We’ve known Patrick “pmahoney22” Mahoney for a good while here at PokerStars Blog. That’s him up above, on his way to the final table of an LAPT event in Panama several years ago.
He’s won plenty on PokerStars over the years as well, and when talking to us this week he recounted winning a TCOOP and making some WCOOP final tables in the past, including chopping one heads-up versus Dan “djk123″ Kelly” before finishing second. But a WCOOP title had alluded him.
Until this week, that is.
In the very first WCOOP tournament Mahoney played this year, it took him all of five hours to top a 653-entry field and win Event #63-H, a $530 buy-in, NLHE 6-Max. turbo tourney. With a first prize of $56,670.83, that meant a nifty $11K-plus per hour win rate for Mahoney.
“It was a pretty good start for the trip, I guess!” he laughs.
The man from Minnesota has traveled all over during the last decade to play poker, and in fact found himself in picturesque Andorra just prior to sitting down to play the final days of this year’s WCOOP.
The run to the final table meant outlasting a number of high-profile competitors, among them Steve “Mr. Tim Caum” O’Dwyer” (who finished ninth) and Andrey “ThePateychuk” Pateychuk (who took 10th).
The final seven were reseated around the final table, and Mahoney quickly ended up in a confrontation with another big name, “Ole “wizowizo” Schemion.
“I think I won a flip against him to bust him in seventh,” says Mahoney. “He’s a great guy… I like him. But he’s got enough money I think!”
Mahoney describes the tournament as having been a bit of a blur, necessarily punctuated by numerous preflop all-ins and overall running well at showdowns. “With the turbo tournaments, that’s how you’ve got to be to get the win,” he notes.
Fifth out of seven to begin the final table, Mahoney was able to negotiate his way to three-handed play in order to do battle with two more tough opponents, the Italian Gianluca “Tankanza” Speranza playing from Austria and Rodrigo “digopapel” Semeghini of Brazil, both of whom had enjoyed big stacks for much of the tournament’s final stages.
Then came a crucial hand — another one of those preflop all-ins Mahoney noted needed to be won in order to make it through an event such as this.
“Tankanza shoved the button with maybe 20 big blinds,” he explains. “I had a close spot in the small blind with A-9 offsuit and less chips, maybe 14 BBs. I called and he had 4-4, but the big blind (digopapel) called as well with Q-Q.”
“Obviously once the big blind calls, we’re not in good shape at all,” says Mahoney. “He’s not going to call with eights there, I think, which would be the best-case scenario.”
Speaking of best-case scenarios, the flop brought an ace and by the river Mahoney had made a full house, meaning Speranza had busted in third and after the triple-up Mahoney was suddenly in the chip lead. And it wasn’t long after that he’d won another all-in versus Semeghini and a WCOOP title to go along with his previous TCOOP victory.
“Just need to win a SCOOP now!” he says.
After playing those last days of WCOOP, Mahoney is planning to kick back for a short while, perhaps visiting Barcelona with his girlfriend. Then it’ll be a trip back to the U.S. for a friend’s wedding and more poker.
He’s not in a huge hurry to leave the tiny principality situated between France and Spain, though.
“Andorra is beautiful… I love it here,” he says. “The mountains, with real nice weather this time of year, too… I’m all in!”
Call it another successful all-in for Mahoney. Sounds like he’s chosen another good spot for it.
More WCOOP winner interviews:
• Rens “Rens02” Feenstra: 11,254 entries and the Dutch pro beats his buddy heads-up
• Dan “woodbine ave” Scott: Second victory was “a long time coming!”
• Maxim “Pylusha” Pylev: From 15 big blinds to NL08 champion
• “Mr. No way”: It’s not easy beating “Colisea” heads up. Or is it?
• Germany’s “Gaul4200”: “$44K is a lot of money for a 20-year-old student in Germany”
• Joris “BillLewinsky” Ruijs: Captures second career WCOOP title in $530 NLH PKO
• “myIT4”: “The WCOOP… it’s the World Cup, and I was representing Russia!”
• Filipe “Zagazaur” Oliveira: One week, three WCOOP titles!
• Espen “_sennj_” Sandvik: “It’s my first win in an official tournament”
• Rodrigo “guinHuuh” Freire: Brazilian’s roller coaster ride turns $11 into $13K
• 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
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