WCOOP Day 20: Joe "ender555" Ebanks, Steve "HR_Dub" Williams Win Bracelets

September 24, 2011

Several poker pros had success on Day 20 of the 2011 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker. WSOP bracelet winner Joe "ender555" Ebanks added a WCOOP bracelet to his wrist by winning the $1,000 Limit Hold'em event, and Steve "HR_Dub" Williams took down the $500 Cubed event for a massive payday of $172,674.

Fabrizio "SixthSenSe19" Gonzalez, who won his first WCOOP title last year, had a shot at two more on Friday. He found himself playing two final tables at the same time but came up short in both, taking fifth place in Event #55 and fourth place in Event #57. Still, his exceptional day netted him more than $63,000 in earnings and a shot at WCOOP Player of the Year.

PokerStars WCOOP 55 - $500 No-Limit Hold’em 1R1A ($600K Guaranteed)

The popular "cubed" no-limit hold'em format of Event #55 drew 831 entrants to generate a prize pool of $954,000. The event, which allows players one buy-in, one re-buy and one add-on, created a deep structure as each player began with 7,500 chips and could double that with their re-buy during the first two hours of play.

The money bubble burst after eight hours with several well-known pros still competing for the first-place prize of $172,674. Johan "Busto_soon" Van Til, Andrew" RunThisTable" Lichtenberger, Mark "AceSpades11" Radoja and Thayer "THAY3R" Rasmussen each made deep runs in the event, but all fell short of the final table. Still, several notables had reached WCOOP glory when the final table of nine was formed late Friday evening, including Friend of PokerStars Pierre "Zoutechamp" Neuville.

Short-stacked "respect82" was the first to hit the rail when his A♥Q♠ failed to improve against the pocket nines of Fabian "fabstinho" Quoss. Shortly after, Neuville got his hands dirty. The Belgian businessman picked up aces against "Arnie_D's" pocket queens and sent the Brit packing when the board ran out 8♥6♦A♠6♠Q♣.

Steve "HR_Dub" Williams took the chip lead with six players remaining when he eliminated "Se7enTr3y." With the blinds at 25,000/50,000, Fabrizio "SixthSenSe19" Gonzalez raised to 111,119 from the cutoff and "Se7enTr3y" moved all-in for 845,571 from the small blind. Williams then re-shoved from the big blind for more than 2.5 million, which resulted in a fold from Gonzalez. "Se7enTr3y" had A♣5♦ against the K♣K♦ Williams, and it was all over after the K♠J♥K♥ flop.

Former WCOOP champion "de bluffer" was the next casualty as Slovakia's "Dajvey" bested him in a preflop confrontation. "De bluffer" moved all-in for 14.5 big blinds from the small blind with A♦4♣ and "Dajvey" called from the small blind with K♦10♦. The board gave "Dajvey" a pair of tens on the turn and "de bluffer" exited in sixth place.

The story of the night was Gonzalez, who had amazingly reached the final table of Event #57 while he was playing the final of this event. However, Gonzalez's shot at dual WCOOP titles was denied by Williams, in cruel fashion. Gonzalez opened with a min-raise to 120,000 on the button with A♥K♥ and Williams three-bet to 330,000 from the big blind with A♠J♣. Gonzalez four-bet, and Williams fired back with a five-bet to put Gonzalez's entire stack at risk. Gonzalez called and was in excellent shape to double up, but the 8♣Q♦4♠J♦3♣ board gave Williams a pair and left Gonzalez one-tabling in Event #57.

Neuville's demise came in fourth place when he lost a flip to Quoss, and then Williams eliminated "Dajvey" in third place when his pocket sixes won a race against A♥10♣. That set up a head-up match between Quoss and Williams with the latter holding a 2-5-to-1 chip advantage.

Quoss never gained any ground on his opponent and his stack was cut to about 2 million before Williams eventually got the rest. With the blinds at 50,000/100,000, Quoss min-raised his button with pocket tens and Williams moved all-in with A♠3♠. Quoss called instantly and was a 2-to-1 favorite to double up, but clearly it was Williams' night because the board gave him two pair and his first WCOOP title.

