UBOC5: Déjà Vu for Billy Kopp in UBOC5 Championship; Charlie "CHAZ_MAN_C" Combes Claims Title
For the past week and a half, UltimateBet and Absolute Poker, hosted the fifth installment of the Ultimate Bet Online Poker Championship Series. The UBOC5 consisted of 20 tournaments offering a combined $4 million in guaranteed prize money. On Sunday, the UBOC5 culminated with the $1,000 + $50 Championship Event. The Mini-UBOC, which ran simultaneously with the UBOC and offered the same tournaments at one-tenth the price, also held its championship event on Sunday.
The UBOC5 Championship was a monster stack tournament that offered a $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool; however, the 1,032 players who entered the event juiced the prize pool by an additional $32,000. The event, hosted by Phil Hellmuth, attracted many of UB’s team pros. Trishelle Cannatella (954th), Tiffany Michelle (887th), “Hollywood Dave” Stann (752nd), Hellmuth (716th), Matt Graham (583rd), Mark Seif (527th), Mark “Poker Ho” Kroon (520th), Joe Sebok (314th), Scott Ian (286th), Eric Baldwin (262nd), Adam “Roothlus” Levy (202nd), Gary “DEBO 34” Debernardi (197th) and Annie Duke (170th) all attempted to add the UBOC5 Championship to their résumés, but couldn’t get it done. Nonetheless, the field was littered with online pros who managed to make deep runs into the money. One such player was Billy Kopp, who has recently been featured on ESPN broadcasts of the World Series of Poker.
Facing 16 other players, Kopp held a monster chip stack of 1.5 million, almost double his nearest competitor. With such a huge stack, Kopp was practically assured of making the final table. When only 12 players remained and the final table loomed, Kopp’s stack had dropped to around a million in chips, which was still among the chip leads. The online railbirds were out in force to see if Kopp could redeem his 12th place finish at the 2009 WSOP, but he lost the entire stack to eventual runner-up Darvin Moon.
Granted, the UBOC5 Championship is not the WSOP Main Event, but it’s the largest and most prestigious tournament on UB. Kopp’s defining hand came when he (1,017,473 in chips) raised to 41,673 and WALLABAER (997,400 in chips) reraised to 106,000. Action folded back to Kopp, who then moved all-in and WALLABAER called for his tournament life.
Kopp – 7♠7♣
WALLABAER – A♥Q♠
The two players were off to the races for a two million chip pot and the flop came down J♦Q♦4♠, putting WALLABAER in the lead with a pair of queens. The K♣ on the turn and K♥ on the river changed nothing and Kopp was left with just 20,073. He was eliminated the very next hand when his A♣Q♠ was beaten by Charlie "CHAZ_MAN_C" Combes' 10♣8♦. Once again, Kopp failed to make the final table of a championship event after holding a monster chip stack, ultimately finishing in 12th place.
CHAZ_MAN_C used the momentum from Kopp’s elimination to make it all the way to heads-up play against TOOCURIOUSSO. In the final hand of the UBOC5, CHAZ_MAN_C (9,254,280 in chips) raised to 4.2 million with 2♠Q♠ and TOOCURIOUSSO (1,065,720 in chips) called for his tournament life with 9♣K♦. TOOCURIOUSSO held the best hand when the flop came down 3♦J♠6♠, but had to sweat CHAZ_MAN_C’s flopped flush draw. The turn was the Q♦ and suddenly CHAZ_MAN_C was in the lead with his pair of queens. The river was the 5♦ and the tournament was over. Per a four-handed deal, CHAZ_MAN_C took down a $136,178 first-place prize and became the UBOC5 Champion.
