It's only fitting that the 2015 WCOOP, after awarding some $66,245,305 in prize money over the last 22 days, would celebrate its conclusion with a raucous, yet lucrative wrap party. For one $1,050 bullet (or two, or three), you could join some of the biggest names in online poker in a turbo-speed fiesta with a seven-figure prize pool. Although most of those star players fell by the wayside, the nine that made the final table were quite an impressive bunch. Every single one of the final nine had previously made a final table in a major PokerStars event, be it a COOP, a Sunday Major, or the Super Tuesday. Two are Supernovas (DannyN13, baeks22), and one is a Supernova Elite (nailuj90). Two are two-time SCOOP champions (raidalot, calvin7v), and ZISIMO7 is already a WCOOP bracelet winner, going for his second. The pay jumps were gnarly, the blinds were sky-high, and the final table delivered with whirlwind action that took us from nine players to a winner in 38 minutes. Ultimately, Finland's calvin7v, a two-time SCOOP champion and Super Tuesday winner, prevailed and took home $309k along with his first WCOOP bracelet.

Event #70, a $1,050 buy-in NLHE Turbo event that allowed up to three re-entries, drew 1,511 unique players who made 336 re-entries. The prize pool topped out at $1,847,000 and the top 198 places were paid, with first place set to earn $309,372.50.

One hour and twenty minutes after the close of late registration, the tournament hit the money bubble with 198 players left. Two hours later, ten players remained and the blinds were up to 40,000/80,000. With the action folded around to him in the small blind, baeks22 put pressure on short stack Pokerger1337 and moved all-in for 1.66 million. Pokerger1337 called and turned over [Kc][Qc]. Baeks22 revealed [Ac][8c] and both players hit flush draws when the flop came down [9c][6c][6s], baeks22's ace-high. The turn blanked with the [7d], but the [7c] river made baeks22 the nut flush and Pokerger1337 hit the rail on the final table bubble.

Final table chip counts

Seat 1: DannyN13 (1,469,994 in chips)
Seat 2: calvin7v (797,250 in chips)
Seat 3: Aaralynn (708,634 in chips)
Seat 4: bullyon (1,680,910 in chips)
Seat 5: ZISIMO7 (1,194,338 in chips)
Seat 6: baeks22 (2,736,593 in chips)
Seat 7: nailuj90 (2,939,618 in chips)
Seat 8: BruceWizayne (1,403,502 in chips)
Seat 9: raidalot (921,661 in chips)

On Hand #1, calvin7v doubled through bullyon when his [Ad][As] held up against [9h][9c]. Bullyon fell below a million in chips and five hands later, open-shoved for 671,160. ZISIMO7 reshoved for 969,338 and turned up [7d][7h]. Bullyon revealed [Qd][Th], but did not improve on the [As][Jh][2c][8h][8c] board. For ninth place, bullyon took home $19,024.10.

Aaralynn pillaged BruceWizayne's stack, open-shoving for 436,634 with pocket queens. BruceWizayne called with [As][8c], but didn't get any help on the board and fell to 669,000. Three hands later, BruceWizayne found pocket sixes and open-shoved for 640,000. Raidalot reshoved for 1.68 million right behind him and turned up [Qc][Qs]. BruceWizayne did not improve and departed in eighth place while raidalot moved up to 2.6 million in chips.

Raidalot got even more of a boost when he called nailuj90's small blind shove with [Ad][9d]. Nailuj90's dominated [Jh][9c] did not improve and he slipped to 593,000. Nailuj90 did manage to survive, and doubled a few hands later when his [7d][8d] flopped a ten-high straight vs. Aaralynn's [Ks][8s]. That left DannyN13 as the only player with less than a million in chips. However, he doubled through raidalot and moved up to 1.98 million when his [As][Ts] rivered aces up against raidalot's flopped pair of jacks with [Kc][Jh].

Raidalot quickly replenished those lost chips at Aaralynn's expense. Holding [Ah][9h], raidalot open-shoved for 4.64 million and Aaralynn called all-in for 1.1 million with [Ad][Qh]. Although raidalot's hand was dominated, he struck gold on the [9d][7h][3c] flop and turned trip nines when the [9s] fell. Aaralynn went out in seventh place, earning $53,563.00. Then, on the next deal, ZISIMO7 open-shoved for 1.33 million with [Ad][Ts] and nailuj90 called from the big blind with [Ks][Qh]. ZISIMO7 flopped an ace and turned a ten on the [Ah][7c][2c][Th][Qs] board, ending nailuj90's run in sixth place.

As play turned five-handed, raidalot was the chip leader with 6.6 million, ZISIMO7 was second with 2.5 million, and the other three stacks all hovered around 1.5 million apiece. With the blinds up to 80,000/160,000 there was very little room for error and the pay jumps were steep. While fifth place would go home with 90k, fourth would earn a 35k bump to $125k and third place paid an additional 80k at more than $170k.

Calvin7v, one of those 1.5m stacks, won a coinflip and doubled through raidalot when his [Ah][9h] turned an ace against pocket fours. Then on the next hand, DannyN13 called raidalot's small blind shove and turned up [Ad][Jh]. Raidalot's [4h][5s] improved to a nine-high flush on the [9c][6h][5h][8h][9h] board, but DannyN13's jack-high flush took down the pot, boosting his stack to 2.58 million.

With the blinds up to 100,000/200,000, DannyN13 open-shoved from the small blind with [Kd][Tc] and calvin7v called from the big blind with [Ad][8c]. Calvin7v turned a wheel on the [4d][3s][2c][5h][8h] board and DannyN13 was eliminated in fifth place. His elimination meant each of the remaining four players would go home with a six-figure score.

Raidalot took a big hit in a pot vs. ZISIMO7 that played out to showdown. On an [Ah][Kc][Kd] flop, raidalot bet 520,000 and ZISIMO7 called. Both players checked the [Ks] turn and checked again when the [5s] rivered. Raidalot's [Js][9h] hadn't improved, but ZISIMO7 turned over [Ac][6d] for kings full of aces and raked in the 2.04 million pot, leaving raidalot on 2.8 million. Moments later, ZISIMO7 open-shoved for 4.12 million with [As][5c] and raidalot called from the big blind with [Ac][Jd]. ZISIMO7 was in trouble with a dominated hand, but got lucky to have the flop fall [9s][7d][5s], pairing his kicker. The [Js] turn gave ZISIMO7 a flush draw and the [Ts] river filled it, ending raidalot's run in fourth place.

When three-handed play commenced, ZISIMO7 was out in front with 7.36 million, calvin7v was second with 4.63 million and baeks22 was the short stack with 1.86 million. Two hands later, calvin7v folded the button and ZISIMO7 made a small blind shove for 7.5 million. Baeks22 looked down at [Qh][8s] and called all-in, only to have ZISIMO7 turn over [Qd][Th]. ZISIMO7 never lost the lead, rivering a king-high straight on the [Kc][Qc][Jd][6c][9c] board to send baeks22 to the rail in third place.

