who was playing from Mexico, may have missed out on making any prestigious final tables but he still managed to cash 17 times, more than anyone else.

Finally cancer-survivor Thor “osten” Hansen had a remarkable WCOOP that saw him rack up 250 POY points and finish ninth in POY.

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FPP Qualifier Wins, Telker and Carter Fall Short in WCOOP ME

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 07:20:47 -0700

Instead Russian FPP qualifier Marat "maratik" Sharafutdinov defeated Carter heads-up to secure a first-place prize of $1 million.

Amazingly, maratik was a micro-stakes grinder before yesterday. He frequented $2 buy-in, 180-player tournaments and satellited into the WCOOP Main Event for just 40 FPPs.

He's already being called the online Moneymaker by some poker fans.

Fortunately for Telker, who was one of PokerListings’ 2012 players to watch, he was a part of a six-way deal that saw him also take down $1 million.

Anderson, Julius, Thurman Come Close

Day 2 of the 2012 WCOOP Main Event began with 245 players chasing the $9.1 million prize pool. Telker started the day with the chip lead.

The money started with 225 players left and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Jonathan Duhamel and Mickey “mement_mori” Petersen all busted shortly after the money bubble burst.

Mike “Timex” McDonald, Alexander “AlexKP” Petersen and Giuseppe “Ansgar2000” Pantaleo were among the many players who busted from 150 remaining to 50.

With 50 players left Ryan Carter began to pull away from the rest of the pack with 2.2 million chips. The only player even close was fellow top-tier grinder Calvin “cal42688” Anderson who had accumulated 1.7 million chips.

Kevin “WizardOfAhhs” Thurman became the last PokerStars pro to bust when he dropped out of contention in 34th place.

Telker regained the chip lead with 27 players left as he hit 4.1 million chips.

Noted pro Kyle “KJulius10” Julius came painfully close to making the final table but eventually busted in 15th place for $48k.

Phil "takechip" D'Auteuil

Carter, Telker, D’Auteuil Highlight Final Table

Telker started the final table of the Main Event the exact same way he started Day 2: with the chip lead.

Telker was sitting on 11 million chips by the time the final nine was reached and he looked nearly unstoppable as the final table began.

The final table also included Ryan Carter, who made a WCOOP final table earlier this year, with 1.8 million chips and noted high-stakes French Canadian pro Phil “takechip” D’Auteuil with 3.7 million.

Carter crippled D’Auteuil in the early stages of the final table when the French Canadian made a play with ace-jack and Carter woke up with pocket kings.

D’Auteuil would eventually finish in eighth place for $136,875.

Six-Way Deal Nets Telker $1 Million

With six players left, discussions about a massive deal began. The talks lasted for over an hour thanks to the magnitude of the tournament.

In the end Telker, who was the chip leader at that point with 9.22 million, wouldn’t settle for anything less than a million payout and the others finally relented.

It worked out very well for Telker as he busted in fourth place but still took down $1,000,584, which was just a few hundred dollars short of what the eventual winner made.

Heads-up play began with Carter holding a massive chip-advantage with 29 million to opponent maratik’s 6.6 million.

That did little to deter the Russian, however, and he won a game-changing hand early on where he turned a flush against Carter who had flopped a set of kings.

The final hand of the 2012 WCOOP saw Carter shove with jack-four and maratik make the easy call with pocket aces.

The aces held and maratik was suddenly a millionaire thanks to the $1,000,907 first-place prize.

Here’s a complete look at the final-table payouts:

1st: maratik (Russia) -- $1,000,907.26* 2nd: Ryan "TheCart3r" Carter (Canada) -- $662,516.39* 3rd: Jossel2008 (Ireland) -- $814,602.12* 4th: Mike "munchenHB" Telker (Cyprus) -- $1,000.584.34* 5th: sly caveat (Portugal) -- $601,884.93* 6th: FOO-92 (Germany) -- $502,992.46* 7th: Kakalala (Denmark) -- $182,500.00 8th: Phil "takechip" D'Auteuil (Canada) -- $136,875 9th: mitdadu (Russia) -- $91,250.00

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WCOOP Weekend: Telker Leads Main Event, Mercier Wins 2nd Bracelet

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 08:08:27 -0700

It was a fittingly action-heavy final weekend for this year's WCOOP with Daniel Negreanu, Scott Sever and Alex Kostritsyn making final tables.

Yesterday also saw George Danzer fall short in his bid for 2012 WCOOP POY as he busted out of the Main Event still trailing Norway’s mikal12345 by 65 points.

Here’s a complete recap of all the action on the final weekend of the 2012 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker.

Event 60 $700 Pot-Limit Omaha [Heads-Up]

Russian online player Danya Kop beat nine rounds worth of heads-up opponents to win $54,211 in the Heads-Up PLO event yesterday.

One of those events you won’t find at the WSOP, Event 60 drew 418 players to create a prize pool of $280,060.

The event drew plenty of Team PokerStars Pros with Jason Mercier, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Raymond Wu and Vivian Im all trying to prove their Heads-Up PLO supremacy.

Lex Veldhuis was the only PokerStars pro who made the money, however, and even he fell out of contention in the round of 32.

The round of 16 was lacking big-name players but Danya Kop certainly didn’t care as he easily busted his opponent yeffshin.

Kop went on to beat d-mon-d, jedimaster82 and then finally Mefisto6661 to claim his first WCOOP bracelet.

Here’s a look at the final-eight payouts:

Champion: Danya Kop (Russia) -- $54,211.40* Runner-up: Mefisto6661 (Russia) -- $52,211.40* 3rd (tie): egor1987 (Gemany) -- $19,604.20 3rd (tie): jedimaster82 (Sweden) -- $19,604.20 5th (tie): TryToExploit (Poland) -- $8,961.92 5th (tie): Gakn29 (Canada) -- $8,961.92 5th (tie): d-mon-d (Norway) -- $8,961.92 5th (tie): Asul (Romania) -- $8,961.92

Victor Ramdin finished 15th

Event 61 $320 No-Limit Hold’em [SuperKnockout]

Online player Zackmorris99 survived an ultra-competitive field to take the title and $81,119 cash in Event 61.

A total of 3,355 players bought into the bounty tournament to create a main prize pool of $516k and an equal amount of $516k set aside for bounties.

The Team PokerStars Pros hit the virtual felt hard with Daniel Negreanu, Lex Veldhuis, Randy “nanonoko” Lew, George Danzer, David Williams, Angel Guillen and Sandra Naujoks all looking to make a big score in the tournament.

Victor Ramdin made the deepest run of them all, eventually finishing in 15th place for $2,454.

Recent Partouche Poker Tour winner Ole “wizowizo” Schemion made the final table third in chips with 2.6 million.

Schemion made a great run but eventually hit the rail in fifth place to take down a $22k consolation prize.

Meanwhile Zackmorris99 would pull off an incredible upset by beating selinantis heads-up. Zackmorris99 entered heads-up play with only 3.8 million chips to selinantis’ 12.9 million.

Here are the complete final-table payouts:

1. zackmorris99 (Mexico) $81,119.32 2. selinantis (Lithuania) $60,450.39 3. anthonyff (United Kingdom) $42,893.94 4. m_2508 (Austria) $29,708.52 5. wizowizo (Germany) $22,216.81 6. gangst3m1 (Germany) $17,050.11 7. pixigirl123 (Denmark) $11,883.41 8. Sahara08 (Denmark) $6,716.71 9. Liz00n (Russia) $4,133.36

Another final table for Alex Kostritsyn

Event 62 $2,100 HORSE

Alex “joiso” Kostritsyn narrowly missed out on his second WCOOP bracelet by coming in second place in Event 62.

The $2,110 HORSE event attracted a pro-heavy 165-player field who combined to create a $330,000 prize pool.

As expected there were plenty of Team PokerStars Pros on hand with Daniel Negreanu, David Williams, Jose Barbero, Eugene Katchalov and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier all looking to do some damage.

Chad Brown, who already has one WCOOP final table this year, was the only Team Pro who made it into the money.

Brown eventually hit the rail in 13th place to collect $5,775 in prize money.

Event 62 was somewhat of a marathon affair with over 12 hours needed just to reach the final table of eight players.

Kostritsyn entered the final table as one of the shorter stacks but that didn’t stop him from immediately chipping up.

In the end the Russian pro finally busted in second when online player babyjess28 hit a full house during a round of Stud-8. Kostritsyn also made the final table of Event 57 on Friday.

Here are the final-table payouts:

1st babyjess28 (Canada) - $71,775 2nd joiso (Russia) - $51,150 3rd paulgees81 (Canada) - $39,600 4th chopi7 (Russia) - $28,050 5th PICKLED EGG (Brazil) - $18,150 6th muchbetter (Brazil) - $14,850 7th TIETYMM (Germany) - $11,550 8th NoraFlum (Mexico) - $9,075

Daniel Negreanu nearly won his first WCOOP title

Event 64 $10,300 8-Game High Roller

Jason Mercier outlasted Daniel Negreanu and Niki Jedlicka to win his second WCOOP bracelet in arguably the toughest final table of the 2012 series.

The high-roller tournament drew 93 of the best eight-game players in the world with $930,000 up for grabs in prize money.

Ville Wahlbeck, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Theo Jorgensen, George Danzer, David Williams and Eugene Katchalov were among the numerous high-stakes pros who signed up for the tough tournament.

Three-time WCOOP bracelet winner Anders “Donald” Berg bubbled the final table coming in seventh place.

The final table still had some serious star-power with Scott “gunning4you” Seiver, Ben Yu, Jedlicka, Negreanu and Mercier all chasing a new WCOOP bracelet. Really the only non-high-profile player was Ireland’s Gozoboro.

Seiver entered the final table as the chip leader but was surprisingly the first player to fall.

Negreanu, who has never won a WCOOP bracelet, made it to three-handed but had the misfortune of going from chip leader to out in under 10 minutes during a round of Limit Hold’em.

That paved the way for a heads-up match between Mercier and Irish opponent Gozoboro.

Gozoboro and Mercier entered heads-up nearly even in chips but in Mercier proved unstoppable, taking down the $253,425 for first place and his second WCOOP title.

Here are the complete final-table payouts:

1. Jason Mercier (Canada) $253,425.00 2. Gozoboro (Ireland) $169,725.00 3. Daniel Negreanu (Canada) $130,200.00 4. Niki "RealAndyBeal" Jedlicka (Austria) $88,350.00 5. Ben "BensBenz" Yu (Mexico) $65,100.00 6. Scott "gunning4you" Seiver (Canada) $48,825.00

Mike "munchenHB" Telker in prime position

Event 65 $5,200 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event – Day 1

The 2012 WCOOP Main Event started with a bang yesterday drawing 1,825 to create a staggering $9.1 million prize pool with $1.6 million set aside for first place.

The prize pool nearly doubles the original guarantee, which was already set at a hefty $5 million.

Mike “munchenHB” Telker finished atop the chip counts with 587,433 chips but Mike “Timex” McDonald, Ole “wizowizo” Schemion, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Mickey Petersen and Kevin “WizardofAhhs” Thurman all made it to Day 2 as well.

Vanessa Selbst, George Lind, Vanessa Rousso, Chad Brown, Martin Staszko, Ville Wahlbeck, Theo Jorgensen and Daniel Negreanu were among the 1,500+ players who busted on Day 1.

Even RaiseOnce (the rumored account of Phil Ivey) played the massive tournament although he busted in 773rd place.

A total of 245 players booked their ticket to Day 2 of the contest. The money begins at 225 players left so the bubble will burst early on Day 2.

Action resumes at 14:30 ET today. Here are the top 10 chip leaders heading into Day 2:

1. munchenHB (Cyprus) -- 587,433 2. moukari6 (Finland) -- 536,563 3. hnidel (Czech Republic) -- 442,654 4. JRADF79 (Belgium) -- 422,268 5. The Lag rat (Costa Rica) -- 416,817 6. sly caveat (Portugal) -- 409,459 7. SNG Grind_15 (Norway) -- 405,168 8. Rens02 (Netherlands) -- 385,579 9. leech4555 (South Korea) -- 369,185 10. NL_Profit (Russia) -- 362,355

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WCOOP Day 20: Maimone, Kostritsyn Make Huge Scores

Sat, 22 Sep 2012 12:08:56 -0700

Kostritsyn finished in fifth place to win $51k while Maimone made it all the way to third place to take down a massive $132k score.

Jon “apestyles” Van Fleet also managed to make the final table of the Limit Hold’em event.

The 2012 WCOOP is winding down with today and Sunday the last days of the series.

It all culminates with the $5 million-guaranteed $5,200 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event on Sunday at 14:30 ET.

Here’s a complete recap of all the action on Day 20 of the 2012 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker:

Nick "FU_15" Maimone

Event 57 $520+R No-Limit Hold’em

Russian online player Ti0373 outlasted over 800 runners and then beat a final table that included pros Nick “FU_15” Maimone and Alex “joiso” Kostritsyn to claim a WCOOP title in Event 57.

The semi-High Roller event drew a total of 846 players and once add-ons and rebuys were factored in there was a prize pool of $1 million.

Shane “Shaniac” Schleger, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier and Ana Marquez all made deep runs in the tournament but all eyes were on Maimone and Kostritsyn at the final table.

Kostritsyn, who famously won the 2008 Aussie Millions, entered the final table as the chip leader with 4.9 million and appeared to be a lock to take it down.

Instead Kostritsyn lost a series of pivotal pots and ended up going out in fifth place for $51k.

Meanwhile Maimone made it to third place but was denied a shot at heads-up when he shoved ace-ten into ace-king. Maimone picked up $132k for his efforts, in part thanks to a three-way chip.

Here are the complete final table payouts (*reflects a three-way deal):

1. Ti0373 (Russia) - $155,817.40 * 2. komisch99 (Germany) - $123,924.28 * 3. Nick 'FU_15' Maimone (Honduras) - $132,434.82 * 4. jliberta146 (Canada) - $73,657 5. Alexander 'joiso' Kostritsyn (Russia) - $51,963.50 6. Skipper-dawn (Denmark) - $41,873.50 7. LUFCBas (United Kingdom) - $31,783.50 8. PreshaDrop (Germany) - $22,298.90 9. Jymaster11 (Canada) - $12,915.20

Event 58 $1,050 Limit Hold’em

Numerous pros went deep in Event 58 but in the end Mexican player SlickDickey would not be denied the $57,420 first-place prize.

The $1,050 Limit Hold’em event drew 261 players to create a prize pool of $261,000 with the top 36 places getting paid.

Amit “AMAK316” Makhija, Terrence Chan, Thor “Osten” Hansen, Mike “goleafsgoeh” Leah all made the money but Jon “apestyles” Van Fleet did one better by making the final table.

Van Fleet would eventually be crippled by SlickDickey in a hand where SlickDickey flopped a set of sixes. Fighting from the short stack, Van Fleet would quickly get his money in the middle with ten-four and ended up getting called down by beng_51 with ace-queen.

Van Fleet picked up $15,660 for his efforts.

SlickDickey simply ran over the final table and entered heads-up against vestimokrec with 1.7 million chips to vestimokrec’s 169,269.

Unsurprisingly heads-up only took seven hands with SlickDickey winning the tournament with ace-eight.

1. SlickDickey (Mexico) $57,420.00 2. vestimokrec (Russia) $40,063.50 3. beng_51 (Russia) $30,015.00 4. hlamberg (Latvia) $20,880.00 5. Jon "apestyles" Van Fleet (Canada) $15,660.00 6. 2bb100hands (Russia) $10,440.00

Chad Brown

Event 59 No-Limit Omaha-8

You don’t see a lot of No-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo tournaments but that didn’t seem to bother the 927 players who signed up for Event 59.

The tournament offered a $185,000 prize pool to the players who braved the unusual format to make it into the final 117.

Team PokerStars Pros Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Daniel Negreanu, Marcin Horecki, Adrienne “talonchick” Rowsome all made the money but it was Chad Brown who put on a truly notable performance.

Brown outlasted all his fellow Team PokerStars Pro members to come painfully close to the final table, eventually busting in 17th place.

Russian iriskapoker entered the final table as the overwhelming chip leader with over one million chips but would surprisingly bust in sixth place.

Meanwhile German Beckersen81 would go on to win the tournament outright for $33,372 with no deal needed.

