Shane “shane147” Hellyer started off the month of September right. In addition to claiming the first WCOOP title of 2008 with his victory in Event #1, he became the first British player to claim WCOOP gold when he took out Austria’s pffwhatever heads-up in Event #1 – NLHE Six-Max. We caught up with Shane after he had a couple of days to soak in the enormity of his feat, and got his opinion on being a WCOOP champion and the first British player to claim that honor.
Hellyer bought into the tournament on a lark because he saved money on a car purchase that day, an investment that certainly paid off in spades! According to Shane, “four hours before the tournament start time I brought a cheap car for £200. Because of the cheap price I thought I would treat myself [with a WCOOP buy in].” 17 hours later he got an even better treat when he claimed first place!
A 27-year-old blade technician, Hellyer has been playing poker for about 3 years now. He concentrates on No Limit Hold’em because it’s the biggest game, a fact certainly proven out by the 7,000-person field he bested to win the event.
When he’s not crushing 17-hour online tournaments, he enjoys cycling and snooker, which is where the “147” in his screen name comes from.147 is the highest snooker break possible, also called a “maximum.” Hellyer played snooker semi-professionally in his “miss-spent youth.” He got into poker when he watched snooker legend Steve Davis playing in a tournament and decided to take a shot himself.
This is by far the biggest tournament win of Hellyer’s career, the biggest score previous to the being a $5,000 prize online. Living on the Isle of Wight, there aren’t a ton of opportunities for live play, but Hellyer admits to the occasional wager among friends. After all, “what snooker player hasn’t?”
His final table strategy as simple – punish the small stacks. As he tells it “being the chip leader, I was able to bully most players into folding the blinds. I could feel people thinking about the money, so I played very aggressively which paid off.” And pay off it did, to the tune of $202,409! With this win, Hellyer might think about upgrading that cheap car he just bought!
Congrats to Shane “shane147” Hellyer for a great performance in WCOOP Event #1 and on becoming Britain’s first WCOOP champion!
There are several ways to watch the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker. You can watch the events play out on the PokerStars software. You can follow the action live here on the PokerStars Blog. Or, if you just want the highlights, you now have a whole new option.
PokerStars.tv is putting together highlight shows of some of the top action in WCOOP. To wit, we now have the highlight show from Event #1, $215 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Max.
Sure, it was a Friday afternoon. People might have taken off work. Heck, some people might have taken vacation days. After all, it was the first event of the 2008 World Championship of Online Poker. It’s like baseball’s opening day, the first day of summer vacation, and your first cold beer all wrapped into one. All of that said, it’s no less than darned impressive to see 7,211 people from 86 different countries sign up for a weekday event at 14:30ET.
With $1,443,400 sitting in the prize pool, those thousands of players sat down for battle in the $215 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed event. Six of those players weathered cold decks, bad beats, and more than 14 hours of play to reach the final table. If you’d like a look at how those fourteen hours looked, check out the WCOOP Event #1 Live Blog.
The final six players were staring at a $212,179 first prize and six rather deep stacks. With the blinds at 15,000/30,000/3,000, the final six players sat with the following stacks.
Seat 1: - DoV - (3455180 in chips)
Seat 2: CURDOG1KCK (1258356 in chips)
Seat 3: scarface_79 (3016834 in chips)
Seat 4: SilverSocks (4867367 in chips)
Seat 5: pffwhatever (2199042 in chips)
Seat 6: shane147 (6854221 in chips)
Click image for larger version
Though talk of a deal broke out at the start of the final table, it was scuttled almost immediately. There began the deep-stacked marathon final table.
It took a full hour from the start of final table play to see the first exit. Shane147 came in for a raise to 200,000. Scarface_79 re-raised to 900,000 and Shane147 put him all-in for 2,491,608 more. Wanna guess the hands?
shane147: Kh-Qd
scarface_79: Qs-Qc
Would you rather watch it play out or read about it? How about seeing it as everyone else did?
In a beat scarface_79 will likely remember for some time, the turned straight beat his pair of queens and put him out in sixth place for $23,686.
Half an hour later, the Cinderella ROI story of the day emerged. Twenty-six year-old CURDOG1KCK (the KCK short for Kansas City, Kansas) won his $215 seat for $8.80 in a PokerStars satellite. After 16 hours of play, CURDOG1KCK finally got his short-stack in the middle with As-7s against SilverSocks Kc-9s. It a roller-coaster, stomach-churning board, CURDOG1KCK fell behind, jumped ahead, and then fell disgusted in fifth place on a Qs-9h-5d-Ad-Kd board. The river aside, the return on CURDOG1KCK's $8.80 investment earned him $49,075.
With four players remaining and a protracted negotiation complete, the players ultimately agreed to a deal under the following terms.
