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WCOOP 2015: Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah grabs Event #27, 2nd bracelet ($215 PLO 6-Max Prog Super-KO)

With more than $4.7 million in live tournament earnings -- including more than a dozen titles, a WSOP bracelet, and a $5K NL Turbo win at the 2014 PCA -- Canada's Mike Leah is no stranger to collecting trophies, bracelets, or whatever other hardware comes with winning poker tournaments. He'd even won a WCOOP bracelet before tonight on PokerStars where he plays as "goleafsgoeh."

Now Leah has a WCOOP bracelet for his other wrist, too, after having taken down Event #27, a $215 six-handed pot-limit Omaha event featuring progressive super-knockout bounties. Leah topped a field of 1,777 to earn the win and a total of $37,226.91 counting all the bounties he collected.


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Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah after his 2014 PCA win

That big field built a total prize pool worth $355,400 (half regular prize pool, half bounties). It took about six hours for the group to be whittled down to 228 players and the money bubble to burst, at which point BROCKLESNARR was in first position with the chip lead and nearly $1K worth of bounties already.

Four hours after that BROCKLESNARR had recently gone out in 20th for a $1,021.77 cash plus over $2K worth of bounties, and with 12 players left 75TGI was in first position.

xllllll (12th), Michael "ShiFtYFiNGeR" Guzzardi (11th), and uknowProsky* (10th) were the next players eliminated, each earning $1,777 from the regular prize pool and as much as twice that amount (for xllllll) in bounties.

Asul was the next knockout in ninth, then a short while later JWilshere_19 (eighth) and Doncabelero (seventh) were both knocked out in the same hand, with those three each earning $2,665.50 from the regular prize pool with only Asul taking away more than that in bounties.

75TGI still had a big stack -- and the most bounty money collected to that point -- but Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah had moved ahead and into first position for the start of the six-handed final table.


2015-WCOOP-27-finaltable.jpg

Seat 1: 75TGI (Germany) -- 2,230,486
Seat 2: Orjan "Aftret" Skommo (Norway) -- 530,055
Seat 3: Jonas "Palsgaard1" Palsgård Christensen (Denmark) -- 1,700,705
Seat 4: Mayu "marroca5" Roca (Colombia) -- 1,347,266
Seat 5: Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah (Canada) -- 2,491,103
Seat 6: youngblood51 (Germany) -- 585,385

The final six battled a short while, then as the tournament moved into its 13th hour a hand arose that saw Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah open with a min-raise to 80,000, then youngblood51 three-bet to 300,000 from a seat over. It folded back to Leah who called, and the pair watched the flop come [9s][7h][Jh].

Leah led with a bet more than the 145,788 youngblood51 had behind, and the latter called all in. It was [Ad][Qh][5d][4h] and a flush draw for Leah while youngblood51 turned over [As][Ac][Kh][5s] for an overpair of aces. The turn then brought the [6h], filling the flush, making the river no matter, and sending the two-time SCOOP winner youngblood51 railward in sixth.

About five minutes later 75TGI min-raised to 80,000 from UTG and got two callers in Mayu "marroca5" Roca (small blind) and Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah (big blind). The flop came [3c][2c][Js], and it checked to 75TGI who bet 120,000. Roca then raised to 520,000, causing Leah to fold. 75TGI made it 1.8 million to go, and Roca called with the 867,538 he had behind.

Roca had [Kc][Jd][Tc][3c] for top two pair and a flush draw while 75TGI had [Ad][Jh][7s][3d] for the same two pair. The turn was the [6d] and river the [6h], turning both players' two pair into jacks and sixes, with 75TGI's ace kicker winning the hand to end the one-time WCOOP winner and one-time SCOOP champ Roca's run in fifth.


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Mayu "marroca5" Roca

Four-handed play proceeded with 75TGI having retaken the lead with Leah the nearest big stack while Orjan "Aftret" Skommo and Jonas "Palsgaard1" Palsgård Christensen battled with stacks of 15-20 big blinds.

Then came two knockouts in two hands, with Leah collecting both bounties.

First it was Orjan "Aftret" Skommo limping from the button to see a [5c][Kc][4d] flop with Leah playing from the big blind. Leah checked, Skommo bet 125,000, Leah check-raised to half a million, Skommo pushed for 513,409 total, and Leah called.

Skommo had [As][Kd][9s][4h] for kings and fours while Leah had [Qd][8d][3c][2c] for both flush and straight draws. The turn was the [Jd], keeping Aftret in front, but the river was the [5d] to complete a backdoor diamond flush for Leah, and Skommo was done in fourth. That makes seven cashes for Skommo and a second fourth-place finish after achieving the same result in Event #18 ($1,050 7-Card Stud Hi/Lo).


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Orjan "Aftret" Skommo

The next hand saw Christensen raise the pot to 175,000 from the button and both Leah and 75TGI call from the blinds. The flop came [2s][Ts][Ah], Leah bet 210,000, 75TGI folded, Christensen raised all in for 261,761, and Leah called.

Palsgaard1 turned over [Ad][Qc][6c][3d] for a pair of aces while Leah had [As][Td][9s][6s] for aces and tens. The river was the [3s] to give Christensen a lesser two pair, then the [4d] river changed nothing, stopping Christensen in third, his fifth cash of the WCOOP.

Those two pots helped Leah close the gap somewhat as leader 75TGI started heads-up play with just over 5.15 million to Leah's 3.73 million.

The pair battled nearly a half-hour, reaching the break that came to mark the day's 13-hour mark. By then Leah had grabbed the advantage, sitting with just about the same stack his opponent had before up almost 5.16 million to 75TGI's 3.72 million.

They'd push back and forth for another 20 minutes, with 75TGI briefly grabbing the chip lead before Leah seized it back again. Then with Leah having pushed back up over 6.76 million to 75TGI's 2.11 million, the final hand took place.

The blinds were 40,000/80,000, and after a button raise to 160,000 from Leah and a call from 75TGI, the flop came [3h][6h][2s]. Both checked, then after the [Js] turn 75TGI check-called a bet of 160,000 from Leah.

The river brought the [3s] and a bet of 480,000 from 75TGI. Leah responded with a pot-sized push and 75TGI called with the 1,316,237 behind.

75TGI turned over [As][Td][Tc][4s] for an ace-high flush, but Leah had [Kc][Jc][Jd][7d] for jacks full of threes, good for the pot, the last bounties, and the WCOOP bracelet.


Got Heeeeeeeeem!! :) #WCOOP -27 #BraceletHunteded #2 of the wcoop variety

— Mike Leah (@GoLeafsGoEh) September 15, 2015


Congratulations to Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah who earns his second WCOOP title after earning his first in a Badugi event back in 2011.


2015-WCOOP-27-leah.jpg

Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah

WCOOP-27: $215 PL Omaha (6-Max, Progressive Super-Knockout)
Entries: 1,777 

Prize pool: $355,400

Places paid: 228

1. Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah (Canada) $28,432.42 (+ $8,794.49 in bounties)
2. 75TGI (Germany) $21,324.00 (+ 6,787.46 in bounties)
3. Jonas "Palsgaard1" Palsgård Christensen (Denmark) $15,993.00 (+ $3,709.36 in bounties)
4. Aftret (Norway) $10,662.00 (+ in $1,858.58 bounties)
5. Mayu "marroca5" Roca (Colombia) $7,108.00 (+ in $3,044.52 bounties)
6. youngblood51 (Germany) $4,193.72 (+ in $3,521.08 bounties)


We're still not even halfway through the huge 70-event WCOOP schedule. Check the the WCOOP page for the full remaining schedule.

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



Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.



WCOOP 2015: MaPuHo4Ka09 walks the line for $150K in Event #24, $215 NLHE (Sunday Warm-Up SE)

Gamble. Too much of it leaves a poker player's fate to the whims of the deck. Too little, though it can result in an opportunity to climb the pay ladder, does the same. Finding the sweet spot is all about shifting gears as necessary, and while doing so can't guarantee a win, it's the only to get in position for one. Ukraine's MaPuHo4Ka09 had the gamble to make it through thousands of players back in 2013, ultimately taking sixth place in the first event of that year's SCOOP series. Today, two years on, MaPuHo4Ka09 threaded the needle perfectly and wound up with the bracelet and more than $150,000.

Event #24, the second Sunday Warm-Up Special Edition of WCOOP 2015, was even bigger than the first. The 6,190 players represented a 20 percent increase over last week's Event #2 field and built a $1,238,000 prize pool paid out to the top 810 players. They played 30 levels on Sunday, whittling that field down to just 88 players before calling it a night. Among those who collected paychecks before that point were several Red Spades, including Team Pros Eugene Katchalov (195th place, $693.28), Kosei Ichinose (611th, $396.16), and Jason Mercier (726th, $359.02), as well as Team Online's Mickey "mement_mori" Petersen (529th, $420.92) and Grzegorz 'DaWarsaw' Mikielewicz (774th, $346.64).

