Pete's reflection on key hands from the WCOOP 2020 final table sees the focus shift back to Teun 'tinnoemulder' Mulder and Andres 'PTFisherman23' Marques again, this time with neither player connecting to the board. WCOOP 2020 - The World Championship of Online Poker is the granddaddy of all online poker tournament series.Pokerstars have continuously set the bar since the initial 2002 event, and this year’s no exception.
The end of the PokerStars 2020 World Championship of Online Poker signals that the summer of massive online poker tournaments is almost over. And WCOOP not only did well, it surpassed its cumulative guarantee by awarding nearly $100 million.
Since the coronavirus pandemic shut down most poker options around the world for most of the summer, online poker reaped the rewards. The annual WCOOP is always a hit, but this year, the 19th iteration of the series was one for the record books. Caliente casino tijuana.
Final Numbers for 2020 WCOOP
The basic numbers from poker tournaments tell a story. It may not be the most compelling story – players deliver that excitement – but it gauges the overall success, or lack thereof, of a poker tournament or a series.
This year’s WCOOP started on Sunday, August 30, and it wrapped this week. There were 75 official events in the series, but most of them offered three buy-in levels (low, medium, and high).
According to the official PokerStars press release, these are some of the numbers:
–Total prize money awarded: $99,939,230 ($80 million guaranteed)
–Total entries: 1,148,057 (including reentries)
–Total players finishing in the money: 158,851
–Total tournaments: 225
PokerStars did something unique this year. It introduced the concept of a Slam Package, a prize package awarded to players who won the 15 designated tournaments. Those who won those events captured a 2021 Slam Package, which includes entries into the 2021 WCOOP Main Event, SCOOP Main Event, and Stadium Series Main Event. Fifteen players did win those prizes, which were gifts on top of the prize money and not included in the totals above.
As for country representation, Brazilian players won the most events, edging out Russia and the UK by two wins. The top countries were:
–Brazil (35) Free spins no deposit required.
–Russia (33)
–UK (33)
–Germany (18)
–Netherlands (12)
–Canada (9)
–Norway (8)
–Finland (7)
–Bulgaria (6)
And finally, there was the main WCOOP leaderboard competition. Rinat “Zapahzamazki” Lyapin of Russia jumped out to an early lead after the first week of action and finished on top in the end with 1,200 points. He won $25,000 in cash and a trophy.
Main Event Winners
This year, there were a number of tournaments with the Main Event title. There were three No Limit Hold’em Main Events – a low, medium, and high – and three Pot Limit Omaha Main Events.
First, the results of the PLO finales:
Event 73-L: $109 PLO 6-Max Main Event
Total entries: 3,066 (1,920 unique players, 1,146 reentries)
Total prize pool: $306,600 (eclipsing the $300K guarantee)
Total paid players: 416
Winner: nilsef (Germany) $40,224.38
Event 73-M: $1,050 PLO 6-Max Main Event
Total entries: 739 (428 unique players, 311 reentries)
Total prize pool: $750K ($11K overlay)
Total paid players: 95
Winner: ROFLshove (UK) $133,757.00
Event 73-H: $10,300 PLO 6-Max Main Event
Total entries: 123 (80 unique players, 43 reentries)
Total prize pool: $1.25 million ($20K overlay)
Total paid players: 14
Winner: jedimaster82 (Sweden) $283,368.15
And for the NLHE Main Event action, the three tournaments were the primary draw for the most players. This is how they played out, courtesy of the PokerStars blog:
Event 72-L: $55 NLHE 8-Max Main Event
Total entries: 38,660 (24,408 unique players, 14,252 reentries)
Total prize pool: $1,933,000 (far beyond the $1.25M guarantee)
Total paid players: 5,463
Winner: klimono (Poland) $186,841.09
Notable: The winner had the initial final table chip lead, eliminated the first two players to claim more than half of the chips in play. That player then ousted everyone else, taking an 11-to-1 chip lead to heads-up play before finishing the event in less than five minutes.
Event 72-M: $530 NLHE 8-Max Main Event
Total entries: 7,105 (4,821 unique players, 2,284 reentries)
Total prize pool: $3,552,500 (well over the $2M guarantee)
Total paid players: 863
Winner: 1mSoWeeeaK (Thailand) $504,583.85
Notable: While 1mSoWeeeaK was the initial chip leader when the final table began, Y.Zakharov eliminated the first three players and took that lead away. Heads-up play began with 1mSoWeeeaK holding a minimal chip lead and extended it rather quickly, ultimately winning the title.
Event 72-H: $5,200 NLHE 8-Max Main Event
Total entries: 1,977 (1,436 unique players, 541 reentries)
Total prize pool: $10M ($115K overlay)
Total paid players: 239
Winner: Andre “PTFisherman23” Marques (Netherlands) $1,147,270.86
2nd place: Tonio “prrrak4783” Roder (Austria) $1,082,522.50
3rd place: Teun “tinnoemulder” Mulder (Netherlands) $1,101,527.64
Notable: Mulder was the initial chip leader, but the extensive play moved the players around on the leaderboard quite a lot. Four-handed play saw all of the players in the lead at one point until Mulder finally ousted Robin “robinho” Ylitalo in fourth place. The final three players did make a deal for the remaining prize money per their chip stacks at the time, explaining the irregular payouts listed above. There was still $100K in cash and the WCOOP title for which to play, and they did just that until Marques took it down.
