One of the biggest Sundays of the year kicked off last night as the six Main Events from the 2020 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) at PokerStars finally began after weeks of anticipation. Hundreds of thousands of players flocked to the Red Spade to participate in one of the many events that were on tap over the weekend.
A grand total of fifteen new events began on Sunday, and several winners from earlier events were crowned as well with Dinesh "NastyMinder" Alt reigning supreme in WCOOP-66-H: $530 NLHE [Freezeout, Afternoon Deep Stack] for $48,197.
Let's take a look at everything that transpired on Day 22 of the WCOOP 2020.
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Rezaei and Kovalski in the Top 10 After Day 1 of WCOOP-72-H: $5,200 Main Event
Daniel Rezaei
The first day of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) 2020 pinnacle event is in the books as 579 players out of 1,697 entries bagged up their virtual chips at the end of Day 1 of the WCOOP-72-H: $5,200 NLHE [8-Max, Main Event].
At least ten further players opted to enter or re-enter after the end of level 15 and all others may do so until five minutes prior to the start of Day 2 in order to take a shot at the guaranteed prize pool of $10,000,000.
All those that wish to enter at the last minute will receive 250,000 in chips at returning blinds of 6,000/12,000 with a running ante of 1,500 when the action resumes the following day at 1.10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST).
WCOOP-72-H: $5,200 NLHE Main Event Top 10 Chip Counts After Day 1
Position
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Leonardo “LeoMattosAK” Mattos
Brazil
2,479,726
207
2
VladTheSlaye
Ukraine
2,459,777
205
3
atlantaca661
Argentina
2,456,490
205
4
Daniel "Razer2311" Rezaei
Austria
2,405,203
200
5
Shipmopff
Netherlands
2,329,693
194
6
Sintoras
Germany
2,248,070
187
7
nic81411
Germany
2,227,306
186
8
Fabiano "Kovalski1" Kovalski
Brazil
2,199,653
183
9
luk9r
Austria
2,128,905
177
10
Andrey "drupa-lucker" Chernokoz
Russia
2,125,515
177
At the top of the overnight leaderboard, a quartet of players is within seven blinds including Brazil's Leonardo “LeoMattosAK” Mattos (2,479,726), "VladTheSlaye" (2,456,490), "atlantaca661" (2,456,490) and Daniel "Razer2311" Rezaei (2,405,203). Mattos is no stranger to success at the online tables and recently won his first WSOP Online bracelet.
Also featured in the top 10 are "Sintoras" (2,248,070 ), Fabiano "Kovalski1" Kovalski (2,199,653) and Andrey "drupa-lucker" Chernokoz (2,125,515) whereas Vyacheslav "VbV1990" Buldygin (2,073,193) and Laszlo "omaha4rollz" Bujtas (1,962,351) follow right behind. Kovalski comes fresh off his third WCOOP title in as many years in WCOOP-59-H: $5,200 NLHE [8-Max, Midweek Freeze].
Over 2,000 Players Left in PokerStars WCOOP-72-M: $530 NLHE [8-Max, Main Event]
Day 1 of the PokerStars WCOOP-72-M: $530 NLHE [8-Max, Main Event] has come to an end after 16 levels of 25 minutes had been played. During those first 16 levels, 6,500 entries were collected to create a prize pool of $3,250,000 which easily surpasses the initial $2,000,000 guarantee that was set.
Brazil's Guilherme "Guizãoo_" Carmo claimed the chip lead with 1,786,242 and won a bunch of those chips when he took out Alen "lilachaa" Bilic with a full house. Carmo is followed in the counts by Eelis "EEE27" Pärssinen who jumped toward the top when he eliminated "OMGitsMacsim" when he turned the straight against the top pair and flush draw of the latter.
Completing the top five are "Sektor17" (1,319,456), "Netstorm" (1,268,460), and Adam "ISmellToast" Crawford with 1,247,007. But with over 2,000 players returning for Day 2 and the late registration still open, many more familiar names and faces are still in the race.
PokerStars WCOOP-72-M: $530 NLHE Main Event Top 10 Chip Counts After Day 1
The top chip count belongs to "hotmark777," though the'll be looking for a deep run to make up for the maximum allowance of three bullets fired. They finished with 1,689,323, just a hair above the 1,689,203 "bagged" by "Us_Alex.""Kukenmuser" (1,491,159), Mike "SirWatts" Watson (1,440,771) and "ZhipOHoy" (1,356,471).
Watson, of course, is the most notable and well-known of those names. One of the best players in the history of online poker tournaments, Watson is a two-time WCOOP winner, with one of those coming in a High event, as this one is. With $12 million in live cashes, he's one of the names to watch going forward.
Nine winners were crowned on Sunday night including Dinesh "NastyMinder" Alt, who topped WCOOP-66-H: $5,200 NLHE [Freezeout, Afternoon Deep Stack] for $48,197. Another big win was there for UK's Fold Machiii, who spun it up in WCOOP-68-H: $1,050 NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO] to win $122,065.
The Netherlands crowned another victor as well and it was a former WCOOP champion in MITS 304, who picked up $108,816 in WCOOP-74-H: $1,050 NLHE [8-Max, Turbo, Progressive KO, Freezeout, Sunday Cooldown SE].
WCOOP-66-L: $5.50 NLHE [Freezeout, Afternoon Deep Stack]
Entries
11,375
Prize Pool
$55,738
Winner
Super7Sunday (Russia)
First-place Prize
$5,885
WCOOP-66-M: $530 NLHE [Freezeout, Afternoon Deep Stack]
Entries
4,295
Prize Pool
$214,750
Winner
diego_1901 (Peru)
First-place Prize
$26,947
WCOOP-66-H: $5,200 NLHE [Freezeout, Afternoon Deep Stack]
All Main Events will continue on Monday, September 21, as well as some of the two-day Sunday events crowning their champion at the end of the night. In addition, the final three events of the WCOOP 2020 will kick off, and the long-awaited Phase 2 of every 01 event will also begin.