Notable Finishes: Mark "AceSpades11" Radoja (11th - $10,303), Johan "Busto_soon" Van Til (17th - $6,487), Andrew "RunThisTable" Lichtenberger (23rd - $4,579), Thayer "THAY3R" Rasmussen (29th - $4,007)

PokerStars WCOOP 56 - $1,000 Limit Hold’em Six-Max ($150K Guaranteed)

Nearly 300 of online poker's best min-raisers entered the $1,000 Limit Hold'em event on Friday to create a prize pool of $284,000. Thirty-six players went on to make the money with a top prize of $62,000 going to the winner.

Team PokerStars members Randy "nanonoko" Lew and Pat Pezzin each had success in Event #56 but came up just short of the final table. Lew bowed out in 14th place for just over $3,000, and Pezzin barely missed his third WCOOP final table of the 2011 series by finishing directly on the final table bubble in seventh place.

Pezzin was the short stack with 21,214 chips and was in the big blind with the blinds at 4,000/8,000. Joe "ender555" Ebanks raised the button and Pezzin was virtually faced with a decision for all of his chips. He thought about his next move for a bit, which incited the following dialogue in the chat box:

Ebanks: "slowrolling?"
Pat Pezzin: "ya"

Pezzin finally moved all-in for only 5,000 more with 4♠10♠ and Ebanks called with K♠7♦. The board ran out Q♣6♣8♦9♥Q♠ and Pezzin was ousted on the bubble with $7,668. The final table of six was in place with "Roenepoen" of the Netherlands in control.

"Roenepoen" added more ammunition by eliminating the short-stacked "PikkuHUMPPA" in sixth place. "Roenepoen" raised and "PikkuHUMPPA" called off his remaining 14,558 preflop. Ebanks also came along from the big blind and the three players saw a flop of 10♥8♣4♣. Ebanks and "Roenepoen" checked and then checked again when the A♠ hit the turn. The river brought the Q♦ and Ebanks led out for 20,000. "Roenepoen" called and flipped over J♠9♠ for a straight, which had both his opponents beat. "PikkuHUMPPA" earned $11,360 for his sixth place finish.

Israel's "RiverBoom" found himself in a similar spot with just 18,000 chips at 6,000/12,000 and made his last stand with A♥2♥. Canada's "vitapur" was priced in to call from the big blind with 5♣3♥ and came from behind by making a pair of fives to send "RiverBoom" out in fifth place.

"Vitapur" was involved again moments later when he eliminated "StoneFace007" in fourth place. "StoneFace007" called all-in preflop with A♥6♣ and was up against "vitapur" and Ebanks, who checked a flop of K♠8♠Q♥. The 5♣ on the turn spurred a bet from "vitapur" and Ebanks folded. "Vitapur" had turned a set of fives, leaving "StoneFace007" drawing dead to a fourth-place finish for $22,720.

The Canadian's rush ended at the hands of Ebanks when the two players got their chips in on a board of K♦4♣10♦Q♥. Ebanks held K♥2♣ for top pair, but he was out-kicked by the K♣9♥ of "vitapur." That all changed with the 2♠ fell on the river, giving Ebanks two pair to set up a heads-up match against "Roenepoen."

The heads-up match lasted 74 hands and despite a courageous effort from "Roenepoen," Ebanks ultimately claimed the title and his first WCOOP bracelet. On the final hand of the tournament, "Roenepoen" capped the betting on a flop of 4♣K♣9♦ and Ebanks called to bring the A♦ on the turn. "Roenepoen" led out again and then called all-in with K♥8♦ for top pair but was drawing dead against Ebanks' K♦9♥. The meaningless 3♥ hit the river and Ebanks secured the title and a payday of $62,480.

Notable Finishes: Pat Pezzin (7th - $7,668), Vincent "Vingtcent" van der Fluit (11th - $4,402), Randy "nanonoko" Lew (14th - $3,124), Paul "paulgees81" Volpe (20th - $2,556)

PokerStars WCOOP 57 - $200 No-Limit Omaha Hi/Lo 10-Minute Levels ($75K Guaranteed)

Fresh off defeating Anders "Donald" Berg heads-up for a WCOOP bracelet earlier in the week, Mayu "marroca5" Roca Uribe made another deep run in Event #57, the $200 No-Limit Omaha Hi/Lo. However, he just missed out on making the final table with a 10th-place finish. Roca shoved his seven-big-blind stack into the middle with A♥9♦7♥3♣, getting action from Larry "BBOY3110" Sharp with A♠10♠6♦2♦. A K♣Q♠J♦ flop was all she wrote for Roca, drawing dead immediately. Here were the chip counts at the start of the final table.

