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.

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.

Alexander Petersen: His mom says he is a good guy

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.

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

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.

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'.

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)

Thinking about giving the WCOOP a whirl? Check out our WCOOP page for all the information you can handle. And if you missed any of the action, check out PokerStars.tv for all the highlights.

Day 2 of the World Championship of Online Poker commenced with Event 4 - $320 Pot-Limit Omaha with $200,000 guarantee. A field of 1,805 players registered crushing the guarantee to create a prize pool of $541,500 with 234 players making the money, starting at $541.50. The money bubble was burst just before the six-hour mark, as Taknapotin would become the last player to not make the money, leaving the remaining 234 players relieved and a little bit richer.

While many members of Team PokerStars entered the tournament, only three were able to make their way into the money. JP "Jp kelly" Kelly (below) was the first to leave in the money, finishing in 180th for $622.72. He was followed by Kristian "CharismA3" Martin, earning $1,380.82 for a 46th place finish. The final player from Team PokerStars was the Netherlands' Joep "Pappe_Ruk" Van Den Bijgaart, who rallied from a short stack on the money bubble to eventually finish 20th for $2,057.70.

JP Kelly

As visions of the final table greeted the remaining players, action picked up quickly with the remaining field looking at a big payday along with the WCOOP bracelet. With the field down to ten players, KSS007 was feeling the pressure as the short stack with just 124,188 in chips as the blinds were at 10,000/20,000. Action was folded around to Törhönen in the small blind, making a raise to 60,000. KSS007 re-raised all-in, with Törhönen making the call. KSS007 revealed [9h] [Qd] [Ah] [4s], while Törhönen showed [5d] [9c] [9s] [5c]. The flop came down [4c] [Jc] [Qh], giving KSS007 two pair, while Törhönen had a flush draw. The turn was the [2h], but it was heartbreak for KSS007 as the [6c] on the river gave Törhönen their flush, sending KSS007 to the rail on the final table bubble, earning $4,223.70 for 10th place. Here's how the final table looked when play started 9-handed:

Seat 1: kimble83 (1,159,181 in chips)
Seat 2: pluggy_18 (656,708 in chips)
Seat 3: ProXimaVez (760,948 in chips)
Seat 4: Törhönen (1,160,467 in chips)
Seat 5: TNDynamite (441,015 in chips)
Seat 6: Niizch (2,223,844 in chips)
Seat 7: gutshotjerry (704,306 in chips)
Seat 8: Duffman08 (1,104,918 in chips)
Seat 9: kung_ivo (813,613 in chips)

Team PokerStars pro Dusty "Leatherass9" Schmidt handled the hosting duties at the final table. One player especially grateful to make the final 9 was gutshotjerry who said: "i have 0 dollars in account. this is hilarious". Fortunately for him, he was guaranteed to see his account have at least $5,415 by the time their tournament was over. As the blinds eventually increased to 15,000/30,000, several six-figure pots were won among the players at the final table, but no one had been knocked out. The hand below details the first elimination, and how ProXimaVez moved into the lead:

Three hands later, ProXimaVez would collect the rest of Törhönen's chips with a fortunate river card. Action had folded around to ProXimaVez, raising to 90,000 from the small blind as Törhönen made the call. On the [2s] [Jc] [5h] flop, ProXimaVez led out for 180,000, then Törhönen re-raised to 720,000. ProXimaVez then re-raised again to 1,260,000, enough for Törhönen to call with their last 100,947, showing [7s] [5d] [4h] [2d] for bottom two pair, while ProXimaVez held [Qh] [Qd] [4s] [3c] for an overpair and another open-ended straight draw. The [3s] gave ProXimaVez some additional outs, one of which came on the river: [qc] for a set of queens, leaving Törhönen to wonder what happened while collecting $9,476.25 for the 8th place finish.

