Sell T$ Dollars Pokerstars

Tuesday was a day of firsts, as a pot-limit five-card draw tournament started the day, a new triple stud event followed, and the first two-day event of the series got underway. With this kind of variety and originality highlighting the 2010 World Championship of Online Poker, it was bound to attract an assortment of players and abilities only found in the biggest online poker series of the year. The cumulative $50K guaranteed prize pool may have been an attraction as well...

Day 1 of Event 9 got underway late in the day on Tuesday, starting at 8:00pm ET. The $1,000 + $50 buy-in offered players the chance at some no-limit hold'em action with the assurance that the first day had an end time - only 24 20-minute levels were to be played - to prevent the exhaustion that sometimes comes from lengthy NLHE events. And your humble writer, by the way, adores two-day events almost as much as the players!

When registration ended for the tournament, it showed 1,612 players in the tournament, which meant that the $1 million guarantee was shattered when the prize pool climbed to $1,612,000. The cash was set up to be distributed among the top 180 players, with six-figure payouts reserved for the top four finishers, a solid $269,284.60 for the winner should it be played out without a deal.

At the six-hour break, which was extended to 15 minutes so players could refresh a bit, the top spot on the leaderboard was held by Elia001 with 131,432 chips. Notably, several members of Team PokerStars Pro were in the top 100 at that point, with Andre "aakkari" Akkari in 19th place, Joe "jcada99" Cada in 23rd, Johnny "johnnylodden" in 48th, and Daniel "KidPoker" Negreanu in 69th. And as that hour progressed, Cada jumped into the number one spot, but when highfly3r doubled through him, he was relegated to fourth place.

The seven-hour break showed that PHHSkid99 had jumped into the chip lead with 154,991 chips, followed closely by madwar with 153,673. Cada was still in a solid sixth place, Akkari stayed steady in 23rd, and Negreanu held in at 81st, though Lodden was crippled and on the verge of leaving before the money bubble. And on that topic, Team PokerStars SportsStars member Orel Hershiser exited moments before the break, out in 240th place.

The following hour of play saw Lodden depart in 235th place, and Arnaud "frenchkiss" Mattern headed out in 219th. As the money bubble approached, Team PokerStars Pro Angel "angelguillen" Guillen was in the top 100 of the remaining players, but he got involved with leguito in an all-in situation:

And that ousted Guillen in 184th place, several spots before the money. It didn't take long from there for hand-for-hand play to start and finish, and that left SmokMyBandit out in 181st place on the bubble. Boulayla became the first player to cash, taking home $2,095.60 for the 180th place finish, and action proceeded rather quickly from there. Team PokerStars Pro Veronica "Princesa" Dabul also took leave of her table, as she took home $2,256.80 for 158th place.

At eight-hour break, it was ender555 in the chip lead with 255,379 chips, followed by J_soldier with 226,759. Hanging tough for the Stars team were Cada in ninth place, Akkari in tenth, and Negreanu in 78th, and Team PokerStars Online players Anders "Donald" Hoyer Berg and Jorge "JorgeArias" Arias were still in the game as well.

But in an unexpected turn of events, Negreanu put his stack at risk in the following hand just after returning from the break, and it played out as follows:

That left Daniel "KidPoker" Negreanu out in 150th place with $2,337.40. As he reported via Twitter, "Oh well, I tried."

Level 22 was highlighted by Akkari catapulting into first place on the leaderboard, courtesy of a 127K-chip pot from DDBeast, and though he fell out of the top spot, he held on in the top ten. On the other side of the spectrum, one of the many eliminated players included Jeff "kobeshomie" Madsen, who was eliminated in 140th place.

Level 23 started with players like Cesar "makavelyces" Fuentes departing the action; he did so in 119th place. Matt "All_in_at420" Stout followed in 110th place, as did Thayer "THAY3R" Rasmussen in 108th, former chip leader Elia001 in 106th and Adam "akat11" Katz in 101st.

And just before the last break of the night, Level 24 got underway with just about 100 players left. Play slowed tremendously after michblue left in 97th place, and the last elimination of the night was vinc421, who exited in 94th place. That left 93 players in the tournament, four of whom were representing PokerStars in their fight for the WCOOP title: Andre Akkari, Joe Cada, Anders Hoyer Berg, and Jorge Arias. Other notables still in the field included Phil "USCphildo" Collins and William "William" Thorson.

After 24 levels and 9 hours and 19 minutes, play was paused for the night to give players a 14 hour and 40 minute break. It was set to resume on September 8 at 5:00pm ET, starting the action in Level 25 with blinds at 1,400/2,800 and a 350 ante.

WCOOP 2010 Event #9, Day 1 top chip counts:
1st: Bonkman05 (388,925 chips)
2nd: birs320 (379,681 chips)
3rd: hwtd1 (312,322 chips)
4th: ender555 (310,125 chips)
5th: 7BeΛeC7 (301,294 chips)
6th: Machiavilian (285,115 chips)
7th: leguito (277,254 chips)
8th: DDBeast (262,463 chips)
9th: Torcher (235,196 chips)
10th: Team PokerStars Pro Andre "aakkari" Akkari (219,411 chips)

Other notables:
13th: Team PokerStars Pro Joe "jcada99" Cada (202,977 chips)
59th: Team PokerStars Online player Anders "Donald" Hoyer Berg (87,824 chips)
61st: Team PokerStars Online player Jorge "JorgeArias" Arias (81,971 chips)

Join us here tomorrow for Day 2 of the Event 9 action!

The 2010 WCOOP is now underway with a total of 62 events, only a small portion of which are complete, and $50K in guarantees. The official WCOOP website has a plethora of information about the entire series, and PokerStars TV offers tournament highlights. And as the next few weeks of excitement progress, check out the VIP Club page to learn how to pick up amazing rewards for simply choosing to play on PokerStars.

Introduced by PokerStars less than a month ago, Triple Stud has already proven a popular choice on the site. Players of stud games -- in which the order of things often changes with every street -- are used to making constant adjustments. Add to that the necessity to shift through three different stud variants -- seven-card stud (high only), razz, and stud high/low eight-or-better -- and you have a true challenge of poker acumen.

Got a cool name, too. Way cooler than referring to it as "H.O.R.S.E.'s back end."

As further proof of Triple Stud's popularity, 788 players entered the $215 buy-in WCOOP Event #8. That added up to a prize pool of $157,600, with the top 104 finishers getting paid. The eight players making the final table were all guaranteed at least $2,364, with the winner due to take $29,550, the bracelet, and the honor of being the first-ever WCOOP Triple Stud stud.

For the tournament, play rotated between stud, razz, stud H/L (in that order), with the game changing every 20 minutes along with an increase in antes and stakes. After an hour of play, Team PokerStars Netherlands pro Marcel Luske had surged into second place, with his fellow team members George Danzer and Daniel "KidPoker" Negreanu both hovering just outside the top 20.

Nominees Talk Poker Hall of Fame

Negreanu was seated at Barry "barryg1" Greenstein's table in the early going, and the many railbirds gathering gave their table a "feature table" kind of feel. The WSOP recently announced who were the top ten most nominated players for this year's Poker Hall of Fame, and both Negreanu and Greenstein were among that group. An observer congratulated the pair, and a discussion began among both those watching and those playing about the upcoming vote for the 2010 class.

