I probably don't have to tell you about PokerStars Team Pro Jason Somerville's "Run It Up" stream on the Twitch platform. If you're not aware of it, please go to this link and then, when you can tear yourself away, come back here:

This is what we're talking about

Good to have you back (or at least time-sharing while you watch the mechanical crow). Jason certainly made a dent in the WCOOP prize pool, making three final tables and cashing eight - eight - times. He also had a magical day on September 7 when he made the final table of a progressive super knockout NLHE event, cashing for about $38k. But more importantly, he peaked at 37,000 viewers, and at one point was the most watched channel on Twitch. Yes, children, more than every single League of Legends or DoTA player.

On September 7, 2015, Jason "JCarverPoker" Somerville won Twitch.

Now about tonight... it's the final table of the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) main event, with a shade over $1.7 million for the winner (second place is a "paltry" $1.2 million). Alas, Jason is not at that table but he's going to watch it from the rail during his Twitch stream tonight, and share his strategic and tactical thoughts with his Run It Up fans.

Here are the details:

• He won't see hole cards - what he sees on the client will be exactly what you see if you fire up the PokerStars client and go to tournament #1,245,236,838. Or simply search in the main lobby search bar for "WCOOP main event".
• He'll be on a ten-minute delay so what you see on the client will be discussed on his stream ten minutes later. If you drop spoilers into the Twitch chat stream, don't be surprised if you get silenced.
• If he has personal information about a particular player, he won't be sharing that with us. So if he knows that, "Susie Boggs does not have a river check-raise bluff. Ever" we won't be hearing about it.
• To keep things hopping and the action flowing, he'll be playing his regular $1k Super Tuesday event, so you'll be bouncing back and forth between the two events (one he's playing, one he's commentating) depending on where the action is.

The bottom line is that Jason's Twitch stream is going to be the place to gather on the rail of the final table of the most prestigious event of the online poker year. And maybe watch Jason crack yet another final table.

We'll see you on the rail.

Thayer "THAY3R" Rasmussen is hardly a slouch. Since entering the game back in 2006 he's traveled, worked, and won. His resume is testimony to that fact. He's reached WPT final tables, scored 26 WSOP cashes, as well as countless others across the United States.

For him it's about being professional, putting the work in and making the game pay. And yet somehow an online title has eluded him. That all changed during WCOOP this year, when Rasmussen, now exiled to Mexico from his native Florida, won Event #40, a 6-max shootout, for $69,825.

Thayer "THAY3R" Rasmussen

"It was pretty cool! I've had some nice scores in the past but no real significant wins, so winning my 1st bracelet was pretty awesome."

Rasmussen, 31, took a standard approach to WCOOP. Play lots, play well, and get serious when it mattered.

"I usually play in multiple tournaments but as I went deeper in this tournament and at the FT I one-tabled the tourney for the most part. WCOOP has some pretty big tournaments with a lot at stake, so I tend to play less tables than usual and focus on making more player/table specific decisions. This was a very dynamic tournament as it was a shorthanded tourney where until the final table all that mattered was beating everyone at your table."

Rasmussen's preparations were simple. He took a walk on the beach, lifted a few weights, took a swim and tried to clear his mind. "I think doing physical things outside is a great way to mentally focus."

The tournament itself presented several key moment. He was slow rolled with the nuts when he attempted a river bluff in his first match (he got revenge soon after). But in turn he benefitted by the fact that some matches went short-handed very quickly, which meant a lot of chips in play, which suited Rasmussen.

Then came another moment early in the final table.

I felt very confident at the FT especially after getting off to a quick start. Not in the "These guys are terrible I'm going to crush!" sense, but I felt very comfortable making my decisions.

"I made a successful three street bluff that gave me the chip lead and put me in a great position to apply pressure to the rest of the table and that really helped me get to heads-up.

What followed as a place in WCOOP history books, a first bracelet and a first major title.

I had a lot of friends and family watching/following and they were all very excited to see me win, which was very cool!" said Rasmussen, although there is always another event to plan for. "Nothing too big since Sundays were next morning".

After more than $66 million in payouts over more than 70 events, it's time to crown the champion of champions. Just moments ago, the World Championship of Online Poker Main Event reached the final table of nine. Leading the pack with one table left to go is none other than Alexander "joiso" Kostritsyn.

Here's how they stack up going into the final day of play.

Alexander "joiso" Kostritsyn (Russia) 19,815,627
AlwaysiNduCe (Poland) 18,662,305
K.T.A.-1985 (Czech Republic) 17,782,920
Ravic85 (Russia) 11,153,871
Nolet20 (Canada) 10,786,197
beertjes79 (Belgium) 8,237,109
bindernutnut (Canada) 5,118,148
Mr.Kingball (Ireland) 4,489,437
Coenaldinho7 (Belgium) 3,703,986

Play resumes Tuesday at 14:30 ET.