UBOC5 Event #20 (Championship MONSTER STACK NLH)
Buy-in: $1,000 + $50
Guarantee: $1,000,000
Prize Pool: $1,032,000
Entrants: 1,032
*1. Charlie "CHAZ_MAN_C" Combes - $136,178.00
*2. TOOCURIOUSSO - $95,000.00
*3. Pamela "VENUSIGNA" Quesada - $152,000.00
*4. WALLABAER - $145,000.00
5. Peter "APATHY123" Jetten - $56,244.00
6. WAMMERMOUTH - $45,924.00
7. MST_MORPHEUS - $35,604.00
8. Craig "1GENERAL_TAO" Bergeron - $25,284.00
9. Riccardo "DONRIKY" Cantafora - $17,544.00
*denotes four-handed deal
Notable Finishes: Billy “BILLY_KOPP” (12th - $10,836.00), Michael “WORLDSGRTEST” Banducci (18th - $6,398.40), Craig “MRCASINO” Gray (20th - $5,469.60), Corey “CMB8757” Burbick (21st - $5,469.60), Steve “MIGUELPRADO” Gross (23rd - $5,469.60), Carter “BDYBLDNGPKR” Phillips (28th - $4,540.80), Justin “JUROLLO” Rollo (30th - $4,540.80), Rayan “RKRUOK” Nathan (32nd - $4,540.80), Bryan “ENTERTHEWU19” Piccioli (40th - $3,921.60), Joshua “PBDRUNKS” VanDuyn (50th - $3,302.40), Jonathan “THEROOKIEQQ9” Plens (56th - $$2,683.20), Harrison “RIKISHI” Gimbel (58th - $$2,683.20), Eric “BLIZAIR” Blair (60th - $2,683.20), Bryan Devonshire (72nd - $2,270.40), Laurence “DON’T_RIVER_ME” Houghton (74th - $1,960.80), David “CHECKSHOVINU” Peters (79th - $1,960.80), Jesse “TOOHOTTOTROT” Haabak (80th - $1,960.80)
The Mini-UBOC5 Championship, with a modest $50.00 + $5.00 buy-in, attracted 1,684 entrants competing for their share of a the $84,200 prize pool. UB pros Mark “Poker Ho” Kroon (1,230th), Gary “DEBO 34” Debernardi (854th), Scott Ian (316th) and Eric Baldwin (223rd) gave it their best efforts but failed to make the money. The final table was filled with unknown players, but that didn’t stop things from heating up. In fact, the final table was characterized by million-plus pots and fast eliminations.
The biggest hand of the tournament came in heads-up play when JLC123 (6,991,488 in chips) raised to 960,000 and BOOJIW (9,848,512 in chips) reraised all-in. JLC123 made the call and the two turned over their cards:
JLC123 – 3♠A♥
BOOJIW – 6♣K♥
The flop gave both players a pair when it came down 2♣3♣K♠, but BOOJIW’s pair of kings was higher. The turn was the A♠ and JLC123 was thrust into the lead with two pair. To win the tournament, BOOJIW needed to catch a king on the river, but unfortunately for him, it was the 8♥ and JLC123 doubled to 13,982,976.
The final hand of the tournament came just ten hands later when JLC123 (12,385,952 in chips) raised to 960,000 with A♠2♦ and BOOJIW (4,454,048 in chips) reraised all-in with 4♠K♣. JLC123 made the call and BOOJIW’s tournament life was on the line. The flop was disaster for BOOJIW when it came Q♠A♥8♦ and gave JLC123 a pair of aces. The K♦ on the turn gave BOOJIW some hope, but the 6♦ on the river quickly took it away. JLC123’s pair of aces was good enough to take down the hand. JLC123 became the Mini-UBOC5 champion and successfully turned a $50.00 buy-in into $17,858.82.
Mini-UBOC5 Event #20 (Championship MONSTER STACK NLH)
Buy-in: $50.00 + $5.00
Guarantee: $50,000
Prize Pool: $84,200
Entrants: 1,684
1. JLC123 - $17,858.82
2. BOOJIW - $10,617.62
3. MRTJ_CANADA - $7,367.50
4. MY1IFESAVINS - $5,346.70
5. IMHIDONKS - $4,412.08
6. LUVMYGRNDKDS - $3,536.40
7. MIGUEL05 - $2,694.40
8. 1TIMERIV3R - $1,894.50
9. SUPERUSERACT - $1,347.20
The UBOC5 may be over, but there are plenty of other tournaments running on UB plus one of the biggest sign up bonuses in poker - 100% up to $1200! Sign up for an account today!
PR & Media Manager for PokerNews, Podcast host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.
