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Friday, Sept. 19, 2008

Tight battle, heads-up mark WCOOP events

Fossilman takes to the WCOOP tables with no luck.

By Jason Kirk

Two more events played out yesterday in the 2008 World Championship of Online Poker at PokerStars, bringing the annual competition one day closer to wrapping up for the year.

Event 27

The $530 No-Limit Hold'em Triple Shootout offered a change of pace from the multi-table extravaganzas that comprise the bulk of the schedule, one that was apparently welcome as 729 players turned up to play the equivalent of three straight single-table tournaments. That built a prize pool of $364,500, easily topping the guarantee of $300,000.

One of the big stories at the final table was the appearance of Team PokerStars pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier.

His eventual fifth-place finish marked the fifth time during this year's WCOOP that he has finished in at least the top 15 spots of an event. He earned just over $20,000 this time around, pushing his 2008 WCOOP take north of $370,000.

SgtKyle did most of the heavy lifting at the final table, taking control of the action and eliminating three opponents en route to building a 3-1 chip lead going into heads-up play. Once he got there, though, the tenor of the game changed.

TheActionKid claimed a key pot when he got all-in with top pair against SgtKyle's straight flush draw and saw his hand hold up. After that the chip lead reversed, and TheActionKid closed the deal with quad eights on the final hand of the tournament.

Place	Name	Prize
1st	TheActionKid	$76,545
2nd	SgtKyle	$51,030
3rd	Rip_Cheese	$36,450
4th	Jorj95	$27,337.50
5th	Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier	$20,047.50
6th	lipster99	$14,580
7th	porcelet	$10,206
8th	WiscoMurray	$6,561
9th	tictac	$3,645

Event 28

Balancing out the big-bet portion of the schedule yesterday was Event 28, $530 Limit Omaha Hi-Lo. A total of 829 players turned out for the split-pot game, building a prize pool of $414,500 that topped the PokerStars guarantee once again.

A full complement of Team PokerStars pros turned up for the event, including Katja Thater, Greg Raymer, Chris Moneymaker and Gavin Griffin. Their teammates John Duthie and Vanessa Rousso were both in the top three spots after the first hour of play, but would find their way to the rail within a few hours.

In the end, three members of the team - Luca Pagano, Humberto Brenes and Lee Nelson - would cash in the event.

The final table wasn't reached until 5:30 a.m. ET, a full 14 hours after play began, and another three hours would be required to reach the heads-up portion of the proceedings. The match between Big10 and lolovitch lasted an incredible hour and a half, with the chip lead swinging back and forth between the two combatants.

Big10 finally eliminated his opponent at 9:41 a.m. ET, flopping a set and turning a full house to lay claim to a WCOOP bracelet and the winner's share of the prize pool.

Place	Name	Prize
1st	Big10	$69,801.88
2nd	lolovitch	$61,801.87
3rd	flk&nit	$41,450
4th	Bonitaines	$31,087.50
5th	hazardous88	$21,761.25
6th	cpfactor	$17,616.25
7th	fabsoul	$13,471.25
8th	DrParkinson	$9,326.25
9th	porcelet	$5,803

WCOOP action continues today at PokerStars with two more events, and two more will run on Saturday before the $10 Million Guarantee main event kicks off on Sunday afternoon. As usual, we'll have rundowns of all the action here on PokerListings.