Heads-up chip counts

Seat 2: calvin7v (4,438,976 in chips)
Seat 5: ZISIMO7 (9,413,524 in chips)

Calvin7v was a 2 to 1 chip dog going into heads-up play, but picked up pocket aces at the perfect time. Calvin7v limped on the button with [Ad][Ac], ZISIMO7 raised 3x to 750,000 and calvin7v called to see a [Ts][9d][4c] flop. Both players checked. The turn came the [9s] and ZISIMO7 fired 500,000. Calvin7v smooth-called and they went to the river, which fell the [3c]. ZISIMO7 checked, calvin7v made it 1.75 million to go and ZISIMO7 looked him up. ZISIMO7 couldn't beat aces and nines and mucked, while calvin7v raked in the 6.06 million pot. With 7 million in chips, calvin7v took a narrow chip lead over ZISIMO7, who held 6.85 million.

ZISIMO7 lost more ground in a limped pot where the flop fell [Kh][Js][9d]. ZISIMO7 check-called calvin7v's 400,000 bet and both players checked the [Jh] turn. The river was the [7h] and ZISIMO7 bet 907,000 only to be met with a raise to 2,755,555. ZISIMO7 agonized and let his time bank run down to its last few seconds before open-folding the [Jd]. The pot took calvin7v up to 8.16 million while ZISIMO7 slipped to 5.69 million.

Three hands later, a seemingly defeated ZISIMO7 open-shoved 5.64 million on the button and calvin7v called from the big blind.

ZISIMO7 [Ks][5d]
calvin7v [Kh][Th]

In true WCOOP fashion, it was a dramatic finish. The [Kd][6c][2h] flop paired both players' kings, and the [5h] turn gave the once-dominated ZISIMO7 the lead with kings and fives. However, the [Ts] spiked on the river, wresting the hand away as calvin7v locked up the win with kings and tens.

Congratulations to Finland's calvin7v on his first WCOOP bracelet and third overall COOP title! He banked a massive $309,372.50 for the win, while runner-up ZISIMO7 earned $226,257.50.

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

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

[2] - indicates player re-entered

Even for the best of players, being heads-up for a WCOOP bracelet isn't the kind of situation that comes around too often. Miss out once and you never know if you'll find yourself with the chance to win one again, much less make it back in the same year. Russia's Maicoshaa did just that in the $2,100 HORSE Championship and then made the most of the opportunity, outlasting a tough final table that included Team PokerStars Pro's George Danzer to walk away with $58,290 and a first career COOP title.

The high buy-in and rotation of five limit games kept the field for Event #66 elite and intimate at 134 players, good for a $268,000 prize pool to be split among the top 24 players. They played 35 fifteen-minute levels on Day 1, cycling through the game rotation seven times and whittling the field down to 20 players at night's end.

Maicoshaa sat in third place overnight with 117,664 chips, behind only Narcisus90 (137,428) and 2002 WCOOP Limit Hold'em bracelet winner Christer "lennart" Johansson (127,579). Danzer sat further back in 13th place, while four-time WCOOP 2015 finalist Adamyid, Event #6 champ Matt "plattsburgh" Vengrin, past Super Tuesday and Sunday Million winner Georgios "GeoManousos" Sotiropoulos, and past SCOOP & WCOOP winner Stephen "stevie444" Chidwick held on to even shorter stacks.

Narcisus90, Adamyid, plattsburgh, and stevie444 would fall short of the final table, but the others held on through the 6K/12K/1,200 Razz round to face off with some other battle-tested competitors:

Seat 1: Team PokerStars Pro George "GeorgeDanzer" Danzer (76,830 in chips)
Seat 2: ilushan (205,527 in chips)
Seat 3: Bernardo "bedias" Dias (92,180 in chips)
Seat 4: Maicoshaa (191,994 in chips)
Seat 5: DerRaeuber (224,537 in chips)
Seat 6: Christer "lennart" Johansson (246,928 in chips)
Seat 7: Georgios "GeoManousos" Sotiropoulos (80,262 in chips)
Seat 8: to0dey (221,742 in chips)

The table played through 8K/16K/1.6K Stud without any major shifts but things changed when the game changed to Stud Hi-Lo. lennart had the bring-in with the [3s], and GeoManousos completed to 8K with the [Ad] showing. George Danzer called with the [5h], and ilushan, a finalist in Event #29, called with the [4d]. GeoManousos ended up all-in on fourth street, where Danzer paired with the [5s], and the two-time WCOOP winner check-called ilushan's bets on fifth, sixth, and seventh streets, showing down ([7d] [3d]) [5h] [5s] [9h] [Ac] ([2h]) to scoop 162K with a pair of fives and a 7-5-3-2-A low. ilushan mucked (x-x) [4d] [6d] [Ah] [9c] (x), and GeoManousos mucked (x-x) [Ad] [7c] [Kh] [Jd] (x) to leave in 8th place ($7,370).

Losing that pot left ilushan with 56K, and after folding on fifth street a few hands later the Russian player was left with just 6,065 chips as the game changed to 8K/16K Hold'em. After Bernardo "bedias" Dias doubled up on the first hand with [Td] [Th] against Maicoshaa's [Ad] [Qh], ilushan was forced all-in from the big blind on the second. George Danzer played his [Jc] [Jd] conservatively from the small blind, check-calling Dias's bet on the [6d] [Ts] [4h] flop and then checking down the [Qc] turn and [Jh] river. Danzer's set of jacks beat Dias's pair of tens with [Ks] [Th], and ilushan mucked and left the tournament in 7th place ($9380).

Dias, the past Sunday Million and Super Tuesday winner appearing at his first WCOOP 2015 final table, was left with 82K there and mostly stayed out of the way for the rest of the hold'em round, saving 62K for the 10K/20K Omaha hi-lo round. He opened his final hand for 20K in the hijack seat with 42K left behind and called lennart's re-raise from the small blind, seeing the [3h] [2c] [Kc] flop. The action went bet-raise-call, then a bet and a call all-in on the [Kh] turn. lennart's [Qh] [Qd] [6d] [3s] for kings and queens was ahead for the high pot, but bedias's [Ad] [7c] [4s] [2h] was drawing to scoop both halves if he could hit a wheel straight on the river. Any low card would have saved half the pot for Dias, too, but the [Th] came instead, giving lennart a 135K-chip scoop and knocking Dias out in 6th place ($12,060).

Short-stack showdown

With Dias gone, Russia's to0dey, the SCOOP 2015 $2,100 Razz champion, became the short stack with 109K. Already a thin stack for flop games with four betting streets, it became thinner when the antes and extra betting street rolled back around with 10K/20K/2K Razz. to0dey was left with 59K after tangling with Danzer, who raised with the [Ac] faceup on third after to0dey completed to 10K with the [2s]. to0dey check-called on fourth and fifth streets, checked sixth, and folded on seventh with (x-x) [2s] [6c] [Qc] [8s] (x) showing to Danzer's (x-x) [Ac] [6d] [Qs] [4c] (x).