ProXimaVez now held nearly 3,000,000 in chips as the rungood continued at the expense of gutshotjerry. ProXimaVez opened with a raise to 90,000, with action folded around to gutshotjerry re-raising to 315,000. ProXimaVez raised to 630,000, enough to put gutshotjerry all-in for the remaining 194,403. ProXimaVez showed [Qd] [Td] [9s] [As]
while gutshotjerry held [5c] [Qs] [Qc] [Js]. The flop came down [8h] [Th] [8c] as gutshotjerry held the higher two pair. The lead lasted only until the [tc] appeared on the turn, and the [4s] on the river didn't change the direction the chips were headed, as gutshotjerry would settle for $14,620.50 for 7th place.

ProXimaVez continued to build their stack, and was looking for more when getting into a confrontation with niizch for the biggest pot of the tournament so far:

Now holding over half the chips in play five-handed, ProXimaVez continued to accumulate as the blinds had now moved to 20,000/40,000. The next player to see their hopes for a comeback extinguished was kimble83, who opened the action with an UTG +1 raise to 140,000. This was followed by another re-raise from ProXimaVez to 480,000 as kimble83 4-bet all-in to 562,576 as ProXimaVez made the call. When both players' cards were turned over, it was kimble83 who was behind with [Qh] [Jh] [4d] [8h] against ProXimaVez's [Qd] [Td] [9s] [As]. The flop came down [5c] [6c] [Ah] giving ProXimaVez top pair as kimble83's hopes were down to a gutshot straight draw. The [7d] on the turn gave kimble83 their straight, but ProXimaVez now had a redraw for a higher straight if one of the three remaining nines came on the river. In what continued to be a disturbing trend to his opponents, the [9h] on the river would give ProXimaVez a higher straight, as kimble83 settled for the 5th place money of $25,721.25 while ProXimaVez closed in on 6 million in chips.

Players continued to fall by the wayside in rapid order, with ProXimaVez vacuuming up all the chips, as kung_ivo would experience momentarily. From the small blind, kung_ivo raised to 120,000 as ProXimaVez made the call. On a flop of [8h Ah Js], kung_ivo led out for 240,000, followed by a raise to 480,000 from ProXimaVez, enough for kung_ivo to call all-in for 191,782. This time, ProXimaVez bested his rival on the flop, when their [6h] [Td] [As] [4d] had outflopped kung_ivo's [9s] [Qd] [Qc] [9h]. The [5h] turn and [3h] river didn't change the result, as ProXimaVez sent another player to the rail disappointed, as kung_ivo's 4th place finish was good for $35,603.62.

With play now three-handed and ProXimaVez now holding over 70% of the chips, talk of a deal commenced. Dusty Schmidt ran the numbers for a deal based on chip counts, with $4,000 left to for the winner. Here's how it would have broken down:

ProXimaVez - $85,693.33
duffman08 - $56,959.15
TNDynamite - $53,703.17

If that deal had been accepted, ProXimaVez could have actually earned more than the posted 1st place winnings of $86,640.65 with a victory. However, the trio negotiated amongst themselves and after several minutes, it appeared a deal was set with these amounts plus the $4,000 played out for first:

ProXimaVez - $78,000.00
duffman08 - $61,355.65
TNDynamite - $57,000.00

However, upon further reflection, duffman08 decided to pass on the deal, figuring a double-up thru ProXimaVez could get him a better deal and play resumed. Duffman would take a pot for over 1.7m from ProXimaVez, but the momentum was very short-lived as the tournament would end just three hands later. TNDynamite was down to just 714,060 in chips and in the small blind, when faced with a raise by ProXimaVez to 120,000. TNDynamite re-raised to 400,000 as duffman08 got out of the way while ProXimaVez re-raised enough for TNDynamite to call all-in. Both players had similar hands: TNDynamite having [9d] [Qh] [Ad] [Ac] while ProXimaVez held [As] [Td] [3s] [Ah]. The flop was more fortunate to ProXimaVez when it came down [6s] [5c] [7s] for the nut flush draw, which got there when the [2s] on the turn sealed TNDynamite's fate, followed by the [5d] on the river left TNDynamite to receive $48,735.00 for a third place finish.

