When you have a user name like Hookah17, the title writes itself. Poland's Hookah had two perfect days of heads-up matches and faded a field of 1,021 heads-up headhunters en route to a victory in Event #13. Sometimes you have to come from behind and overpower your opponents with inferior hands. In two clutch instances during the quarterfinals and semifinals, Hookah17 held the inferior hand yet managed to advance to the next round each time. During the final match, Hookah17 had Croatia's mandza17 on the ropes from the get go. Despite a minor rally by mandza17, Hookah17 swiftly counterattacked and it was only a matter of time before Hookah17 delivered a crushing blow to win the heads-up championship.

WCOOP Event #13 $320 NL Heads-Up attracted 1,021 runners. They created a prize pool worth $306,300. The top 128 places paid out, with $46,322.02 set aside to the eventual champion.

A pair of pros from Team PokerStars Online went deep. Both Frenchdawg and nkeyno advanced to Day 2, but both players were eliminated during the round of 32.

Quick match for Team Online nkeyno, who failed to advance to the Sweet 16. nkeyno got crippled early on (losing two pair vs. two pair) and never recovered. On the final hand... the board ran out [Ac][Tc][7c][3c][Td]. Both players made a four-flush, but cmontopdeck with a higher flush with [Qc][7s] vs. nkeyno's [Ad][9c]. Japan's nkeyno earned $2,312.56 for a 31st place finish.

Meanwhile, Team Online FrenchDawg ran [Jd][Jc] into ragingquads_'s [Ah][Ad]. Alas, FrenchDawg busted in 22nd place, which paid out $2,312.56.

ROUND 8 - ELITE 8

THE OVERLOAD: VeGeTTo89 eliminated in 8th place

The quickest match of the round was CMoosepower vs. VeGeTTo89 that barely lasted two levels. It was nearly over in the opening round when CMoosepower turned a set of Jacks with [Jc][Jd] against VeGeTTo89's pair of Queens. VeGeTTo89 tried to battle back but could never get anything going. On the final hand in the middle of Level 2, VeGeTTo89 attempted to double up with [As][9d] against CMoosepower's [7c][7d]. VeGeTTo89 flopped an Ace, but CMoosepower turned a set of sevens to win the pot. VeGeTTo89 was knocked out in 8th place, which paid out $8,208.84. CMoosepower became the first player to advance to the Final Four.

LISTENING WIND: salta44 eliminated in 7th place

SashaWSoP got off to an early start and never looked back in another quickie match. Going into the final hand, SashaWSoP held almost 90% of the chips in play. Super-shorty salta44 bombed it all-in for 981 with [2c][2h] hoping to double up against SashaWSoP's [Js][Td]. A Jack on the flop sunk salta44's hopes when the board finished up [Ah][Jd][8d][Kd][Ts]. salta44's pair of deuces were no good against SashaWSoP's two pair. Argentina's salta44 busted in seventh place, which paid out $8,208.84. SashaWSoP advanced to the Final Four.

THE GREAT CURVE: m1ronO eliminated in 6th place

Ukraine's m1ronO made a final stand with [7c][7d] but was run down by Hookah17's [9c][6s]. Although m1ronO flopped a set of sevens, the board ran out [9d][7h][5d][3c][4c], and Hookah17 rivered a seven-high straight to win the pot. Ukraine's m1ronO was knocked out in 6th place, which paid out $8,208.84. Hookah17 advanced to the Final Four.

HOUSES IN MOTION: Fartojop333 eliminated in 5th place

This match went the longest of the round. The final hand was a classic coin flip. Fartojop333 took [3c][3s] into battle against mandza17's [Ah][Qh]. The board finished up [Ad][Ts][5c][Ac][Td]. Fartojop333's two pair lost to mandza17's full boat. Russia's Fartojop333 fizzled out in fifth place, which paid out $8,208.84. Meanwhile, mandza17 advanced to the Final Four.

ROUND 9 - SEMIFINALS

BORN UNDER PUNCHES: SashaWSoP eliminated in 4th place

This match went quick and lasted a mere 50 hands. The first sizable pot was won by mandza17 with [6h][3c] after flopping two pair and rivering a boat. Five hands later, mandza17 dragged a 2.5K pot with [Ah][Jd]. Two hands later, it was all over. All the money went in on the flop of [Jc][Js][4c] when mandza17 check-raised all-in with [4d][3d] and two pair against SashaWSoP's [Kh][Qc] and King high. The turn was the [Jd] and the river was the [Ts]. mandza17 turned a full house and won the pot. SashaWSoP was knocked out in fourth place, which paid out $14,736.09. Croatia's mandza17 advanced to the finals.

CROSSEYED AND PAINLESS: CMoosepower eliminated in 3rd place

CMoosepower had [Kh][Kd] snapped off by Hookah17's [Tc][7d] when Hookah17 turned a straight on a board of [9c][8s][5c][Js][As]. Two-time SCOOP champion CMoosepower was knocked out in third place, which paid out $14,736.09. Poland's Hookah17 advanced to the finals.

DEAL

A quick deal was reached between the final two -- mandza17 and Hookah17. They had to leave $6,000 on the table for the winner, but chopped up the prize pool evenly at $34,898.63.

ROUND 10 - FINALS

HEADS-UP: mandza17 (Croatia) vs. Hookah17 (Poland)

Croatia's mandza17 made a final table in SCOOP earlier this year, where as this was Hookah17's first shot at a COOP crown.

ONCE IN A LIFETIME: mandza17 eliminated in 2nd place; Hookah17 wins Event #13

Hookah17 drew blood early and jumped out to a quick lead. Hookah17 attempted to pick off mandza17 with [As][Jd] vs. [Ac][4d]. However, mandza17 outflopped Hookah17 and rivered a full house to win the pot and avoid an elimination.

Croatia's mandza17 was not about to give up so easily and rallied back to almost even. At that point, Hookah17 went into aggro mode and chipped up to almost 8K. In a couple of levels it was all over.