That dropped further to 45K through bring-ins and antes before t0odey faced off with lennart. to0dey started with ([4s] [5c]) [3h] [6d] before going runner-runner-runner for two pair for a Q-6 low. Somehow lennart only made a K-Q low after starting with ([8h] [2s]) [5h], and to0dey doubled to 90K. That number would dip and rise again as the game shifted to 12K/24K/2.4K Stud, remaining well behind lennart before the past WCOOP bracelet winner, appearing at his second final table of this series after Event #29, squared off with George Danzer.

to0dey brought in the hand in question with the [2s], Danzer completed with ([4c] [Jc]) [4s] for a split pair of fours, and lennart called with ([8s] [5d]) [5s] for a split pair of fives. lennart made eights and fives with the [8d] on fourth street and continued to bet through sixth before checking behind Danzer on seventh with a full board of ([8s] [5d]) [5s] [8d] [2c] [9c] ([Kh]). Danzer showed ([4c] [Jc]) [4s] [Qh] [Ks] [As] ([Js]) for jacks and fours, taking the 159K-chip pot to slide into second place.

lennart lost another pot a few hands later to DerRaeuber, missing both straight and flush draws and failing to even make a pair after starting with ([Ks] [Qd]) [Jd]. Left with 32K, he got it all-in on the next hand with a split pair of kings on third street. Maicoshaa came along with a three-card flush draw that turned into the real deal with a board of ([Js] [4s]) [5s] [Ts] [6c] [Jh] ([Qs]). lennart's kings never improved further, and he departed in 5th place ($14,740).

to0dey was still the short stack with four players left but managed to double to 168K behind a full house, sevens full of sixes, against Maicoshaa's fives and fours. That put the Russian neck-and-neck with George Danzer, while Maicoshaa still had the lead and DerRaeuber was still holding three times as many chips as either Danzer or to0dey. Danzer eventually edged back ahead as the game changed to 12K/24K/2.4K Stud Hi-Lo, leaving to0dey in need of a double-up once again.

The Russian got the opportunity shortly thereafter, bringing it in with ([2h] [7h]) [5h] and calling Maicoshaa's completion to 10K to pick up the [4h] on fourth street. to0dey led out there and then called bets on fifth and sixth before both players checked down seventh street. to0dey had improved mildly to a pair of deuces but had no low with ([2h] [7h]) [5h] [4h] [Tc] [2d] ([Jd]). Maicoshaa's ([Kc] [3s]) [Ah] [7d] [7c] [6h] ([Jh]) also had no low, but it was good for the high pot with a pair of sevens. That left to0dey with 5,072 chips, barely enough to cover two antes, and two hands later the Russian player's run ended in 4th place ().

Danzin' for a third bracelet

George Danzer was now the short stack with just under 10 big bets and two opponents to work against:

Seat 1: Team PokerStars Pro George "GeorgeDanzer" Danzer (229,107 in chips)
Seat 4: Maicoshaa (699,524 in chips)
Seat 5: DerRaeuber (411,369 in chips)

Danzer mostly stayed out of the way for the remainder of the Stud Hi-Lo round, waiting for the last hand of the level to scoop one 223K-chip pot against Maicoshaa with a runner-runner pair of aces on sixth and seventh streets to go along with the 6-5-4-3-A low he made on sixth. But when 16K/32K Hold'em came around he would drop back to 125K after calling a pre-flop raise and bets on the flop, turn, and river from DerRaeuber. The Austrian's [Th] [7h] had gone from a steal before the [4c] [Ad] [6s] flop to a stab on it, a pair of tens on the [Ts] turn, and three of a kind on the [Td] river. Danzer dipped into his time bank before making that final call on the river but ended up mucking, giving DerRaeuber the 224K chips in the middle.

Danzer finished out the Hold'em round with a double to 195K, his [Ad] [Th] holding up unimproved against DerRaeuber's [Ac] [7d] on an [8d] [5c] [Qc] [Qd] [Qs] board, but he couldn't maintain the momentum on 16K/32K Omaha Hi-Lo. Danzer dropped 48K raising on the button and calling Maicoshaa's small-blind three bet before folding to the Russian player's bet on the [9h] [Kh] [Tc] flop. It was then his turn to three-bet from the big blind when Maicoshaa raised on the button, and though he check-called 16K on the [6d] [2c] [5d] flop, he check-folded to Maicoshaa's bet on the [2d] turn. Down to 35K, he would double up twice to end the level essentially where he began it.

The chase for a third WCOOP bracelet would end for Danzer during the 20K/40K/4K Razz round. He called DerRaeuber's bets on third and fourth with ([Ad] [2d]) [9d] [Qd] before making a Q-9 with the [3d] on fifth and raising all-in. DerRaeuber called with ([3h] [5c]) [7s] [8h] [Kd] for a K-7, then promptly caught the [Ac] on sixth to make an 8-7 low. Danzer had drawn the [4d] on sixth, so any five, six, seven, or eight would have won him the pot when DerRaeuber paired with the [7c] on seventh street. But Danzer caught the [Qc], his 9-4 low couldn't beat DerRaeuber's 8-7, and the two-time WCOOP-winning Team PokerStars Pro was gone in 3rd place ($32,160).

Redemption song

Maicoshaa, earner of cashes in three different HORSE game WCOOP Championships during this series (14th in Event #18, 2nd after a heads-up deal in Event #32, and 7th in Event #54), was now within one spot of a bracelet for the second time in this WCOOP, while DerRaeuber was guaranteed at least a runner-up finish in just the Austrian player's second cash of the series:

Seat 4: Maicoshaa (1,026,082 in chips)
Seat 5: DerRaeuber (313,918 in chips)

Maicoshaa had been in the lead when a deal was struck in Event #32, only to eventually finish second. DerRaeuber threatened to make this duel a repeat by drawing to within less than one small blind with three big pots early on, but Maicoshaa quickly turned around with a five-big-bet pot to get back to 792K, just over 245K ahead of DerRaeuber. It was a pattern that would repeat for several levels.

By the time the Razz round was complete, Maicoshaa was back to 1M chips. DerRaeuber began to claw back with a 408K-chip pot early in the 20K/40K/4K Stud round, with a split pair of queens holding through sixth street before becoming two pair on seventh. Maicoshaa's split pair of sixes would have won the pot otherwise, having become nines and sixes on the river, but instead DerRaeuber pulled back to within less than four big bets. But that progress all disappeared after Maicoshaa won 368K uncontested on the river with a (x-x) [4h] [8c] [Jh] [9h] (x) board when DerRaeuber mucked (x-x) [8s] [6c] [Ad] [Qs] (x).

The see-saw trend continued at the start of the 25K/50K/5K Stud Hi-Lo round when DerRaeuber started with a split pair of jacks that turned into a flush after drawing four straight clubs, good for a double to 411K. But every time DerRaeuber began threatening to even the chip counts, Maicoshaa would win another pot to put DerRaeuber back on the ropes, and 25K/50K Limit Hold'em kicked off with Maicoshaa back to 1M chips once again.

DerRaeuber opened the final hand with a raise to 50K on the button, holding [Ah] [4s], and then called Maicoshaa's re-raise with [Kh] [7h] to see the [7s] [4h] [7c] flop. The rest of DerRaeuber's 103K in chips went in there, the board ran out [9c] [Qc], and Maicoshaa's trip sevens brought the WCOOP 2015 HORSE Championship to a close.

DerRaeuber's second cash of WCOOP 2015 was worth $41,540. And Maicoshaa, after having come so close just a week ago, held on for the bracelet and $58,290. Congratulations on making the second try count!