Here are the final table payouts:

1. Beckersen81 (Germany) $33,372.00 2. glockwood81 (Canada) $24,102.00 3. Macr0s (Germany) $17,983.80 4. AlexElizarov (Russia) $13,441.50 5. broken_jia (Canada) $9,344.16 6. iriskapoker (Russia) $7,490.16 7. 2mark (Germany) $5,636.16 8. temoshka87 (Russia) $3,800.70 9. ColdBryan ($2,317.50)

WCOOP Events Starting Today

11:00 ET – WCOOP-60 $700 Pot-Limit Omaha [Heads-Up}

$700 buy-in $100,000 guaranteed

13:00 ET – WCOOP-61 $320 No-Limit Hold’em [SuperKnockout]

$320 buy-in $250,000 guaranteed

15:00 ET – WCOOP-62 $2,100 HORSE

$2,100 buy-in $200,00 guaranteed

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WCOOP Day 19: Timex Takes 4th, Big Day for Bulgaria

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 07:47:50 -0700

Ned_bg and Darreta, both playing from Bulgaria, took down bracelets on what was easily the biggest day for the country in the history of WCOOP.

Before yesterday there was only one WCOOP winner from Bulgaria all time.

As far as the pros went Mike “Timex” McDonald made the most notable score coming in fourth in the No-Limit Hold’em [Big Antes] event.

We’re nearing the conclusion of the 2012 WCOOP with the massive $5 million-guaranteed Main Event scheduled for this weekend.

George Danzer will have the last three days to try and close the POY gap on Mikal12345. Danzer is currently trailing by 55 points despite having 14 cashes and a $69k-victory in Event 10.

Here’s a recap of all the action on Day 19 of the 2012 PokerStars WCOOP:

Deep run for Nanonoko.

Event 52 $215 No-Limit Hold’em [Big Antes]

Finland’s jobetzu outlasted Canadian pro Mike “Timex” McDonald to take the $69,248 first-place prize in Event 52.

The event drew a total of 2,164 players to offer a prize pool of $432,800.

The two-day tournament saw numerous Team PokerStars Pros make it into the money including George Danzer, Sandra Naujoks and Marcin “Goral” Horecki but it was Vanessa Rousso who took top honors.

The Go Daddy girl spent time as the chip leader before finally falling in 42nd place. Team Online’s Randy Lew made it to 31st place.

Former EPT Dortmund winner Mike “Timex” McDonald entered the final table as the chip leader with a monster 3.3 million-chip stack.

McDonald has won at nearly every level of poker he’s ever played but is still lacking a WCOOP title.

Alas it was not to be for McDonald in Event 52 as he eventually finished in fourth place when he shoved with pocket nines and got called by pocket jacks. He picked up $26k for his efforts.

Here’s a complete look at the final-table results:

1st place: jobetzu (Finland) - $69,248.00 2nd place: capoch (Sweden) - $51,936.00 3rd place: Syndrome1977 (Germany) - $38,952.00 4th place: Timex (Canada) - $26,833.60 5th place: soumi7 (UK) - $19,476.00 6th place: jonasbeat (South Korea) - $15,148.00 7th place: Glucks (Germany) - $10,820.00 8th place: KeyserMM (Germany) - $7,357.60 9th place: hitthehole (UK) - $4,111.60

Event 54 $320 No-Limit Hold’em

Ned_bg beat 1,594 players to become just the second player from Bulgaria to win a WCOOP title yesterday.

The $320 No-Limit Hold’em event had $478,200 up for grabs with 216 players getting paid.

The Team PokerStars Pros were shut out in the event, however, as Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier’s 278th place finish was the farthest that any PokerStars pro would make it.

It took over 11 hours to set the final table and when the final nine were reached nanu mare had the overall chip lead with 1.5 million chips but Ned_bg was close behind with 1.4 million.

It would actually be Ned_bg who would bust nanu mare in fourth place when he flopped an ace-high flush to nanu mare’s king-high flush.

Ned_bg went on to enter heads-up play with a slight chip disadvantage to Gry Dilling but quickly battled back and won the tournament with pocket tens to Gry Dilling’s flush draw.

Here’s a look at the final-table payouts (*reflects a three-way deal):

1st place: Ned_bg (Bulgaria) - $66,453.88* 2nd place: Gry Dilling (Denmark) - $55,371.09* 3rd place: zwuerbs (Germany) - $57,045.74* 4th place: nanu mare (Romania) - $32,039.40 5th place: chiconogue (Brazil) - $22,714.50 6th place: Gerritss (Netherlands) - $17,932.50 7th place: nemmad (Netherlands) - $13,150.50 8th place: jimbojiff (UK) - $8,368.50 9th place: VandOgSalt (Denmark) - $4,782.00

Jose Barbero made the final three tables.

Event 55 $530+R No-Limit Hold’em

Canadian online player youaremelon beat a final table lacking any big names to take down a massive $199k score in Event 55.

A total of 744 players entered Event 55 and once 818 re-buys and 615 add-ons were included in the mix the prize pool jumped to $1.08 million.

Eighteen Team PokerStars Pros got in on the action and Johnny Lodden, Andre Coimbra and Daniel Negreanu all made the money.

Eugene Katchalov, who’s already had a pretty outstanding WCOOP, recorded yet another cash by coming in 31st place.

Argentinian Jose Barbero had the deepest run of all the Team PokerStars pros, however, as he finished in 23rd place for $5.4k.

With Barbero gone, the remaining players quickly reached a final table of nine with hitthehole as the overall chip leader with 2.5 million.

Once again the chip leader only made it to fourth place. Instead youaremelon took control and entered heads-up against GabrialMoyaa with a massive 10.5 million to 1.8 million-chip lead.

Youaremelon would never give up the chip lead and busted GabrialMoyaa with ace-nine over pocket threes.

Here are the final-table payouts:

1st: youaremelon -- $199,739.75 2nd: GabrielMoyaa -- $142,593.50 3rd: linnna (Sweden) -- $107,761.50 4th: hitthehole (United Kingdom) -- $81,093.25 5th: pezler06 (United Kingdom) -- $56,602.00 6th: m3Dyyy (Romania) -- $45,717.00 7th: UhhMee (Canada)-- $34,832.00 8th: sms9231 (Canada) -- $23,947.00 9th: Olorionek (Poland) -- $14,150.50

Cash for Daniel Negreanu

Event 56 $2,100 PLO 6-Max

The high-roller $2,100 PLO 6-Max event drew 519 players to create a prize pool with over $1 million up for grabs.

Jose Barbero, Jonathan Duhamel, Ville Wahlbeck, Eugene Katchalov, Ana Marquez, Andre Akkari and George Danzer were among the many pros who got in on the action but Daniel Negreanu was the sole Team PokerStars Pro who cashed.

Negreanu eventually crashed in 37th place to take down $5,709 for his efforts.

Brock “t soprano” Parker, Kyle Julius and wizowizo all made deep runs in the tournament but the final table was not very name-heavy outside of cash game killer miki696.

In the end Darreta became the second player from Bulgaria to win a WCOOP bracelet on Day 19 of the series.

Not bad considering there was only one Bulgarian WCOOP winner before yesterday.

Here are the final-table payouts:

1st Darreta (Bulgaria) - $154,181.52* 2nd DonkPredator (Norway) - $145,000.71* 3rd Durian (Finland) - $149,752.77* 4th mikki696 (Austria) - $72,660 5th saphire1 (United Kingdom) - $51,900 6th brianm15 (Costa Rica) - $33,216

WCOOP Events Starting Today

11:00 ET – WCOOP-57 $530 No-limit Hold’em [1R1A]

$530 buy-in $600,000 guaranteed

14:00 ET – WCOOP-58 $1,050 Limit Hold’em [6-Max]

$1,050 buy-in $150,000 guaranteed

17:00 ET – WCOOP-59 $215 No-Limit Omaha-8

$215 buy-in $100,000 guaranteed

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WCOOP Day 18: Near Miss for Obst, Final Table for Marquez

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 09:00:34 -0700

Obst and Marquez both made the final table of the Omaha Hi-Lo event while Petersen finished third in the $1k Hold’em event for a huge $160k score.

Day 19 should be another compelling one for WCOOP action as the high-roller friendly $2,100 6-Max PLO event kicks off at 14:00 ET.

Check below for a complete recap of all the highlights on Day 18 of the 2012 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker.

Event 50 $1,050 No-Limit Hold’em

Danish pro Alex “AlexKP” Petersen outlasted over a thousand players to make the final table of Event 50.

In total the two-day event drew 1,308 players to create an overall prize pool of $1.3 million.

The majority of the field was eliminated on Day 1 with only 70 players returning to pick up the action yesterday.

The PokerStars pros had a bit of an off day with Vivian Im making it farthest, but still well shy of the money in 368th place.

The final 70 was made up primarily of lesser-known players although Alex Petersen was in the top 10 chip counts.

Petersen eventually entered the final table as one of the short stacks but won an early pot against Vojta_R to get up to over 800,000 chips.

The Danish pro finally busted in third place when he made an ill-timed shove with nine-six and was called by ace-seven. Fortunately they had made a three-way deal and Petersen earned $160,260 for his efforts.

Online poker player moukari6 would go on to win the tournament outright for $193,000.

Here’s a look at the complete final-table results (*reflects a three-way deal):

1st place: moukari6 (Finland) - $193,000.00* 2nd place: ziduart (Portugal) - $160,260.40* 3rd place: AlexKP (Denmark) - $160,260.40* 4th place: Vojta_R (Czech Republic) - $91,036.80 5th place: Big Huni (Costa Rica) - $64,746.00 6th place: Andrzejeczek (Poland) - $51,666.00 7th place: elmerixx (Finland) - $38,586.00 8th place: goleafsgoeh (Canada) - $25,506.00 9th place: m3Dyyy (Romania) - $14,388.00

Vanessa Rousso

Event 51 $215 No-Limit Hold’em [1R1A]

Russian online player Alexx Porter proved to be unbeatable on his way to a $76k payout in Event 51.

The event attracted 1,112 runners and once rebuys and add-ons were factored in the prize pool soared to $500,200.

Once again the Team PokerStars Pros were not exactly dominant with Vanessa Rousso lasting the longest, but only making it to 119th place for a $900 cash.

Instead Marty “TheLipoFund” Mathis was one of the only recognizable players at the final table.

The Californian pro entered the final table as one of the middle stacks but would eventually fall in sixth place when his jack-nine failed to hit against Benjaphon’s king-jack.

INSHALA82 would eventually go into heads-up play against Alexx Porter with a 2-1 chip advantage.

Alexx Porter would quickly erase the deficit and the pair decided to hammer out a deal. With $6,000 left to play for, Alexx Porter finally ended the tournament with ace-jack to INSHALA82’s king-queen.

Here are the final-table results (*reflects a two-way deal):

1st: Alexx Porter (Russia) -- $76,227.04* 2nd: INSHALA82 (United Kingdom) -- $74,733.32* 3rd: iwonthurtyou (Russia) -- $47,519 4th: buckguy2200 (Mexico) -- $35,514.20 5th: Benjaphon (Thailand) - $25,010 6th: TheLipoFund (Mexico) -- $20,008 7th: PDonfire (Austria) -- $15,006 8th: 4rebmun (Canada) -- $10,004 9th: highland (Mexico) -- $5,752.30

Ari "BodogAri" Engel

Event 53 $320 Omaha-8

Event 53 offered the most star-studded final table yesterday with Ana Marquez and James “Andy McLEOD” Obst both in the running for a new bracelet.

Omaha-8 isn’t nearly as popular as Hold’em or regular PLO but the event still managed to draw 932 players to create a $279k prize pool.

Numerous Team PokerStars Pros were in attendance including Daniel Negreanu, Jonathan Duhamel, Chad Brown, Martin Staszko, George Danzer, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Eugene Katchalov and Marcin Horecki.

The final table began with James “Andy McLEOD” Obst as the chip leader with 1.2 million while Ana Marquez had 405,037. Ari “BodogAri” Engel also made an appearance with 511,808 chips.

The tournament appeared to be Obst’s to lose, as he busted Engel in fifth place and then went on to eliminate Marquez in fourth place.

Obst would eventually enter heads-up play with 3.6 million chips to Vlad_Radimov’s one million.

The Russian wouldn’t back down, however, and after an extended heads-up battle Vlad_Radimov landed the knockout blow when he rivered two-pair against Obst’s pair of kings.

Vlad_Radimov picked up $50k for winning the tournament while Obst had to settle for $36,348.

Here’s a look at the final-table payouts:

1. Vlad_Radimov (Russia) - $50,328 2. Andy McLEOD (Australia) - $36,348 3. G's zee (Canada) - $27,121.20 4. Team PokerStars Pro Ana Marquez (U.K.) - $20,271 5. BodogAri (Canada) - $14,091.84 6. 44sandokan88 (Romania) - $11,295.84 7. Sir_Don_John (Switzerland) - $8,499.84 8. munchenHB (Cyprus) - $5,731.80 9. Gunslinger3 (Panama) - $3,495

Ongoing WCOOP Events

WCOOP-52 $215 No-Limit Hold’em [Big Antes] – Day 2

Resumes at 11:00 ET

WCOOP Events Starting Today

6:00 ET – WCOOP-54 $320 No-Limit Hold’em

$320 buy-in $300,000 guaranteed

11:00 ET – WCOOP-55 $530+R No-Limit Hold’em

$530 buy-in $600,000 guaranteed

14:00 ET – WCOOP-56 $2,100 Pot-Limit Omaha [6-Max]

$2,100 buy-in $500,000 guaranteed

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

WCOOP Day 17: Bonomo Claims Title, Somerville Final Tables

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 07:29:43 -0700

Bonomo was hardly the only pro making noise yesterday, however, as Andrew “foucault82” Brokos, Jason Somerville and Andre Akkari all made significant scores.

As we enter the last portion of the 2012 WCOOP all eyes are on the POY leaderboard, which currently has two-time bracelet winner Mikal12345 leading but George Danzer is only 55 points behind.

Here’s a recap of all the action on Day 17 of the 2012 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker.

Event 46 $320 No-Limit Hold’em [2X Chance] – Day 2

Online poker pro Andrew “foucault82” Brokos bubbled the final table of the lucrative $320 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em rebuy tournament yesterday.

A total of 2,218 players signed up for the event and once the 680 re-buys were accounted for there was $889,400 in the prize pool.

Day 1 of the tournament saw numerous pros in the action including Henrique.P, Bryan Huang, Brock “t soprano” Parker, Sandra Naujoks and Mickey “mement_mori” Petersen.

The big-name pros were gone by the time Day 2 rolled around, however, and Andrew Brokos was one of the only recognizable names in the final 22.

Brokos appeared to be a lock for the final table but was instead bounced in 10th place when he flopped two-pair against an opponent who hit bottom-pair and a flush draw. The flush came on the turn and that was the end for Brokos.

Instead Puropoker123 went on to win the tournament outright for $139,104. He is the first player from Panama to win a WCOOP bracelet.

Here’s a look at the complete final-table results:

1st place: Puropoker123 (Panama) $139,104 2nd place: StigR (Norway) $104,328 3rd place: Kora Fett (Canada) $78,246 4th place: samuraiUA (Ukraine) $53,902.80 5th place: jenbizzle (United Kingdom) $39,123 6th place: Poeira4 (Portugal) $30,429 7th place: dsnka (Czech Republic) $21,735 8th place: Festivuss (Argentina) $14,779.80 9th place: Armando2011 (United Kingdom) $8,259.30

Jason Somerville finished fifth.

Event 48 $320 Mixed No-Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha

Noted pro Jason Somerville made one of the toughest WCOOP final tables this year but fell four places short of taking down the title.

The mixed event proved to be extremely popular with pros as they made up a huge percentage of the 1,132 players who signed up for the tournament.

Mickey “mement_mori” Petersen was the last PokerStars pro to hit the rail, as he had the misfortune of shoving his short stack into the middle with eight-five against an opponent's pocket queens. He finished in 10th place to bubble the final table.

The final table was an intriguing one with Jan “hairos” Sorensen, Joel Adam “2FLY2TILT” Gordon, David “Betudontbet” Emmons and of course Somerville all looking to wrap up a bracelet.

They were all chasing chip-leader vikkinen, who had amassed 1.6 million chips.

