If you think you’re busy, just look what some of these guys got up to on the seventh day of the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP). And if you think you’ve earned a lot, just look what “gordon0410” could win today. Here’s the latest round-up.
TODAY’S HEADLINES
• Multiple ‘COOP champions add further successes
• Benny “RunGodlike” Glaser, Francisco “Tomatee” Benitez and Alex “dynoalot” Difelice add to hauls
• Japan and Uruguay claim first titles
• Vicent “gordon0410” Bosca deep in three huge hold’em events
• High Roller breaks $2 million guarantee, biggest of WCOOP so far
BEHIND THE HEADLINES
Claas “SsicK_OnE” Segebrecht usually reserves his sickest moments for SCOOP, a tournament series in which he has three titles. But the Austria-based German came out of his autumn hibernation to win WCOOP-20-H: $1,050 NLHE PKO for pretty much exactly $100K, including bounties. He left Ireland’s “sadface11” with an appropriate name at the end of their heads-up duel. In 2016, Segebrecht won two SCOOP titles in the same week, so look out to see if he can repeat the double.
There was “only” a $109 buy-in to WOOP-20-M: NLHE PKO, but the top three could have graced any major online tournament held over the past few years. Alex “dynoalot” Difelice, a previous WCOOP champion who has more than $4.3 million documented winnings on PokerStars, ended up claiming the $46K top prize (including bounties), but to do so had to deny Denmark’s “Tralllle” and the UK’s Jon “luckyfish89” Clark, who finished second and third respectively. Tralllle you might remember, won the SCOOP Sunday Warm-Up equivalent earlier this year, while Clark won the SCOOP Thursday Thrill the year before.
There was another outstanding heads-up line-up in the WCOOP Super Tuesday as Uruguay’s finest, Francisco “Tomatee” Benitez, faced off against former WSOP champ Pius “MastaP89” Heinz. Benitez has won numerous High Roller club titles, as well as a famous SCOOP triumph last year, while Heinz is still best remembered for an $8.7 million victory in Las Vegas, for which his banner still hangs in the Amazon Room at the Rio. The pair struck a deal with the best part of $150K for each of them, before Benitez got over the line for the outright win, from a 2,393-entry field.
Talking about online superstars: Benny “RunGodlike” Glaser has now come to the WCOOP 2019 party, winning the medium buy-in razz event for $10,924. Glaser has three WSOP bracelets a SCOOP victory and a WCOOP title from this time last year, and it seems pretty much certain it won’t be his last. Glaser talked to us last year after winning his first WCOOP title, where he described the commitment needed to play the kind of punishing schedule he always does.
There was another ridiculous three-handed showdown in the $1,050 razz tournament, where Japanese superstar, and former Team Online member Naoya “nkeyno” Kihara beat Adam “adamyid” Owen and Calvin “cal42688” Anderson into second and third place, respectively. Kihara has finished fourth or better numerous times in COOP events, but finally got one over the line and denied Owen his second WCOOP title of the week in doing so.
The highest buy-in events at WCOOP are usually the ones whose final stages feature some of the game’s best-known talents. But there was a clear exception in the $5,200 WCOOP-22 High Roller, whose eventual champion “KaraageChicken” has no known previous results. It may be that he or she has slipped under the radar, but this $196,251 success seems to be a breakout performance. We will hope to find out more soon. The final table featured the likes of Conor “1_conor_b_1” Beresford, Sami “Lrslzk” Kelopuro and “josef_shvejk“, but “KaraageChicken” struck a three-way deal with former Sunday Mllion winner “WATnlos“ and former WCOOP winner “Futti18“ before coming out on top.
In the final big NLHE event of the day, Austria’s “MLS20” secured his second career WCOOP title, adding it to a SCOOP win from earlier this year. “MLS20” won a first WCOOP event in 2017, before winning a $215 buy-in SCOOP Six-Max event. Last night’s win, from a tournament with a $2,100 buy-in, was the biggest of them all, banking “MLS20” $119,539.
INTERVIEW! INTERVIEW! INTERVIEW!
We caught up with Finland’s “MAZAAZAZI“, who earlier this week won WCOOP-09-L: $11 NL 5-Card Draw. That earned him $2,674.51, including bounties, and that was particularly good because his entire study for the tournament comprised a bit of Googling. “I had no expectation when I registered the tourney, since I haven’t played the game much,” MAZAAZAZI said. “But I was pretty sure 99 percent of the field hadn’t either.” Click for the full interview.