Day 2 kicked off at 11:00 a.m. ET with 10K/20K/2.5K blinds and antes. The stakes increased tenfold to 100K/200K/25K over the next four and a half hours, and the field shrank to just these nine players:

Seat 1: TrondheimAAA (8,017,663 in chips)
Seat 2: ItourAdAstra (3,344,480 in chips)
Seat 3: ValterBr@nco (3,340,463 in chips)
Seat 4: KillerNorbit (10,387,496 in chips)
Seat 5: MaPuHo4Ka09 (8,118,327 in chips)
Seat 6: nizmo jiz (2,082,861 in chips)
Seat 7: rSMig (5,453,310 in chips)
Seat 8: majster88 (15,433,106 in chips)
Seat 9: Z-ENERGIES (5,722,294 in chips)

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Martin "nizmo jiz" Kozlov has made some strong showings here at PokerStars this year, with final table appearances in the Super Tuesday and SCOOP #37-H before making the final of WCOOP 2015 Event #22 yesterday. He doubled up several times just before the final table and still came in with the shortest stack, so he didn't waste any time putting his few chips into play. He was dealt [Ac] [Tc] on the second hand and moved all-in for 2M chips in the big blind after TrondheimAAA opened for 400K in middle position. TrondheimAAA, who won the $5,000,000 guaranteed Sunday Million back in January, called with [As] [7s] and took the loss on the [4c] [Ks] [4h] [2d] [5d] board.

The pots stayed small, mostly under 10 big blinds, for the rest of the level. Once the blinds and antes rolled over to 125K/250K/31,250, though, ItourAdAstra picked up [Ad] [Td] under the gun, raised the minimum, and called all-in when Z-ENERGIES jammed from the big blind. Z-ENERGIES called with [Jc] [Jh], which held up after the board came [7s] [2c] [4h] [9d] [4d] to eliminate ItourAdAstra in 9th place ($9,904).

The small-pot pattern kept up from there and Kozlov picked up a few pots along the way, leveraging the short-stack all-in move to climb from 4M to 5.6M, putting two other players between himself and immediate danger. An exception to the trend came up when TrondheimAAA and rSMig were both dealt huge starting hands and clashed pre-flop. TrondheimAAA opened for 750K under the gun with [Qc] [Qh] and moved all-in for 7.1M when rSMig re-raised to 1.9M in the small blind with [Ac] [Ah]. Had a queen fallen, rSMig would've been left with just three and a half big blinds, but the [2s] [9d] [Jc] [Kc] [3h] board was safe and TrondheimAAA headed to the rail in 8th place ($15,475).

rSMig had moved into the lead with that 15.1M-chip pot just ahead of majster88, whose stack had only dropped a few big blinds since the beginning of the final table. But any semblance of order was dashed by the volume of confrontations going the short stacks' way. ValterBr@nco was the shortest with 2.3M but doubled up with kings two hands later to pull into a virtual tie with nizmo jiz and MaPuHo4Ka09. The latter player pulled away from the pack first thanks to a bit good fortune, doubling up to 10.3M on a three-outer with [Ac] [Qh] after three-betting all-in over the top of Z-ENERGIES's opening raise with [Ah] [Kc]. And then Z-ENERGIES defended the big blind with [Ad] [Td] against rSMig's button steal with [Ks] [8d], staying alive with a double to 7.2M to close out the blind level.

With seven players still in the hunt, the value of the 8.8M-chip average stack dipped to 29 big blinds as the 200K/400K/50K blinds and antes began. But with MaPuHo4Ka09 gobbling up orphaned pots on a climb to north of 19M chips, most of the remaining players' stacks were considerably smaller. rSMig was down to just 2.2M and moved in on a steal with [Qd] [9d], running into majster88's [Ah] [Js] to end the day in 7th place ($27,855).

No gamble, no future

Talk of a deal came up and a few players were willing to discuss their options, but Martin Kozlov flatly refused, so no negotiations took place. He cited an Australian saying: "no gamble, no future." Then he promptly three-bet-shoved with [3d] [3s] and survived a race against majster88's [Ac] [Qh] to double to 11M chips. "nizmo have u ever lost an all in pre in your life? wow," typed KillerNorbit, who three hands later would be the beneficiary of some good fortune after three-betting all-in from the big blind with [Ac] [Qh]. Original raiser MaPuHo4Ka09 called with [Qc] [Qs], only to lose the 14M-chip pot when the [Jc] [3d] [Ks] [6h] [Th] board gave KillerNorbit a Broadway straight.

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Got the gamble yourself? You could have a WCOOP future of your own. Click here to get a PokerStars account today.

A cascade of big pots followed in the next few hands as ValterBr@nco doubled to 13M with [8d] [8c] against nizmo jiz's [Ad] [Jd]; Z-ENERGIES's [Tc] [Ts] held up against ValterBr@nco's [Ah] [Ks] for a double to 13.8M; and nizmo jiz's [Ah] [Kc] cracked KillerNorbit's [Qd] [Qh] to double the Aussie to 11.3M.

It was clear that everyone at the table had the gamble, but KillerNorbit's future turned to past before the others. The New Zealander three-bet all-in with [Td] [Th] from the big blind after majster88 opened the pot for a minimum raise in the cutoff, only to run up against [Qd] [Qh] when majster88 called. A ten would have given KillerNorbit the 16.5M-chip pot and left majster88 with just 220K, but a set on the [5d] [8h] [Qc] flop was all it took to eliminate KillerNorbit in 6th place ($40,235).

13 hands passed with just one flop before Martin Kozlov reinforced his opponents' image of him by surviving another pre-flop all-in confrontation. This time the opening raiser he three-bet, ValterBr@nco, held [Kd] [Kh] for a 69 percent chance to beat Kozlov's [Ah] [Kc], but Kozlov had made a Broadway straight by the turn to double to 13.2M. He opened the next hand with a raise to 1M, then four-bet all-in after majster88 re-raised to 2.7M on the button. That left him heads-up with ValterBr@nco, who was all-in for 1M with [6h] [2s] in the big blind. Kozlov's [8d] [8s] held up and ValterBr@nco bowed out in 5th place ($52,615).

A time to settle

All that action left the chips distributed like this:

Seat 5: MaPuHo4Ka09 (9,272,323 in chips)
Seat 6: nizmo jiz (17,480,532 in chips)
Seat 8: majster88 (16,717,907 in chips)
Seat 9: Z-ENERGIES (18,429,238 in chips)

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MaPuHo4Ka09 was working with about 15 big blinds and went on the offensive, picking up a few steals before flopping a Broadway straight against Z-ENERGIES with [Ad] [Jd] to climb to 17.1M. Deal talk cropped up once again and Martin Kozlov initially preferred to stick to his gambling ways, but after some prodding by the others he relented and had a look at the numbers. They were willing to take the ICM values, but Kozlov held out for $10,000 more. He would eventually end up leveraging his image for $7,000 more than ICM, and with his agreement play resumed for a WCOOP bracelet and the remaining $20,000.

The action picked up immediately. majster88 was the first to go all-in, doubling to 22.3M with [Ad] [Ah] against Z-ENERGIES's [9c] [9h]. Kozlov was next and he, too, doubled, flopping a pair of nines with [Ah] [9h] to stay ahead of MaPuHo4Ka09's [Ac] [7c]. Two hands later he caught a nine-high straight on the [5c] [8d] [7d] flop in the big blind with [9h] [6s] after calling a small raise from Z-ENERGIES. Kozlov slow-played and checked, and Z-ENERGIES chcked behind with [Ad] [4d] for the nut flush draw. The [Qd] brought the draw home and Z-ENERGIES flat-called 2.4M, coaxing Kozlov into moving all-in on the [5s] river. Z-ENERGIES called and took the 23.7M-chip pot with the flush, leaving Kozlov with 6.3M.

His efforts to get the extra $7K in the deal paid off on the next hand when he shoved all-in from the small blind with [Ah] [7h]. majster88 called in the big with [Kh] [9h] and caught his card on the river of the [3h] [3s] [Tc] [Td] [9s] board, the pair of nines sinking Martin "nizmo jiz" Kozlov in 4th place ($125,631.40).

That pot pushed majster88's stack to 31.4M, and a four-bet shove over the top of Z-ENERGIES's re-steal on the next hand was good for another 7M chips. That left Z-ENERGIES with 17.5M, and MaPuHo4Ka09 lurking in both players' shadows with a lonely 5.8M. But within four hands the Ukrainian player would be heading on to heads-up play while Z-ENERGIES collected a payout.

First, MaPuHo4Ka09 called in the big blind and won with [Ad] [2c] after Z-ENERGIES shoved with [Qh] [Jd]. Z-ENERGIES then opened the next hand all-in from the button with [6h] [6s], and MaPuHo4Ka09 called with [As] [7d]. The [7h] [Td] [Qc] [3h] [Th] board gave MaPuHo4Ka09 a pair of sevens for the 20.4M-chip pot, and Z-ENERGIES bowed out in 3rd place ($118,585.92).

majster88 held the lead with 37.5M chips to MaPuHo4Ka09's 24.3M, but the latter moved slightly ahead five hands later after three-betting before the flop, leading out when it came [3s] [Ad] [8h], and betting small when the [Ah] came on the turn. Four hands after that MaPuHo4Ka09 called small bets out of position on the flop and turn before making the nut flush with [Ac] [9c] and getting paid on the river.

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That left majster88 reeling. Down nearly 2-to-1, the Polish player fell further to 13.2M over the next five hands and finally jammed with [Kc] [5s] on the button. MaPuHo4Ka09 called with [6h] [6s], which held up on the [8s] [8d] [7c] [Jh] [Ac] board to bring the tournament to its conclusion.

As runner-up, majster88 collected $115,190.50 from the four-way deal, topping a previous career best of $3,810. MaPuHo4Ka09 earned the champion's bracelet and the extra $20,000 after the deal, for a total prize of $150,338.68. That's also a new high point for MaPuHo4Ka09, topping a previous best of more than $16,000 from a final table appearance in the final table of the low-tier first event of SCOOP 2013. Congratulations to both players, and to the others who shared in the deal, on their big days at the WCOOP tables.

