During the PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) in April, Terrence “Unassigned” Chan made headlines by winning both the high- and mid-stakes versions of Event #20 (Six-Max Limit Hold’em) on the same day, earning him more than $185,000. It was an accomplishment deemed nearly unachievable by poker aficionados.
On September 18th, Chan once again made headlines in the poker world, this time in the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP). Again, it was Six-Max Limit Hold’em and, once again, Chan was victorious, besting a 437-player field in the $1,000 buy-in Event #39 for a payday of $83,030.
Chan entered the final table second in chips and ultimately drew an appealing heads-up match against Cesar “makavelyces” Fuentes, widely considered one of the best high-stakes online tournament players in the world. They began play nearly even in chips with around two million each and it was Fuentes who grabbed control early, cutting Chan’s stack down to 300,000. Chan doubled up and then quickly took over the chip lead when his pocket kings made a full house on a Kd-Qd-4d-Th-Qh board.
Chan chipped away at Fuentes’ stack and eventually Fuentes got the last of his chips in pre-flop with pocket nines against Chan’s Kh-Jc. The Kd-Qc-Qs flop left Fuentes drawing thin and the turn and river were no help, sending him out in second place for $61,180. Chan, meanwhile, added another prestigious Limit Hold’em title to his record as well as his first WCOOP bracelet.
Chan was updating his blog and Twitter account during his run in Event # 39 and expressed his contentment following the victory: “Insane. Just…insane. I kinda run good in these events, y’know?” He also noted in his blog that he hadn’t cashed in his first five WCOOP events of this year’s series, saying, “I have been frustrated in all of them, resulting in poor decisions in many of them.” That frustration has surely dissipated.
A native of Vancouver, Chan is now being mentioned among the best Limit Hold’em players in the world, joining the likes of Matt Hawrilenko, Daniel Negreanu, David Chiu, Ted Forrest, Jen Harman, and Todd Brunson, among others. He regularly plays in some of the highest live limit games in the world while traveling the tournament circuit. Chan has also excelled at No Limit Hold’em. His best finish came at the 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP), where he took second place in the $2,500 Event #30 for $287,345. Hoyt Corkins defeated Chan for the title.
Here’s a look at the final results of the PokerStars WCOOP Event #39:
1st Place: Terrence “Unassigned” Chan – $83,030
2nd Place: Cesar “makavelyces” Fuentes – $61,180.00
3rd Place: Vingtcent – $44,792.50
4th Place: SoulMaster7 – $30,590.00
5th Place: Tommy2tyme – $21,850.00
6th Place: KINGKUNG – $13,984.00