It’s Day 13 of the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP). Unlucky for some? Not for most of the players in today’s round-up, including some of those guys who seem to run purer than the driven snow.
TODAY’S HEADLINES
• Mateos and Gieles win big
• Second title for UK’s “rickv17”
• More than 100,000 prizes now paid in WCOOP 2019
• Final 6+ event of the series gets started
BEHIND THE HEADLINES
Adrian Mateos, during his EPT celebrations
The two biggest prizes of Tuesday night at the WCOOP tables went to two of PokerStars’ most established tournament bosses: Adrian “Amadi_017” Mateos and Luuk “pokerkluka” Gieles. Mateos, one of the first Spanish players to move to London to play online, is probably best known for his exploits in the live arena, where he is a three-time WSOP bracelet winner and former EPT Grand Final champion. But like all of the major live poker hotshots, he cut his teeth online and also has a previous victory in SCOOP and WCOOP to complement his $17.7 million live earnings. Last night Mateos won the $2,100 NLHE PKO event for $130,468.21, including bounties, beating former WCOOP winner “CalmRevolver” into second place. Alex “bigfox86” Foxen was second and reigning SCOOP Main Event winner Gianluca “Tankanza” Speranza was seventh.
Luuk “pokerkluka” Gieles
When Mateos won his SCOOP title in 2017, his beaten heads-up opponent was Luuk “pokerkluka” Gieles, but Gieles last night had the good sense to be playing a different tournament, which he won. Gieles’s victory, from a field of 1,771 entries in WCOOP-44-H: $530 NLHE 6-Max PKO, earned him $123,910.06, including bounties. It also secures him the ‘COOP hat-trick, following TCOOP success in 2014 and SCOOP victory in the same year. This WCOOP crown will nestle neatly alongside both of those.
There was a heads-up battle between two WCOOP crushers in the single-day $215 NLHE WCOOP-50-M, with the UK’s “rickv17” securing his second victory of the series and denying Francisco “Tomatee” Benitez his. “rickv17” previously won the 8-Game High title for around $60K, but this was a straight hold’em PKO smash n grab, with a buy-in of $215 and a field of 2,511 entries. Benitez, who won the medium buy-in Super Tuesday a week ago, had to make do with around $35K for his second place, while “rickv17” picked up $59,788.22, including that all important final bounty.
Gieles’ success in the WCOOP-H event left Canada’s “TruthBeTold7” still looking for his first win in this year’s WCOOP, despite multiple top three finishes. In fact, “TruthBeTold7″‘s WCOOP has been so good that he has now re-taken top spot in the overall Player of the Series leader board, despite lacking the outright win. He took the best part of $50K for his latest runner-up finish.
On the subject of bridesmaids, Dzmitry “colisea” Urbanovich also does not have a WCOOP title this year, but overnight also finished second for the umpteenth time. Urbanovich was beaten heads-up in the low buy-in PLO8 by “Mr. No way” from Norway, who wins respect for his brilliant screen-name, as well as his $2,902.98 prize.
TODAY’S RESULTS
| Tournament | Entries | Prize pool | Winner | Country | Prize |
| WCOOP-44-L: $5.50 NLHE 6-Max PKO | 23,235 | $113,852 | E6yperoff | Ukraine | $8,003.20† |
| WCOOP-44-M: $55 NLHE 6-Max PKO | 10,461 | $523,050 | ViTaMoS | Ukraine | $50,009.92† |
| WCOOP-44-H: $530 NLHE 6-Max PKO | 1,771 | $885,500 | pokerkluka | Netherlands | $123,910.06† |
| WCOOP-47-L: $5.50 PLO8 8-Max | 4,142 | $20,296 | Mr. No way | Norway | $2,902.98 |
| WCOOP-47-M: $55 PLO8 8-Max | 1,438 | $71,900 | myIT4 | Russia | $9,454.28* |
| WCOOP-47-H: $530 PLO8 8-Max | 313 | $156,500 | ThomiDaHomi | Germany | $26,264.25* |
| WCOOP-50-L: $22 NLHE 8-Max PKO | 9,224 | $184,880 | Jujubh | Brazil | $15,197.67†* |
| WCOOP-50-M: $215 NLHE 8-Max PKO | 2,511 | $502,200 | rickv17 | UK | $59,788.22† |
| WCOOP-50-H: $2,100 NLHE 8-Max PKO | 326 | $652,000 | Amadi_017 | UK | $130,468.21† |
†inc. bounties
*denotes deal
STAT TRACKER
Events completed: 142
Entries so far: 642,074
Prize pools so far: $57,938,075
First prizes so far: $8,854,440.12
In-the-money finishers so far: 101,279
Tournaments starting today: 12
(Note: completed events only)
INTERVIEWS! INTERVIEWS! INTERVIEWS!
