The scent of pine needles has gone, workbenches remain idle, laces urge to be tied. It’s that time of the year when the grinders head to Platform 9 3/4 to begin their fortnightly trek to poker world – it’s the PokerStars World Championships of Online Poker (WCOOP).
By my reckoning, we’re nine days in, and that means the beef stew needs chucking, and the colostomy bags need changing.
Let’s catch up.
The quickest high roller off the mark was one of WCOOP’s finest. Shaun Deeb loves this competition so much, three-years ago he missed the birth of his son to play in it, and he’s taken down his seventh title.
Deeb, playing out of Mexico, defeated none other than Denis “aDrENalin710” Strebkov, heads-up, to win Event #9 (H) $1,050 No-Limit 5-Card Draw PKO for $25,375. You may remember that Strebkov won an unprecedented four titles in little over a week last time out. The Russian also finished the series as the leaderboard winner and sits atop the WCOOP Most Wins League with nine.
Back to Deeb, and the American has won close to $7m playing online poker tournaments, with $4.5m coming on Stars. His biggest score to date remains $312,610 after winning the $1k Monday on Full Tilt back in 2011.
Trueteller Wins The $25k High Roller.
Timofey “trueteller” Kuznetsov is one of those talented players who seems to revel in all formats live and online. The feared cash game star has made three Triton final tables this year, winning one, and now he has won a WCOOP title.
Kuznetsov conquered a 90-entrant Event #25 (H) $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em Eight-Max High Roller. The Russian star beat his fellow cash game crusher, Jordi “proto” Urlings, heads-up to claim the $527,458.43 first prize.
A whole host of top bananas made it to the final table of this one including Justin Bonomo (3), Dominik Nitsche (5), Mustapha Kanit (6) and Timothy Adams (8).
Here are the results.
Final Table Results
1. Timofey “trueteller” Kuznetsov – $527,458.43
2. Jordi “proto” Urlings – $407,625.43
3. Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo – $315,017.17
4. Rachid Ben “SkaiWalkurrr: Cherif – $243,448.63
5. Dominik “Bounatirou” Nitsche – $188,139.58
6. Mustapha “lasagnaaammm” Kanit – $145,396.41
7. Zagazaur – $112,363.81
8. Timothy “Tim0thee” Adams – $86,835.86
The Best of the Rest
Australian, Michael “imluckbox” Addamo, has added a WCOOP title to the Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) title he won in 2016. Addamo defeated a field of 272-entrants in Event #13 (H) $5,200 Sunday Million High Roller, beating the formidable Samuel “€urop€an” Vousden, heads-up, no less.
The $258,952.34 score is Addamo’s most significant live or online since finishing fifth in a €25,000 No-Limit Hold’em event at the European Poker Tour (EPT) in Monte Carlo for $270,078, back in May.
Finally, two of Portugal’s finest, currently living in the Netherlands, earned WCOOP honours this week. Rui “RuiNF” Ferreira won his seventh COOP title after conquering a 97-entrant field in Event #21 (H) $1,050 Limit Hold’em 6-Max to secure the $23,896 first prize. Ferreira also made the final tables of the €50,000 and €100,000 at EPT Barcelona finishing 9th and 8th respectively. Joao “Naza114” Vieira is a regular on the EPT €25k buy-in circuit. Vieira also won a WCOOP title vanquishing 213-entrants to win the $88,846 first prize in Event #26 (H) $530+R Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) 6-Max. It’s been a cushy year for Vieira after winning his first bracelet and $758,011 at the World Series of Poker (WSOP).
WCOOP runs until September 25.