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Saturday, Sept. 6, 2008

2008 WCOOP off to roaring start

Hevad Khan
Hevad Khan: Event 2 final-table bubble boy.

By Sean Lind

All of the major online poker rooms have their own online series of poker. One of the most anticipated each year is the PokerStars WCOOP.

This year's WCOOP started off large, with each subsequent event expected to be just as successful. The 2008 WCOOP has a total of 33 events with a total guaranteed prize pool of $30 million. A third of that, a full $10 million, is reserved for the main event. Last year's main event winner "Ka$ino" booked a $1,378,330 payday.

Event 1

The first event, a $215 buy in six-max No-Limit Hold'em freeze-out, brought in a total of 7,211 players, on a Friday afternoon, for a total prize pool of over $1.4 million. With six-max being the format of choice for most players, it was no surprise the first event would attract so many runners.

  

The well-structured tournament gave rounders plenty of deep-stacked play, helping valorize skill over luck in terms of how they fared. It took 14 hours to get down to a final table of six. After this half-day-plus marathon, the final table was finally set:

Seat 1: - DoV - (3455180 in chips)
Seat 2: CURDOG1KCK (1258356 in chips)
Seat 3: scarface_79 (3016834 in chips)
Seat 4: SilverSocks (4867367 in chips)
Seat 5: pffwhatever (2199042 in chips)
Seat 6: shane147 (6854221 in chips)

With the final table still very deep-stacked compared to the standard online tournament, it took one full hour of play before the first elimination. After countless more hands dealt, the remaining four players struck a deal:

DOV: $110,000
silversocks: $136,894
pffwhatever: $94,136
shane147: $182,409

The final four played for the final $20,000 cash and the WCOOP bracelet. In the end Britain's Shane147 took home the first-place prize.

Taking into account the deal, and first-place winnings, the final six players all won the following amount:

1. shane147 (United Kingdom) $202,409
2. pffwhatever (Austria) $94,136
3. SilverSocks (Netherlands) $136,894
4. - DoV - (France) $110,000
5. CURDOG1KCK (United States) $49,075.61
6. scarface_79 (United States) $23,686.20

Event 2

Starting just one hour after Event 1, Event 2 attracted 1,024 players looking to make it rich playing Pot-Limit Five-Card Draw.

The event organizers greatly underestimated the popularity of this event, setting the guaranteed prize pool line at $100,000. The actual prize pool was an impressive $204,800. The crowd was a mix of young sharps, old-timers who actually remember playing this game live and PokerStars pros.

Some of the PokerStars pros to buy in included Gavin Griffin, Humberto Brenes, John Duthie, Tom McEvoy, Bill Chen, Chad Brown, Vanessa Rousso, Dario Minieri, Katja Thater, Victor Ramdin, ElkY, Hevad "RaiNKhAN" Khan, Andre Aakkari and Isabelle Mercier.

Out of all the pros to enter, it looked like Hevad "RaiNKhAN" Khan would be the only one to make the final table. However, he busted in seventh place as the final-table bubble. Here's how the final table shaped up:


Seat 1: ImBillMcNeal ($564,310 in chips)
Seat 2: nathalie111 ($1,202,345 in chips)
Seat 3: wedlowjones ($420,941 in chips)
Seat 4: Yamzit ($379,148 in chips)
Seat 5: xoxol73 ($98,730 in chips)
Seat 6: Isidor3 ($406,526 in chips)

After some intense final-table play, the tournament ended with ImBillMcNeal winning the bracelet and the largest share of the prize pool:

1. ImBillMcNeal $34,201.60
2. Wedlowjones $25,395,20
3. Isidor3 $18,739.20
4. Yamzit $14,848.00
5. nathalie111 $11,038.72
6. xoxol73 $7,680.00

With the 2008 WCOOP under way, some of the largest tournament action is going down daily on PokerStars right now. Sign up now to get your seat in one of the next events.

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