For in-game updates, visit our Twitter feed: @PokerStarsBlog.

Good luck to the final nine!

Ready to sign up for PokerStars? Click here to get an account.

After nearly a month of guarantee-busting prize pools, strong performances from accomplished poker players from around the world, and dramatic battles over bracelets, WCOOP 2015 is finally coming to an end. That means the Special Editions of the Sunday majors are saying goodbye, too. This weekend was the last chance to wrap up a title in one, and Caesar325 took full advantage by winning more than $211,000 in Event #67.

The final Sunday Warm-Up Special Edition of WCOOP 2015 kicked off yesterday at 11:00 a.m. ET, offering players 10,000-chip starting stacks, 8-max tables, and up to three optional re-entries during the extended registration period. That was attractive enough to draw a field of 6,529 players, who combined for an additional 2,323 entries to drive the total prize pool to $1,774,000.

After 30 levels of play, when the tournament paused for the night, there were just 112 players remaining. Holding the chip lead by less than 100 chips at the end of Day 1 was Belgium's girafganger7, whose 2,198,857 chips just topped KingGorn's 2,198,765. Team PokerStars Pro's Kosei "K.Ichinose" Ichinose was also in the mix in 13th place with 1,318,278 chips.

Day 2 was just as grueling as the first. The journey from 112 to the final table of eight took more than eight hours. Kosei Ichinose fell along the way, finishing in 31st place ($5,323), as did all but two of the players who had been in the top 10 chip counts at the end of Day 1: Moldova's npomocc, a 2011 SCOOP champion who had been in 10th to start the day, and girafganger7, who was still in possession of the chip lead.

With blinds and antes at 150K/300K/37.5K, they faced off with these six players:

Seat 1: vladsilver (10,674,628 in chips)
Seat 2: girafganger7 (17,990,116 in chips)
Seat 3: npomocc (8,346,640 in chips)
Seat 4: Caesar325 (12,624,448 in chips)
Seat 5: suarez_BG (11,239,071 in chips)
Seat 6: ienutz (15,353,268 in chips)
Seat 7: pokerjamers (8,592,864 in chips)
Seat 8: Vakio¤Ässä (3,898,965 in chips)

The action got started on the first hand with a npomocc raise to 717K and a call from SCOOP 2015 champ Vakio¤Ässä in the big blind. Both players checked the [Td] [8c] [7s] flop, leading Vakio¤Ässä to bet 998K on the [5s] turn. npomocc, who had hit a set with [5c] [5d], raised all-in, and Vakio¤Ässä called with [Th] [9h] for top pair and an open-ended straight draw. The [3s] changed nothing on the river, sending Vakio¤Ässä to the rail in 8th place ($10,646.40).

girafganger7 dominated as play continued. The leader chipped up to 28.4M before re-raising all-in from the big blind with [Qs] [9s] after short-stacked ienutz opened in the cutoff for a small raise to 844K. ienutz called for 8.1M total with [As] [Kh] and doubled to 16.8M when the flop brought an ace.

Though girafganger7 remained the chip leader, it was with a much slimmer lead than before, and the Belgian would fall out of the lead a few hands later after taking a 2.4M-chip stab at a pot worth 4.5M on the river of a [5c] [Kd] [As] [Jh] [7d] board. Caesar325, who had called girafganger7's cutoff raise before the flop, checked the flop, and check-called 979K on the turn, and called that river bet with [Ac] [Qs] to become the new leader with 18.1M chips.

girafganger7's move from the penthouse was merely temporary, though. Dealt [Ac] [Ad] on the next hand, the Belgian player opened for 910K and called when npomocc moved in for 12.1M from the cutoff. npomocc's [4c] [4h] couldn't catch a two-outer on the [3h] [8c] [5h] [Ks] [7s] board, giving girafganger7 the 25.2M chips in the middle and knocking out npomocc in 7th place ($17,744).

Another pair of aces figured into the next knockout, this one just a few hands later after the blinds and antes jumped to 250K/500K/62.5K. 2014 SCOOP finalist suarez_BG called with [Ad] [As] in the big blind after vladsilver moved in for 2.6M from the cutoff with [Ah] [7c]. An inside straight draw briefly flared up on the turn before being extinguished on the river of the [9c] [Jd] [9s] [8c] [4h] board, and vladsilver was gone in 6th place ($35,488).

Eight hands later, suarez_BG would be the one holding an ace and facing off against a big pair. The Bulgarian player opened the action in the cutoff with a raise to 1.25M, then shoved for 12.7M after girafganger7 re-raised to 3.1M in the big blind with [Kd] [Ks]. girafganger7 called and suarez_BG's [Ad] [Qs] failed to improve on the [4d] [5s] [Tc] [5d] [3d] board, busting the Bulgarian in 5th place ($70,976).

