The first of three two-day tournaments of the 2008 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker played down to a winner on Monday. In the end, Calvin32 outlasted an enormous field of 7,351 players and took home $452,086. It was the largest field of the 2008 WCOOP so far and the second largest payday for first place.
The Event was the sixth of the 2008 WCOOP and came with a $530 price tag. A whopping 7,351 players turned out, creating a prize pool of $3,675,500. The top 1,080 spots paid out and the final 72 moved on to the second day of the tournament. The event was paused overnight after 22 levels of play had been completed, which occurred after 11 hours of play.
The chip leader entering the second day of Event 6 was pokrates, who was eventually eliminated in 31st, cashing for $6,615. Here were the top ten paydays:
1st Place: Calvin32 (United States), $452,086.50
2nd Place: Solovka (Russia), $306,169.15
3rd Place: Roland_NL (Netherlands), $205,828.00
4th Place: adonislee (United States), $169,073.00
5th Place: cassie13 (Canada), $132,318.00
6th Place: DUBBZZ (United States), $95,563.00
7th Place: randomcrayon (United States), $64,321.25
8th Place: Yo Burger (Canada), $42,268.25
9th Place: Papio Papio (Denmark), $25,728.50
Entering heads-up play, Solovka held a 53.8 million to 19.6 million chip lead, or 2.75:1. Calvin32 twice asked for a deal heads-up, but Solovka refused each time. On the final hand, the two were all in pre-flop. Solovka held K-J and Calvin32 showed Q-9. The board ran out 6-6-9-8-5, sealing the win for Calvin32 and an enormous $452,086 payday.
As in other events held as part of the 2008 WCOOP, Event 6 was truly an international affair. There were five different countries represented at the final table. Among those who finished in the top 20 were players from Germany, Sweden, Belarus, and the Ukraine. The top 15 players parlayed their $530 buy-in into more than $10,000, cause for celebration for poker players around the world.
Also playing out on Monday was a six-max Pot Limit Omaha tournament with a $215 buy-in. Emerging victorious from the field of 2,457 players was Mary 717, who took home $77,395 for the win. In second place was mddgfc, who hails from the United Kingdom; the runner up pocketed $55,282. Canadian kev19 finished third. The tournament was chopped three-handed and the remaining players finished out the tournament with $6,000 and a WCOOP bracelet on the line. The top 360 places paid out and the top six banked more than $10,000. PokerStars had guaranteed a prize pool of $300,000 for the event, but the actual prize pool swelled to $491,400.
The final tournament played on Monday was a $320 buy-in eight game mixed event. The tournament attracted 1,128 entrants and doled out a $56,174 first place prize, which went to Canadian PokerStars member Ulett_23, who defeated Seitz333 heads up. Players from the United States finished second, third, and fourth and also made up eight of the top 12 finishers. The tournament was chopped heads-up and the final two players competed for $4,000 and the WCOOP bracelet.
The eight games played as part of the mixed event were Limit Triple Draw 2-7 Lowball, Limit Hold’em, Limit Omaha Hi/Low, Limit Razz, Limit Stud, Limit Stud Hi/Low, No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha.
Two more events are on tap for today:
WCOOP Event 9: Today at 14:30 ET
$215 No Limit Hold’em Four-Max
$400,000 Guaranteed
WCOOP Event 10: Today at 16:30 ET
$215 Razz
$100,000 Guaranteed