WCOOP Day 3: Joel Adam “2FLY2TILT” Gordon Captures WCOOP Bracelet #2

PokerStars WCOOP

Three events were on the docket for Day 3 of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker, including the first nonflop tournaments of the series. Two tournaments concluded with one new champion being crowned and another returning to the winner's circle. Joel Adam “2FLY2TILT” Gordon" became only the tenth player in WCOOP history to capture a second WCOOP bracelet. Meanwhile, 65 players remain in the first four-figure entry of the series.

PokerStars WCOOP 7 - $200 Pot-Limit Draw ($75K Guaranteed)

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool
$200+$15516$103,200

The lone five-card-draw event on the WCOOP slate drew 516 players, many of whom were beginners in this game The variant is rarely seen in tournament circles, but it still drew enough interest to create a prize pool of $103,200, with the winner picking up more than $19,000 and the coveted WCOOP bracelet.

The list of novice draw players included reigning world champion and Team PokerStars member Jonathan Duhamel, who admitted via Twitter Tuesday that Event #7 was his first five-card-draw tournament. Duhamel ultimately finished in 38th place when he got his remaining chips in and drew one card, finishing with AKKQ4 for a pair of kings. Feared online grinder "fly44" showed AAQQ6 for two pair, sending Duhamel to the rail with $567.60.

Fellow Team PokerStars members Daniel "KidPoker" Negreanu and Andre "aakkari" Akkari also made deep runs in the tournament but fell short of the money. Akkari landed two spots away from his first cash of the series when he was eliminated by Sweden's "finnen321," who went on to make the final table. Negreanu finished 104th.

Poker pro Dylan "ImaLucSac" Linde was the story for much of the day because he nearly went wire-to-wire in Event #7. The former North Dakota resident and close friend of Kevin "ImaLuckSack" MacPhee claimed the chip lead early on and held it for more than five hours until there were two tables remaining. Ukraine's "navroza" grabbed the lead as the final table of six was formed, but Linde was still in excellent shape to win his first WCOOP bracelet.

SeatPlayerChips
1finnen321293,667
2ranayr470,976
3navroza644,300
4Dylan "ImaLucSac" Linde519,931
5pirata200436339,694
6Martini_7777311,432

It took only one hand for Linde to regain the lead at the final table. After he moved all-in with a six-bet and "Martini_7777" called, both players stood pat. "Martini_7777" tabled a king-high flush, but Linde showed 55533 for a full house to rake in a pot worth more than 800,000. He later eclipsed the 1 million mark and was back in familiar territory as the overwhelming chip leader.

The first elimination of the final table was"finnen321," who was all-in for his last 12,134 from the big blind. Linde limped in from early position, "pirata200436" raised to 36,000 and "Martini_7777" and Linde called. After the draw, "Martini_7777" bet 60,000, Linde folded, and "pirata200436" raised all-in for 315,134, which prompted a fold from "Martini_7777." "Finnen321" showed trip fives, but "pirata200436" had made a full house with sixes full of aces to send the Swede to the rail in sixth place.

The Argentinean's new found fortune didn't last long. After losing a few key pots and dwindling back down to around 100,000, "pirata200436" three-bet all-in over the top of a Linde raise and was at risk after Linde called for a total of 100,191. Linde discarded two and "pirata200436" discarded three, and the trip fours of Linde finished best as "pirata200436" made his exit in fifth.

Former chip leader "navroza" was next on the chopping block as "Martini_7777" did the dirty work with two pair. That set the table for a long three-handed battle, which ended in Linde's demise. Once the chip leader with three players remaining, Linde struggled to find a winning hand and was all-in for 130,000. "Martini_7777" had Linde at risk and stood pat. Linde drew one and tabled two pair, but it wasn't good enough since his nemesis was dealt 99777 for sevens full of nines. Linde's incredible run netted him $10,578 but was surely disappointing after steamrolling the event most of the way.