Patrick Serda
We’ve been catching up with a heap of winners from this year’s WCOOP, all of whom have been happy to share the secrets of their successes. Click through for first-person accounts of WCOOP triumph, from those who have been there many times before to newcomers sampling the limelight for the first time.
• Patrick “prepstyle71” Serda: No more pizzas for the three-time winner
• Jeffrey “Jefffrr8” Reardon: He wanted a five-figure score. He got one.
• Maxime “Daghemuneguu” Chilaud: Malta-based Frenchman wins first WCOOP of the series
• Norway’s “19_Kumite_79”: First two-day event, biggest field, biggest cash
• Viktor “TsiTool” Kovács: Puts Hungary on the WCOOP map
• Italo “sep_itl1914” Carandinas: Brazilian chooses his own adventure
• Naoya “nkeyno” Kihara: Woken up by a kick from his 3-year-old, plays Razz and wins!
• “snovalshik1”: first-timer, who turned $5.50 into $3,408
• Rinat “Zapahzamazki” Lyapin: Won PLO while streaming live
• Alex “dynoalot” Difelice: Second win, but “I feel I have a ways to go.”
• Pedro “PaDiLhA SP” Padilha: Akkari’s acolyte, who sets the record straight
• Shaun “shaundeeb” Deeb: Seventh title, surely not the last
TWITCH WATCH
Ask anyone in the know to name the best online tournament poker players and it won’t take long for the name “bencb789” to come up. Though he tends to keep a low profile in the live poker world, “bencb789” has been Twitch streaming his WCOOP action this year and here’s a terrific hand he plays against Alex “bigfox86” Foxen. It seems like a straightforward call to many players, but there’s a lot more to it. And trust “bencb789” to nail everything about it:
TOP TWEETS
Our friends in Germany gave us an exclusive look at “ThomiDaHomi” after he won the PLO8 title last night:
Thomi hat es nach Hause gebracht 🎆
‘ThomiDaHomi’ 🇩🇪 seit 4:16 Uhr neuer #WCOOP Champion & um 26.264$ reicher 👊 #Grats an den frisch gebackenen PL Omaha H/L Weltmeister! #Poker #Schland pic.twitter.com/aoNHDKaqJj
— PokerStarsDE (@PokerStarsDE) September 18, 2019
There are a lot of low-stakes players who get their first sample of major poker tournament action at WCOOP time. And by and large, it’s enough to keep them coming back. Here’s @MattyPasqua as an example:
The $22 pko 100 K gtd was an awesome tourney too play in. There was 9244 players & I finished in the upper half. Lasted 2 hours & collected 1 bounty ($5). Pocket kings seem to win flips 2/3rd’s of the time for me. Well today KK’s were mighty #drylNkrnskid #team #Matty #wcoop #pko
— Matty P (@MattyPasqua) September 17, 2019
COUNTRIES LEADER BOARD
Two Tuesday titles for Ukraine and two for the UK moved both of those countries a little further up the leader board, but it’s still neck and neck between Russia and Brazil for overall dominance. Brazilians have been a little quiet of late, but wins can come in clutches and they remain the favourites.