One observer suggested Negreanu (aged 36) to be too young at present to be inducted. "It's the only time I've had an edge on daniel by being older," quipped Greenstein in the chatbox.

Kid Poker responded by saying if he had a vote he'd pick Jennifer Harman and Eric Drache, the WSOP's first tournament director and significant contributor to tournament play, the creation of satellites, and a guiding force behind the establishing of many Vegas poker rooms. Greenstein agreed with Negreanu's endorsement of Drache, and as the conversation continued it was noted that Drache has played for high stakes for a number of years, with his chosen game being -- appropriately -- stud.

Amid the gabbing, players continued to fall, and at the three-and-a-half hour mark the field had already been chopped in half. Luske continued his good start, sitting with the most chips at that point out of the 394 remaining. Bill Chen had cracked the top thirty as well. However, both Luske and Chen -- as well as Greenstein and Negreanu -- would fall short of the cash, as would all of the other PS pros (16 in all) who entered Event #8, save one.

Making the Money

The money bubble finally burst just after the six-hour mark, with serbie, megastacks, JBROO, albari, and Anna "VietCutie" Wroblewski all at the top of the counts. Darus Suharto of Team PokerStars Canada was on the list, too, in 70th place out of the 104 remaining. An hour later they were down to 50 players, with naumans out in front as the only player with more than 200,000 chips, and Suharto still kicking just outside of the top 30.

With about 40 players remaining, Podlodka2001 moved into the chip lead after claiming half the pot in a wacky four-way stud H/L hand with GLF13, Mercury7077, and valdemaar74. The four players each put three bets in on third street, then the fun continued all of the way to seventh where GLF13 finally stepped aside. Watch as both Mercury7077 and valdemaar74 make wheels, while Podlodka2001 hits a one-outer on seventh street to claim the high half of the pot.

Suharto finally succumbed in 32nd place, knocked out in a Stud H/L hand by PairStars. Meanwhile, Podlodka2001 continued to be aggressive, increasing his lead as the tourney moved toward the final table. Sensor, who won a WCOOP bracelet in 2008 in a $215 H.O.R.S.E. event and who final tabled another stud event in the WCOOP in 2007, was eliminated in 15th place. And McMang, winner of the 2010 SCOOP #29-High event ($3,150 8-game mix) back in May, would go out in 11th.

Trouble on the Bubble
An interesting situation arose on the final table bubble when the game changed from Stud H/L to Razz. CianoMar won a couple of hands early in the level, and had a stack of more than 325,000, a bit below average at the time, but enough for middle of the pack. Then things got weird.

First CianoMar took a hand to sixth street showing Q-9-J-4 before folding. Then CianoMar fired away starting K-T, eventually making it all of the way to the river before mucking. It was evident CianoMar hadn't noticed the switch to razz, and suddenly was in danger of bubbling the final table with less than 100,000 chips!

CianoMar recovered, however, and had built back to nearly half a million by the end of the level. Meanwhile, mddgfc and mercury7077 had slipped to the back of the pack on the other table. At last, almost exactly 10 hours after the tourney had begun, "VietCutie" Wroblewski eliminated mercury7077 in a stud H/L hand, and the final table was set.

Seat 1: CianoMar -- 636,516
Seat 2: mddgfc -- 288,861
Seat 3: miw210 -- 165,374
Seat 4: ozenc -- 979,464
Seat 5: GVOZDIKA55 -- 344,440
Seat 6: Podlodka2001 -- 576,319
Seat 7: Glücksi203 -- 411,767
Seat 8: VietCutie -- 537,259

From Eight to Four

Still in the stud H/L level, it wasn't long before a huge three-way hand developed between VietCutie, GVOZDIKA55, and chip leader ozenc. After each put in two bets on third (calling GVOZDIKA55's raise), the betting was capped on fourth street, with VietCutie pushing the action. Her two opponents then called VietCutie's bets on fifth, sixth, and seventh, with the final bet putting GVOZDIKA55 all in.

At the showdown, VietCutie showed ([6s])([7h])[5c][4d][As][8d]([Jh]), an eight-high straight and a 7-6-5-4-A low. She was best both ways, as both ozenc and GVOZDIKA55 mucked, with the latter going out in eighth place. Taking that massive 760,000-chip pot meant Wroblewski had wrested the chip lead from ozenc, moving up to 1.24 million to ozenc's second-place stack of 810,464.

The next elimination would come near the end of the subsequent level in stud (high) hand. After Podlodka2001 brought in for 7,500 with the [2d], miw201 made it 25,000 to go with [8d]. The others got out, and Podlodka reraised. miw210 then reraised again, Podlodka followed suit, and miw210 called all in for 8,374.

miw210 held ([Kd])([8h])[8d], while Podlodka2001 had ([Ac])([Qs])[2d]. miw201 would pick up two aces by seventh street to make two pair, but Podloka2001 drew out [Js][3d][Ts]([Kc]) to end with a Broadway straight, eliminating miw210 in seventh.

The game changed to razz, at which point mddgfc -- who had been nursing a short stack for a while -- decided to call CianoMar's opening raise on third street. mddgfc would call again on the next three streets, finally putting the last chips in on sixth. By then, CianoMar held (A)-(2)-6-Q-6-5 and mddgfc (4)-(2)-5-K-7-4. The river brought CianoMar a king, making for a not-so-great queen-low. But mddgfc paired up again, drawing a seven on seventh, and thus hit the rail in sixth place.

That hand pushed CianoMar up to 955,338 and past Podlodka2001 into second place, not far behind leader VietCutie who had a bit more than 1.03 million. Meanwhile, ozenc had become the short stack with less than 400,000, and when the game changed to stud H/L, ozenc -- now down to 160,901 chips (at 40,000/80,000 stakes) -- found a hand with which to try to turn things around.

With the [Qc] up ozenc raised, and Glücksi203 reraised with the [Jh] showing, prompting further reraises until ozenc was all in. The down cards were flipped over to show that both players had paired their door cards, putting ozenc in front to start. But by the time all streets were dealt, ozenc had failed to improve on that pair of queens, while Glücksi203 picked up a second pair of aces. ozenc was out, and just four remained.

From Four to Two

Glücksi203 would go on to win a few more stud H/L hands, taking the lead away from VietCutie. Soon those two would push out further, while the stacks of Podlodka2001 and CianoMar began to shrink to just a couple of big bets each. With the stakes 50,000/100,000 and the game stud (high), CianoMar was all in on third street against VietCutie. The remaining cards were dealt:

CianoMar: ([Th])-([As])-[6c]-[7d]-[Ac]-[4s]-([8d]) -- a pair of aces
VietCutie: ([9c])-([Qh])-[2c]-[Qd]-[7s]-[2h]-([Kh]) -- two pair, queens and deuces

And CianoMar was out in fourth place. About ten minutes later the game was still stud (high), and a series of raises put Podlodka2001 all in on third street, this time against Glücksi203. And here's how that battle went.

Podlodka2001: ([7d])-([3h])-[Ac]-[Kh]-[9d]-[7s]-([6s]) -- a pair of sevens
Glücksi203: ([Kd])-([2d])-[2c]-[2h]-[6d]-[5h]-([Jd]) -- three deuces

Podlodka2001 was done in third, and the tourney had arrived at heads-up.

