Today saw once again what the Macau Poker Cup has become renowned for - records broken!

The record 75-player MPC23 High Roller field just worked its way down to a champion after one of the fastest final tables in MPC history.

And that champion was Taiwan's James Chen, who took only 75 minutes to navigate his way through the final table. Chen dwarves his biggest cash to date with his victory for HK$1,704,000 - his previous best was HK$230, 700 for a runner up finish in the MPC Baby Dragon earlier this year.

Before Chen chewed through the final table it was two days of exciting poker action, with a star-studded field in tow. Team PokerStars Pros Randy 'Nanonoko' Lew, Yaxi Zhu and Celina Lin were all among the field. Lin busted earlier today after getting it in good with pocket jacks against the poket nines of Scott Davies. She couldn't hold though with Davies flopping nines full of aces to send the Team Pro packing.

With only nine places paying dividends it made sense that everyone was shortstacked entering the final table. There was a lot of money on the line and players were trying to avoid the bubble. The title of bubble boy would ultimately go to Fu Banh Huang after a three way all in with ace-king against Yan Cai's pocket eights and Tom Alner's pocket sevens. Cai turned a set to see the final table set.

And what a final table it was!

It would take only 15 minutes for the first elimination before the floodgates opened and one by one players hit the rail in quick succession. Huidong Gu was first to go before the eventual champion Chen eliminated Xiang Zhu in 8th place. Chen held pocket kings against Zhu's ace-queen and improved by flopping top set to thin the field to seven.

The next thirty minutes would see three eliminations. Scott Davies (7th place), Yan Cai (6th place) and Wei Yi Zhang (5th place) all found the rail, and with Liang Yu running his pocket fours into Makoto Yoshimichi's aces for 4th place only three were left in the hunt.

It would only take 5 more minutes from that point to get to heads up play. 3rd place went to Tom Alner after he jammed from the small blind with queen-nine off suit and Chen called from the big blind with ace-four of clubs. Neither of them hit and Chen's ace-high held to scoop the pot and bring the tournament to heads up.

And just to keep things in line with the rest of the final table, heads up would only last five minutes too. The final hand began with Yoshimichi opening from the button to 160,000 and Chen three-betting to 420,000 from the big blind. Yoshimichi called and the flop came down [Tc][5c][4c].

Chen bet again for 475,000 and Yoshimichi called once more. When the [qh] peeled off Chen continued for another 750,000 and Yoshimichi moved all in over the top for a total of 1,650,000. Chen called with the hopes of ending the tournament right there and the cards went on their backs.

Chen: [Js][Jc]
Yoshimichi: [Th][6h]

Yoshimichi needing a ten or six to keep the tournament alive bricked on the [Qc] river and Chen emerged as our new MPC High Roller Champion.

MPC23 High Roller Results

1st: James En Ning Chen (Chinese Taipei) - $1,704,000
2nd: Makoto Yoshimichi (Japan) - $1,117,000
3rd: Tom Alner (UK) - $726,000
4th: Liang Yu (China) - $559,000
5th: Wayne Wei Ye Zhang (China) - $391,000
6th: Yan Cai - (China) $335,000
7th: Scott Davies (USA) - $279,000
8th: Xiang Zhu (China) - $251,500
9th: Huidong Gu (Macau) - $223,500
All amounts in HKD

Congratulations to Chen and thanks to PokerStars LIVE Macau for hosting another well-run tournament here in Macau. We hope you enjoyed our coverage this week. We'll be back for the 2015 Asia Championship of Poker!

