The WCOOP went as expected. It brought every emotion known to man. It was at the same time infinitely generous, and nonchalantly merciless in its ways. In the end, some achieved that very thing that they envision in their dreams over and over, and the rest were left to wait another year. <READMORE>

Last week we covered the first 14 events, so now we'll will take a look at the last 9 including the Main Event which pumped out a first place prize of almost $1.4 MILLION DOLLARS. Over these last 9 events, members of the PocketFives community captured 5 more bracelets and in the process silenced all the doubters. Let's take a look at how it all went down.

Event #15 was the $320 7-Card Stud which had a guaranteed prize pool of $100K. This guarantee was more than doubled. After the dust settled, Ubsolute, a relatively well known MTT player came out victorious earning $48,963 and a highly coveted WCOOP bracelet. Randers (pictured right) also made the final nine, but went no further as he was knocked out one position before the final table.

Event #16 also had a prize pool that was more than doubled. This $320 PL Omaha Hi/Lo tournament generated a first place prize of $95,063 that was eventually shipped to P5er tiger76. Mr__Blonde, also known as VicVega9 (no, not THAT Mr. Blonde) was also at the final table and won $11,427 for 7th place.

In the 18th event, two P5ers made the final nine. However, both TheActionKid and rkrouk were knocked out early taking 7th and 9th respectively in this 7-Card Stud H/L tournament.

Event #19 brought another six-figure payday for one lucky player. Unfortunately, a P5er was not the benefactor of this payday, however cpfactor and Taknapotin were sure to take a nice chunk of the prize pool. cpfactor finished in 5th securing $26,934, and Taknapotin, (pictured left) aka JCarver, took 9th.

Event #20 was a triple shootout. This made for quite an interesting final table, especially since the buy-in was a respectable $530. After a hard fought battle including some big names, Matthew "lyerly_" Lyerly from Cary, North Carolina received the bracelet and $76,545. Adam "AJunglen7" Junglen (pictured right) was also at the final table and went out in 3rd for $36,450. The 4th place money of $27,338 was given to DumpingKGB, who has been known to hit big scores for some time now. THE__D__RY took 6th for $14,580 and tiltyjoker finshed 8th for $6,561. Mig.com and emptyseat88 finished in the top 18.

Event #21 had a prize pool of nearly $1million dollars. It was a $5,200 HORSE event, and the winner walked away with over $225,675. PocketFives was represented well by RainmanTrail (tj_trail on Stars) who finished in 3rd for an enormous score of $104K. Also, 96th ranked pokerpixie (VietCutie on Stars) finished in 10th, Nick "TheTakeOver" in 14th, and Andy McLEOd in 15th. These three players earned $14,604 for their almost final table appearances.

In the next event, the prize pool was more than tripled (notice a trend??). Maybe it was because the WCOOP was winding down and it was peoples last "shot," so to speak. Either way a prize pool of over $600K was welcomed with open arms in this $1,050 Limit Hold'em competition. Members of Pocketfives ran away with this final table, taking 3 out of the 5 top prizes. Scott "emptyseat88" Fischman finished in 5th place making $34,112. Matt "Plattsburgh" Vengrin (pictured left) was taken out in 3rd, sent off to enjoy a healthy sum of $56,056. Finally, SowersUNCC (Sowerss on Stars) outlasted 615 others to forever mark himself in WCOOP history. He got paid $145,376.

Like so many things in life, the best was saved for last during the WCOOP. THE MAIN EVENT...$1.4M FIRST PLACE...$2,600 BUY-IN. Talk about going out with a bang. The structure of this tournament was every poker players dream (except for those that could not stay up for almost 24hrs straight, or had to work the next day). 20,000 in starting chips with blinds starting at 25/50 and 30 minute levels.

If you like playing poker, this was truly the ultimate. A poker war-zone of 2,998 players consisting of weathered veterans, crafty unknowns, novices, casual players and donks alike all with the same goal in mind. Five players came brutally close to the final table: Telefonkiosk, pimplyteen, BigRiskky (pictured right), CrazyMarco (Noraflum on Stars) and pokerpixie (VietCutie). They finished in 10th, 11th, 12th, 14th and 16th place respectively, all taking home $41,222 as a consolation prize. When the final table finally materialized, two P5ers were left along with some other top notch players. Here are the final table results:

1st. TheV0id ($1,378,330)
2nd. ka$ino ($700,782)
3rd. Lady Maverick ($463,940)
4th. HelmetSky ($382,245)
5th. mpg1000 ($307,295)
6th. nitbuster ($232,345)
7th. E-Daddie ($163,391)
8th. mao15 ($103,431)
9th. Fischer80 ($59,960)

*Payout structure does not reflect a $150K save made while HU

P5er Kyle "Ka$ino" Schroeder controlled the end-game for a significant period of time through aggressive play, often not having to show down hands. At one point, he was up to 28 million in chips. With four left, HelmetSky lost a huge race against TheV0id when his QQ fell victim to V0id's Big Slick all in pre-flop. This hand eliminated Helmet, and three remained. Shortly after, Vanessa Rousso, aka LadyMaverick called a raise from ka$ino while in the BB with 3c6c. She hit the flop hard making two pair and opted to check-call. On fourth street Vanessa again checked, and ka$ino did the same. The river brought a third spade, and Rousso led out. Ka$ino re-raised, forcing Rousso all-in. She called and ka$ino revealed the 9s2s for a runner runner flush, knocking Rousso out and leaving it to heads-up play.

The heads-up match was not short and sweet. For at least the first half hour not much happened, and most of the pots were kept small. Ka$ino worked his way up to a decent chiplead, and then a big hand happened. The flop came 7c5cKd with not much action. The turn brought the 6d. Ka$ino check-raised and TheV0id pushed back for all his chips. Ka$ino called, and saw the bad news. He held 56 to TheV0id's K5. Prior to this hand ka$ino had had nearly 46 million chips, so this hand effectively evened the match out.

The two continued playing heads-up for over two hours, the lead being exchanged frequently. In the end, though, the winner was crowned, and not without his fair share of luck either. With the blinds at 300,000/600,000 TheV0id raised to 1.4million. Ka$ino re-raised to 4.4million, and TheV0id went all-in. Ka$ino called holding AK, in great position to pick up a HUGE pot against TheV0id's KQ. The flop, though, was a clear indicator of what the future held. It came down 3cJhTs providing an open-ended straight draw for TheV0id. In true PokerStars fashion, the 9s sealed the deal on the river, and the match and the WCOOP was over.

I would like to congratulate everyone that cashed in the WCOOP this year. And for those that didn't, well, keep dreamin' like the rest of us, there's always next year.

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