Heads-Up

Glücksi203 and VietCutie were nearly even in chips to begin their duel, with Glücksi203 at 2,032,297 and VietCutie 1,907,703.

The pair began with stud (high). Wroblewski -- also known as the "Poker Pixie" -- started out taking an early advantage, but soon began to slip. After 11 minutes they'd reached the end of the stud level, with Glücksi203 up to 2.52 million to VietCutie's 1.41 million. Fifteen minutes later they'd nearly finished the next razz level when they arrived at a scheduled break. By then, Glücksi203 was up close to 3.38 million and VietCutie down to just over 560,000.

Play resumed, and soon -- more than 12 hours after the first hands of the tournament were dealt -- the end would finally arrive.

They'd moved to stud H/L, and VietCutie was down to just 294,703 chips when the hand began, while Glücksi203 had 3,645,297. With the [8d] showing, VietCutie brought in for 24,000, and Glücksi203 made it 80,000 to go with the [Ts]. VietCutie called. Glücksi203 would lead with bets on fourth and fifth, and VietCutie called both times, the last bet putting her all in. Their down cards were turned over to show VietCutie with ([4s])-([6h])-[8d]-[Td]-[9d] and Glücksi203 with ([Jc])-([8h])-[Ts]-[Qd]-[8s].

Glücksi203 would pick up two kings on sixth and seventh -- [Kd][Kc] -- making two pair, while VietCutie would draw [Th][Qc], leaving her with just a pair of tens and no low.

Congratulations to Glücksi203, 2010 WCOOP Event #8 Champion!

WCOOP Event #8 ($215 Triple Stud) Results
1st place: Glücksi203 ($29,550)
2nd: VietCutie ($21,276)
3rd: Podlodka2001 ($15,760)
4th: CianoMar (11,820)
5th: ozenc ($7,880)
6th: mddgfc ($5,516)
7th: miw210 ($3,546)
8th: GVOZDIKA55 ($2,364)

Be sure to check out PokerStars.tv for more reports on all of the action. Check out the WCOOP site for the full schedule plus all of the results. And come back here to the PokerStars blog for ongoing coverage of the biggest online poker tournament series in the world!

by Victor Ramdin
I predicted I was going to have a big World Series this year, and I came through for myself. I had the best World Series of my life. I had six cashes in only 16 events, and one final table. I cashed for over $75,000 total which, in a year when so many players went 0-fer, I am incredibly grateful for. Of course, I would like to bring home my first bracelet, but the second best thing is having a winning series.

My charity, Guyana Watch, ended up a winner this year as well. After the World Series, Dan Goldman, of the Poker Player's alliance, myself, and several others all set course for Guyana almost immediately after this year's WSOP. We saw 3,456 patients over the course of eight days, and through the efforts of Guyana Watch, we were later able to perform 15-20 more surgeries at the Westchester Medical Center in New York.

I did want to take a second to talk about a mistake I made, and is commonly made by a lot of players. Sometimes you'll be deep in a tournament, and with decent chips, and the following situation occurs: someone min. raises your big blind.

In this particular case, it was in a $1,500 event at this year's WSOP, and we were down to the last 35 players. I had 900k in chips, when blinds were at 10k/20k. I had [8c][2c] - a hand I would never play. But because this guy was min. raising, and I had plenty of chips, I decided I should see a flop.

Well, the flop came 10-8-2 and we managed to get it all in on the flop. He had A-10, and he binked an Ace on the turn. I had 900k in chips before starting that hand, and I lost 600k. That hand kept me from making my second final table at the WSOP this year.

Just because you have pot odds, it's not always right to call a raise out of position with a stupid hand. You can't let the odds get into your head all the time. With the blinds and antes, I thought I had the right odds. Even though I was ahead on the flop, I knew I was way behind pre-flop. I got myself into a situation where I was playing for the majority of my stack with only 35 players to go. Even though I got my money in good, I regret playing that hand, and definitely consider it to be a mistake on my part.

Up for me now: WCOOP. In addition to my World Series prediction, I also predicted that I would have the best online year of my life. I would say that I've already exceeded these expectations this year, but you can't talk about a year in online poker without talking about the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker.

Every year with the WCOOP, PokerStars puts on the biggest online event of the year. Last year it broke all kinds of records for prize pools, payouts, and entries. I'm sure it'll do the same this year. I'll be playing as many of these events as I can, and just because I like a good deal - I'll probably try to satellite my way in as practice. You can win your way into just about any event for just a couple of bucks. Sounds like a good deal to me.

Until next time, look for me on PokerStars during WCOOP. See you there!

Five-card Draw. Although the rules are similar, this is not quite the same as the "Jacks or better to open" variation that your grandparents taught you at the kitchen table. This six-handed incarnation featured pot-limit betting, which guaranteed a rapid pace and appealed to fearless players with a proclivity to nonstop action.

Prior to the glorious poker boom in the early part of the 21st Century, Five-card Draw is what most people conjured up in their heads when you mentioned poker, mainly because of the steady integration of draw poker into television and movies. It wasn't until Rounders hit the big screen in the late 1990s that no-limit Texas hold'em captured the attention of the poker playing public. After Chris Moneymaker won the 2003 WSOP Main Event championship, no-limit hold'em blew up across the board. It became the only game on the radar of mainstream poker audiences as hold'em attempted to corner the market on popular culture.

Draw poker didn't translate very well to online play, which is why the pot-limit betting function spiced up what many considered to be an "old man's game" that WWII vets played at American Legion halls. PokerStars didn't add five-card draw to their cash game lobby until a few years ago. 2007 became the first year that a Five-card Draw tournament was introduced into the WCOOP schedule. These days, it's hard to think about the yearly festival of poker without the throwback game. The first three titles were won by spielraum.at (2007), ImBillMcNeal (2008), and CesarSPA (2009).

Event #7 $215 PL Five-card Draw at the 2010 WCOOP attracted 596 runners. The prize pool squeaked past the $100K Guarantee. The top 78 places paid out, and the winner would take home $22,648 out of the $119,200 total prize pool.

Team PokerStars Pro JP Kelly playing in the WSOP Main Event

For most of the afternoon, Team PokerStars Pro JP Kelly drew a tough table with Zoutechamp, Gordo16, and shahmat all seated to his left. Gordo16 sat in the lead pack, while shahmat held the lead during the early stages of the tournament. Anders "Donald" Berg was the only other pro with a deep run, but along with Barry Greenstein, Marcel Luske, and ElkY, they all failed to advance to the money. JP Kelly got it all in pre-draw with a pair of Aces against two pair. His hand did not improve and he headed to the rail in 99th place.

Bubble Boy honors in Event #7 went to Science, better known as the guy who fell alseep during the middle of a SCOOP Omaha hi/lo event, yet still went on to win it. Science finished in an unfortunate 79th place.

Tom "luvgamble" Schneider, former WSOP Player of the Year, was one of the few notables who went deep in this event. On his bust out hand, Kroko-dill opened to 3,800, luvgamble raised to 14,600 from the big blind, Kroko-dill re-raised to 44,800, and luvgamble called all-in for his last 5,952. Kroko-dill drew only one card and luvgamble discarded three. At showdown, luvgamble's pair of Jacks failed to improve and he lost to Kroko-dill's two pair. Luvgamble was eliminated, but cashed in 39th place.