With more than double anybody else's chip stack at the four-handed table, girafganger7 controlled the pace of play and won plenty of pots with no contest. Caesar325 stepped in to claim a few pots, too, stealing the blinds and antes and then knocking pokerjamers off a preflop raise with an all-in re-shove. But Caesar325's big step forward came after opening for 1.4M in under the gun with [Kd] [Ks]. ienutz jammed for 10.7M on the button with [Ah] [6h] and came nowhere close to making a hand after Caesar325 called. The board came [8c] [4d] [Qc] [8d] [Ts], kings and eights won the 22.7M-chip pot, and ienutz left in 4th place ($106,464).

girafganger7 won nine of the next 11 pots and pokerjamers took the other two, but Caesar325 took the 13th with a bang. girafganger7 folded on the button and Caesar325, holding [Ks] [3d], raised to 22M in the small blind. pokerjamers called all-in as a 65.5-percent favorite with [As] [Jh] and had to have been stunned to see the flop come down [3h] [3c] [3s]. Drawing dead from there, pokerjamers exited in 3rd place ($141,952).

An hour and 17 minutes into the final table, a heads-up duel that would last nearly that long was just getting started:

Seat 2: girafganger7 (50,335,730 in chips)
Seat 4: Caesar325 (38,384,270 in chips)

The first order of business was a deal. It was accomplished with a minimum of haggling, leaving $20,000 on the table for the winner and setting the stage for a pitched 142-hand battle between the two players. With 11 lead changes and both players facing elimination at multiple points, it was worthy of the WCOOP stage it was played on.

Caesar325 almost didn't get the chance to make it that kind of fight, getting down to 14.3M before doubling up with [5c] [3d] in the big blind. That came after check-raising all-in with an open-ended straight draw against girafganger7's top pair of kings with [Kc] [6s] and catching an ace on the river to double up.

Even surviving that was just a license to withstand a withering assault from girafganger7, who soon enough had Caesar325's stack back down in the teens. Then Caesar325 doubled up again with [Ad] [Qd] against girafganger7's [Ah] [7h], getting back to 36.8M. That proved to be a stepping stone to the first lead change, which came after limp-calling a raise on the button, calling bets on the [Qd] [Qc] [Kh] flop and [8s] turn, and moving all-in for 22.7M on the [Ks] after girafganger7 checked.

girafganger7 folded there but retook the lead quickly, wearing Caesar325 back down to 15M within about 20 hands. Then Caesar325 moved back ahead with pocket queens. And then girafganger7 doubled with [6c] [6d] against [Ac] [Jh] to pull the two player to within a single 1M-chip big blind of one another.

The balancing pull was so strong that even after winning a 71.3M-chip pot all-in before the flop with [6c] [6s] against girafganger7's [Ac] [9c], leaving girafganger7 with just 17.3M, the Belgian player was still able to retake the lead. But with the 600K/1.2M/150K blinds and antes exerting major pressure, the match couldn't last forever.

Caesar325 finally limped in from the button and re-raised all-in with [6c] [6h] after girafganger7 three-bet to 3M in the big blind. girafganger7 called with [Kc] [Qd] and threatened to catch any of a number of Broadway cards to take the lead from the [9h] [7s] [Jh] flop on. But the [9d] turn and [Ah] didn't see any threats materialize, and Caesar325 won the pot to bring the tournament to an end.

For girafganger7, holding the chip lead from the end of Day 1 until the start of heads-up play was good for a deal share of $217,000. Caesar325, meanwhile, earned the extra $20K on the table for a total first-place prize of $227,384.96. Congratulations to both players on closing out this WCOOP in style.

WCOOP 2015: Event #67, $215 NL Hold'em (8-Max, Optional Re-Entry, Sunday Warm-Up SE)
Entrants: 8,872 (6,529 entries, 2,343 re-entries)
Prize pool: $1,774,000
Places paid: 1,120
1. Caesar325 (United Kingdom) $227,384.96*
2. girafganger7 (Belgium) $217,000*
3. pokerjamers (Mexico) $141,952
4. ienutz (Romania) $106,464
5. suarez_BG (Bulgaria) $70,976
6. vladsilver (Russia) $35,488
7. npomocc (Moldova) $17,744
8. Vakio¤Ässä (Finland) $10,646.40
* - denotes results of a heads-up deal

This might be the last Special Edition during WCOOP 2015, but the Sunday Warm-Up runs every week along with lots of other great tournaments. Click here to get a PokerStars account today.

Jason Kirk is a freelance contributor to PokerStars Blog.