On the final hand... Hookah17 min-raised to 240, mandza17 bumped it up to 665, Hookah17 four-bet shoved for 7,185 and mandza17 called all-in for 2,150.

mandza17: [As][Ts]
Hookah17: [Ad][Kc]

Hookah17 was ahead with Big Slick. The board finished up [Jh][6c][5c][9c][7d]. Both players did not improve their hands, but mandza17 got out-kicked. Hookah17 won the pot with Ace-high and a King-kicker.

For an impressive runner-up performance, mandza17 earned $34,898.63.

Congrats to Poland's Hookah17 for winning Event #13 Heads-Up championship. First place paid out $40,898.63.

WCOOP-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

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.

2012 feels like a long time ago. The Olympics took place in London; Barack Obama was re-elected for his second term as US President; and The Dark Knight Rises took more than a billion dollars in cinemas around the world.

It was also - going by his online tournament results - the best year in the history of Russian player Ti0373's career. Let's have a look at some of his 2012 results:

1st - WCOOP-57: $530 NLHE - $182,629
1st - WCOOP-39: $700 NLHE Heads Up - $120,600
3rd - FTOPS Main Event - $253,932
3rd - WCOOP-34: $320 PL Omaha - $55,560

Pretty outstanding, by anyone's standards. Two WCOOP titles within a week other? Incredible.

Well the dark knight from Russia has risen again, taking down his third WCOOP title and $20,402.23 in Event 12, a $700 NL Draw tournament.

It wouldn't be a walk in the park though. Online poker changes faster than most games, and since 2012 strategies have evolved, training sites have become more popular, and players became a lot better. A new generation of geniuses came to fruition between 2012 and now, one of which was Poland's Dzmitry 'Colisea' Urbanovich.

He won a WCOOP and SCOOP event in 2014 and his second SCOOP title in May, as well as some astonishing live results which led to us calling the last EPT season the 'year of Urbanovich'. Here are just a few of his live scores since March 2015:

1st - EPT Grand Final Monte Carlo €100,000 Super High Roller €1,446,600 ($1,595,368)
1st - EPT Malta €25,500 High Roller €572,300 ($605,929)
2nd - EPT Barcelona €50,000 NLHE Super High Roller €841,500 ($949,967)
3rd - EPT Grand Final Monte Carlo €10,200 NLHE Turbo €101,600 ($114,997)

Both Ti0373 and Dzmitry 'Colisea' Urbanovich were on this final table. Both were chasing another WCOOP championship. But there could only be one winner.

Here's how it happened

Looking through the list of players who went deep in this event is like watching the sad part of an award ceremony when they show the black and white video of the people we've tragically lost; Fedor 'CrownUpGuy' Holz (33rd), Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier (31st), Ole 'wizowizo' Schemion, Kevin 'ImaLuckSac' MacPhee (24th), Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier (23rd), PokerStars Team Online's Naoya 'nkeyno' Kihara (15th - $1,020.11), Jon 'PearlJammer' Turner (11th - $1,687.10), and falling just one place shy of our final six-handed table was two-time WCOOP champion and five-time SCOOP champion Shaun Deeb (7th - $2,550.27).

There was no rest for Naoya 'nkeyno' Kihara either, as after his deep run ended he would stay at the office (his computer) and become our tournament administrator for this event. His services would be needed as we had some deal discussions at three handed play, but we'll get to that.

Just before we lost our 6th place finisher, here's how the final table stacked up:

1. KornmeisterX (Germany) 287,751
2. Dzmitry 'Colisea' Urbanovich (Poland) 237,832
3. Ti0373 (Russia) 223,201
4. KaptianKush (Canada) 192,104
5. llambias (Argentina) 181,338
6. Vladimir 'GVOZDIKA55' Shchemelev (Russia) 57,774

Shortstack Vladimir 'GVOZDIKA55' Shchemelev was the first player to fall. The Russian banker and high-stakes player has over $1.6 million in online cash games winnings, and he's proved he knows his way around tournament play too. After discarding one card in a heads up pot with Ti0373 only to see his fellow Russian discard three, GVOZDIKA55 shoved all in for 49,654, which was called. His [ah][8c][ks][8s][3c] for a pair of eights wasn't enough to beat Ti0373's [jh][js][ts][2h][jc] for a set of jacks, and he hit the virtual rail with $3,531.15 for his efforts.

Dzmitry 'Colisea' Urbanovich was a healthy chip leader for a while, but Ti0373 wasn't about to let his chance at a third WCOOP slip away from him. He battled his way into the chiplead not long into five-handed player, and he wouldn't relinquish the lead again.

Next to go was the chipleader coming into the final table, Germany's KornmeisterX. It just wasn't meant to be as a few big pots didn't go his way, and he'd eventually bust to Urbanovich in an all-in pre-draw hand. Kornmeister drew one card, Urbanovich stood pat - unsurprisingly as he'd been dealt [5s][3s][ts][as][7s] for an ace-high flush. KornmeisterX's two pair, eights and threes, couldn't compete and he'd have to settle for fifth place prize money - $5,100.55.

And then there were four

Although Argentina's llambias was very short stacked with just 37,784 and blinds at 3000/6000, it didn't stop Ti0373 and Urbanovich from tangling with each other.

In one big pot, Urbanovich made it 12,000 and Ti0373 bumped it up to 27,887, which was called. Both players discarded three cards, and Ti0373 lead out for a min-bet of 6,000. Urbanovich made a huge raise to 50,000 and got a call from the chipleader, and the cards were revealed: [4s][4h][6d][tc][kd] for Urbanovich, giving him a pair of fours, and [jd][ks][ad][as][8h] for Ti0373, whose pair of aces took down the hefty pot of 167,774.

Things got worse for Urbanovich when he doubled up Canada's KaptianKush to 320,920 a few hands later, but he was still well and truly in the running for his fourth COOP title.