While the players had locked up their money, there still remained $20,000 on the table and the first 2008 WCOOP bracelet for which to play.
Shane147 seemed ready to finish it off or get to bed. In a quick succession of three hands, shane147 doubled up all three of his opponents and fell into fourth place.
There was more at stake here than $20,000 and a bracelet. A country's pride hung in the balance, as well. In the history of WCOOP, a history that goes back to 2002, the British folk have made it to more than 40 WCOOP final tables. They also had never won a bracelet Shane147 was their first hope of 2008. For a moment, it seemed as though he would give it all away.
And then something, as it always does, happened. Shane147 flopped top pair against 29-year-old Parisian - DoV -'s pair of tens with an open-ended draw. You don't have to watch the video below to know - DoV- did not catch. Regardless, for fourth place and a good deal, - DoV - picked up $110,000.
That bust-out seemed to open the floodgates. Before anyone could blink, SiverSocks had gotten his A-T against shane147's A-Q. A queen on the flop and no miracles to come and SilveSocks took the broze in third place, good for $136,894.
The heads up battle could've lasted a long time. Shane147 had pfffwhatever outchipped, but not by a huge margin. It appeared, however, Shane147 was ready to gamble. And gamble he did with J-2 all-in against pfffwhatever's A-J.
Wanna guess what fell on the flop? How about you just watch.
And it was with that deuce on the flop that Britain found its place in WCOOP history. No longer the PokerStars bridesmaid, Britain can now hold its veil high and walk down an aisle all its own into the online poker history books.
To watch the whole final table play out, check out this highlight show from PokerStars.tv
Live blog coverage of WCOOP Event #1 $215 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Max is brought to you by bloggers Johnny Kampis, Martin Harris, John Hartness, David Aydt, and Brad Willis. Have a story for us? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information. Looking for Event #2 coverage? Visit the Event #2 live blog.
8:10am--The Brits have their first WCOOP champion
It took more than 40 final tables and six years of WCOOP, but Britain finally has its first WCOOP bracelet, thanks to shane147 who just finished off pfffwhatever to win Event #1 of the 2008 WCOOP.
It was an unlikely all-in battle with the victor holding, indeed, J-2. Watch the hand play out below.
A full wrap-up will be available in just a bit. In the meantime, congratulations for giving your country its first WCOOP bracelet. Here are the final table results.
2008 WCOOP Event #1 FInal Table Results Based on finishing order and four-way deal
SilverSocks spent a great amount of time as the chip-leader in this event and, if you don't mind the turn of phrase, pretty much knocked the socks off every opponent he encountered. Alas,the $136,000 he made in the four-handed deal was all he would earn tonight after getting in against socks-slayer shane147 with a decent ace versus a more than decent ace.
8:01am-New boss, same as the old boss
In deep-stacked tournaments with a lot of money on the line, it takes a lot to get the money in the middle. It finally took this hand to put one player out of the 17.5 hour event.
-Dov- , the 29-year-old from Paris, fresh off quads, found the rail in fourth place. After the deal, -DoV- earned $110,000.
7:50am--Showoff...
I mean really? You've already won more than $100,000. This is just rubbing it in.
7:40am-And back near the penthouse
After shipping 70% of his stack around the table, shane147 has recovered a good chunk of it. The raising battle went back and forth and before it was over, shane147 was all-in with 8d-8s against -DoV-'s Qs-Ad. The boar gave -DoV- way too much hope, running out Ts-8h-Ac-Td-Qc. -DoV- is still alive, regardless, and shane147 is back up over the 7 million chip mark.
7:26am- Somebody once said something...
...about penthouses and outhouses. I'm not sure they had shane147 in mind, but in this case it fits as the chip leader from just a few minutes ago has fallen back into last place with this hand.
7:20am-One all-in too many
With his big money locked up, shane147 has been pushing the table around with his big stack. Around the world, people said, "He's going to get called someday soon." Like...well, now.
Just seconds later, shane147 did it again, getting KQ in against SilverSocks. Both hands went unimproved and longtime chip leader shane147 is now in second place.
7:13am- $20,000 SNG anyone?
With the deal in place, what we have here is the equivalent a four-handed sit-and-go for a couple of big dimes. Of course, it's not very evenly matched. Here are the stacks as they stand 17 hours into Event #1:
Seat 1: - DoV - (2109047 in chips)
Seat 4: SilverSocks (6373438 in chips)
Seat 5: pffwhatever (1906042 in chips)
Seat 6: shane147 (11262473 in chips)
7:05am- And the skies opened with praises for a deal and a job well done by our final four
Can I get an hallelujah?