With three tables to go, Ig123456789 held the chip lead and maintained his place in front of the chase pack with two tables to go. Action slowed down, particularly leading up to the final table. On the bubble, hand-for-hand play included tables with four and three players respectively.

WiLDmAn75 bubbled off the final table in 7th place. He opened to 40,000, nyc_bullets raised to 70,000, and WiLDmAn75 called all-in for 9,297. Both players drew three cards, and yadda yadda yadda... WiLDmAn75's pair of tens could not beat nyc_bullet's pair of Jacks. The final table of six was set.

Final table chip counts:
Seat 1: Do4Love (499,183)
Seat 2: Poskromiciel (499,025)
Seat 3: Ig123456789 (1,312,153)
Seat 4: nyc_bullets (291,775)
Seat 5: danistiofi (206,648)
Seat 6: Kroko-dill (171,216)

Ig123456789 began the final table with the chip lead, in the same spot that he had occupied for the previous three hours. If anyone else was going to win this event, they would have to successfully launch an assault on Ig123456789's massive stack.

Nyc_bullets, a young player from New York City, made his first final table and his third cash at this year's series. His run in this event finally came to an abrupt end when he opened win a min-raise to 20,000. Danistiofi re-raised to 60,000, nyc_bullets re-raised to 130,000, danistiofi re-popped him to 290,000, and nyc_bullets called all-in for 116,296. Danistiofi stood pat, while nyc_bullets discarded two and prayed for an improvement. His trip treys and [3h][3s][3d][Jc][5c] were not good enough to win. The poker gods were very kind to danistiofi, who got dealt delicious offering of [Ad][Qd][Jd][9d][5d]. He dragged the pot with an ace-high flush. Nyc_bullets was eliminated in 6th place and won $3707.12.

Short-stacked Kroko-dill was the next player to hit the rail. Kroko-dill open-shoved for 48,716 and got called by Do4Love in the big blind. Kroko-dill drew 3 cards, but did not improve on a pair of sevens with [7c][7s][Ac][Qh][2d]. Do4Love discarded two, and won the hand with trip nines and [9s][9c][9d][As][Ks].

With four to go, Ig123456789 held more than 50% of the chips in play after he chipped up to over 1.5 million. His remaining three opponents were all treading water with 500K. Just when it seemed as though Ig123456789 was about to race past the 2 million chip mark, his initial advance was thwarted. Danistiofi made a tremendous stand and avoided elimination when he doubled through Ig123456789. His [Qd][Qc][Qs][7s][6d] for trip Queens bested Ig123456789's [Ks][Kd][5c][4s][3h] and a pair of Kings.

Poskromiciel finally got into fracas when he won a 294,000 pot after being dealt a full house. He stood pat with [6s][6h][6d][Qc][Qs] and beat out Ig123456789, who mucked his losing hand. Poskromiciel improved to 857K, while Ig123456789 slipped to 1.2 million.

It didn't take too long before Ig123456789 re-acquired his chips when he won a 602K pot with trip Kings against Poskromiciel. That hand triggered a chain of events as a sickly Poskromiciel was on death watch the rest of the tournament with a short stack. Ig123456789 won another pot against Poskromiciel with trip sevens, which propelled Ig123456789 over 2 million. Poskromiciel sunk to under 100K.

Poskromiciel finally reached his fate when he shoved all-in pre-draw for his last 31,469. Danistiofi called. Both players discarded three cards. At show down, danistiofi tabled [Td][Tc][6s][6d][4d] for two pair, which beat Poskromiciel's [5s][5d][As][7s][2d] and a pair of fives. Poskromiciel won $8,344 for fourth place.

With three to go, Ig123456789 continued his chokehold on the lead with almost 60% of the chips in play. If Do4Love and danistiofi did not pick up any significant ground, then they were going to become distant memories as Ig123456789 sped up his march toward the WCOOP title.

Danistiofi started the final table as the short stack and clawed his way into the final three. He found himself on the brink of elimination more than once and fought back including a timely double up with two pair against Ig12345678. Alas, that was not enough.

Ig123456789 opened to 48,000, danistiofi shoved for 136,806 and was all-in pre-draw. Ig123456789 had him way covered and called. Ig123456789 drew only one card, and danistiofi discarded three. Danistiofi's pair of Aces and [Ah][Ac][Kc][7s][5c] did not improve against Ig123456789's two pair and [8s][8d][2h][2d][Tc]. Danistiofi was eliminated in third place. He took home $12,218.

Heads-up chip counts:
Seat 1: Do4Love (253,786)
Seat 3: Ig123456789 (2,726,214)

Heads-up match was set up. It could have been David vs. Goliath, but that was only if the serious under-advantaged Do4Love could mount a tremendous comeback. Essentially, with over 91% of the chips in play, the WCOOP title was Ig123456789's to lose.

Do4Love did what he could to make it a contest and won five out of the first eight hands. However, Ig123456789 won 11 out of the next 12, including a 300K pot with a pair of Aces holding up against a pair of fours. That hand killed any momentum that Do4Love had built up at the onset of their heads-up match.

It took 38 hands before a winner was decided, but due to the overwhelming gap in chip counts, it seemed to end a lot faster than it did. On the final hand... Ig123456789 in-raised to 32,000, Do4Love re-raised to 104,000, Ig123456789 bumped it up to 256,000, which put Do4Love all-in for the rest of his 81,787. Both players discarded three cards. At showdown, the players revealed...

Do4Love: [Qh][Qd][Ac][Jd][8s]
Ig123456789: [As][Ad][9c][9h][Kh]

Do4Love's pair of Queens were not good enough, and Ig123456789's won the hand with two pair. You can also view the final hand in our fancy replayer. Just a reminder that RSS readers have to click through to this post to view the replayer.

Do4Love finished in second place and collected $16,688. Ig123456789 won the WCOOP title and received $22,648 for first place.

Final table results and payouts:
1. Ig123456789 - $22,648
2. Do4Love - $16,688
3. sanistiofi- $12,218
4. Poskromiciel - $8,344
5. Kroko-dill - $5,960
6. nyc_bullets - $2,707.12

Congrats to Ig123456789 for winning Event #7 $215 PL 5-Card Draw.

For stimulating visual coverage of the 2010 WCOOP, visit PokerStars.tv. Don't forget to peruse the WCOOP homepage for the remaining schedule, event results, current player-of-the-year stats, satellite information, and much much more.

Five-card Draw. Although the rules are similar, this is not quite the same as the "Jacks or better to open" variation that your grandparents taught you at the kitchen table. This six-handed incarnation featured pot-limit betting, which guaranteed a rapid pace and appealed to fearless players with a proclivity to nonstop action.

Prior to the glorious poker boom in the early part of the 21st Century, Five-card Draw is what most people conjured up in their heads when you mentioned poker, mainly because of the steady integration of draw poker into television and movies. It wasn't until Rounders hit the big screen in the late 1990s that no-limit Texas hold'em captured the attention of the poker playing public. After Chris Moneymaker won the 2003 WSOP Main Event championship, no-limit hold'em blew up across the board. It became the only game on the radar of mainstream poker audiences as hold'em attempted to corner the market on popular culture.