Marathon final tables test your patience and discipline. You can have all the skill and ability in the world, but if you cannot maintain focus for an extended period of time, then you're doomed to fail when it counts the most. The final table in WCOOP Event #16 hit a lull when it got down to six players. During that 100-minute stretch, the entire dynamic of the final table had shifted and changed a dozen times. Coming out of that arduous dead zone, Liskacha shifted gears into aggro-mode. The Bulgarian chipped up to an immense lead and eventually got down to heads-up against Poland's actaml. Liskacha failed to put actaml away early and the short stack went into full-blown "alligator blood" mode to extend their battle to over 90-minutes. But, just like the big lull in the middle of the final table, Liskacha hunkered down and regained focus. Liskacha did not waste another opportunity to finish off actaml and finally landed a crushing blow to become the newest WCOOP champ. 2015 WCOOP Event #16 $1,050 NL Hold'em (Progressive Super-Knockout, Thursday Thrill Special Edition) attracted 1,828 runners to this two-day affair. They contributed to a total prize pool worth $1,828,000, with a fair split of $914,000 devoted to the regular prize pool and bounty prize pool. The top 216 places paid out with $149,941.70 set aside to the champion. In this Progressive Super-KO format, each player began with a $500 bounty and whenever someone is eliminated, the winning player collects half the bounty and the other half gets added to their initial bounty. Day 1 ended with 63 players advancing to Day 2 and marty7 (United Kingdom) sat in the top spot with 744K. Day 2 progressed slowly and the final table was even slower. When action started hand-for-hand with 10 remaining, three big stacks were jockeying for the top spot: Liskacha (Bulgaria) held the lead with 3.1M, with actaml (Poland) and chiconogue (Brazil) right behind. UK's pablotenisis was the shortest stack with barely 420K. One of the other short stacks, Vitorbrasil, made a final stand with [2c][2h] against Howié's [Kh][Qh]. Vitorbrasil's pocket deuces held up through the turn but the [Qc] spiked on the river and Howié won the pot. Vitorbrasil bubbled off the final table in tenth place, which paid out $7,220.60. Howié picked up a bounty worth $4,796.87 for picking off Vitorbrasil and Howié's own bounty increased to $14,881.81. The final nine was set. WCOOP Event #16 - Final Table Chip Counts: Seat 1: Howié (2,408,904) Seat 2: Negriin (1,268,355) Seat 3: pablotenisis (318,556) Seat 4: actaml (3,500,108) Seat 5: Liskacha (3,589,587) Seat 6: chiconogue (3,181,272) Seat 7: leopeluca (1,605,675) Seat 8: FaZeHigh (1,481,587) Seat 9: gray31 (925,956) The final table commenced during Level 43 with blinds at 17.5K/35K and a 4,375 ante. Liskacha held the lead with approximately 3.6M, and pablotenisis was struggling with only 318K. The final table featured Francisco 'chiconogue' Nogueira, who won a WCOOP last year. BOB DYLAN'S BLUES: pablotenisis eliminated in 9th place The final table quickly saw an exit when one of the shorties hit the road... pablotenisis insta-shoved for 274,806 and FaZeHigh re-shoved for 1,420,337, and everyone else bailed. Heads-up. FaZeHigh was ahead with [Qc][Qs] against pablotenisis's [Kc][Js]. The board ran out [9h][7d][2d][Tc][4h]. Although pablotenisis turned a gutshot draw, it never filled in and pablotenisis failed to improve. FaZeHigh faded a straight and pocket Queens held up for the win. For a ninth-place finish, pablotenisis earned $9,140.00. DOWN THE HIGHWAY: gray31 eliminated in 8th place The final table played for almost two levels before we saw a second elimination. One of the biggies took out a small stack... actaml min-raised to 90,000 and gray31 called from the big blind. Both players checked the flop of [5h][3h][3s]. When the [Qs] fell on the turn, gray31 fired out 112,500, actaml bumped it to 315,000, and gray31 called. The [2h] hit the river, gray31 shoved for 377,873 and actaml called. gray31: [7h][4h] actaml: [5c][5s] Although gray31 rivered a flush, it was meanignless because actaml flopped a full house. Poland's actaml won the pot and collected $5,113.28 for busting gray31 and their own bounty increased to $21,417.95. Alas, Canada's gray31 was knocked out in eighth place and took home $15,995.00. THE GIRL FROM NORTH COUNTRY: Howié eliminated in 7th place Howié opened to 111,000, actaml called, and chiconogue called. The flop was [Ah][Th][3h] chiconogue checked, Howié bet 200,875, actaml called, and chiconogue folded. Heads-up. All the money went in on the turn when the [Jc] fell. Howié: [Ad][Kd] actaml: [Qh][9h] Howié flopped top pair, but actaml flopped a flush draw. The river was the [Tc] and did not help Howié. Poland's actaml won the pot Howié busted out in seventh place, which paid out $25,135.00. Poland's actaml earned another bounty. This one was worth $7,440.91 and actaml's own bounty increased to $28,858.85 With six to go, actaml was closing in on 6M and leopeluca was last with 866K. SLOW DOWN The dreaded slowdown. With six left in the hunt, but the lead changed hands several times, but no one was ever close to busting. Negriin became the new leader with 5.7M, while FaZeHigh was the shorty with 1.1M. A HARD RAIN'S GONNA FALL: FaZeHigh eliminated in 6th place Six-handed lasted nearly 100 minutes before someone finally bowed out. FaZeHigh bombed it all-in for 994,685 with [As][Qd] and actaml woke up with [Jd][Jh]. The board ran out [Tc][4h][2s][Jc][Qh]. FaZeHigh turned a Broadway gutshot draw, but never got there on the river. Instead, FaZeHigh backdoored a pair of Queens, which were no match against actaml's set of Jacks (which popped up on the turn). FaZeHigh busted in sixth place, which paid out $34,275.00. Poland's actaml earned a bounty worth $11,937 for picking off FaZeHigh and their own bounty jumped to $40,795.84. With five remaining, Liskacha was closing in on 7M, followed by Negriin (4.4M), actaml (3.5M), leopeluca (2.5M), and chiconogue (777K). TALKIN' WORLD WAR III BLUES: chiconogue eliminated in 5th place Five-handed lasted a couple of hands. Negriin min-raised to 200,000, super-short chiconogue moved all-in for 517,204 and Negriin called. A desperate chiconogue attempted to doubled up with [Kc][5c] against Negriin's [As][6s]. Although chiconogue flopped a flush draw, the Brazilian never got there. The board finished up [Jc][Jh][2c][7s][Jd] and neither player improved, Negriin won the pot with an Ace-kicker. For a fifth-place performance, chiconogue took home $43,415.00. Negriin picked up $7,015.62 for chiconogue's bounty. Meanwhile, Negriin's own bounty increased to $16,976.54. With four to go... Liskacha still led with 7.7M, followed by Negriin's 5.3M. Bring up the rear was leopeluca with 2.1M. DON'T THINK TWICE, IT'S ALRIGHT: Negriin eliminated in 4th place Liskacha was in full bully mode and open-shoved for 11,243,316 and Negriin called all-in for 1,827,796 with [9c][9s]. Liskacha had overcards with [Qc][Tc]. The board finished up [Kd][Qd][8h][5h][Ad]. Liskacha flopped a pair of Queens to win the pot. Negriin was dunzo in fourth place, which paid out $61,238.00. Liskacha earned another bounty. This one was worth $8,488.27. Liskacha's own bounty was bumped up to $11,238.27 With three remaining, Liskacha sat atop a mountain of chips with 13.2M, followed by actaml's 3M and leopeluca's 2M. BLOWIN' IN THE WIND: leopeluca eliminated in 3rd place Liskacha went on the attack and shoved for 13,246,112 with [Qd][4c] and leopeluca called all-in for 1,577,338 with [Ac][7s]. Despite the better hand, leopeluca never improved. The board finished up [Jh][Ts][3d][9c][Qs] and Liskacha rivered a fortuitous Queen to win the pot. Argentina's leopeluca was knocked out in third place, which paid out $82,260.00. Liskacha earned another bounty -- $6,124.02 for busting leopeluca. Liskacha's own bounty increased to $17,362.28 HEADS-UP: actaml (Poland) vs. Liskacha (Bulgaria) Seat 4: actaml (3,319,050) Seat 5: Liskacha (14,960,950) Almost a 5-to-1 edge for Liskacha. The final heads-up battle would be waged over four levels. Level 50... actaml doubled up and avoided an elimination by making a straight with [Td][6d] against Liskacha's [Qs][Jh] and two pair. Near the end of the level, actaml struck again and doubled up a second time in a 7.5M pot that was a battle of two pair (Jacks and Eights vs. Eights and Sixes). Level 51... actaml dominated this level playing small ball and nearly pulled even. By the end of the level, actaml was only down 9.8M to 8.4M. Level 52... Liskacha applied pressure and picked up a trio of pots worth 1.2M to get back over 13M. Liskacha chipped away had actaml on the ropes for the rest of the level. Level 53... the final outcome would be determined less than ten hands. MASTERS OF WAR: actaml eliminated in 2nd place; Liskacha wins WCOOP Event #16 Super-KO! Going into the final hand, actaml was down to 4M and Liskacha was over 14.2M... actaml min-raised to 320,000, Liskacha bumped it up to 680,000, actaml four-bet shoved for 3,999,700 and Liskacha called. Liskacha was way ahead with [Kc][Kd] against actaml's [9h][9c]. The board finished up [Jh][7h][7c][Qh][8d] and Liskacha's Kings held up to win the pot with two pair -- Kings and sevens. Unfortunately, actaml was unable to improve and busted out in second place. Liskacha collected a bounty on actaml worth $20,397.92, and Liskacha's own bounty increased to $37,760.20. For a sensational runner-up performance, actaml earned $109,680.00. Congrats to Bulgaria Liskacha for winning Event #16! First place paid out an impressive pay day of $149,941.70. WCOOP-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 Visit the WCOOP home page for a schedule of remaining events and take a peek at the leader board to 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.

