Lee Davy brings you a long overdue recap of the major names to have emerged at the business end of the World Championship of Online Poker final tables last week.
We are three quarters through the busiest and most illustrious few weeks in the history of online poker. I am, of course, talking about the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) on PokerStars, and here is a rundown of the biggest news stories, and star names, from Events #21-45.
Mike “Timex” McDonald leads the final table of the $51,000 Super High Roller. The winner will walk away with $851,000, but until that happens the biggest earner in the 2015 WCOOP, thus far, remains Tobi12345.
The German based player took the gargantuan $654,500 first prize in Event #25: $10,300 NLHE (8-Max Optional Re-Entry, High Roller), after beating Andrew “RunThisTable” Lichtenberger in heads-up action. Lichtenberger picked up $484,500 for his runner-up spot. The UK’s Billy “b8chatz” Chattaway was denied a Triple COOP when he finished fourth for $263,500. He won a SCOOP and TCOOP title in 2014.
Mike ‘goleafsgoeh” Leah had a stupendous week with two final tables and his second WCOOP career title. He defeated 1,777 players to win Event #27: $215 PLO (6-Max, Progressive Knockout) event for $28,432.42 and $8,794.49 in bounties (Mayu “marroca5” Roca was fifth in that one), and he almost made it WCOOP title number three when he finished second in Event #34: $320 NLHE (6-Max Optional Re-Entry). The eventual winner was the former World Poker Tour (WPT) champion Yorane “viirusss” Kerignard who won the $95,256 first prize. Johnny Lodden was fifth. The event attracted 2,016 entrants (1,481 entries and 535 re-entries).
If Leah had won that event he would have become one of only a handful of players who had won three WCOOP titles. Shaun Deeb has now been added to that list after he earned victory in Event #44: $215 NLHE 4-Max for a reward of $68,000. Deeb is now the most successful COOP player in history with eight titles (3 x WCOOP and 5 x SCOOP), and it’s such an amazing record when you consider he waded through 1,593 players to win this one. Dan “djk123” Kelly still holds the WCOOP winners record with four.
Mikal ‘mikal12345’ Blomlie is one of those players sitting on three WCOOP titles. He came close to making it four when he finished sixth in Event #41: $320 NLHE Ante Up. The title and $22,038.82 eventually going to 89rhino89 after a five way deal.
Rui “RuiNF” Ferreira and Patrick “pads1161” Leonard came close to bagging their second WCOOP titles of this series. Ferreira finished fourth in Event #31: $1,050 NLHE Super Tuesday (Aricontre of the UK won the $272,020 first prize), and Leonard finished fifth in Event #40: $530 NLHE (6-Max Shootout); Thayer “THAY3R” Rasmussen picking up the $69,825.33 first prize after beating a field of 720 players for his first WCOOP title in that one.
Another player who had a barnstorming week was the Norwegian legend Thor “osten” Hansen. He made two final tables, and bagged a ton of cash, after finishing seventh in Event #26: $700 NLHE Sunday Million $1.5m GTD Special (Andy “wiisssppppaa” Taylor from the UK won the $275,850.02 first prize), and then he finished sixth in Event #29: $700 Seven-Card Stud Championship (TIETYMM from Germany won the $19,960.06 first prize).
Other highlights included a third WCOOP final table for Twitch star Jason Somerville, finishing seventh in Event #43: $320 H.O.R.S.E; former MicroMillions winner nafnaf_funny beating Connor “blanconegro” Drinan in HU action to take the $38,040 first prize in Event #30: $215 PL 5-Card Omaha H/L (6-Max, 2R1A); Eugene Katchalov coming second to TheFish77 in Event #37: $320 8-Game; RunItOnce coach, Dylan “ImaLucSac” Linde doing likewise in Event #45: $1,050 NL Hold’em (6-Max, Ultra Deep) after losing out to the Belgian WhoAreYoux1, and Australia’s Matthew “mjw006” Wakeman won the $82,080 first prize in Event #36: $215 NLHE (1R1A), to add to his previous Super Tuesday victory.