WCOOP 2015: Event #24, $215 No-Limit Hold'em (Sunday Warm-Up SE)
Entrants: 6,190
Prize pool: $1,238,000
Places paid: 810
1. MaPuHo4Ka09 (Ukraine) $150,338.68*
2. majster88 (Poland) $115,190.50*
3. Z-ENERGIES (United Kingdom) $118,585.92*
4. Martin "nizmo jiz" Kozlov (Australia) $125,631.40*
5. ValterBr@nco (Brazil) $52,615
6. KillerNorbit (New Zealand) $40,235
7. rSMig (Canada) $27,855
8. TrondheimAAA (Norway) $15,475
9. ItourAdAStra (Hungary) $9,904
* - denotes results of a four-way deal

Jason Kirk is a freelance contributor to PokerStars Blog.



Shark Cage returns for Season 2 starting tonight

It's the poker series like no other. It puts players under a spotlight, others in a large purpose built cage, and pretty much everyone into positions of either glory or very public humiliation - all for our enjoyment.

So with that in mind we're delighted to announce that the PokerStars Shark Cage is back, with Season 2 starting tonight, or technically Tuesday morning at 00.10 UK time - on Channel 4.


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Heat one comes complete with some high profile shark bait. Team Pros Chris Moneymaker and Daniel Negreanu take their seats ready to take on golf pro Sergio Garcia. At stake will be a seat at the final or almost certain embarrassment of social media.

What's more there's a chance for viewers to win seats in a weekly freeroll by taking part with the Play Along App, which you can download here. You get to make the same decisions, just without having your mistake put on YouTube if it all goes wrong.

Subsequent shows will follow every Tuesday, with the likes of Phil Ivey, actor Don Cheadle, soccer legend Ronaldo, and star of Season one Miss Finland, aka Sara Chafek, all making appearances later in the season.

Here's a little taster:


That's all to come. To find out more about Shark Cage, and to relive some of the highlights from Season one, visit PokerStars.tv.


Stephen Bartley is a staff writer for the PokerStars Blog.



WCOOP 2015: RuiNF among the big winners over busy weekend

We're into Day 9 of WCOOP 2015. Here's the latest update with 23 of 70 events now completed.

Today's highlights:

There were ten WCOOP results over the weekend, but highlights included:

--Rui "RuiNF" Ferreira adds a WCOOP title to the SCOOP title won earlier this year in Event #14.
--Nlzkm9 beats the likes of Ben Vinson and Chris Brammer to win Event #15.
--Chillolini won Event #18, but Jason Somerville almost stole the show again, Twitching his way to third place (and watched online by 27,000 people).
--Trymean77 finally won a big one, taking down Event#23 to collect more than $31,000.


racks_of_chips_playmoney_14sept15.jpg


Round up of latest results

In short it was a busy weekend. But here's the (slightly) longer version.

Rui "RuiNF" Ferreira won Event #14 ahead of 1.454 entries (there was an optional re-entry). It marked his second 'COOP success of the year following his SCOOP success last year. It was not his only result this weekend. He nearly made it two titles in as many days, finishing sixth in Event #19. Al Rash has the report.

Nlzkm9 from Hungary won Event #15 to collect $57,362. As Martin Harris reported, it required getting through a difficult final table, one that included Ben "vindog03" Vinson, and Chris "NigDawG" Brammer. But he did so to collect a first bracelet.

A lot of players might have attracted some attention over the weekend, but only Jason Somerville could officially back it up with numbers. In his case that number was 27,000 - the number of people who tuned in to watch him reach the final table of Event 18 live on Twitch. It wasn't a record (he set that several days prior when that tally reached 34,000) but they did see him come close again. This time he finished third to eventual winner Chillolini. Check out the report by Kristin Bihr for the full story.

Lastly, a hat tip to Trymean77, a former Women's Sunday winner, who once said she could win the small ones but never the big ones. She proved herself totally wrong in fine style this weekend, winning Event #23 for more than $30,000. Read Pauly McGuire's report here.

Here are those scores in full:

Event 14: $215 NL Hold'em (Big Antes, Optional Re-Entry)
Entrants: 1,454 (418 re-entries)
Prize pool: $374,400
Places paid: 234

1. Rui "RuiNF" Ferreira (Czech Republic) $59,904.00
2. pkace666 (United Kingdom) $44,928.00
3. Ryan "ProtentialMN" Laplante (Canada) $33,696.00
4. Mike "munchenHB" Telker (Cyprus) $24,616.80
5. leitalopez (Argentina) $17,784.00
6. sosickPL (Poland) $13,852.80
7. imluckbox (Australia) $10,108.80
8. serhiy1989 (Ukraine) $6,552.00
9. funwheel (Thailand) $3,744.00


Event 15: $215 PL Omaha (1R1A)
Entries: 740 (405 rebuys, 418 add-ons)

Prize pool: $312,600

Places paid: 99

1. Nlzkm9 (Hungary) $57,362.10
2. kalashn1kovv (Slovenia) $40,950.60
3. wuutti (Finland) $30,947.40
4. UziStuNNa (Hungary) $23,288.70
5. Ben "vindog03" Vinson (United Kingdom) $16,255.20
6. MeJohann (United Kingdom) $13,129.20
7. Christopher "NigDawG" Brammer (United Kingdom) $10,003.20
8. akia86 (Germany) $6,877.20
9. magic_mente (Slovenia) $4,063.80



Event 16: $1,050 NL Hold'em (Progressive Super-Knockout, Thursday Thrill SE)
Entrants: 1,828
Prize Pool: $1,828,000 (Regular prize pool: $914,00; Bounty prize pool: $914,000)
Places Paid: 216

1. Liskacha (Bulgaria) $149,941.70 + $37,760.20 bounties
2. actaml (Poland) $109,680.00 + $40,795.84 bounties
3. leopeluca (Argentina) $82,260.00 + $12,248.03 bounties
4. Negriin (Argentina) $61,238.00 + $16,976.54 bounties
5. Francisco 'chiconogue' Nogueira (Brazil) $43,415.00 + $14,031.23 bounties
6. FaZeHigh (Netherlands) $34,275.00 + $23,873.99 bounties
7. Howié (Belgium) $25,135.00 + $14,881.81 bounties
8. gray31 (Canada) $15,995.00 + $10,226.56 bounties
9. pablotenisis (United Kingdom) $9,140.00 + $7,140.62 bounties


Event #17: $700 NLHE 6-Max, 3-Stack
Entrants: 959
Prize pool: $637,735.00
Places paid: 120

1. Patrick "pads1161" Leonard $108,415.51
2. Roman "RomeOpro" Romanovskyi $81,311.21
3. Manni1822 (Germany) $61,860.29
4. JJ@mess (Czech Republic) $43,047.11
5. HKN291209 (United Kingdom) $30,292.41
6. OMGACEACEACE (Poland) $19,132.05


Event #18: $1,050 7-Card Stud Hi/Lo Championship
Entrants: 185
Prize pool: $185,000
Places paid: 24

1. Andre "Chillolini" Messmer (Norway) $40,237.50
2. raconteur (United Kingdom) $28,675.00
3. Team PokerStars Pro Jason "jcarverpoker" Somerville (Canada) $22,200.00
4. Orjan "Aftret" Skommo (Norway) $15,725
5. TIETYMM (Germany) $10,175.00
6. raidalot (United Kingdom) $8,325.00
7. dimas78 (Russia) $6,475.00
8. Mikal "mikal12345" Blomlie (Norway) $5,087.50


WCOOP-19: $320 NL Hold'em (Turbo, Zoom)
Entrants: 1,916
Prize Pool: $574,800.00
Places Paid: 252

1. moshmachine (Russia) $91,968.00
2. kylef89 (Sweden) $68,976.00
3. antroff (Sweden) $51,732.00
4. Siegmann (Denmark) $37,793.10
5. Barrrii (Belgium) $27,303.00
6. Rui "RuiNF" Ferreira (Czech Republic) $21,267.60
7. Yayoshow (Canada) $15,519.60
8. VicBiggs (Canada) $10,059.00
9. WiljamK (Finland) $5,748.00


Event #20: $109 NLHE (Optional Re-Entry)
Entrants: 7,268
Prize pool: $726,800
Places paid: 990

1. SQUA99 (Romania) $85,205.12*
2. 10111420 (United Kingdom) $85,368.81*
3. mr.valerius (Russia) $79,885.13*
4. DiegoCheblii (Brazil) $39,974.00
5. live@pompeii [two re-entries used] (Mexico) $30,525.60
6. AA Full Mike (Netherlands) $23,257.60
7. Raaadzio91 (Poland) $15,989.60
8. @TrashBlade@ (Brazil) $8,721.60
9. guimoura (Brazil) $5,632.70
* denotes a three-way deal


Event #21: $530 NLHE Progressive Super-Knockout
Entrants: 2,394
Prize pool: $1,197,000
Places paid: 308

1. fixfixfix (Switzerland) $95,760.72 + $25,707.39 in bounties = $121,468.11
2. Nomarbles1 (Canada) $71,820.00 + $25,468.63 in bounties = $97,288.63
3. firas71 (Brazil) $52,129.35 + $20,959.86 in bounties = $73,089.21
4. AntagSS (Ukraine) $35,910.00 + $1,671.87 in bounties = $37,581.87
5. 4erepashka (Russia) $26,932.50 + $7,804.55 in bounties = $34,737.05
6. NhFy (Sweden) $20,947.50 + $4,020.49 in bounties = $24,967.99
7. lov10k (United Kingdom) $14,962.50 + $6,126.93 in bounties = $21,089.43
8. GaryT20 (Ireland) $10,174.50 + $4,345.69 in bounties = $14,520.19
9. FONBET_RULIT (Russia) $5,386.50 + $5,142.56 in bounties = $10,529.06