WCOOP 2015: Event #29, $700 Seven-Card Stud Championship
Entrants: 134
Prize pool: $268,000
Places paid: 24
1. Maicoshaa (Russia) $58,290
2. DerRaeuber (Austria) $41,540
3. Team PokerStars Pro George "GeorgeDanzer" Danzer (Austria) $32,160
4. to0dey (Russia) $22,780
5. Christer "lennart" Johansson (Sweden) $14,740
6. Bernardo "bedias" Dias (Brazil) $12,060
7. ilushan (Russia) $9,380
8. Georgios "GeoManousos" Sotiropoulos (Austria) $7,370

Start playing HORSE now and it could be you at this WCOOP final table next year. Click here to get a PokerStars account today.

Jason Kirk is a freelance contributor to PokerStars Blog.

The three-week, 70-event long World Championship of Online Poker is coming to an end on PokerStars, but there are still more bracelets left to be claimed.

Joel "jbrown8777" Brown has been consistently picking up cashes for the last three weeks, and today he picked up a WCOOP bracelet as well after topping a field of 2,119 to win Event $65, a $700 buy-in six-handed no-limit hold'em tournament featuring progressive super-knockout bounties. Between his first-place prize and all of the bounties Brown earned, Brown walked away with a cool $142,377.55 to go along with his first WCOOP bracelet.

That big field meant a total prize pool of $1,409,135, half of which was split by the top 276 finishers and the other half went toward those progressive super-KO bounties.

Not long after the bubble burst on Saturday, it was 2014 World Championship of Online Poker Main Event winner Fedor "CrownUpGuy" Holz sitting on top of the counts with over 360,000 chips at a time when his nearest challenger only had around 225,000.

A couple of hours later they were down under 100 players, with Luis "Turko_man" Rodriguez having moved into the top spot with Holz still in the top five.

Play continued through the end of the 28th twenty-minute level, with the field narrowing to just 42 players to end the first day of play. Russia's AironVega had grabbed the top spot before the last hands were dealt Saturday. Here's how the top of the counts looked overnight:

1. AironVega (Russia) -- 1,000,705
2. Fedor "CrownUpGuy" Holz (Austria) -- 961,349
3. Mariano "P.Iv3Y" Martiradonna (Malta) -- 799,766
4. Luis "Turko_man" Rodriguez (Finland) -- 696,429
5. huiiiiiiiiii (Austria) -- 696,429
6. mr.valerius (Russia) -- 678,044
7. VaRiAnCe_BF (United Kingdom) -- 637,744
8. Dtorres1 (Canada) -- 583,665
9. FaceRolly (Romania) -- 568,990
10. uremyatm (Denmark) -- 568,794

Also still in the hunt with below average chips were a couple of members of Team PokerStars Pro Online, Jorge "Baalim" Limon (in 29th position) and Grzegorz "DaWarsaw" Mikielewicz (in 34th).

On Day 2 it took an hour for the field to be trimmed to 30, with Grzegorz "DaWarsaw" Mikielewicz among the fallen in 37th for $2,113.70 plus $2,867.78 worth of bounties. An hour after that they were down to 19, with sanjizzy the new chip leader, Team PokerStars Pro Online's Jorge "Baalim" Limon in second position, and Holz and Rodriguez occupying the next two spots in the counts.

Forty-five minutes later they were down to 12, with Limon the new chip leader as the only player with more than 3 million.

VaRiAnCe_BF (12th), byoon (11th), and pokerturo (10th) would next go out, each picking up $6,482.02 from the regular prize pool plus the bounties they'd collected. Then mahmuttt88 went out in ninth, and after losing a couple of big hands Limon slipped from the top of the leaderboard to the bottom before falling in eighth.

A short while later sanjizzy finally went out in seventh to burst the final table bubble, like mahmuttt88 and Limon earning $9,863.94 plus bounties.

Nearly five hours into Day 2 the final table was set, with Luis "Turko_man" Rodriguez back in first.

Seat 1: Fedor "CrownUpGuy" Holz (Austria) -- 1,582,398
Seat 2: Joel "jbrown8777" Brown (Canada) -- 2,401,480
Seat 3: Mariano "P.Iv3Y" Martiradonna (Malta) -- 1,813,256
Seat 4: advenje (Netherlands) -- 1,269,128
Seat 5: Luis "Turko_man" Rodriguez (Finland) -- 4,601,156
Seat 6: huiiiiiiiiii (Austria) -- 4,225,082

Just a few hands into the final table, the blinds were 40,000/80,000 when Mariano "P.Iv3Y" Martiradonna open-raised all in from the small blind and advenje called all in from the big blind for nearly 1.03 million. P.Iv3Y had [Qd][6d] and advenje [Ks][Qs], and when the board came [Ac][5h][6s][2d][As] P.Iv3Y had aces and sixes to knock advenje out in sixth.

After that Fedor "CrownUpGuy" Holz found himself the short stack, and with the blinds up to 50,000/100,000 open-pushed his stack of about 1.36 million from the cutoff, getting called by Luis "Turko_man" Rodriguez in the big blind. Holz had [Ah][Qs] but had run into Rodriguez's [Ad][Kd], then when the flop came [5d][Jd][3d] Holz was already drawing dead to finish fifth.

That makes Holz's sixth cash of this year's WCOOP, including another final table in the $51K Super High Roller (Event #47).

Rodriguez was in front with four players left, but Mariano "P.Iv3Y" Martiradonna stole the chip lead away after winning a big all-in with pocket sevens against Rodriguez's pocket tens when four hearts came to give Martiradonna a flush.

It wasn't long after that Rodriguez was open-shoving for a little over 1.38 million (not quite 14 BBs) from the button with [9h][9d], then huiiiiiiiiii reraise-pushed from the small blind to isolate with [Ac][Kc]. The board rolled out [Tc][7h][3c][Jc][3s], meaning Rodriguez had fallen to another flush to exit in fourth.

That makes 10 cashes for Rodriguez in this year's WCOOP!

Just five hands later, Joel "jbrown8777" Brown opened with a 2x raise to 200,000 from the button, Mariano "P.Iv3Y" Martiradonna three-bet to 586,425 from the small blind, Brown reraise-pushed all in and Martiradonna called all in with the 3,744,098 he had left behind.

Martiradonna showed [As][Qs] and needed help versus Brown's [As][Ks]. But the board brought five low cards -- [2s][8c][4c][Jc][7d] -- and Martiradonna was done in third.

Brown had nearly a 2-to-1 edge to begin heads-up play with 10,238,382 to huiiiiiiiiii's 5,654,118. Brown was making his eighth cash of the 2015 WCOOP while huiiiiiiiiii was making a seventh cash, but both were looking for a first bracelet.

After more than 20 minutes of battling between the pair the gap had narrowed considerably, with Brown only slightly ahead when two decisive hands happened in succession to end the tournament in rapid fashion.

In the first, Brown opened the action with a 2x raise to 280,000 from the button. huiiiiiiiiii responded with a three-bet to 770,000, Brown called, and the flop came [6s][4s][Qd]. huiiiiiiiiii check-called a bet of 700,000 from Brown, then check-called another bet of 1.54 million after the [3c] turn.

The river was the [7d] and both players checked this time. huiiiiiiiiii showed [Jd][Js] for jacks, but Brown's [Qs][Tc] for queens was better and huiiiiiiiiii was back down under 4.7 million.