20 titles – Russia
18 – Brazil
16 – UK
10 – Canada
8 – Germany
7 – Netherlands, Finland
5 – Austria, Ukraine
4 – Lithuania, Norway
3 – Mexico, Hungary, Romania, Malta
2 – Sweden, China, Argentina, Poland, Lebanon, Belgium, Denmark
1 – Czech Republic, Thailand, Ireland, Uruguay, Japan, Croatia, Georgia, Latvia, Bulgaria, Moldova, Serbia, Chile.
PLAYER OF THE SERIES LEADER BOARD
Of the players in the top 10 in the overall standings, only three of them have not yet actually won a title during this year’s WCOOP — one of whom sits at the very top. Thanks to his latest second-place finish, Canada’s “TruthBeTold7” wrestled top spot back from double-winner Filipe “Zagazaur” Oliveira. The two other trophy-less players are the much (previously) decorated “krakukra” and Dzmitry “Colisea” Urbanovich, who sit in fourth and equal seventh. There’s now only a week left in WCOOP, so this is going to the wire.
Overall:
1 – TruthBeTold7 Canada 945
2 – Zagazaur Netherlands 925
3 – calvin7v Finland 890
4 – krakukra Russia 765
5 – shaundeeb Mexico 740
6 – RuiNF Netherlands 735
=7 – Colisea Latvia 710
=7 – goleafsgoeh Canada 710
9 – Adamyid Mexico 575
10 – Kroko-dill Russia 560
Low buy-in:
1 – krakukra Russia 370 points
2 – FONBET_RULIT Russia 340
3 – TruthBeTold7 Canada 315
4 – PamPamPake Finland 300
5 – -Rebus1980- Russia 295
Medium buy-in:
1 – Colisea Latvia 460
=2 – Mr Negreanu United Kingdom 275
=2 – shaundeeb Mexico 275
4 – Zagazaur Netherlands 270
5 – TruthBeTold7 Canada 260
High buy-in:
1 – Zagazaur Netherlands 475
2 – calvin7v Finland 460
3 – Lrslzk Finland 410
4 – kimokh Lebanon 375
5 – RuiNF Netherlands 370
ONGOING TOURNAMENTS
The Super Tuesday tournaments drew their regular big crowds of high buy-in regs last night and the $10,300 High Roller in particular has a fine looking last 20. With a prize pool of $1.75 million on the line, Alexandru “steakaddict.” Papazian leads a field that still includes the likes of Samuel “€urop€an” Vousden, Michael “mczhang” Zhang, “bencb789”, Alex “bigfox86” Foxen, and Chris “Big Huni” Hunichen. Belgium’s “XMorphineX” and Ukraine’s “Remi “Lebo_10” are also still alive in the $1,050 buy-in tournament, looking for double triumph.
WCOOP-49, the fixed limit 2-7 triple draw, also has a familiar feel to it. All of Shaun “shaundeeb” Deeb, “merla888” and Filipe “Zagazaur” Oliveira are in the last nine of the high buy-in edition.
STARTING TODAY
6+ hold’em, otherwise known as short deck, is the talk of the poker world, with some of the biggest buy-in tournaments now being played with this variant. WCOOP today offers you the chance to sample the action for a mere $11 — and, if you have the dosh, $1,050. There’s also a lovely PLO 6-Max tournament for the same buy-ins, so get involved.
WCOOP-51: PLO 6-Max – Buy-ins: $11, $109, $1,050
WCOOP-52: NLHE Midweek Freeze – Buy-ins: $5.50, $55, $530
WCOOP-53: 6+ Hold’em 6-Max – Buy-ins: $11, $109, $1,050
WCOOP-54: NLHE 6-Max PKO – Buy-ins: $11, $109, $1,050
PREVIOUS ROUND-UPS
DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 | DAY 4 | DAY 5 | DAY 6 | DAY 7 | DAY 8 | DAY 9 | DAY 10 | DAY 11 | DAY 12