The 2015 World Championship of Poker Main Event -- due to complete tomorrow -- is getting a lot of the focus at the moment over at PokerStars. But another marquee event also took place over the last couple of days, the star-studded $10,300 buy-in 8-Game Championship (Event #68) that predictably drew many of poker's greats inspired to challenge for one of the more coveted bracelets of the WCOOP.

After two days of intense competition, it was Russia's krakukra outlasting a talented final table that included Shaun "shaundeeb" Deeb, Brian "aba20" Townsend, Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah, Andrew "ClockWyze" Pantling, and Frederik "Fred_Brink" Jensen to earn a first career WCOOP bracelet and a big $214,050 payday.

krakukra won after striking a heads-up deal with the gritty Jensen. Here's the story of how krakukra did it.

Play began Sunday afternoon, and by the second hour Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu had shot out to an early lead with about 40 players seated, although as he tweeted to his followers it was "way too early" to put too much meaning into it.

Indeed, by the six-hour mark and end of late registration, a total of 91 players had signed up, building a total prize pool of $910,000 (way over the $500K guarantee) to be split among the top 12 finishers.

By then just 59 were left, with Fresh_oO_D -- at the time leader of the 2015 WCOOP Player of the Series as the final tournaments of the festival began -- sitting in first position ahead of another player familiar with POY races, EPT11 Player of the Year Dzmitry "Colisea" Urbanovich.

A couple of hours after that the field was already down under 30 players, with Fresh_oO_D having been knocked out in 44th, Daniel "KidPoker" Negreanu having just been eliminated in 30th, and eight-time 'COOP winner Shaun "shaundeeb" Deeb sitting in first position.

Dzmitry "Colisea" Urbanovich would go out a bit later in 22nd, then as the night neared its conclusion Event #70 ($1,050 NLHE Turbo) champ calvin7v ran [Ad][Jh] into Andrew "ClockWyze" Pantling's [As][Ah] in a NLHE hand to go out in 14th, meaning the money bubble had arrived.

The short stacks hung on for a good while after that before finally Vladimir "GVOZDIKA55" Shchemelev was knocked out in a pot-limit Omaha hand versus Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier to finish 13th. Then on the very last hand of Day 1, Daniel "steamraise" Alaei was eliminated in 12th -- also in a PLO hand (versus Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah) -- to collect a $22,750 cash.

With that play paused until Monday, with Andrew "ClockWyze" Pantling leading a tough group of very familiar usernames among the final 11. Here's how the stacks looked overnight:

1. Andrew "ClockWyze" Pantling (Canada) -- 305,343
2. Frederik "Fred_Brink" Jensen (Denmark) -- 225,945
3. Alexey "LuckyGump" Makarov (Russia) -- 165,746
4. Shaun "shaundeeb" Deeb (Mexico) -- 146,441
5. Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah (Canada) -- 117,431
6. Ronny "1-ronnyr3" Kaiser (Switzerland) -- 101,819
7. Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier (Canada) -- 93,711
8. krakukra (Russia) -- 81,574
9. Brian "aba20" Townsend (Canada) -- 59,482
10. Dan "djk123" Kelly (Australia) -- 41,507
11. Team PokerStars Pro Online George "Jorj95" Lind III (Canada) -- 26,001

Day 2 then began amid the 2-7 triple draw round, and on just the third hand of the day George "Jorj95" Lind III of Team PokerStars Pro Online lost the last of his short stack to Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah to finish 11th. Shaun Deeb then felted Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier in 10th in another 2-7 triple draw hand, and in short order the last two red spades alive in the tournament were done, each earning $22,750 for their finishes.

Dan "djk123" Kelly -- who just won the weekly $215 pot-limit Omaha over the weekend, has four WCOOP titles (and two SCOOPs), and eight cashes in this year's WCOOP before this one -- was the next to fall in ninth in a limit hold'em hand against Andrew "ClockWyze" Pantling. Ronny "1-ronnyr3" Kaiser then went out in eighth place in a hand of limit Omaha hi/lo versus krakura.

Then as Deeb and Leah chatted about the WCOOP Player of the Series -- in which Deeb's deep run in this event catapults him into the top spot -- Alexey "LuckyGump" Makarov was knocked out in seventh by krakukra in a hand of seven-card stud. Like Kelly and Kaiser, Makarov earned $34,125 for his finish.

With Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah the new chip leader among the final half-dozen, the final table was underway.