However, so now was KaptianKush.

"I can gamble I guess"

Neither of those players would be the next to go - that duty would lie with llambias. With the blinds still at 3000/6000, the player from Argentina moved all-in for 42,284 and was called by Urbanovich, who drew three cards. Llambias drew two and then showed [3h][7h][kd][jd][ah] for just ace high, which trailed Urbanovich's pair of tens. Fourth place money was $6,669.95.

After several orbits of three-handed play, Dzmitry 'Colisea' Urbanovich was the short stack. He was in a hand with big chipleader Ti0373 when the three players started to discuss a deal. With all three expected to hit the 'pause' button to see some chop number after the hand was over, Urbanovich typed in the chat "I can gamble I guess. GL guys" and shoved all in for 123,699 with 73,566 in the middle. It was a risky move on the verge of locking up more than third place money, especially as Ti0373 had more than 700,000 in front of him, but it worked.

"Someone had a monster ;)" said KaptainKush, "I respect the heart if he was bluffing lol. Post HH" - meaning he was trying to get Urbanovich to reveal his hand.

"U gonna see everything" he snapped back.

"ye but I hate waiting" KaptianKush said, speaking for all of us watching.

The players then saw the proposed ICM numbers:

Ti0373: $16,745.60
KaptianKush: $13,801.85
Colisea: $12,788.13

With $1,000 left to play for the winner. However, all three players decided to carry on and wished each other luck. And then almost immediately, we'd lose Urbanovich.

Dzmitry 'Colisea' Urbanovich out in third - $10,201.10

Urbanovich called from the small blind and Ti0373 made it 18,000 to play. There was a shove from Urbanovich for 117,385 total and it was called, leading to Urbanovich drawing three cards and his opponent taking two. Urbanovich had managed to end up with two pair, eights and sixes, but it wasn't enough - Ti0373 had a set of sixes and four time COOP winner and Poland's all time money winner Dzmitry Urbanovich was out in third place.

From here on it was smooth sailing for Ti0373. Nothing against KaptianKush of course, he just had a pretty big mountain to climb as at one point he was outchipped ten to one.

In the end, he moved all in for 67,545, and with a stack of 1,109,455 Ti0373 made the call and both players drew three. Once again two pair wasn't enough: KaptianKush's [3s][3c][qc][qs][js] was behind Ti0373's [tc][td][3h][7d][ts] and we had our winner.

Congratulations to Ti0373 who took down his third WCOOP championship and a first place prize of $20,402.23.

2012 really doesn't seem that long ago now.

WCOOP-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

There's plenty of WCOOP action still to come - check out all the events at the WCOOP home page.

Fancy playing a few events yourself but haven't got an account yet? Fear not - join PokerStars now.

Jack Stanton is a professional journalist and freelance writer for PokerStars.

Okay, so you've spent the last few days doing something...I dunno...unrelated to WCOOP. I understand. Some people have jobs. Some people have to, you know, shop for food and sustain themselves with calories instead of coffee. You can be forgiven.

But listen...WCOOP is simply hopping this year. Event #3 pulled in a $1,734,600 prize pool. And the winner was...

Oh, we wrote all about it. You can find all of it in our special 2015 WCOOP coverage section. But we won't spoil this video for you.

Here are all the highlights!

Want to see more videos like these? Visit PokerStars.TV for the best in poker television.

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

The MPC23 Red Dragon final table is set!

It's been an exciting day here at PokerStars LIVE Macau and after six-and-a-half levels of action only nine players remain. Those lucky few will return tomorrow where one will be crowned the MPC23 Red Dragon champion!

Leading the way for our final nine is Taiwan's Tse Jui Tsai. After a slow start to the day, Tsai scored a big double up by cracking Shao Po Liu's pocket kings with ace-jack. Not long after he was at it again, eliminating Wenlong Jin to add more to his stack. He'll start the final table with a stack of 2,495,000.

It was a wild start to the day with a lot of players across the tournament floor getting their stacks in with the hopes of doubling up. As more and more players were eliminated and those still left found themselves deeper-stacked things slowed down a bit.

Today saw 39 eliminations as we edged closer to the final table. Jiwan Park, Victor Chong and Team PokerStars Pro Kosei Ichinose were all sent to the rail. Ichinose ran his ace-ten into the pocket kings of Marin Yum and couldn't outdraw her for a 19th place finish.

The title of final table bubble boy today went to Qi Luo. He found himself all in and chasing an ace against Yuefeng Pan's pocket jacks. Luo did end up finding an ace on the river, but unfortunately for him it completed a Broadway straight for Pan.

And that's how the day came to a close. You can find the final table seating draw and chip counts below.

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 final nine will be battling it out for the best looking trophy in poker and the HK$2,108,000 first place prize from 3:00pm tomorrow. We hope you can join us for the exciting conclusion to this Red Dragon right here at the PokerStars Blog.

We're into Day 5 of WCOOP 2015. Here's the latest update with 16 events now started.

Today's highlights:

--Kashmir_uzi wins Event #08, collecting $20,178 for first place as well as a WCOOP bracelet to go with a SCOOP title.
--In Event #09 William "hellzito" Arruda triumphs after a marathon heads-up to win the Super Tuesday Special Edition, more than $260,000 and a first WCOOP bracelet.

Round up of latest results

There's nothing like a no-limit single draw event to remind you of a world outside hold'em, not that some of us understand it. But while you or I might still struggle to understand the complexities and nuances of the game, others seem to have it cracked, including the cast, led by eventual winner Kashmir_uzi, who reached the final table of Event #08, the NL Single Draw 2-7 Championship.

Interestingly they are all the type of player who has conquered hold'em at some point in their careers, and who presumably wanted to add other challenges to their poker careers. They have evidently done so with aplomb, as Martin Harris reported for the PokerStars Blog.

