WCOOP – Event #8, $530 PLO8: 'copi' Claims Omaha-8 Bracelet

September 20, 2007

Matt Wehner

WCOOP – Event #8, $530 PLO8: 'copi' Claims Omaha-8 Bracelet 0001

The PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) continued its success on Wednesday with Event #8, $530 Pot-Limit Omaha-8, which brought in 917 players for a prize pool of $458,500. This year's attendance was down from last year's by some 40 players, the only drop among attendance numbers to date.

The field was a tough one, with WSOP bracelet winners Tom McEvoy and Katja Thater taking part, as well as other online pros including 'ch0ppy,' 'BeLoWaBoVe,' Luca Pagano, and 'PearlJammer.' Last year's winner, 'kwob20,' was also in attendance but placed outside the money.

Play continued for over five hours before 'austinsdb' busted on the bubble. Five more hours passed before the final 18 players found themselves seated at the last two tables, all seeking the final table, which was reached after 'amcawker' was eliminated in tenth place. amcawker was holding K♦9♥Q♥J♣ when he saw a flop of 10♣7♦7♠ heads up against ch0ppy. amcawker led out on the flop and was raised when he re-raised, putting himself all-in. ch0ppy made the call and showed 6♥A♣Q♦9♦ for a straight draw and A-6 toward any possible low. The turn came the A♦ and the river brought the 2♦, giving ch0ppy a flush and amcawker only a pair of sevens.

The final table consisted of 'copi,' 'SSSHIP_IT,' 'bigdogpckt5s,' 'joeaces,' 'Lystig,' 'SKOAL,' 'rkruok,' ch0ppy, and 'oskar.' The first elimination of the final table took place on the very first hand when joeaces raised pre-flop from the big blind and was called by Lystig. The flop came 9♣8♦3♦ and joeaces bet while Lystig called. The turn brought the 2♦ and joeaces bet out yet again while Lystig raised. Joeaces called his remaining 19,874 and showed A♥K♣Q♦2♥ with just a pair of deuces for the high, and an 8-4-3-2-A low. Lystig showed J♥J♣7♣6♦ for a pair of jacks for the high, and a better 7-6-4-3-2 low. Joeaces was eliminated in ninth place.

ch0ppy was eliminated in eighth place when he called a pre-flop raise from rkruok. The flop came 3♣9♥Q♦ and rkruok led out. ch0ppy raised back, and was re-raised. ch0ppy made the call and the turn brought the 4♦. Again rkruok led out and ch0ppy made the call. The river brought the A♠ and ch0ppy was all-in after calling another raise by rkruok. Rkruok showed 3♦A♥2♠Q♣ for two pair, aces and kings while ch0ppy showed K♦J♠10♣J♣ for a missed straight draw.

The next elimination came when oskar, the short stack at the table, raised from early position and was called by SKOAL. The flop came 5♠J♣5♥ and SKOAL led out while oskar raised and SKOAL made the call. The turn was the A♥ and SKOAL checked this time, letting oskar bet and put himself all-in for his remaining 19,218. SKOAL made the call and showed 2♥4♠8♥6♣ for a flush draw, as well as the second nut low. oskar showed a pair of aces with no chance at a better low, and when the river 10♥ fell, it gave SKOAL the flush and scooped pot and eliminated oskar in seventh place.

With the blinds at 10,000/20,000, bigdogpckt5s was eliminated in sixth after being the short stack and calling a pre-flop raise by Lystig that put him all-in. The board came Q♦A♣3♣3♥A♥ and bigdogpckt5s showed 6♦J♣5♦2♦ while Lystig showed 6♠A♠4♠7♦ for trips. Prior to this hand starting, the players asked if a deal could be worked out. Before everyone had a chance to answer, bigdogpckt5s declined the deal and asked to play on.

After bigdogpckt5's elimination, players agreed to discuss a deal. The numbers came back and were as follows: copi: $67,554 (1,061,855 in chips), SSSHIP_IT: $32,122 (177,968 in chips), Lystig: $44,296 (491,656 in chips), SKOAL: $38,112 (347,393 in chips), and rkruok: $53,134 (672,128 in chips). SSSHIP_IT announced that he is ranked second in the world for Omaha Eight or Better and wanted $38K instead of the $32K. The other players informed him that they think the chip count was fair and that they wanted to continue to play if he wouldn't take the deal offered. SSSHIP_IT continued to haggle over the price and began lowering his figure to $37K, and then made a "final offer" down to $36K. Again, all the other players declined and play continued. After winning one hand, and increasing his chip stack to 255,000, and therefore increasing the amount of money he would receive in a deal, SSSHIP_IT asked the game to be paused so a new deal could be discussed, but got no takers.

SSSHIP_IT was the next one eliminated when SKOAL raised pre-flop and SSSHIP_IT reraised. SKOAL called the re-raise and the flop came 5♦8♥J♠. SSSHIP_IT bet out, SKOAL raised, SSSHIP_IT re-raised, and SKOAL capped the betting. SSSHIP_IT called and was all-in with A♠3♣2♠J♥ for the nut-low draw while SKOAL held 2♥K♥A♥9♣. The turn came the Q♣ and the river brought the 10♥ giving SKOAL a running straight and no low possible.

Immediately after SSSHIP_IT's elimination, players agreed to pause again and work out a deal. This time, the numbers came back as copi: $65,882, Lystig: $53,937, SKOAL: $40,729, and rkruok: $49,680. All players agreed and play continued on for the bracelet and a remaining $22,000 bonus for the eventual winner.

Lystig was the next player eliminated when he raised preflop and was reraised by SKOAL. Lystig made the call and the flop came 6♣5♥4♣. SKOAL bet out on the flop and Lystig raised, SKOAL re-raised and Lystig capped the betting. SKOAL made the call and the turn brought the Q♠. SKOAL immediately bet out again on the turn and was again raised by Lystig, and SKOAL wasted no time re-raising Lystig, putting him all-in. Lystig made the call and showed 3♥7♦2♥10♣ for a straight while SKOAL showed A♠K♣Q♥2♣ for the nut low and a king-high flush draw. The 8♣ on the river filled that flush; it sealed Lystig's fate and he was eliminated in fourth place.

rkruok was eliminated in third place when he called a pre-flop raise by copi. SKOAL also called the raise and the flop came A♣Q♠5♥. SKOAL checked the flop, while rkruok led out. copi raised and SKOAL folded while rkruok called. The 7♠ on the turn and rkruok checked while copi bet. rkruok called and when the J♦ fell on the river, rkruok checked while copi put rkruok all-in. copi showed Q♣3♥7♣A♠ for top two pair while rkruok showed K♥7♥Q♥5♠, a lesser two pair.

Going into heads-up play, copi had a sizable 2.3 million to 400,000 chip lead. The final hand of the night came when copi called a pre-flop raise from SKOAL. The flop came Q♣9♣5♣ and copi checked while SKOAL bet out. Copi check-raised and the betting quickly became capped between the heads up players. The turn was the J♠ and SKOAL and announced "gg" as he called a raise by copi. Copi showed 8♣3♥2♣4♠ for a flush, while SKOAL showed 10♠2♥7♠A♣ for a missed nut-low draw. SKOAL was drawing dead to the river and finished in second place, making copi the winner of Event #8 and the largest share of the purse.