One of the most common questions I get in my inbox is, "Are there any known pros at the WCOOP final table?" That question is invariably followed by, "Can you tell me who they are?"

My answers never vary.

Yes. And probably not.

Simply put, PokerStars has a strict privacy policy that provides players anonymity unless and until they provide permission to disclose their identity. Sometimes the players don't mind. Sometimes they do. I can say this: You'd be amazed at who is playing in this year's WCOOP.

And I can also say this: The winner of WCOOP #12 is somebody you'd probably recognize if you follow poker and watch televised poker events.

Mr. Shhhhhhh (that's seven h's, in case you lose count like I do) has been around PokerStars for a while and many people would recognize his Steve Buscemi avatar and great successes. What you may not know is what other kinds of success he has enjoyed. With his permission, I can tell you that he has won a major televised poker title and has also scored some major cashes in many other high-profile events. He's been playing on PokerStars for more than three years and is a regular in the upper-limit Omaha games. His screen name and avatar go together, taken from the movie "Things to do in Denver When You're Dead." Steve Buscemi's character, Mr. Shhh, was known as the "most lethal hitman this side of the Mississippi."

As for PokerStars' Mr. Shhhhhhh, he spent most of Tuesday knocking off people on both sides of Mississippi and across the wide seas. Here's what the final table looked like when the final eight sat down (simultaneous eliminations on the bubble resulted in an eight-handed final table).

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Seat 1: OlliPolli (150780 in chips)
Seat 2: katyrix (176544 in chips)
Seat 3: hasumutas (725122 in chips)
Seat 4: 011180 (613849 in chips)
Seat 5: mrrain (458084 in chips)
Seat 6: Nati Thunder (651811 in chips)
Seat 7: Mr. Shhhhhhh (306883 in chips)
Seat 9: kdhspyder (174427 in chips)

In the early stages of final table play, katyrix suffered the loss of more than 100,000 chips and with around 76,000 with which to play, ended up in the big blind for almost half of his chips. Facing a raise from hasumuts, katyrix got all the chips in the middle pre-flop holding Jd-4s-Ts-2c. It would not be good against hasumutas' 4d-Qs-Ah-Ac. Katryix finished in eighth place, earning $8,599.80.

Ten minutes later, Mr. Shhhhhhh scored his first victim at the final table. With OlliPolli already in for a raise with a short-stack, Mr. Shhhhhhh went over the top with As-7c-Ah-4s. Already well-committed to the pot, OlliPolli called for just 5,780 more with 7h-5s-Kh-2s. By the river, both players had made spade flushes, but Mr. Shhhhhhh's ace-high flush was best. OlliPolli was out in seventh place for $11,531.55.

The next elimination came by way of mrrain being all in pre-flop with 8h-7d-Ad-2h against Nati Thunder's 5d-Qc-As-2c. Both players paired their ace, but Nati Thunder paired his queen, as well. With no available low, mrrrain was out in sixth place, earning him $15,088.74.

There have been a few deals struck so far in the 2006 WCOOP, but none that came through with five players remaining. Event #12 changed that. With five players left, Mr. Shhhhhh held the lead, but most of the stacks were within a couple blinds of each other. With that in mind, the players chopped the pot based on chip-count and played for $10,000 and the Event #12 bracelet.

With the deal made, Mr. Shhhhhhh pulled out his deadly Omaha skills and went to work. He started by terminating Nati Thunder. Mr. Shhhhhh flopped a pair of sixes, a gutshot draw, and a low draw then called Nati Thunder's all-in. Nati Thunder was significantly ahead with a pair of aces and a better low draw. Nati Thunder's high-hand got better on the turn when he made two pair, but his low draw was counterfeited at the same time. The river spelled doom, however, as Mr. Shhhhhhh's pair of sixes turned into trips and eliminated Nati Thunder in fifth place. The deal got him $33,644.00. Even Mr. Shhhhhhh recognized in the chat bar, the beat was "sick."

With the taste of the kill still fresh, Mr. Shhhhhhh went in for the kill again. After calling a raise in the big blind with 3s-9h-6d-2d, Mr. Shhhhhhh's flopped well against hasumutas' Ah-Ks-Qh-Ac. The flop, 9s-4d-3d, got the players all in. Mr. Shhhhhhh made nines full of threes on the turn, didn't see an ace on the river, and crippled hasumutas. O11180 cleaned up the mess a few minutes later and eliminated hasumutas in fourth place. The man from Russia won $36,833.00.

011180 may have been the cleaner, but he soon found himself getting cleaned. After coming in for a raise with Jd-Ah-Ks-9s and getting called by kdhspyder and seeing a flop of 5c-Jh-2h. When kdhspyder bet out, 011180 pushed in the rest of his chips. He looked like he might be ahead, but Khdspyder held 4c-3h-Kd-6h for a monster draw--open-ended straight draw, a flush draw, and a low draw. Kdhspyder missed on the turn, but hit his flush on the river to eliminate 011180 in third place for $35,351.00.

That left kdhspyder and the silent killer, Mr. Shhhhhhh, heads-up for the title. The battled back and forth for eight minutes before Mr. Shhhhhh put a serious hurting on kdhspyder, earning 1.8 million chips in a hand he didn't even have to show down. Two minutes later, it was all over. Mr. Shhhhhhh got khdspyder all in on a flop of 2s-7s-8d. Mr. Shhhhhhh held 4d-6h-5d-Ad for the made second-but low and an open-ended straight draw. Kdhspyder held Ks-7c-Ac-Qs for a pair of sevens and a worse low draw. The turn blanked for both of them, but the river brought a six to full-in Mr. Shhhhhhh's straight and knock kdhspyder out in second place for $36,903.00.

Mr. Shhhhhhh, though already a poker success, was gracious in his win. He said, "I can't be any happier with PokerStars and what it has meant to me for these past few years. Before I started playing live, I had no clue about no-limit hold'em.. I only dabbled in limit poker and decided that, in order to try and win the big bucks, I needed to learn no-limit. And what a place to hone those skills."

Though he tightened his hold'em game on PokerStars, he's also done very well in the Omaha arena. "I owe all my Omaha expertise to the great players in the 75-150 ring game that PokerStars always has and where I've spent countless hours in the last couple years."

After a tough 13 hours of play, Mr. Shhhhhhh was a champion again. "I'd never ever played Pot-Limit Omaha/8 before yesterday, but I really, really enjoyed the game in so much as it's a great way to punish people who have substandard hands and/or drawing to half the pot with no redraws, etc. There were many times when I three-quartered people for all my stack in the pot, and many times when I avoided just that proposition.... As far as Omaha strategy, I owe it all to my practice on PokerStars."

Indeed, Mr. Shhhhhhh is a man that has proven more than once, he plays to win. And as for his identity...well, I'm not about to mess with the namesake of the "most lethal hitman this side of the Mississippi." That's just as well left in silence. Sssshhhhhhh.

A full list of money winners can be found on the WCOOP Event #12 results page. Final table results are below.

PokerStars WCOOP Event #12 Final table results
Results based on five-way deal that left $10,000 for first place
Simultaneous eliminations on the bubble resulted in eight-handed final table

1. Mr. Shhhhhhh (United States) $56,080.00
2. kdhspyder (United States) $36,903.00
3. 11180 (United States) $35,351.00
4. hasumutas (Russian Federation) $36,833.00
5. Nati Thunder (United States) $33,644.00
6. mrrain (United States) $15,088.74
7. OlliPolli (Finland) $11,531.55
8. katyrix (United States) $8,599.80