Event #22: $1,050 NL Omaha Hi/Lo Championship
Entrants: 239
Prize pool: $239,000
Places paid: 30

1. chickensssss (Canada) $50,356,78*
2. MarekW13 (Poland) $42,853.22*
3. Stevie "stevie444" Chidwick (Mexico) $28,680.00
4. rtspurs (Ireland) $19,120.00
5. Martin "nizmo jiz" Kozlov (Australia) $14,340.00
6. jj20002 (Venezuela) $9,799.00
* reflects the result of a heads-up deal that left $4,000 in play for the winner


WCOOP-23: $215 PL Omaha (Knockout)
Entrants: 1,368
Prize Pool: $277,704 (Regular Prize Pool: $221,274.00; Bounty Prize Pool: $56,430.00)
Places Paid: 171

1. Trymean77 (Sweden) $31,729.37 * + 11 bounties
2. MaxSinctin (Russia) $28,337.34 * + 11 bounties
3. kuhns89 (Austria) $26,208.89 * + 11 bounties
4. zidix (Bulgaria) $15,046.63 + 5 bounties
5. sslazio904 (Russia) $10,953.06 + 12 bounties
6. tvtotaliwin (Switzerland) $8,740.32 +4 bounties
7. RadioSurvive (Australia) $6,527.58 + 16 bounties
8. fer_90_1 (Colombia) $4,314.84 + 10 bounties
9. theNERDguy (Brazil) $2,389.75 + 11 bounties
* Denotes a deal among the final three players


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.


Top ten winners

It wasn't all WCOOP this weekend, with the biggest winners from the weekend Majors listed below:
WCOOP 2nd Chance 25: $1,050 NLH [8-Max, Optional Re-Entry]: tRaMp$d0PrAy (Mexico) $91,390.00
$530 Sunday 500: filfedra (Czech Republic) $84,150.00
$109+R Sunday Rebuy: GeraldoCesar (Brazil) $63,029.50
$215 Sunday Supersonic [6-Max]: blanconegro (Mexico) $57,754.79
$215 Sunday 2nd Chance: Spowi07 (Austria) $50,592.00
WCOOP 2nd Chance 26: GOGOGOGO#1 (Germany) $43,257.51
WCOOP 2nd Chance 24: EvnomiYa (Russia) $39,664.77
The Weekender: $530 NLHE [8-Max, 2-Day]: elmerixx (Finland) $38,712.69
$215 Weekly Turbo NLHE: phounderAA (Czech Republic) $33,928.20
$109 Sunday Kickoff: RuiNF (Czech Republic) $32,512.00

Click here for the full list of tournament results on PokerStars for the weekend of September 12-13, 2015.

Coming up today

Today
Event #27: $100 PL Omaha (6-max Progressive Super KO) 11.00 ET
Event #28: $300 NL Hold'em (6-max) 14.00 ET
Event #29: $665 7-Card Stud Championship 17.00 ET

Still to play
Three events conclude today
Event #24: NL Hold'em (Sunday Warm-Up SE) 88 of 6190 remaining
Event #25: NL Hold'em (8-max, High Roller) 42 of 340

To look ahead at the entire schedule visit the WCOOP 2015 homepage.


Leader board

The leader board now has some meat on it, with 23 of the 70 events now completed. Two final tables this weekend did wonders for RuiNF who jumped into the lead with 215 points (8 cashes), some way ahead of second placed Dzmitry "Colisea" Urbanovich with 165 points. Jason "jcarverpoker" Somerville has also moved into the top ten thanks to his second final table. He's tied for fourth place with 155 points (4 cashes).


wcoop_leaderboard_14sept15.jpgClick to enlarge

Find all the leader board details right here


Tweet of the weekend

An easy decision...

join me live as I try to make uncle dnegs proud in the Stud 8 #WCOOP day two! @RealKidPoker http://t.co/SC8PJ500mJ pic.twitter.com/vMkouHZpSS

— Jason Somerville (@JasonSomerville) September 12, 2015


On to week two

We're not in to week two of WCOOP 2015 with more than 50 events still to play. Discover everything there is to know about the Championship on the WCOOP homepage, and as always send any thoughts or comments to us on Twitter: @PokerStars Blog.


Stephen Bartley is a staff writer for the PokerStars Blog.



WCOOP 2015: Arctic-cool Trymean77 ices victory Event #23 ($215 PLO KO)

PLO is treacherous enough, but the Knockout element added a succulent financial incentive to bust as many opponents as possible. Sweden's Trymean77 survived a difficult final table in Event #23 that included kuhns89 (three-time SCOOP champion) and theNERDguy, otherwise known as last year's runner-up in the 2014 WCOOP Main Event. With two players to go, Trymean77 was pitted against a surging MaxSinctin who had just ambushed kuhns89 in third place with quad Aces. Despite the heads-up deficit, Trymean77 rallied with a sensational come-from-behind victory to become the newest WCOOP champion.

2015 WCOOP Event #23 $215 PLO Knockout attracted 1,368 players. They generated a prize pool worth $277,704. The regular pool was $221,274.00 and the bounty prize pool was $56,430.00. The top 171 places paid out, with $37,617.45 set aside to the eventual champion. Each player collected a bounty worth $41.25 per elimination.

With 20 players left in the hunt for a WCOOP crown, sslazio904 (Russia) became the first player to pass 1M. As the tournament inched toward the final table, sslazio904 solidified his lead.

With 10 to go, action was hand-for-hand and short-stacked 9I_Be3yH4uk tried to double up with [Ad][7c][5d][4d] against sslazio904's [Ks][Jc][Js][7h]. However, the board ran out [Qc][8s][7s][Jh][3d] and sslazio904 turned a set of Jacks to win the pot. Russia's 9I_Be3yH4uk bubbled off the final table in tenth place and sslazio904 picked up another bounty.

WCOOP2015_E23_FT.jpg

WCOOP Event #23 - Final Table Chip Counts:
Seat 1: Trymean77 (867,014)
Seat 2: kuhns89 (500,813)
Seat 3: sslazio904 (1,444,576)
Seat 4: tvtotaliwin (634,101)
Seat 5: zidix (309,458)
Seat 6: RadioSurvive (1,070,993)
Seat 7: fer_90_1 (531,774)
Seat 8: MaxSinctin (615,204)
Seat 9: theNERDguy (866,067)

The final table commenced during Level 31 with blinds at 12.5K/25K and chip leader sslazio904 was one of two players over the 1M barrier; RadioSurvive was the other with a little over 1M. Meanwhile, zidix treaded water as the short stack. Austria's kuhns89 won three SCOOP titles, but was seeking WCOOP #1. Brazil's theNERDguy, finished second at the 2014 WCOOP Main Event. Oh, and don't forget about zidix, who was a bridesmaid in a 2015 TCOOP.

PLANET TELEX: theNERDguy eliminated in 9th place

The final table played for almost 30 minutes before we saw the first bustout. During that time frame, Trymean77 seized the lead. Brazil's theNERDguy attempted to double up but got ambushed by Aces... theNERDguy limped for 15,000, Trymean77 raised to 90,000, and theNERDguy called for 60,000. The flop was [Ad][Td][8h] and fireworks ensured when theNERDguy checked, Trymean77 fired out 90,000, theNERDguy check-raised to 450,000, Trymean77 re-raised to 1.53M, and theNERDguy called all-in for 177,317.

theNERDguy: [Ah][9d][6d][5d]
Trymean77: [As][Ac][Js][6s]

Trymean77 flopped a set of Aces, but theNERDguy flopped a nut-flush draw and gutshot draw. The turn was the [3s] and the river was the [2c]. Trymean77's set of Aces held up to win the pot (and collect a bounty). Alas, theNERDguy whiffed on both draws and never improved. For a ninth-place finish, theNERDguy took home $2,389.75.

HIGH AND DRY: fer_90_1 eliminated in 8th place

One of the shorties failed to double up. RadioSurvive kicked off the hand with a raise to 139,990 fer_90_1 shoved for 268,532 and RadioSurvive called.

fer_90_1: [As][Qc][4d][2s]
RadioSurvive: [Kd][7d][6s][3d]

The board finished up [Kh][Qh][7c][3s][6c]. RadioSurvive flopped top pair, turned two pair and rivered a higher two pair to win the pot (and collect a bounty). Colombia's fer_90_1 could only make a pair of Queens and failed to avoid an elimination. For eighth place, fer_90_1 earned $4,314.84.

FAKE PLASTIC TREES: RadioSurvive eliminated in 7th place

RadioSurvive opened to 140,000 and kuhns89 called 100,000. The flop was [Kc][6h][5c]... kuhns89 checked, RadioSurvive moved all-in for 255,721, and kuhns89 called.

kuhns89: [Ah][Th][8d][7c]
RadioSurvive: [Ks][Qc][9c][6s]

RadioSurvive flopped top two pair and a flush draw, whereas, kuhns89 only flopped an open-ended straight draw. The turn was the [Td] and the river was the [9s]. RadioSurvive whiffed on a flush and kuhns89 won the pot with a ten-high straight. Also, kuhns89 picked up the bounty. RadioSurvive busted in seventh place, which paid out $6,527.58.

With six remaining, Trymean77 led with 3.2M and tvtotaliwin was on life support with under 100K.

THE BENDS: tvtotaliwin eliminated in 6th place

Super-shorty bit the dust. MaxSinctin opened to 140,000, Trymean77 raised to 355,555, tvtotaliwin called all-in for 56,597, and MaxSinctin also called. Three-handed. The board finished up [Tc][5s][3d][2s][9h] and MaxSinctin tabled [Ac][As][Jd][2c] to win the pot with a pair of Aces. MaxSinctin also earned a bounty for knocking out tvtotaliwin. Sixth place paid out $8,740.32.