A huge congratulations to shane147, pffwhatever, SilverSocks, -DoV- for their fortitude this morning/evening in brokering following chip chop deal:
And the $20,000 plus the WCOOP bracelet will remain in the middle until one of the final four claims all the chips.
6:50am-- And some more chop talks break out
With the bust out of CURDOG1KCK chip chop counts were presented for the remaining four players to fight over the remainder of the prize pool (aside from the $20,000 for the winner plus the WCOOP bracelet of course).
6:37am-- The suck and resuck end in 5th place for CURDOG1KCK
$8.80 turned into a $215 ticket into Event #1 is what CURDOG1KCK started with nearly 15 hours ago, and now he was rewarded with $49,075.61 for his play in fifth place. With only 419,712 chips left and blinds at 25000/50000, antes 5000 he shoved from the small blind into SilverSocks who covered him easily starting the hand with 5,518,952 in chips.
CURDOG1KCK: As-7s
SilverSocks: Kc-9s
For the conclusion of the roller-coaster, check out the hand replayer below:
6:23am-- CURDOG1KCK playing for $200K, only spent eight bucks
CURDOG1KCK was kind enough to provide a little information about himself and the huge return on his eight dollar investment this evening. The 26 year old player currently hails from Kansas City and is here representing local poker league named the “Double Deuce Poker League”.
This apparently broke some ice as -DoV- offered that he is a 29 year old player from Paris, France and giving a shout out to those at Valjoli Castle.
6:10am-- The international language of poker
A breakdown of the top 10 countries (86 countries total) represented this evening and the surprising stat to this writer is the United States only made up a little more then a third of those playing this evening morning.
United States 2538
Germany 755
United Kingdom 512
Canada 441
Sweden 373
Netherlands 341
Norway 336
France 316
Denmark 232
Australia 159
6:06am-- shane147 hits the straight and scarface_79 is the first casualty of the final table
scarface_79 got his money in good with a huge preflop advantage turning over pocket queens (Qs-Qc) over shane147’s Kh-Qd after a pre-flop raising war broke out between the two. See how the smoke cleared after the 6,867,216 chips went into the middle:
scarface_79 will receive $23,686.20 for his sixth place efforts this evening.
5:49am-- Running in place
Not much movement here as the final six's play have slowed down.
Half way through the new blind levels 20000/40000, antes 4000 shane147 has extended his lead a bit here are the current chip stacks:
And after talks of a chop for $90,000 across the board while playing for the rest broke down, the players decided to forego the guaranteed money and play on.
5:20am-- Talks of deals starting up
With just a few hands played at the final table the last six have decided to look at the chip chop numbers. shane147 is still the big chip leader at 6,998,221 in chips and going to be looking for a large slice of that pie since the blinds are still low to relation to the stacks at 15000/30000, antes 3000.
For live discussion from your own Team PokerStars pros Tom McEnoy, Gavin Griffin, Vicky Coren, and Chris Moneymaker head over to the PokerStars.TV radio page for the entire final table pro commentary.
5:08am-WCOOP Event #1 Final Table set
With seven players remaining, SilverSocks found a silver lining, eliminating doubledave22 in seventh place. Seventh place would take home $9,021.26 and $23,686.20 would go to sixth. SilverSocks left just 300,000 chips behind after he and doubledave22 took their battle pre-flop getting up to a 5-bet and a snap call by doubledave22.
doubledave22: K-K
SilverSocks: T-T
The groan from doubledave22 could be heard around the world as the A-T-Q flop gave SilverSocks a set of tens to give him the lead and leave doubledave22 only four outs to a straight and two out for a higher set. But, the 4 on the turn and blank river meant doubledave22 would not be seeing double after the river and we’re now at the final table.
Seat 1: - DoV - (3455180 in chips)
Seat 2: CURDOG1KCK (1258356 in chips)
Seat 3: scarface_79 (3016834 in chips)
Seat 4: SilverSocks (4867367 in chips)
Seat 5: pffwhatever (2199042 in chips)
Seat 6: shane147 (6854221 in chips)
Click image for larger version
4:50pm- Bam, bam bam and we're down to seven...
Well, that was fast.
We found ourselves down to Opening UTG for 210,000 was nothing new as the variable chip leader has been involved with nearly all the pots in these final two tables. But, Blinckme tried to stand up to shane147’s wall of chips with a re-raise from the big blind for 840,000 with blinds at 15000/30000, antes 3000.
shane147 wasn’t fazed by the re-raise and shoved for 3,824,816 which was called by Blinckme who was all-in as shane147 got a 1,305,125 rebate:
shane147: Kh-Qc
Blinckme: Jc-Jd
Blinckme looked ripe for a double up as the board turned 8h-6s-9c-9d leaving shane147 with six outs on the river to turn the tide. With the casualness of a Sunday morning stroll the Kd splashed the river and sent Blinckme home in 10th place and $3,752.85 richer.
