A very busy Monday at the 2008 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) at PokerStars saw three different winners crowned and bracelets awarded. The biggest story of all was the conclusion of Event #20, which saw 43 players on hand to decide the lion’s share of a $3,647,000 prize pool. The final five survivors eventually agreed on a deal that netted them an average of more than a quarter million dollars each.

WCOOP Event #20, $1,000+50 NLHE, $3,000,000 Guaranteed, Day 2

Day 2 of Event #20 of the 2008 WCOOP, $1000+50 No-Limit Hold’em, concluded Monday night. 43 players returned with hopes of winning the title. Among them were Team
PokerStars pros Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier and Humberto Brenes, but both fell short of the final table. ElkY saw his

outflopped by

and finished in 14th place ($14,561.40) while Brenes ran

into

to finish in 15th place ($14,561.40). Taylor “ElMasterMind” McFarland finished in 18th for $8,667.50. High finishers who didn’t survive to Day 2 included Hoss_TBF in 56th ($5,547.20), Dani “supernova9″ Stern in 86th ($5,200.50), Mr. Tim Caum in 90th ($5,200.50), Andre “aakkari” Akkari in 191st ($3,813.70), Joe Hachem in 240th ($3,467) and Noah “Exclusive” Boeken in 350th ($2,426.90).

The chip counts to start the final table were as follows:

QuasiFiction – 17,614,385
Mary 717 – 11,817,844
CamoJr – 6,325,276
Christian “C.K.” Krue – 4,630,228
NYC P.I.M.P – 4,068,719
henri72 – 3,134,664
Jeff “JSchnett” Schnettler – 2,093,726
Sumar07 – 1,223,614
VuaXi`Tô’ – 1,096,544

The first to be eliminated was Sumar07. With blinds of 80,000/160,000 and an ante of 16,000, Sumar07 moved all in from middle position for 1,559,614 with

. On his immediate left, Jeff “JSchnett” Schnettler reraised all in and isolated the action with

. The board rolled out

and Sumar07 took home $31,203 for ninth. Later in the level, VuaXi`Tô’ moved all in under the gun for 1,745,088 and CamoJr called from the big blind. VuaXi`Tô’s JdTd needed help to beat CamoJr’s

, but was unable to find any. VuaXi`Tô’ finished in eighth place for $45,071.

WCOOP Event #7 winner Mary 717 certainly showed what it takes to win a WCOOP event, and continued here by eliminating henri72 in seventh place. The blinds and antes had moved to the 100,000/200,000/20,000 level, when, on the button, Mary 717 moved all in for 9,393,669 with

to force the smaller stacks in the blinds to pick up hands and make decisions for their tournament lives. Henri72 woke up with

and quickly called. Unfortunately for henri72, the board rolled out

to give Mary 717 a straight, eliminating henri72 in seventh place for $72,807. Sixth place was determined when Jeff “JSchnett” Schnettler moved all in from the cutoff for 2,485,340 and was called by Christian “C.K.” Krue in the big blind. Schnettler’s

ran into Krue’s

, and only a king would come on the board, not enough to save Schnettler. He earned $107,477 for sixth.

The remaining five players discussed a chip count chop and with a slight adjustment, a deal was reached. Each was guaranteed as follows:

QuasiFiction – $340,000
Mary 717 – $288,155.21
CamoJr – $230,388.83
Christian “C.K.” Krue – $226,965.07
NYC P.I.M.P. – $197,953

The remaining $60,000 would be awarded to the winner as would be the championship bracelet. Play slowed down for a while but eliminations soon came at a frantic pace. At the 150,000/300,000/30,000 level, QuasiFiction opened to 700,000 and Mary 717 reraised to 2.4 million. QuasiFiction moved all in and Mary 717 called all in showing

, but was in a precarious position seeing QuasiFiction’s

. The board ran out 10-high and Mary 717 finished in fifth place. The next hand, Christian “C.K.” Krue moved all in for 1,424,330 and NYC P.I.M.P reraised, successfully isolating the action. Krue showed

but was trailing NYC P.I.M.P’s

. No king would pair Krue’s hand as he finished the tournament in fourth place. It would take only five hands for the next player to fall. CamoJr made it 800,000 to go and NYC P.I.M.P moved all in for just over ten million. CamoJr called all in with

but was dominated by NYC P.I.M.P’s

. The board rolled out

and CamoJr placed third.

Heads-up play began with these chip counts:

QuasiFiction – 34,796,431
NYC P.I.M.P – 17,208,569

It took 30 hands for NYC P.I.M.P to double up with pocket aces and eventually take down the title. The winning hand came on a limped pot that brought out a flop of

. QuasiFiction check-called a bet of 550,000 and the turn delivered the

. This time QuasiFiction led out for 1,200,000 but was raised all in by NYC P.I.M.P. After a few moments of pondering, QuasiFiction called and showed

but was behind NYC P.I.M.P’s

. The river was the

and the tournament was over. QuasiFiction finished as runner-up, but still took home the biggest payday of $340,000.