BULLET PROOF... I WISH I WAS: sslazio904 eliminated in 5th place

Former chipleader made a final stand but ran into Aces. Russia's sslazio904 opened to 175,000, MaxSinctin bumped it up to 450,000, and sslazio904 called all-in for 85,301.

sslazio904: [8s][8h][7c][5h]
MaxSinctin: [As][Ad][Qs][6s]

The board finished up [Kc][Jc][6c][9d][2d]. Despite picking up a straight draw on the turn, sslazio904 never got there and pocket eights never improved. MaxSinctin's Aces held up to win the pot and the bounty. For fifth place, sslazio904 $10953.06.

With four to go... MaxSinctin held a sizable lead with 4.2M, followed by Trymean77 's 1.6M, and kuhns89's 660K. Meanwhile, zidix was trailing with 290K.

STREET SPIRIT (FADE OUT): zidix eliminated in 4th place

Short-stack ninja zidix opened to 175,000, kuhns89 bumped it up to 550,000, and zidix called all-in for 330,232.

kuhns89: [Ks][Kd][9d][9s]
zidix: [Ac][Qh][Th][5c]

The board finihsed up [8s][6d][4h][2c][Ts]. On the turn, zidix picked up a Wheel gutshot draw, but never got there. Kings held up for kuhns89, who dragged the pot and earned another bounty. Russia's zidix was knocked out in fourth place, which paid out $15,046.63.

With three remaining... MaxSinctin led with 3.9M, followed by Trymean77's 1.8M, and kuhns89's 1M.

DEAL

Action was paused to discuss a deal after MaxSinctin dropped 1M in chips. At that point, MaxSinctin sat atop 2.9M, followed by Trymean77's 2M and kuhns89's 1.8M. Any deal had to leave $5,000 on the table to the eventual champion. The numbers were floated: MaxSinctin $28,337.34, Trymean77 $26,729.37, and kuhns89 $26,208.89. Everyone quickly agreed. With a money deal in place, action resumed.

SULK: kuhns89 eliminated in 3rd place

Despite the deal, three-handed went a while. During Level 35, Trymean77 won three pots totaling 1.1M to seize the lead.

When short-stacked kuhns89 attempted to double up, kuhns89 was ambushed by a monster. All the money went in on the flop of [Ac][8h][7c]. kuhns89 checked-raised all in for 844,416 and MaxSinctin called.

kuhns89: [8s][6d][5d][3c]
MaxSinctin: [Ah][Ad][9d][7s]

MaxSinctin flopped a set of Aces and kuhns89 picked up a straight draw. The turn was the [As], which filled in quads for MaxSinctin. The meaningless [2c] fell on the river. Although kuhns89 made a final stand with two pair (Aces and eights), it was severely inferior to MaxSinctin's quad Aces. MaxSinctin won the pot and collected yet another bounty. Three-time SCOOP champ kuhns89 was  denied a WCOOP and knocked out in third place, which paid out $26,208.89.

HEADS-UP: Trymean77 (Sweden) vs. MaxSinctin (Russia)
Seat 1: Trymean77 (2,511,034)
Seat 8: MaxSinctin (4,328,966)

With two to go, MaxSinctin held the lead, but you got a eerie feeling anything could happen.

Trymean77 went to work immediately and chipped away at the MaxSinctin lead. It wasn't very long before Trymean77 pulled even and MaxSinctin lost the momentum. As soon as Trymean77 took the lead, the Swede never looked back.

MY IRON LUNG: MaxSinctin eliminated in 2nd place; Trymean77 wins WCOOP Event #23!

Going into the final hand, Trymean77 chipped up to over 6M and MaxSinctin was down to 745K. MaxSinctin four-bet shoved for 745,725 with [Ah][Jh][7d][6s] and Trymean77 called with [As][Qc][Tc][5d]. The board finished up [Jc][8d][3c][Qs][8h]. MaxSinctin lost with two pair (Jacks and eights) vs. two pair (Queens and eights). MaxSinctin flopped a pair of Jacks but Trymean77  turned a pair of Queens to eventually win the pot with a rivered two pair. Trymean77 also an 11th bounty for the bustout.

Russia's MaxSinctin was knocked out in second place, which paid out $28,337.34.

Congrats to Sweden's Trymean77, who earned a first-place pay day worth $31,729.37 for winning WCOOP Event #23.

WCOOP-23: $215 PL Omaha (Knockout)
Entrants: 1,368
Prize Pool: $277,704 (Regular Prize Pool: $221,274.00; Bounty Prize Pool: $56,430.00)
Places Paid: 171

1. Trymean77 (Sweden) $31,729.37 * + 11 bounties
2. MaxSinctin (Russia) $28,337.34 * + 11 bounties
3. kuhns89 (Austria) $26,208.89 * + 11 bounties
4. zidix (Bulgaria) $15,046.63 + 5 bounties
5. sslazio904 (Russia) $10,953.06 + 12 bounties
6. tvtotaliwin (Switzerland) $8,740.32 +4 bounties
7. RadioSurvive (Australia) $6,527.58 + 16 bounties
8. fer_90_1 (Colombia) $4,314.84 + 10 bounties
9. theNERDguy (Brazil) $2,389.75 + 11 bounties

* = Denotes a deal among the final three players

Visit the WCOOP home page to view the complete schedule of remaining events. Plus take a peek at the leader board and find out who is in contention for Player of the Series.

Want to play on PokerStars? Click here and sign up for an account and start playing .

Pauly McGuire is an author and freelance contributor to PokerStars.



WCOOP 2015: SQUA99 squirms way into Event #20 title ($109, Re-Entry)

Pac-Man, Frogger, and Q-Bert all used to cost a player quarter to challenge wandering ghosts, snapping alligators, and coiled purple snakes all for the glory of posting high score initials for everyone to see. Video games have come a long way since the dusty arcades with multi-million dollar League of Legends teams, college scholarships, and even selling online characters for profit. The WCOOP 2015 Event #20 NLHE (with optional re-entry) was similar to those big blocks of 8-bit goodness. Only the fee to play was $109.00 and if you needed an extra life (or five) those would cost the same amount all for the glory of putting a name on the leader board (and a little cash and jewelry).

Sorry, the Contra up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-B-A-start code for 30 extra lives (re-entries) was not available.

SQUA99, 10111420, and mr.valerius would chop the remaining funds. While 10111420 would take away the most money, SQUA99 surged just at the right time to win $85,205.12, Event #20, and get the name at the top of the high score list for everyone to see.

Read on for the story of SQUA99's come from behind win.

The try-try-try-try-try again award goes to afgan73, Ashwatthama, Calvin "cal42688" Anderson, dariepoker, Davydenko123, and Goods0077 (among others) who all managed to cash on a fifth bullet (but sadly not enough for a positive ROI).

As for people with a decent ROI in the WCOOP 2015 series, Rui "RuiNF" Ferreira holds the current WCOOP Player of the Series lead thanks to a win in Event #14 and a final table in Event #19 (finishing ninth). Ferreira would snag a couple of points, adding to his lead in this one after finishing just inside the 990 money spots in 861st place.

Second place Dzmitry 'Colisea' Urbanovich, who finished third in Event #12, and third place in the Player of the Series race Matt "Plattsburgh" Vengrin (who won Event #6) both fired three bullets at this tournament going away empty.

A lone Red Spade would make it through the dust of day one's 7,140 eliminations. Team PokerStars Pro Fatima DeMelo was one of the 128 skillful players to return for day two of Event #20's $109 NLHE with five optional re-entries but would start with a short stack in the quest for a WCOOP bracelet and $110,550.06 up top. The time back was short-lived as DeMelo quietly took away $559.63 in 122nd place for her troubles.

No one with five re-entries made it to the second day. Instigator85 scratched out a small win with four re-entries earning $603.24 in 110th place. Oxota (98th place, $719.53) and BundAA (69th place, $1,046.59) would enjoy a mild refund on their three re-entries. Only Csikken would take a fourth buy-in to the final two tables. Csikken made the final table of this event last year when no re-entries were allowed.

Unfortunately, csikken would pick the wrong time for a shortstack shove, shipping [Kc][8c] with DiegoCheblii holding [Kd][Ac]. No luck on the [4c] [Qs] [Td] [Jd] [8h] board as DieboCheblii's straight sent csikken home with $3,052.56 in 15th place.

Around the same time csikken was heading for the rail mr.valerius started running up a chip leading stack. The first player to ten million chips, mr.valerius would have over twice as many chips as second place 10111420 at the fifth hourly break of day two. The numerically named 10111420 already has a SCOOP watch from the 2015 Event #20-M and will be looking to add a leg towards the Triple COOP.

While mr.valerius racked up tournament funds on Table 106, R32-I would be all-in with a shortstack on the final table bubble against Raaadzio91 on the adjacent table. A flip potentially worth $100K as R32-I showed [7c][Ac] against the pocket treys [3c][3s] of Raaadzio91. Good news: R32-I turned two pair. Bad news: Raaadzio91 flopped a set [7h] [3h] [Td] [Ad] [Qd] as R32-I was told to leave, starting up the final table below:

WCOOP2015Event20FinalTable.jpg


Seat 1: Raaadzio91 (1507240 in chips)
Seat 2: 10111420 (4459590 in chips)
Seat 3: SQUA99 (3874064 in chips)
Seat 4: @TrashBlade@ (2589641 in chips)
Seat 5: live@pompeii (3363322 in chips)
Seat 6: DiegoCheblii (4456204 in chips)
Seat 7: AA Full Mike (2312445 in chips)
Seat 8: mr.valerius (12785157 in chips)
Seat 9: guimoura (992337 in chips)

Two out of three ain't bad as the lyrics go. Well, it ain't good for guimoura and @TrashBlade@. On the first hand of the final table with the blinds up to 50K/100K ante 12.5K with guimoura holding under a million chips, the shortstack would shove over a min-raise by AA Full Mike. Around the table back to AA Full Mike holding [Ah][Jd] and willing to make the call. Guimoura, who made a TCOOP final table earlier this year (collecting $21K in Event #45 after chopping fourth place), needed pocket eights [8d][8c] to run clean.