Seconds later, one-time Sunday Million winner kared69 found himself in the biggest race of the night, holding two queens agains SilverSocks big slick. Any guess how that ended? It always has to wait until the river doesn't it. Watch the sickness play out below.
Kared60 won $9,021 for his ninth place finish.
And then, just as we were finished reeling from that one, koolie222 got cooled in eighth place.
The paygrade from 3K to 9K for places 7th to 9th but I’m sure koolie222 was looking more towards the six figure final table payouts when all his chips went into the middle with big slick (Ad-Ks).
Unfortunately for koolie222, CURDOG1KCK was awaiting with pocket kings (Kd-Kh) and the board didn’t turn the advantage back for koolie222 as it ran out 9h-Ts-4d-7d-8c and koolie222 was iced in eighth place.
4:43am- Nearly a million chips for nothing
doubledave22 snagged 892,000 chips off the recently departed Wishboone with a nut straight a few hands ago, and now found himself sitting with nothing on a board of 3c-3s-6d-5s-2h facing a 220,000 chip bet from pffwhatever for a 970,000 chip pot. How do you think he played it? Watch below for the replay:
4:38am- Cooler leads to 11th place finish
Pick a time to be coolered. First hand of a tournament or just a few spots off the final table. We think we can all agree on which hurts worse. If there was any doubt, ask 11th place finisher Wishboone, who is now $3,752 richer, but probably not at all happy about it. Why? Check out the video below.
4:20am- The power of the internet
Someone has been checking up on the former Sunday Million champ kared69. As play has slowed down a little bit the players have been obviously doing some checking up on their opponents.
scarface_79: kared, u need another 200k score
doubledave22: u have 0 room to talk
doubledave22: lol
scarface_79: im broke
As reported here earlier, Canadia kared60 won the Sunday Million outright back in May for $200,000. It is our firm belief that scarface_79's financial woes will be taken care of should he make the final table tonight.
4:08am- How big is WCOOP?
As we get ready to come back from break, ESPN Classic is airing the 2002 World Series of Poker. That year, Robert Varkonyi won $2 million bucks. This year's WCOOP Main Event winner stands to make more than that by a substantial margin. In fact, there is a decent chance this year's WCOOP winner will earn more than the $2.5 million Chris Moneymaker won in 2003. That's how big WCOOP is.
4:00am--Break time
After playing for 13.5 hours, it seems like a good time to fry up some bacon for 15 minutes and take a break.
Level 25
Blinds 10000/20000, antes 2000
Average chip count: 1,968,272
Players remaining: 11
First Prize: $212,179.81
3:45am--Terminator steve147 claims another pelt, MeraTrolldeg sent home in 11th place ($3,752)
He’s letting the table know who has the most chips and can’t possibly be getting pocket aces every other hand while raising and re-raising the table at will. MeraTrolldeg decided to look up the chip leader by shoving for 1,458,987 with Kc-Ad over the top of shane147’s cutoff raise of 112,000 with blinds at 8000/16000, antes 1600. The snap call wasn’t from aces but pocket kings Kh-Ks. The board ran out dry of aces: 7h-4h-9s-7s-Kd and shane147 added to his chip lead becoming the first to five million in chips.
3:30am- Shorted stacked and nowhere to run, iaperle out in 13th place
Down to his last 306,830 in chips and blinds of 8000/16000, antes 1600 coming into his stack, iaperle shoved UTG, got - DoV - to fold but scarface_79 was sitting behind the beautiful marble desk welding a big gun and made the call. Watch the hand play out below:
3:22am- arourel out in 14th place
Players are busting faster than we can keep up. The upshot of all of this is that arourel is out in 14th place for $3,608. How did it happen? Well, that's why we have the hand re-player.
3:20am- Lightning quick exit for Turbogeir after tangling with chip leader
shane147 has been controlling his table with constant pressure of getting all those chips in the middle despite the high stack to blinds ratio. With blinds at 6000/12000, antes 1200 shane147 once again popped an opening small blind raise of Turbogeir for 864,000. Since Turbogeir had only 382,036 he was tested for all his chips and made the right call flipping over Kd-Th versus the 5c-2c for shane147. A flop of 3d-8c-Ac gave the chip leader a flush draw which would fill with a rivered Kc. Turbogeir finishes in 15th tonight taking home $3,608.51
3:16am- icatchyou can't catch, out in 16th place
icatchu was pretty low in chips with only a quarter-million left in his stack. So, when doubledave22 came in for a raise to 28,585 and SilverSocks called, it was an easy push for icatchyou with Ah-Kh. Doubledave22 isolated and pushed SilverSocks out. It was Qc-Qh for doubledave22. The flop was at least interesting: Jh-8h-Qs. No hearts and no ten on the turn and river and icatchyou caught 16th place for $3,608.
