WCOOP – Event #23, $2,600 NLHE: 'TheV0id' Conquers Main Event Field

The PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) concluded Sunday with Event #23, the No Limit Hold 'Em $2,600 Main Event. This year's event had a guaranteed prize pool of $5,000,000, which was yet again not needed as the 2,998 entrants generated a prize pool of $7,495,000, with $1,378,330.50 going to 1st place, as well as over $200,000 for the top six finishers.

Many notable players were in the field including JC 'area23JC' Tran, Chad 'stelladora' Brown, Greg 'FossilMan' Raymer, Katja Thater, Daniel 'KidPoker' Negreanu, Chris 'Money800' Moneymaker, Vanessa "LadyMaverick" Rousso, Tom McEvoy, Luca Pagano, Humberto Brenes, Jon 'PearlJammer' Turner, 'Lilholdm954' and 'THAY3R.'

It took over seven hours for 'alkemizt' to be eliminated on the bubble and over 16 hours until the final table was reached. With just ten players remaining, and the blinds at 50,000/100,000, 'mpg1000' raised preflop to 250,000 and 'telefonkiosk' moved all-in for his remaining 1,946,584. mpg1000 called and showed while telefonkiosk turned over . The board came and mpg1000's pocket pair held up to eliminate telefonkiosk in tenth place.

The final table was made up of 'TheV0id', 'mao15', 'E-Daddie', 'ka$ino', 'nitbuster', 'HelmetSky', 'Fischer80', mpg1000 and Vanessa 'LadyMaverick' Rousso. mpg1000 started off with a massive chip lead of nearly 20 million in chips, with ka$ino in a distant second with 10 million. The first elimination of the table came when mpg1000 raised pre-flop to 350,000 and Fischer80 moved all in for 4,110,266. ka$ino, in the small blind, called the remaining 4,045,266 and mpg1000 folded. Fischer80 turned over and was up against ka$ino's . The flop came and while ka$ino flopped a set, Fischer80 was looking at an open-ended straight draw. The on the turn was of no help to Fischer80, and the on the river finished Fischer80's tournament life in the Main Event in ninth place.

The next elimination came when mao15 shoved all-in under the gun for 2,713,892 and TheV0id moved all-in on top for an additional 2,686,767. Everyone folded behind and mao15 showed while TheV0id was a huge favorite with . The flop came , giving TheV0id a flopped set and leaving Mao15 drawing to running eights. The turn was the and the river was the , eliminating Mao15 in eighth place.

E-Daddie was eliminated next when HelmetSky raised pre-flop to 555,000, with the blinds at 100,000/200,000, and was re-raised by E-Daddie, who moved all-in for 3,837,232; HelmetSky quickly called. E-Daddie showed and was in trouble as HelmetSky turned over . The flop came , all blanks for E-Daddie, who picked up a flush draw with the on the turn. However, the on the river sealed E-Daddie's seventh-place finish in the WCOOP Main Event.

The next elimination came just three hands later when TheV0id raised to 550,000 pre-flop and nitbuster came over the top to 2,600,000. TheV0id responded by moving all-in for nine million more and nitbuster called for his remaining 3,471,641, and was all in. TheV0id showed and was behind in the hand as nitbuster showed . The flop, though, came , giving TheV0id top pair, while nitbuster was left drawing to a queen for a better pair or a king for the straight. The turn brought the , giving nitbuster even more outs to the river, but the wasn't one of them and nitbuster was eliminated in sixth place.

mpg1000, who had started the final table with nearly 20 million chips before losing his lead to ka$ino, then raised pre-flop to 700,000 from late position when ka$ino came over the top for an additional 1.6 million more. Mpg1000 moved all-in for his remaining 6,024,060 and ka$ino called. Mpg1000 showed while ka$ino was the favorite with . The flop came , giving both players top pair but leaving mpg1000 out-kicked. mpg1000 was left drawing to a club or a queen, but missed when the fell on the turn and the came on the turn. mpg1000 was eliminated in fifth place, giving ka$ino great control of the table with 35,546,860 in chips.

HelmetSky was eliminated in fourth place seven hands later when TheV0id raised pre-flop to 650,000 and HelmetSky moved all in for his remaining 3,770,908. TheV0id called and showed while HelmetSky held QsQh. This marked the first all-in "race" of the final table, with HelmetSky hoping his pocket pair could stay ahead. The flop came and the queens looked to be in good shape until the spiked on the turn, leaving HelmetSky drawing to one of the remaining two queens. The river was the , eliminating HelmetSky from the event.

Vanessa 'LadyMaverick' Rousso was the next player to feel the sting of ka$ino's commanding chip lead when he raised pre-flop to 630,000 and she called. The flop came and Rousso check-called an 880,000 bet from ka$ino. The turn brought the and both players checked. The river was the and Rousso led out for 2,000,000, while ka$ino moved all-in for 34,000,000. Rousso called with her remaining 4,374,864 and was all in. Rousso showed for flopped two pair while ka$ino held for the backdoor flush. Rousso was eliminated in third place, leaving TheV0id and ka$ino heads up, with ka$ino having a two-to-one chip lead.

TheV0id, who won two all-ins, eventually took the chip lead away from ka$ino, going up over 40,000,000 in chips and leaving ka$ino with only 17,000,000. ka$ino, behind in the match, later flopped a set of kings while TheV0id flopped the nut straight. All the money went in on the flop and ka$ino regained a small chip lead when the board paired on the river. Eventually a deal was made for a $150,000 save, with 2nd place netting $850,782.50 with 1st place getting $1,228,330.50.

Heads-up play came to an end after nearly two hours, when TheV0id, with a 14-million chip lead, raised pre-flop to 1,400,000 and ka$ino reraised to 4,400,000. TheV0id pushed all-in, having ka$ino covered, and ka$ino called for his remaining 19,683,792. ka$ino showed and was the favorite to TheV0id's . The flop came , giving both players a straight draw while TheV0id was open-ended. The turn paired the board with the , keeping ka$ino the favorite in the hand. But the on the river completed TheV0id's open-ended straight, eliminating ka$ino in second and making TheV0id the winner of the 2007 WCOOP Main Event.

Final Results:

1. TheV0id - $1,228,330.50
2. ka$ino - $850,782.50
3. LadyMaverick - $463,940.50
4. HelmetSky - $382,245
5. mpg1000 - $307,295
6. nitbuster - $232,345
7. E-Daddie - $163,391
8. ma015 - $103,431
9. Fischer80 - $59,960

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