Quads. Every poker player dreams about flopping quads and having your opponent shove into your monster hand. In the turbo-charged Event #19, Russia's moshmachine was heads-up and on the brink of elimination when moshmachine got it all in with pocket fours and flopped quads. That auspicious hand allowed the Russian to stave off elimination and double up. Riding a tidal wave of momentum, moshmachine easily came from behind to win heads-up and become the newest WCOOP champion.

2015 WCOOP Event #19 $320 NL Turbo Zoom attracted 1,916 runners. Those action-packed enthusiasts generated a prize pool worth $574,800.00. The top 252 places paid out with $91,968.00 initially set aside to the champion.

On the cusp of the final table bubble, the fastidious action went hand-for-hand with ten remaining. AMAK316 attempted to double up with [4h][4s] but moshmachine hit the flop with [Ah][Kd] to win the pot and sent AMAK316 home in tenth place. The final table was set.

WCOOP Event #19 - Final Table Chip Counts:
Seat 1: antroff (934,194)
Seat 2: Yayoshow (731,179)
Seat 3: kylef89 (951,037)
Seat 4: VicBiggs (401,822)
Seat 5: Siegmann (1,068,579)
Seat 6: WiljamK (621,240)
Seat 7: RuiNF (1,312,355)
Seat 8: Barrrii (1,269,151)
Seat 9: moshmachine (2,290,443)

The final table commenced during Level 39 with blinds at 25K/50K and a 6,250 ante. Russia's moshmachine held the lead with 2.2M. Meanwhile, VicBiggs was the shorty with 401K. The final table featured a former WCOOP champion (antroff won one back in 2007) and two former SCOOP winners (RuiNF binked one last year and Yayoshow shipped one in 2013).