Draw poker didn't translate very well to online play, which is why the pot-limit betting function spiced up what many considered to be an "old man's game" that WWII vets played at American Legion halls. PokerStars didn't add five-card draw to their cash game lobby until a few years ago. 2007 became the first year that a Five-card Draw tournament was introduced into the WCOOP schedule. These days, it's hard to think about the yearly festival of poker without the throwback game. The first three titles were won by spielraum.at (2007), ImBillMcNeal (2008), and CesarSPA (2009).

Event #7 $215 PL Five-card Draw at the 2010 WCOOP attracted 596 runners. The prize pool squeaked past the $100K Guarantee. The top 78 places paid out, and the winner would take home $22,648 out of the $119,200 total prize pool.

Team PokerStars Pro JP Kelly playing in the WSOP Main Event

For most of the afternoon, Team PokerStars Pro JP Kelly drew a tough table with Zoutechamp, Gordo16, and shahmat all seated to his left. Gordo16 sat in the lead pack, while shahmat held the lead during the early stages of the tournament. Anders "Donald" Berg was the only other pro with a deep run, but along with Barry Greenstein, Marcel Luske, and ElkY, they all failed to advance to the money. JP Kelly got it all in pre-draw with a pair of Aces against two pair. His hand did not improve and he headed to the rail in 99th place.

Bubble Boy honors in Event #7 went to Science, better known as the guy who fell alseep during the middle of a SCOOP Omaha hi/lo event, yet still went on to win it. Science finished in an unfortunate 79th place.

Tom "luvgamble" Schneider, former WSOP Player of the Year, was one of the few notables who went deep in this event. On his bust out hand, Kroko-dill opened to 3,800, luvgamble raised to 14,600 from the big blind, Kroko-dill re-raised to 44,800, and luvgamble called all-in for his last 5,952. Kroko-dill drew only one card and luvgamble discarded three. At showdown, luvgamble's pair of Jacks failed to improve and he lost to Kroko-dill's two pair. Luvgamble was eliminated, but cashed in 39th place.

With three tables to go, Ig123456789 held the chip lead and maintained his place in front of the chase pack with two tables to go. Action slowed down, particularly leading up to the final table. On the bubble, hand-for-hand play included tables with four and three players respectively.

WiLDmAn75 bubbled off the final table in 7th place. He opened to 40,000, nyc_bullets raised to 70,000, and WiLDmAn75 called all-in for 9,297. Both players drew three cards, and yadda yadda yadda... WiLDmAn75's pair of tens could not beat nyc_bullet's pair of Jacks. The final table of six was set.

Final table chip counts:
Seat 1: Do4Love (499,183)
Seat 2: Poskromiciel (499,025)
Seat 3: Ig123456789 (1,312,153)
Seat 4: nyc_bullets (291,775)
Seat 5: danistiofi (206,648)
Seat 6: Kroko-dill (171,216)

Ig123456789 began the final table with the chip lead, in the same spot that he had occupied for the previous three hours. If anyone else was going to win this event, they would have to successfully launch an assault on Ig123456789's massive stack.

Nyc_bullets, a young player from New York City, made his first final table and his third cash at this year's series. His run in this event finally came to an abrupt end when he opened win a min-raise to 20,000. Danistiofi re-raised to 60,000, nyc_bullets re-raised to 130,000, danistiofi re-popped him to 290,000, and nyc_bullets called all-in for 116,296. Danistiofi stood pat, while nyc_bullets discarded two and prayed for an improvement. His trip treys and [3h][3s][3d][Jc][5c] were not good enough to win. The poker gods were very kind to danistiofi, who got dealt delicious offering of [Ad][Qd][Jd][9d][5d]. He dragged the pot with an ace-high flush. Nyc_bullets was eliminated in 6th place and won $3707.12.

Short-stacked Kroko-dill was the next player to hit the rail. Kroko-dill open-shoved for 48,716 and got called by Do4Love in the big blind. Kroko-dill drew 3 cards, but did not improve on a pair of sevens with [7c][7s][Ac][Qh][2d]. Do4Love discarded two, and won the hand with trip nines and [9s][9c][9d][As][Ks].

With four to go, Ig123456789 held more than 50% of the chips in play after he chipped up to over 1.5 million. His remaining three opponents were all treading water with 500K. Just when it seemed as though Ig123456789 was about to race past the 2 million chip mark, his initial advance was thwarted. Danistiofi made a tremendous stand and avoided elimination when he doubled through Ig123456789. His [Qd][Qc][Qs][7s][6d] for trip Queens bested Ig123456789's [Ks][Kd][5c][4s][3h] and a pair of Kings.

Poskromiciel finally got into fracas when he won a 294,000 pot after being dealt a full house. He stood pat with [6s][6h][6d][Qc][Qs] and beat out Ig123456789, who mucked his losing hand. Poskromiciel improved to 857K, while Ig123456789 slipped to 1.2 million.

It didn't take too long before Ig123456789 re-acquired his chips when he won a 602K pot with trip Kings against Poskromiciel. That hand triggered a chain of events as a sickly Poskromiciel was on death watch the rest of the tournament with a short stack. Ig123456789 won another pot against Poskromiciel with trip sevens, which propelled Ig123456789 over 2 million. Poskromiciel sunk to under 100K.

Poskromiciel finally reached his fate when he shoved all-in pre-draw for his last 31,469. Danistiofi called. Both players discarded three cards. At show down, danistiofi tabled [Td][Tc][6s][6d][4d] for two pair, which beat Poskromiciel's [5s][5d][As][7s][2d] and a pair of fives. Poskromiciel won $8,344 for fourth place.

With three to go, Ig123456789 continued his chokehold on the lead with almost 60% of the chips in play. If Do4Love and danistiofi did not pick up any significant ground, then they were going to become distant memories as Ig123456789 sped up his march toward the WCOOP title.

Danistiofi started the final table as the short stack and clawed his way into the final three. He found himself on the brink of elimination more than once and fought back including a timely double up with two pair against Ig12345678. Alas, that was not enough.

Ig123456789 opened to 48,000, danistiofi shoved for 136,806 and was all-in pre-draw. Ig123456789 had him way covered and called. Ig123456789 drew only one card, and danistiofi discarded three. Danistiofi's pair of Aces and [Ah][Ac][Kc][7s][5c] did not improve against Ig123456789's two pair and [8s][8d][2h][2d][Tc]. Danistiofi was eliminated in third place. He took home $12,218.

Heads-up chip counts:
Seat 1: Do4Love (253,786)
Seat 3: Ig123456789 (2,726,214)

Heads-up match was set up. It could have been David vs. Goliath, but that was only if the serious under-advantaged Do4Love could mount a tremendous comeback. Essentially, with over 91% of the chips in play, the WCOOP title was Ig123456789's to lose.

Do4Love did what he could to make it a contest and won five out of the first eight hands. However, Ig123456789 won 11 out of the next 12, including a 300K pot with a pair of Aces holding up against a pair of fours. That hand killed any momentum that Do4Love had built up at the onset of their heads-up match.

It took 38 hands before a winner was decided, but due to the overwhelming gap in chip counts, it seemed to end a lot faster than it did. On the final hand... Ig123456789 in-raised to 32,000, Do4Love re-raised to 104,000, Ig123456789 bumped it up to 256,000, which put Do4Love all-in for the rest of his 81,787. Both players discarded three cards. At showdown, the players revealed...