Midway through the final table a game-changing hand occurred between Somerville, Emmons and Sorensen. Somerville was all-in with pocket kings and Emmons with pocket aces but Sorensen would eventually win the hand by turning a queen-high straight.

Both Somerville and Emmons busted in the hand leaving Sorensen to take a serious shot at the bracelet.

Instead Sorensen busted in third and the unheralded mookstar took the tournament down for $59,362.

Here are the complete final table payouts:

1st: mookstar (Canada) -- $59,362.08 2nd: me so fish (Finland) -- $43,129.20 3rd: Jan "hairos" Sorensen (Denmark) -- $32,262 4th: Joel Adam "2FLY2TILT" Gordon (United Kingdom) -- $24,110.60 5th: Jason "Taknapotin" Somerville (Canada) -- $16,980 6th: David "Betudontbet" Emmons (Mexico) -- $13,584 7th: vikkinen (Finland) -- $10,188 8th: lyzardos (Hungary) -- $6,792 9th: bbbbb33 (Malta) -- $3,905.40

Andre Akkari

Event 49 $530 Razz

Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo put on an impressive performance in the $530 Razz tournament yesterday outlasting 387 players to win his first WCOOP title.

The surprisingly robust Event 49 drew plenty of big shots with Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Dave Emmons, Jonathan Turner, Nacho Barbero, Liv Boeree and Maxim Lykov all looking for lowball supremacy.

Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari would eventually bubble the final table when to0dey hit the nuts against him.

Bonomo entered the final table (which also included Shawn “Buck21” Buchanan) as one of the short stacks but that did not deter him from immediately busting online player MintTrav.

The entire table must have sighed when Bonomo won that early pot because he was a force from that point on.

Bonomo would eventually enter heads-up play with a chip disadvantage of 811,138 to to0day’s 1.9 million.

Just 10 minutes into the match Bonomo would pull even and he scored the tournament-winning hand 20 minutes later.

The former Bodog pro picked up $36,785 for his performance. Not quite the €1.6 million he earned for taking down the EPT Super High Roller event but a significant score.

Here’s a complete look at the final table payouts:

1. Justin "ZeeJustin" Bonomo (Canada) - $36,785.16 2. to0dey (Russia) - $27,090 3. YoHHH_ViraL (Malta) - $20,317.50 4. sonajero (Uruguay) - $14,512.50 5. pmahoney22 (Mexico) - $9,675 6. hummylun (Canada) - $6,772.50 7. Shawn "buck21" Buchanan - $4,837.50 8. MintTrav (United Kingdom)- $3,870

Ongoing WCOOP Events

WCOOP-50 $1,050 No-Limit Hold’em - Day 2

Resumes at 17:00 ET

WCOOP Events Starting Today

6:00 ET – WCOOP-51 $215 No-Limit Hold’em [1R1A]

$215 buy-in $300,000 guaranteed

11:00 ET – WCOOP-52 $215 No-Limit Hold’em [Big Antes]

$215 buy-in $300,000 guaranteed

14:00 ET – WCOOP-53 $320 Omaha-8

$320 buy-in $150,000 guaranteed

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

WCOOP Day 16: LuckyGump Wins, Deep Runs by Duhamel, Stout

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 06:30:27 -0700

Makarov outright won the $320 PLO 6-Max event for $110k. He becomes one of the few players to own both a SCOOP and WCOOP title. Matt Stout placed third in the same tournament for $60k.

Meanwhile Duhamel just missed out on the final table of the turbo tournament by coming in 12th place.

Here’s a complete recap of all the action on Day 16 of the 2012 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker:

Marc-Andre Ladouceur

Event 42 $215 No-Limit Hold’em – Day 2

Poker pro Marc-Andre “FrenchDawg” Ladouceur bubbled the final table of the massive two-day $215 No-Limit Hold’em event yesterday.

Event 42 drew a total of 8,342 players to create a huge prizepool of $1.6 million.

The field was cut down to 115 players on Day 1 with Ladouceur, AlexBet86, d-mon-d and kidpro2012 among the chip leaders.

Ladouceur, who finished 13th at the most recent WSOP Main Event, got extremely unlucky to bust in 10th place as he had his pocket tens cracked by pocket eights in a 14 million-chip pot.

Online player OMG_Pokish simply ran over the final table and entered heads-up with 73 million chips to FabOne1986’s 9.5 million.

It took just over 10 hands for OMG_Pokish to find the tournament winning hand with ace-five over FabOne1986’s queen-nine.

OMG_Pokish locked up $250,264 for his dominance in Event 42.

Here’s a complete look at the final table payouts:

1st place: OMG_POKISH (Denmark) $250,264.40 2nd place: FabOne1986 (Germany) $184,141.30 3rd place: GrumpyNacho (Uruguay) $133,472.00 4th place: Okto19 (Germany) $88,425.20 5th place: xAndorx (Ukraine) $68,404.40 6th place: 04122010 (Greece) $51,720.40 7th place: briankrause1 (Canada) $35,870.60 8th place: Trance&Acid (Denmark) $20,020.80 9th place: omar miete (Paraguay) $12,930.10

Humberto Brenes

Event 44 $2,100 No-Limit Hold’em – Day 2

Dutch online player ASIAAN nearly claimed his second bracelet of the 2012 WCOOP in Event 44 yesterday.

One of the most lucrative events of this year’s WCOOP, the two-day Event 44 saw 1,387 players pay the $2,100 buy-in to create a staggering $2.7 million prize pool.

Among the numerous pros to register were Kevin “BeLOWaBOve” Saul, Amit Makhija, Adam Junglen, Vanessa Selbst, George Danzer and Liv Boeree.

Danzer, Selbst and Boeree all cashed but it was Brenes who claimed bragging rights as the last Team PokerStars Pro standing.

Brenes eventually hit the rail in 11th place when he made an ill-timed shove with pocket threes against an opponent with pocket kings. The Costa Rican pro picked up $11k for his efforts.

Soon after Brenes busted, ASIAAN took over the chip lead in his bid for a second WCOOP bracelet.

In the end ASIAAN came up just short as he busted in fifth place and had to settle for $135,926.

The remaining four players quickly made a deal. Eventually U.K. player Aln_the_Kid won the tournament for $370,207.

Here’s a complete look at the final table payouts (*reflects a four-way deal):

1st place: Aln_the_Kid (UK) - $370,207.88* 2nd place: HaramPara (Germany) - $291,008.60* 3rd place: PIUlimeira (Brazil) - $334,448.22* 4th place: d0r1t0s (Canada) - $250,000.00* 5th place: ASIAAN (Netherlands) - $135,926.00 6th place: torkolort1 (Norway) - $108,186.00 7th place: 7sorryforyou (Israel) - $80,446.00 8th place: shurgar (UK) - $52,706.00 9th place: 4high20 (UK) - $28,849.60

Event 45 $320 PLO 6-Max

Cash game killer Alexey “LuckyGump” Makarov showed off his tournament chops by winning Event 45 for $110,112 yesterday.

The $320 PLO 6-Max event drew 671 players and once 815 rebuys and 498 add-ons were piled on, the prize pool skyrocketed to $595,200.

Johnny Lodden made a deep run in Event 45 but fell just short of the final table when Matt “All_in_at420” Stout busted him in eighth place.

Stout went on an impressive run of his own before finally hitting the rail in third place when LuckyGump flopped a straight against him. Stout picked up a hefty payday of $61,008.

Meanwhile Makarov entered heads-up play with a 6.3 million to 4.7 million advantage on joserivas397.

The heads-up match lasted only three hands with Makarov taking down the tournament with a better two-pair than joserivas397.

Here’s a look at the complete final table payouts:

1st: LuckyGump (Russia) -- $110,112.00 2nd: joserivas397 (Venezuela) -- $82,137.60 3rd: All_in_at420 (Costa Rica) -- $61,008.00 4th: Tonimonntana (Austria) -- $41,664.00 5th: ferocious666 (Russia) -- $29,760.00 6th: jetkiss (Germany) -- $17,856.00

Jonathan Duhamel

Event 47 $265 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo

Germany’s busttard survived the lightning-fast No-Limit Hold’em Turbo event yesterday to win $84k in under five hours.

Event 47 had players buzzing with a total of 3,339 players, $166,950 in bounties and a $667,800 prize pool.

The event proved very popular with pros as Eugene Katchalov, Chad Brown, Ana Marquez, Martin Hruby, Shane Schleger, Martin Staszko, Lex Veldhuis, Daniel Negreanu, George Lind, Randy Lew, Pius Heinz, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier and Jude Ainsworth all got in on the turbo-paced action.

Team PokerStars Pros Andre Akkari and Johnny Lodden both made the money but former world champion Jonathan Duhamel was the last PokerStars pro standing.

Duhamel made it all the way to 12th place before finally smashing jack-eight into ace-king and busting out of the tournament. He picked up $4,173 for his efforts.

Busttard went on to win the tournament for $84,661 (with a three-way deal in place).

Here’s a complete look at the final table results (*reflects three-way deal):

1st busttard (Germany) - $84,661.01* 2nd jmcs12 (Hungary) - $75,604.14* 3rd gp18089 (Greece) - $78,153.49* 4th paulwiter (Uruguay) - $38,398.50 5th hlamberg (Latvia) - $28,715.40 6th birddy420 (Canada) - $22,037.40 7th psychodelicx (Latvia) - $15,359.40 8th Zimmy86 (Russia) - $8,681.40 9th Ti0373 (Russia) - $5,342.40

Ongoing WCOOP Events

WCOOP-46 $320 No-Limit Hold’em [2x Chance]

Resumes at 14:00 ET

WCOOP Events Starting Today

11:00 ET – WCOOP-48 $320 Mixed No-Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha

$320 buy-in $200,000 guaranteed

14:00 ET – WCOOP-49 $530 Razz

$530 buy-in $100,00 guaranteed

17:00 ET – WCOOP-50 $1,050 No-Limit Hold’em

$1,050 buy-in $750,000 guaranteed

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

WCOOP Day 15: Busquet Bests Elite High-Roller Field

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 08:20:00 -0700

Busquet,who’s renowned for his heads-up sit-and-go record online, smashed his way to victory on his Adonis112 account on PokerStars.com and picked up the first major online title of his career.

Busquet’s victory came by way of the only WCOOP tournament to conclude yesterday, with action in Events 42 and 44 resuming later today.

We’ve got the highlights below, and will update the ongoing events when they conclude this afternoon.

Olivier “Adonis112” Busquet Wins Event 43: $10,300 Heads-Up

Olivier Busquet has won more than $3 million playing live poker tournaments but online he’s traditionally been a sit-and-go specialist.

Eugene Katchalov has been cleaning up this WCOOP.

That all changed in a big way last night for the New York native when he defeated 63 of the toughest heads-up players on the internet to win $224,000 and his first World Championship of Online Poker title.

Busquet won matches against Also11, Brian “$stinger88” Hastings, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, kotkis and Helio TYF to claim victory.

With a capped field of 64 and a prize pool of $640,000, Event 42 drew the biggest names in the business, many of whom failed to make the money. Eight places paid with the cash prizes beginning at $40,000.

Among those who played but did not cash were Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, Daniel Negreanu, Jason Mercier, Shaun Deeb, Tom “kingsofcards” Marchese, Brian Hastings and Justin Bonomo.

Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Eugene Katchalov and 2011 WCOOP winner K_O_S_T_Y_A all managed to secure a spot in the money.

Here are the full results:

1st: Olivier "Adonis112" Busquet (Canada) - $224,000 2nd: Helio TYF (Canada) - $128,000 3rd: Sussie Smith (Sweden) - $64,000 4th: kotkis (Finland) - $64,000 5th: Eugene Katchalov (Ukraine) - $40,000 6th: Odonkor1 (Sweden) - $40,000 7th: K_0_S_T_Y_A (Russia) - $40,000 8th: Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier (United Kingdom) - $40,000

Sami Kelopuro has another shot at a huge online score this afternoon.

Event 42: $215 NL Hold’em - $1 Million Gtd.

WCOOP Event 42 took the place of the regularly-scheduled Sunday Million on PokerStars and attracted a staggering 8,342 players. That meant over $1.66 million was up for grabs with just over $250k reserved for first.

By the time play was suspended for the night just 115 players were left with Russian player AlexBet86 leading the pack.

Also still in the mix was 2011 SCOOP Main Event winner Sami “LrsLzk” Kelopuro.

Action has already resumed in this event with 70 players remaining at time of publishing.

Event 44: $2,100 NL Hold’em - $1.25 Million Gtd.

Event 44 absolutely smashed its guarantee, and that’s saying something when the original tag on this tournament was for $1.25 million.

1,387 players put together the $2,100 buy-in, building a prize pool of $2.77 million and putting $463,396 up top for the eventual winner.

Scheduled for two days, this event will resume this afternoon with 127 players still alive with a shot at the big money.

Canadian player hateraises is currently in the number one spot but he’ll have plenty of competition as Humberto Brenes, Sunday Million winner and high-stakes cash player EireAbu, Matt “ADZ124” Marafioti, Jim “Mr_BigQueso” Collopy, Vanessa Selbst, Liv Boeree and many more still have chips.

Action resumes at 11:30 PT. Check our Poker News section for the update.

WCOOP Events Starting Today

11.00 ET – WCOOP-45: $320+R PL Omaha [6-Max]

$320 + rebuys buy-in, $300,000 guaranteed

14.00 ET – WCOOP-46: $320 NL Hold’em [2x Chance]

$320 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed

17.00 ET – WCOOP-47: $265 NL Hold’em [Turbo, Knockout]

$265 buy-in, $400,000 guaranteed

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WCOOP Day 14: Final Tables for Lykov, Makarov

Sun, 16 Sep 2012 10:20:00 -0700

Three more WCOOP events concluded with over $1.35 million awarded to online poker players from all over the world.

In addition to the two Russians named above we saw deep runs from former WSOP Main Event final-tablist Phil Collins, WCOOP crusher Eugene Katchalov and last year’s WCOOP main event champion Thomas "Kallllle" Pedersen.

Keep reading for the full recap from Day 14 of the 2012 World Championship of Online Poker.

Event 39: $700 NL Hold’em [Heads-Up] - $250k Gtd.

720 players contended Event 39, a $700 heads-up No-Limit Hold’em tournament, with Ti0373 from Russia coming out on top to the tune of $120,600.

No deal was reached as runner-up GSinishtaj walked away with $62,712.

Canadian Steven “Zugwat” Silverman finished fifth while 2011 WCOOP Event 3 winner K_O_S_T_Y_A picked up an eighth-place finish.

Also cashing in this event were Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov (15th), Chris “ImDaNuts” Oliver (16th), Amit “AMAK316” Makhija (24th) and Ami “UhhMee” Barer (27th).

Steven Silverman

All told 64 players chopped up the $482,400 in the prize pool.

Here are the top eight results from Event 39:

1st: Ti0373 (Russia) - $120,600 2nd: GSinishtaj (Canada) - $62,712 3rd: wac33215 (Germany) - $33,768 4th: Spyver (United Kingdom) - $33,768 5th: Zugwat (Canada) - $15,436.80 6th: TryToExploit (Poland) - $15,436.80 7th: JohnyK91 (Greece) - $15,436.80 8th: K_O_S_T_Y_A (Russia) - $15,436.80

Event 40: $320 NL Hold’em [6-Max] - $250k Gtd.

Event 40 of this year’s World Championship of Online poker smashed its quarter-million guarantee, attracting 2,327 players and building a prize pool just a few thousand short of $700,000.

After more than 16 hours of poker Romanian player ottoman09 closed the door to win his first WCOOP title and over $86,000.

But, thanks to a three-way deal, the biggest share of the prize pool went to runner-up MilanRabsz from Poland.

Irish player pepealas was the third participant in the chop, finishing third and pocketing $72,800.

Here are the full final table results, adjusted to reflect the deal:

1st: ottoman09 (Romania) - $86,771.85* 2nd: MilanRabsz (Poland) - $90,000.00* 3rd: pepealas (Ireland) - $72,800.00* 4th: PAULMARCKO (Russia) - $40,140.75 5th: Booobich (Sweden) - $26,178.75 6th: N1clasM (Sweden) - $13,948.03

Cashing in this event but missing out on the big money up top were former November Niner Phil “USCPhildo” Collins (12th), 2011 WCOOP main event winner Thomas "Kallllle" Pedersen (13th) and Randall “RandALLin” Flowers (88th).

