Mackey at the WSOP this summer(credit: World Series of Poker - Official Web Site)
Event #14 at the 2007 Poker Stars World Championships of Online Poker was a whopper. The $1,050 buy-in NLHE tournament had a $2,000,000 guaranteed prize pool The expense of the event didn’t keep the folks away. In fact, 3,325 people paid to play in the event, driving up the already generous prize pool to well over $3 million.
Fifteen hours into the action, ptitof and UWillSuckOut were eliminated at the same time, on different tables, making way for the final eight. UWillSuckOut, who never sat down at the final table, was the ninth place finisher, earning $25,935 for the effort.
mig.com, a bloke by the name of James Mackey, who won a gold bracelet and over $700,000 at the 2007 WSOP this past summer, rose to the top of the chip heap early on. He was obviously confident of himself as he announced to the rest of his opponents that there would be “no chop as long as I am playing.”
Mackey made it to heads-up play against chulwoo with a 3-2 lead. He kept the pressure on chulwoo, forcing his opponent’s ill-timed bluff with a K,2 on the final hand.
Here are the final results:
1) mig.com - $580,212.50
2) chulwoo - $292,932.50
3) Trickybstrd - $210,472.50
4) ephman - $166,250
5) saphire1 - $130,340
6) jochen8 - $96,425
7) Kenny Rap - $69,825
8) tralaira - $43,890
9) UwillSuckOut - $25,935
Event #15, which took place Monday, September 24, 2007, was a Seven Card Stud Tournament with a $320 buy-in. About 700 folks entered the tournament, bringing the total amount to be won up to $208,000, which was more than double the $100k guarantee.
Humberto Brenes, Katja Thater and THAY3R sat down as the event got underway as did last year’s winner, Nikstar, none of whom made the final table. spielraum.at was there, however. He took down event #5 earlier in the series. Also showing up in the final eight was Lystig, a fourth-place finisher in event #8. As a result, Lystig is the first individual in ’07 to make two final tables at the WCOOP. Kudos!
scrubbyz was the first one out of the final table. When play got down to six-handed, each of the remaining contestants were sitting at around 300k in chips. A deal was agreed upon after Grape donated about $650 from his stack to Ubsolute, the eventual winner of the event. The by-the-chips chop would leave $6,000 in play for the champ as well as the bracelet.
At this time, Ubsolute kicked it into high gear and started knocking out his opponents. He and Dersu Uzala made short work of just about everyone else at the table. However, Ubsolute would take a huge chunk out of Dersu, which contributed to Uzala’s third-place finish. In the end, Ubsolute absolutely destroyed sascos on the final hand with a pair of aces.
These are the final table facts, folks:
1) Ubsolute - $25,000
2) sascos - $19,902
3) Dersu Uzala - $22,360
4) spielraum.at -$19,805
5) Grape - $21,011
6) Lystig - $18,828
7) bull_99 - $6,096.60
8) scrubbyz - $3,967.20
In the $320 PLO 8/b tournament, which was Event #16 at the 2007 WCOOP, (Note: For those of you unaware, PLO 8/b stands for Pot-Limit Omaha Hi/Low, aka eights or better.) over 1500 entrants generated a tasty prize pool of $460,800. The final table took twelve hours. The first player eliminated was long-time PokerStars player Phyllis.
Phyllis held pocket aces in her hand and raised it up pre-flop. She was called by INKO05 with a 3c,10c,7s,Ah in the hole. The board came down 10d,5c,7d,3d,Qc, which gave INK the win with two pair, tens and threes. There was no low. Remember, in Omaha Hi/Lo you need to use two cards from your pocket and three from the board to make the best or high or low hand. Without three cards under eight on the board, there’s no opportunity for a low hand whatsoever.
Phyllis received over $4,000 for the ninth-place finish.
INKO05 moved up to second in chips – behind the eventual winner, tiger76 - after knocking out another player by the name of VicVega9. INK scooped the pot with a pair of aces and a better low of 7,6,3,2,A. To win a mixed game like Omaha Hi/Lo, you’ll want to scoop – win both the high and low – as often as possible.
INK, GotGame76 and tiger76 agreed, when play got down to three-handed, to a deal which would net GotGame, who had the chip lead at the time, with $68,974. tiger was schedule to receive $47,419 and INK would win $46,784 no matter what. The three played on for an additional $14,000 and the bracelet.
Here are the final results:
1) tiger76 - $61,419
2) GotGame76 - $68,974
3) INKO05 - $46,784
4) PokerSavage1 - $27,095.04
5) mrmanorman - $21,196.80
6) Jackarama - $16,128
7) VicVega9 - $11,427.84
8) mikiantimd – $7,050.24
9) Phyllis - $4,147.20
On Wednesday, PokerStars hosted the $320 buy-in short-handed NLHE tournament. Event #17 of the 2007 WCOOP had about 2,000 less entrants than the $215 version of the same tournament a week back. Despite that, the $400,000 guarantee was more than doubled. $861,900 was up for grabs which attracted quite a crowd including Chris “Money800” Moneymaker, Greg “FossilMan” Raymer, Katja Thater, t soprano, Tom McEvoy and new PokerStars-sponsored pro, Hevad “RaINKhaN” Khan, who made the final table of the 2007 WSOP Main Event.
A player by the name of GAHn was the seventh place finisher. With the final table action underway, it didn’t take long for one of the six remaining players to hit the rails. jejune524 moved all-in UTG (under the gun) with an A,10 and was called by AcEGoDD, who, as the name suggests, held pocket rockets. jejune failed to improve and was eliminated in sixth with over $11,000 in cash.
AcEGoDD would exit the competition in fourth after coming up against PeachyMer’s pocket queens. At that time, pes4fans, the tournament’s eventual winner, asked to talk chop, but no one was hearing it. Play continued and pape85 faced annihilation next. About seventeen hours after the tournament began, PeachyMer and pes4fans began their heads-up match. On the final hand, Peachy, the short stack, raised 300k preflop. pes4fans called. The flop was Q,3,3, with two diamonds. Peachy again bet 300k, and pes called. The river was a 6c. Peachy went all-in with top two pair. pes4fans called with a 5,3 in the hole. pes’ trips were good enough to win the day.
These are the final table facts, folks:
1) pes4fans - $167,553.60
2) PeachyMer - $98,946.12
3) pape85 - $62,918.70
4) AcEGoDD - $37,061.70
5) Pillars - $19,823.70
6) jejune524 - $11,204.70