The tournament's last hand then began with a button-raise to 280,000 by huiiiiiiiiii, called by Brown. The flop came [Qh][Th][6d], and it was Brown doing the check-calling this time after huiiiiiiiiii continued for 309,400. The turn was the [7s]. Brown checked again, huiiiiiiiiii hired 721,550 this time, and Brown called once more.

The river brought the [2c] and one more check by Brown. huiiiiiiiiii bet small -- 157,890 -- and Brown responded with a check-raise shove all in. huiiiiiiiiii called with the 3,181,100 left behind, turning over [Qd][Js] for a pair of queens.

But queen-ten had proven best for Brown again as he turned over [Qs][Td] for two pair, and it was all over -- Brown had won.

Congratulations to Joel "jbrown8777" Brown, Event #65 champion!

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

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

Places paid: 276

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


Check out results from the WCOOP as well as the last exciting changes on the WCOOP Player of the Series leaderboard over at the the WCOOP page.

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The Manila Megastack 3 Main Event concluded at the PokerStars Live Manila poker room just after sundown at City of Dreams Manila with local player Euryd Rivera besting the 362 field to claim the championship trophy. Rivera was also awarded PHP529,000 in cold hard cash, and the Asia Championship of Poker 2M Spadie event package (HKD2,000,000), inclusive of airfare to and from Manila, accommodations, and some spending cash.

Rivera's run at the main event began in day 1b where he ended the day ranked third in chips. Coming in to the final day, Rivera railed several players early, and then claimed a massive pot worth 2.8M with his pocket queens defeating Indian player Kunal Shetty 's ace-jack offsuit. With that elimination, the final table of ten was formed with Rivera entering as the chip leader.

Rivera proceeded to eliminate two players at the final table then eventually faced Felix Weis from Luxembourg at heads up. Weis had the chip lead with 6.4M chips and Rivera had 4M chips. The tides quickly turned with Rivera winning several sizable stacks. At one point, Rivera climbed to 7.4M chips.

The final hand of the day would see Rivera and Weis all in preflop with Rivera holding [as][qh] and Weis with [ad][5d]. Weis failed to improve and Rivera seized the victory.

Final Table

At the final table, eliminations didn't come by easily despite some players having short stacks. When the first casualty was dealt, it was Filipino player Teofisto Pelayo whose short stack dwindled due to the blinds and antes. Pelayo was eliminated by day 1a chip leader, Seung Soo Jeon, in 10th place.

Korean player Yi Won Lee was next on the chopping block. Lee got hit pretty hard when his all in with [jd][js] ran into Felix Weis's [kc][kh]. Though not eliminated, he was crippled down to one and a half big blinds. Immediately after, Lee managed to triple up but still could not hold on to his chips and fell in 9th place.

With Lee's elimination, that left only one Korean at the final table, Jeon, who was denied a double up with his ace-queen offsuit against Filipino player Richard Marquez's ace-four suited because the board gave them both a straight. Rivera eliminated Jeon in 8th place with his pocket sixes surviving against Jeon's [qc][jc].

Marquez, had a great run early in the day, but he seemed to have run out of steam at the final table. Marquez met his fate as well at the hands of Rivera. Rivera's [8d][8s] filled up at the flop of [8h][9c][9d]. Marquez's pocket fours were drawing dead at the turn of [kd] and he exited the main event in 7th place.

For local player, Martin Corpuz, his pocket eights would play out much differently against day 1b chip leader, Shih Chieh Su. Su's ace-ten off suit would find a ten on the board and eliminate Corpuz in 6th place.

Another local player having a difficult time doubling up his short stack was Jester Intia. Instead of getting eaten by the blinds, Intia took a stand with his remaining chips (when action folded all the way to his small blind) and moved all in. Instantly, big blind Marquez called. Intia held [3h][4s] and Marquez had [td][9c]. Intia got lucky on the flop when he paired up his four. Several hands later, Intia landed another double up with his full house. With a very healthy stack accumulated, Intia placed all his bets on big slick which ended his day in 5th place as he ran right into Mike Kim Enriquez's pocket aces.

Next one out was Mike Kim Enriquez (Philippines) who busted out in 4th place. Enriquez could not let go of his [kd][js] preflop against Weis's [ac][qd].

At three-handed, Rivera, Su, and Weis cut a deal for the cash and then played for the ACOP event package. Action resumed with Su losing a large majority of his chips to Felix Weis when his [ac][jh] failed to beat Weis's [ah][9s] that rivered a nine.
Crippled, Su was all in next hand and bowed out in 3rd place.

Congratulations to Euryd Rivera for winning the Manila Megastack 3 Main Event!!

You can read up on the action at the final day in the Manila Megastack Final Day Updates blog.

Final Table Payouts: in PHP
1st Euryd Rivera - Philippines - 520,000
2nd Felix Michel Weis - Luxembourg - 474,000
3rd Shih Chieh Su - Taiwan - 490,000
4th Michael Kim Enriquez - Philippines - 232,000
5th Jester Intia - Philippines - 170,000
6th Martin Corpuz - Philippines - 139,000
7th Richard Marquez - Philippines - 108,000
8th Seung Soo Jeon - Korea - 91,132
9th Yi Won Lee - Korea - 74,200
10th Teofisto Pelayo - Philippines - 60,300

Side Events

At the P50K NLH side event, Alex Lee (Singapore) who defeated Kunal Shetty in the heads up round to claim the victory and the P469,200 first place purse. A total of 25 players entered the event bringing the prize pool to just over P1M.

P50k NLH Payouts: 4
1st - Alex Lee - Singapore - 469,200
2nd - Kunal Shetty - India - 294,600
3rd - John Tech - Philippines -185,500
4th - Bryan Huang Diwei - Singapore -141,900

At the Megastack Turbo (P250,000), 103 entries recorded for this event with ten of the seeing the money. It was Michael Buezza who defeated Richard Tolentino at heads up to take home the first place cash prize of P70,100.

Megastack Turbo Payouts: in PHP
1st - Michael Buezza - Phlippines -70,100
2nd - Richard Tolentino -Philippines - 46,800
3rd- Emman Segismundo - Philippines - 31,200
4th- Duong Vi Khoa - Vietnam 26,000
5th - Ben Abrahams - UK - 20,800
6th- Tan Phat Nguyen - Vietnam - 18,200
7th - Joe Vasay - Philippines - 15,600
8th - Pasion Cristopher - Philippines - 13,000
9th- Bernardo Angels - Philippines - 10,400
10th Jojo Cruz - Philippines - 7,666

PokerStars set out to make one player a millionaire this weekend. They did, and it would take only a matter of minutes to decide who would be the lucky winner.

It was the conclusion of the PokerStars Dream Team Collection, a simple game whereby players collected the pieces of three puzzles, each featuring one of our PokerStars Dream Team of Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar Jr and Ronaldo Nazário. More than 277,000 entered, but only 47 of them won Golden Tickets, which meant an invitation to today's finale.

As far as the most exciting seat-of-your-pants tournament go, you'd be hard pressed to find anything to match an all-in shootout, let alone one that guaranteed $1 million to the winner. That's what we saw today.

It was tense, and it was quick. There's not really any other way to play it, with every hand of every heads up encounter played all-in until only one player remains.

When the dust settled - and in an all-in shootout there is dust - solik1968 from Ukraine, emerged as the winner, beating gregior of the UK in a two handed final match (the first hand was a split pot). As the chat box erupted it proved a nailbiter in more ways than one.