Max Lykov (Photo courtesy of PokerStarsBlog.com)

Martin Hruby (298th), George Lind (296th) and Ana Marquez (229th) were the only Team PokerStars Pros to make the money.

Event 41: $320 HORSE - $100k Gtd.

Event 41 was a $320 HORSE tournament that drew 598 players. As expected the event was well-attended by professionals with a few notable names making the final table.

While it was ultimately NoraFlum who took down the event, playing from Mexico, skilled players like Alexey “LuckyGump” Makarov and Team PokerStars Pro Maxim Lykov also picked up final-table money.

Playing ten-minute levels of Limit Hold’em, Limit Omaha Hi-Lo, Limit Razz, Limit Stud and Limit Stud Hi-Lo, the final table was whittled down player by player until NoraFlum was left alone in the winner’s circle with the $33k first-place prize.

No deal was reached at this final table.

Here are the full final table results.

1st: NoraFlum (Mexico) - $33,727.20 2nd: LuckyGump (Russia) - $24,667.50 3rd: dev209 (Germany) - $18,119.40 4th: FatmanScoops (Finland) - $13,455.00 5th: Maxim Lykov (Russia) - $8,970.00 6th: gipsy74 (Russia) - $6,279.00 7th: Bruno FT (Brazil) - $4,036.50 8th: andreasbar (Russia) - $2,691.00

WCOOP Events Starting Today

11.00 ET – WCOOP-42: $215 NL Hold’em

$215 buy-in $1 million guaranteed

12.30 ET – WCOOP-43: $10,300 NL Hold’em [High Roller Heads-Up]

$10,300 buy-in $200,000 guaranteed

14.30 ET – WCOOP-44: $2,100 NL Hold’em

$2,100 buy-in $1.25 million guaranteed

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

WCOOP Day 13: Dan Kelly Wins Record 4th Bracelet

Sat, 15 Sep 2012 09:37:55 -0700

Kelly makes a strong case as one of the best online tournament players in the world with four WCOOP titles, one SCOOP title and numerous other huge online scores.

He also won the massive $25k 6-Max event in the 2010 WSOP for $1.3 million.

Meanwhile Selbst and Grospellier made the final table of the Limit Omaha-8 event.

Check below for a complete recap of Day 13 of the 2012 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker.

Event 36 $215 No-Limit Hold’em [Rebuy]

Online grinder Dan Kelly won his fourth bracelet in style but outlasting an enormous field and then beating a tough final table that included Adam “Roothlus” Levy and Jim “Mr_BigQueso” Collopy.

In total Event 36 drew 1,483 players and once 1,587 re-buys and 1,060 add-ons were taken into the equation the prize pool sky-rocketed to $826,000.

The usual suspects were in attendance with Daniel Negreanu, Pius Heinz, Eugene Katchalov, Randy “Nanonoko” Lew and Nacho Barbero all taking a seat.

They were all shut out of the cash but George Danzer, who has been the story of the 2012 WCOOP, finished 106th to secure his 10th cash this year – more than any other player.

Kelly entered the final table third in chips and was a rock at the final table, never dipping dangerously low.

Collopy went out relatively early in seventh place while Levi made it all the way to fourth place before making an ill-timed shove with king-nine against an opponent with pocket aces.

Kelly was out-chipped more than 4-1 to heads-up opponent auercan but refused to make a deal. It paid off for Kelly as he eventually defeated auercan to take down the entire $138,355 first-place prize.

Here’s a look at the final table payouts:

1. Dan "djk123" Kelly (Australia) $138,355.00 2. auercan (Turkey) $101,185.00 3. thagrinda444 (Canada) $76,405.00 4. Adam "Roothlus" Levy (Canada) $56,168.00 5. Skammes (Sweden) $40,474.00 6. PSMozak (Bulgaria) $32,214.00 7. Jim "Mr_BigQueso" Collopy (Australia) $23,954.00 8. tupacmn (Germany) $15,694.00 9. snake8484 (Canada) $8,507.80

Vanessa Selbst

Event 37 $530 Limit Omaha-8

Team PokerStars Pros Vanessa Selbst and Bertand “Elky” Grospellier both made the final table of Event 37.

The Limit Omaha-8 event attracted 429 players, all chasing a first-place prize of $41,162.

Adrienne “talonchick” Rowsome, Chris “moorman1” Moorman and Stephen Chidwick were among the numerous pros who competed in the early stages of the tournament.

By the time the final table was set Grospellier was one of the middle stacks with 408,066 while Selbst was right behind him with 329,271.

Surprisingly Grospellier only made it to eighth place before hitting the rail. The French pro will have to wait another day to win his third WCOOP bracelet.

Selbst, who won a second WSOP bracelet this summer, did reasonably better making it to fifth place before busting to UHaveNoMoney. She picked up $12,012 for her efforts.

Norwegian online player inspecta went on to win the contest outright, beating henrikx heads-up. Inspecta took down $41k for his Limit Omaha-8 skills.

Here are the complete final table payouts:

1. inspecta (Norway) $41,162.55 2. henrikx (Sweden) $30,566.25 3. Aftret (Norway) $22,522.50 4. UHaveNoMoney (Norway) $17,160.00 5. Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst $12,012.00 6. highland (Mexico) $9,116.25 7. PokerSavage1 (Mexico) $6,971.25 8. Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier $4,826.25 9. utvekklo2 (Sweden) $3,560.70

Event 38 $215 Pot-Limit/No-Limit Hold’em

The experimental Pot-Limit/No-Limit Hold’em event proved popular with poker players yesterday drawing 1,273 players to create a prize pool of $254k.

The unique format saw Pot-Limit played pre-flop and No-Limit played the rest of the way.

Among the numerous pros to take a shot at the new event were Randy “Nanonoko” Lew, Dan “djk123” Kelly, James “Andy McLEOD” Obst, Liv Boeree, Faraz Jaka and George Danzer.

Griffin “Flush_Entity” Benger made yet another deep run in a WCOOP event by finishing in 16th place for $1,222. Benger now has eight cashes in the 2012 WCOOP but has yet to make a final table.

As the final table approached online player 1UP_18 started to pull away from the rest of the field.

1UP_18 entered the final table as the chip leader with 1.9 million chips. 1UP_18 never looked back and went wire-to-wire eventually beating smokin27 heads-up to claim the $43,282.

Here’s a complete look at the final table payouts:

1st: 1UP_18 (United Kingdom) -- $43,282 2nd: smokin27 (Canada) -- $31,825 3rd: donut604 (Canada) -- $24,161.54 4th: pippz (Sweden) -- $17,312.80 5th: RIVERR0BB0 (United Kingdom) -- $12,602.70 6th: @cey@lone (Germany) -- $10,056.70 7th: galfano79 (Ireland) -- $7,510.70 8th: czlol (Czech Republic) -- $4,964.70 9th: 00psiedaisy (Costa Rica) -- $2,749.68

WCOOP Events Starting Today

11:00 ET – WCOOP-39 $700 No-Limit Hold’em Heads-Up

$700 buy-in $250,000 guaranteed

13:00 ET – WCOOP-40 $320 No-Limit Hold’em [6-Max]

$320 buy-in $250,000 guaranteed

15:00 ET – WCOOP-41 $320 HORSE

$320 buy-in $100,000 guaranteed

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

WCOOP Day 12: Danzer Streak Continues, Shaniac Final Tables

Fri, 14 Sep 2012 07:33:24 -0700

Danzer continues to rack up POY points as he continues his all-out assault on this year’s WCOOP. Only repeat 2012 WCOOP winner Mikal12345 remains in front of the German.

Amazingly Schleger made the final table of the exact same event he won last year: $320 Triple Draw 2-7.

Here’s a breakdown of the four events that played to a winner yesterday in the 2012 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker:

Pratyush Buddiga

Event 31 $530 10-Max Triple Shootout – Day 2

Online player da69kid defeated a stacked final 10 that included Max Heinzelmann, Pratyush Buddiga and Ryan Carter to win the Triple Shootout event yesterday.

Event 31 drew a total of 711 players to create an overall prizepool of $355,500.

After two rounds yesterday, only 10 players remained for the final day. Martin Staszko was the only Team PokerStars Pro who made it into the money but he busted in the second round.

The final 10 were a compelling group with numerous online pros gunning for the first-place prize of $64k.

Back-to-back EPT final table finisher Max “HotKarlMC” Heinzelmann was the first to fall as he ran ace-jack into Ryan “TheCart3r” Carter’s ace-queen.

Pratyush “Shane Gamble” Buddiga, who is a former spelling bee champ, got extremely unlucky to lose a massive pot with ace-king against ace-ten and was eliminated shortly after in ninth place.

Meanwhile Carter made a very deep run that eventually saw him finish in third place for $33k.

The lesser-known da69kid of Ireland went on to win the contest outright for $64k.

Here’s a complete look at the final table payouts:

1st place: da69kid (Ireland) $64,879.20 2nd place: geovou (Greece) $45,148.50 3rd place: Ryan "TheCart3r" Carter (Canada) $33,594.75 4th place: bastet2004 (Germany) $25,062.75 5th place: CHAINSAWDONK (Canada) $17,597.25 6th place: lizet555 (Israel) $14,220.00 7th place: Artem205 (Ukraine) $11,198.25 8th place: Carter "cswidler" Swidler (Canada) $8,887.50 9th place: Pratyush "Shane Gamble" Buddiga (Malta) $6,754.50

George Danzer

Event 33 6-Max No-Limit Hold’em

Team PokerStars Pro George Danzer nearly made yet another final table at the 2012 WCOOP in Event 33.

The tournament attracted 1,647 players including Angel Guillen, Jan Heitman, Fatima De Melo, George Lind, Andre Akkari, Martin Staszko, Ana Marquez, Mickey Petersen, Lex Veldhuis and Anders Berg.

Danzer put all his teammates to shame by crushing Day 1 of the contest and spending much of the day as the chip leader.

When Day 1 finally drew to a close there were only 11 players left and Danzer was third in chips with 1.2 million.

Incredibly Danzer was out in 11th place after attempting a massive bluff with seven-eight offsuit against chip leader sammycon23. Sammycon23 snapped him off with a pair of nines to win a 2+ million-chip pot.

Sammycon23 would ride his chip stack to a third place finish worth $40k while the U.K.’s Bumbulbee_G was the sole survivor, taking down $80,291.

Here’s a complete look at the final table payouts:

1st Bumbulbee_G (United Kingdom) - $80,291.61 2nd Student 407 (Russia) - $60,033.15 3rd sammycon23 (Australia) - $44,469.00 4th BoBoNe93 (Poland) - $29,646.00 5th tombo_pl (Poland) - $19,764.00 6th WTFOMFGOAO (Russia) - $12,352.50

Event 34 $320 PLO [6-Max, 1R1A]

Geore Danzer kept the pedal to the metal in the 2012 WCOOP and recorded yet another deep run in Event 34.

Event 34, a Pot-Limit Omaha affair, managed to draw 860 players and once re-buys and add-ons were added into the equation there was $555,600 up for grabs.

Dave “CrabMaki” Shallow and Johnny Lodden were a couple of the well known pros to make the money but all eyes were on George Danzer as he gunned for his second bracelet of the 2012 WCOOP.

Danzer’s run in the tournament finally came to an end when he busted in 10th place, nearly missing out on the final table.

The German is now second only to Mikal12345 in the 2012 WCOOP POY standings. Mikal12345 won two WCOOP bracelets earlier in this year’s series.

Danzer wasn’t the only notable pro to go out just before the final table as Ignat “0Human0” Liviu finished in eighth place.

Greek online player ZISIMO7 would eventually overwhelm a final table of lesser-known online players to win Event 34 for $97,952.

Here are the final table payouts for Event 34:

1st: ZISIMO7 (Greece) -- $97,952.28 2nd: Python817 (Canada) -- $72,228 3rd: Ti0373 (Russia) -- $55,560 4th: jezicarabbit (Canada) -- $38,892 5th: nussunlussun (Finland) -- $27,780 6th: djalminha (Portugal) -- $16,668

Shane "Shaniac" Schleger

Event 35 $320 Triple Draw 2-7

After a number of deep runs in the 2012 WCOOP, PokerStars Pro Shane Schleger finally grabbed a seat at a final table in Event 35.

Event 35 drew a total of 423 players to create a prizepool of $128,400.

Interestingly Schleger won this exact event last year for $21k. This year the tournament was slightly bigger so Schleger had more motivation than ever to go back-to-back.

The New Yorker had a good chance to win, as he entered the final six as the chip leader. Anders “Donald” Berg was playing from the short stack.

Berg didn’t last long and was eliminated in sixth place by the nine-eight low of Iteopepe88. The three-time WCOOP winner picked up $4,558 for his efforts on Event 35.

Schleger’s bid for another WCOOP bracelet looked good for most of the final table but he got into trouble with three players left. Schleger was finally relegated to the rail by Iteopepe88 in third place for $14k.

Iteopepe88 and erras, nearly even in chips, quickly settled on a heads-up deal that left only $1,000 on the table. In the end it was Sweden’s erras who landed the knockout punch, good enough to earn him $22,283

Here’s a complete look at the final table payouts (*reflects a two-way deal):

1st place: erras (Sweden) - $22,683.20* 2nd place: Itepopepe88 (Hungary) - $22,000.00* 3rd place: shaniac (Mexico) - $14,124.00 4th place: F3nix35 (United Kingdom) - $9,758.40 5th place: Rabscuttle (Thailand) - $7,126.20 6th place: Donald (Norway) - $4,558.20

WCOOP Events Starting Today

11:00 ET – WCOOP-36 $215+R No-Limit Hold’em

$215 buy-in $500,00 guaranteed

14:00 ET – WCOOP-37 $530 Omaha-8

$530 buy-in $125,000 guaranteed

17:00 ET – WCOOP-38 $215 Pot-Limit Hold’em

$215 buy-in $100,000 guaranteed

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

WCOOP Day 11: Geyer, Collopy Grab Final Tables

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 07:35:49 -0700

Both Geyer and Guillen made the final table of the tough $1k two-day No-Limit Hold’em event while Collopy finished fourth in the equally tough 8-game championship.

Outside of Guillen the Team PokerStars Pros were actually shut out in a couple events yesterday, which means they’ll be looking for some redemption in today’s tournaments.

Here’s a look at some of the best highlights from Day 11 of the 2012 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker.

Angel Guillen

Event 29: $1,050 No-Limit Hold’em Day 2

Talented online pro Adam “simmsux” Geyer finished second in one of the more pro-heavy events of the 2012 WCOOP.

Event 29 drew 1,422 players to create a staggering prize pool of $1.4 million.

Numerous pros bought into the event including Liv Boeree, Daniel Negreanu, Ville Wahlbeck, George Danzer, Max Lykov and Ana Marquez.

After Day 1 only 82 players remained with noted pros Griffin “Flush_Entity” Benger, George Lind, CrabMaki and Team PokerStars Pro Angel Guillen still gunning for first place.

Lind only made it to 61st place before busting out for $3,697.

Meanwhile CrabMaki, who entered Day 2 as the chip leader, could only parlay his chip stack into a 28th place finish.

Benger, who has won millions playing online poker, once again got close to the final table but eventually busted in 14th place.

Geyer entered the final table as one of the middle stacks while Guillen was fighting from the short stack.

Guillen didn’t go out first but couldn’t get past seventh. The Mexican pro earned $41,949 for his efforts.

Players continued to drop until only Geyer and final-table chip leader Illini213 remained with a slight chip advantage for Illini213. The pair quickly settled on a chop that set aside $30k for the winner.

Illini eventually got the best of Geyer and took down $225k while Geyer settled for $194k.

Geyer has an incredible online record that includes multiple FTOPS victories, including the main event in 2009 and he’s also a former Sunday Million winner on PokerStars.

Here’s a complete look at the final table payouts for Event 29:

1. Illini213 - $225,490 2. Adam “simmsux” Geyer - $194,000 3. Kukuchanel - $134,947 4. GripDsNutz - $96,696 5. H.Oussale - $70,389 6. Superfizzy - $56,169 7. Angel Guillen – $41,949 8. Stanman420 - $27,729 9. Lille London - $15,357

Event 30: $215 No-Limit Hold’em [Ante Up]

Ante Up poker, which replaces increasing blinds with antes, continues to be a popular format at the 2012 WCOOP with 1,091 players buying into Event 30.