Do4Love: [Qh][Qd][Ac][Jd][8s]
Ig123456789: [As][Ad][9c][9h][Kh]

Do4Love's pair of Queens were not good enough, and Ig123456789's won the hand with two pair. You can also view the final hand in our fancy replayer. Just a reminder that RSS readers have to click through to this post to view the replayer.

Do4Love finished in second place and collected $16,688. Ig123456789 won the WCOOP title and received $22,648 for first place.

Final table results and payouts:
1. Ig123456789 - $22,648
2. Do4Love - $16,688
3. sanistiofi- $12,218
4. Poskromiciel - $8,344
5. Kroko-dill - $5,960
6. nyc_bullets - $2,707.12

Congrats to Ig123456789 for winning Event #7 $215 PL 5-Card Draw.

For stimulating visual coverage of the 2010 WCOOP, visit PokerStars.tv. Don't forget to peruse the WCOOP homepage for the remaining schedule, event results, current player-of-the-year stats, satellite information, and much much more.

A quarter of a million dollars will buy a lot of tuna salad at your local deli and a lot more if you make it yourself. Just considering the sheer volume of tuna salad that could be purchased for such a sum is the stuff of world records, dedicated gluttony, and a yearning so specific that it's best not ever realized.

But AlexKP, known to is friends as Alex Petersen, could very well make all of the above happen. He could stand in the middle of Denmark on a mountain of tuna salad so high that Starkist would come running to offer endorsements. That's because Petersen was the very first winner of the 2010 World Championship of Online Poker, beating out exactly 9,000 other players in a $215 six-handed no-limit hold'em contest for a first prize of more than $257,000.

And the tuna salad?

Well, Petersen, like a lot of other young poker pros, is a fairly focused individual. What's more, he's Danish, which I've found increases the focus exponentially based on the proximity to Copenhagen. With that in mind, the pro of five years is fairly terse when describing his talents off the poker table.

"I'm a pretty fast runner on 100m, suck at backgammon, and make an awesome tuna
salad!" he declared.

This answer came in reply to a query about what people would find most interesting about him. All things considered, any of the above would be topics for discussion. Chunk tuna or albacore? Has he worked on his backgame and some better anchor strategies? How fast is pretty fast?

But all of this discussion is probably for naught really. Why? Because Petersen is a poker player first, last, and all points in between. He's being interviewed about a massive poker win after taking the very first title in the 2010 iteration of the biggest online poker tournament series in the world. Why would he want to talk about anything other than poker?

Any attempt to draw him out of poker discussion is one that resulted in a false lead or, perhaps, a bit of flirting. When asked what he might say if we met at a bar, he replied,"I would probably tell you you looked nice, that my moms says I'm a good guy, and if we should head back to my place." E-mail interviews are interesting.

That's the thing, really. You can't expect a guy who is talented enough to win a WCOOP event to be able to turn off his poker focus with 60 events left to play. He just pocketed a monster purse, the biggest of his career to date. Although he's a terror at the cash game tables and has booked six-figure wins there, his tournament game hasn't posted anything so large as this WCOOP victory.

During last year's EPT London festival, Petersen played in the European Poker Championships at The Vic and took down Event #9--the £1,500 + £150 NLHE affair--for £45,900. The kid undoubtedly has game. He also has a bit of moxy about him. Up against Team PokerStars Pro Dennis Phillips on the way to the WCOOP Event #1 final table, Petersen ran a series of bluffs that still make him proud. "Not because they were good spots or anything like that," he said. "I just wanted to show the (expletive) bluff!"

And that's the life of a a young Danish pro who just won a quarter million bucks. It's the story of a guy who can't play backgammon, who runs fast, bluffs for the fun of it, might be a bit of a player in the bars, and makes a mean tuna salad.

To see how he made the money to finance it all, read our 2010 WCOOP Event #1 final table report.

Nobody's perfect, but PokerStars is working to get there. 

Once again, PokerStars has been listening to what its players want, and is now set to release a long list of features on its software.

We've had a sneak peek at what's coming and can offer this preview. Please note, the features will only appear after the software has been updated, which should happen by the end of the week.

Session Options - PokerStars is introducing an integrated platform that easily allows you to manage your state during a session. When you are playing you will notice a small additional icon on each of your tables that gives you easy access to the Session Options. From there you can Sit out on all tables, Sit out next Big Blind on all tables, Resume play on all tables that you are sitting out on, and end your session gracefully - Sit out next Big Blind on all tables and close them. For immediate feedback about the state of your session, the table icon will change from a green play sign when you are sitting in on all tables, to a yellow play/pause icon when you are sitting in on some and sitting out on other tables, to a red pause icon when you are sitting out on all tables.

Auto buy-in - Auto buy-in allows you to instantly buy in after left-clicking Seat Open without any intermediate steps. Simply set up your buy in preferences once, and the next time you sit at a table you will automatically buy in. Auto Buy-in can be set up through "Options" > "Auto-Buy-In (Ring Games)..." or by clicking on the link in the traditional buy-in dialog. Want to buy in as an exception for a different amount? Simply right-click on 'Seat Open' and the traditional buy-in dialog will show up.

'Seat me' - When you select a table that has empty seats in the ring game lobby, you will notice a Seat Me button below the traditional Go to Table. Clicking Seat Me automatically opens the table for you and sits you in one of the empty seats on the table. If you have Auto Buy-in enabled, you will be automatically bought in for the desired amount; if not - the usual buy-in dialog will appear. In this way taking a seat can be a single-click process from the main lobby.

Sit out next big blind - PokerStars has changed the existing Sit out next blind check box on fast tables to Sit out next big blind, and have added the new check box to regular-speed tables as well.

Stack tables layout - PokerStars has added the ability to Stack all your tables in addition to the already existing Cascade and Tile. This feature can be accessed either from "View" in the main lobby, or through the Table Layout menu on the table. Shortcut key is Ctrl+8.

Average Stack column - This is a new column in the lobby which shows the average stack of the sitting in players on the table.

No Chat in table tooltip - When you have lost your chat you now have the ability to display No Chat in your table tooltip by activating "Options" > "Show No Chat in tooltip". This option is only available if you have lost your chat privileges - if you are able to chat at the tables this option would not show.

Notes reliability - PokerStars has changed the way notes are saved so that you do not lose your notes when the client is closed in a non-conventional way.

Remove from all waiting lists button - The waiting list dialog ("Requests" > "Waiting on Tables...") now has a "Remove me from All Waiting Lists" button.

Link to last hand when dealing stops - You will now be able to access the last hand when dealing stops. The Previous link will remain active on the table instead of disappearing. Do note that usually the last hand is the cancelled hand, and the red Replay button will not open a hand that has been cancelled. To look at the last complete hand, click on the Previous [Hand ID Number] link and use the Instant Hand History.

Display Bet Amounts defaults to on - This option is now enabled by default on new installs and activated for players who have not explicitly disabled it.

Advanced action Check moved - To avoid mis-clicks when selecting the Check advanced action we have re-positioned Check slightly higher so that it does not overlap with the Call (Amount) check box which appears when someone bets before you.

Tournament Tickets dialog improvements - The window accessed through "Requests" > "Tournament Tickets" has been improved. Among other things, it will now list all tournaments that accept a specific ticket typed.