Seat 1: Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah (Canada) -- 321,468
Seat 2: krakukra (Russia) -- 195,998
Seat 3: Brian "aba20" Townsend (Canada) -- 231,587
Seat 4: Shaun "shaundeeb" Deeb (Mexico) -- 198,395
Seat 5: Frederik "Fred_Brink" Jensen (Denmark) -- 173,638
Seat 6: Andrew "ClockWyze" Pantling (Canada) -- 243,914

The final six all made it to the day's third hour of play, then in the pot-limit Omaha round it was Shaun Deeb raising 2x to 10,000 from early position and getting one caller in Frederik "Fred_Brink" Jensen from a seat over.

The flop came [2c][Th][7d], and Deeb led for 13,700. Jensen raised to 68,600, Deeb responded by pushing all in for 139,295 total, and Jensen called.

Deeb had [Kc][Jh][Js][Tc] for an overpair of jacks while Jensen showed [Ac][Ts][9c][7s] for top two pair, tens and sevens. The turn was the [4c] and river the [3s], and Deeb was out, his quest for a fourth WCOOP title and a ninth 'COOP overall cut short by a sixth-place finish.

Don't feel too bad for Deeb, though -- this marks his 18th cash of this year's WCOOP, including his victory last week in Event #44 ($215 NLHE)!

Play continued with krakukra moving out in front and Brian "aba20" Townsend slipping to become the short stack.

Then a hand of 2-7 triple draw arose (limits 6,000/12,000) that saw Townsend raise from the button and Andrew "ClockWyze" Pantling call from the big blind. Pantling drew three and Townsend one, and Pantling check-called a bet from Townsend. On the second draw Pantling took two while Townsend stood pat, and after Pantling checked, Townsend bet his last 11,871 and Pantling called.

Pantling drew one card on the last draw while Townsend stood pat again, then turned over [9h][7c][6h][4c][2s] for a 9-low. Pantling outdrew him, however, turning over [7d][6c][4s][3c][2d], and Townsend was out in fifth.

Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah was looking for another WCOOP bracelet this series -- having won Event #27 ($215 PLO) and come close by finishing runner-up in Event #34 ($320 NLHE 6-Max) -- and his third overall. Alas for Leah, he was the next to grow short, and after a series of third-street bets in a razz hand found himself all in on fourth street versus Frederik "Fred_Brink" Jensen.

The players showed their down cards, and Leah had ([2s])([3h]) / [Jd][5c] while Jensen showed ([4s])([6h]) / [9s][7d]. Leah then drew [Qd][7s][2c] to finish with a J-7-5-3-2, while Jensen picked up [Ah][9h][6s] to win with a 9-7-6-4-A and knock out Leah in fourth.

The remaining three players trudged onward toward the day's four-hour mark, with Frederik "Fred_Brink" Jensen pushing out further to a commanding lead while Andrew "ClockWyze" Pantling became the short stack.

Then in the stud hi/lo round, Pantling brought it in with the [8d] showing, krakukra raised to 20,000 with the [Ac] up, and Pantling called. Pantling then called bets from krakukra on fourth and fifth, the latter putting him all in.

ClockWyze: ([2h])([4s]) / [8d][6s][9c]
krakukra: ([Th])([5d]) / [Ac][5c][Ts]

Pantling had a good draw to a low while krakukra's tens and fives were well in front for the high. krakukra would pick up [Qc][3d] to remain with two pair. But unfortunately for Pantling he'd draw [6d][9s] to miss his low and pick up a lesser two pair, ending his run in third.

Frederik "Fred_Brink" Jensen had the advantage to start heads-up play with 850,134 to krakukra's 514,866. Jensen was seeking a second WCOOP bracelet to go along with the one he earned in a $215 razz event in 2011. Meanwhile krakukra was making an eighth cash in this year's WCOOP and as noted was seeking a first-ever WCOOP title.

krakukra swiftly closed the gap between the pair during the remainder of the stud hi/lo round, but by the end of no-limit hold'em Jensen was back up to a 2-to-1 chip advantage.

Pot-limit Omaha came next, and before that round could finish krakukra had pulled even again and had nudged out in front when the pair decided to talk about a possible deal. krakukra had 690,139 and Jensen 674,861, and "ICM"-based numbers (leaving $10K for which to play) were soon produced.

The payout difference between the two being suggested was just over $800 ($202,427.38 for krakukra and $201,622.62 for Jensen), and after a little bit of back-and-forthing they decided on each getting $200K even with the remaining $14,050 to go to the winner.

Jensen grabbed the lead back shortly thereafter, but as they continued into 2-7 triple draw krakukra began building again, with Jensen being all in and surviving twice before the switch to limit hold'em.

At one point krakukra began a hand with 1,312,778 to Jensen's 52,222, but the latter was able to survive several more all-ins, then was at risk once more on the flop with the board showing [5d][Kh][3s], Jensen holding [9h][8c], and krakukra [Qh][3d]. The turn and river next came [7c] then [6s], pulling Fred_Brink back from the brink of elimination to keep the tournament going.