Among the players to take a shot were Sandra Naujoks, George Danzer, Christopher “el grillo” de Leon, Daniel Negreanu, Shane “shaniac” Schleger, Johnny Lodden and Jonathan Turner.

Team PokerStars Pro was shut out of the cash for a change, however, leaving Randal “RandALLin” Flowers, James “Andy McLEOD” Obst and KtheKing to fight it out for a spot at the final table.

In the end Joao Paulo “Ponga80” Aquino was the sole established pro to make the final table.

Aquino entered the final table as one of the middle stacks and put on a dazzling performance that saw him eventually start heads-up play with 3.8 million chips to GermanBraine’s 1.5 million.

GermanBraine did not just roll over, however, and after a marathon heads-up match that lasted several hours, it was the German who pulled off the victory.

Here’s a look at the final table payouts:

1. GermanBraine - $38,141 2. Ponga80 - $27,711 3. Ulileo - $20,729 4. Limaron - $15,492 5. Aduobe4 - $10,910 6. PICKLED EGG - $8,728 7. MaxBNuts - $6,546 8. Helst66 - $4,364 9. ProfPanik - $2,509

Jim "Mr_BigQueso" Collopy

Event 32: $320 8-Game Championship

Jim “Mr_BigQueso” Collopy made an appearance at the final table of the prestigious 8-Game Championship yesterday.

Much more complicated than regular Hold’em or PLO, Event 32 still managed to attract 738 entrants to create a prize pool of $221,400.

Among the many mixed-game specialists to take a seat in the contest were Daniel Negreanu, Alex Kravchenko, Andre Akkari, Jude Ainsworth, Marcel Luske, Chad Brown and Marcin Horecki.

Once again the Team PokerStars Pros were shut out of the money, although George Danzer, who is currently third in the 2012 WCOOP Player of the Year rankings, did get close before busting in 118th place.

Collopy entered the final table second in chips but ran into trouble early.

After losing several key hands Collopy lost the biggest hand of the tournament when a flopped set of sevens failed him against shakentoucan’s rivered straight with eight-five.

The hand helped propel shakentoucan to heads-up where he had a massive advantage over DallasCorben.

After an extended heads-up match, shakentoucan eventually defeated DallasCorben to claim the first place prize of $36,600.

Here’s a complete look at the final table payouts:

1. shakentoucan - $36,600 2. DallasCorben - $31,812 3. Ely_cash41 - $22,140 4. Mr_BigQueso - $15,498 5. Motor1963 - $11,070 6. AlexElizarov - $6,642

Ongoing WCOOP Events

11:00 ET – WCOOP-31 $530 No-Limit Hold’em [10-Max, Triple Shootout] – Day 2

WCOOP Events Starting Today

6:00 ET – WCOOP-33 $320 No-Limit Hold’em [6-Max]

$320 buy-in $300,000 guaranteed

11:00 ET – WCOOP-34 $320 PLO [6-Max 1R1A]

$320 buy-in $300,000

14:00 – WCOOP-35 $320 Triple Draw 2-7

$320 buy-in $50,000 guaranteed

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

WCOOP Day 10: Brown Third in Badugi, Benger Deep Again

Wed, 12 Sep 2012 07:18:25 -0700

Brown went farther than any other well-known pro on Day 10 as he finished third in the Badugi event to win more than $10,000.

Day 10 was a much slower day than we’re used to in the WCOOP with just two events playing to completion and another finishing up Day 1 but there were plenty of compelling stories with deep runs from Vanessa Rousso, Shane Schleger and Griffin “Flush_Entity” Benger.

Here’s a look at the highlights from Day 10 of the 2012 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker.

Shane Schleger

Event 27: $320 Mixed Hold’em

The $320 Mixed No-Limit/Limit Hold’em event yesterday saw PokerStars pros Vanessa Rousso and Shane Schleger go deep but it was ultimately Canadian putuonfbt who took the WCOOP bracelet.

Event 27 drew a very decent field of 732 players, easily breaking the $150k guarantee with $219,600 up for grabs.

Jose Barbero, Maxim Lykov, Alex Kravchenko and Chad Brown were among the numerous pros who played the event but missed out on the cash. Brown was busy with another event, however, as you’ll see below.

Vanessa Rousso, who plays on PokerStars as LadyMaverick, made a deep run but was eventually ousted in 35th when she smacked king-ten into her opponent’s king-jack.

George Danzer, who’s had an incredible WCOOP already, added a 21st place finish in this event. Currently second on the POY leaderboard, it seems very possible the German will be on top before the 2012 WCOOP comes to an end.

Finally Shane Schleger was the last of the big name pros to fall as he couldn’t escape TT vs. AA. Schleger picked up $1,098 for coming in 19th place.

Sweden’s lennart entered the final table as the overwhelming chip leader with 1.2 million chips but that was only good enough to get him third place.

Putuonfbt went on to win the event outright for $40,296.

Here’s a complete look at the final table payouts:

1. putuonfbt - $40,296 2. Strummer9 - $28,767 3. Lennart - $21,740 4. Mustangoo7 - $16,360 5. Dyng247 - $11,419 6. DO$UN*9* - $9,223 7. RuiNF - $7,027 8. ESTRATEGA 18 - $4,831 9. Edoiler - $2,854

Chad Brown

Event 28: $320 Badugi

Team PokerStars Pro Chad Brown came within a couple spots of chasing down his first WCOOP bracelet in Event 28.

Badugi is no Hold’em but Event 28 still managed to attract a sizable field of 304 players with $91,200 up for grabs.

It was particularly well-attended by Team PokerStars Pros as Daniel Negreanu, George Danzer, Alex Kravchenko, Martin Staszko and Marcin Horecki all took a crack at a WCOOP Badugi bracelet.

Most fell to the rail in the early stages but not Brown. Instead Brown was one of the chip leaders for much of the tournament and eventually secured a spot at the final table.

Brown entered the final table as one of the middle stacks but quickly started building his way to the top.

Finally Brown, after an outstanding effort, succumbed to the rail when he couldn’t get by the two big stacks during three-handed play.

Brown picked up $10,032 for coming in third place, meaning his 2013 WSOP Main Event buy-in is good to go at the very least.

Meanwhile the two biggest stacks to start the final table, woodbine ave and Gigaloff, were left to fight it out for first place.

Canadian woodbine ave eventually got the best of his Russian opponent and took down the $17,784 first-place prize.

Here are the complete final table payouts:

1. woodbine ave - $17,784 2. Gigaloff - $13,224 3. Chad Brown - $10,032 4. Dynastyzz - $7,296 5. Mehmet deniz - $5,016 6. Lumelia - $3,648 7. NAR74 - $2,736 8. QuadVQuadMe - $2,280

Griffin "Flush_Entity" Benger

WCOOP 29: $1,050 No-Limit Hold’em Day 1

Event 29 was the real crowd pleaser yesterday with 1,422 entrants and a staggering $1.4 million prize pool.

The event drew a seemingly endless parade of professional poker players including Liv Boeree, Nick “FU_15” Maimone, Joe Cheong, Mickey Petersen, Martin Staszko, Jon Turner, Daniel Negreanu and Maxim Lykov.

After 24 levels of play on Day 1, play finally came to a close with 82 players still chasing the WCOOP bracelet and the massive $241,740 first-place prize.

Canadian MTT-master Griffin “Flush_Entity” Benger once again finds himself with a top 10 chip stack.

Angel Guillen, George Lind and Adam Geyer are also still in the hunt for the potentially huge payouts in Event 29.

Action resumes at 17:00 ET today. Here’s a look at the top 10 chip counts:

1. GrabMaki – 513,830 2. Veeea – 452,060 3. Wizowizo – 310,251 4. Gambler4444 – 281,966 5. Majus26 – 276,044 6. Baddada123 – 266,486 7. H.Oussale – 261,379 8. Arxigos – 256,898 9. Guimoura – 246,250 10. Griffin “Flush_Entity” Benger – 239,077

WCOOP Events Starting Today

6:00 ET – WCOOP-30 $215 No-Limit Hold’em [Ante Up]

$215 buy-in $200,000 guaranteed

11:00 ET – WCOOP-31 $530 No-Limit Hold’em [10-Max, Triple Shootout]

$530 buy-in $200,000 guaranteed

14:00 ET – WCOOP-32 $320 8-Game

$320 buy-in $125,000 guaranteed

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

WCOOP Day 9: Elias Wins Big, Boeree Comes Close

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 07:44:50 -0700

It was a busy day with six tournaments playing down to a winner and millions up for grabs.

In addition Norway’s mikal12345 pulled off an impressive feat by winning another WCOOP title just four days after winning Event 12.

Here’s a closer look at all the action from Day 9 of the 2012 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker:

Event 21 $215 No-Limit Hold’em – Day 2

Online player mrw8419 outlasted 8,226 players to win a massive $164,619 first-place prize in Event 21.

Day 2 of event Event 21 began with 103 players still hunting the serious money.

Team PokerStars Pro Matthias De Meulder, who has already had a solid WCOOP, made a deep run that eventually saw him finish in 20th place for $3,833.

Mrw8419 entered the final table as the chip leader with 12,886,433 and he would eventually beat KongenavU heads-up to take the WCOOP title.

Amazingly it was actually fourth-place finisher Mr.Bittar who won the most money thanks to a deal with four players left. Mr.Bittar secured a staggering $190,091 for his efforts.

Here’s a look at the final table payouts (*reflects the four-way deal):

1. mrw8419 - $164,619*2. KongenavU - $162,938* 3. Vandir4rek - $129,527* 4. Mr.Bittar - $190,091* 5. Utvekklo2 - $67,453 6. Th9nip - $51,001 7. BarneyBao - $35,371 8. GiveMeDolars - $19,742 9. King_geoden - $12,750

Jonathan Karamalikis finished ninth.

Event 22 $10,300 No-Limit Hold’em – Day 2

Poker pro Darren Elias beat a stacked final table to win the biggest prize yet of the 2012 WCOOP – a scale-tipping $574,695.

The 297-player field included some of the best poker players in the world and it seemed to be a lock that a notable player would win the tournament.

Team PokerStars Pros Leo Fernandez and Daniel Negreanu both managed to make min cashes for $17,820.

The final table was eventually set with established grinders Jonathan “MONSTER_DONG” Karamalikis, Matt “ch0ppy” Kay and Chris “ImDaNuts” Oliver all looking to take down a WCOOP title.

Surprisingly they were the first players out with Karamalikis finishing ninth, Oliver eighth and Kay seventh.

That paved the way for an eventual heads-up battle between Elias and online player shhh00kem.

In the final hand Elias faded a flush draw with pocket sevens to win the massive tournament.

Here’s a look at the final table payouts:

1. darrenelias - $574,695 2. Shhh00kem - $430,650 3. Nandor82 - $326,700 4. Paolo69 - $245,025 5. Skykoen - $169,290 6. Artem205 - $130,680 7. Ch0ppy - $100,980 8. ImDaNuts - $71,280 9. MONSTER_DONG - $51,975

Deep Run for Daniel Negreanu

Event 23 $700 No-Limit Hold’em – Day 2

Russian online player hronik81 outlasted pros Daniel Negreanu and Isaac Baron to take down Event 23 for $220,661.

The huge two-day event drew 3,215 to create a $2.1 million prizepool. After one day of action 169 players were still chasing the ultimate prize with Baron starting the day as the chip leader.

Surprisingly Baron fell in 64th place to pick up a cash of $3,661. Not an altogether bad result but there’s no doubt Baron had his eye on the final table.

Negreanu put on an even more impressive performance as he got down to the last three tables before busting in 27th place.

Kid Poker likely would have made it even deeper if he hadn’t slammed ace-king into pocket aces to lose a massive pot shortly before busting. Either way, Negreanu is loving this year's WCOOP.

With the big-name pros gone, the final table was set with horonik81 as one of the middle stacks.

It didn’t seem to matter to horonik81 as he played the role of underdog perfectly, eventually beating POWOFOO heads-up to win $220,664.

Here’s a complete look at the final table payouts (*reflects a five way deal):

1. hronik81 - $220,664* 2. POWOFOO - $219,801* 3. 888R8 - $162,275* 4. Vzsole800 - $221,851* 5. Pistecaloze - $166,272* 6. Vesselman - $72,160 7. RediceRap - $50,620 8. Wardough82 - $29,122 9. _ JMDCD _89 - $18,309

Liv Boeree

Event 24 $215 No-Limit Hold’em [4-Max]

Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree outlasted 2,773 players to come within sixth places of making the final table of Event 24.

The format proved to be very popular as 2,784 players registered including pros Viktor Ramdin, Lex Veldhuis, Randy Lew, George Danzer, Vicky Coren, Humberto Brenes, Angel Guillen and many others.

Chad Brown, Johnny Lodden and Grzegorz Mikielewics all made the money but it was Liv Boeree who stole the show.

Boeree was one of the chip leaders for the majority of Event 24 and appeared destined for a spot at the final table before she lost a key hand with king-queen against ace-jack.

In her final hand Boeree had the misfortune of flopping a broadway straight only to eventually lose to a backdoor flush. The English pro picked up $4,699 for coming in 10th place.

Austrian majus26 would go on to win the tournament for $81,015.

Here’s a look at the complete final table payouts:

1. majus26 - $81,015 2. Moh65 - $49,293 3. Artem205 - $28,574 4. Pitaoufmg - $17,349

Tom "kingsofcards" Marchese

Event 25 $320 Seven-Card Stud

Pros Tom “kingsofcards” Marchese and Calvin “cal42688” Anderson both made the final table of Event 25.

Although not as popular as its No-Limit Hold’em counterparts, Event 25 still drew an impressive field of 381 to crush the guarantee of $50,000 and create a prizepool of $114,300.

The pros were out in full force with Alex Kravchenko, Anders “Donald” Berg, Mike “Timex” McDonald, Victor Ramdin and George Danzer all making it into the money.

Marchese, who owns an NAPT title, entered the final table as one of the short stacks, which had to be a relief to the rest of the players at the final table.

Despite a valiant effort to battle back, Marchese ended up finishing in seventh.

Surprisingly online stud Calvin “cal42688” Anderson wasn’t far behind as he busted in sixth place.

Norway’s osten went on to win the tournament outright for $22,002.

Here’s a look at the final table payouts:

1. osten - $22,002 2. Bassysaffari - $16,287 3. Ale6ka - $12,287 4. Bodhisattva6 - $8,858 5. Mitdadu - $6,000 6. Cal42668 - $4,286 7. Kingsofcards - $3,143 8. Glenizem - $2,571

Event 26 $215 Pot-Limit Omaha [1R1A]

Mikal12345, who won a WCOOP event just four days ago, came back with a vengeance to win Event 26 outright for $83,158.

Event 26 drew 1,223 players and after 858 rebuys and 328 add-ons had been factored in the prizepool hit $481,800.

Mickey “mement_mori” Petersen and George Lind were just a couple of the notable players who packed the virtual tables in Event 26.

Mikal12345 entered the final table as one of the middle stacks but simply would not be denied as he built a massive stack.

By the time Mikal12345 was heads-up against Poland’s KAmIkAdZeEe he had secured the chip lead. The duel only lasted two hands.

Here’s a complete look at the final table payouts:

1. mikal12345 - $83,158 2. kAmIkAdZeEe - $60,225 3. Try__An__Hit - $45,771 4. Paaskebaesen - $33,533 5. Situruttu - $23,849 6. mrAndreeew - $19,031 7. Vlad_Radimov - $14,213 8. Culibrk1 - $9,395 9. Mendieta19 - $5,299

WCOOP Events Starting Today

11:00 ET – WCOOP-27 $320 Mixed Hold’em

$320 buy-in $150,000 guaranteed

14:00 ET – WCOOP-28 $320 Badugi

$320 buy-in $150,000 guaranteed

17:00 ET – WCOOP-29 $1,050 No-Limit Hold’em

$1,050 buy-in $150,000 guaranteed

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

WCOOP Day 8: Elias, Baron Highlight Bracelet-Free Day

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 07:16:03 -0700

Not a single bracelet was awarded yesterday. It was a change of pace considering at least three titles have been handed out almost every day over the last week of WCOOP action.

Fortunately the three two-day events that began yesterday offer some intriguing stories with several notable players deep.