As the next hand was dealt, duffman08 was looking to make an attempt at a deal, but it wasn't meant to be. From the small blind, duffman08 raised to 105,000, while ProXimaVez re-raised to 315,000, which was followed by a 4-bet to 945,000. ProXimaVez 5-bet to 2,835,000 as duffman08 called for 1,530,000. ProXimaVez turned over [2h] [Kd] [Kh] [3d] while duffman08 only had [Ks] [Tc] [Ah] [2s]. The board ran out [4s] [7c] [9c] [7h] [3c] as duffman08, with a 2nd place finish for over $43,000 in the Sunday 2nd Chance tournament just over a week ago, adds another $64,980.00 to the account for another impressive runner-up finish. ProXimaVez knocks out every player at the final table, earning $86,640.65 and a WCOOP bracelet for his efforts.

Be sure to check out the other WCOOP results from Day 2, like the $215 NL Holdem Turbo Rebuys event, and check out WCOOP.com for all things WCOOP, and PokerStars.tv for highlights from select WCOOP events and much, much more.

WCOOP 2010 Event #4 - $320 Pot-Limit Omaha results
1st: ProXimaVez - $86,640.65
2nd: Duffman08 - $64,980.00
3rd: TNDynamite - $48,735.00
4th: kung_ivo - $35,603.62
5th: kimble83 - $25,721.25
6th: Niizch - $20,035.50
7th: gutshotjerry - $14,620.50
8th: Törhönen - $9,476.25
9th: pluggy_18 - $5,415.00

That's the charm of turbo tournaments -- fast paced and built for adrenaline junkies who don't want to grind it out in a deep stacked tournament with structure so slow that you're folding hand after hand after hand ad nauseam for 16 hours straight. Add the rebuy element and you have a recipe for a poker junkie's nirvana. Where can you play a 1,600+ player tournament in less than four hours with a prize pool topping over $1.3 million?

Jamie "Xaston" Kaplan won this all-out sprint to claim his first WCOOP title. If his name sounds familiar, well, it is. Xaston made the final table of the WCOOP Main Event last year and finished up with an impressive 5th place performance, which netted him close to a half of a million dollars.

Xaston didn't wait very long this year to make some noise. He beat former tennis pro Raj "BadcardsAA" Vohra heads-up in order to win Event #6 $215 NL Turbo. Because of the fast-paced structure, this might be the quickest run tournament at this year's WCOOP. I know that we're only six events in, but it's going to be tough to finish a tournament faster than 3 hours and 49 minutes.

Event #6 attracted 1,667 thrill seekers. They added 3,918 re-buys and 937 add-ons to the $1,304,400 total prize pool. The top 216 places were paid out with $214,986.82 awarded to first place.

The turbo format featured escalating blinds every five minutes with the re-buy period lasting a full hour. Daniel Negreanu, Humberto Brenes, ElkY, and former major league baseball player Orel Hershiser were a few of the familiar faces who faded into oblivion before the money bubble burst. As expected, the players quickly raced toward the money. From the time cards went in the air, it took a mere 2 hours and 14 minutes before SkillVille bubbled out in 217th place, and the remaining 216 players were guaranteed a pay day.

Team PokerStars Online player George Lind III

George Lind III went the deepest among the Team PokerStars players with a 26th place finish. Several other Team PokerStars Pros made the money including Chris Moneymaker (60th), Barry Greenstein (146th), Randy "nanonoko" Lew (189th), and Sebastian Ruthenberg (206th). Team PokerStars Online's Steven Paul made it to 87th.