Once again, those updates will only be in effect after the client programs are updated, which should happen by the end of the week.

by JP Kelly
I arrived in Edinburgh on the Thursday night having postponed my start day to 1B. I felt really bad with what must have been something like flu so I stopped multiple times on the way to the George hotel and picked up some medicine - and jelly babies. I played PLO online for a couple of hours and then managed to get a good night's sleep.

I turned up at the Corn Exchange ready to play although still rather ill. Walking around the room before hand I didn't recognise too many people but what I must comment on is the amount of young players that were there for UKIPT Edinburgh. When I first started playing I
was one of only a handful of players under the age of 26 that ever played the bigger tournaments, or any tournament come to think of it. Nowadays, I feel like more of the old guard having not played as many UK-based tournaments in recent times, as multiple teenagers and players in their early 20s with vast knowledge from the internet and a feeling of invincibility dominate their tables and really crank up the aggression in comparison to a few years ago.

Armed with my medicine and most likely superior knowledge of what it takes to navigate my way through a tournament field I sat back and let the young guns battle it out on my table whilst occasionally keeping them in line to let them know I was still around. So quietly I chipped up from the initial starting stack of 15k to 25k. I had been very active from the button but had shown down a good hand virtually every time. I then ran a huge bluff on a
very nice guy called Asif from Manchester with 74o I put him all in on the river of AK7Q6 and he made an almost instantaneous call with KQ to take me back to below starting stack. In hindsight I think I should have just let him have it and I tried too hard to win this pot which maybe he saw through.

As we were at the 200-400/50 level I decided it was time to start ruffling a few feathers and try to boost my stack back to a more healthy position as the next level of 300-600/75 is a relatively huge jump and I don't really want to be stuck on 12k. I raised more and more pots and players were getting out of my way, I kept finding myself in tricky situations debating whether to bet or check with 2nd and 3rd pair. These are the situations that
separate the good players from the best. I feel like I handled these situations OK overall but definitely nowhere near the level I would have liked to. Maybe I was being too much on the passive side worrying too much about letting myself get bluffed.

Last hand before the dinner break I was back to 20k which felt good after the mishap taking me down to 12k. I re-raised an early position short stack with A-K ready to take him on when Asif decided to 'cold 4 bet' from the blinds. There was no doubt in my mind what he had and I folded pretty quickly face up and he laughed showing me one ace - and later on he confirmed that he had both bullets.

After having a quick meal with Ash Mason and Jake Cody (11th) we came back ten minutes too late and eventually I found myself all-in with J-J v A-K. The K high flop wasn't too good but the sweet J on the river took me to my peak of the tournament. I then moved tables and after chatting away for a bit looked down at A-Q in the SB after a raise and a call. I 3 bet and then the original raisor 4 bet it to 11k total with 21k behind. He looked incredibly nervous and I had seen him talking to a couple of mutual friends who I knew were
good players. I find people tend to be over aggressive against me as they see me
wearing a Team PokerStars Pro badge and assume I'm bluffing all the time. I decided
to go with my instinct and put him all in which turned out to be a big mistake as he had K-K but luck was on my side as I rivered a club flush to take me to 65k which is what I finished the day on.

Still being relatively early and players having a few drinks at the bar we decided to go to a show called the Late Late Show. In Edinburgh they have 'Fringe Festival' which I believe is a week-long festival mainly for comedy. The city was buzzing all weekend and I really did enjoy it and what was even better was this show was taking place two minutes from the George hotel. So I went with Liv Boeree, Jake Cody, Simon Mitchell and a rather merry Ben Jenkins. The show was quite good and funny but I would have personally preferred more comedy sketches as the host Paul Zenon was very amusing and the music just didn't really do anything for me, but that is my own personal opinion.

After meeting with performance coach Steve Ward in the morning I then filmed a sit down interview with fellow Team Pros Vicky Coren, Julian Thew and Jude Ainsworth alongside the host Nick Wealthall. Back to the job at hand as I felt confident about going far in this tournament and felt like I was playing well and survived after some good fortune.

Unfortunately, I ran Kings into Aces and that was the end of that adventure. Debating between the Stars party and playing the £300 side event I decided it would be more fun
to play poker, have a few drinks (not too many though as still not feeling 100%) and maybe go afterwards to the party. I was sat with Neil Channing who is always entertaining and he wanted to crossbook with me which means if one person wins money then the other player has to payout the same on top. So if I came 6th for £1,000, Neil would have to give me £1,000 on top. I thought it would be fun and in hindsight should have done it but I was paranoid that I would lose the first time I ever did this so maybe I will do it next time.

I managed to amass a monster stack and the ran fairly bad towards the end of the day and ran set into set to get knocked out.

I really enjoyed Edinburgh, if I'm being honest it was way better than I imagined and I didn't even really see all that much of the place. I look forward to going back again and hope it is a leg of season 2 of the UKIPT.

Congratulations to Nick Abou Risk who won £50,000 and a £5,000 seat into EPT
London, well deserved from what I've heard.

Good luck everyone

by Fred Leung
There was a record prize pool of HKD $4,512,353 for this PokerStars Macau Cup with more than 1,000 players registering across seven tournaments.

The main Red Dragon event saw 314 entries making it the second largest ever and awarded HKD $2,859,912 in total prize money, with HKD $643,000 going to the winner, James McCarty.

.
"PokerStars and Grand Lisboa are always striving to offer the ultimate poker experience for the players," said PokerStars Macau operations manager Danny McDonagh, "The team has worked hard and it's rewarding to see the three biggest Red Dragon events this year."

After 14 grueling hours on Sunday's Day 3 Final McCarty, from Japan, took the trophy. When it was three-handed it appeared as if local hero Ginger Keong was destined to bring home the title to Macau for the first time. He had over half the chips in play and seemed to be grinding down the competition, but McCarty had a key hand where his pocket aces not only eliminated a player but simultaneously decreased Keong's stack to 400,000.

The two remaining players entered heads-up play with McCarty holding a commanding 7-to-1 chip lead. Keong made some progress moving all-in each hand where McCarty folded. Eventually, McCarty made the call on the fourth shove and showed a dominating Q-9 against Keong's Q-2. The board wouldn't improve either player's hands which meant McCarty would take down the pot and main event.

"I come here (to PokerStars Macau) every couple months and specifically like the deep tournament structure," said the 27-year old winner. "I feel I played well but also got lucky at the right time."

The Asia Player of the Year (APOY) race is closer than ever as Team PokerStars Pro Raymond Wu now has numerous players within range of passing him in the standings. Fellow Team Pros Bryan Huang and Celina Lin each have four final tables on the year and are ranked 2nd and 15th respectively. Macau Millions winner Justin Chan also improved his rank moving from 7th to 4th on the leaderboard. Only 12 tournaments remain before the APOY award is announced in November where the winner receives a one-year sponsorship with PokerStars Macau.

The next MPCC takes place from November 2-7 and the HKD $20,000 buy-in main event offers a generous HKD $3,500,000 guarantee. You can qualify free at PokerStars.net - go to the 'Events' tab, then click 'Macau'.

Win a six-person sit-n-go. Seems a simple enough proposition, right? Now do it four times. In a row. And your opponents? Among them them will be some of the toughest MTT players in the world. Folks you've read about on these very pages. Guys you've watched on TV. You're also going to be playing short-handed for the duration so you'd better open up that hand range. There's no room for nitting it up here, boys and girls.

