PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker Event #4 was the stuff of history. The heads-up contest boasted an astounding 2,048 players, making it the biggest heads-up poker competition in the history of poker. That would've been enough to open up this history ledger and make a mark. Then I realized, just the first four events of 2006 had exceeded the prize pool for the whole of the 2003 WCOOP. Again, history in the making.

Then a guy named spawng had to go and make it a night that no one could forget.

With four players remaining in the competition, spawng was still alive and shooting for a milestone. He was the only one left in the contest who had already won a WCOOP bracelet (spawng won the 2005 Event #13 PLO competition). If spawng were able to take down his final two matches, he would be the first person to ever win two PokerStars WCOOP bracelets.

He won his semi-final match without breaking a sweat. In a match against Beatiful Man, spawng came in for a raise with A2, flopped A6A, played it fast, and got Beatiful Man to commit to the pot with T6. With that much out of the way, spawng had just one more opponent to face, a fellow Canadian named k-knuts.

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Before the match began in earnest, there was some business to take care of. With a $33,000 difference between first and second place, the two players decided to not take a coinflip for that much money. They agreed to split the cash down the middle, play for $10,000 and the WCOOP bracelet.

Spawng was ready for the bracelet. In the opening minutes of play, he opened up a 2-1 chip lead and didn't seem like he was going to give up. Then came the hand that very well could've ended the match.

Spawng came in for a raise with a pair of tens and k-knuts called. The flop came down 8hJs4h. K-knuts bet out and spawng smooth called. The turn was the ten of spades, giving spawng his set, but also putting possible a possible straight and a flush draw on the board. K-knuts bet out again and spawng simply called. The river cooled the hand off. The nine of spades made the board too scary to get silly. K-knuts bet out again and, again, spawng just called. K-knuts showed...pocket aces to spawng's set.

With a sizable lead, spawng was ready to race for the bracelet and played AK vs 88 for all of k-knuts chips. The eights held up and the match was back to even.

Spawng's luck turned in a subsequent hand in a classic suck-resuck-resuck hand. Spawng came in for a raise with 7-5 and k-knuts called with A-6. The flop, 995, put spawn ahead. Spawng bet out, k-knuts raised, and spawng called. The turn was a six, putting k-knuts back in the lead. K-knuts bet and spawng just called. The river brought another suck...a five on the river gave spawng the full house and the win.

With a 3-1 chip lead, spawng finally put k-knuts to bed. K-knuts came in for a raise with 9T. Spawng re-raised with pocket kings and k-knuts called. The flop came nine-high and spawng pushed. K-knuts called with his top pair and didn't improve. He finished in second place, after the deal earning $48,248.00.

That left spawng as the last man standing out of 2,048. For the first time in WCOOP history, a player had a WCOOP bracelet for each wrist. For his win he took home $58,248.00.

Full results on the 2006 Event #4 can be found on the WCOOP Event #4 results page. Below are the final eight players.

PokerStars WCOOP Event #4 Final Eight
Results based on two-way deal that left $10,000 for first place

1. spawng (Canada) $58,248.00
2. k-knuts (Canada) $48,248.00
3. YdotheyPLAY (United States) $22,528.00
4. Beatiful Man (United States) $22,528.00
5. Sirens (Australia) $11,264.00
6. Purr Of Aces (United Kingdom) $11,264.00
7. Bettishldum (United States) $11,264.00
8. Piquette (Canada) $11,264.00