A pot-limit Omaha tournament with a $530 buy-in, Event #52 of this year's World Championship of Online Poker on PokerStars attracted many accomplished PLO players, and in the end a couple of them -- terror777727 of Bulgaria and Henri "I_Mr_U_Bean" Koivisto of Finland -- were left to battle for the title.
After a lengthy final duel it was Koivisto managing to withstand terror777727's challenge to take the title. For his fantastic finish, the Finnish player earned a nifty $70,696.30 first prize. Here's the story of how he did it.
As a "3-stack" tournament, players each had three stacks of 5,000 chips each they were able to use whenever they liked up through the first 17 fifteen-minute levels, after which the unused stacks would be put into play. Ultimately 802 players took part, making the prize pool $401,000 -- more than four times the event's $100K guarantee.
The first day saw them play down past the 102-player mark and the bursting of the bubble, with Day 1 finally concluding with 20 players remaining. terror777727 had the edge at that point, with Koivisto in third position. Here's how the top of the counts appeared overnight:
1. terror777727 (Bulgaria) -- 1,204,750
2. KingGorn (Canada) -- 1,097,107
3. Henri "I_Mr_U_Bean" Koivisto (Finland) -- 1,037,227
4. francispoker (Canada) -- 968,906
5. brights88 (Lebanon) -- 846,062
6. Conger88 (Ireland) -- 769,109
7. pm_marke (Czech Republic) -- 723,360
8. gaucho47 (Switzerland) -- 714,250
9. vovkawow (Russia) -- 571,456
10. VejVo (Sweden) -- 550,274
It took about 70 minutes on Day 2 for the 20 returners to play down to 12 players gathered around the final two six-handed tables, at which point terror77727 was still in first position after having more than doubled in chips to 2.64 million.
kelnel PPP (12th), KingGorn (11th), and francispoker (10th) were swiftly knocked out thereafter, each earning $5,213 for their finishes. Then over the next half-hour PAW717 (ninth), brights88 (eighth), and VejVo (seventh) followed them to the rail, each collecting $7,819.50.
With Henri "I_Mr_U_Bean" Koivisto having pushed way out in front after building up to more than 5.4 million, the final table was underway.
Seat 1: Henri "I_Mr_U_Bean" Koivisto (Finland) -- 5,404,338
Seat 2: GrovSnus (Sweden) -- 823,515
Seat 3: vovkawow (Russia) -- 1,450,708
Seat 4: arman359 (Israel) -- 434,886
Seat 5: zaza38 (Finland) -- 1,115,771
Seat 6: terror777727 (Bulgaria) -- 2,800,782
At the end of the first final-table orbit, the blinds were 25,000/50,000 when the table's short stack, arman359, opened for 150,000 from the small blind and zaza38 called from the big blind. The flop came [Js][3c][7s], prompting an all-in push for 234,886 from arman359 and a call from zaza38.
arman359 had [Ad][Ah][Ts][8d] for an overpair while zaza38 had flopped a huge wrap draw plus a flush draw with [Qs][Th][9h][8s]. The [2s] fell on the turn, giving zaza38 a spade flush and making the river [Jh] no matter, sending arman359 railward in sixth.
Not long before the day's two-hour mark, the next knockout came.
After zaza38 min-raised to 120,000 from the button, terror777727 three-bet to 420,000 from the small blind. It folded back to zaza38 who reraised back to 1.32 million total. terror777727 then repopped it with a pot-sized reraise, and zaza38 called all in with the 180,657 left.
Both players had big starting hands as zaza38 was double-suited with four Broadway cards with [Ah][Kh][Qd][Td] while terror777727 had drawn [Ad][Ac][Kc][Ks]. The board brought a queen and four low cards, coming [Qh][8s][9s][8c][5c], leaving terror777727 with the best hand and knocking zaza38 out in fifth.
They made it to the two-hour break with Henri "I_Mr_U_Bean" Koivisto still in front with almost 5.5 million while terror777727 wasn't far back with about 4.82 million. Once play resumed, it only took a few more hands for the field to be cut to three.
With the blinds still 30,000/60,000, terror777727 opened for 132,000 from the button, GrovSnus reraised to 426,000 from the big blind, and terror777727 called. The flop came [Ah][3d][Td], and after GrovSnus pushed all in for 242,950, terror777727 called right away.
GrovSnus had flopped top set with [Ac][Ad][8c][7s] while terror777727 had a Broadway wrap with [Ks][Qh][Jh][4d]. The [Kd] fell on the turn to complete a straight for terror777727, and after the [6d] river GrovSnus was done in fourth.
Nearly a half-hour passed, then with the blinds up to 40,000/80,000 a hand arose that saw vovkawow open for 170,000 from the button, then terror777727 reraised to 590,000 from the small blind. After Koivisto folded, vovkawow four-bet to 1.85 million, terror777727 reraised back, and vovkawow called all in with the 325,701 left.
It was aces versus kings as terror777727 had [Ah][Ac][Qh][Jd] while vovkawow showed [Kc][Kd][4s][3s]. The board ran out [Jh][5c][7c][4h][8h], resulting in a flush for terror777727 and a third-place finish for vovkawow.
Henri "I_Mr_U_Bean" Koivisto had the edge to start heads-up play with a little over 6.29 million to terror777727's just over 5.73 million.
terror777727 was looking to add a WCOOP title in PLO to a SCOOP victory collected in 2013, also in a PLO tournament (the $215 PLO Heads-Up). Meanwhile Koivisto was making his second deep run in a PLO event this WCOOP, having finished 13th in the $215 PLO (Event #15) two weeks ago.
The heads-up duel would last more than 45 minutes, with terror777727 seizing the lead away early on, then Koivisto grabbing it back and pushing out to a big advantage for much of the rest of the way. Finally with Koivisto up close to 10.2 million and terror777727 down to less than 1.84 million, the final hand took place.
The blinds were 80,000/160,000, and terror777727 opened for 480,000 from the button with Koivisto making the call. The flop came [Qs][5d][6d], prompting Koivisto to lead for 960,000. terror777727 responded with an all-in push with the 1,356,073 left, and Koivisto called.
I_Mr_U_Bean: [8s][6h][5c][2s]
terror777727: [Ad][Jc][Jd][7s]
The flop had given Koivisto a leading two pair. The [Ad] followed on the turn to give terror777727 some hope, but the river was the [5s], filling a full house for Koivisto to give him the tournament's final pot and the title.
Congratulations to Henri "I_Mr_U_Bean" Koivisto for outlasting a big field to earn his first WCOOP bracelet and a cool $70K-plus first prize.
WCOOP-52: $530 PL Omaha (6-Max, 3-Stack)
Entries: 802
Prize pool: $401,000
Places paid: 102
1. Henri "I_Mr_U_Bean" Koivisto (Finland) $70.696.30
2. terror777727 (Bulgaria) $52,130.00
3. vovkawow (Russia) $40,100.00
4. GrovSnus (Sweden) $28,070.00
5. zaza38 (Finland) $20,050.00
6. arman359 (Israel) $12,030.00
It's the final week of the 70-event World Championship of Online Poker, climaxing on Sunday with the $5,200 Main Event with a $10 million guaranteed prize pool. Visit the the WCOOP page for results thus far and a schedule of what's left to play out.
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Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.
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