They did not as an ace on the turn and an ace on the river [3s] [Ks] [2h] [As] [Ad] finished guimoura's Event #20's run in ninth place ($5,632.70).

Two hands later chip leading mr.valerius would raise to 215K as @TrashBlade@ wasted no time to shove for 2.3 million. Holding over 12 million chips behind, mr.valerius was happy to gamble with [Ac][Qc] facing another shortstack with pocket eights [8s][8d]. And once again the eights would not make it home as the queen on the flop [3s] [3d] [Qs] [5c] [Jd] sent @TrashBlade@ to the curb in eighth place ($8,721.60).

Near the sixth hourly break shortstacked Raaadzio91, who already has a WCOOP bracelet from 2012's Event #4, would try to double up by open shoving [7h][9h] from the cutoff. SQUA99 showed no mercy from the small blind by re-shoving [Ah][Ts]. Despite picking up a few outs on the turn [6d] [Jd] [2c] [5d] [3d] the high-card ace shipped $15,989.60 to Raaadzio91 in seventh place.

Half way through the sixth hour with the blinds up to 80K/160K ante 20K DiegoCheblii, who had plenty of "VAMOOOOOOOOOOOOSS" cheers at the final two tables, would min-raise from middle position as AA Full Mike nearly pushed all-in for 2.72 million. DiegoCheblii was not going away with a similar chip stack and shoved all-in for 2.97 million holding pocket jacks [Js][Jc]. AA Full Mike heard the ghost of Teddy KGB knowing [Qc][Ts] was not ahead but had to call off the remaining 176K. Despite pairing the river [Kh] [Ks] [7c] [8s] [Td] AA Full Mike could not topple the jacks leaving in sixth place ($23,257.60).

Surprisingly this spurred the massive chip leader mr. valerius to start chop negotiations as Team PokerStars Online Pro Tyler "frosty012" Frost got to work to present ICM and chip chop numbers. It would be all for naught as nearly everyone chanted "MORE MORE MORE". Thus the cards went back in the air with the six-figures intact up top.

Nearly three hours after mr.valerius reached eight digits in chips, someone else would join that lofty height. Ten minutes after the nixed deal with the blinds up to 100K/200K ante 25K 10111420 would min-raise from the button as live@pompeii blew up with a shove for 4.6 million. Holding pocket jacks [Jh][Jd] 10111420 made the call, dominating the [Jc][Ad] of live@pompeii. No ace bailout on the [Qc] [4h] [8d] [5h] [9d] board would give $30,525.60 to live@pompeii to play another day in fifth place.

Bluffing the whole way, mr.valerius would cripple DiegoCheblii after taking down a 5.1 million chip pot after value betting a rivered straight. Two hands later, DiegoCheblii would call a min-raise by mr.valerius out of the big blind to see a [2c][6s][8h] flop. DiegoCheblii checked as the chip leader bet a million chips which was enough to put DiegoCheblii all-in. Flopping top pair with [8s][4s] was fortuitous as DiegoCheblii made the call. But, mr.valerius' [6h][Kh] would find another [6c] on the turn, and safely get through the river [2s] knocking out DiegoCheblii in fourth place ($39,974.00).

10111420 breached the silence asking mr.valerius (now owning a 24 million to 11.4 million chip lead over 10111420 and SQUA99) for chop considerations again. The chip leader requested $110K or locking up first place cash (hopefully with some invisible internet sarcasm) as the other two players politely declined to re-start the tournament.

pca_chips_WCOOP20.jpg


Twenty minutes before the seventh hourly break 10111420 would finally dent mr.valerius castle of chips. After a flop of [2s][9h][3h] 10111420 shoved 6.7 million chips as mr.valerius made the call with top pair [9d][Td]. 10111420's pair and the nut flush draw [Ah][2h] would get there on the turn and river the unnecessary flush [2s] [9h] [3h] [Ad] [Kh] to drag 16 million chip pot and the lead.

Immediate calls for chop talk ended with a quick "I agree" from all three players to the amounts below (leaving $10K and the bracelet for the winner):

10111420: $85,368.81
mr.valerius: $79,885.13
SQUA99: $75,205.12

After the chop everything flipped in reverse.

Six minutes into the eighth hour of day two with the blinds up to 150K/300K ante 37.5K and a flattening of the stack sizes mr.valerius, now holding the shortest stack at 11.64 million, would min-raise from the button. SQUA99 holding 11.66 million three-bet to 2.02 million as mr.valerius shoved with [As][7d]. SQUA99 found a call with pocket sevens [7h][7s] and safely knocked-out the previous chip bully after the ace-less [Qc] [6d] [Ks] [Qh] [3c] board sent $79,885.15 to mr.valerius in third place.

A second COOP win for 10111420? Or would SQUA99's late push net a bracelet?

The answer arrived just six hands into heads-up play.

Owning a 23.2 million to 13.1 million chip lead, SQUA99 min-raised as 10111420 three-bet to two million. In no mood for a long, drawn out battle SQUA99 shoved all-in holding [Ks][Qd] as 10111420 called and turned over [Ac][Jd]. The jack on the flop did not mean much, but the queen on the river [7c] [Jh] [7s] [7h] [Qh] did as SQUA99 took away the extra cash from the chop earning a total of $85,205.12 and the WCOOP 2015 Event #20 bracelet!

WCOOP 2015 Event #20: $109 NLHE (Optional Re-Entry)
Entrants: 7,268
Prize pool: $726,800
Places paid: 990

1. SQUA99 (Romania) $85,205.12*
2. 10111420 (United Kingdom) $85,368.81*
3. mr.valerius (Russia) $79,885.13*
4. DiegoCheblii (Brazil) $39,974.00
5. live@pompeii [two re-entries used] (Mexico) $30,525.60
6. AA Full Mike (Netherlands) $23,257.60
7. Raaadzio91 (Poland) $15,989.60
8. @TrashBlade@ (Brazil) $8,721.60
9. guimoura (Brazil) $5,632.70

* = denotes a three-way deal

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WCOOP 2015: Norway's Chillolini freezes out Somerville in Event #18 ($1,050 Seven-Card Stud Hi/Lo Championship)

This afternoon, in dirty basements* from Vancouver to Croatia, over 27,000 poker fans watched live as Jason Somerville played the final table of a Stud Hi/Lo tournament. For the moment, let's set aside the fact that it was, by Somerville's own admission, the third stud tournament he had ever played. Let's forget that the third stud tournament he ever played was a $1k buy-in WCOOP, where the competition is some of the finest you'll be pressed to find. And let's forget that his result was the largest cash he's ever made in a non-hold'em MTT.

27,000 people were watching a Stud Hi/Lo tournament broadcast live, in real time, over the internet. Not no-limit hold'em. Stud Hi/Lo. Somerville may not have broken the Twitch record he set Monday night, when he final tabled Event #7, but... ARE YOU SERIOUS, 27,000 PEOPLE WERE WATCHING THIS GUY PLAY STUD HI/LO!

Jason_Somerville_WCOOP18a.jpeg

Twitch.tv maven and Team PokerStars Pro Jason Somerville

The Twitch experience brings a final table sweat to a whole new level. With more than 800 hours of live streaming behind him, Somerville is a seasoned pro in the medium, mixing expert hand breakdowns with affable, stream-of-consciousness commentary. His chat-box fans respond with enthusiastic communication-by-emoji, hurling virtual cartoon pork chops his way when he splits a pot and showering their hero with bell icons as he (DING!) rakes in some chips. It may not have the decibel level of an Andre Akkari heads-up match at the WSOP, but it's still a party.

Event #18 kicked off at 2pm EDT on Friday afternoon and played 18 levels before wrapping for the day. Of the 185 entrants, 27 survived and three more would need to bust before the money bubble burst at 24. Among those advancing to Day 2 were Somerville (108,825), Team PokerStars Pro and champion of too many poker things to count Jason Mercier (141,357), three-time SCOOP champion Woody "plplaya" Deck (63,533), 2012 WCOOP Player of the Series and three-time bracelet winner Mikal "mikal12345" Blomlie (47,296), and confirmed Klingon Matt "plattsburgh" Vengrin (16,986).

End of Day 1 Top 5 in chips

Gerald "viking47 Ringe (United Kingdom) 155,344
Orjan "Aftret" Skommo (Norway) 145,984
JasonMercier (Canada) 141,357
Maicoshaa (Russia) 125,074
Jens "Fresh_oO_D" Lakemeier (Germany) 120,866

Action resumed Saturday afternoon, 24 hours after it began. Forty-five minutes into Day 2, the money bubble burst when vantala150's threes and deuces fell to Harleyy30040's trip aces. Vantala150 went home empty-handed in 25th place and the remaining players were each guaranteed at least $2,312.50 for their efforts.

With 14 players remaining, Somerville and Mercier landed on the same table and tangled in a hand Somerville took down on fifth street to put his stack back over the 100,000 mark. Now that they were similiarly stacked, Mercier had a proposal.