The other event to finish since our update yesterday was Event #09, the Super Tuesday Special Edition which, well, went big. The heads-up may have lasted for two and a half hours, but then again what do you expect when first prize turned out to be more than $259,000?

William "hellzito" Arruda of Brazil, earned that after a two way deal with bullyboy1978 from Ireland, who was at least compensated with $240,000. It was a close run thing for Team Pro Jason Mercier in this event, who finished 15th. Pauly McGuire entrenched himself in this one to bring the report, which you can read here.

Here are the two scores in full:

Event #08: $700 NL Single Draw 2-7 Championship
Entries: 134
Prize pool: $89,110

Places paid: 21

1. Kashmir_uzi (United Kingdom) $20,718.11
2. Puurle (Switzerland) $14,57.60
3. raconteur (United Kingdom) $9,802.10
4. EvnomiYa (Russia) $7,128.80
5. Yuri "theNERDguy" Martins (Brazil) $5,346.60
6. Ami "UhhMee" Barer (Canada) $4,009.95
7. Mohsin "sms9231" Charania (Canada) $3,118.85


Event #09: $1,050 NL Hold'em (Super Tuesday SE)
Entrants: 1,722
Prize Pool: $1,722,000
Places Paid: 198

1. William "hellzito" Arruda (Brazil) $259,202.80 *
2. bullyboy1978 (Ireland) $240,177.20 *
3. Tom "tollgate" Grigg (Australia) $159,285.00
4. Phill "Grindation" Mcallister (United Kingdom) $117,096.00
5. 88118811 (Argentina) $84,378.00
6. Dimsevich (Lithuania) $67,158.00
7. gusmaa (Brazil) $49,938.00
8. Elmagico19A1 (Netherlands) $32,718.00
9. Kyle Aiken (Costa Rica) $17,736.60
* = denotes a two-way deal

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 to get your teeth into today with three more events starting:

Event 14: $200 NL Hold'em (Big Antes, Optional re-entry) 08.00 ET
Event 15: $200 PL Omaha (1R1A) 11.00 ET
Event 16: $500 NL Hold'em (Progressive Super KO) 14.00 ET

In addition there three events that play out to a winner later today.

Event 11: NL Hold'em (Progressive Super KO) (66 of 3,569 remain)
Event 12: NL Draw Championship (7 of 118 remain including "Colisea" and Shaun Deeb)
Event 13: NL Hold'em Heads-Up (64 of 1,021 remain)

We'll have final table reports for all three events later today.

Video of the Day

Watch a great demonstration of High Rollering in these highlights from Event #03 of WCOOP, featuring the $10,000 Heads-Up tournament. Here you'll find both the semi-finals and final in detail, a great way to get inside the minds of some of the world's best online heads-up players.

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

As was the case yesterday, reidir tops the leader board with no change to his 130 points. In fact the only difference in the top five is the addition of Single Draw 2-7 winner Kashmir_uzi, who with 110 points joins those tied for third place.

Click to enlarge

All the leader board details can be found here

Stats and more Stats

Event #13 of WCOOP, which comes to a close later today, might look like an ordinary WCOOP contest, but is has a little more significance, historically speaking. With there having been 487 WCOOP events prior to this year's championship, Event #13 is the 500th event ever held. A small piece of history perhaps for one of the 64 players still in contention.

You'll find more on the WCOOP statistics page. Remember to Tweet us @PokerStarsBlog if you find anything bizarre. We'd love to hear what you find.

Tweet of the day

Randy Lew is right...

Today's dubious fact

With 500 WCOOP events now played two countries - the United States (676 finals) and Canada (508) - can claim to average at least one player at each and every final table.

On to Day 6!

That's all for today. As WCOOP continues, find out everything there is to know about the Championship on the WCOOP homepage. In the meantime good luck to everyeon taking part. We'll see you in the headlines tomorrow.

Welcome back to PokerStars LIVE Macau!

The penultimate day.

It's time to fight it out for that elusive Red Dragon final table.

The 48 remaining players will be making their way into the poker room soon for our 3:00pm.

Leading the way is China's Kejian Mu who was the only one to bag up over a million chips yesterday. For a full recap of the Day 2 action and the other chip leaders you can click here.

Stay tuned for Day 3!

The final two seemed so evenly matched that it came down to a battle of contrasting styles: small ball versus big ball. Brazil's hellzito unleashed an offense that relied on blitzing tactics and winning small pots, whereas Ireland's bullyboy1978 won fewer hands but focused more on quality and not quantity by going after bigger pots.

2015 WCOOP Event #9 featured a remarkable final table that lasted almost five hours. At least 2.5 hours were devoted to a sensational heads-up battle between hellzito and bullboy1978. Both players agreed that they never expected to play that long during an endless fight that seemed to go on forever. William "hellzito" Arruda emerged from the scorched battlefield as the victor at a tempestuous final table in which pocket Queens played a prominent role. While on the brink of elimination, hellzito snapped off Queens to avoid a fatality and on the final hand, hellzito's pocket Queens held up to win the pot and the tournament.

WCOOP Event #9 (Super Tuesday Special Edition) $1,050 NL attracted 1,722 players to this two-day bonanza. They top 198 places were paid out of the prize pool worth $1,722,000.00, which crushed the 1M guarantee. A first-place prize of $288,435.00 was set aside to the eventual champion.

Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier embarked on a deep run in Event #9, but the two-time WCOOP champion (and 6-time COOP champ) narrowly missed a final table when he finished in 15th place.

Late into Day 1, Jason Mercier clung onto one of the shortest stacks remaining on the final five table in the tournament. Moments before play ended on Day 1, Mercier staved off an elimination by winning a decisive pot (approximately worth 233K) with [As][Qd] against pAtcAsh83's [Ad][5d]. Mercier flopped two pair, which held up, and Mercier leap-frogged to the middle of the pack.