3:11am- Dirty river sends Vaughnie34 home in 17th place
Shane147 has been welding his big stack like his Doyle Brunson icon since the tourney broke down to three tables by putting the short stacks to the test for all their chips any time he has been in a pot. Enter Vaughnie34 as he called the 108,000 chip raise from shane147 on the button with blinds at 6000/12000, antes 1200. The flop came out 9c-Kc-Jd, for the nasty river you’ll have to check out the replay below:
3:07am- FloppyN fades to the rail in 18th
MeraTrolldeg is sitting on a pile of chips at 1,080,852 before the blind versus blind battle took off between him and FloppyN who had only 134,009 after paying his blinds dues. FloppyN turned over a very strong Ad-Kc while the Jd-8h of MeraTrolldeg was certainly live. The flopped pair of jacks for MeraTrolldeg on the board of Qh-8c-Jc-3c-2s was enough to send FloppyN home in 18th place.
3:03am- Who got game?
Here at the PokerStars Blog, we don't like to get all grandiose and throw about praise where it's not warranted (unless of course we're talking about ourselves). So, we don't want to say kared69 has game...but darn if it doesn't look like it. Not only did kared69 take down the Sunday Million last May for $200,558, but the Canadian is also still alive here with 17 players remaining. Just sayin'. Somebody may have game.
2:55pm- After 12 hours...
Here's what the scoreboard looks like.
Level 23
Blinds 6000/12000, antes 1200
Average chip count: 1,202,833
Players remaining: 18
First Prize: $212,179.81
Here we are at the break going into the 6000/12000/1200 round. You want a good structure? You really want a good structure? With 18 players left, the average stack has an M of better than 40. The chip leader's M is 136. We may only have three tables left, but we're not going anywhere for a long time.
2:41am- The last supper for BorkBorkBork
The happy chef has served his last meal of the evening, and Vaughnie34 is feeling pretty full as a result. BorkBorkBork got his last 63,051 into the middle preflop UTG with pocket jacks (Jd-Jc) versus Vaughnie34 making the call from the big blind with As-5h. The flopped pair of aces became trips by the river on the board of Ad-Th-8c-2h-Ah and the loveable French chef is going home tonight with $3,464.17 in 24th place.
2:35am- Out-pipped for a million
How close can a one million chip pot be? Just ask Wishboone and doubledave22. Or just watch this hand play out.
2:20am-- Sorry, I don’t believe you
SliverSocks smelt something dirty under the multiple bets and raises by pffwhatever. The chip leader is there for a reason and this river call after a 3-bet by pffwhatever is a good indicator of that:
2:10am-- PokerStars.TV bringing final table highlights
Be sure to tune in (can you do that on the internet?) to PokerStars.tv as they highlight the final table of Event #1 which is sure to run into early morning for those in the states. Bust out the Fruity Pebbles, orange juice, and bacon and enjoy the highlights with breakfast in a few hours.
1:55am-- A double-up for doubledave22
After a raise from Belousov, doubledave22 re-raised preflop. Belousov three-bet, and doubledave22 moved all in with pocket Kings.
Belousov tabled Ad-Qh, and the board ran out 2c-Jh-Js-8h-7h to move doubledave22 to near the million-chip mark. Belousov was running on fumes after that hand, with only 56,976 left.
1:50am-- End of hour eleven chip counts
Level 21
Blinds 4000/8000, antes 800
Average chip count: 601,416
Players remaining: 36
First Prize: $212,179.81
Eliminated:
Hevad "RaiNKhAN" Khan (200th place)
Vicky Coren (527th place)
Alexandre “Allingomes” Gomes (808th)
Victor Ramdin (1,020th)
Humberto “HumbertoB” Brenes (1,185th)
Isabelle "NoMercy" Mercier (1,235th)
Luca Pagano (1,928th)
Katja Thater (2,141st)
Marcin "Goral" Horecki (2,722nd)
Tom McEvoy (3,642nd)
Andre "aakkari" Akkari (4,050th)
Lee "LeeNelsonP*" (4,470th)
John Duthie (4,513rd)
Gavin Griffin (4,627th)
William "William" Thorson (4,899th)
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier (5,728th)
Dario Minieri (5,920th)
Vanessa "LadyMaverick" Rousso (6,447th)
Chad Brown (6,700th)
Alex Kravchenko (6,826th)
1:44am-- I would be on tilt too after this hand
Just moments after busting Ryan45, ericontilt tangled with chip leader SilverSocks in what became the biggest pot of the tournament so far. Check out this action as the winner took over a dominating chip lead in a classic cooler:
1:41am-- And...done
Ryan45 got the last of his chips in preflop with Js-8s and found one caller in ericontilt, who tabled Kh-7d.