Here’s a look at the ongoing PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker events from this weekend:

Event 21: $215 No-Limit Hold’em – Day 1

The lower-buy-in Event 21 proved to be the most popular tournament yesterday with a staggering field of 8,226 players combing to create a prizepool of $1.6 million.

Among the numerous pros to sign up for the event were Liv Boeree, Johnny Lodden, Fatima Moreira de Melo, Adrienne “talonchick” Rowsome, Victor Ramdin and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier.

After 30 levels of play, Day 1 finally concluded with 103 players still chasing the WCOOP dream.

Day 1 was not exactly kind to professional poker players as Matthias “mattidm” De Meulder and Max “HotKarlMC” Heinzelmann are two of the last notables with a shot at the $246,784 first-place prize.

Canadian online player $kill game, who made the final table of Event 10, is at it again with a top 10 chip-stack in Event 21.

Action resumes at 11:00 ET. Here’s a look at the top 10 chip counts to end the day:

1. vandir4red – 2,149,800 2. LexaLucky666 – 2,072,593 3. B_Lindberg – 2,063,164 4. ShiFtYFiNGeR – 1,992,625 5. Kuconi – 1,860,457 6. GotURead – 1,779,030 7. Mrw8419 – 1,672,808 8. Utvekklo2 – 1,634,866 9. VinceVegaMFR – 1,555,199 10. $kill Game – 1,506,201

Darren Elias

Event 22: $10,300 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller – Day 1

Darren “darrenelias” Elias, Jonathan “MONSTER_DONG” Karamalikis and Chris “ImDaNuts” Oliver lead the first $10k high roller event of the 2012 after one day of action.

The $10,300 high roller event attracted 297 of the best poker players in the world to absolutely smash the guarantee of $1.2 million and create a prizepool of $2.9 million.

Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Vanessa Selbst, Christian Harder, Jens “Jeans89” Kyllonen, Joe Cheong, Chris “Genius28” Lee, Chris Moorman, Tom “kingsofcards” Marchese and Eugene Katchalov were among the many pros who busted in the early stages of the tournament.

After 266 eliminations, play was finally suspended for the day with 31 players still looking for the big score.

Elias leads the tournament with 352,134 chips while Karamalikis is second with 293,922. Chris “ImDaNuts” Oliver, Matt “ch0ppy” Kay, Faraz “The-Toilet 0” Jaka and Steve “gboro780” Gross are also still alive.

Action resumes at 12:30 ET. Here’s a look at the top 10 chip leaders:

1. darrenelias – 352,134 2. MONSTER_DONG – 293,922 3. Shhh00kem – 266,803 4. ISILDRooN – 218,760 5. Artem205 – 218,444 6. Micide – 213,753 7. VbV1990 – 210,704 8. Dracon 19408 – 203,922 9. ImDaNuts – 201,495 10. El_klonkador – 181,883

Event 23: $700 No-Limit Hold’em – Day 1

Isaac Baron proved why many consider him to be the best online MTT player in the world yesterday by cruising to the top of Event 23.

The online poker pro amassed 586,102 chips, which is more than enough to lead the final 169 players left in the $700 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em event.

Event 23 drew a total of 3,215 players to create a very sizable prizepool of $2.1 million with $339,264 set aside for first place.

Shane “shaniac” Schleger, Jonathan Duhamel, Chris “ImDaNuts” Oliver, NeverScaredB, Vanessa Selbst, Jason Mercier and Toni Judet were among the 3,046 who were eliminated on Day 1 of the event.

The leaderboard is still packed with pros, however, as Jamie “TheChronic420” Rosen, Chris “NigDawG” Brammer, Vicky Coren and Daniel Negreanu are in the final 169 players of the tournament.

Action resumes at 14:30 ET today. Here’s a look at the top 10 chip counts:

1. Isaac “westmenloAA” Baron – 586,102 2. Bestm4n – 503,719 3. Blumenkind53 – 499,509 4. Jpvr – 493,528 5. Telefonkiosk – 446,201 6. Houbanan – 440,256 7. Kedrila – 421,902 8. Joao M. – 420,921 9. DanceWiwMe – 415,922 10. Shuriken555 – 403,689

WCOOP Events Starting Today

11:00 ET – WCOOP-24 $215 No-Limit Hold’em [4-Max]

$215 buy-in $350,000 guaranteed

14:00 ET – WCOOP-25 $320 Seven-Card Stud

$320 buy-in $50,000 guaranteed

17:00 ET – WCOOP-26 $215 Pot-Limit Omaha [Turbo, 1R1A]

$215 buy-in $250,000 guaranteed

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

WCOOP Day 7: Kelly, Wheeler Snag Final Tables

Sun, 09 Sep 2012 12:00:00 -0700

Kelly joined fellow US grinder Jason Wheeler as the only name-pros to make final tables but ultimately they both fell short of the serious money up for grabs.

All told, three different players scored six-figure paydays and we’ve got the details on all of it for you below in our daily recap of the 2012 World Championship of Online Poker at PokerStars.com.

Event 18: $109 NL Hold’em – $750,000 Guaranteed

The 19th event of this year’s WCOOP crushed its $750,000 guarantee to come within spitting distance of a cool million.

9,959 players bought in with eventual winner Kodalite from Norway taking down $140,186.

Kid Poker is happy about his first WCOOP cash of 2012.

Ultimately the tournament was decided by a heads-up deal between the Norwegian and uR.Silver from Russia who pocketed $113,374. Kodalite entered heads-up with a roughly three to one chip lead and took $125k to uR.Silver’s $113k in the chop.

$15,000 was left on the table which Kodalite snagged after just a few hands. The Russian turned aces up and the Norwegian rivered a flush with the money going in on fifth street.

Posting results for the pro contingent in this event were Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier (55th), winner of the biggest Sunday Million ever Luke “Bdbeatslayer” Vrabel (78th), Christophe De Meulder (91st) and Celina Lin (706th).

Daniel Negreanu notched his first 2012 WCOOP cash with a 997th-place finish.

Here are the full final table results, adjusted to reflect the heads-up deal:

1. Kodalite (Norway) $140,186.66* 2. uR.Silver (Russia) $113,374.27* 3. Flush098765 (Germany) $74,692.50 4. Ulett_23 (Canada) $49,795.00 5. Vladimir237 (Germany) $39,836.00 6. Xading (Russia) $29,877.00 7. marwan24 (Canada) $19,918.00 8. mora7777 (Mexico) $10,954.90 9. GordonStr222 (Honduras) $7,718.22

Event 19: $320 NL Hold’em – $250,000 Guaranteed

It’s not unusual for PokerStars tournaments to far surpass their guarantees but the prize pool in this event was staggering even by those standards.

2,794 players coughed up the $320 buy-in to more than triple the event’s $250k guarantee.

Adam "Roothlus" Levy

By the time the day was done British player danface stood alone in the winner’s circle, $132,436 richer. No deal was struck in this event meaning runner-up PICKLED EGG from Brazil took home the originally-agreed upon sum of $99,469.

Also securing a spot among the 360 places that paid out in this event were Ben “ShankingYou” Palmer (26th), Adam “Roothlus” Levy (40th), Ryan “Daut44” Daut (98th), Vanessa Rousso (204th), Scott “BigRiskky” Clements (261st), Randall “RandALLin” Flowers (352nd) and Bryn Kenney (359th).

Here are the full final table results:

1. danface (United Kingdom) $132,436.00 2. PICKLED EGG (Brazil) $99,469.19 3. Cyatusha (Ukraine) $71,247.00 4. gray31 (Canada) $49,034.70 5. gamble.niki (Russia) $37,299.90 6. APD0290 (Canada) $28,917.90 7. wiczar (Poland) $20,535.90 8. Gazzerina (United Kingdom) $12,153.90 9. KingPoulou (Belgium) $7,124.70

Event 20: $215 FL Hold’em – $100,000 Guaranteed

While yesterday’s other two WCOOP events were lacking in final-table star power, Event 20 saw two big-name poker pros battling for the most prestigious title in online poker.

Dan “djk123” Kelly already had three WCOOP titles to his credit but fell short of a fourth in this tournament. Kelly finished 6th, taking home just over $7,000.

Another relocated American, Jason “jdtjpoker” Wheeler finished eighth. Wheeler recently pushed his live tournament earnings over the $1 million mark with a cash in the EPT Barcelona main event last week.

Outlasting every single player in this event was dirty.brasil who was playing from a Canadian IP address. dirty.brasil took down $31,284. No deal was needed.

Here are the full final table results:

1. dirty.brasil (Canada) $31,284.00 2. MSC1121 (Japan) $22,594.00 3. Fidget65 (Russia) $16,858.60 4. chaser100 (United Kingdom) $12,600.50 5. bob43155 (Mexico) $8,759.52 6. Dan "djk123" Kelly (Australia) $7,021.52 7. Direktor35x (Germany) $5,283.52 8. jdtjpoker (Mexico) $3,562.90 9. ugritaly (Australia) $2,172.50

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WCOOP Day 6: Petersen, Rousso Put on a Show

Sat, 08 Sep 2012 08:27:48 -0700

It was a big day all around for Team PokerStars as Vanessa Rousso made it into the final two tables of Event 13 while Matthias De Meulder bubbled that event in seventh place.

Despite the strong efforts of the team, George Danzer and Eugene Katchalov remain the only PokerStars pros who have won WCOOP events this year.

There’s a good chance that will change this weekend, however.

Here’s a look at the highlights from Day 6 of the PokerStars 2012 World Championship of Online Poker:

Event 13: $530 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max Knockout

Online player Ajoin21 defeated Greek poker pro Georgios “gkap13” Kapalas heads-up to win the very pro-heavy $540 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max event.

The tournament drew 1,938 entrants to create a lucrative $782,952 prizepool with $195,738 set aside for bounties.

Established poker pros had a very strong presence in the event with George “Jorj95” Lind, Randy “nanonoko” Lew, Fatima Moreira de Melo, Eugene Katchalov and Ana Marquez all making the money.

Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso had a very impressive run before busting in 12th place for $7,829.

Fellow Team PokerStars Pro Matthias De Meulder got sickeningly close to the final table but busted in seventh place for $11,744.

That cleared the way for big stack Ajoin21 to take over the final table and eventually claim the WCOOP title by defeating Kapalas heads-up.

Here’s a complete look at the final table payouts (*reflects a two-way deal):

1. Ajoin21 - $114,313* 2. Georgios “gkap13” Kapalas - $101,000* 3. Zerochill - $68,508 4. KilleR397 - $45,019 5. Remislovas - $30,691 6. 12pilsnerplz - $17,538

Mickey "mement_mori" Petersen

Event 15: $215 PLO 6-Max

PokerStars Team Online member Mickey “mement_mori” Petersen came within three spots of winning his first WCOOP title in Event 15.

The PLO 6-Max event drew 2,021 players to create a $404,200 prizepool. Numerous pros went deep including Russian K_0_S_T_Y_A, Chris “NigDawG” Brammer and Amit “AMAK316” Makhija.

Makhija actually bubbled the final table by coming in seventh place for $5,658 leaving Petersen as one of the short stacks entering the final table.

Petersen, who is a former PokerListings best bet for Denmark, put on a valiant effort at the final table, even getting lucky enough to crack pocket aces once, but eventually fell in fourth place when his pocket queens were beaten by a rivered flush.

The Danish pro picked up $23,241 for his efforts but will have to wait another day for his first WCOOP title.

With Petersen gone, the remaining three players quickly made a deal that spread most of the remaining cash evenly between them.

Mexican player cnew27 went on to beat kunkku heads-up to win the $51,391 first-place prize.

Here’s a complete look at the final table results (*reflects three-way deal):

1. cnew27 - $51,391* 2. Kunkku - $44,725* 3. Baexy - $50,405* 4. Mickey “mement_mori” Petersen - $23,241 5. Culibrk1 - $15,157 6. joaoMathias - $8,528

Event 16: $215 No-Limit 2-7 Single Draw

With all the huge Hold’em and PLO events on Day 6, Event 16 No-Limit 2-7 Single Draw slipped quietly under the radar.

The tournament still attracted a respectable field of 423 players to create a prizepool of $84,000, easily smashing the $50,000 guarantee.

Poker pros were not as visible in this event as George “Jorj95” Lind, Charlotte “Sjlot” van Brabander and recent hot-hand George Danzer were among the few notables to make the money.

Online poker player (RIP)C.McRae entered the final table dead last in chips but battled his way to heads-up where he was a 3.5-1 underdog to DYBYDX.

(RIP)C.McRae repeatedly asked for a deal heads-up but DYBYDX declined every time. It eventually worked out for (RIP)C-McRae as he overcame his chip deficit and won the tournament outright for $17,343.

Here’s a look at the final table payouts:

1. (RIP)C.McRae - $17,343 2. DYBYDX - $12,267 3. WTFOMFGOAO - $8,460 4. 2ABailo - $5,287 5. LuckyLady519 - $3,595 6. BgsaPnaples - $2,749 7. Dippidude - $2,072

Johnny Lodden

Event 17: $320 No-Limit Hold’em [10 minute levels]

The semi-turbo Event 17 drew 2,372 players who would play down to a winner in just eight hours and 19 minutes.

The pros were out in full force in this one with Pius Heinz, Vanessa Rousso, Jason Mercier, Vanessa Selbst, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Eugene Katchalov, Vicky Coren and Daniel Negreanu all looking to win a WCOOP bracelet.

Fortunately for everyone else in the event, all the aforementioned names busted before the cash. Johnny Lodden was the only PokerStars Pro to cash, as he finished in 202nd place.

German Umumba entered the final table as one of the middle stacks but by the time he entered heads-up play against Slayer_pol he had accumulated a massive 3-1 chip lead.

Umumba beat Slayer_pol to win the WCOOP title and $90,659 in cash.

Here’s a look at the complete final table payouts (*reflects a four-way deal):

1. Umumba - $90,659* 2. Slayer_pol - $70,000* 3. Se7enTr3y - $70,000* 4. Mattssons - $73,265* 5. Mindgamer - $32,022 6. MAFFIP - $24,906 7. Ajaxfsite - $17,790 8. Mr Right 00 - $12,097 9. Hitemup27 - $6,404

WCOOP Events Starting Today

10:30 ET – WCOOP-18 $109 No-Limit Hold’em

$109 buy-in $750,000 guaranteed

12:30 ET – WCOOP-19 $320 No-Limit Hold’em

$320 buy-in $250,000 guaranteed

15:00 ET – WCOOP-19 $215 Fixed Limit Hold’em

$215 buy-in $100,000 guaranteed

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

WCOOP Day 5: Danzer, Katchalov Take Down Titles

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 07:07:05 -0700

Both Katchalov and Danzer are now two-time WCOOP winners with their first titles coming in the 2009 online series.

Surprisingly Katchalov and Danzer weren’t the only PokerStars Pros to go deep on Day 5 as reigning World Champion Pius Heinz came within two eliminations of taking down his first WCOOP event.

Check below for highlights from Day 5 of the 2012 PokerStars WCOOP:

George Danzer

Event 10: $320 No-Limit Hold’em Ante Up

George Danzer outlasted 1,367 players to win his second WCOOP title in the two-day $320 No-Limit Hold’em Ante Up event yesterday.

For those unfamiliar, Ante Up tournaments employ a fixed blind level throughout the entire tournament while the antes escalate rapidly. It requires a different strategy than regular No-Limit Hold’em.

The Ante Up format apparently has a lot of fans as Daniel Negreanu, Matthias de Meulder, George “Jorj95” Lind and Marcin “Goral” Horecki were amongst the numerous pros to buy into Event 10.

Day 2 began with just 16 players left and surprisingly Danzer was nearly dead last in the chip counts.

The German PokerStars pro battled back, however, and managed to grab a seat at the final table with a smaller stack.

Danzer, who won his first WCOOP event in 2009, built his stack up and would eventually beat mrAndreeew in a marathon heads-up match to secure the $69,717 first-place prize.

Suffice to say Danzer has been hot lately as he finished second in a bracelet event at the 2012 WSOP this summer.

Here are the complete final table payouts:

1. GeorgeDanzer - $69,717 2. mrAndreeew - $51,262 3. Thetz - $38,918 4. Ediguardo - $27,886 5. Ratajpoker - $20,299 6. Megaheiner - $16,198 7. Buffett1986 8. $kill Game - $7,996 9. Huiiiiiiiiii - $4,429

Christian "el grillo" de Leon

Event 11: $215 No-Limit Hold’em Heads-Up

Canadian online player Stunnaf00 proved to be the ultimate heads-up victor after two days of one vs. one matches in Event 11.