Eliminated from the final table in ninth place was "titovka24," the short stack to start. On a 10♥4♣2♠ flop, "titovka24" shoved with A♠10♠7♣4♦ and was called by Larry Sharp with K♣5♣4♥3♣. The 3♠ turn card kept "titovka24" ahead with the better two pair and a low, but the A♥ river made a wheel for Sharp to scoop the pot. Two hands later spelled the end of the road for "gumasta". All-in preflop with A♠A♦8♦8♠, "gumasta" was favored against the A♣Q♣Q♠5♠ tabled by "nemisoi". The flop came down K♥4♣2♣, a pretty lousy one for "gumasta." The Q♦ landed on the turn to "nemisoi" a leading set of queens, followed by the 9♣ river to give "nemisoi" the nut flush.

Even though those aces were cracked, aces held up in the next bust-out. Andrew "UlDuffer" Sweeney, with A♠A♦Q♦5♥, had "karolinaD's" Q♥9♥6♠6♥ on the ropes. The board rolled out Q♠8♦3♦10♥2♣, giving both halves of the pot to Sweeney and sending "karolinaD" to the rail in seventh place. After "nemisoi" doubled through Larry "BBOY3110" Sharp, a short-stacked Sharp shoved for seven big blinds on the button with K♥Qx10♦4♦. Chip leader Andrew Sweeney called with K♠K♦Q♣8♣ and held up through the 7♦5♣5♥A♠8♥ board.

Nine hands later, "KaLiF1204" was felted. On the button, "nemisoi" shoved for about 20 big blinds. "KaLiF1204" opted to call all-in from the small blind for about 19 big blinds holding A♦9♦3♥2♥. With A♠A♥8♥3♦, "nemisoi" loved to watch the flop fall Q♣5♥2♣. In a good spot to take three quarters of the pot, "nemisoi" improved to a set on the turn when the A♣ fell. The K♦ river secured the entire pot for "nemisoi." Staying quiet throughout the final table was Fabrizio "SixthSenSe19" Gonzalez, who eventually fell in fourth place. From the small blind, Gonzalez shoved his 10-big-blind stack into the pot with 8♦4♦3♣2♦ and found action from Andrew "UlDuffer" Sweeney in the big blind with A♣J♣7♦6♦. The board came down Q♥7♠4♥3♦Q♣, counterfeiting Gonzalez's bottom two pair and giving both halves of the pot to Sweeney.

A deal was briefly discussed between the remaining three players, but terms were not agreed upon. "Neptune04" was the odd one out and finished in third place. After min-raising on the button, "Neptune04" saw "nemisoi" jam from the small blind for about 22 big blinds. Sitting with just shy of 23 big blinds, "Neptune04" called and tabled A♣K♠7♣2♦ to "nemisoi's" A♦K♥5♣3♥. The board ran out 6♠6♦3♠J♥10♥, putting no low on board and giving "nemisoi" the upper hand for the high with sixes and threes. "Neptune04" was eliminated shortly thereafter.

Discussions of a deal came up again and after hashing out the details, numbers were agreed upon. When play resumed, the chip counts were the following:

"nemisoi:" 2,835,576
Andrew "UlDuffer" Sweeney: 1,919,424

It didn't take "nemisoi" long to finish it off. On the final hand, Sweeney called "nemisoi's" min-raise to see a K♥8♥7♥ flop. Both checked, landing the A♥ on the turn. A bet from Sweeney led to a "nemisoi" raise, prompting a Sweeney shove for about 20 big blinds. "Nemisoi" called and tabled A♦3♥2♣2♠ for top pair with the nut low, while Sweeney needed help with K♣6♣4♠3♦. The river was the 10♣, securing a victory for "nemisoi."

*denotes heads-up deal

Notable Finishes: Mayu "marroca5" Roca Uribe (10th - $1,902), Jim "Mr_BigQueso" Collopy (11th - $1,902), Paul "paulgees81" Volpe (12th - $1,902), Kenny "SpaceyFCB" Hallaert (13th - $1,521.60)

The WCOOP is nearing its end and of course, we will be providing in-depth daily recaps of all WCOOP final tables, so be sure to keep it here at PokerNews to stay up to date on all of the exciting action as it occurs.

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