The board ran out 9h-Ac-3c-7c-2h, and the online pro was busted while ericontilt moved up to 1,376,739 in chips.
1:34am-- That's gonna sting
Popular online player Ryan45 moved all in over the top of HemiPowerSTW's preflop re-raise, and the action looked like this:
1:30am-- Professor SilverSocks teaches a course in Power Poker
Over on table 48, it's easy to tell who's in control as tournament chip leader SilverSocks takes down blinds and antes with abandon. It's pretty easy to raise with impunity preflop when you have everyone on your table covered. Everyone on your table put together, that is. Currently the other 4 players at the table have stacks that add up to about 1.2 million, still far less than SilverSocks' 1.5 million.
1:28am-- Its down to a 45 man Sit and Go
We’re in level 20 with blinds at 3500/7000, antes 700 and an average stack of 480,000 players stacks are still well above the blinds to maneuver their chips without having to commit to a hand preflop. The difference between seventh and a final table place of sixth is over $14,000 we’ll see how that factors into play once the final table bubble comes along.
1:18am-- All alone with a million chips
That's how we describe SilverSocks right now. At a table packed with big stacks, SilverSocks dragged a pot worth more than all but two or three players' entire stacks!
From the button, SilverSocks opened with a raise to 99,999. He found one caller in HolyToledo12, who had limped in from early position. Both players checked the 7h-Js-Ks flop, and HolyToledo12 fired out 102,000 on the 4d turn.
SilverSocks called, and called again when HolyToledo12 bet out 204,000 on the 3c river. SilverSocks tabled Ac-Kd for top pair, top kicker, as HolyToledo12 showed As-Qc for a busted straight draw.
That pot left SilverSocks with more than 1.2 million in chips and left HolyToledo12 with a below-average stack for the first time in hours.
1:13am-- BadBeatKid_2 bows out in 52nd place
The recent Sunday Million champ made a great run tonight towards another six figure payday, but fell short of his bid of adding a WCOOP bracelet to his trophy room. Here's the reply of andersmeli's coin-flip turning into boat below:
1:08am-- 800K club gets another member
OBXRentals moved all in preflop with Ac-Jc, and got a little isolation in the form of a re-raise from Belousov. Belousov showed Ks-Kh, and the board ran out 5d-5g-9c-Qh-7h to ship a 280K+ pot to Belousov. He'll need the ammo, as mega-stacks Blinckme and Wishboone have been moved to his table number 966 on his left.
12:58am-- Belousov comes out above jalla79 for the last time
A short-stacked jalla79 put the last of his chips in the middle with Ks-10h against Belousov, and the 2007 WCOOP bracelet winner came out on the short end this time. Check out the action below...
12:56am-- Welcome to the top ten Wishboone.
The biggest pot of the tournament between Wishboone and former chip leader Bleialf just took place before the break. With a flop of 8c-Jh-Qd after a pre-flop re-raise by Bleialf the same action took place on the flop as Bleialf lead out for 45,000 chips and raised by Wishboone for 110,000 total. Bleialf then shoved for 377,470 leaving 117,264 behind after Wishboone called for his remaining 150,206 chips.
Wishboone: As-Qs
Bleialf: Js-Ks
The turn 7c and 8h gave Wishboone the biggest pot of the tournament and skyrocketed him into 7th place while Bleialf slipped under the average stack
12:43am-- Chip counts at the end of hour ten
Level 19
Blinds 3000/6000, antes 600
Average chip count: 328,045
Players remaining: 66
First Prize: $212,179.81
Eliminated:
Hevad "RaiNKhAN" Khan (200th place)
Vicky Coren (527th place)
Alexandre “Allingomes” Gomes (808th)
Victor Ramdin (1,020th)
Humberto “HumbertoB” Brenes (1,185th)
Isabelle "NoMercy" Mercier (1,235th)
Luca Pagano (1,928th)
Katja Thater (2,141st)
Marcin "Goral" Horecki (2,722nd)
Tom McEvoy (3,642nd)
Andre "aakkari" Akkari (4,050th)
Lee "LeeNelsonP*" (4,470th)
John Duthie (4,513rd)
Gavin Griffin (4,627th)
William "William" Thorson (4,899th)
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier (5,728th)
Dario Minieri (5,920th)
Vanessa "LadyMaverick" Rousso (6,447th)
Chad Brown (6,700th)
Alex Kravchenko (6,826th)
12:35pm-- jalla79 holding stead, but Belousov on the rise
2007 WCOOP Pot Limit Omaha 6-max champ jalla79 has been holding steady in the middle of the pack lately, but tablemate Belousov has been on the rise, moving into the top 20 by chipping up and picking up the pots no one else seems interested in.