From there Jensen would claim a few more pots, and suddenly he was back in the lead. But again krakukra pushed back, and by the Omaha hi/lo round came another instance of Jensen being all in and then scooping a pot.

They moved to razz and the same pattern continued, with Jensen on fumes and surviving all-ins to avoid the knockout. Then just after the game turned to stud, the end finally arrived.

With krakukra sitting on just over 1.2 million, Jensen down under 160,000, and the limits 50,000/100,000, Jensen raised third street, krakukra three-bet, Jensen raised all in, and krakukra called:

Fred_Brink: ([Td])([Kc]) / [Qh]
krakukra: ([As])([8s]) / [4s]

The race was on, but while krakukra was able to pair up on fifth, Jensen never could improve on his king-high:

Fred_Brink: ([Td])([Kc]) / [Qh][7c][Js][5h] / ([8h])
krakukra: ([As])([8s]) / [4s][2h][4c][9d] / ([6d])

Finally, after what ended up being a nearly two-hour heads-up duel, krakukra had won.

Congratulations to krakukra for taking down one of the tougher WCOOP events to win, and kudos also to Frederik "Fred_Brink" Jensen for making it to the heads-up deal to secure himself a $200K payday as well.

WCOOP-68: $10,300 8-Game Championship
Entries: 91

Prize pool: $910,00
0
Places paid: 12

1. krakukra (Russia) $214,050.00*
2. Frederik "Fred_Brink" Jensen (Denmark) $200,000*
3. Andrew "ClockWyze" Pantling (Canada) $127,400.00
4. Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah (Canada) $86,450.00
5. Brian "aba20" Townsend (Canada) $63,700.00
6. Shaun "shaundeeb" Deeb (Mexico) $47,775.00

* = denotes a two-way deal leaving $14,050.00 for the winner

For the latest on the WCOOP Player of the Series Leaderboard -- and to see if Shaun Deeb manages to hang on to the top spot -- check that WCOOP page.

Haven't gotten a PokerStars account yet? Join the world's biggest site now.

We're into Day 23 of WCOOP 2015. Here's the penultimate update with only three events still to finish.

Today's highlights:

--The WCOOP Main Event began yesterday with 246 of the 1,995 starting field remaining. Day 2 begins at 14.30 ET.
--EspenasApart from Norway leads. Team Online's Naoya "nkeyno" Kihara and Adi Agarwal still in contention.
--Calvin "cal42688" Anderson recorded his second WCOOP win in Event #63, tying Shaun Deeb with eight career COOP wins.

WCOOP Main Event update

And so the big one got under way yesterday. The WCOOP Main Event is a three-day event so there's still plenty of action to come, but we are on the bubble, with 243 players getting paid and 246 remaining from an original field of 1,995.

Leadings as of now is Norwegian player Espenas with more than 1.4 million chips (blinds are 6,250/12,500 + 250 ante). A min cash right now will be worth $12,000 with $1,760,500 from a prize pool of $10 million put aside for the winner.

But to look at the list of players still in contention is to see an event still wide open:

--Adam "Adamyid" Owen has had a great WCOOP, with four final tables and ten cashes.
--Familiar names such as Isaac "WestmenloAA" Baron, PlayinWasted, veeea, CHUFTY, and Exclusive all remain.
--eisenhower1, who won Event #61 over the weekend, is also among the last 246. So too are Stephen "Stevie444" Chidwick and Kevin "ImaLuckSac" MacPhee.
--Team Pros Naoya "nkeyno" Kihara and Ari Agarwal are also in the field.

Round up of latest results

With the Main Event turning heads it would be easy to miss some significant winners over the weekend, most significant of them all perhaps being Calvin "cal4268" Anderson who scored his second WCOOP title in Event #62, and his eighth COOP title. Not only is that a great personal achievement, it also ties Shaun Deeb with the most COOPs, Deeb having won his eighth only last week (he could yet make it nine in Event #68).

Easylimp also earned his second COOP in Event #58, while omaha4rollz and Christian "eisonhower1" Jeppsson did the same in Events #60 and #61 (Mike "Timex" McDonald reaching another final table in the latter, finishing seventh).

Kyle "KJulius10" Julius has all manner of achievements on his resume, but going into the weekend that did not include a WCOOP title. That changed in Event #63, a fixed limit hold'em tournament, which he won late on Friday. The former Sunday Million winner, and PCA runner-up, picked up $36,720 along with the title.

Meanwhile there were wins for uremyatm in the PLO head-up, Joel "jbrown8777" Brown in the 6-max PLO, and calvin7v in Event #70, which was his third COOP title. Maicoshaa won Event #66, a HORSE contest. Team Pro George Danzer finished third.

Click through the links below for full reports.