A total of 2,159 players bought into the heads-up affair creating a prizepool of $431,800 with 256 places getting paid.

Some of the established players who cashed in Event 11 included recent WCOOP final table finisher Christian “el grillo” de Leon and fellow Team PokerStars Pro Stavros “IDOLLS” Kalfas.

The entire tournament eventually came down to Stunnaf00 versus Sweden’s Vichyn88. The pair quickly cut a deal that would see them play the last match for $5,000.

Stunnaf00 may have had second thoughts about the deal as it only took him four hands to eliminate Vychyn88.

Here are the final eight results in Event 11 (*reflects a heads-up deal):

1. Stunnaf00 - $58,634 2. Vichyn88 - $53,634 3. Levinhostar - $23,749 4. Moern - $23,749 5. Gry Dilling - $11,874 6. FlawlessMind - $11,874 7. Snakefoxes - $11,874 8. Jliberta146 - $11,874

Event 12: $215 6-Max Omaha-8 [1R1A]

Omaha Hi-Lo is certainly not No-Limit Hold’em but Event 12 still managed to attract an impressive field of 555 players.

Once rebuys and add-ons were factored into the equation, the tournament offered a total prizepool $225,000.

That was more than enough incentive for pros Adrienne “talon chick” Rowsome, Martin Staszko, Alex Kravchenko, Anders “Donald” Berg, Daniel Negreanu and Marcin Horecki who all played the event.

Eugene Katchalov made a deep run the tournament but eventually hit the rail in 48th place. Don’t feel too bad for Katchalov, however, as he went on to win Event 14 outright later that day (check below for details).

Norway’s mikal12345 entered the final table as one of the middle stacks but quickly exerted his control over the situation.

Mikal12345 beat karolinaD heads-up to win the first-place prize for $43,396 with no deal needed.

Here are the final table results for Event 12:

1. mikal12345 - $43,396 2. karolinaD - $31,976 3. TheCart3r - $23,411 4. ~Peeranha~ - $15,988 5. Slavik_Krs - $11,420 6. Krasavchik33 - $7,308

Pius Heinz made the final table of Event 14

Event 14: $215 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo

Tournament crusher Eugene Katchalov beat out 655 players to win his second WCOOP title in Event 14: $215 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo.

Incredibly Katchalov wasn’t even the only Team PokerStars Pro at the final table of Event 14 as 2011 WSOP Main Event winner Pius Heinz was in third place when the final eight was set.

Heinz was also looking for his first WCOOP bracelet and put on a valiant effort before finally being eliminated in third place when his two-pair was beaten by trollringen’s better two-pair.

The German earned $13,100 for his efforts, which is well shy of his $8.7 million score last year, but he’ll take it.

Katchalov was running hot at this point and entered heads-up play with 1.7 million chips to trollringen’s 1.5 million.

In the early stages of heads-up Katchalov hit a nine-high straight and took down a huge pot from trollringen.

Trollringen started to bleed chips and it didn’t take much longer for Katchalov to land the knockout blow.

With no deals in place, Katchalov took down the whole $24,588 first-place prize and become the second Team PokerStars Pro of the 2012 WCOOP to win a bracelet.

Here's a look at the final table payouts:

1. Eugene Katchalov - $24,588 2. Trollringen - $17,685 3. Pius Heinz - $13,100 4. Lennart - $9,825 5. Gjeddekongen - $6,550 6. LadyDoDo91 - $4,585 7. TkalexV - $2,947 8. Joeyspanne88 - $1,965

Ongoing WCOOP Events

Event 13: $530 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max Knockout Day 2

WCOOP Events Starting Today

11:00 ET – WCOOP-15 $215 Pot-Limit Omaha [6-Max]

$215 buy-in $250,000 guaranteed

14:00 ET – WCOOP-16 $215 Single Draw 2-7

$215 buy-in $50,000 guaranteed

17:00 ET – WCOOP-17 $320 No-Limit Hold’em

$320 buy-in $400,000 guaranteed

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

WCOOP Day 4: Final-Table Glory for Gross, de Leon

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 09:25:08 -0700

The 2012 PokerStars WCOOP is still awaiting a big-name winner but both de Leon and Gross put on impressive performances coming fourth and sixth respectively at their final tables.

With 56 WCOOP bracelets yet to be awarded there is still plenty of time for the pros to shake things up in the prestigious series.

It's all leading up to the $5 million-guaranteed WCOOP Main Event on Sept. 23.

Here’s a look at some of the highlights from Day 4 of the 2012 WCOOP:

Event 8: $1,050 No-Limit Hold’em – Day 2

Pascal "Pass_72" LaFrancois came in fifth place.

Team PokerStars Pro Christian “el grillo” de Leon stole the headlines on the second and final day of the $1,050 No-Limit Hold’em event yesterday.

de Leon made the deepest run by a Team PokerStars Pro yet at the 2012 WCOOP by coming in fourth place in Event 8 for $107,032.

Of the original 1,574 entrants, a total of 78 runners entered Day 2 including top-ranked MTT player Griffin “Flush_Entity” Benger.

Benger hit the rail midway through Day 2 of the contest when he had the misfortune of shoving ace-king into de Leon’s pocket kings.

The hand helped propel de Leon to the final table where he had to compete with fellow professional Pascal “Pass_72” LeFrancois.

LeFrancois won a WSOP bracelet in 2010 and finished 11th in the Main Event the same year. The French Canadian ended up finishing in fifth place for $77,126.

Meanwhile de Leon finally busted when he lost a flip with pocket deuces against eventual second-place finisher The Lag rat’s ace-king.

Online player beardo1981, who was playing from the U.K., went on to win the tournament outright for $262,936.

Here are the complete final table results for Event 8:

1. beardo1981 - $262,936 2. The Lag rat - $192,028 3. Roi kin23 - $144,808 4. Christian “el grillo” de Leon - $107,032 5. Pascal “Pass_72” LeFrancois - $77,126 6. Osten - $61,386 7. TeamWispy - $45,646 8. Bob43155 - $29,906 9. Gabyalp - $16,369

Event 9: $265 Pot-Limit Omaha Knockout

Noted online grinder Steve “gboro780” Gross proved he had knockout power yesterday by making it to the final table of Event 9.

The unique $265 buy-in PLO Knockout tournament drew 1,176 players yesterday to create a prizepool of $235,200 with $58,800 side aside for bounties.

The field was thick with pros including Eugene Katchalov, Roy “GodlikeRoy” Bhasin and George Danzer who all made the money.

Danzer was the final Team PokerStars Pro to fell as he hit the rail in 22nd place for a $987.84 payout.

Online player KingOfThe$ea, who was playing from Thailand, would take the chip lead into the final table with 1.1 million. Gross was one of the short stacks with 465,864.

The entire table likely sighed a breath of relief when Gross busted in seventh place for $6,938.

Portugal’s anguila would go on to beat The Cooker heads-up to claim the $40,595 first-place prize.

Here are the complete payouts for the Event 9 final table:

1. anguila - $40,595 2. The Cooker - $29,400 3. Kanipallo - $22,344 4. KingOfThe$ea - $16,369 5. Nakkehai - $11,642 6. Triantafill - $9,290 7. Steve “gboro780” Gross 8. Majava44 - $4,586 9. SONGJOY - $2,587

Ongoing WCOOP Events

Event 10: $320 No-Limit Hold’em Ante Up – Day 2

Event 11: $215 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em – Day 2

WCOOP Events Starting Today

6:00 ET – WCOOP-12 $215 Omaha-8 [6-Max, One Rebuy, One Add-on]

$215 buyin $150,000 guaranteed

11:00 ET – WCOOP-13 $530 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max [Knockout]

$530 buy-in $500,00 guaranteed

14:00 ET – WCOOP-14 $215 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo

$215 buy-in $50,000 guaranteed

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

WCOOP Day 3: Near Miss for Horecki, Flush_Entity Crushing

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 08:39:53 -0700

Non-Hold’em experts finally got a crack at Draw and Stud games while No-Limit Hold’em players flocked to the first $1,050 buy-in of this year’s WCOOP.

Action shifts into high gear today with PLO, Heads-Up and Ante Up events all scheduled to take place on PokerStars.

Seven down, 58 more to go.

Here’s a look at the highlights on Day 3 of the 2012 WCOOP:

Event 6: $215 No-Limit Draw

Draw may not be the most popular game in the online world but that didn’t keep 540 players from coming out for Event 6 and doubling the guaranteed prizepool of $50,000 up to $108,000.

Polish professional poker player Marcin “Goral” Horecki would go on an impressive run that would see him make the final table before eventually finishing in sixth place.

Horecki was the first Team PokerStars Pro to make a final table in the 2012 WCOOP.

Goral’s elimination cleared the way for Canadian online player 7PRS to take control of the final table and eventually beat Xelodai heads-up.

7PRS took down $20,520 for his superior drawing efforts.

Here’s a look at the complete final table payouts for Event 6:

1. 7PRS - $20,520 2. Xelodai - $15,120 3. Cerutti84 - $11,070 4. Pirata 184 - $7,560 5. Medetai - $5,400 6. Goral - $3,456

Event 7: $215 Triple Stud

The first Seven-Card Stud event of the 2012 WCOOP drew 640 players to create a prizepool of $128,000.

Among the numerous players to sign up were Shane Schleger, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier and Jose “nachobarbero” Barbero.

Barbero ended up becoming the last Team PokerStars Pro standing when he finally bailed out in 39th place for $640.

Online player shipwash entered the final table as a massive chip leader with 1.2 million chips but would eventually be upset by Falco234.

Falco234 and shipwash played heads-up for nearly two hours before Falco234 finally found a way to land the knockout blow. Falco234 picked up $24,064 for winning the contest outright.

Here are the complete final table payouts:

1. Falco234 - $24,064 2. Shipwash - $17,600 3. Ryokan - $12,928 4. Fred_Brink - $9,600 5. Bimbostix - $6,400 6. Ponga80 - $4,480 7. feiX Groni - $2,880 8. Rabscuttle - $1,920

Griffin "Flush_Entity" Benger

Event 8: $1,050 No-Limit Hold’em Day 1

MTT master Griffin “Flush_Entity” Benger built a top-five chip stack on Day 1 of the big $1,050 buy-in Event 8 yesterday.

Daniel Negreanu, Matt “ch0ppy” Kay, Mickey “mement_mori” Petersen, Eugene Katchalov, George Danzer, Angel Guillen, Lex Veldhuis, Randy “nanonoko” Lew, Shane Schleger and Max Lykov were among 1,574 players who bought into the massive tournament.

With a prizepool of $1.5 million and $262k for first place, even the high-stakes pros were salivating at going deep in this tournament.

By the end of Day 1 the field had been reduced to just 78 players with Viking8844 leading the way with 556,728 chips. Griffin Benger isn’t that far behind with 335,649.

Team PokerStars Pro Christian “el grillo” De Leon also secured his spot in Day 2 along with IAmSoSo, Amit “AMAK316” Makhija and Jamie “TheChronic420” Rosen.

The two-day tournament resumes at 17:00 ET today.

Today’s WCOOP Events

6:00 ET – WCOOP-9: $265 Pot-Limit Omaha

$265 buy-in $150,000 guaranteed

11:00 ET – WCOOP-10: $320 No-Limit Hold’em [Ante Up}

$320 buy-in $300,000 guaranteed

14:00 ET – WCOOP-11: $215 No-Limit Hold’em Heads-Up

$215 buy-in $250,000 guaranteed

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

WCOOP Day 2: ASIAAN, ezepoker90 Among First Winners

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 08:03:43 -0700

Monday was a very busy day for online action as both Events 1 and 2 carried over an extra day from Sunday with a massive $300k first-place set to be awarded in Event 2.

In addition Event 3: $320 PLO, Event 4: $320 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max Shootout and Event 5: $215+R No-Limit Hold’em Turbo were all started and finished yesterday.

Check below for a recap of each event.

Event 1: $215 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Max

The first event of the 2012 WCOOP drew 7,322 players on Sunday with 63 returning yesterday to battle it out for $184k first-place prize.

A number of the notable players still left in the tournament busted early as Marc-Andre “FrenchDawg” Ladouceur, David “Betudontbet” Emmons and David “My Brim Low” Ivers all busted in within the first couple hours of play.

Meanwhile Jim “Mr_BigQueso” Collopy, who came second to Gus Hansen in their famous WSOPE heads-up match, made a deep run that eventually saw him finish just shy of the final table in 14th place for $8,786.

By the time the final table of six had been reached, Argentinean ezepoker90 had amassed 22 million chips and was the massive chip leader.

Ezepoker90 put the chips to good use and eventually beat EspBju heads-up to win the tournament.

Here are the complete final table results (*reflects a four-way deal):

1. ezepoker90 - $184,388*2. EspBju - $132,213*3. moyerboide - $120,415*4. TEENageTuRtL - $112,135*5. Phantom4444 - $36,6106. flysohigh - $21,966

Event 2: $215 No-Limit Hold’em

Event 2 was the showcase event on Sunday with a total of 10,608 players showing up to create a prizepool of over $2 million.

In terms of eliminations it was a bloody Sunday with just 133 players getting through to Monday.

Sandra Naujoks was the lone Team PokerStars Pro to survive but she fell early on Day 2. The former EPT Dortmund winner ended up receiving $1,379 for coming in 129th place.

By the time the final table was reached both ASIAAN and gorogheee had distanced themselves from the pack with 22 million chips each.

Surprisingly goroghee only managed sixth while ASIAAN went on to win the tournament. Fortunately for gorogheee there was a chop with six players left.

Here’s a look at the final table payouts (*reflects a 6-way deal):

1. ASIAAN - $231,221*2. Kotovi - $129,526*3. SLUMMDOGG51 - $160,291*4. KevBoyStar - $135,322*5. pablotavi - $127,894*6. goroghee - $154,025*7. jollyholl914 - $42,4328. tommytight - $23,3379. daveyt86 - $14,851

Lex Veldhuis

Event 3: $320 Pot-Limit Omaha

Online player utvekklo2 outlasted 1,714 to win the first non-Hold’em event of the 2012 WCOOP yesterday.

With over $500k up for grabs, there were numerous Team PokerStars Pros on hand including Richard Toth, George Danzer and Lex Veldhuis.

In the end Veldhuis would be the last PokerStars pro to fall when he busted in 116th place.

Huiiiiiiiiii entered the final table as the chip leader but fell just short of heads-up action when he busted in third place. Fortunately thanks to a three-way deal he didn’t miss out on that much cash.

Instead Sweden’s utvekklo2 defeated JAAKARHU99 heads-up to win $65,717. JAAKARHU99 technically received more, thanks to the three-player chop.

Here’s a complete look at the final table payouts (*reflects three-way deal):

1. utvekklo2 - $65,717* 2. JAAKARHU99 - $68,926* 3. Huiiiiiiiiii - $57,692* 4. Sick Pastorr - $34,451 5. Hustla16 - $24,424 6. 4DTitle - $19,282 7. ShankingYou - $14,140 8. I_Mr_U_Bean - $8,998 9. Paris Dedes - $5,142

Event 4: $320 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max Shootout

Raaadzio91 emerged victorious from the 1,296-player WCOOP 6-Max Shootout event on Monday.

The event was very pro-heavy with Daniel Negreanu, Alex Kravchenko, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, George Lind and Shane Schleger all taking a virtual seat.

It was former WCOOP winner Steve “gboro780” Gross who put on the most impressive performance, however, as he finished in ninth place, narrowly missing out on the final table.

Raaadzio91 got a quick start at the final table and never looked back, eventually beating C-Mor87 heads-up. No deal was needed in this event.

Here’s a look at the complete final table payouts:

1. Raaadzio91 - $62,208 2. C-Mor87 - $46,656 3. Andrzejeczek - $34,992 4. Spyver - $23,328 5. Allucan3at - $15,552 6. xSuPrA - $9,642

Daniel Negreanu is down with the rebuy.

Event 5: $215+R No-Limit Hold’em Turbo

Mexican player RenRad 01 successfully navigated through a virtual minefield in the first rebuy tournament of the 2012 WCOOP.

