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Continuing what has been the best year of his poker career, British poker pro Richard “CHUFTY” Ashby is one of the latest winners during the run of the 2010 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) schedule.

Event #54, the $2,000 Six-Handed Pot Limit Omaha tournament, proved just how popular the discipline of Omaha is becoming. Set with a $800,000 guarantee (400 players), the tournament drew an outstanding 480 combatants, with many top online and live pros stepping up to the virtual felt. At stake was the $960,000 prize pool and, in particular, the first place awards of $185,760 and the coveted WCOOP bracelet.

As the two-day tournament played out, 60 runners took away a minimum payday of $3,840 for their efforts. For some of the top players, however, this wasn’t enough; Jon “PearlJammer” Turner left the event in 48th place ($4,800), 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event winner and Team PokerStars pro Chris “Money800” Moneymaker finished in 34th ($5,760), WSOP bracelet holder Steve “MrSmokey1” Bilirakis departed in 17th ($9,120), and online pro Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul exited in 12th ($12,960).

Although he led much of the Day One action, Ashby came to the final table of the six-handed tournament on Friday in the third slot on the leaderboard. Taking hold of the top slot was “Shatkhi,” holding a stack of roughly 1.335 million; PokerStars Supernova “Gorrioncillo” was stacked with almost 711,000. Ashby would quickly go to work on the field during final table play, taking over the chip lead after taking a large pot off “Gorrioncillo” and crippling “< x|||||><“ moments later.

After only 45 minutes of play at the final table, heads-up action was determined. Former chip leader “Shatkhi” began to assert himself on the tables, eliminating three players in a row. He finished off “< x|||||><“ after his defeat at the hands of Ashby before taking out “Gorrioncillo” and “LukeFromB13” to determine heads-up play. When “Shatkhi” and Ashby came to their mano a mano fight, “Shatkhi” held the chip lead by a 2.2 million/1.3 million edge.

On several occasions, “Shatkhi” had Ashby on the ropes, but the 2010 WSOP bracelet winner would not fall in what he considers his specialty. “CHUFTY” won several hands to squeak into the lead, but “Shatkhi” continued to attempt to derail the Ashby Express. After getting very lucky by nailing a nut flush on the flop to draw even, Ashby seemed destined to win the title. He did so in the span of three hands, taking the final pot by hitting a set of aces on the flop, which “Shatkhi” could not defeat. The final table finished as such:

1st – Richard “CHUFTY” Ashby (United Kingdom) $185,760
2nd – Shatkhi (Russia) $137,760
3rd – LukeFromB13 (United States) $103,200
4th – Gorrioncillo (Spain) $71,040
5th – < x|||||>< (United States) $50,880
6th – shinbones (Canada) $32,640

The 2010 poker season has been a memorable one for Richard Ashby. Along with taking down his first WSOP bracelet, Ashby had two cashes in Las Vegas and a third place finish at the Aussie Millions $10,000 HORSE tournament. Roughly two weeks ago, the budding British poker star was also named the “Best All-Around Player” at the inaugural British Poker Awards.

As the WCOOP winds through its 62-event schedule, the battle on the leaderboard for the WCOOP “Player of the Series” has heated up. While Russia’s “Kroko-dill” is still atop the mountain at this point with 310 points, challengers have emerged that have an opportunity to take him down. Jamie “Xaston” Kaplan has moved into the second place slot with 265 points and both “Andy McLeod” and Norway’s “Donald” sit tied for third at 245 points. Turner rounds out the top five on the WCOOP leaderboard with 230 points.

Although the close of the 2010 WCOOP is near, there will still be plenty of action over the weekend. Two tournaments – a $530 Heads Up Pot Limit Omaha and a $2100 HORSE, both two day events – will start on Saturday, while Sunday marks the conclusion of the WCOOP. Two tournaments – a $215 No Limit Hold’em and a $10,300 Eight-Game High Roller – will join the Sunday action, but the focus of much of the online poker world will be on the WCOOP Main Event, a $5,200 buy-in tournament that has a $10 million guaranteed prize pool. As of Saturday morning, 564 players have been registered, including almost two dozen pros from the Team PokerStars stable.

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