Poker Articles

This year, the Pocketfives community continues to strut its stuff in the PokerStars annual WCOOP.  Out of the first 14 events, 13 final tables were reached by at least one member of the community.  Further, 2 WCOOP bracelets were captured and it could have easily been more, as 9 P5'ers finished in 2nd place throughout the first 14 events. 

In the very first event, the $215 NLHE (6max) 400K Guaranteed, Pocketfivers asserted that they mean business and are in it for the money.  Samethebull, aka "samh133" took 1st place for $172,875, as well as the bracelet and bragging rights.  P5'ers took 3 out of the next 4 spots too.  Here are the results:

2nd: Wildman75 $99,115
4th: DonkeygoesHEEHAW aka "TiltHappens" $36,880
5th: bearbeer aka "bearbeer123" $18,901

I had a chance to catch up with 22 year old wildman75 after his impressive score (pictured).  "I am still in shock," he told me.  "I was just trying to keep my composure when it got deep.  I've been in big tournaments before, and it always seemed to end up in a key coin toss that I lost."  While at the final table, he said he was concentrating on the bracelet more than anything, even more than the money.  He may not have won the bracelet, but for now a score of almost six figures should help ease the pain.     

In events 2, 3 and 4, players continued to put up good results.  Jaygee1984 took 2nd in the $215 PL 5-Card Draw, earning $23,996.  In event #3, smittymatt finished in 5th for $9,163.  In event #4, the second WCOOP bracelet was one with a little help from Donald.  He got a bracelet and over 30K for his 1st place finish in the $215 2-7 Triple Draw.  Well known player Crazy Cypriot finished in 5th.

Event #5 was a monster that had a guaranteed prize pool of $2 million, which was easily exceeded.  In this $530 NL event,  Miamivice  (taktloss47 on Stars) finished in 2nd, securing $204,363.  Not too far behind was the popular Bill Ivey, who went out in 6th for a payday of $96,701.  

Event #6 should have been named FossilTime, as the WSOP Main Event champ out-deuled 771 others for a WCOOP bracelet and $168,362.  Raymer has continued to show us that he indeed deserves to be a highly regarded figure in the poker world with his latest win in the $320+R PL Omaha WCOOP event.

Event #7 was a $215 LHE event with 100K guaranteed.  TheMasterJ33 took 2nd place and over $40K.  Top ranked player M8kingmoves (pictured) finished in 5th for over 18K, and Itchy was right behind in 6th for almost 14K.

Event #8 saw the rebirth of a well-known and well-liked player in the online tournament community.  Although he doesn't put in much volume, he is always a force at the tables when he decides to play.  This low-volume player is none other than SKOAL, who finished 2nd for $57,588 in the $530 Limit Omaha H/L event.  Rkrouk finished in 3rd winning $39,890, followed by bigdogpckt5s in 6th and ch0ppy in 8th. 

The ninth event was another beast that had a prize pool of over $1.3 million and a first place prize of over a quarter million.  LUHMAN (pictured), who has been on quite a tear this year, continued on his path of destruction by securing 2nd place and a six figure score of $130,957.  Qcity went out in 5th for $59,129, and dabears87 also made the final table but was knocked out in 9th in this $200 rebuy NLHE tournament.       

Event #10 was a war between the heads-up specialists.  In the end, ansuz from Finland finished in 2nd, earning $50,922.  Wired c4 got 5th, followed by DEEZZZ NUTS in 6th, and the always exciting ActionJeff in 8th. 

In this year's WCOOP, even the Razz event had a prize pool of over 200K, more than doubling the guarantee.  Old Style won $32,928 for taking 2nd place.  JAMEST1 won $15,241 for a 4th place finish. 

The twelfth event was the 200K guaranteed HORSE.  Hikkespett displayed his well-roundedness as a poker player by taking 2nd place, winning $42,614.  TheBigViking, who we have been seeing more of lately, went out in 3rd for $27,863.

Event #13 was the $530 PLHE $400K guaranteed.  Joseph Hammerman, AKA betgo, won $64,473 for 2nd place, followed by Bubble Bath (Tycoon_Kid on Stars) in 3rd for $43,600.  Another player who deserves to be mentioned is Sh00ter, who took 7th and has been making his presence known lately.  ElkY also made an appearance at the final table, but not for long as he was knocked out in 9th.  

Event #14 brought the return of NL hold'em, and in a BIG way.  This $1,050 buy-in tournament shattered the $2M guarantee by over $1M!  The structure of this tournament provided plenty of room for calculated play, and as a result, one of the best in the game won 1st place for $580,212.  After over 15 hours of tough play, mig.com (pictured) came out victorious.  It was a well deserved win, as he nonchalantly outplayed the competition, bulldozing over them during the last two tables and raising close to 75% of his hands.

He told me, "it was nice to win, but generally when I get deep I am not thinking about the money or anything until the next day.  I just focus on the hands that are going on and what the best play is."  This certainly worked out for him, as most of the other players were clearly daunted by the thought of such a big payday.  With 8 players left, a chop was proposed. Mig responded by telling them that there would be no chop as long as he was in.  Does this kid have confidence in his game or what?  Trickybstrd finished in 3rd for $210,472, and Kenny Rap finished in 7th for $69,825.  For more on Mig's win, check out the most recent P5's podcast, where you can hear about it straight from him.

Congratulations to all who have had success thus far, and GL to everyone else participating in the rest of the WCOOP events.