Online Poker: ddrufnek Wins WCOOP NLH Rebuy EventEvent Prize Pool is Triple Guarantee, Meanwhile Deuce-to-Seven Event Requires First Overlay in 2008 WCOOPby Shawn Patrick Green | Published: Sep 17, 2008 | |
 
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Last night’s events in the 2008 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) couldn’t have been more different. The first event featured the most popular poker variant, no-limit Texas hold’em, and it had a prize pool of almost triple what was guaranteed. The second event was one of the least-played poker variants, no-limit deuce-to-seven single-draw, and it required an overlay to reach its $200,000 guarantee, making for the first overlay required thus far in the 2008 WCOOP. Read the event recaps below to find out who the winners were, and check out the entire WCOOP schedule and results list on CardPlayer.com.
WCOOP Event No. 23: $500 No-Limit Hold’em (One Rebuy, One Add-On)
The biggest event of the WCOOP last night was the $500 buy-in no-limit hold’em event with one rebuy and one add-on (thus making the maximum buy-in $1,500). The event had a guarantee of $500,000, but of the 1,159 entrants, 807 rebought and 954 added on, making an unexpectedly large total prize pool of $1,460,000, nearly three times the guarantee. That prize pool left $263,000 for the first-place finisher and meant that four spots were going to be paid six-figures.
Team PokerStars member Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier did well in yet another WCOOP event when he finished in the final two tables last night, busting in 15th place ($11,000). He was the runner-up in the $25,000 buy-in heads-up no-limit hold’em event, earning $320,000, and he made the final two tables of the $1,000 two-day no-limit hold’em event (14th, $15,000). Also at the final two tables was online poker pro Todd “koolkeith13” Lewis, who finished in 16th ($8,000).
When it got down to the final four players in the event, a deal was struck that left $210,000 for first place and $169,804 for the rest. After two more players were eliminated, it was down to luckyuli and ddrufnek. There was almost $40,000 on the line for this final elimination, and the two played for some time before deciding to do something fairly unprecedented on PokerStars (and previously not allowed) — make a second deal. They opted for an even chop of $184,902 apiece with $10,000 more going to the eventual winner. Ddrufnek took the extra $10,000, the WCOOP bracelet, and the title when his A-7 bested luckyuli’s K-J in the final hand. He earned a total of $194,902 for his efforts.
The final results were:
- ddrufnek — $194,902*
- luckyuli — $184,902*
- imeasy2read — $169,804*
- ILAN17 — $169,804*
- Mike “MPetes” Peters — $76,650
- dinkel — $62,050
- MaxHam — $47,450
- 1bigbluffer1 — $32,850
- MT456 — $20,440
* Payouts reflect two deals, one made four-handed and one made heads-up.
WCOOP Event No. 24: $500 No-Limit Deuce-to-Seven Single-Draw
After the explosive success of the previous event of the day, attendance at the $500 no-limit deuce-to-seven single-draw event was decidedly underwhelming. The tournament had a $200,000 guarantee, and it became the first WCOOP event not to exceed that guarantee when just 308 entrants bought in. That left the prize pool lacking $46,000, and PokerStars came out of pocket for that amount to match the guarantee, making for an overlay of almost 25 percent of the prize pool (and more than the first-place prize). The winner of the event would close the tournament with $42,000 in his PokerStars account. Team PokerStars members Bill Chen, Gavin Griffin, and Daniel Negreanu made the final three tables of the event (tables are seven-handed for deuce-to-seven single-draw). Negreanu and Griffin bowed out back to back in 18th and 17th place, respectively, and Chen lasted until 10th place before hitting the rail.
When 308 players became three, it was recent WPT Bellagio Cup IV winner Mike “Sirwatts” Watson, 2006 WPT Borgata Open winner Mark “newhizzle” Newhouse, and luvgamble gunning for the top prize. Luvgamble had his opponents outchipped by 4-1 (newhizzle) and 6-1 (SirWatts) when three-handed play began. Newhizzle was the first of the three to be went railward. He pushed all in before the draw and luvgamble reraised over the top, folding SirWatts. With his tournament life on the line, newhizzle drew one card, while luvgamble stood pat. It turned out that newhizzle’s draw didn’t matter, as his draw to a 9-8-7 low was dead to luvgamble’s 9-8-6 low. Newhizzle collected $21,000 for third place. SirWatts then faced the behemoth at a more than 7-1 chip disadvantage. In the final hand, both players drew one card and then SirWatts pushed all in. Luvgamble called and tabled 7-6 low to beat SirWatts’ bluff with a pair of eights. SirWatts left with $30,000 while luvgamble collected $42,000 and the gold WCOOP bracelet.
The final results were:
- luvgamble — $42,000
- Mike “SirWatts” Watson — $30,000
- Mark “newhizzle” Newhouse — $21,000
- Blute — $13,000
- Aftret — $9,000
- thevoice72 — $7,000
- borisbäck — $5,000
Today will feature two new WCOOP events. The first is a $300 pot-limit Omaha tournament with rebuys and a $500,000 guarantee. That event starts at 2:30 p.m. ET, and then, two hours later is a $300 six-handed no-limit hold’em event with a $500,000 guarantee. Check out the entire WCOOP schedule and results on CardPlayer.com’s WCOOP landing page.