GLASS ONION: WiljamK eliminated in 9th place

Bustout on the first hand. If you blinked, then you missed it. WiljamK bombed it all-in for 614,990 with [As][8c], but moshmachine woke up with [Qs][Qd]. The board finished up [Ts][7s][5h] [Jh][Kc] and moshmachine's pocket Queens held up. WiljamK's failed to improve and became the first player to exit the final table. Ninth place paid out $5,748.00.

HAPPINESS IS A WARM GUN: VicBiggs eliminated in 8th place

Shorty VicBiggs insta-shoved for 295,572 with [Kd][Jh] and Barrrii called with [As][9h] from the big blind. The board ran out [Ad][8c][2s][3c][7h]. VicBiggs never improved and Barrrii flopped an Ace to drag the pot. For an eighth-place performance, VicBiggs collected $10,059.00.

DEAR PRUDENCE: Yayoshow eliminated in 7th place

Another quickie... antroff min-raised to 160,000, Yayoshow shoved for 381,179 and antroff called. Yayoshow led with [As][Qc] against antroff's [Ad][Th]. However, the board finished up [Tc][7c][6c][7s][3h] and antroff flopped a pair of tens and eventually won the pot with two pair. Former SCOOP champion Yayoshow was unable to improve and hit the virtual rail in seventh place, which paid out $15,519.60.

WILD HONEY PIE: RuiNF eliminated in 6th place

Seriously, if you sneezed then you missed another bustout... kylef89 min-raised to 200,000, RuiNF bombed it all-in for 1,432,604 with [Kh][Qc], and kylef89 called with [Ah][Th]. The board ran out [Td][5s][2s][6c][3s]. RuiNF did not improve and kylef89 won the pot with a pair of tens. Former SCOOP winner RuiNF was knocked out in sixth place, which paid out $21,267.60.

With five remaining, kylef89 was closing in on 4M, while Siegmann was the shorty with 620K.

BUNGLAOW BILL: Barrrii eliminated in 5th place

Barrrii open-shoved for 992,723 with [Td][Ts] and big-stacked kylef89 called with [Ac][9s]. The board finished up [6d][5h][3s][Kh][Ad] and kylef89 rivered a pair of Aces to win the pot. Barrrii was picked off in fifth place, which paid out $27,303.00.

OB-LA-DI, OB-LA-DA: Siegmann eliminated in 4th place

Shorty Siegmann bombed it all-in for 350,882 with [Ah][Tc] and monster-stacked kylef89 called with [4d][2h]. The board ran out [Js][7d][4h][8h][5d]. Siegmann never improved and lost to kylef89 who hit the flop and paired a four. For a fourth-place performance, Siegmann earned $37,793.10.

WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS: antroff eliminated in 3rd place

The bustouts kept coming when antroff moved all-in for 1,065,373 with [Kd][Qh] and moshmachine woke up with [Tc][Th]. The flop was [Td][9s][6s] and moshmachine flopped a set of tens. The turn was the [4s] and the river was the [2c]. Alas, antroff was unable to win a second WCOOP. The Swede never improved and busted out in third place, which paid out $51,732.00.

HEADS-UP: kylef89 (Canada) vs. moshmachine (Russia)
Seat 3: kylef89 (7,034,746)
Seat 9: moshmachine (2,545,254)

The final table progressed at a rapid pace, but heads-up was a much more slower affair. kylef89 held a sizable lead when heads-up began, but moshmachine managed to chip away and eventually seize the lead on a monster hand. Here's what went down... moshmachine got it all-in preflop with [4d][4h] vs. kylef89's [Kd][Qd]. The flop was [8c][4s][4c] and that's all she wrote. The monstrous moshmachine flopped quad fours and avoided an elimination. A surging moshmachine doubled up to over 6.4M and took over the lead. In a couple of minutes, it would be all over.

BACK IN THE U.S.S.R.: kylef89 eliminated in 2nd place; moshmachine wins WCOOP Event #19 Zoom Turbo!

Once kylef89 ran into quads, he was unable to get anything going. On the final hand...  kylef89 shoved for 2,425,094 with [9s][7c] and moshmachine called with [Ks][Jh]. Neither player improved on a board of [8s][4c][2h][6d][Ah], but moshmachine won the hand with a better kicker. Unfortunately, kylef89 was booted in second place. Canada's kylef89 earned $68,976.00 for a gutsy runner-up performance.

Congrats to Russia's moshmachine, who collected a first-place prize worth $91,968.00, for binking WCOOP Event #19 Zoom Turbo!

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

Visit the WCOOP home page for a complete schedule of remaining events. Plus, check out the leader board and find out who is in contention for Player of the Series.

