The Sunday Briefing: Jonathan “Iftarii” Jaffe Claims High Roller Heads-Up Title

The highlight of the 2009 World Championship of Online Poker on Day 11 was Event 27, a $25,500 no-limit hold'em heads-up special. The tournament drew 36 players, all looking to bank the $315,000 top prize. Weaving their respective ways through the tough field were Jonathan “Iftarii” Jaffe and Allan "Sifosis" Bække. Jaffe’s road to the championship match consisted of wins against Steven “stevesbets” Jacobs, Scott “gunning4you” Sevier, Alex “mistakooll” Keating, and Oliver“Adonis112” Busquet. Bække’s path to the finals included victories over Barry “barryg1” Greenstein, Alec “traheho” Torelli, Adam “skilled_sox” Ewenstein, and Sorel “zangbezan24” Mizzi.

Bække got off to a quick start in the final match and built a 2:1 chip lead within 10 minutes; however, Jaffe stormed back and went on to win the match. On the final hand, Jaffe raised on the button and Bække called, leading to a flop. Fireworks followed as a flurry of raises resulted in Bække six-betting all-in. Jaffe called and tabled , crushing Bække’s . The turn and river fell and giving Jaffe the WCOOP bracelet and $315,000.

PokerStars WCOOP 27 - $25,500 No-Limit Hold 'em (heads-up matches)
Buy-in: $25,000+500
Prize Pool: $900,000
Entrants: 36

1. Jonathan “Iftarii” Jaffe - $315,000
2. Allan 'Sifosis' Bække - $180,000
3. Oliver “Adonis112” Busquet - $90,000
4. Sorel “zangbezan24” Mizzi - $90,000
5. Alex “mistakooll” Keating - $56,250
6. Alex “joiso” Kostritsyn - $56,250
7. Adam “skilled_sox” Ewenstein - $56,250
8. Peter “PeteEastgate” Eastgate - $56,250

Notable Finishes: Andrew “RunThisTable” Lichtenberger (9th), Sami
“Lrslzk” Kelopuro (10th), Phil “takechip” D’Auteuil (12th), Alec
“traheho” Torelli (14th), and Scott “gunning4you” Seiver (15th).

Event 26 started at the same time as the NFL Kickoff Sunday and ended 18
hours later. When the final table began, the nine players agreed to
look at numbers for a potential deal. After about 20 minutes, talks
fell through and there was hardly any mention of a deal the rest of
the way. Heads-up play came down to “lelijk22” and “dunkmaster50”,
with “lelijk22” emerging victorious. The tournament came to an end when “lelijk22” flopped a set with on a board of . The chips went into the middle and though “dunkmaster50” had outs with , the turn and river fell the and . “Lelijk22” stood atop the field of nearly 10,000 to win the WCOOP bracelet and $274,260.

PokerStars WCOOP 26 - $215 No-Limit Hold’em
Buy-in: $200+15
Prize Pool: $1,959,000
Entrants: 9,795

1. lelijk22 - $274,260
2. dunkmaster50 - $199,818
3. equinespy - $141,048
4. Ryan “RJules12” Julius - $97,950
5. Jarrod “Holmesy1978” Holmes - $78,360
6. PepaG - $58,770
7. jimenezzzz - $39,180
8. ole6 - $19,590
9. candy1203 - $13,321.20

Notable Finishes: Ami “UhhMee” Barer (10th - $9,795), Jared “SOXFAN83”
Mahoney (11th - $9,795), and Joe “crackhAAd” Cutler (18th - $4,701.60)

Full Tilt $750,000 Guarantee
Buy-in: $200+16
Prize Pool: 772,000
Entrants: 3,860

1. emitzon - $136,682.60
2. Philipp “philbort” Gruissem - $82,604
3. njw11 - $54,040
4. MarcoPiemonte - $42,614.40
5. mce86 - $31,960.80
6. petian - $23,700.40
7. Nick “Colonel Mustard” Stowell - $17,756
8. tha_burgh - $13,896
9. James “shiiipitobv” Bills - $10,344.80

Notable Finishes: Casey “bigdogpckt5s” Jarzabek (36th - $2,316), James
“P0KERPR0” Campbell (37th - $1,814.20), and Kyle “kwob20” Bowker (41st -
$1,814.20)

Full Tilt Sunday Brawl
Buy-in: $240+16
Prize Pool: $482,600
Entrants: 2,413

1. Tannina80 - $98,426.27
2. Allen “albari” Bari - $63,703.20
3. Thorres156 - $47,294.80
4. america_lol - $35,712.40
5. Yoghii - $25,095.20
6. Zach “Yettiman” Shellnut - $16,408.40
7. Adam “Roothlus” Levy - $11,099.80
8. MIsTeRLiQUoR - $7,721.60
9. Bulat010 - $5,791.20

Notable Finishes: Kory “s00tedj0kers89” Kilpatrick (11th - $3,619.50),
Mike “Wiscomurray” Murray (19th - $1,447.80), Matt “NoBadBeatsPlz” Kay
(26th - $1,447.80), and Ben “bmf823” Fineman (32nd - $1,254.76).

Bodog $100,000 Guarantee
Buy-in: $150+12
Prize Pool: $100,000
Entrants: 414

1. Droeftoeter - $25,000
2. trentduvall - $15,000
3. Tomgus456 - $9,500
4. ACPro526 - $7,000
5. 3pounder - $5,500
6. TexasBill - $4,500
7. chiquita - $3,500
8. benthrb4 - $2,200
9. geauxUSC - $1,700

Notable Finishes: BlackFourz (10th - $900).

Plenty of WCOOP events remain, so sign up for a PokerStars account and win your bracelet today.