The winner of WCOOP Event #20 was NYC P.I.M.P. After securing $197,953 per the five-way deal, NYC P.I.M.P battled valiantly to win the championship bracelet and the additional $60,000 to take home a total of $257,953. The final results:

*1. NYC P.I.M.P – $257,953
*2. QuasiFiction – $340,000
*3. CamoJr – $230,388.83
*4. Christian “C.K.” Krue – $226,965.07
*5. Mary 717 – $288,155.21
6. Jeff “JSchnett” Schnettler – $107,477
7. henri72 – $72,807
8. VuaXi`Tô’ – $45,071
9. Sumar07 – $31,203

* — five-way chop for remaining prize money, $60,000 to eventual winner

WCOOP Event #21, $500+30 Stud Hi/Lo, $200,000 Guaranteed

Though it had a relatively low number of entrants at 525, the $530 Stud Hi/Lo event generated a prize pool of $262,500, easily eclipsing its pre-tourney guarantee. Just missing out on the final table were Scott “emptyseat88″ Fischman in 14th place ($3,412.50) and Chad “ChadBrownPRO” Brown in 16th place ($3,412.50). Other top finishers included Lee “LeeNelsonP*” Nelson in 29th ($1,968.75), Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi in 30th ($1,968.75), Shane “Shaniac” Schleger in 41st ($1,312.50), Andre “aakkari” Akkari in 44th ($1,312.50) and Isabelle “NoMercy” Mercier in 72nd ($918.75).

The final table still possessed star power, though, as James “Andy McLEOD” Obst finished in seventh place for $6,562.50. In the end, weaktight defeated aldenpogi to capture the $530 Stud Hi/Lo title. The final results were as follows:

*1. weaktight – $42,735.78
*2. aldenpogi – $34,439.22
3. sagwise – $19,687.50
4. Bad Beat Oz – $14,437.50
5. CR00K – $9,187.50
6. The_Drow – $7,875
7. James “Andy McLEOD” Obst – $6,562.50
8. 7CardRyon – $5,250

* — two-way deal for remaining prize money, $4,000 to eventual winner

WCOOP #22, $500+30 O/8 Mixed (6-max) $200,000 Guaranteed

Event #22 was a unique mixed game that went back and forth between limit Omaha Hi/Lo and Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo. It drew 620 entrants for a prize pool totaling $310,000. Notable finishes included Scott “BigRiskky” Clements in 10th place ($4,030), Victor Ramdin in 14th place ($2,790), 2007 WCOOP bracelet winner copi in 31st ($1,550), horryclutch in 32nd ($1,550), Alexander “allingomes” Gomes in 33rd ($1,550), Dario “Dariominieri” Minieri in 45th ($1,178) and Chris “Money800″ Moneymaker in 58th ($1,023).

After fifteen hours of play the winner was determined when Matt “BUCKIZ6″ Schulte outlasted jamie2000 and the rest of the field. Schulte’s triumph brought him a $55,800 first-place payday. The final results:

1. Matt “BUCKIZ6″ Schulte – $55,800
2. jamie2000 – $41,850
3. PieOhMy – $31,000
4. lovesimi – $21,700
5. iamaction – $15,500
6. Londolozi – $9,300

Plenty of Australian poker stars were in the field, including ‘Aussie’ Sarah Bilney, Lee ‘Final Table’ Nelson, Billy ‘The Croc’ Argyros, and Graeme ‘Kiwi G’ Putt, who made the final table of Event #3, the mixed Stud tournament. Grant Levy, the winner of the APPT Grand Final Event in Sydney, made his first appearance of the 2008 Aussie Millions, as did PokerNews’ own Tony ‘G’ Guoga.

The rebuy period was typically fast and wild with Fricke taking advantage of the loose action with an early double-up. Anna Wroblewski needed all the rebuys she could find when she ran into several rough hands early. “I’ve lost with A-Q four times, and A-K twice!” exclaimed Anna. By the end of the rebuy period, the prize pool for the $1,000 buy-in tournament had swelled to $526,000, with a first-place prize of $168,320.

After the rebuy period ended, play returned to a more normal pace, and players began heading to the rail in fairly short order. Among the early eliminations were Kenna James, Nelson, Gary Benson and Karib Karib. 52 players remained at the dinner break, with Brandon Schaefer, Bilney and Sol Bergren busting soon after dinner.

Field’s exit came in the early evening, just short of the money bubble. Wroblewski raised from early position and found callers in Michael Russell and David Steicke. Field re-raised, and Wroblewski and Russell got out of the way as Steicke called for the rest of his chips with . Field tabled , and lost the race when the board came down .

APPT Macau High Rollers tournament winner Eric Assadourian was the bubble boy when he got his last few chips in with against Emmanuel Seal’s pocket fours. Assadourian became an extreme short stack in the tournament after running into Michael Russell’s pocket aces, and went to the rail when Seal’s fours held up to burst the bubble, leaving the final 18 players in the money. 14 of those players made it to the end of day, including Wroblewski and Kevin Saul, but the chip lead belonged to Tony Dunst when the action concluded. Dunst picked up a big pot on the last hand of the day to send Daniel Zink to the rail and take the chip lead. The final chip counts looked like this as players bagged up their stacks for the night, with these 14 players fighting for the winner’s share of the purse when action resumes on Wednesday:

Tony Dunst – 138,200
Dane Lomas – 110,700
Kevin Saul – 83,300
Julian Powell – 75,000
David Bach – 63,800
Emmanuel Seal – 48,700
Robert Wang – 48,200
David Steicke – 47,300
Michael Pedley – 44,200
Anna Wroblewski – 39,700
Erich Kollmann – 30,600
Larry Karambis – 27,200
Rayan Nathan – 17,500
Christine Klecz – 13,100

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