If you do not have a PokerStars account, then what are you waiting for? Sign up today and jump into the action!

Pauly McGuire is an author and freelance contributor to PokerStars.

Tournament poker has recently begun moving towards bigger antes and running them out earlier. WCOOP Event 14 took both of those concepts and created a big tournament for the late week players. The Event 14 antes kicked in on the very first level and were at least 20% of the big blind, often 25% in the early going.

Some players prefer to late register tournaments, waiting until antes increase pot sizes. The early, big antes in Event 14 meant the tournament filled quicker than normal and it turned out to be a great field to nearly double the $200,000 Guarantee.

The tournament drew 1,454 players with more than a few of them opting to re-enter the tournament when their stack hit the felt. All combined, they added up to a $374,400 prize pool with nearly $60,000 reserved for the next WCOOP champion.

They played down over 28 levels until they could see their day coming to an end. There were plenty of top players among the late participants but no representatives from Team PokerStars among the counts when play paused for the day.

The big name among the leaders at the end of the day was someone who's been in this position before. WCOOP titles are tough to earn but WCOOP Main Event champions are a rare bird. Mike "munchenHB" Telker is one of the few players in the world who can boast about winning one of the biggest online tournaments in the world when he won the WCOOP Main Event in 2011.

Telker didn't just flirt with the top of the leaderboard, he took over the lead when play was halted for the evening. He was followed closely by DaNuts90 with no other players within 150,000. The 34 surviving players had an evening to unwind and regroup before returning to determine a champion.

Returning Day 2 Top Ten Counts:

1. Mike "munchenHB" Telker - 791,928
2. DaNuts90 - 735,150
3. BtrGetThere - 572,466
4. Alen "lilachaa" Bilic - 474,998
5. sosickPL - 451,962
6. Virgilik - 424,408
7. chopi7 - 380,329
8. Slavik_Krs - 361,895
9. leitalopez - 355,819
10. surprisefirm - 344,882

Blinds: 3.5K/7K with 1.4K Ante

The last two tables were chock full of successful players besides Telker. It was setting up to be a stacked final table but 2010 WCOOP champ joao bauer wasn't meant to be among them. He was part of a double knockout along with Rebel FishAK when Telker's [9d][9c] held against [ah][ks] and [as][5c].

The next COOP winner to fall short was Alen "lilachaa" Bilic. The former TCOOP champion dropped out in 11th and chopi7 was gone shortly after to set the final table.

Telker continued to lead the way but he was followed closely by three-time WSOP final table member Ryan "ProtentialMN" Laplante and two other COOP winners. Rui "RuiNF" Ferreira won the SCOOP High Heads Up title in 2014 and sosickPL picked up his WCOOP title in 2011 before adding a Sunday Warmup victory.

Ferreira and sosickPL populated the bottom of the counts while Telker and Laplante were at the top.

Seat 1: serhiy1989 (207,404 in chips)
Seat 2: leitalopez (1,423,996 in chips)
Seat 3: sosickPL (250,011 in chips)
Seat 4: Ryan "ProtentialMN" Laplante (1,720,772 in chips)
Seat 5: Mike "munchenHB" Telker (1,746,840 in chips)
Seat 6: funwheel (965,641 in chips)
Seat 7: Rui "RuiNF" Ferreira (403,460 in chips)
Seat 8: pkace666 (1,409,057 in chips)
Seat 9: imluckbox (1,232,819 in chips)

Blinds: 12.5K/25K with 5K Ante

Long stretch of little action, ducks fail funwheel

This final table had an odd pace at the beginning, generally you see the short stacks happy to get this far and someone gets knocked out fairly early. Not this time.

They played 45 minutes without an elimination though Rui "RuiNF" Ferreira was at risk early. He doubled through funwheel shortly after they gathered as one and they settled in for a grind.

The log jam cleared when funwheel tried to get some of his chips back. He open shoved from the button for 567,681 with [2c][2d] and pkace666 called in the big blind with [ad][9d]. A standard flip and pkace666 took the lead after the [ah][jc][4s] flop.

The [ac] turn was a little cruel before pkace666 rivered the overkill quad [as] to send the first player off the final table. funwheel had a nice stack coming in but was gone in 9th place for $3,744.

serhiy1989 ladders up and heads home

Ukranian serhiy1989 did a nice job of getting up the payout structure despite starting the final table with less than ten big blinds. Sooner or later someone had to fall and it wasn't him in 9th. He took a shot after funwheel was gone.

He shoved from middle position with [jh][9h] and the move made it all the way around until Ferreira called in the big blind with [qd][ts]. serhiy1989 needed help and picked it up quickly on the [jd][7s][6c] flop.

serhiy1989's hopes were just as quickly dashed thanks to the [qh] turn and no saving love came on the [as] river. He picked up nearly $3,000 for moving up one position and earned $6,552 for the 8th place result.

imluckbox gets unlucky, finds monster under the bed

imluckbux was the latest to move to the bottom of the chips counts and was hovering right around the magical ten big blind mark when he found a nice little pair. There was no action ahead of him and he shoved with [9d][9h] from the cutoff.