As expected the rebuys were flying fast and furious in the early stages of the tournament with pros like Daniel Negreanu willing to gamble on purchasing a few more bullets.

A total of 1,807 players bought into the tournament but the overall prizepool blossomed thanks to 2,834 rebuys. A prizepool of $1.1 million was generated in the tournament with 234 players getting paid.

Team PokerStars Online’s Mickey “mement_mori” Petersen got bragging rights over his teammates as he was the last PokerStars pro to bust. Pettersen made it to 29th place where he picked up $3,796.

RenRad 01 entered the final table as a middle stack but won an early flip with ace-queen versus pocket sevens. It wasn’t long after that RenRad 01 acquired the chip lead.

Despite a four-way deal, RenRad would go on to beat arnon shraga heads-up to earn the biggest payday in the tournament, worth $144k.

Here are the complete final table payouts:

1. RenRad 01 - $144,086* 2. arnon shraga - $111,774* 3. Lermonad - $135,130* 4. Efffel - $110,294* 5. Daskalos20 - $54,644 6. wowKKa - $42,564 7. Aduobe4 - $31,060 8. Joe soprano - $20,132 9. El17@bk - $11,504

Today’s WCOOP Events

11:00 ET - $215 WCOOP-6 No-Limit Draw

$215 buy-in $50,000 guaranteed

14:00 ET - $215 WCOOP-7 Triple Stud

$215 buy-in $50,000 guaranteed

17:00 ET - $1,050 WCOOP-8 No-Limit Hold’em

$1,050 buy-in $750,000 guaranteed

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

WCOOP Day 1: $3.5+ Million in First Two Events

Mon, 03 Sep 2012 07:08:44 -0700

Event 1 $215 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max drew 7,322 players while Event 2 $215 No-Limit Hold’em attracted a staggering 10,608 players.

Both tournaments were too big to be played out in one day so we’re still awaiting our first winner of the 2012 WCOOP.

Below is a closer look at the first day of WCOOP action this year.

WCOOP-1: $215 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max

The first event of the 2012 WCOOP saw 7,322 players register to create a guarantee-busting prizepool of $1.4 million.

Johnny Lodden, Christian “el grillo” De Leon, Marcin “Goral” Horecki and Grzegorz “DaWarsaw” Mikielewicz were among the numerous Team PokerStars Pros who made the money.

The tournament took place at a blistering pace and when Day 1 drew to a close there were only 64 players remaining.

Some of the notables still gunning for the $219,663 first-place prize include Jim “Mr_BigQueso” Collopy, Clayton “slammedfire” Mozdzen and last Canadian standing at the recent 2012 WSOP Main Event Marc-Andre “FrenchDawg” Ladocouceur.

Action resumes in this event at 11:00 ET today.

WCOOP-2: $215 No-Limit Hold’em

The second event of the 2012 WCOOP was an absolute monster with 10,608 players creating a $2.1 million prizepool with $302,969 set aside for first place alone.

Victor Ramdin, Humberto Brenes and Mickey "mement_mori" Petersen all made the money in WCOOP-2 before being eliminated.

A total of 133 players survived the day with Sandra Naujoks, Ben “KidCardiff6” Warrington and Max Bracht still in it to win it.

German online player Mr-MMuerte is the overnight chip leader with 4,181,835 chips.

Action continues in WCOOP-2 at 14:30 ET today.

Today’s WCOOP Events:

11:00 ET – WCOOP-3: $320 Pot-Limit Omaha

$320 buy-in $250,000 guaranteed

14:00 ET – WCOOP-4: $320 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max Shootout

$320 buy-in $200,000 guaranteed

17:00 ET – WCOOP-5: $215 No-Limit Hold [Rebuys, Turbo]

$215 buy-in $500,000 guaranteed

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

WCOOP 2012: Tweet Minus 5-4-3-2-1

Sun, 02 Sep 2012 07:23:51 -0700

Twenty-two days. 65 tournaments. $30 million guaranteed but probably more on the table.

It's the next best thing to the World Series of Poker, really.

As expected the anticipation was palpable on Twitter in the hours leading up to today's kickoff event, $215 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Max.

By the sounds of it it's going to be a lonely, showerless and prayer-filled three weeks -- and poker players couldn't be happier.

Daily recaps of all events are available in our WCOOP news section as is the WCOOP radio show with Joe Stapleton and Nick Wealthall every day at 3 pm ET.

Here's how the countdown to bink o'clock looked over Twitter:

I'm so freaking excited to play #WCOOP I wish it would start already. 11 hours to kill before then. Might as well sleep I guess, @pokerstars

— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) September 2, 2012

WCOOP WCOOP WCOOP WCOOP WCOOP WCOOP WCOOP WCOOP PISS BOTTLE WCOOP WCOOP WCOOP WCOOP WCOOP #WCOOP

— Mickey Petersen (@mickeydp) September 2, 2012

The World Championship of Online Poker begins later this morning on @pokerstars. Expecting to play 200+ hours over next 3 weeks. #isolation

— Shannon Shorr (@ShannonShorr) September 2, 2012

Dove chocolate pancakes, WCOOP, Andrew Belle Remixes, Psalm 34

— Nick Maimone (@FU_15) September 2, 2012

WCOOP in Under two hours and Arsenal one up at half time to Liverpool. I must be dreaming right now... #wcoop

— Chris Moorman (@Moorman1) September 2, 2012

Very excited for the kickoff of #WCOOP today!It feels like Christmas morning!

— Kevin MacPhee (@KevinMacPhee) September 2, 2012

World Championship of Online Poker #WCOOP stars now. Good luck to all my fellow grinders around the globe. Let's get it!

— Alexander Beck (@WhoIsAlexBeck) September 2, 2012

Since its #WCOOP time I don't plan on leaving my room for 3 weeks and the over/under on showers + getting dressed is 5.5 days out of 21.

— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) September 1, 2012

#wcoop time! Been saving my run good online all year for this. Plan on crushing for the next few weeks. #longoverdue

— Mick graydon (@BIGMICKG1) September 2, 2012

IM SO FUCKING EXCITED FOR WCOOP IN 20MINS WEEEE!!!! #winningsundays #WCOOP #binkoclock

— James Starkey (@JStarkey199) September 2, 2012

Really excited to start the #WCOOP grind tonight! Not often I get to play online lately, especially for shiny, new gold bracelets! #GameTime

— Eugene Katchalov (@EugeneKatchalov) September 2, 2012

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

WCOOP: Last Chance for PokerStars Sign-Ups

Sat, 01 Sep 2012 09:05:55 -0700

PokerStars is currently running $100k Depositor Freerolls for anyone who signs up for a new account.

That means anyone who signs up for a new PokerStars account will gain access to four $1,000 freerolls per day for 31 straight days. The only tough part will be finding a way to fit them in your WCOOP schedule.

In addition anyone who signs up using the PokerListings marketing code, which is: pl.com, will receive a 100% deposit match up to $600.

To learn more check our PokerStars review.

The 2012 WCOOP is a series of 65 events running from Sept. 2-23 on PokerStars.

The tournaments range in buy-in from $215 all the way up to $10,300 with numerous poker variants including No-Limit Hold’em, Pot-Limit Omaha, Seven-Card Stud, Razz, Shorthanded, Shootout and Turbo events to be played.

The series culminates with the $5,200 buy-in WCOOP main event on Sept. 23 with a $5-million-guaranteed prizepool.

Last year Thomas “Kallllle” Pedersen outlasted 1,627 players to take down a $1.2 million first-place prize.

To see the complete 2012 WCOOP schedule click here.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

WCOOP: Top 5 All-Time Money Winners

Fri, 31 Aug 2012 13:58:19 -0700

Many online players consider WCOOP the World Series of online poker and in recent years the prizepools have begun to rival some live tournaments.

Of course the biggest prizes are in the $5,200 No-Limit Hold’em main event where numerous millionaires have been made over the years.

On the eve of the 2012 WCOOP, we’re taking a look at the biggest cash winners in the prestigious series since it began in 2002.

Follow our daily WCOOP recaps and listen to the WCOOP daily radio show on our WCOOP news page.

1. Tyson “POTTERPOKER” Marks - $2,285,759

Missoula, MT, native Tyson “POTTERPOKER” Marks was the last player to win the WCOOP main event before Black Friday so his record may stand for some time.

Marks had already made significant scores in the Full Tilt $1k Monday and Sunday Brawl before he won the WCOOP main event and became one of the rare players to amass over $4 million in online winnings.

The WCOOP main event final table in 2010 was no cakewalk with noted players Grayson Ramage and Darren Elias competing for the huge first-place payout.

Marks put on an impressive performance that eventually saw him enter heads-up play with a 5-1 chip lead over joeysweetp and it didn’t take Marks long to find the knockout blow.

Not limited just to online poker, Marks won a couple of WPT prelims at the LAPC for $77k back in 2009.

Claim to fame: Took down $2.2 million by winning the 2010 WCOOP Main Event.

Lifetime online winnings: $4,111,061

Live tournament winnings: $320,188

Yevgeniy "JovialGent" Timoshenko

2. Yevgeniy “JovialGent” Timoshenko - $1,733,944

Yevgeniy “JovialGent” Timoshenko is arguably the most well known player on this list and needs little introduction to most poker fans.

A skilled online player from Seattle, Timoshenko actually burst onto the poker scene with a live tournament win at the 2008 APT Macau event for $500k.

In April of 2009 Timoshenko did one better by winning the WPT World Championship for $2.1 million.

Timoshenko wasn’t done however and just a few months after winning the WPT Championship he outlasted 2,144 players to win the 2009 WCOOP main event for $1.7 million.

He is the only player in poker history to win both the WPT World Championship and the WCOOP Main Event.

Claim to fame: Numerous. Timoshenko was a live tournament killer before he won a WCOOP main event.

Lifetime online winnings: $4,718,965

Live tournament winnings: $4.4 million

Carter King beat liberace but got less money.

3. Liberace - $1,431,865

Unidentified online player liberace finished second to Carter “ckingusc” King in the 2008 WCOOP main event but actually won more money thanks to a five-way deal made earlier.

The 2008 WCOOP main event final table was littered with online stars as Sumpas, Alex "AJKHoosier1" Kamberis and the aforementioned ckingusc were all in attendance.

Liberace was able to use his chip-leading stack to get all the way to second place and secure the biggest payout at the final table.

Liberace’s true identity remains a mystery but there’s a good chance he’s played WSOP events because the TwoPlusTwo account of the same name has posted questions about registering several times.

The liberace account is no fluke either as he won a SCOOP event in 2009 for $24k.

Claim to fame: Second place for $1.3 million in 2008 WCOOP main event

Lifetime online winnings: Unknown

Live tournament winnings: Unknown

4. joeysweetp - $1,404,725

Joeysweetp is a weird chapter in WCOOP history.

The unidentified account placed second in the biggest WCOOP main event ever held – the one that POKERPOTTER WON in 2010 – for $1.4 million.

Joeysweetp wasn’t particularly active after the huge score, although he did lose several hundred thousand to Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky in the high-stakes cash games on PokerStars.

Since then joeysweetp has basically dropped off the map completely.

There’s really no telling just whom the account belonged to but he or she apparently decided to quit while still ahead.

Claim to fame: Finishing second in 2010 WCOOP for $1.4 million. Disappearing.

Lifetime online winnings: Unknown

Live tournament winnings: Unknown

Ka$ino couldn't beat Mark Teltscher, but got his money anyways.

5. Kyle “ka$ino” Schroeder - $1,380,000

Kyle “ka$ino” Schroeder was a part of the most controversial main event in WCOOP history.

Schroeder originally finished second for $850k in the 2007 WCOOP main event to opponent TheV0id.

Two weeks after the tournament ended, TheV0id was disqualified for cheating and Schroeder was awarded the massive $1.2 million first-place prize.

Apparently TheV0id account belonged to Natalie Telscher, the sister of English poker pro Mark Teltscher, but it was Mark who had been playing during the WCOOP main event. Mark had allegedly been playing on numerous accounts.

Female poker icon and Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso, who plays online under the name LadyMaverick, actually finished third at the final but was bumped up to second after the investigation.

Claim to fame: Winning 2007 WCOOP main event for $1.2 million

Lifetime online winnings: $1,517,834

Live tournament winnings: $4,917

Notable Players in WCOOP All-Time Top 20

7. Carter “ckingusc” King - $1,290,422

An established online grinder, Carter King took down the 2008 WCOOP main event for $1.2 million.

9. Dan “djk123” Kelly - $1,058,336

WSOP bracelet winner Dan Kelly has been a wrecking ball in the World Championship of Online Poker and is one of the very few players who has won three separate WCOOP events.

12. Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier - $1,016,586

Multi-tabling Team PokerStars pro Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier has 33 cashes in the WCOOP with two victories.

15. Vanessa “LadyMaverick” Rousso - $883,023

Vanessa “LadyMaverick” Rousso has proven to be very comfortable at the WCOOP although her stats did benefit significantly from making that 2007 WCOOP main event final table.

16. Alex “AJKHoosier1” Kamberis - $833,345

One of the most skilled online players, Alex “AJKHoosier1” Kamberis has had a fair amount of WCOOP success but the majority of his profits come from finishing third at the 2008 WCOOP main event.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

WCOOP Radio Returns Sept 2 with Stapes, Wealthall

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 07:02:19 -0700

Complementing the $30-million online tournament series offering 65 events over 22 days, the WCOOP radio show will air daily at 3 pm ET starting September 2 and run straight through to September 25.

Included in the lively 90-minute show will be live tournament railing, recaps of the previous day’s events, player interviews, call-ins, special giveaways and more.

Stapes, Wealthall and Broughton Team Up Again

Also back by popular demand are show hosts Joe Stapleton and Nick Wealthall, one of the most respected teams in poker broadcasting.

Stapleton, also host of the PokerStar.nets Big Game, is known for his offbeat sense of humor and witticisms while Wealthall, a veteran TV presenter, is known from his usual gig as the presenter for the UKIPT.

Stapes: Not afraid to ham.

Joining Stapes and Wealthall on air will be Matt Broughton and a revolving stream of pro players you’ve come to know through both their online and live success.

"It provides a way," Stapleton told the PokerStars blog, "for the growing poker community worldwide to share in the excitement of the most important festival in online poker."

As viewers of the PokerStars TV live streams have come to appreciate, listeners can also participate in quizzes and phone-in discussions and will receive passwords to play in $25k worth of listener-exclusive online tournaments.

Among the listener perks on the schedule this year are:

Daily $1 hyper turbo run during the show with a $215 tourney ticket for the winner Tourney entries for using bonus codes announced during the show with WCOOP entries available Spot prizes for callers $82 tourney tickets for the Sweetest Tweet of the Day Tickets and merchandise from the PokerStars VIP Store up for grabs in games running in between each daily radio show

Tune in to the daily WCOOP Radio show and read our daily recaps on our WCOOP news page here.

To revisit last year’s daily shows, check the WCOOP Radio archives on the PokerStars blog.

Visit www.pokerlistings.com

2012 WCOOP Offers $30 Million, 65 Tourneys in 22 Days

Thu, 23 Aug 2012 08:44:32 -0700

It’s the biggest WCOOP ever held and the tournaments will take place in almost every poker variant in existence including Hold’em and PLO but also Seven-Card Stud, Draw, Heads-Up, HORSE, Shootout, Razz and many others.

Buy-ins range from $215 to $10,300 so there’s something for grinders of all levels.

The series will culminate with the $5,200 Main Event on Sept. 23 with a $5 million guaranteed prizepool including $1 million to first place.

Other highlight events include a pair of $1+ million guaranteed tournaments on opening day, the $1.25 million guaranteed $10k high roller tournament on Sept. 9 and the $10k 8-Game High Roller on Sept. 23.

There’s also Badugi tournament on Sept. 11 for players interested in slightly more obscure games.

Last year Danish poker pro Thomas “Kallllle” Pederson outlasted 1,627 players in the 2011 WCOOP Main Event to win $1.2 million.

Satellites are now running for 2012 WCOOP on PokerStars and it’s possible to qualify for as little as a $1, or if you’re really lucky, free. Check our PokerStars review for more information.

Here’s the complete 2012 WCOOP schedule:

Buy-In

Name

Date

Time

Prizepool

$215

WCOOP-01 : NL Hold'em [6-Max]

02-Sep