TODAY’S RESULTS
Tournament | Entries | Prize pool | Winner | Country | Prize |
WCOOP-20-L: $11 NLHE PKO | 12,056 | $118,149 | Jpickering | UK | $9,822.38† |
WCOOP-20-M: $109 NLHE PKO | 4,251 | $425,100 | dynoalot | Canada | $46,006.75† |
WCOOP-20-H: $1,050 NLHE PKO | 536 | $536,000 | SsicK_OnE | Austria | $98,994.80† |
WCOOP-22-L: $55 NLHE Mini Super Tuesday | 9,825 | $491,250 | shaenny | Brazil | $66,835.21 |
WCOOP-22-M: $530 NLHE Super Tuesday | 2,393 | $1,196,500 | Tomatee | Uruguay | $156,832.32* |
WCOOP-22-H: $5,200 NLHE High Roller | 242 | $1,210,000 | KaraageChicken | UK | $196,251.00* |
WCOOP-23-L: $11 Razz | 2,049 | $20,080 | badidada | Germany | $2,841.91* |
WCOOP-23-M: $109 Razz | 582 | $58,200 | RunGodlike | UK | $10,924.14 |
WCOOP-23-H: $1,050 Razz | 104 | $104,000 | nkeyno | Japan | $25,480.00 |
WCOOP-24-L: $22 NLHE 6-Max | 5,803 | $116,060 | Jefffrr8 | Canada | $16,499.58 |
WCOOP-24-M: $215 NLHE 6-Max | 1,564 | $312,800 | LeFaisao | Poland | $43,535.44* |
WCOOP-24-H: $2,100 NLHE 6-Max | 319 | $638,000 | MLS20 | Austria | $119,539.24 |
STAT TRACKER
Events completed: 69
Entries so far: 310,874
Prize pools so far: $26,532,932
First prizes so far: $4,015,712
In-the-money finishers so far: 51,066
Tournaments starting today: 9
TOP TWEETS
Is that something in your eye? Jeff “Jefffrr8” Reardon feels the love from Twitter as he blazes through a 5,803-strong field to win WCOOP-24-L for $16.5K.
Took down the Wcoop-24 on @PokerStars for $16500USD, thank you to everyone who’s supported me with this 🤧❤️ pic.twitter.com/1L0WM9w8Gt
— Jeff (@ReardonJeffrey) September 12, 2019
And he finds a familiar face alongside him in the winner’s enclosure:
Winner! 🏆
I’m the World Champion! Shipped the $109 Razz!#WCOOP pic.twitter.com/lfnTP87WXM— Benny Glaser (@BennyG444) September 11, 2019
One of PokerStars Blog’s author friends, Michael Acevedo, is deep in WCOOP-27-H. While he celebrates on Twitter, read an excerpt from his latest book and play like the pros.
Made another day two in a $1k @pokerstars #WCOOP, tomorrow I’ll be playing for $78k Uptop, already ITM, cashing for $2159. Coming back 12/55, if you are interested in my action check out @StakeKings. #vamosticos #Poker #OnlinePoker #PokerStars #ModernPokerTheory. pic.twitter.com/RF9UbGJ0B9
— Michael Acevedo (@GTOPoker) September 12, 2019
Meanwhile, Acevedo will be joined on Day 2 in that tournament by Team Pro Celina Lin, who is on fire so far this WCOOP:
On to day 2 of the #WCOOP 1k! In the 💵💵💵 with 55 left & 78k up top @PokerStars pic.twitter.com/Mk2ccVF18s
— Celina Lin (@CelinaLin) September 12, 2019
ONGOING TOURNAMENTS
There’s an amazing line-up around the final two tables of the $25,000 WCOOP-25 High Roller, which has generated the biggest prize pool of WCOOP so far. The guarantee of $2 million was comfortably surpassed as cashiers collected 90 entries (including 26 re-entries).
The bursting of the bubble ended the night and left a line-up including Vicent “gordon0410” Bosca leading Mustapha “lasagnaaammm” Kanit, Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, Timothy “Tim0thee” Adams, Dominik “Bounatirou” Nitsche, Rachid Ben “SkaiWalkurrr” Cherif, Timofey “Trueteller” Kuznetzov, Samuel “€urop€an” Vousden, Filipe “Zagazaur” Oliveira, Jordi “prot0” Urlings and Chris “Big Huni” Hunichen.
Watch the best in the world battle towards the $527K first prize from 6pm WET.
It’s going to be particularly busy, and particularly profitable, for Bosca, who is also in the last 38 of the $2,100 medium buy-in event, as well as 13th from 55 left in WCOOP-27-H. He sits in 18th in the first of those, which also features a spectacular line up. The current Pocket Fives top ranked online player Andras “probirs” Nemeth is in the top five, as well as Stefan “mindgamer” Jedlicka, whose is leading the WCOOP Player of the Series race.
COMING UP TODAY
WCOOP-28: NLHE PKO – Buy-ins: $55, $530, $5,200
There’s $1 million guaranteed in both the $530 and $5,200 buy-in events, and expect it to be reached comfortably. And after that, the sky is the limit…
WCOOP-29: PL Omaha Hi/Lo Six Max: $22, $215, $2,100
One of the variants that promises the most fun, with the low buy-in only $22. Remember: don’t draw to a chop! With that word of advice, you’re all set.
WCOOP-30: NLHE – Buy-ins: $22, $215, $2,100
With guarantees of $100K, $250K and $500K, there’s no reason not to play.
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