The button released but he couldn't be happy to see sosickPL reship from the small blind. Laplante let his hand go and imluckbox saw he was up against [qh][qc]. It was a dominating hand and it never had a sweat as the board ran out [ks][6d][4s][kc][6s] to send imluckbox out in 7th place for $10,108. The first double digit payout of the tournament.

sosickPL can't double his stack or WCOOP trophies

Pocket Nines made a few appearance in late action and sosickPL took them into battle with his 550,000. He was chasing leitallopez for shortest stack honors when he found a good spot with [9s][9h].

Laplante opened from under the gun and Ferreira three-bet from the cutoff. sosickPL was in the big blind and shoved with his Nines to get a fold from Laplante and call from Ferreira with the racing [ks][jh].

It was a quick race when Ferreira flopped topped two on the [kh][jd][3c] board. The [qd] turn was no help and Ferreira's full house [jc] river just added salt to the wound. A good run for sosickPL but he was unable to match his 2010 WCOOP victory, settling for 6th place and $13,852.

leitalopez tries to catch up but gets straightened out

leitalopez was looking up and three other players with much bigger stacks. The others were growing down his stack and until he had to mix it up. That happened with an under the gun shove for 353,448 with [ts][8s] and was called by pkace666 in the big blind with [js][jh].

A double up looked all but locked up for leitalopez when he flopped top two when it came [td][8h][3s]. pkace666 needed to pick up something special to get the knockout and it started with the [7c] turn to add a gutshot draw.

The runner runner fun (for pkace666, not leitalopez) ended on the [9h] river to give pkace666 the Jack-high straight to send leitalopez out in 5th place for $17,784.

Telker falls short of double WCOOP

Telker's quest for another WCOOP trophy fell short when he couldn't run hot late at the final table. The big antes and blinds caught up with him during four-handed play to grind him down short.

He took a shot when action folded to him in the small blind and his [kc][6s] shove was called by Ferreira in the big blind with [ah][2c]. Telker needed to catch one of his live cards to stay alive but missed the [ts][5c][3h] flop.

Ferreira hit the [2h] turn but it changed nothing for Telker. He needed to pair up to stay alive but the [8c] river did not help. Telker has that rare WCOOP Main Event title to his credit, but he'll have to wait to add another trophy to his mantle.

Tough flop sends Laplante out in 3rd

Ryan Laplante has plenty of success at the poker table, both live and online, but he will also have to try again for a WCOOP title. The stacks were relatively equal between the final three players but Laplante dropped behind after losing a 2 million chip pot to Ferreira.

He was not in desperate shape when he found [ac][9s] in three-handed action. A hand more than big enough to move all-in from the small blind and Ferreira called in the big blind with [kd][qs]. Laplante needed to fade the big live cards but the [qh][qc][ts] was not what he wanted.

The flop left Laplante looking for running miracle cards but the [td] left him drawing dead against Ferreira's Queens full. The hand dropped Laplante out of the tournament in 3rd place for $33,696.

Rui "RuiNF" Ferreira survives long battle to win second COOP title in Event 14

Seat 7: RuiNF (5592332 in chips)
Seat 8: pkace666 (3767668 in chips)

Blinds: 30K/60K with 12K Ante

Ferreira and pkace666 paused the clock early in the heads up battle to discuss a deal but Ferreira decided he wasn't getting enough for his lead. That could have been a critical error as pkace666 quickly erased the deficit and took a lead of his own.

pkace666 was in a great position for the win when he found [ac][9c] against [8h][8d]. The virtual coin flip kept the status quo when Ferreira magically hit a full house on the [2d][2s][2c] flop before pkace666 took the lead on the [9h] turn.

pkace666 only needed to dodge the two remaining Eights in the deck but it wasn't meant to be. The two outter came along on the [8s] for the tough beat to switch the advantage back to Ferreira.

That hand set up a long match between the two players which stretched over 60 minutes. The lead bounced back and forth until another crazy hand settled the matter for good.

It took three bets preflop to get the chips in the middle with Ferreira ahead holding [ac][ah] and more chips than pkace666 with [kc][jh]. pkace666 picked up a piece on the [jd][tc][4h] flop and jumped ahead on the [ks] turn.

It was another tough beat for pkace666 when the [qh] river gave Ferreira the Broadway straight for the winning hand and the WCOOP trophy.

WCOOP-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

We're into Day 6 of WCOOP 2015. Here's the latest update with 16 events now started.

Today's highlights:

--Ojski1988 from Poland wins Event #11 and a first prize of more than $56,000 (not to mention bounties) in the Progressive Super KO.
--Ti0373 won his third WCOOP bracelet by winning Event #12, in the process denying Dzmitry "Colisea" Urbanovich his fourth COOP title.
--Hookah17 won his first bracelet in Event #13, the 500th ever WCOOP tournament, earning a first prize of $40,898.