JasonMercier: friendly last longer?
JasonMercier: im playing every hand seet
JasonMercier: maybe decide after the hand?
jcarverpoker: yea maybe...
JasonMercier: take it
JasonMercier: streaming brah?
jcarverpoker: all day erry day
hhecklen: isnt that like asking if satan likes the heat?

In fact, Somerville is currently on his 28th consecutive day streaming, averaging about nine hours of play each day.

Overnight chip leader Gerald "viking47" Ringe busted in 11th place and moments later, the tournament went hand-for-hand on the final table bubble. With the betting limits up to 8,000/16,000/1,600, Mercier brought it in with the [6h] up and 55,000 in chips behind. Raconteur completed to 8,000 with the [Qc] and Mercier called. Raconteur made the high board on fourth street and led out. Mercier called. However, Mercier made an open pair of nines on fifth street and fired 16,000. Raconteur raised and Mercier called all-in.

JasonMercier ([2s][3d]) [6h][9s][9c][8s] ([Ts])
raconteur ([4c][7h]) [Qc][5d][6c][3h] ([Td])

When the money went in, Mercier had a pair of nines and three to a low, while raconteur held four to a seven-low and an open-ended straight draw. Raconteur hit the [3h] on sixth street to make a seven-high straight and scooped the pot, ending Mercier's run at another WCOOP title on the final table bubble.

2015_WCOOP_Ev18_FT.jpg

Final table chip counts

Seat 1: dimas78 (91,798 in chips)
Seat 2: raconteur (348,876 in chips)
Seat 3: mikal12345 (70,566 in chips)
Seat 4: TIETYMM (630,915 in chips)
Seat 5: jcarverpoker (170,877 in chips)
Seat 6: Chillolini (270,807 in chips)
Seat 7: Aftret (78,213 in chips)
Seat 8: raidalot (187,948 in chips)

Somerville arrived at the final table fifth in chips, but soon fell on the short stack. In a battle with Chillolini, Somerville's pair of fives was ahead on sixth street, but Chillolini rivered a pair of nines and left Somerville on 66,000 in chips. Then, with the limits up to 10,000/20,000/2,000, mikal12345 lost two-thirds of his stack to Chillolini in a similar fashion. Mikal12345's low draw did not materialize and he finished with the pair of sixes he made on fifth street, only to have Chillolini hit running nines on sixth and seventh. A few hands later, mikal12345 put the rest of his chips in on fifth street against both raconteur and dimas78.

mikal12345 ([3d][5c]) [2c][Jc][9h][7s] ([Kh])
dimas78 ([As][2d]) [6d][8s][5d][Qh] ([Qc])
raconteur ([Ah][5s]) [8h][9c][4d][5h] ([6s])

Dimas78 scooped the pot with a pair of queens and an 8-6-5-2-A low, edging out raconteur's pair of fives and 8-6-5-4-A low. For eighth place, mikal12345 picked up $5,087.50.

Somerville picked himself back up, winning three small pots to increase his stack to 115,000. However, chip leader TIETYMM crippled dimas78 when he made quad sixes, leaving him on only 37,000. The limits increased to 12,000/24,000/2,400 and dimas78 committed the last of his chips on fourth street against Chillolini and raidalot. Raidalot led out on fifth street for 24,000 and Chillolini gave up his hand.

dimas78 ([9h][9s]) [As][Jh][3c][7h] ([8s])
raidalot ([Qc][Qh]) [Ac][6d][6c][Jc] ([7d])
Chillolini (X-X) [6h][2c][Js]

Although dimas78 turned over buried nines, raidalot had buried queens and made queens and sixes on fifth street. Dimas78 did not improve and hit the rail in seventh place.

Raidalot ground it out for the rest of the level, but had fallen back to 100,000 in chips when he completed to 12,000 with the [Ah]. Raconteur called with the [6h]. Raidalot led again on fourth street when he picked up a king, ranconteur raised, and the war continued until the betting was capped. Raidalot put the rest of his chips in on fifth street and turned over a pair of kings, but they were behind the pair of aces raconteur made on fourth street.

raidalot ([Kd][6d]) [Ah][Kh][8c][9c] ([2d])
raconteur ([2c][As]) [6h][Ac][Jd][Ks] ([4d])

Raidalot did not improve any further and went out in sixth place, good for $8,325.00.

As play turned five-handed, Somerville shared with his viewers that this was officially his best-ever finish in a WCOOP event as well as his first-ever five-figure score in a non-NLHE tournament. Not bad for a guy playing his third-ever stud tournament with only card sense and a 20-minute lesson from his friend and fellow pro Eric Wasserson to go on.

Somerville's stack rose and fell, vacillating between a 209,000 high and a 50,000 low over the course of the next level. Meanwhile, chip leader TIETYMM topped 1 million in chips before Chillolini hit a rush and took a 346,000 pot off his hands with a pair of fives and a 7-6 low to move into the top spot with 790,000. TIETYMM fell to 564,000 and over the next 15 hands, tumbled to 159,000. With the betting limits up to 20,000/40,000/4,000, TIETYMM completed to 20,000 with the [8h], Aftret made it 40,000 with the [5s] and the raising continued until the betting was capped at 80,000 apiece. TIETYMM's last 4,659 went in on fourth street and Aftret called.

TIETYMM ([Ad][8s]) [8h][7d][5c][Qd] ([Jc])
Aftret ([Ah][4h]) [5s][8c][9c][Kd] ([9h])

TIETYMM picked up a low draw on fifth street to go with his pair of eights, but never improved. Aftret rivered a pair of nines and the onetime monster chip leader was suddenly on the rail in fifth place.

Aftret and Chillolini were now on top while Somerville was still fighting on the short stack. Down to only 50,808, Somerville scored a clutch double-up after getting the rest of his chips in on third street against raconteur. Raconteur made a pair of eights on fourth street, but Somerville rivered a pair of kings and doubled to 111,616. Somerville's rush continued two hand later when he doubled again vs. raconteur, rivering queens and fives to snap off the pair of aces raconteur made on fifth. Somerville was up to 263,000 while raconteur was the new short stack with 126,000.

Level 28 (30,000/60,000/6,000) saw Aftret fall from 711,000 to 224,000 while Somerville thrived, chipping up to a 511,000 peak. Down to 126,000, Aftret bet the rest of his chips on fourth street and Chillolini called.

Aftret ([3h][3s]) [Ah][Ts][7c][5d] ([7d])
Chillolini ([Qh][Qd]) [5s][As][9d][8s] ([8c])

Although Aftret rivered sevens and threes, they were no match for Chillolini's queens and eights and Aftret ended his run in fourth place.

When three-handed play commenced, Chillolini was the chip leader with 892,500, raconteur was second with 638,500 and Somerville was the short stack with 319,000.

Raconteur seized the chip lead when he scooped a big one off Somerville. Showing a board of [Kd][Ts][8h][5s], Somerville check-called 60,000 on sixth street and checked the river. Raconteur checked back and turned over buried sevens, which were good enough to scoop, both players having missed their low draws. Somerville fell to 136,000 in chips while raconteur moved up to 875,000.

A few minutes later, Somerville brought it in for a raise to 30,000, Chillolini raised and Somerville called. Somerville called Chillolini's fourth street bet and called-all-in on fifth.

jcarverpoker ([Ad][Qs]) [3h][7c][8c][7d] ([Ts])
Chillolini ([8h][Qh]) [Qd][2c][8s][5d] ([Qc])

Somerville's low draw failed to come in and he finished with a pair of sevens for high, while Chillolini's buried queens improved to queens full of eights on the river. No low hand qualified and Chillolini scooped the pot, eliminating Somerville in third place ($22,200).

Somerville, of course, took it all in stride. "We can't be too sad about it," he said as congrats rolled in on the Twitch chat box. "If you told me three days ago I would win 20k playing stud, I would have said 'What are you smoking over there? And why aren't you sharing it?'"

Somerville also picked up another 70 points in the 2015 WCOOP Player of the Series race and currently sits fourth on the leaderboard.

jcarverpoker_eliminated.jpg

GG, jcarverpoker

Heads-up chip counts

Seat 2: raconteur (1,004,518 in chips)
Seat 6: Chillolini (845,482 in chips)

Chillolini started heads-up play at a slight disadvantage and wasted no time turning that around. He took a straight draw and a low draw to the river against raconteur's open pair of threes and rivered a pair of aces to take down a 432,000 pot and move into the lead with 1 million. Then, with the limits up to 40,000/80,000, Chillolini reraised on third and fired out on every subsequent street. Raconteur called him down.

Chillolini ([As][7d]) [8s][Ad][Kc][Th] ([Td])
raconteur (X-X) [Jc][2s][7h][3c] (X)

Chillolini turned over aces up and raconteur mucked. Chillolini moved up to 1.5 million while raconteur fell to 342,000.

Moments later, raconteur raised on third street and Chillolini called. Chillolini looked up his fourth, fifth, and sixth street bets before both players checked the river. The split fives raconteur started with on third street never improved while Chillolini rivered threes and deuces, leaving his opponent on only 134,000.

Raconteur, however, wasn't finished. In a flurry of action, he chipped back up to 542,000, then won a 656,000 pot without a showdown to top 870,000 in chips. Chillolini pulled out all the stops and quickly struck back, winning three pots in a row to push raconteur back to 334,000 in chips.