"Martini_7777" began heads-up play with a 2-1 chip advantage, but the momentum would shift over the course of a lengthy match. "Ranayr" won the biggest pot of the match — more than 1 million chips—without even getting to a showdown and never looked back from there. The Russian made two pair on the final hand of the tournament, besting Martini_777's pair of aces, to claim victory and the $19,608 prize.

PlacePlayerPrize
1ranayr$19,608
2Martini_7777$14,448
3Dylan "ImaLucSac" Linde$10,578
4navroza$7,224
5pirata200436$5,160
6finnen321$3,320.40

Notable Finishes: fly44 (31st - $774), Jonathan Duhamel (38th - $567), Alex "AWice" Wice (47th - $516)

PokerStars WCOOP 8 - $200 Triple Stud ($50K Guaranteed)

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool
$200+$15534$106,800

For the second straight day, a 2011 November Niner made a deep run in a WCOOP event. On Day 2, it was Martin "filfedra" Staszko.Pius "MastaP89" Heinz did so on Day 3. His run, though, came up a tad short of the final table of Event 8, the $200 Triple Stud. Short-stacked, Heinz committed his chips with a flush draw in stud and was up against two pair, but was unable to find a fifth heart and bowed out in 16th place.

Entering the final table in fourth place, Joel Adam “2FLY2TILT” Gordon was looking to capture his second WCOOP bracelet. His first came in 2009, winning a no-limit single draw 2-7 tournament. Here is how the chip stacks looked at the start of the final table:

SeatPlayerChips
1Joel Adam “2FLY2TILT” Gordon390,928
2robot_werter190,822
3Chris "d0r1t0s" McClung154,834
4__akun333___561,713
5raare0163,398
6crazy169442,129
7PPPPPositive198,626
8mddgfc667,550

Short-stacked “raare01” busted on the 12th hand of the final table. It was during razz when action folded around to “__akun333___”. With only a Jx bring-in and “raare01's” 7x left on board showing, “__akun333___” raised with Qx3x/5x. Having decided to make a stand with AxJx/7x, “raare01” re-raised all-in. Of course, “__akun333___” called the short stack's all-in, and when seventh street fell, “__akun333___” made a 9x5x4x3xAx. It was a nice start for “raare01” after hitting a 6x on fourth street, but it got ugly from there. A second 7x followed by a third 7x on fifth and sixth streets left “raare01” drawing dead, resulting in an eighth-place finish.

“PPPPPositive” was unable to get much going at the final table and also busted during Razz. The key hand came against Joel Adam “2FLY2TILT” Gordon. Their respective boards wound up reading 2xJx10x10x for “PPPPPositive,” while Gordon's was 5xQxQx3x. “ PPPPPositive” completed on third street, bet on fourth and fifth, before checking on sixth. Gordon called all the way down to sixth before betting himself. “PPPPPositive” called on sixth and seventh, but mucked when Gordon revealed an 8x7x5x4x3x to win the pot. Four hands later, Gordon finished the job and eliminated “PPPPPositive” in seventh place.

The next to be felted was “robot_werter” during stud hi/lo. All-in on fifth street, “robot_werter” tabled 3A/J94 and was facing “__akun333___'s” 5Q/569. The K sixth and 2 seventh-street cards failed to improve “robot_werter's” hand to anything better than ace-high with no low, giving the pot to “__akun333___.” The next to go was “crazy169,” also in stud hi/lo, after losing a key pot to Joel Adam Gordon just before busting. Their final boards read as follows:

“crazy169:” XxXx/K1054/Xx
Gordon: XxXx/710A8/Xx

Gordon completed third street, only to be raised by “crazy169.” Gordon called and did the same on fourth street. Fifth street was checked by both players. Having taken the on-board lead the previous card, Gordon bet both sixth and seventh street. “Crazy169” called both, but mucked when Gordon tabled 963 for a ten-high straight and an 87 low to scoop the pot. A few hands later, "crazy169" hit the rail.