Round up of latest results

It was a good day for Poland, and it was another good day for their young star Dzmitry Midas"Colisea" Urbanovich. Alas, he didn't win a fourth title, but he did finish third in Event #12, accumulating enough points to top the Player of the Series leader board going into the weekend.

Instead the event, the NL Draw Championship, was won by Russian player Ti0373, who earned his third WCOOP bracelet, joining an exclusive group of five players to have earned three or more (djk123 still tops that list with 4).

But back to Poland, Events #11 and #13 both went their way.

In Event #11 Ojski1988 bagged his first WCOOP title and a first prize of $56,035.19 (plus $14,330.24 in bounties) in a Progressive Super KO format, having turned down a deal. Meanwhile in Event #13 Hookah17 was doing the victory dance, picking up a first prize of 40989 in the heads-up event, which was also the 500th WCOOP event ever held. Worth remembering for when the Social Media teams need a contest question.

Here are the scores in full:

Event #11: $215 NL Hold'em (Progressive Super-Knockout)
Entrants: 3,569
Prize pool: $356,900
Bounty prize pool: $356,900
Places paid: 450

1. Ojski1988 (Poland) $56,035.19 + $14,330.24 in bounties
2. live@pompeii (Mexico) $41,757.30 + $7,046.71 in bounties
3. mumu12345 (Germany) $29,622.70 + $7,267.71 in bounties
4. N4cho_Scocco (Greece) $20,521.75 + $5,542.74 in bounties
5. maax45 (Brazil) $15,278.88 + $5,963.25 in bounties
6. bozaking (Serbia) $11,599.25 + $2,553.12 in bounties
7. Magdebob1993 (Germany) $8,030.25 + $3,963.25 in bounties
8. Juu-Sock (Denmark) $4,461.25 + $4,996.45 in bounties
9. marinko17 (Bosnia and Herzegovina) $2,855.20 + $1,462.50 in bounties

Event #12: $700 NL Draw Championship
Entries: 118
Prize pool: $78,470
Places paid: 18

1. Ti0373 (Russia) $20,402.23
2. KaptianKush (Canada) $13,732.25
3. Dzmitry 'Colisea' Urbanovich (Poland) $10,201.10
4. llambias (Argentina) $6,669.95
5. KornmeisterX (Germany) $5,100.55
6. Vladimir 'GVOZDIKA55' Shchemelev (Russia) $3,531.15

Event #13: $320 NL Hold'em (Heads-Up)
Entrants: 1,021
Prize Pool: $306,300
Places Paid: 128

1. Hookah17 (Poland) $40,898.63 *
2. mandza17 (Croatia) $34,898.63 *
3. CMoosepower (Denmark) $14,736.09
4. SashaWSoP (Russia) $14,736.09
5. Fartojop333 (Russia) $8,208.84
6. m1ronO (Ukraine) $8,208.84
7. salta44 (Argentina) $8,208.84
8. VeGeTTo89 (United Kingdom) $8,208.84
* denotes a deal between the final two players that left $6,000 in play for the winner

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

Plenty on the cards today and indeed over the weekend, with a total of ten events set to start between now and Monday.

Today
Event 17: $665 NL Hold'em (6-max, 3-stack) 11.00 ET
Event 18: $1,000 7-Card Stud Hi/Lo Championship 14.00 ET
Event 19: $300 NL Hold'em (Turbo Zoom) 17.00 ET

Saturday
Event 20: $100 NL Hold'em (Optional re-entry) 11.00 ET
Event 21: $250 NL Hold'em (Progressive Super KO) 14.00 ET
Event 22: $1,000 NL Omaha Hi/Lo Championship (6-Max) 17.00 ET

Sunday
Event 23: $161.75 PL Omaha (knockout) 08.00 ET
Event 24: $200 NL Hold'em (Sunday Warm-Up, SE) 11.00 ET
Event 25: $10,000 NL Hold'em (8-max, Optional re-entry, High Roller) 12.30 ET
Event 26: $665 NL Hold'em 14.30 ET

There are also four events playing to a close today.

Event 14: NL hold'em (Big Antes, Optional re-buys)
Event 15: PL Omaha (1R1A)
Event 16: NL Hold'em (Progressive Super KO, Thursday Thrill SE)
Event 19, which starts later, is a Turbo Zoom, also ending later today.

Video of the Day

More action from WCOOP, this time from Event #9, $1,015 NL Hold'em.

If that's stirred you into opening a PokerStars account yourself, you can do so by clicking here. Not only will you have access to the full WCOOP schedule, but you can enter any one of the WCOOP satellites now running. Get all the details you'll need on the WCOOP homepage.

Leader board

Well, in hindsight we should have seen this coming. After his second place in Event #12 yesterday Dzmitry "Colisea" Urbanovich, is top of the WCOOP leader board (he also happens to be fourth in the EPT leader board, which he won last season). Urbanovich has 145 points (from 5 cashes), ahead of previous leader reidir on 130 (3 cashes).