It means solik1968, when he stops sreaming and dancing around the house, will find $1 million in his PokerStars account. If you open a window, lean east, and listen carefully, that noise you hear is that celebration.

Commiserations to gregior who had it sewn up until the river, but congratulations to solik1968. Let the celebrations begin.

Click here to create your own PokerStars account to start playing now.

The Manila Megastack 3 Main Event took off at 12:15pm, and almost instantly, short stacks were denied a much needed double up. By the end of the first hour, we reached the bubble stage at 37 players. Here is a recap of some of today's hard-hitting action.

1:15pm: Bubble bursts!

After a slew of eliminations, we reached the bubble stage with Nickolai Alexandrov putting his tournament life on the line holding [kd][qh]. He was snap-called by Hyung Jin Chun who held a dominating [ah][kc]. Word spread that the bubble may burst and immediately, a crowd formed around the table. In dramatic fashion, the board ran [qs][4d][9d] giving Alexandrov the pair he needed to avoid the rail, however it was short-lived as the dealer turned an [ac] on fourth street giving Chun the higher pair. Alexandrov figured that was his end, and slowly walked away as the river card was revealed, [3h]. With that bust out, the remaining players celebrated their profit.

We are now at the final day of the Manila Megastack 3 at PokerStars Live Manila! The surviving 58 players are ready to battle it out, each one with the same mission, to bag all the chips and be proclaimed the champion. With only 36 seeing a profit, we will surely be seeing the short stacks shoving early to earn a double up and be in fighting contention.

The chip leader coming in today is Shih Chieh Su with 616,000 chips, and riding in his coat tails is Seung Soo Jeon with 605,000 chips. Both palyers were the chip leaders in their respective day one flights.

The past two days of the main event saw a total of 362 entries pony up the P10,000 buy-in. This affordable buy-in was lowered from the previous Manila Megastack events of P25,000, and it proved to be a good decision because the 2M guarantee was easily surpassed. Players are now looking at a total of P3,090,032 prize pool, that's fifty percent more than the advertised guarantee, giving players more mileage for their buck.

In addition to the first place cash prize of P726,000, PokerStars added a treat for the winner, a package to the Asia Championship of Poker (ACOP) 2M GTD Spadie (HKD2,000,000), inclusive of airfare to and from Manila, accommodations, and some spending cash. With that very handsome championship prize, we predict that the action at the felt today will be fast, grueling, and merciless.

Asia Player of the Year 2015

With the end of 2015 inching closer, it was of no surprise to see several players high up in the Asia Player of the Year 2015 leader board participate in the main event. Pete Chen, the reigning APOY champion, currently ranked fourth in the APOY 2015, and Fu Bang Huang, currently ranked sixth, fought hard in day 1b but both were unable to qualify into day 2 and will have to try to rake in points in the last remaining side event. Two players in the APOY 2015 who did make the cut were Alan King Lau, currently first in the APOY 2015 leader board, and Yang Zhang, who is third in rank. It is well to note that only 391 points separate these two players, so we will keep a close eye on them throughout the day to see who will go the distance.

Another interesting fact today is that exactly half the field are from the Philippines. Jester Intia leads that contingent with 363,000 chips. One starting stack behind him is Euryd Rivera with 333,000 chips. Both these players are very well known in the local circuit but have not yet sealed a win in any of the PokerStars Live Manila events. Let's see if today will change all that.

Good luck to all the players!

Although Kyle Julius won the Sunday Million, nearly won it again a year later, and scored $1.5 million as the runner-up in the 2012 PCA Main Event, until tonight,he was a man without a COOP title. He earned it in a game he readily admitted on Twitter was not his strong suit, and did it in wrecking ball fashion once play turned four-handed.

Those final table opponents were a decorated bunch. They included WCOOP and SCOOP champion Andrey "Kroko-dill" Zaicheko, newly minted WCOOP bracelet winner David "Mrdawwe" Sonelin who banked $348k only three days ago in Event #53, and Russia's Dancer King, who finished second in the 2015 WCOOP's earlier limit hold'em tournament, Event #10.

153 players entered the 2015 WCOOP Fixed-Limit Hold'em championship, their $1,050 buyins combining to create a $153,000 prize pool. 24 players earned a share of it with first place set to earn $36,720.00. Day 1 lasted 18 levels and reduced the field to its final 16 players. Here's a look at the top five stacks overnight:

Naza114 (Czech Republic) 198,146
Mrdawwe (Sweden) 167,948
grapenuts (Canada) 137,125
KJulius10 (Canada) 129,680
Dancer King (Russia) 119,421

Day 2 began with 3,000/6,000 betting limits and went for another hour and a half before reaching the final table bubble. Both Beeeehto and TheMuppet were below 30,000 in chips with the limits up to 6,000/12,000. Holding [As][Qc], TheMuppet called Mrdawwe's small blind raise and they saw a [Jh][9d][4s] flop. Mrdawwe bet and TheMuppet called. The turn came the [3h] and Mrdawwe led for 12,000. TheMuppet called all-in for less, but was behind Mrdawwe's pair of nines with [8d][9s]. The river was the [Td] and TheMuppet went out in seventh place, sending us to the final table.

Final table chip counts

Seat 1: KJulius10 (377,930 in chips)
Seat 2: Mrdawwe (376,141 in chips)
Seat 3: Kroko-dill (174,508 in chips)
Seat 4: Beeeehto (19,326 in chips)
Seat 5: Naza114 (258,686 in chips)
Seat 6: Dancer King (323,409 in chips)

Short-stacked Beeeehto went out a short time later. All-in preflop vs. Kroko-dill and KJulius10, Beeeehto couldn't beat Kroko-dill's [Ac][Js] on a [As][8d][3h][Jc][3s] board and was eliminated in sixth place. Kroko-dill ended up on the short stack himself following a three-way pot he three-bet preflop. Kroko-dill fired the flop from position, then called Mrdawwe's turn and river bets on a [Ad][Jd][5c][Td][7h] board. Mrdawwe turned up [Ks][Qc] for Broadway and took the chip lead with 484k, while Kroko-dill was left with 93,000 in chips. A few hands later, Kroko-dill got his last 19,000 in preflop vs. Mrdawwe, but turned up [Ks][Ts] to his [Kc][Qs]. Mrdawwe turned a pair of queens and rivered trips, sending Kroko-dill to the rail in fifth place.

As the final four ground out pots, KJulius10 moved into the chip lead with 463,000. He created some separation from the rest of the field via three consecutive pots. He flopped kings up against Naza114 and got three streets of value, before picking up pocket jacks and capping the betting preflop vs. Mrdawwe. KJulius10 fired the flop, turn, and river on the [Kc][8h][7c][2h][9c] board and Mrdawwe paid him off. Then, KJulius10 made top pair with [Ah][3s] on a [As][9s][Jc] flop and called Mrdawwe's flop bet. Mrdawwe slowed down and check-called KJulius10's bets on the [5d] turn and the [7c] river only to lose another 170,000 pot. That hand took KJulius10 up to 726,000.