Notable players who cashed included AJKHoiser1 (14th), Andy McLEOD (22nd), 2009 WCOOP Main Event champion Yevgeniy "Jovial Gent" Timoshenko (30th), Kevin "BeL0WaB0Ve" Saul (33rd), 2010 WSOP November Niner Joe "subiime" Cheong (95th), charder30 (119th), ShaunDeeb (124th), Dan "Lenny" Heimiller (194th) and JohnnyBax (213th).

With two tables to go, Xaston snapped off Kings with pocket nines. Yep, you guessed it -- a nine on the river to sunk knecht_poker's Kings. The perturbed player went out in 13th place, while Xaston rocketed to the top of the leaderboard with almost $3 million.

The dubious final table bubble boy honors went to Quebec's Phil "takechip" D'Auteuil. The French Canadian pro got crippled on the previous hand before Xaston took him out in 10th place. Xaston began the final table as the chipleader, but with blinds rapidly increasing, the title was within the reach of any of the final nine players.

Final table chip counts:
Seat 1: Xaston (3,040,016)
Seat 2: spikedag (1,555,676)
Seat 3: "0PIGGYBANK" (874,555)
Seat 4: SHAKAJAMES (1,761,008)
Seat 5: MeFishUShark (1,571,586)
Seat 6: AndASodaPop (824,166)
Seat 7: Schappuscha (1,116,651)
Seat 8: BadcardsAA (1,250,372)
Seat 9: BradL (1,986,970)

AndASodaPop, the shortest stack at the final table, was the first player to hit the road. MeFishUShark opened with a min-raise. AndASodaPop shoved all-in for 704,166. Sitting in the big blind, BadcardsAA re-raised all-in to 1,507,872. MeFishUShark folded, which left AndASodaPop fighting for his tournament life with [As][Qs] against BadcardsAA's [Ac][Kd]. BadcardsAA's Big Slick held up to win the pot. AndASodaPop was eliminated in 9th place and won $13,044.

Short-stacked Schappuscha shoved with [Qh][Js]. Xaston called from the big blind with [Kc][2c]. The board ran out [Tc][7s][5h][8h] [4s] and he won the pot with just King-high. Schappuscha went out in 8th place and collected $22,827.

The game did not last seven-handed very long after two players busted simultaneously, with Xaston once again on the winning side of this melee. MeFishUShark open-shoved for 653,342. Xaston re-raised all-in from the small blind for almost 3.6 million. Spikedag called from the big blind with his last 1,363,176. The board ran out [5c][3s][2d][3d] [8d]. Xaston won the pot with [Ts][Tc]. His pair of tens won a flip against Spikedag's [As][Kh]. MeFishUShark's [Js][Th] was also futile. Spikedag finished in 6th place and won $48,915, while MeFishUShark busted in 7th place and won $35,871.

"0PIGGYBANK" bottomed out shortly after when he shoved from the button with pocket eights and BadcardsAA insta-called from his big blind with [Ac][As]. "0PIGGYBANK" could not flop a set or catch a miracle. As a result, "0PIGGYBANK" went busto in 5th place, good enough for a $61,959 payout.

With four players to go, Xaston led the pack with almost 6 million before he claimed another victim. Short-stacked BradL lost a battle of the blinds when he shoved from his small blind with [Jd][8d] and Xaston called with [Js][Ts]. Xaston flopped a pair of tens, which held up. BradL was knocked out in 4th place and took home $87,394.80.

With three to go, it was a matter of time before Xaston and BadcardsAA got rid of SHAKAJAMES. On the decisive hand, SHAKAJAMES raised to almost 1.6 million from the small blind with [Qh][4s]. BadcardsAA called with [Ac][Kh] from the big blind. The board ran out [Jd][Td][5s][3d][Qs]. BadcardsAA rivered a Broadway straight to win the pot. SHAKAJAMES headed to the rail in 3rd place, but not before collecting $117,396 for his efforts.

When heads-up play began, Xaston had a 2.7 million lead over BadcardsAA, but one hand and BadcardsAA could easily be back in the event.