12:24am--Every little bit counts.
Chip leader shane147 has slowly increased his lead on the field and now finds himself alone above the 800K mark. There haven't been many big pots dragged by the big stack, but it seems like every third hand a small pile of chips is being pushed his way.
He just keeps chipping up through the field, picking up orphaned blinds and antes and giving them a nice warm home - his stack.
12:14am-- Nope, not stealing
On_poker’s open button raise to 15,000 chips with blinds at 2500/5000, ante 500 in level 18 got no respect from kesty78 in the big blind who shoved for 238,119 chips.
See who came out the victor below:
12:07am--shane147 rides a boat into the chip lead.
After finding a caller for his preflop raise, shane147 fired a bet of 12,000 into a a 40K+ pot on a flop of Jh-Jc-7d.
fivestars555 made the call to see the Qs land on the turn.
Both players checked the turn, and shane147 bet out 68,000 when the 9h came on the river. fivestars555 made the call, only to see shane147 table Qc-Jd for the turned full house.
That hand moved shane147 over the 700K mark and into the chip lead as SilverSocks, Ryan45 and HolyToledo12 all still wrangled at the same table.
12:02am-- Twelve o'clock and all is well for 91 players
We are down to under 100 in Event #1 here with 91 players left from the 7217 started runner still vying for the $212,179 first place prize. With blinds at 2000/4000, ante 400 players still have plenty of play as the average chip count is sitting on nearly 50 big blinds.
11:54pm-- Holy Guacamole, that's a big coinflip!
HolyToledo12 just secured a spot in 2nd place by winning a coin flip against Asprin1
After a preflop raise from HolyToledo12, Asprin1 moved all in over the top with 4s-4d.
HolyToledo12 had him well covered, and made the call with Ad-Kd. The suspense was handled right off the bat as the flop came down 3c-Ac-10c, and Asprin1 was looking for one of two remaining cards to save his tournament life. No help on the turn or river, and Asprin1 was dealt a WCOOP-ending headache by HolyToledo12.
If that's not a table of death, I'm a bridge champion!
Chip leader SilverSocks has just been moved to a table with two other huge stacks. After the elimination of Asprin1, SilverSocks has taken his seat immediately to the right of Ryan45 and HolyToledo12.
11:45pm-- Jalla79 trips into a big pot just before the break
On the last hand before the break, jalla79 picked a great time to defend his blind against Belousuv.
With blinds at 1500/3000 and a 300 ante, jalla79 defends his big blind to Belousuv's preflop raise, with spectacular results. Check out the action below...
11:37pm-- Chip counts at the end of hour nine
Level 17
Blinds 2000/4000, ante 400
Average chip count: 196,827
Players remaining: 110
First Prize: $212,179.81
Eliminated:
Hevad "RaiNKhAN" Khan (200th place)
Vicky Coren (527th place)
Alexandre “Allingomes” Gomes (808th)
Victor Ramdin (1,020th)
Humberto “HumbertoB” Brenes (1,185th)
Isabelle "NoMercy" Mercier (1,235th)
Luca Pagano (1,928th)
Katja Thater (2,141st)
Marcin "Goral" Horecki (2,722nd)
Tom McEvoy (3,642nd)
Andre "aakkari" Akkari (4,050th)
Lee "LeeNelsonP*" (4,470th)
John Duthie (4,513rd)
Gavin Griffin (4,627th)
William "William" Thorson (4,899th)
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier (5,728th)
Dario Minieri (5,920th)
Vanessa "LadyMaverick" Rousso (6,447th)
Chad Brown (6,700th)
Alex Kravchenko (6,826th)
11:32pm-- Bleialf comes into the kitchen and shows the chef who’s boss
At table 966 with several stacks above average: vui-qua-di (16th in chips), BorkBorkBork (41st), Peter_rey (26th), and Blinckme (20th), Bleialf has moved up to second in chips wrestling the chip lead away from BorkBorkBork, who has taken several hits to his stack lately.
11:29pm--SilverSocks sitting in a golden position
Chip leader SilverSocks just tightened his grip on the chip lead, taking down a 115,300 pot without showdown against MeraTrolldeg after a preflp re-raise from MeraTrolldeg, SilverSocks put in a big raise on a flop of Kh-10d-8c.
MeraTrolldeg thought for a while before mucking, as SilverSocks moved over the 600,000 chip mark
11:23pm-- BadBeatKid_2 is an Ocho Cinco fan and still in the hunt
The recent Sunday Million champ has slipped below average in chips (currently sitting with 126,000 while in level 16 and blinds at 2000/4000, ante 400. Hopefully the Chad Ocho Cinco (or artist formerly known as Chad Johnson) fan will pick up a timely double-up soon.