Only two hands later, Naza114 opened for a button raise and KJulius10 three-bet to 30,000 from the big blind with [Jc][Jh]. Naza114 called and they saw a [Td][6c][5s] flop. KJulius10 led out, Naza114 raised and KJulius10 called. The turn came the [2h] and KJulius10 checked to Naza114, who bet 20,000, KJulius10 raised, Naza114 three-bet and KJulius10 called. The [Jd] river made KJulius10 top set and he coyly checked it to Naza114, who bet. KJulius10 raised and Naza114 called. Naza114 couldn't beat the set and KJulius10 raked in the largest pot of the tournament at 305,000. He moved up to 881,000 in chips while Naza114 was left with only 12,686.

Two hands later, Naza114 bet the rest of his chips preflop and both Dancer King and KJulius10 called. The board ran out [Kc][4d][2c][Th][4c] and Dancer King turned up [Ks][8s] for the win. KJulius10 mucked and Naza114 hit the rail in fourth place.

As three-handed play commenced, KJulius10 retained the chip lead with 817,000, Dancer King was second with 484,000 and Mrdawwe was on the short stack with 229,000.

Mrdawwe's stack had bled down to 84,000 when KJulius10 raised on the button and Mrdawwe three-bet to 30,000. KJulius10 called and they saw a [Ad][4s][3h] flop. KJulius10 check-called Mrdawwe's 10,000 bet. The turn came the [Qc] and KJulius10 checked again. Mrdawwe fired 20,00, KJulius10 raised and Mrdawwe called all-in for 44,149.

Mrdawwe [Ac][6s]
KJulius10 [Qs][Ts]

Mrdawwe was way ahead with a pair of aces over KJulius10's pair of queens, but the [Tc] spiked on the river, making KJulius10 queens up. Mrdawwe was suddenly out in third place, earning $19,125.00.

Heads-up chip counts

Seat 1: KJulius10 (1,000,905 in chips)
Seat 6: Dancer King (529,095 in chips)

Shortly after heads-up play began, KJulius10 and Dancer King paused the action to discuss a potential deal. The chip counts hadn't moved much at all from where they started heads-up play when negotiations began. A chip chop at this stage would award KJulius10 $31,623.44 and Dancer King $28,418.06, leaving $2,000 in play for the winner. KJulius10 was willing to close the deal if Dancer King let him take an even $32,000, but his opponent was not willing to give up the extra cash. Instead, they decided to play on and cards went back in the air.

KJulius10 went on another rush, taking down three substantial pots in a row to chip up to 1.38 million. Then, holding [6h][9d], he flopped top pair on a [9h][8d][3h] flop and check-raised to 20,000. Dancer King called, then called another 20,000 when the [7h] turned. The river was the [Ts] and KJulius10 fired 20,000. Dancer King called him down, only to muck his [Qs][9s] in the face of KJulius10's nine-high straight. Dancer King was left with 69,000 after the hand.

The last of Dancer King's chips went in on a [Jd][7s][6c] flop after KJulius10 capped the betting preflop.

Dancer King [Kd][9d]
KJulius10 [Ah][As]

Dancer King needed running cards to catch KJulius10's pocket aces, but turned the [2h] and rivered the [Qc] instead. Once again, Dancer King was a WCOOP limit hold'em bridesmaid, while KJulius10 locked up his first WCOOP title.

Congratulations to Kyle "KJulius10" Julius on his first WCOOP bracelet! He banked $36,720.00 for the win, while runner-up Dancer King earned $25,321.50.

The WCOOP is in the home stretch. Don't miss out on your chance at tomorrow's $10 Million guaranteed Main Event! Check out the WCOOP homepage for a full schedule of events and satellite information. And if you don't have a PokerStars account yet... what are you waiting for? ">Click here to sign up.

Event #44: $1,050 FL Hold'em Championship [6-Max]
Entrants:153
Prize pool: $153,000
Places paid: 24

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

There is no denying that Mike "Timex" McDonald has been on a hot streak. Live or online here at PokerStars does not seem to matter. While McDonald would headline the WCOOP Event #61 final table it would be Christian "eisenhower1" Jeppsson owning the storyline and the day as he dominated from two tables on to claim the title and $105,942.56 after a three-way chop with A.Tricarico and 42ayay.

At the beginning of day two eisenhower1 held a slight chip lead over 42ayay and Ce$ar$pa. By the end of the first hour with 13 remaining, eisenhower1's 2.7 million chip stack would tower over 42ayay (740K) and Mike "Timex" McDonald (710K) with blinds moving on to 8K/16K ante 2K.

McDonald of course is fresh off a fourth place finish at the EPT Barcelona worth €269,400 and taking the day one lead in the WCOOP Event #47 $51K Super High Roller, finishing fifth for $172K. McDonald will have his work cut out for him to claim a WCOOP bracelet as Christian "eisenhower1" Jeppsson is no stranger to high-stakes play with a Super Tuesday title in his pocket and final tabled this year's SCOOP Main Event-High, taking sixth for $294K.

Twenty minutes into the second hour calvin7v would collect $8,474.76 in 11th place as hand-for-hand play did not stop the aggression on either table with a potential six-figure difference between first and tenth. With an average of 30BBs, players regularly three-betting preflop and holding little fiscal concern over the possible big payday.

VitinhO Dzi was one card away from collecting 8K after getting it all-in with king-ten versus blakjak19's pocket tens. But, the river was nice enough to extend VitinhO Dzi's play as the rivered pair of kings continued the tense hand-for-hand period.

15 minutes before the second hourly break with the blinds up to 12.5K/25K ante 3,125 42ayay would min-raise as salaliitto shoved all-in for 297,016 chips. Salaliitto is no stranger to Major final tables making it to both the Sunday Warm-Up and Sunday Million plus SCOOP 2015's Event #30-H earning $111K in fourth place. Adding another COOP final table would need to wait as 42ayay's pocket nines [9h][9d] would flop a set [3d] [7c] [9s] [6s] [4s] and outrace salaliitto's [Jd][Td] to start the final table below:

Seat 1: RGRGINDIA (195723 in chips)
Seat 2: VitinhO Dzi (583700 in chips)
Seat 3: Mike "Timex" McDonald (867766 in chips)
Seat 4: 0Human0 (775775 in chips)
Seat 5: A.Tricarico (750491 in chips)
Seat 6: 42ayay (1320354 in chips)
Seat 7: PolecatRider (393177 in chips)
Seat 8: Christian "eisenhower1" Jeppsson (2750657 in chips)
Seat 9: blakjak19 (327357 in chips)

McDonald would keep his hopes alive for a WCOOP bracelet but the first elimination from this final table would clip a few chips from his stack. The third hand in with the blinds staying the same, blakjak19 would shove UTG for 317,982 as RGRGINDIA called all-in for less. On to McDonald who re-shoved and covered both players with pocket queens [Qh][Qd]. Good news for RGRGINDIA holding the other two queens in the deck [Qs][Qc]. However, blakjak19's pocket sevens [7s][7d] decided to spoil the chop party after hitting a set on the flop [2h] [5h] [7c] [Ks] [9h] to take the 887K pot and knockout RGRGINDIA in ninth place ($10,805.31).