Event #6: Heads-up chip counts
Seat 1: Xaston (8,348,844)
Seat 8: BadcardsAA (5,632,156)

On the 6th hand of heads-up play, an aggressive Xaston struck first to set the tone of the match. Xaston opened to 300,000 and BadcardsAA called. The flop was [Ac][Kd][3c]. BadcardsAA checked, Xaston bet 400,000, BadcardsAA check-raised to 980,000, but Xaston re-raised to almost 2 million. BadcardsAA reached for more ammo and raised to 3.36 million. Xaston shoved all in for over 7.9 million and... Badcards folded. Xaston won the pot worth over 4.5 million and extended a 6-1 lead over BadcardsAA.

On the 16th hand of heads-up play, Xaston finally ditched BadcardsAA. Xaston shoved for over 12 million and BadcardsAA called. Xaston was ahead with [Kh][8c] against [Js][Tc]. Xaston's King-high held up, he won the pot, and knocked out BadcardsAA.

For hisrunner-up performance, BadcardsAA won $156,528. Xaston collected $213,986.82 for first place, in addition to his first wcoop title.

Event #6 $215+ R NLH Turbo final table results:
1. Xaston - $213,986.82
2. BadcardsAA - $156,528
3. SHAKAJAMES - $117,396
4. BradL - $87,394.80
5. "0PIGGYBANK" - $61,959
6. spikedag - $48,915
7. MeFishUShark - $35,871
8. Schappuscha - $22,827
9. AndASodaPop - $13,044

For more coverage of the 2010 WCOOP head over to PokerStars.tv. Don't forget to visit the WCOOP homepage for the full schedule, results, player-of-the-year stats, satellite information, and more.

The first night of WCOOP action brought some exciting action, with Event 1 and its short-handed no-limit hold'em followed by Event 2 and the $10,000 buy-in high roller NLHE action. And the late-starting event was this, the $200 buy-in straight-up NLHE tournament with a whopping $2 million guarantee. And the players were more than ready for it, as registration showed 12,066 of them at the tables, which boosted the prize pool well past the guarantee to $2,413,200. What a way to welcome the 62-event series!

With a massive field and quite a bit of money at stake, the tournament took quite a few hours to reach the money bubble, at which time mwasta666 took the unwanted distinction of finishing the tournament in 1531st place, one spot outside of the cash. The rest of the 1,530 players were guaranteed a minimum payout of $361.98 for their $200 + $15 entries, and as the cashier began doling out the dough, some of the PokerStars team members were among those accumulating it. the first to cash out was Maria "Maridu" Mayrinck in 1435th place, and she was followed by George "Jorj95" Lind in 1310th place, Florian "F. Langmann" Langmann in 908th, Sandra "Naujoks" Naujoks in 826th, Andre "aakkari" Akkari in 659th, Andrew "Kid Nebraska" Goetsch in 372nd, Diego "vgreen22" Brunelli in 195th, Karlo "elmagopr" Lopez in 136th, and Nuno "nuno coelho" Coelho in 133rd. The last Team PokerStars Pro standing in the tournament was Martha "marene" Herrera, who ultimately went out in 53rd place for a $3,740.46 cash.

The final two tables picked up speed as the competitors were anxious to make it to the final table, and hand-for-hand play with 11 players didn't take long at all. It was short-stacked hotshotss21 who moved all-in preflop with [3c][3s], but Iteopepe88 called 443,868 more from the big blind with [9h][3h]. The board came [Qd][7h][Ac][6h][Kh], and the hearts gave Iteopepe88 the flush and eliminated hotshotss21 in tenth place with $10,135.44 in prize money.