Time to hear from the man himself. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/BoVLDQ4YPu
— PokerStars (@PokerStars) September 24, 2020
Related Articles
ByAbout 10 days ago, PokerStars kicked off its 2020 World Championship of Online Poker, better known as WCOOP. Action started on Sunday, August 30 with four events, and approximately one-third of the schedule is already complete.
The series – PokerStars’ signature online poker series and the one that laid the groundwork for all other sites to follow since WCOOP began 19 years ago – offers a total of 75 events, but most have three levels of buy-ins attached.
Did we mention that PokerStars is guaranteeing more than $81 million across all of its prize pools?
It’s kind of a big deal.
First Days of WCOOP
The very first day of WCOOP on August 30 delivered a win to a well-known PokerStars name. Ambassador Ben “Spraggy” Spragg finished ninth at the final table of Event 5-H for $5,222.98 and then final tabled Event 5-L. And he kept going, eventually livestreaming his victory. He won $4,349.41 for outlasting 12,191 competitors.
All in all, Spraggy captured a WCOOP title and more than $9,500 for the day.
AND NEW WCOOP 2020 CHAMPION!
I JUST WON A FUCKING WCOOP TITLE!
12,192 RUNNERS AND I WIN THE WHOLE DAMN SHOW!
INSANE! pic.twitter.com/jDcYqvTcsk
Wcoop 2020 Wikipedia
— Spraggy (@spraggy) August 31, 2020
Day 2 brought a number of players back for the final day of Event 2-H, the $10K NLHE 8-Max PKO Sunday Slam. Dimitar “KuuL” Danchev not only took his chip lead from the previous day to the winner’s circle, he collected $400,494.59 for the victory. In addition, he collected nearly $250K in bounties.
Poker pro Ankush “pistons87” Mandavia grabbed a third career WCOOP title on Day 3 when he won Event 12-H, a $530 NLHE Heads-Up Turbo PKO Zoom event. Out of 526 players, Mandavia was the last one standing for the $40,792.90 first-place prize.
More Big Names Win in Week 1
By the fourth day of the series, players found their groove. Ludovic “ludovi333” Geilich won his second career WCOOP in the $10K NLHE High Roller, which was Event 10-H, a two-day event on the schedule. His online poker account grew by $238,966.30 for that win.
Also on Day 4, Chris “ImDaNuts” Oliver won Event 10-M for $149,968.28 and his own second career WCOOP victory. And longtime Dutch pro Noah “Exclusive” Boeken took down his third WCOOP by winning Event 11-H, the FLHE 6-Max event worth $20,312.17.
Day 5 was another for big poker names. Andras “probirs” Nemeth won Event 15-H, a $530 NLHE 8-Max event with rebuys. Out of the 294 entries, Nemeth stuck around to claim $79,655.48 for the win and his first WCOOP title.
Day 6 was a day of rest for most players, courtesy of PokerStars’ scheduling gurus.
📢 Announcing a change to the #WCOOP schedule
Friday is now a complete rest day, with Day 2 of Thursday's events now taking place on Saturday.
Full story. 👇 pic.twitter.com/PlzQWtMZm5
— PokerStars (@PokerStars) September 7, 2020
This past weekend played numerous events. Two of the most well-known winners were Sylvain “calculer_” Loosli and Gavin “gavz101” Cochrane. Loosli took down Event 27-H for $78,182.44, and Cochrane won Event 26-H (5-Card PLO 6-Max) for $63,236.85.
Double Champs
In an extensive series like WCOOP, there can be players who capture more than one title in that single series. Two players already did it.
Yuri “theNERDguy” Martins of Brazil emerged victorious in Event 20-H, a $1,050 HORSE tournament. He won $31,115 in cash. That paired well with his win days earlier in Event 9-H. That $1,050 NL 2-7 Single Draw win brought in $21,937.50.
This past weekend saw Adrian “Amadi_017” Mateos win Event 28-H – an 8-Max Turbo OKO Freezeout, also known as the Sunday Cooldown Special Edition – for $80,211.93 and his third career WCOOP title. But he wasn’t done. The very next day, Mateos took on the $25K buy-in Super High Roller Sunday Slam. He ended up heads-up with Fedor “CrownUpGuy” Holz, and Mateos won it for $543,685.63 and his fourth career title.
Another brilliant night in #WCOOP:
♥️Mateos secures back-to-back triumphs
♣️Loosli and Cochrane add WCOOP to SCOOP wins
♦️Nine first-time 'COOP champions
♠️Schedule change clears Fridays
Today's bursting report: https://t.co/a1N35Xotwqpic.twitter.com/DeNtc0t0DM
— PokerStarsBlog (@PokerStarsBlog) September 8, 2020
Stats So Far
According to the PokerStars blog, the numbers are rather astounding thus far.
–Events completed: 79
–Entries: 335,746
–Prize pools: $31,045,829
–First prizes: $4,789,406.08
The WCOOP leaderboards are already becoming quite competitive. Keep in mind that the winner of the overall leaderboard wins a trophy and $25K in cash. Each category also awards a trophy, but the low winner also gets $5K, medium gets $8,500, and high gets $12,500.
At this point, the overall leaderboard shows the top three as:
-1. Zapahzamazki of Russia = 530 points
-2. theNERDguy of Brazil = 510 points
Scoop 2020 Schedule
-3. aleksandrs10 of Latvia = 495 points
Aleksandrs10 also leads the low leaderboard, Kaggis of Norway and Muka82 of Brazil tie for the medium, and Naza114 leads the high, though theNERDguy isn’t far behind in the high category.