PokerStars promised huge action for its WCOOP Event 35 making it a rebuy and add-on tournament. The $215 No-Limit Hold ‘Em tournament allowed rebuys and add-ons. Friday’s event drew 1,254 players; 1,265 of these players rebought while 869 added onto their stack during the first break. A huge $749,600 prize pool was created greatly exceeding the $550,000 guarantee. All players had one thing on their mind: the $127,432 first place cash prize.
Team PokerStars Pros had a hard time making the 162-player money bubble. Players that tried but couldn’t succeed included Johnny Lodden, Humberto Brenes, and Vanessa Rousso.
The final table arrangement and chip counts were as follows:
Seat 1 – WhatIsICM – 1,574,513
Seat 2 – joaoMathias – 1,346,035
Seat 3 – TiltStarter – 300,668
Seat 4 – montjeu8 – 3,958,008
Seat 5 – p3rc4 – 1,532,115
Seat 6 – Havana85 – 584,376
Seat 7 – iwonthurtyou – 1,594,581
Seat 8 – Soccermom96 – 726,947
Seat 9 – gabixuela – 1,364,757
The final table began with montjeu8 having a huge chip advantage over every one of his opponents. Even with his large chip lead, montjeu8 did not relent. It came down to him and iwonthurtyou for the championship. Early in the heads-up match, iwonthurtyou gained the chip lead. With blinds at 25K/50K and antes at 6,250, iwonthurtyou raised on the button to 100K, montjeu8 3bet to 250K, and iwonthurtyou 4bet to 621,875. Montjeu8 called out-of-position and the flop came JQ6tt. Montjeu8 lead out with a pot-sized bet which iwonthurtyou doubled to go all-in. montjeu8 called and saw his KJo was beat by iwonthurtyou’s AQo. The turn and river gave montjeu8 no help and iwonthurtyou had a 7,939,104 to 5,042,896 chip lead.
Not too long afterwards, a slowplay by montjeu8 came to hurt him. With 40K/80K blinds, iwonthurtyou raised his button to 160K and montjeu8 called. Montjeu went on to check-call a 170K bet on a 4sKh5d flop. Montjeu8 also continued to call a 510K bet on the 8h turn. The 8s river was where all the action lied as montjeu8 checked-raised iwonthurtyou’s 1,275 million chip bet to 2.55 million. Iwonthurtyou shoved for montjeu8’s last 600K. Iwonthurtyou must’ve been surprised by montjeu8’s pocket rockets but he had them beat with 7c6s for a straight. After 15 hours of play, the champion had been crowned. He received the bracelet as well as the $127,432 first-prize. Montjeu8 received the $93,700 consolation prize.