The start of a new work week did not prevent tournament enthusiasts from participating in Event 23 of this year’s WCOOP, a $200+$15 No Limit Hold’em tournament played in 4-max. The guaranteed prize pool was $700k, but because only 2,915 players registered, there was substantial overlay of $117k. This created a handsome 1st place prize of $103,250.

Event 23 turned out to be a long grind for the players fortunate enough to go deep. 380 people made the money, and the best run by a PokerStars Pro was courtesy of Dusty “Leatherass9” Schmidt who finished in 126th place for $945. Stacks remained deep until the very end of the tournament. Over 11 hours in with just 14 players remaining, the average stack was a whopping 100bb!

The final table bubble finally took place at 3:23 AM EST, over 13 hours after the start of the tournament, and it did not burst until 4:32 AM EST. This meant that bcgt178 and StuMan123 were very well acquainted by the time they met at the final table as they had just played heads-up on the bubble for over an hour. The stacks at the final table were very deep to start off; the short stack still had over 40bb:

bcgt178 did not remain 4th in chips for very long as isbab found himself getting whittled down fairly quickly. When he was finally down to his last 3.5bb, he decided to get it in preflop with KJo. Both bcgt178 and StuMan123 saw the 677 flop with him, but bcgt178 was forced to fold on the turn since StuMan123 held 47o and flopped trips. By the time the river arrived isbab only had K high, and he was eliminated in 4th place for $28,630.00:

This left the table 3-handed, and the remaining players decided to make a deal:

aaronmermel – $70,250
StuMan123 – $63,500
bcgt178 – $57,000

This left an extra $14,000 and the bracelet for the eventual winner.

Play resumed 3-handed and StuMan123 found himself getting a bit short:

He pushed his last 17bb over a raise by bcgt178 while joking, “u guys wana deal to cut the bracelet into 3rds?” bcgt178 made the call with AJo and was in good shape against StuMan123’s A8o. bcgt178 hit his J on the turn and StuMan123 was eliminated in 3rd place for the $63,500.

With blinds at 40k/80k with a 10k ante, stacks were quite deep to start heads-up play:

However, while it took 16 hours to get there, heads-up lasted for less than 15 minutes. bcgt178 quickly gained a chip lead over aaronmermel and the final hand occurred when he had his opponent down to 36bb:

bcgt178 limp/called preflop with K5o and called a continuation bet on an 885 flop. aaronmermel held J9s, so he was pleased when the turn came a J and made another bet. bcgt178 shoved over this bet with his inferior two pairs and aaronmermel called, looking in great shape for a double up. bcgt178 got lucky, however, and rivered a 5, which meant that he had a full house and aaronmermel was busto in 2nd place for $70,250. With an extra $14,000 to add to his initial chop amount, bcgt178 took 1st place and a total prize of $71000.00!

Congratulations to everyone that made the money in Event 23. Please see below for the final table payouts and be sure to come back to FTR for more WCOOP coverage!

1 – bcgt178 – $71,000
2 – aaronmermel – 70,250
3 – StuMan123 – $63,500
4 – isbab – $28,630