It's not looking so simple anymore, is it?

Shootout tournaments are a curious beast, and in the case of WCOOP Event #5, players needed to beat one six-handed table to reach the money and three to earn their way to the final table. A capped field of 1,296 players turned out, the $388,800 prize pool blowing past the $300k guarantee. 216 places were paid with first place earning $62,208.36, a fantastic Labor Day payday if we've ever seen one.

Nearly two dozen Team PokerStars Pros threw their hats in the ring including Barry Greenstein, Bertrand Grospellier, Henrique Pinho, Joe Hachem, Johnny Lodden, George Lind III, J.P. Kelly, Juan Maceiras, Daniel Negreanu, Randy "nanonoko" Lew, Grayson "spacegravy" Physioc, Steven Paul, Chris Moneymaker, David Williams, and Jan Heitmann. Four Team Pros cashed: George Danzer (71st), Anders Berg (144th), Pat Pezzin (181st), and Johannes Steindl (195th). Other notable finishes included David "WhooooKidd" Baker (63rd), Tristan "Cre8ive" Wade (46th), Chad "lilholdem954" Batista (34th), Kevin "BeL0WaB0Ve" Saul (26th), Thayer "THAY3R" Rasmussen (25th), Steve "MrSmokey1" Billirakis (16th), and Ari "BodogAri" Engel who just missed the final table, finishing in eighth place.

FlyingSumo was the last player to win his third-round match, four-bet shoving pre-flop on Johnnyy0423 with [Ah][Jc] and earning a call. Johnnyy0423's [Ac][9s] was dominated and did not improve on the eight-high board, sending us to the final table. Stacks were reset to 5,000 chips and blinds started at 25/50.

Seat 1: Zgaga (5,000 in chips)
Seat 2: FlyingSumo (5,000 in chips)
Seat 3: J0hnny_Dr@m@ (5,000 in chips)
Seat 4: DalconOpeaN (5,000 in chips)
Seat 5: GB2005 (5,000 in chips)
Seat 6: vluff (5,000 in chips)

Each player at this final table bore some impressive results on PokerStars. FlyingSumo has three wins in the Nightly Hundred Grand. GB2005 won the Sunday Million in January 2007 and the Battle of the Planets in November 2008. Zgaga represented Slovenia in the World Cup of Poker IV, and vluff won the Sunday Warm-Up just over a year ago for a $134,000 score. J0hnny_Dr@m@ final tabled the Sunday 500 only ten weeks ago and DalconOpeaN was the runner-up in that same tournament on July 18 of this year, earning nearly $64,000. All of them were gunning for their first WCOOP title.

J0hnny_Dr@m@ quickly assumed the role of table captain and pulled out to an early lead, increasing his stack to 12,000 by the end of the second level. His gains came at the expense of GB2005, Zgaga and DalconOpeaN, who fell to around 2,000 chips apiece. DalconOpeaN managed to work his stack back up to around 3,500 when he found himself on the wrong end of a coinflip. With the blinds at 50/100, DalconOpeaN opened for 300, GB2005 shoved for 3,205 and DalconOpeaN made the call, his [9h][9d] up against [Ks][Td]. A ten hit the flop and although DalconOpeaN picked up an open-ended straight draw on the turn, the river blanked out and he was crippled, left with only 255 in chips. They went into the pot two hands later, but DalconOpeaN's [Qs][8s] did not improve against FlyingSumo's [Kd][5s] and he exited in sixth place, earning $9,642.24.

About twenty minutes later, Zgaga's turn raise couldn't shake J0hnny_Dr@m@ from a multiway pot. J0hnny_Dr@m@ was the initial raiser, making it 300 to go, and both vluff and Zgaga called from the blinds. The flop came down [8s][7h][6h] and the action was checked around. When the [2s] hit the turn, vluff led out for a min-bet of 120, Zgaga raised to 450, J0hnny_Dr@m@ called and vluff got out of the way. The river was the [4c] and Zgaga checked to J0hnny_Dr@m@, who bet 1,280. Zgaga made the call, only to watch J0hnny_Dr@m@ roll over [Ks][5s] for an eight-high straight. Zgaga's stack was slashed in half. Less than an minute later, Zgaga got the rest of his chips in the middle with [Ah][Qs], dominating vluff's [As][9c]. The [Th][8s][5d] flop was safe for Zgaga, but vluff paired his kicker when the [9d] hit the turn. The river was the [Ac] and just like that, Zgaga was gone, earning $15,552 for fifth place.

FlyingSumo was knocked down to less than 2,000 in chips when he got his stack in the middle with an open-ended straight flush draw against GB2005's overpair, but did not improve. Three minutes later he picked up [Ks][Kh] and three-bet shoved over J0hnny_Dr@m@'s 300-chip opening raise. J0hnny_Dr@m@ called with [Ad][9c] and spiked top two pair on the [Ac][9h][5c] flop. The turn was the [3d], the river was the [2c], and FlyingSumo was knocked out in fourth, collecting $23,328.

When play turned three-handed, J0hnny_Dr@m@ took down the largest pot thus far at the final table, his overpair holding up against GB2005's top pair:

After that hand, GB2005 was left on only 3,000 in chips. He tried to move vluff off his hand pre-flop, three-betting all-in after vluff opened for 385. Vluff, however, made the call with [Kc][Qs], catching GB2005's hand in the proverbial cookie jar with only [Qc][9c]. The board ran out [Ah][Ac][Ks][8s][9h]and GB2005 departed in third place, earning $34,992.

J0hnny_Dr@m@ held a 2-1 chip lead over vluff as heads-up play commenced.

Seat 3: J0hnny_Dr@m@ (19,351 in chips)
Seat 6: vluff (10,649 in chips)

Vluff's stack was quickly reduced by half after J0hnny_Dr@m@ flopped top pair, top kicker with [Ah][Kd] and had his value bets paid off on each street. However, vluff quickly regained his lost chips on this hand, putting them back to where they started their heads-up battle:

When the scheduled 15-minute break began at 4:55 a.m. EDT, J0hnny_Dr@m@ once again held a 2-1 chip lead and asked vluff if he was interested in discussing a deal. Vluff agreed to look at chip count chop numbers, but instantly rejected the proposed payouts once they were calculated. Play resumed, and it lasted all of one hand.

Vluff opened for 400 from the button, J0hnny_Dr@m@ raised to 1,299 and vluff four-bet to 2,789. J0hnny_Dr@m@ moved all-in and vluff made the call.

vluff [Tc][Ts]
J0hnny_Dr@m@ [As][Ks]

J0hnny_Dr@m@ all but sealed his victory on the [Kh][8c][3h] flop. Vluff needed to find a ten on the turn or river to survive, but the [7s] and the [2h] fell instead, ending his tournament with a second-place finish and $46,656 while J0hnny_Dr@m@ captured his first WCOOP bracelet and $62,208,36. In the words of his namesake Entourage character, "Victory!"

WCOOP Event #5 - $320 NLHE 6-Max Shootout Results

1. J0hnny_Dr@m@ ($62,208.36)
2. vluff ($46,656.00)
3. GB2005 ($34,992.00)
4. FlyingSumo ($23,328.00)
5. Zgaga ($15,552.00)
6. DalconOpeaN ($9,642.24)

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