The betting limits were 40,000/80,000 when Chillolini brought it in with the [5s] and raconteur raised with the [As]. Chillolini called. Raconteur picked up another low card and led fourth street. Again, Chillolini called. Fifth street gave Chillolini a [5s][3c][6c] board while raconteur hit a "banana" with the [Jc]. Raconteur check-called Chillolini's 80,000 bet. On sixth street, raconteur check-raised all-in and Chillolini called.

raconteur ([2d][8d]) [As][4h][Jc][6h] ([7h])
Chillolini ([5h][7d]) [5s][3c][6c][Ad] ([2c])

Raconteur had ace high and a 8-6-4-2-A low when the money went in on sixth street while Chillolini held a air of fives for high and a 7-6-5-3-A low. Although raconteur's low improved to 7-6-4-2-A on the river, Chillolini made a 6-5-3-2-A and locked up his first WCOOP bracelet.

Congratulations to Norway's Andre "Chillolini" Messmer on joining the ranks of WCOOP champions! He banked $40,237.50 for the win, while runner-up raconteur not only improved upon his third-place finish in Event #8, but earned another $28,675.00.

We have two more weeks of WCOOP action ahead! Check out the WCOOP homepage for more information and a complete schedule of events. And if you're ready to try your mettle against our resident Twitch star Jason Somerville,click here to sign up for a PokerStars account.

*= Devotees of jcarverpoker Twitch streams do their viewing from their "dirty basements." Somerville broadcasts from his.

Event #18: $1,050 7-Card Stud Hi/Lo Championship
Entrants:185
Prize pool: $185,000
Places paid: 24

1. Andre "Chillolini" Messmer (Norway) $40,237.50
2. raconteur (United Kingdom) $28,675.00
3. Team PokerStars Pro Jason "jcarverpoker" Somerville (Canada) $22,200.00
4. Orjan "Aftret" Skommo (Norway) $15,725
5. TIETYMM (Germany) $10,175.00
6. Talai "raidalot" Shakerchi (United Kingdom) $8,325.00
7. dimas78 (Russia) $6,475.00
8. Mikal "mikal12345" Blomlie (Norway) $5,087.50



WCOOP 2015: pads1161 lands a six-figure score winning Event #17 ($700, 6-Max, 3-Stack)

Watching and reading the PokerStars coverage here over the week, a pattern seems to emerge. Names of past champions and final table players have already made their marks on the WCOOP 2015 campaign. Like Matt "Plattsburgh" Vengrin who won Event #6 after earning a WCOOP title last year. The two-day Event #17 would also crown a familiar name as Patrick "pads1161" Leonard would win $108,415.51 and the bracelet after a brief heads-up match against Roman "RomeOpro" Romanovskyi.

Check out below for Leonard's run to the title.

The overnight chip leader Patrick "pads1161" Leonard has two prior 'COOP final tables in his pocket. Normally the Omaha specialist based on past finishes, Leonard nearly snagged a watch in SCOOP 2014 Event #35-M PLO Hi/Lo as the runner-up and a sixth place in this year's TCOOP Event #14 NLO Hi/Lo. Leonard would come into day two of this NL Hold Em' tournament with nearly double the chips of second place pinguinho.


WCOOP2015Event17DayOne.jpg


Pinguinho also seems to like the non-NLHE games with a final table in TCOOP 2013's Event #12 Triple Stud (finishing fourth), and two final tables at SCOOP 2015 in Event #13-M (Stud, finishing as the runner-up to Woody "plplya" Deck), and Event #19-L Limit Omaha Hi/Lo (finishing seventh). But, pinguinho's hot streak is a continuation of winning two Sunday Majors last weekend including the weekly 6-max for $14K.

Starting off day two cheeky4714 would be the first to improve position. After doubling through mindgamer two minutes into the new day, cheeky4714 would show mindgamer the door on the next hand after sneaking [9h][Ah] past mindgamer's big slick [Ad][Kh] on a heart filled [5h] [Th] [4h] [Td] [8h] board sending mindgamer out in 16th place ($5,420.74).

Well, pinguinho's two-week hot streak came a screeching halt as the starting second place stack took a huge hit early with Aptok taking away a key 1.2 million chip pot. Then, with the blinds up to 10K/20K ante 2.5K, pinguinho tried to three barrel bluff JJ@mess off two pair with the board showing [3d] [Ts] [7h] [6s] [4s]. It did not work as pinguinho earned $5,420.74 in 13th place.

At the first break Leonard's lead was cut into a bit by OMGACEACEACE by taking down a 1.4 million chip pot right before the five minute intermission. Only half of the day two field remained on task for the $108,415.51 up top, as hand-for-hand loomed.

Cheeky4714 made it to the final table of Event #2 here last year (also a six-max event) finishing fifth. Unfortunately, cheeky4714's journey for a second WCOOP final table would end and the hand of Leonard in seventh place ($11,798.09).

Eight minutes later with the blinds up to 17.5K/35K ante 4,375 Aptok would shove 380K from the small blind as RomeOpro called with [Ah][3d]. Aptok's [Kh][5h] failed to connect on the [7s] [Jd] [7d] [Td] [9d] board starting up the final table below:


WCOOP2015Event17FinalTable.jpg

Seat 1: OMGACEACEACE (3252166 in chips)
Seat 2: JJ@mess (2516916 in chips)
Seat 3: HKN291209 (1722850 in chips)
Seat 4: Patrick "pads1161" Leonard (4075850 in chips)
Seat 5: Roman "RomeOpro" Romanovskyi (1499423 in chips)
Seat 6: Manni1822 (1317795 in chips)

Patrick "pads1161" Leonard started the day as the chip leader and would start the final table as the chip leader. Would he end the day with all the chips and a shiny gold and diamond bracelet? Or will JJ@mess notch the third leg of the PokerStars Slam after winning a SCOOP watch in 2014 and the Sunday Million? Read on.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl after the rapid eliminations of the first hour.

45 minutes into the second hour with the blinds up to 20K/40K ante 5K OMGACEACEACE tried to get in cheap by limping in from the small blind as JJ@mess made it 120K to go. OMGACEACEACE made the call to see a couple of tens on the [Ts][Td][4d] flop. OMGACEACEACE would check-call bets on the flop and the turn [8s]. Then the river [Ah] saw JJ@mess push all-in for 1.96 million. Holding [7c][Ac] OMGACEACEACE called off the remaining 947K only to see the flopped trip tens [Tc][3c] of JJ@mess. OMGACEACE would take away $19,132.05 in sixth place. This was another huge score for OMGACEACEACE who took down the Sunday Major NLHE $109+R in May for $68K.

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The final table would not lose its second player until five minutes before the third hourly break. With the blinds up to 50K/100K ante 12.5K current chip leader RomeOpro and HKN291209 would get to the river with the board showing [5c] [4d] [2s] [3d] [9d]. HKN291209 checked as RomeOpro shoved all-in. Holding a wheel [9h][Ac] HKN291209 made the call for 1.1 million. But, RomeOpro turned over the higher straight [6h][As] knocking out HKN291209 in fifth place ($30,292.41).

JJ@mess' run for a third leg of the PokerStars slam would come an end with a flip. With the blinds still at 50K/100K ante 12.5K Manni1822 would min-raise from the button as JJ@mess shoved 1.74 million from the small blind with big slick [Kc][Ac]. Manni1822 covered and made the call holding pocket jacks [Jd][Jc]. Despite gaining a couple of outs on the river [5d] [Tc] [9d] [Qh] [9c] JJ@mess would need to wait until the next WCOOP tournament for a bracelet, earning $43,047.11 in fourth place.

If you take a look at RomeOpro's avatar it's from Raising for Effective Giving. Basically the site allows players to donate a percentage of their winnings to charity in a way that gets and uses the funds to the appointed charity in the most cost-effective way.

It sounds like RomeOpro wants to maximize giving after this tournament, nixing the first round of chop talks shortly after JJ@mess' demise.

A few minutes before the fourth hourly break, Leonard would knockoff the short stack to set up a fairly short heads-up battle. With the blinds up to 70K/140K ante 17.5K Manni1822 would shove all-in for 781,517 chips as both Romanovskyi and Leonard jumped into the fray. After the [4s][7c][Td] flop and a bet from Leonard, Manni1822 would flip up top pair with a decent kicker [Ts][Kd]. However, pads1161 showed pocket aces [Ad][As]. After the third ace [Ac] hit the turn Manni1822 would collect $61,860.29 in third place.


PSChips3.jpg

Romanovskyi really wants that six figure score and let Patrick "pads1161" Leonard know it after Manni1822 left the table and temporarily pushing away an attempt to chop up the remaining prize pool.

However, after just five hands of heads-up play the two would play the determining hand for the bracelet.

With Leonard holding a 8.2 million to 6.1 million chip lead, he would raise to 302K as Romanovskyi called to see a [3c][4s][Tc] flop. Romanovskyi checked as Leonard fired for 2.2 million and Romanovskyi called again. The [3s] paired the board but caught no one's interest as both checked. Romanovskyi would check the [2d] river as Leonard bet enough to leave Romanovskyi with one chip.

He would make the call, and owned one chip as Leonard showed the turned boat [4d][3d] and Roman mucked.

The literal "chip and a (virtual) chair" story only lasted one hand as Patrick "pads1161" Leonard took down the next hand to win $108,415.51 and WCOOP 2015 Event #17!

Event #17: $700 NLHE 6-Max, 3-Stack
Entrants: 959
Prize pool: $637,735.00
Places paid: 120

1. Patrick "pads1161" Leonard $108,415.51
2. Roman "RomeOpro" Romanovskyi $81,311.21
3. Manni1822 (Germany) $61,860.29
4. JJ@mess (Czech Republic) $43,047.11
5. HKN291209 (United Kingdom) $30,292.41
6. OMGACEACEACE (Poland) $19,132.05