One of the longest events in this year’s World Championship of Online Poker is in the books. Event #12, a $200+$15 NL Hold’em Heads-up tournament came to an end Thursday night after kicking off yesterday afternoon. The single-elimination one-on-one structure led to long rounds and eventually brought 64 players vying for the $78,438 first place prize into Day 2. Over 2,300 players entered the first heads-up event of the series creating a $461,400 prize pool.
Among the masses were a wealth of PokerStars sponsored professionals including a few who were able to make the second day. The two biggest names on Day 2 had to be Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier and David “dwilliams” Williams. Williams, along with Vanessa Selbst, is one of the newest PokerStars professionals. Other professionals making the money (256th or better) were Steve “stevejpa” Paul-Ambrose, Tae Joon Noh, Jason Mercier, and Marcello Del Grosso. Unfortunately neither Williams nor Elky could get out of the round of 64 as they finished in 43rd and 38th place respectively.
A recognizable name to most on the FlopTurnRiver forums found his way into the round of 32. Mark “Meeloche” Meloche is the moderator of the Short-handed NL Hold’em Forum on FTR and is best known for making a deep run in the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event. Meloche, who grinds mid and high-stakes No-Limit, finished 76th out of a field of more than 7,300 players earning $94,942 in the process. To discuss hands with Meeloche and other FTR professionals be sure to register in our poker forums today!
After nearly 30 hours Event #12 finally came to an end. The final four players were all guaranteed at least $25,377 and those making it to the final table were assured of a $41,526 payday. The first final-four player eliminated was “Bad_Fidel” when he ran into some bad luck as his top pair was outkicked by “AJacejackAJ” holding K9s. The river was no help and Bad_Fidel busted in 4th place. This was not AJacejackAJ’s first taste of success on PokerStars as he won the $109r earlier this year for an $85,955 payday and nearly won the Sunday Warm-Up in January before falling in 3rd place for more than $77,000. His semi-final win left him awaiting the winner of the match between “IneedMassari” and “rumnchess”.
Seat 1: Bad_Fidel (1985 in chips)
Seat 2: AJacejackAJ (8015 in chips)
Bad_Fidel: posts small blind 40
AJacejackAJ: posts big blind 80
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Bad_Fidel: raises 80 to 160
AJacejackAJ: calls 80
*** FLOP *** [3c 8c 5s]
AJacejackAJ: checks
Bad_Fidel: bets 200
AJacejackAJ: calls 200
*** TURN *** [3c 8c 5s] [Kh]
AJacejackAJ: checks
Bad_Fidel: bets 1625 and is all-in
AJacejackAJ: calls 1625
*** RIVER *** [3c 8c 5s Kh] [8d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
AJacejackAJ: shows [9s Ks] (two pair, Kings and Eights)
Bad_Fidel: shows [Kc 4s] (two pair, Kings and Eights – lower kicker)
AJacejackAJ collected 3970 from pot
The second semi-final pitted a solid tournament professional in “rumnchess” against a relatively unknown player “IneedMassari”. Massari could not be stopped early on and nearly won the tournament before an unfortunate river cost him a chance to move onto the finals. Even after losing the flip Massari held a 2:1 chiplead but once again rumnchess was able to win a 50:50 after flopping a nut flush draw against top-pair. With that big pot he held nearly 75% of the chips in play but the match would not end quickly. Just hands later both players slowplayed strong holdings before the flop and Massari doubled-up when his Pocket Kings held up against AQo on a Queen-high board. With nearly even stacks and the blinds escalating quickly both players found great hands to get all the money in with before the flop. Unfortunately for rumnchess his KQ was completely dominated by AK eliminating him in 3rd place.
Seat 1: rumnchess (4966 in chips)
Seat 2: IneedMassari (5034 in chips)
IneedMassari: posts small blind 100
rumnchess: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
IneedMassari: raises 200 to 400
rumnchess: raises 4566 to 4966 and is all-in
IneedMassari: calls 4566
*** FLOP *** [6d Kc 3c]
*** TURN *** [6d Kc 3c] [9c]
*** RIVER *** [6d Kc 3c 9c] [5c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
rumnchess: shows [Ks Qd] (a pair of Kings)
IneedMassari: shows [As Kd] (a pair of Kings – Ace kicker)
IneedMassari collected 9932 from pot
Heads-Up play between AJacejackAJ and IneedMassari did not take long. After just 25 minutes IneedMassari was able to take down his opponent earning $78,438 and a WCOOP bracelet in the process.
Seat 1: AJacejackAJ (1868 in chips)
Seat 2: IneedMassari (8132 in chips)
IneedMassari: posts small blind 40
AJacejackAJ: posts big blind 80
*** HOLE CARDS ***
IneedMassari is connected
IneedMassari: raises 80 to 160
AJacejackAJ: calls 80
*** FLOP *** [6s 8d 9s]
AJacejackAJ: checks
IneedMassari: bets 240
AJacejackAJ: raises 720 to 960
IneedMassari: raises 7012 to 7972 and is all-in
AJacejackAJ: calls 748 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (6264) returned to IneedMassari
*** TURN *** [6s 8d 9s] [7s]
*** RIVER *** [6s 8d 9s 7s] [9h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
AJacejackAJ: shows [7d Kh] (two pair, Nines and Sevens)
IneedMassari: shows [Td Th] (a straight, Six to Ten)
IneedMassari collected 3736 from pot
Congratulations go to Champion IneedMassari and all 256 players who made the money in WCOOP 2010 Event #12!
PokerStars 2010 WCOOP Event #12 $200,000 Guaranteed
2,307 Entrants; $461,400 prize pool
1. IneedMassari $74,438
2. AJacejackAJ $41,526
3. rumnchess $25,377
4. Bad_Fidel $35,377
5. elitelive $12,688
6. Ryland1989 $12,688
7. Atmosphere23 $12,688
8. AndyCole $12,688