A round-up of action in the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) and partypoker’s POWERFEST including another significant win for probirs, two WCOOPs in a day for Nilsef, and three in a week for aDrENalin710.
I have a sunflower seed stuck in my front tooth. I keep sucking in air, trying to free it. The geezer next to me stares at my temple like a boxer who has heard the bell each time I make the irritable noise. At least I think it’s irritating as I can’t listen to it. I have my cans on and a chorus of kids hum Season Song by the Blue States.
Man, I love Spotify.
Sunflower seeds, not so much.
I’m only eating them because of this ketogenic diet thing I am trying. Well, vegan keto thing, to be exact. I am starving. But it could be worse. I could be a professional poker player trying to go keto during September.
September is the time that all professional poker players need to be tip-top. Diet goes out of the window. Pot noodles fly in (I saw you, Jake Cody). Exercise consists of running to the toilet once an hour, and you have to turn on the gas and move every significant relationship into the oven.
Take Shaun Deeb, for example.
I’m not judging the man (actually, I am), but two years ago, while his wife was giving birth to their second son, Deeb was winning his fourth World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) title.
Two years on, and this time, Deeb did it again, on his son’s birthday no less; beating 192 entrants to win the $1,050 buy-in PLO8 8-Max event for $38,088.84.
So two years ago today I missed the birth of this guy for #wcoop and won a tourney that day this year i decided to do it again happy bday chance pic.twitter.com/NNEfFVP2xJ
— wcoop wafflecrusher (@shaundeeb) September 8, 2018
It’s my daughter’s second birthday on the 27th.
I’m going to tell my missus I’m going to spend it writing shit like this. I wonder what she’ll say?
Deeb wasn’t the only person winning WCOOP gold these past few days. At the time of writing, 296,636 PokerStars players have whizzed through 72 tournaments, banking $28,811,023 in prize money. Nine winners have come from Brazil, with six emanating from the UK, Russia, and Germany.
It’s impossible to pick out a WCOOP star this week.
You decide.
Firstly, Nilsef won two WCOOP titles in a single day. The German began by winning the $2,100 Win The Button event beating 199 entrants to bank the $74,459.48 first prize and followed that up with another $41,878.15 after beating 237 entrants in a $1,050 NL Omaha Hi/Lo event.
And then, if that wasn’t big-time enough for you, Denis “aDrENalin710” Strebkov won three titles in a week. The Russian created a new record for WCOOP titles won (7) after taking down the following events:
2,094 entrants in the $11 NL 5-Card Draw for $3,233.76.
91 entrants in the $2,100 Razz for $49,595.
2,133 entrants in $109 PLO 6-Max for $31,824.
That means Strebkov has won three titles across three different variants of poker, at three different WCOOP levels (L, M and H). And look at those entrant numbers!
Other well-known players taking down WCOOP comps include the former Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) Main Event winner, Gianluca “Takanza” Speranza, beating 134 entrants in a $5,200 buy-in NLHE 8-Max, Turbo High Roller for $140,634.59.
Jussi “calvin7v” Nevanlinna won an $11 buy-in NL 2-7 Single Draw event after beating 1,951 entrants to bank the $2,563 first prize. In May, Nevanlinna won the SCOOP Leaderboard to bag a Platinum Pass, no less.
The most significant win of the past few days ended up in the bank account of one Jorryt “The Cleaner11” Van Hoof. The former World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event third-place finisher won the $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller for $465,559.91, his most significant online score to date.
We leave PokerStars with two chunky wins for the UK’s SkaiWalkurr, and the American Connor’ blanconegro’ Drinan. SkaiWalkurr defeated 185 entrants in the $10,300 NLHE 8-Max High Roller to bank the $367k first prize, and Drinan beat 162 entrants in the $10,300 NLHE PKO for $385,762.07.
POWERFEST: Patrick Leonard, Andras Nemeth and Leon Tsoukernik Star
From a festival promising $118m in guarantees to one offering $60m.
Partypoker’s POWERFEST had reached Day 5 by the time I switched on my laptop. Here are the most significant three winners of the past few days.
Andras “probirs” Nemeth continued his incredible year after taking down a $5,200 buy-in, $1m GTD Championship Event for $177,934 after cutting a heads-up deal with rdcrsnn.
The event attracted 195 entrants, and WWWpartyCOM finished seventh for $31,000 after winning the first $5,200 buy-in, $1m GTD Championship for $221,300 at the beginning of the series.
Nemeth is having an outstanding year after winning the $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller at the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) for $576,087.
Then at the PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona, he beat 95 entrants to take down the €25,000 Single-Day No-Limit Hold’em High Roller for €605,600.
All told, Nemeth has now won $8.7m online, and $1.7m live.
And talking about a man who can ship a tournament no matter where you hold them: Patrick Leonard beat 379 entrants to win the $530 6-Max PKO for $41,752. Bad boy, Leon Tsoukernik, beat 204 entrants to win the $207,978 first prize in another $5,200 buy-in, $1m GTD Championship event.
partypoker has paid out $16,374,444 through the first 154 events.