Chris “d0r1t0s” McClung was the short stack when four-handed play began and while he did chip up a little, he succumbed to the fourth-place finish during stud. All-in on third street with 75/5, McClung led “__akun333___'s” 78/K. However, McClung did not improve further, while “__akun333___” caught the K on sixth street. Even with the elimination, “__akun333___” held the shortest stack of the remaining three. A few hands later, “__akun333___” picked up 10Q/Q. Joel Adam Gordon, meanwhile, held K7/K. The chips went into the middle on fourth street and “__akun333___” was unable to muster more than just the pair of queens, exiting in third place.

The stacks at the start of heads-up play were:

Gordon: 2,186,147
“mddgfc:” 483,953

It was far from easy for Gordon to close out the match. The two played 212 more hands before Gordon sealed the deal during stud hi/lo.

Gordon: 910/9879
“mddgfc:” 52/3xKK8

After a “mddgfc” bring-in and a Gordon completion, “mddgfc” raised. Gordon called and when he was faced with a bet on fourth street, he raised. “Mddgfc” called and made a pair of open kings on fifth street. A bet didn't chase out Gordon just yet and when sixth street was dealt, “mddgfc” had little choice but to call all-in after Gordon put in a raise. The cards were revealed and it was trip nines for Gordon, leading “mddgfc's” pair of kings. Seventh street gave Gordon the 7 for a full house , meaning “mddgfc” was in need of a low card to make an 8 low. The Q didn't do the trick, ending the tournament and securing WCOOP bracelet #2 for Joel Adam “2FLY2TILT” Gordon.

PlacePlayerPrize
1Joel Adam “2FLY2TILT” Gordon$20,185.20
2mddgfc$14,791.80
3__akun333___$10,893.60
4Chris "d0r1t0s" McClung$8,010
5crazy169$5,340
6robot_werter$3,738
7PPPPPositive$2,670
8raare01$1,869

Notable Finishes: Doug "imcastleman" Dicken (12th - $1,441.80), Peter "Iteopepe88" Gelencser (15th - $1,068), Pius "MastaP89" Heinz (16th - $1,068), Charles "QcKimo" Gagnon (20th - $881.10)

PokerStars WCOOP 9 - $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Two-Day ($600K Guaranteed)

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool
$1,000+$501,237$1,237,000

The third two-day event of the 2011 WCOOP brought more than 1,200 players to the virtual felt, creating a massive prize pool of $1,237,000. After nearly 11 hours of play, only 65 players were left contending for the $216,000 first-place price when Day 1 came to a close.

Former PokerStars Sunday 500 runner-up "99NvrLosez" will take the chip lead into Day 2. The New Jersey native, now living in Malta, finished Day 1 with 415,967 chips, while notables António "Sopraver" Santos, Dean "dean23price" Price, Michiel "utreg" Brummelhuis, Caio "caio_pimenta" Pimenta and Andrei "extasyman" One also sit comfortably among the top 10 stacks.

Team PokerStars Pro Patt Pezzin is still in the mix, finishing the day with a below-average stack of 84,071. Other Team Pros reaching the money but failing to survive Day 1 were Lex Veldhuis, Jorge "twin-caracas" Arias and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier. A short-stacked Velduis nearly tripled his stack to 60,000 late with pocket kings late in the day but was sent home just before the end of the final level in 68th place.

Play will resume at 1700 EDT (2200 BST) on Wednesday and will wrap up as soon as a winner is crowned. Here is a look at the top stacks heading into Day 2:

PlacePlayerChips
199NvrLosez415,967
2anetas1372,580
3António "Sopraver" Santos332,344
4Shafeman332,150
5Dean "dean23price" Price324,607
6Michiel "utreg" Brummelhuis308,948
7Haibo "faith8" Chu275,749
8Caio "caio_pimenta" Pimenta273,199
9Andrei "extasyman" One273,035
10zyxel88260,351

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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