When play ended on Day 1, only 45 players were left standing. Kyle Aiken (Costa Rica) was the overall leader with 1.61M. Kyle Aiken was one of only two players to surpass the 1M mark along with anth0nypappa at 1.1M. Mercier advanced to Day 2 with 266,390 in chips, good enough for 24th overall.

Day 2. Dawn of a new day. The day commenced with a couple of rapid-fire bustouts in the first few minutes of action. Less than 12 minutes into Day 2, Mercier chipped up to 411K with [8s][8c] against diamanto13's [As][Kd]. Mercier flopped a set of eights and rivered a full house, which sent diamanto13 to the rail in 42nd place.

With 2 tables to go and 18 players left, Kyle Aiken retained the lead with 2M and Mercier sat 11th overall with 705K. Mercier went to work right away and chipped up to over 1M. Mercier turned a straight with [Qc][Jh] on a board of [Ad][Td][8h][Ks][Kh], and Mercier won a 656K pot against Dimsevich. Alas, that would be as high as he'd get.

Only 15 were left in the hunt when Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier ran [Tc][Td] into Grindation's [Kd][Kh]. Mercier started the hand with 1.06M and he got it all-in preflop after a rare 6-bet shove. The board finished up [8d][5s][3s][As][6d] and Mercier busted out in 15th place, which paid out $11,193.00. Grindation seized the lead with 2.2M.

With 14 to go, Ireland's bullyboy1978 slow-played pocket Aces to jump into the lead after dragging a 1M pot against Kyle Aiken. As action winded down toward the final table, Grindation became the new leader and became the first player to pass 3M.

Action went hand-for-hand with 10 remaining and big-stacked Grindnation had 3.8M. Irini2011 attempted to make a final stand with [Qc][Ts], but ran into Grindation's [Kc][Kh]. Irini2011 turned a gutshot, but never got there. Irini2011 bubbled off the final table in 10th place and Grindnation's big stack got bigger.

WCOOP-09 - Final Table Chip Counts:
Seat 1: Dimsevich (1,353,217)
Seat 2: gusmaa (1,247,850)
Seat 3: Kyle Aiken (763,265)
Seat 4: Elmagico19A1 (830,004)
Seat 5: hellzito (724,440)
Seat 6: tollgate (2,279,789)
Seat 7: Grindation (4,372,896)
Seat 8: bullyboy1978 (3,598,970)
Seat 9: 88118811 (2,049,569)

The final table commenced during Level 42 with the blinds at 15K/30K and a 3,750 ante. The U.K.'s Grindation held the lead with 4.3M, while Brazil's hellzito was the shortest stack with 830K. The final table featured Tom "tollgate" Grigg, who won the 2015 SCOOP Main Event earlier this year. Other notables included Phill "Grindation" Mcallister (runner-up in 2014 SCOOP and final table in 2015 SCOOP) and William "hellzito" Arruda (a MTT grinder from Brazil with over seven figures in earnings).

THE REAL ME: Kyle Aiken eliminated in 9th place

We played a half of a level before short-stacked Kyle Aiken attempted to double-up or go home. 88118811 opened to 72,500, Kyle Aiken shoved all-in for 493,315 with [Kh][Qs], and 88118811 called with [As][Ks]. 88118811 flopped trip Aces, but Kyle Aiken picked up outs on the turn with a gutshot Broadway draw. The board finished up [Ad][Ah][6s][Th][8h]. Alas, Kyle Aiken failed to improve on the river and 88118811's three Aces held up. Day 1 chip leader, Kyle Aiken from Paraguay, became the first player to exit at the final table. Ninth place paid out $17,736.60.

DOCTOR JIMMY: Elmagico19A1 eliminated in 8th place

Action played through almost two levels before a second elimination. Shorty Elmagico19A1 tried to double up with [As][2s], but ran into 88118811's [Ad][Jd]. The board was [7c][6s][3s][9h][Kh] and 88118811 won the pot with an Ace-high and Jack-kicker. The Netherlands' Elmagico19A1 took home $32,718.00 for 8th place.

HELPLESS DANCER: gusmaa eliminated in 7th place

Cooler time. 88118811 opened to 84,500, gusmaa raised to 220,300, 88118811 shoved for 2,315,603, and gusmaa called all-in for 813,827. gusmaa's [Ah][Ks] was in trouble against 88118811's [Kd][Kh]. The board ran out [Jd][7d][3s][6h][Js] and 88118811's Kings held up by winning the pot with two pair -- Kings and Jacks. gusmaa did not improve Big Slick, and the Brazilian was knocked out in seventh place, which paid out $49,938.00.

With six remaining, Grindation continued to be out in front with 5.7M, while hellzito was short with 637K.

SEA AND SAND: Dimsevich eliminated in 6th place

Another cooler. More firepower. Big Slick vs. Queens. Dimsevich opened to 80,000, bullyboy1978 raised to 200K, Dimsevich re-raised to 1,098,593 with [Ah][Kd], and bullyboy1978 called with [Qh][Qc]. bullyboy1978 flopped a set and rivered a boat. Dimsevich never had a chance with a board of [Qs][9h][7c][3h][9c]. Lithuania's Dimsevich busted in sixth place, which paid out $67,158.00.

DROWNED: 88118811 eliminated in 5th place

More fireworks with Queens versus A-K. This incendiary result sent one player to the rail, and propelled the other into the chip lead. Here's another tale of two Queens... bullyboy1978 min-raised to 100,000, 88118811 bumped it up to 301,000, bullyboy1978 re-raised to 850,000, 88118811 five-bet shoved for 3,603,417, and bullyboy1978 called. 88118811 led with [Qd][Qh] vs. bullyboy1978's [Ac][Kc]. The board finished up [Ks][Th][4d][3s][Kh]. The King on the flop gave bullyboy1978 the lead and another King on the river sealed the deal with trips. With Queens ravished, Argentina's 88118811 finished in fifth place, which paid out $84,378.00.