Event #58: $530 NL Hold'em (Ultra-Deep)
Entrants: 1,132
Prize pool: $566,000
Places paid: 117

1. easylimp (United Kingdom) $81,597.76*
2. Stümpper88 (Argentina) $69,895.60*
3. whiteser (Ireland) $78,868.64*
4. lechuckpoker (United Kingdom) $41,035.00
5. Jig Flippin (Canada) $28,526.40
6. 10111420 (United Kingdom) $22,866.40
7. VyruAlus (Lithuania) $17,206.40
8. pol17pl (Poland) $11,603.00
9. biszibosz (Poland) $7,075.00
* denotes three-way deal

Event #60: $2,100 No-Limit Hold'em (Progressive Super-KO, Thursday Thrill SE)
Entrants: 1,216
Prize pool: $2,432,000 ($1,216,000 regular, $1,216,000 bounty)
Places paid: 144

1. omaha4rollz (Hungary) $212,556.80 + $78,945.28 in bounties
2. Vlad "dariepoker" Darie (Romania) $154,432 + $24,273.43 in bounties
3. Killer_ooooo (Israel) $115,520 + $43,632.79 in bounties
4. Patrick "pmahoney22" Mahoney (Mexico) $86,336 + $18,523.43 in bounties
5. rojorulez (Argentina) $60,800 + $7,250 in bounties
6. deuces85 (Canada) $48,640 + $5,765.62 in bounties
7. erikkke (Hungary) $36,480 + $8,531.25 in bounties
8. keves1717 (Israel) $24,320 + $31,078.12 in bounties
9. TTPlayer18 (Germany) $13,984 + $10,937.50 in bounties

Event #61: $700 NL Hold'em [1R1A]
Entries: 518 (Rebuys: 249, Add-ons 295)
Prize pool: $706,230.00
Places paid: 72

1. Christian "eisenhower1" Jeppsson (Sweden) $105,942.56*
2. A.Tricarico (Belgium) $95,124.33*
3. 42ayay (Sweden) $102,259.09*
4. VitinhO Dzi (Brazil) $54,379.71
5. blakjak19 (Cyprus) $38,136.42
6. 0Human0 (Romania) $30,014.77
7. Mike "Tîmex" McDonald (Canada) $22,952.47
8. PolecatRider (Germany) $15,890.17
9. RGRGINDIA (India) $10,805.31
* denotes a three-way deal

Event #62: $320 PL Omaha H/L
Entrants: 649
Prize Pool: $194,700
Places Paid: 84

1. Calvin "cal42688" Anderson (Mexico) $36,019.50
2. Ogom3z (Mexico) $26,868.60
3. ismo 4. kedvedert (Hungary) $13,629.00
5. fish_san (Japan) $9,735.00
6. neilcaterham (United Kingdom) $5,841.00

Event #63: $1,050 FL Hold'em Championship [6-Max]
Entrants: 153
Prize pool: $153,000
Places paid: 24

1. Kyle "KJulius10" Julius (Canada) $36,720.00
2. Dancer King (Russia) $25,321.50
3. Mrdawwe (Sweden) $19,125.00
4. Naza114 (Czech Republic) $13,005.00
5. Andrey "Kroko-dill" Zaichenko (Russia) $9,945.00
6. Beeeehto (Brazil) $6,885.00

Event #64: $700 Pot-Limit Omaha [Heads-Up]
Entrants: 293
Prize pool: $192,185
Places paid: 32

1. uremyatm (Denmark) $51,890.01
2. hateAll686 (Belarus $28,827.75
3. BenyamineX (Netherlands) $15,574.80
4. Dave "riverdave" Penly (United Kingdom) $15,374.80

Event #65: $700 NL Hold'em (6-Max, Progressive Super-Knockout)
Entries: 2,119

Total prize pool: $1,409,135 (half regular, half bounties)
Places paid: 276

1. Joel "jbrown8777" Brown (Canada) $110,970.75 (+ $31,406.80 in bounties)
2. huiiiiiiiiii (Austria) $82,786.68 (+$21,009.65 in bounties)
3. Mariano "P.Iv3Y" Martiradonna (Malta) $61,649.65 (+ $15,158.15 in bounties)
4. Luis "Turko_man" Rodriguez (Finland) $40,512.63 (+ $24,469.68 in bounties)
5. Fedor "CrownUpGuy" Holz (Austria) $26,421.28 (+ $7.798.07 bounties)
6. advenje (Netherlands) $14,866.37 (+ $3,766.56 bounties)