The final table was then set amidst Level 42 with blinds at 80,000/160,000 and a 20,000 ante, and the players were seated as follows:

Seat 1: jampiriki (6,817,011 in chips)
Seat 2: Bdbeatslayer (6,972,227 in chips)
Seat 3: i need bond$ (8,997,220 in chips)
Seat 4: binhoeiji (13,135,436 in chips)
Seat 5: Twinshark (10,972,400 in chips)
Seat 6: Iteopepe88 (19,968,840 in chips)
Seat 7: joao bauer (11,768,624 in chips)
Seat 8: cmpjo (29,726,018 in chips)
Seat 9: Aleksei1990 (12,302,224 in chips)

Team PokerStars Pro Katja Thater chimed in to the chat box to wish the players the best of luck, as they were doing the same with each other. Cmpjo was firmly in the chip lead and had been for some time, but Twinshark had other plans. After Twinshark took a 5.38 million-chip pot from I need bond$, the next move was to double through cmpjo in a monster pot as follows:

RSS readers click through to see replay

Most of the following hour of play was filled with caution and thoughtful raises that induced folds. Clearly, no one wanted to be the first to leave the table, and with the top four spots paying out six figures, that was incentive enough to play tight and wait for prime hands.

Through that period of time, Bdbeatslayer was unable to gather any momentum and was relegated to a very short stack. With only 488,387 chips left, Bdbeatslayer pushed all-in preflop with [Ts][7h], but Iteopepe88 easily called with [Qd][Qh] from the big blind. The board was a rather uneventful [Js][2h][2s][6d][8c], and no help came for Bdbeatslayer, who became the first eliminated player from the final table with $15,203.16 to show for the ninth place finish.

Over the next while, Iteopepe88 climbed into the chip lead and didn't look back, putting over 2 million chips between that first place spot and second place maintained by Twinshark. Meanwhile, I need bond$ was able to double through cmpjo to stay alive.

Just after the 17-hour mark of the tournament, it was jampiriki on a short stack and pushing it with none other than [Ah][Ad]. It was the hand he undoubtedly waited for, and binhoeiji made the call from the big blind with [Ts][Tc]. When the flop appeared as [7s][Qs][Js], it gave pause because of the spade flush draw for binhoeiji, and the [3s] actually made that flush. A meaningless [2d] on the river ended the hand with aces cracked, and jampiriki was forced out in eighth place with $24,132.00 to help forget about the bad beat.

And to prove that pocket aces were having a bad day, another hand ensued, and it was a big one. It started with I need bond$ making a preflop raise and binhoeiji with the call, but when Twinshark reraised it, I need bond$ folded and binhoeiji called. After the flop came [3d][9d][Kd], Twinshark bet, binhoeiji raised all-in, and Twinshark called with [Ad][Ks] for top pair and the flush draw. But binhoeiji showed [Ah][Ac] for his tournament life, and the overpair was good as the [5h] appeared on the turn. But the [8d] hit on the river to give Twinshark the flush and the 35 million-chip pot. Aces were cracked again, this time sending binhoeiji out in seventh place with $48,264.00.

Aces decided to make a comeback, though, and prove that they could still be the best hand. I need bond$ doubled through cmpjo when aces held up to A-K, and joao bauer did the same through Twinshark with aces fending off nines. But then cmpjo used pocket fours to crack the aces of I need bond$, and the reputation of pocket rockets was again on the fence.

Aleksei1990 finally decided to make a move and did it with [Ah][Qh] preflop. Twinshark made the call with [Js][Jh], and the board only helped turn that pocket pair into a full house when it came [2c][2s][7s][Jc][8s]. That eliminated Aleksei1990 in sixth place with $72,396.00 in prize money.

As the tournament approached the 18-hour mark, the biggest climber was I need bond$, who tripled up from a short stack into fourth place, doubled through cmpjo to climb into third, and soon took over second place. Cmpjo did wage a bit of a comeback as well, doubling through Twinshark to stay alive and get off the short stack. And joao bauer doubled through chip leader Iteopepe88 to do the same. A while later, cmpjo doubled through Iteopepe88 to climb into a solid second place.