Timex waits for no one. After losing that sizable pot he got right back up and would square up his stack just before the second hourly break. With the blinds moving up to 15K/30K ante 3,750 McDonald would open to 60,300 as PolecatRider called from the big blind. After the [As][7s][Kd] flop PolecatRider would check-call the 45K bet to see a [5s] on the turn. Checking again, McDonald shoved as PolecatRider paused before making the call with a pair and the nut flush draw [Qs][Kh]. But, Timex's pair of aces [4d][Ad] would safely cross the river [7c] shipping $15,890.17 to PoleCatRider in eighth place.

Is there someone famous at this table? Team PokerStars Online Pro Felix "xflixx" Schneiders welcomed the sizable 1,500+ (and growing) railbirds to the final table during the break as Christian "eisenhower1" Jeppsson's stack still towered over the other players to start the third hour.

The crowd would grow to 1,850 spectators during this hand. With the blinds up to 20K/40K ante 5K McDonald's stack would take a sizable hit six minutes prior after trying to convince Jeppsson to lay down a rivered wheel with a paired board. With a little under 500K chips left, Timex would three-bet shove all-in from the big blind over a raise by A.Tricarico. The original raiser made the call with pocket jacks [Jh][Js] as McDonald's sixes [6c][6s] needed assistance. Both players would end up with a flush on the [As] [Ks] [2s] [3s] [9h] board as Mike "Timex" McDonald's run for the Event #61 bracelet ended in seventh place ($22,952.47).

After going nearly the entire hour without an elimination there were two within seven minutes of each other. 0Human0 decided to challenge the chip leader's opening raise with a shove from the big blind. Jeppsson was up to the fight making the call with big slick [Kd][As], racing against 0Human0's pocket eights [8d][8c]. The [Qd] [Qs] [Ts] [Ks] [3h] board would extend Jeppsson's chip lead as 0Human0 collected $30,014.77 in sixth place.

Shortly after blakjak19 took away $38,136.42 in fifth place, the two shortstacks decided to try their luck combining their stacks. With the blinds up to 25K/50K ante 6,250 VitinhO Dzi shoved for 518,621 as A.Tricarico followed suit for 792,121 chips turning over [7d][Ad]. VitinhO Dzi's [Ts][Ks] was dead after the turned boat [2d] [Ac] [7h] [As] [3d] but earned a sizable $54,379.71 in fourth place.

After VitinhO Dzi was pulled away from the table 42ayay seemed to have the answer for everything. 42ayay would methodically pick away at Jeppsson's stack while taking over the chip lead and getting Jeppsson to type out the shark emote as a nod towards 42ayay's run.

As 42ayay started appearing human again, but still holding a million chip lead on A.Tricarico and Jeppsson, they would pause for one of the quickest chops I have covered for the WCOOP in eight years. Almost as fast as Schneiders was able to type out the amounts, all three players typed "I agree" to the figures below with $10K set aside for the champion:

42ayay: $102,259.09
eisenhower1: $95,942.56
A.Tricarico: $95,124.33

Close to the fourth hourly break 42ayay and Jeppsson would get to the river with four million chips in the pot. Both players flopped trips, but Jeppsson held the better kicker (which also hit the river for the unnecessary boat).

Shortly after the double-up, with the blinds up to 40K/80K ante 10K 42ayay would shove for 1.54 million as Jeppsson made the call with [Ad][5s]. Kicker problems for 42ayay's [2d][As] would not improve on the [Ks] [4s] [3d] [6s] [7h] board. 42ayay, the third place finisher, would get the biggest slice of the chop ($102,259.09) but no jewelry.

Jeppsson would bring a 6.5 million to 1.39 million chip lead to heads-up play trying to finish off what he barely missed during the SCOOP series this year.

And he did.

After agreeing to skip the five minute break, it would only take a total of eight minutes to claim his first WCOOP title.

With the blinds holding, Jeppsson would min-raise from the button as A.Tricarico called to see the [9c][8s][3c] flop. Jeppsson followed through with a 128,695 bet but A.Tricarico check-raised all-in for a little more than a million. Holding a flopped two pair [3d][9d] Jeppsson called as A.Tricarico's [8c][6h] would not catch up on the turn [Jh] nor [7s] river. After the seven fell, Jeppsson was free to call himself WCOOP champion, winning Event #61 and $105,942.56!

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

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

* = denotes a three-way deal

Ready to take on eisenhower1 and Tîmex for bracelet? Click here to get your account today

It was another rocking day at the PokerStars Live Manila poker room at City of Dreams Manila with the Manila Megastack 3 recording 194 entries for the final flight of the Main Event 2M guarantee.

When day 1b started, it was already presumed that the numbers would be high, and that the guarantee would be exceeded. Sure enough, by the end of late registration, the numbers soared, bringing the total prize pool -with the combined tally of day 1a- to just over P3M.

In today's action, a total of 29 players made the cut into day 2 and the man sitting at the top of the rung was Shih Chieh Su (Taiwan) bagging 616,000 chips.

Su surpassed day 1a's chip leader, Seung Soo Jeon (South Korea) who had slightly under at 605,000 chips.

Alike Jeon, Su played hard against his opponents. Players such as Tetsuya Tsuchikawa (Japan) and Mike Kim Enriquez (Philippines) were among those who had a tough time shaving off some of Su's chips. In the Manila Megastack 3 updates blog, Su was seen check-raising and milking players. Late in the day, Su amassed more chips when his [ah][jd] landed a sweet two pair on the board of [jc][ad][2c][4s][6s] against a player's [ac][tc].

Another player also up in the chip rank is Yi Won Lee from South Korea. Lee found new life after being eliminated early in the game. He re-entered and proceeded to rake in the chips towards the late stages of the tournament. In his final hand, Lee railed Akash Malik (India) with his ace-queen off suit, ending the day with a sizable stack of 450,000.

Along with Su and Lee several notables will also be returning for another grueling day at the felt. Alan King Lau, the current Asia Player of the Year 2015 leader, whose chips swung up and down throughout the day but managed to save 135,000 in his arsenal for day 2. John Riad is also in the mix, and like Lee, he re-entered and started raking it in to end the day with 255,000 chips. Riad had a particularly big hand against Darshan Sami with his pocket aces landing a huge double up.

With the rise of players, so must there be the fallen. And quite a number of familiar faces hit the rail today. Alex Lee (Malaysia), winner of the APPT Manila 2015 Warm-up, entered the event late and in just a few levels, he was heading out of the playing field.

Others such as Per Douglas Olsson, runner-up of the APPT Manila 2015 Main Event, re-entered once and still could not survive. Jessie Leonarez, third place finisher at the APPT 2015 Manila Main Event also met the same fate despite re-entering twice. Another local pro who re-entered several times was John Tech who could not gain any momentum to get past the hard hitters at the felt. Pete Chen and Fu Bang Huang, both players high up in the APOY leader board, couldn't earn more points as they were eliminated in the latter half of the day.

With the combined qualifiers of the day one flights, a total of 58 players will be returning for the final day, but only 36 of those will see the money. The eventual champion will be awarded PHP726,000 plus the Asia Championship of Poker 2M Spadie package. This package includes a seat, airfare to and from Manila, accommodations, and some spending cash.

The Main Event will resume at 12:15pm tomorrow, Sunday, September 27, 2015. There will also be one last side event, the Megastack Turbo (P250,000) guarantee. Buy-in is P3,000.

Congratulations to all the day 1b qualifiers!

*List of the qualifiers will be posted shortly.