Click to enlarge

To prove we're not making this up you can find all the leader board details right here

Quote of the day

"For this I played in a luxurious standard issue plastic garden chair supplemented with plush couch pillows." - Peter "RcknTheSbrbs" Nigh, winner of Event #01, on his WCOOP preparations. Read the interview with Nigh on the PokerStars Blog.

Today's dubious fact

Dzmitry "Colisea" Urbanovich nearly became the first man to top the EPT and wCOOP leader boards simultaneously, but dropped from first to fourth place on the EPT standings in the latter stages of EPT Barcelona.

To the weekend!

That's almost the first week of WCOOP in the can. Find out everything there is to know about the Championship on the WCOOP homepage, and good luck to everyone playing this weekend, whether in WCOOP or other events. Send us your thoughts and comments to us on Twitter: @PokerStars Blog.

We're coming up to the one week mark in the World Championship of Online Poker 2015, with a busy weekend for those in pursuit of WCOOP gold. There are still plenty of events to win, but as each one passes comes the sense that time is running out. The longer you leave it the harder it gets. Better to get your win in early and enjoy the run in to the Main Event.

Alright, so it's not that straight forward. But it worked for Peter "RcknTheSbrbs" Nigh, a 26-year-old professional, originally from Missouri, now plying his trade from the comfort of his condo, a stone's throw from the beach, in Costa Rica.

He's experiencing what it's like to win one of online poker's most coveted prizes, having taken down the Championship opener ahead of a field of 17,130 entries for a first prize of $200,352. But while it's easy to think that professionals like Nigh, in the game for nearly ten years, might be a little "meh" about such accomplishments, it turns out the reality is a little different.

"It was one of those tournaments that you always load up and think 'hey, this would be cool to win!' but never really considering the reality to be all that probable," said Nigh. "Obviously I'm absolutely ecstatic to have taken it down. Nothing could have been better."

Event #01 was something new for WCOOP. Winning meant you effectively had to play for three days. Phase 1 came first, then Phase 2 on Sunday, before competing on the final day for money and jewellery. More than 17,000 players took a shot at it, including Nigh who got there on the fourth attempt. The rest, Nigh says, is a blur.

But was it difficult to remain focused with so much at stake? Luckily Nigh had prepared for that.

"If you asked me this a few weeks ago I'd have probably said no but I very recently began working with mental game coach, Elliot Roe, and have drastically increased my levels of focus and calm," he said. "Whether I had the big stack or was grinding five big blinds I maintained the same steady disposition throughout the final table."

This was all the more important when you consider the opposition. Typical of WCOOP, the final table was a tough one, with the tell-tale inverted commas all over the scores, indicating the presence of players known for their real as much as their user name. That included Raphael "tiarc" Wimmer, Adam "Adamyid" Owen, and perhaps the most well-known player at the table, John "Blessed " Duthie.

But Nigh, working on a laptop from what he referred to as his "luxurious standard issue plastic garden chair" and forgetting to eat the food he'd carefully prepared ahead of the final table campaign, triumphed. Duthie settled for second while Nigh bagged his first bracelet, and turning around a year that up to this point had been a tough one.

"I had what felt like an infinite number of close calls without ever sealing the deal," said Nigh. "But all that pain and frustration led me to working on developing a stronger work ethic and mental resiliency so in the end it really wasn't bad anyway.

Well, it paid off. Not bad for someone who as a teenager opened an account to play $5 sit and goes after watching Chris Moneymaker win the World Series Main event (using a favourite Ben Folds album as a username). Nigh can now count himself among a small group of players to experience WCOOP success, and in the process becoming one of those players with inverted commas around their username.

From $5 sit and go's to a WCOOP Champion: download the PokerStars software to start your own campaign.

It's final table time!

The MPC23 Red Dragon final table is finally upon us.

When it all began there were 945 hopefuls who pulled up seats here at PokerStars LIVE Macau. Now after three days of play only nine remain. They'll take to the felt from 3:00pm to play for the prestigious Red Dragon trophy and the HK$2,108,000 top prize.

Now that we've reached the final table the blind levels have been extended to 75 minutes. That will take effect as soon as the current 20,000/40,000 (5,000) level finishes.

Leading the way for the start of the day is Taiwan's Tse Jui Tsai with 2,495,000 in chips. You can see the full seating draw and chip stacks below, and for profiles on all the players you can click here.

Final Table Seating Draw
Seat 1: Tse Jui Tsai (Taiwan) - 2,495,000
Seat 2: Yue Feng Pan (China) - 1,945,000
Seat 3: Bin Wen Ren (China) - 1,715,000
Seat 4: Xong Xin Liu (China) - 540,000
Seat 5: Huafeng Gu (China) - 1,310,000
Seat 6: Ming Min Wu (China) - 1,115,000
Seat 7: Long Wen Zhu (China) - 1,490,000
Seat 8: Shao Po Liu (China) - 1,425,000
Seat 9: Zhixiong Tan (China) - 2,110,000

The players are now arriving and unbagging their chips before we get underway. Stay with us for all the action as we prepare to crown another MPC Red Dragon champion!