6 Mins Read
Intense action and big wins continue to dominate both the live and online felts. Drawing curtains to the mega online poker extravaganza, World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) was the $5,200 Main Event that had whittled drawn to a field of 17 players from the 2,044 that entered. The Main Event finale saw exciting poker action and it was ‘wann2play’ who claimed the top prize of $1.35 Million after a heads-up deal with ‘eze88888’ who banked $1.25 Million for his runner-up finish.
Meanwhile, the 2018 XL Eclipse series at 888poker continued its run on Wednesday and outlasting an 83-strong field, Dietich ‘2pacnrw16’ Fast won the$200,000 High Roller for $72,625.
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit $400 H.O.R.S.E. event at WSOPC Thunder Valley stop was taken down by Indian origin player, Manju Gera who pocketed a payday of $8,303 along with the coveted gold ring.
The 2018 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) was destined for a firecracker finale and that’s exactly what happened. The Main Event which had a buy-in of $5,200, attracted 2,044 entries, 1,572 entries and 472 re-entries, creating a massive $10.22 Million prize pool.
Battling through the gigantic field the two final players that remained were Netherlands’ ‘wann2play’ and Argentina’s ‘eze88888’ and it was the former that took away the grand prize of $1,352,967.
Only 17 out of the total playing filed returned for the final day with Linus ‘LLinusLLove’ Loeliger in the chip lead. After seven eliminations, Sweden’s ‘C. Darwin2′ became the final table bubble boy as he finished 10th for $72,000.
After the eliminations of Noah ‘Exclusive’ Boeken (sixth), ‘mczhang ‘ (fifth) and ‘PlayaPlz’ (fourth), the game came down to three-handed play. Loeliger pitted his against ‘eze8888’s pocket cowboys and busted out in third place.
The two finalists ‘wann2play’ and ‘eze88888’ had a lengthy negotiation that lasted nearly 25 minutes. eze88888 held a 2-1 advantage with 333 Million to his opponents 177 Million. Eventually, the two players settled on a deal and left $200,000 on the table as ‘eze88888’ locked up $1.257 Million, while ‘wann2play’ snagged $1.152 Million.
The heads-up battle lasted for over two hours. On the final hand, ‘eze88888’s lost out to ‘wann2play’s , relegating the former to the runner-up spot as ‘wann2play’ claimed the victory and $1,352,967 in prize money.
Final Table Results (USD)
1. wann2play – *$1,352,967
2. eze88888 – *$1,257,203
3. Linus ‘LLinusLLove’ Loeliger – $764,501
4. PlayaPlz – $540,584
5. mczhang – $382,252
6. Noah ‘Exclusive’ Boeken – $270,293
7. 0409479 – $191,127
8. 4rebmun – $135,147
9. JJ Okocha – $95,563
*denotes heads-up deal
Outlasting a field of 83 players, Dietich ‘2pacnrw16’ Fast shipped the $200,000 High Roller event at the 2018 888poker XL Eclipse series. Fast won an impressive payout of $72,625.
The event saw some of the best tournament players from across the globe in action. Seasoned pros including Sergio “zcedrick” Aido, Martin “MJacobson888” Jacobson, Simon “Isildur1337x” Mattsson and Niklas “tutten7” Astedt were also in the mix.
While nine players reached the final table, only seven finalists banked a payout in the tournament.
‘trino11’ bubbled the final table after being shown the door in tenth place.
Final Table Recap
On the final table, ‘Victoria92’ and ‘carloc22’ were the first casualties and exited in ninth and eighth place respectively. The latter busted out after his ace-queen lost out to Martin ‘MJacobson888‘Jacobson’s pocket kings.
The remaining seven players were all in the money.
Prebben ‘prebzzz’ Stokkan was eliminated thereafter, in seventh place.
By then, Martin ‘MJacobson888‘ Jacobson was severely short stacked and exited next, in sixth place after he moved all in with pocket sevens and was called off by Jason “jadedjason” Jameswho tabled pocket tens.
Next to leave the final table in fifth place was ‘CashedGiro’. The play slowed down for a while but soon ‘KellerA’, who was down to just nine big blinds moved all in with ace-six. His tournament life was put at risk by Sergio ‘zcedrick’ Aido who held ace-jack. Aido’s hand held through the runout and ‘KellerA’ was eliminated in fourth place.
Sergio ‘zcedrick’ Aido himself lost several crucial hands and was finally bounced out after his ace-six was cracked by Fast’s pocket queens.
The heads-up match between Fast and Jason ‘jadedjason’ James lasted only one hand. Fast who held queen-nine moved all in with the bigger stack and James made the call with ace-ten. A queen landed on the flop, giving Fast a pair of queens. James had to settle for runner-up place while Fast won the High Roller title.
Final Table Results (USD)
1. Dietrich ‘2pacnrw16’ Fast – $72,625
2. Jason ‘jadedjason’ James – $46,688
3. Sergio ‘zcedrick’ Aido – $31,125
4. KellerA’ – $20,750
5. CashedGiro – $15,563
6. Martin ‘MJacobson888’ Jacobson – $11,413
7. Preben ‘prebzzz’ Stokkan – $9,338
Meanwhile, a number of other XL Eclipse events have crowned winners. While ‘ChipsFool’ won the $100,000 Opening Event for $18,788, Canada’s ‘LeetRunGoot’ won the $30,000 Crazy 8 for $6,880 and Swedish regular ‘Cuadrado12’ took down the $100,000 Tune up for $22,170. Switzerland’s ‘onyvapapaa1’ shipped the $30,000 R&A Event for $6,090.
Gathering a player pool of 74 runners for a buy-in of $400, Event #4: $400 H.O.R.S.E. at the 2018 WSOPC Thunder Valley, created a prize pool of $24,420. Outlasting the field to take home her maiden WSOPC gold ring and top prize of $8,303 was Indian-origin player Manju Gera.
Gera has registered 33 cashes till date and accumulated total live earnings of $65,431 which includes three career titles – $245 H.O.R.S.E. $10K GTD and $150 Eight Game Mix $10K GTD.
A mixed-games specialist, Gera bested the likes of Howard Andrew and Vince Burgio, along with Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler, local standout David Diiorio, and the winner of last winter’s edition of this Circuit H.O.R.S.E. event, Steve Lustig.
Talking about her final tablemates in the post event interview, Gera said “I didn’t know anything about them. I think, with me being a middle-aged woman, they thought that could bluff a lot of hands against me… and I just happened to get cards.”
She’s also the mother of two-time Circuit ring winner Nikhil Gera, noting, “He’s won a couple of these things.” Guess poker runs in the family!
Final Table Results (USD)
1. Manju Gera – $8,303
2. Steve Lustig – $5,137
3. Vince Burgio – $3,382
4. Bruce Hoyt – $2,367
5. David Diiorio – $1,754
6. Daniel Huseman – $1,372
7. Allen Kessler – $1,129
8. Howard Andrew – $976
Related Articles: