2007 WCOOP: Event #22 Final Table Report

Limit poker is a dysfunctional marriage of a game theorist and a math wonk. They live in a house that looks like any other house in the poker neighborhood and, on the outside, they seem like a happy couple. Inside, though, the debates rage harder than any daytime soap opera. The math half of the marriage insists there is a correct decision for every card on every street. The game theorist insists there are nuances that can override the math. It is an in-house debate that rages through every game of limit hold'em. In this marriage, there are progeny and it's those people who are limit hold'em winners.

Event #22 of the World Championship of Online Poker drew more than 600 players at $1,050 apiece, all of whom hope to be the perfect child in the imperfect marriage. Nine of those players got closer than the rest.



Seat 1: drbk2 (619733 in chips)
Seat 2: DEVIRUS (1129819 in chips)
Seat 3: emptyseat88 (441326 in chips)
Seat 4: plattsburgh (936478 in chips)
Seat 5: Hansa.no (224548 in chips)
Seat 6: jumper17 (684116 in chips)
Seat 7: BUTCH ACIDY (366173 in chips)
Seat 8: Sowerss (1525467 in chips)
Seat 9: der Falk (232340 in chips)

Der Falk, despite having the chip lead for a good while before the final table, was the first to go. He picked up AK versus BUTCH ACIDY's KK. Der Falk played the hand as hard as he could, but never caught up. He finished in ninth place for $8,008.

Hansa.no was the next to go. Having lost most of his stack to DEVIRUS in a hand that he didn't show down, Hansa.no played A7 for the rest of his chips against emptyseat88's KQ. A queen on the turn ended Hansa.no's day in eighth place. He was awarded $13,552 for his efforts.

BUTCH ACIDY fell on hard times a few hands later and, with only 100,000 chips left, ended up getting QT in against emptyseat88's K6 pre-flop. No queen or ten appeared and BUTCH ACIDY finished in seventh place, a $20,328 payday.

With six players remaining, the chip stacks sized up as follows:

Seat 1: drbk2 (424733 in chips)
Seat 2: DEVIRUS (1234819 in chips)
Seat 3: emptyseat88 (691887 in chips)
Seat 4: plattsburgh (868978 in chips)
Seat 6: jumper17 (1141616 in chips)
Seat 8: Sowerss (1797967 in chips)

There were more cruel rivers in this event than just about any other. The cruelest we'd seen in a while put DEVIRUS out. He flopped a set of deuces against plattsburgh's pair of sixes on a Qd2dJh flop. They capped the betting and got DEVIRUS all-in. The river? Indeed, a six. DEVIRUS finished in in sixth place for a $27.720 cash.

After a short break, emptyseat88 sat on the shortest stack and was ready to pick up some chips. He came in for a raise with Kc7c and called a re-raise from Sowerss. The flop came own 9sKsJh. With top pair, emptyseat88 was in decent shape. Problem was, Sowerss held A7 and an ace came on the turn. No king on the river and emptyseat88 finished in fifth place for $35,112.

Four-handed play lasted for a long while before drbk2 succumbed to the pressure of the bigger stacks and mounting blinds. His last gasp was getting TJ all-in on a 3sQs6h flop. He was up against Sowerss' 78. A seven on the river ended drbk2's morning, out in fourth place and earning $43,120.

Plattsburgh was the neext to find the door. After jumper17 flopped a set against him and took him for half a million chips, plattsburgh only had enough chips to play one more big hand. He decided to go with QsJs. He got it all in pre-flop against jumper17's 77. Plattburgh never improved and was out in third place for $56,056.

Going into heads up play, the remaining two foes had the following stacks:

Seat 6: jumper17 (3334103 in chips)
Seat 8: Sowerss (2825897 in chips)

With a $60,000 difference between first and second, the players thought it better to cut a deal with the following terms.

$108,967.05 -- jumper17
$102,184.95 -- Sowerss

They left $18,000 and the WCOOP bracelet on the table. That's where things got interesting.

After an impressive and hard-fought early battle, jumper17 (at the urging of his opponent) revealed what many people already knew. He is Markus Golser, a tough Austrian pro, known around the world as a fierce competitor.

While Golser had Sowerss on the ropes a couple of times, after a full hour of heads-up play, the stacks were still close to even. Neither player backed down, and for good reason.

Sowerss: i want the full bracelet
Sowerss: i'd almost give u 5k for it
jumper17: me too

After an hour and half, Sowerss had made an amazing comeback and taken a big lead, only to see Golser rebound and recapture his position on top. Then it was even again. Regardless of who came out on top, it was going to be a battle that neither player forgot.

It took a full hour and forty minutes for the heads-up battle to end. Over the course of several hands, Sowerss moved ahead. So many times before, the chip lead had melted back to even. This time, Sowerss held the lead. The final hand saw Golser flopping middle pair, but Sowerss turned a straight and sent Golser out in second place.

Congratualtions to all the players who cashed in Event #22 of the 2007 World Championship of Online Poker.

2007 WCOOP: Event #22 Final Table Results
Based on finishing order and two-way deal that left $18,000 for first place

1. Sowerss (United States) $120,184.95
2. jumper17 (Austria) $108,967.05
3. plattsburgh (United States) $56,056.00
4. drbk2 (United States) $43,120.00
5. emptyseat88 (United States $35,112.00
6. DEVIRUS (Canada) $27,720.00
7. BUTCH ACIDY (United States) $20,328.00
8. Hansa.no (Cyprus) $13,552.00
9. der Falk (Sweden) $8,008.00