With four to go... bullyboy1978 led with 9.6M followed by Grindation's 4.3M, then tollgate (1.7M) and hellzito (1.6M).

QUADROPHENIA: Grindation eliminated in 4th place

Phill "Grindation" Mcallister was the next player to meet his fate. Short-stacked with approximately 1.1M, Grindation got it all-in on the board of [7s][5d][2s][4d] with [Kd][Qd] and a flush draw. hellzito called with [7h][7d] and a set of sevens. The [7c] spiked on the river and hellzito won the pot with quads. Tough break. Phill "Grindation" Mcallister was knocked out in fourth place, which paid out $117,096.00.

DEAL? NO

With three to go, action was paused to discuss a deal. bullyboy1978 held the top slot with (8.88M), followed by tollgate (5M) and hellzito (3.2M). Any deal had to leave $20,000 on the table for first place and the ICM numbers were floated: bullyboy1978 ($232,881.10), tollgate ($210,690.20), and hellzito ($195,093.70).

"I'm gonna need 217,500 gents. Take it or leave it," remarked tollgate.

Hellizto politely asked for better deal, "I don't want to sound rude, but I'm comfortable playing. But I'd be happy if I got 200K on a deal."

To which bullyboy1978 responded, "WTF?"

tollgate urged the players to resume play. Unable to reach a deal, action resumed three-handed.

CUT MY HAIR: tollgate eliminated in 3rd place

Three-hand did not last very long before we saw a bust out. tollgate opened to 154,000, bullyboy1978 raised to 350,000, and tollgate called. Both players checked the board of [Js][Tc][5h]. The turn was the [7s]. bullyboy1978 fired out 294,612, tollgate bumped it up to 848,484, and bullyboy1978 called. The [Td] fell on the river. bullyboy1978 checked, tollgate moved all-in for 3,209,260, and bullyboy1978 called. tollgate tabled an unimproved [3d][2d] and lost the pot to bullyboy1978's [Ts][8h] and trip tens. Australia's tollgate was knocked out in third place, which paid out $159,285.00.

HEADS-UP: hellzito (Brazil) vs. bullyboy1978 (Ireland)
Seat 5: hellzito (3,262,729)
Seat 8: bullyboy1978 (13,957,271)

With two to go, bullyboy1978 held a sizable lead. Despite the disadvantage, hellzito seemed prepped for a long haul. I doubt either player knew it, but they'd embark on an epic heads-up battle that would last 2.5 hours.

During the first half hour or so, there was not much chip movement aside from bullboy1978 gaining minuscule ground. At the 40-minute mark, a patient hellzito finally doubled up. A bad beat prevented bullyboy1978 from picking off hellzito in yet another case of cracked Queens. bullyboy1978's [Qc][Qs] lost to hellzito's [Ad][3s] trip Aces, when the board finished up [Td][7d][2h][As][Ah]. Remember this particular hand because it would end up being the last opportunity bullboy1978 had a chance to knock out hellzito. At that point, hellzito doubled up to 6.8M and bullboy's big stack was trimmed to 10.3M.

hellzito embarked on a series of mini-rushes or blitzes at different junctures of heads-up. During this particular rush, hellzito seized the lead when [8s][8c] held up on a rigid board of [7h][Ad][3d][2s][Ac].

At the one-hour mark, just as hellzito tried to pass 10M, bullyboy1978 dragged a 2.8M pot to regain a slight lead with 9M. hellzito counterattacked with another mini-rush by winning nine out of ten hands to retake the lead 10M to 7M.

70 minutes into heads-up, bullyboy1978 slipped under 5M, but appeared to gain momentum after dragging two pots worth 5M to chip up to 7M. Once again, hellzito launched a successful counterattack to win a flurry of hands as hellzito surged to over 14M.

90 minutes into heads-up, bullyboy1978 was on the ropes with 2.7M. When things looked bleak, bullyboy1978 finally woke up with a big pair. bullyboy1978 avoided an elimination with [Ks][Kh] and doubled up to 7M. For the next thirty minutes, the two flirted within the 7M-10M range, swapping the lead more times to count.

I'VE HAD ENOUGH... DEAL!

After nearly two grueling hours of heads-up, the final two paused action to discuss a deal. bullyboy1978 was ahead with 9.6M and hellzito held 7.6M. They had to leave $20,000 on the table to the eventual champion. hellzito jokingly offered to split the prize pool. The numbers were floated: bullyboy1978 ($243,177.20) and hellzito ($236,202.80). bullyboy1978 was in a generous mood and offered to give hellzito and additional 3K. The final deal numbers were: $240,177.20 for bullyboy1978 and hellzito secured $239,202.80... with an additional $20,000 left on the table to the champion.

"Good battle BTW," said bullyboy1978

"Yep, it's not standard to play 2 hours HU!" replied hellzito.

LOVE, REIGN O'ER ME: bullyboy1978  eliminated in 2nd place; hellzito wins WCOOP Event #9!

Approximately 2.5 hours after heads-up began and almost 5 hours after the final table commenced, this event reached a climax with a mini-rush by hellzito. The Brazilian won 5 out of the last 6 hands and finally landed a fatal knock-out blow.

Going into the final hand, hellzito led 10.9M to 6.3M. hellzito min-raised to 320,000 and bullyboy1978 called. The flop was [8s][7d][2d]. bullyboy1978 checked, hellzito bet 280,000, bullyboy1978 check-raised to 738,800, hellzito re-raised to 1,440,000, bullyboy1978 moved all-in for 5,975,260, and hellzito called.

hellzito: [Qc][Qd]
bullyboy1978: [Th][8c]

hellzito led with a pair of Queens versus a pair of eights. The turn was the [Jc] and the river was the [Js]. hellzito won the pot with two pair -- Queens and Jacks.

Ireland's bullyboy1978 was unable to come from behind and busted in second place. bullyboy1978's remarkable and valiant runner-up performance was worth $240,177.20.