Event #66: HORSE Championship
Entrants: 134
Prize pool: $268,000
Places paid: 24

1. Maicoshaa (Russia) $58,290
2. DerRaeuber (Austria) $41,540
3. Team PokerStars Pro George "GeorgeDanzer" Danzer (Austria) $32,160
4. to0dey (Russia) $22,780
5. Christer "lennart" Johansson (Sweden) $14,740
6. Bernardo "bedias" Dias (Brazil) $12,060
7. ilushan (Russia) $9,380
8. Georgios "GeoManousos" Sotiropoulos (Austria) $7,370

Event #70: $1,050 NLHE [Turbo, Optional Re-Entry]
Entrants: 1,847
Prize pool: $1,847,000
Places paid: 198

1. calvin7v (Finland) $309,372.50
2. ZISIMO7 [2] (Austria) $226,257.50
3. baeks22 (Germany) $170,847.50
4. Talal "raidalot" Shakerchi (United Kingdom) $125,596.00
5. Danny "DannyN13" Noseworthy (Canada) $90,503.00
6. nailuj90 [2] (Germany) $72,033.00
7. Aaralynn (Mexico) $53,563.00
8. BruceWizayne (Canada) $35,093.00
9. John "bullyon" Buglion (Australia) $19,024.10

For all the WCOOP 2015 results so far, check out our aptly named WCOOP results page, which also has links to all final table reports.

Coming up today

All of the 70 events on the WCOOP 2015 schedule have now begun, with three events left to conclude. While the Main Event finishes tomorrow two events with end today.

Still to conclude

Event 67: NL Hold'em (8-max Optional re-entry, Sunday Warm-Up SE) 112 of 8,872 players remaining
Event 68: 8-Game Championship - 11 of 91 players remaining

Click here for the full schedule of remaining events in this year's WCOOP.

Leader board

As things stand Shaun Deeb is 35 points behind Fresh_oO_D, who has 385 points. However, Deeb is one of the remaining 11 players in the 8-Game. It's a six handed event which means Deeb is guaranteed to tie for first place. Unless he finishes in sixth place or better, in which case he will go top.

There are other possibilities, including Adamyid, currently in ninth place with 290 points (admittedly he might have to win the Main Event).

Click to enlarge

Find all the leader board details right here

News from the rest of the weekend

It proved a text book busy weekend. And while the big scores were in WCOOP, the big players were keeping themselves busy in the other weekend majors.

--Kosei Ichinose, who is still in the WCOOP Main Event, won the Saturday PLO 6max.
--Dan "djk123" Kelly won the $215 weekly PLO.
--RuiNF, a former WCOOP leader board contender, won the $82 Weekly PLO
--Current leader board pace setterFresh_oO_D won the $55 Saturday PLO Hi/Lo
--Dzmitry "Colisea" Urbanovich won the WCOOP 2nd Chance HORSE
--Christian "eisenhower1" Jeppsson, who won WCOOP Event 61, came second in the Sunday Kick-off.

The weekend's top 10 scorers

$109+R Sunday Rebuy: chiconogue (Brazil) $65,412.00
$215 Sunday Supersonic [6-Max]: Bazeman11 (Mexico) $53,478.38
$215 Sunday 2nd Chance: brainwash (Australia) $51,782.00
WCOOP 2nd Chance 70: $530 NL Hold'em [Turbo, Optional Re-Entry]: DaNuts90 (Germany) $50,248.01
WCOOP 2nd Chance 67: $109 NL Hold'em [8-Max, Optional Re-Entry]: Rhyno2008 (Uruguay) $43,996.77
$320 Saturday Super-Knockout: JSlash (Sweden) $38,967.61
$109 Sunday Kickoff: matt86ck (Poland) $33,024.00
$215 Weekly Turbo NLHE: DonkCommited (Costa Rica) $32,317.80
The Weekender: $530 NLHE [8-Max, 2-Day]: hownorez (Czech Republic) $29,955.54
$11 Sunday Storm: JJelic (Croatia) $27,710.90

Find all the results from the weekend of September 26-27, 2015 on PokerStars

Tweet of the day

Ft of 1k limit wcoop! Don't really know what I'm doing...fun nonetheless

— Kyle Julius (@KJulius10) September 26, 2015

Image of the weekend

The final hand of the Dream Team Collection $1 million all-in shootout, won yesterday by XXX thanks to a fortuitous river card.

Click to enlarge

Stats of the day

A total of $66,245,305 was paid out in prize money during this year's WCOOP, the largest amount ever for a WCOOP series.

On to Day 24

This is the penultimate daily report for this year's WCOOP. Tomorrow we'll wrap up events #67 and #68, and potentially know who will win the Player of the Series. That will leave the Main Event final report on Wednesday to wrap things up.

There are no more events to play, but you can still find all the details about the Championship on the WCOOP homepage.

In the meantime, as always, send us your thoughts and comments to us on Twitter: @PokerStarsBlog.