It’s not every day that $600,000 falls into your lap. For PokerStars member “CrabMaki,” however, that day was Sunday, when he took down Event #2 of the ongoing PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), a $10,300 No Limit Hold’em High Roller tournament. “CrabMaki’s” cash was the largest of the 2010 WCOOP, which is now six events old.
The runner-up in Event #2 of the 2010 WCOOP was none other than Ville Wahlbeck, a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner. Wahlbeck banked $492,000 for taking down the $10,000 World Championship Mixed Event at last year’s WSOP, nearly equal to the $453,000 he collected for finishing second in the High Roller WCOOP tournament on Sunday. Third place in Event #2 belonged to “bmwmcoupe,” who earned $344,000. A total of 313 players turned out, with the top 45 making the money. Here’s how the final table shaped up:
1. CrabMaki – $605,655
2. V. Wahlbeck – $453,850
3. bmwmcoupe – $344,300
4. Also11 – $258,225
5. Vick Is God – $178,410
6. LooneyGerbil – $137,720
7. sms9231 – $106,420
8. pokerjamers – $75,120
9. antesvante – $54,775
The kickoff event of the 2010 WCOOP also occurred on Sunday and was a $215 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max tournament. The event blew away its guarantee by 50%, as a field of 9,001 entrants created a prize pool of just over $1.8 million. The top 1,140 on the final leaderboard finished in the money and “AlexKP” walked away with the bracelet following a two-way chop with “Tutanhoman1.” The pair pulled down $257,000 and $198,000, respectively.
RPM Poker pro Stephen “stevie444” Chidwick finished in third place for $130,000. During the 12th running of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) in May 2009, Chidwick recorded two final tables for nearly $200,000 combined. His $130,000 WCOOP score was his second largest to date:
1. AlexKP – $257,000
2. Tutanhoman1 – $198,274
3. stevie444 – $130,515
4. ROOJAR_M – $76,509
5. inhidonks – $40,505
6. Drateks – $27,003
Also making waves on the opening day of the 2010 WCOOP over the weekend was “joao bauer,” who raked in $316,000 for the win in Event #3, a $215 No Limit Hold’em contest. He chopped heads-up with “cmpjo,” who amassed a $260,000 payday. The largest field of the 2010 WCOOP so far, 12,066 entrants, showed up to create a colossal $2.4 million prize pool. To put that number in perspective, the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Legends of Poker in August had a prize pool of $2.1 million.
Two other players collected six-figure paydays. Third place went to “Iteopepe88,” who earned $168,000. Right behind him on the leaderboard was “i need bond$,” who pulled down $120,000:
1. joao bauer – $316,702
2. cmpjo – $260,299
3. Iteopepe88 – $168,924
4. i need bond$ – $120,660
5. Twinshark – $96,528
6. Aleksei1990 – $72,396
7. binhoeiji – $48,264
8. jampiriki – $24,132
9. Bdbeatslayer – $15,203
On Monday, which marked the Labor Day holiday in the United States, “Xaston” banked $214,000 after winning Event #6, a $215 No Limit Hold’em Turbo with Rebuys. Amazingly, the sixth WCOOP event more than doubled its guarantee, as the 1,667 players in the field created a prize pool of $1.3 million. Second place belonged to “BadcardsAA,” who pocketed a healthy $156,000 consolation prize:
1. Xaston – $213,987
2. BadcardsAA – $156,528
3. SHAKAJAMES – $117,396
4. BradL – $87,395
5. “0PIGGYBANK” – $61,959
6. spikedag – $48,915 (spikedag)
7. MeFishUShark – $35,871 (jooobs)
8. Schappuscha – $22,827
9. AndASodaPop – $13,044
A Pot Limit Five Card Draw contest, the first high-stakes Triple Stud tournament, and the 2010 WCOOP’s first Two-Day Event will play out today on the virtual felts of the USA-friendly online poker site. The 2010 WCOOP wraps up on September 26th with a $5,200 buy-in Two-Day Main Event that guarantees $10 million.