Meanwhile, many Team PokerStars Pros showed up in the chat box to, well, chat. Thater was still present in her hosting duties, and others like Andre Akkari, Veronica Dabul, Henrique Pinho, Nuno Coelho, and Joep van de Bijgaart came by to see some of the lengthy tournament action.

A while later, cmpjo doubled through Iteopepe88, and I need bond$ did the same, cutting Iteopepe88's lead down to a bare minimum. Joao Bauer doubled through cmpjo in a 32.2 million-chip pot, and players were looking more aggressive (exhausted) and ready to move (sleep).

Twinshark was the next player to risk tournament life, but the hand started with a raise from Iteopepe88. Twinshark reraised all-in for 12,837,687 chips with [9d][9c], but Iteopepe88 didn't hesitate to call with a dominating [Kd][Kc]. The flop came [8s][Ks][Js] to give Iteopepe88 the set of kings, and the [8d] on the turn made his hand into a full house. The [2s] on the river ended it for Twinshark, who departed in fifth place with $96,528.00.

With the very next hand, a new chip leader was born as joao bauer took the reins:

RSS readers click through to see replay

Iteopepe88 doubled through I need bond$ to climb back to second place, which left I need bond$ needing more chips. It wasn't long before I need bond$ moved all-in, and Iteopepe88 reraised all-in to isolate from the small blind, which worked. I need bond$ showed [Kd][Jc], but Iteopepe88 was in the lead with [As][Td]. The board produced [5c][4c][7d][Ad][4h], and Iteopepe88 improved to two pair to eliminate I need bond$ in fourth place, which was worth a payout of $120,660.00.

After cmpjo doubled through joao bauer and then Iteopepe88 to jump back into contention, the final three players decided to take a look at some chip-chop numbers. But once the figures were presented, all of the players had issues, and they chose to restart the tournament and play on.

It didn't take long from there. Joao Bauer took a 25 million-chip pot from Iteopepe88, and the latter's stack continued to shrink. Finally, Iteopepe88 pushed all-in for 16,437,116 holding [Ad][5h], and joao bauer called with [Ah][Jd]. The flop brought [Js][3s][Jh] to give joao bauer trips, and the [3d] only developed that hand into a full house. The [7s] on the river brought Iteopepe88's tournament to a close with $168,924.00 for the third place finish.

Heads-up play then began with the following counts:

Seat 7: joao bauer (89,632,684 in chips)
Seat 8: cmpjo (31,027,316 in chips)

And two hands into the action, they paused to make another attempt at discussing numbers. Finally, after much back-and-forth and several sets of numbers, they agreed that joao bauer would take $276,702.37 and cmpjo would receive $260,298.79, while an extra $40,000 was to be awarded the eventual winner.

The duo proceeded with caution. Cmpjo wasn't going out without a fight and continued to push at his opponent, but joao bauer had some aggression in him as well. The two got involved with a raise and reraise to see a flop of [5c][Jd][4h]. A bet from cmpjo was called to bring them to the [7c] turn card. Then it was joao bauer who bet and it was an all-in bet. Cmpjo check-called for his last 19,462,316 chips with [4s][6d] and the pair of fours, but joao bauer showed [8d][7s] for a pair of sevens. The [9s] on the river ended the tournament, and cmpjo accepted $260,298.79 for second place.

After 19.5 hours of intense tournament action, joao bauer won Event 3 and took home $316,702.37 and a gold WCOOP bracelet for the accomplishment. Congratulations!

2010 WCOOP Event 3 Results:

1st place: joao bauer ($316,702.37)
2nd place: cmpjo ($260,298.79)
3rd place: Iteopepe88 ($168,924.00)
4th place: I need bond$ ($120,660.00)
5th place: Twinshark ($96,528.00)
6th place: Aleksei1990 ($72,396.00)
7th place: binhoeiji ($48,264.00)
8th place: jampiriki ($24,132.00)
9th place: Bdbeatslayer ($15,203.16)

The 2010 WCOOP is now underway with a total of 62 events 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.