Congrats to Brazil's hellzito for winning the marathon-like WCOOP Event #9 $1,050 Super Tuesday Special Edition. First-place payday was worth $259,202.80.

WCOOP-09: $1,050 NL Hold'em (Super Tuesday SE)
Entrants: 1,722
Prize Pool: $1,722,000
Places Paid: 198

1. William "hellzito" Arruda (Brazil) $259,202.80 *
2. bullyboy1978 (Ireland) $240,177.20 *
3. tollgate (Australia) $159,285.00
4. Phill "Grindation" Mcallister (United Kingdom) $117,096.00
5. 88118811 (Argentina) $84,378.00
6. Dimsevich (Lithuania) $67,158.00
7. gusmaa (Brazil) $49,938.00
8. Elmagico19A1 (Netherlands) $32,718.00
9. Kyle Aiken (Costa Rica) $17,736.60

* = denotes a two-way deal

Visit the WCOOP home page for a complete schedule of remaining events and check out the leader board.

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Pauly McGuire is an author and freelance contributor to PokerStars.

There's a lot that's hidden in draw poker.

Unlike flop games (with community cards) or stud games (with up cards), in draw games -- such as Event #8 of this year's WCOOP, the $700 No-Limit Single Draw 2-7 Championship -- everyone's entire hand is kept private. Only choices made regarding discards and betting provide clues regarding the relative strength of a player's holding.

There are other factors, too, including the player's image and style, that might provide hand reading clues. A lot of times when playing online, it's hard to know who you're up against -- unless, of course, you reach the final table of a tournament like this one, where many of poker's best known and top-ranked talent tend to congregate.

Such was the case again, and after outlasting top players like Mohsin "sms9231" Charania, Ami "UhhMee" Barer, and Yuri "theNERDguy" Martins -- plus a number of other 'COOP stars who just missed the final table -- it was Kashmir_uzi of the U.K. taking away the WCOOP bracelet and a $20,718.11 first prize.

The event drew 134 runners, creating a $89,110 prize pool that easily exceeded the $50K guarantee. The top 21 finishers split the winnings, and on the first day of play on Tuesday the 134 who started played all of the way down to just 12, with Shaun "shaundeeb" Deeb -- he of the two WCOOP titles and five SCOOP wins -- being the last player eliminated on Day 1, going out in 13th for a $1,782.20 cash.

Among others eliminated just before Deeb who also made the cash were two-time 'COOP winner Stephen "stevie444" Chidwick (16th), one-time SCOOP winner Dylan "ImaLucSac" Lynde (17th), Martin "nizmo jiz" Kozlov (18th), six-time 'COOP winner Dan "djk123" Kelly (19th), and Niklas "Lena900" Astedt (20th), each of whom made $1,559.42.

Here's how the counts looked overnight for the final dozen:

1. bolivianSWAG (Malta) -- 195,157
2. raconteur (United Kingdom) -- 178,539
3. Ami "UhhMee" Barer (Canada) -- 149,938
4. Mohsin "sms9231" Charania (Canada) -- 131,255
5. Yuri "theNERDguy" Martins (Brazil) -- 128,939
6. EvnomiYa (Russia) -- 119,212
7. Kashmir_uzi (United Kingdom) -- 114,428
8. Demonic16 (Hungary) -- 82,006
9. Puurle (Switzerland) -- 68,510
10. Aftret (Norway) -- 67,504
11. doriansolo (Canada) -- 62,830
12. RunGodlike (United Kingdom) -- 41,682

Short stacks RunGodlike (12th) and doriansolo (11th) were both eliminated within the first 15 minutes of play on Day 2, earning $1,782.20 apiece. Aftret (10th) was the next to go, and after slipping in the counts start-of-day leader bolivianSWAG fell as well (ninth). Demonic16 then followed (eighth), with the latter three each earning $2,227.75.

With seven left the final table was set. The Brazilian Yuri "theNERDguy" Martins had the lead at that point, but with the blinds still small there was much poker left to be played.

Seat 1: EvnomiYa (Russia) -- 139,624
Seat 2: Kashmir_uzi (United Kingdom) -- 227,472
Seat 3: raconteur (United Kingdom) -- 187,189
Seat 4: Puurle (Switzerland) -- 250,943
Seat 5: Ami "UhhMee" Barer (Canada) -- 174,566
Seat 6: Mohsin "sms9231" Charania (Canada) -- 80,010
Seat 7: Yuri "theNERDguy" Martins (Brazil) -- 280,196

They'd nearly reached the one-hour mark for the day, and it was long after the first break that the first final table elimination took place.

With the blinds 1,600/3,200, Ami "UhhMee" Barer (who has two SCOOP titles on PokerStars) opened with a button raise to 10,014, then Mohsin "sms9231" Charania (who also has won two SCOOPs) three-bet all in from the small blind for 52,340. Yuri "theNERDguy" Martins called the shove from the big blind, and Barer called as well. All three players discarded a single card, and Barer and Martins each checked.

The at-risk Charania showed [8h][7c][4c][4s][3s], having paired up. Meanwhile Martins had made a 10-low with [Td][8d][4h][3d][2s], and after Barer mucked the pot was pushed to Martins as Charania was sent railward in seventh.

About 40 minutes later, Kashmir_uzi opened from UTG with a just-over-2x raise to 8,800. By then Ami "UhhMee" Barer had become short-stacked, and three-bet all in for almost 26,000 from the button. At that Yuri "theNERDguy" Martins put in a four-bet from the blinds, chasing Kashmir_uzi.

Martins then stood pat while Barer drew one card, and Martins turned over [Jd][7h][6c][5c][3d] for a jack-low. Barer had been drawing live, but turned over [Td][Tc][6d][4h][2c] for a pair of tens and had to settle for a sixth-place finish.

The remaining five would battle on for more than an hour-and-a-half more, then with the blinds up to 4,000/8,000 it was raconteur opening with a raise to 18,000 from the cutoff, Puurle reraising to 58,888 from the button, then Yuri "theNERDguy" Martins shoving from the small blind for 231,930 total. It folded back around to Puurle who called and then stood pat while Martins drew one.

Martins turned over [Qh][9c][8d][7h][3d] for a Q-low, but Puurle had been dealt a pat-nine with [9s][8c][6d][5h][2s], and Martins was done in fifth.

They'd nearly reached the day's four-hour mark when a hand arose that saw raconteur raise to 22,500 from the button, then EvnomiYa shoved from the big blind for 282,526 (just over 28 BBs) and raconteur called. Both stood pat, and EvnomiYa tabled [Js][8s][7s][3h][2c] hoping the J-8 would be enough. Alas for the Russian, raconteur had that beat with [Tc][9h][8c][5c][3c], and EvnomiYa's run ended in fourth.

The final trio battled onward, with Puurle edging in front with over 630,000, Kashmir_uzi next with about 468,000, and raconteur third with just under 240,000.

Then after Kashmir_uzi opened for the minimum from the button to 24,000, raconteur jammed from the small blind (for about 20 BBs) and Kashmir_uzi called. Both drew a single card, then raconteur turned over [Td][8s][7s][4h][4s], having paired up the four. Kashmir_uzi's draw went better, though, resulting in a hand of [Tc][8h][7c][5c][2h], and raconteur was done in third.

Heads-up started with Kashmir_uzi in front with 719,954 versus Puurle's 620,046. The British player immediately began to widen the gap, pushing up over 1 million as the Swiss player fell back under 250,000. Purrle managed to chip back right away, though, edging back up close to half a million before the final hand suddenly took place.

With the blinds at 6,000/12,000, Kashmir_uzi raised from the button to 28,800, and Puurle responded with a three-bet to 77,777 which Kashmir_uzi called.

Both players stood pat, each giving the other something to consider as the final betting round began.

Puurle acted first, and took the option to shove all in with the 409,177 sitting behind. Kashmir_uzi called the push.

Puurle turned over [Qh][Th][7h][6d][5s] for a Q-low, but Kashmir_uzi had drawn better with [9h][7d][5d][3d][2d] for a nine and it was all over -- Kashmir_uzi had won.

Congratulations to Kashmir_uzi, whose Shangri-La beneath the summer moon now includes a WCOOP bracelet to go along with the SCOOP watch won this past May in a $2,100 NL 2-7 Single Draw event.

WCOOP-08: $700 NL Single Draw 2-7 Championship

Entries: 134

Prize pool: $89,110

Places paid: 21

1. Kashmir_uzi (United Kingdom) $20,718.11
2. Puurle (Switzerland) $14,57.60
3. raconteur (United Kingdom) $9,802.10
4. EvnomiYa (Russia) $7,128.80
5. Yuri "theNERDguy" Martins (Brazil) $5,346.60
6. Ami "UhhMee" Barer (Canada) $4,009.95
7. Mohsin "sms9231" Charania (Canada) $3,118.85


We're still only a few days into the 2015 World Championship of Online Poker, with the majority of the 70-event schedule still to come. Check out the WCOOP page for the full schedule of remaining tournaments.

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Day 2 is a wrap!

The room here at PokerStars LIVE Macau is now dying down for the night after the conclusion of the MPC23 Red Dragon Day 2.

Today promised to be shorter than the Day 1 flights with only six one-hour levels to play through. There were 213 who hit the felt this afternoon but only 48 will return for the official Day 3 tomorrow.

Of those 48 it's China's Kejian Mu way out in front. He finished the day on a monstrous 1,006,000 well ahead of Korea's Jiwan Park in second place on 722,000. Mu appeared to have a quiet start to Day 2 but steamrolled home in the later stages to establish himself as chip boss.

Along with the usual poker action, today was exciting for another reason.

Cash.

Today was where the bubble would burst and 117 lucky players would guarantee a return on their investment. It ended up being an extremely short time on the bubble, with Chengtao Sun finding himself all in and at risk the very next deal after hand for hand play was announced.

Sun was in rough shape with [5d][5s] against an opponent's [9h][9c] and began to leave the tournament area as soon as he saw the [Jd][9d][8h] flop. The [7c] turn gave him a shot at a chop but the [4s] river solidified that he was the MPC23 Red Dragon bubble boy.

And then the floodgates opened. All-in after all-in was announced across the tournament floor as those who had been holding off for a payday were then free to gamble.

With only 48 surviving the day, there were a lot of Day 2 casualties. Team PokerStars Pro Vivian Im was one that couldn't hold on today. She lost a flip with ace-queen against pocket jacks to find the rail earlier in the afternoon. The start of Day chip leader Shashank Jain also fell by the wayside. He ultimately got it in good with ace-queen against ace-jack but was eliminated when his opponent spiked a jack and had him covered.

Team PokerStars Pro Kosei Ichinose was the only one of his teammates to survive through to Day 3. Ichinose bagged up 228,000 at the conclusion of play and starts tomorrow in 31st place.

MPC23 Red Dragon Day 2 Top Ten

Kejian Mu (China) - 1006000
Jiwan Park (Korea) - 722000
Nikhil Maheswari (India) - 615000
Huafeng Gu (China) - 567000
Jingrong Ji (China) - 507000
Shao Po Liu (China) - 491000
Yuefeng Pan (China) - 461000
Jongmin Park (Korea) - 438000
Saehoon Lee (Korea) - 431000
Chen Zhang (China) - 428000

Click here for Day 3 seating draw

And that's all she wrote for today.

Day 3 kicks off on Thursday from 3:00pm where players battle it out on the penultimate day. Who can survive to the final table and have a shot at winning the HK$2,108,000 top prize and prestigious Red Dragon title?

Find out this week right here at the PokerStars Blog.