11:16pm-- Former WCOOP PLO champ is moving up in chips
No stranger to being in a big tournament late, jalla79 is steadily gaining chips and currently sits in 18th place. The 2007 WCOOP Pot Limit Omaha champ (read the PokerStarsBlog write-up on the event here) is looking for his second WCOOP bracelet in a 6-max event. He’ll have two less cards to do it with, but has managed to do fine without the wrap straight flush draws so far.
10:58pm-- Looking for another final table
Still alive with 156 players is well-known player TheTownhouse. We here at the PokerStars Blog know the name from a previous WCOOP final table. Two years ago, the Townhouse final tabled the WCOOP $200 HORSE event. At this hour, TheTownhouse has about a half-average stack. With the comfortable structure, he's not in bad shape and still has a shot at another final table.
11:01pm-- The chef slices up a big win and takes the cake
BorkBorkBork and vui-qua-di tangle in a big pot for the tournament chip lead. Take a look at the results below:
10:46pm--From Astoria with chips
Well-known online player Ryan45 has been in the Top 100 players for some time tonight, but he's now making a play for the chip lead. At this hour, with 165 players remaining, Ryan45 is second in chips with just under 400,000 at the 1000/2000/200 level.
10:41pm-- Could get messy in the kitchen
Two of the top chip stacks have been moved to Table 966. vui-qua-di (currently 3rd in chips) and BorkBorkBork (currently 5th) of muppets fame are sitting side-by-side for some possible future big pots.
10:31pm -- Chip counts for hour eight
Level 15
Blinds 1000/2000, antes 200
Average chip count: 112,765
Players remaining: 192
First Prize: $212,179.81
Eliminated:
Hevad "RaiNKhAN" Khan (200th place)
Vicky Coren (527th place)
Alexandre “Allingomes” Gomes (808th)
Victor Ramdin (1,020th)
Humberto “HumbertoB” Brenes (1,185th)
Isabelle "NoMercy" Mercier (1,235th)
Luca Pagano (1,928th)
Katja Thater (2,141st)
Marcin "Goral" Horecki (2,722nd)
Tom McEvoy (3,642nd)
Andre "aakkari" Akkari (4,050th)
Lee "LeeNelsonP*" (4,470th)
John Duthie (4,513rd)
Gavin Griffin (4,627th)
William "William" Thorson (4,899th)
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier (5,728th)
Dario Minieri (5,920th)
Vanessa "LadyMaverick" Rousso (6,447th)
Chad Brown (6,700th)
Alex Kravchenko (6,826th)
10:23pm-- The storm that fizzled
On one American coast, Tropical Storm Hanna is getting ready to jump ashore. It had all the promise of becoming a big ol' honkin' hurricane. And then it didn't.
Somewhere in that same country, Hevad "RaiNKhAN" Khan may be feeling much the same way. I'm mean, how good could he have felt when he flopped two pair?
Join Team PokerStars Pros Tom McEvoy, Gavin Griffin, Vicky Coren, and Chris Moneymaker at the final table for a live radio broadcast as they break down our final six tonight as they play for the $212,179.81 first place prize.
10:07pm-- RaiNKhAN a storm of activity
Eighty thousandand. Forty thousand. Fifty thousand. All-in. You try to keep track of RaiNKhAN's chip stack. Team PokerStars Pro Hevad Khan just played a pot for all his chips. We'll leave it to you to watch how it turned out.
9:50pm-- Coren ready for a bunch of muffins.
Team PokerStars Pro Victoria Coren may not be in this event anymore, but she's not at all cranky about it. She's got a plan! She just told the PokerStars Blog:
Played one, cashed one! Yay! It could be said that 527th spot in the opening event of the WCOOP, for $461, is not the most glorious result in poker history - I don't think anyone's going to be carving it into a Hall Of Fame. But hey, don't knock it. All you've got to do in this game is survive. A profit's a profit. As soon as we got in the money, a fellow British player on my table, who went by the great name of Auric Goldfinger, pointed out that (with today's miserable exchange rate for the pound against the dollar) you couldn't get much more than a Starbucks muffin for 1080th place. But I like muffins. And you can get a lot of them for $461. I may be eating nothing else for the next week. (But this is nothing to do with the tournament. I didn't eat anything else last week either.)
I love 6-handed NLH tournaments. You get to play so many more pots than you do at a full table, and I get itchy for action. When I cashed in the WSOP in 2007, that was in the $5000 6-handed Holdem. I remember it mostly because Tobey Maguire was the next player out after me, so I got to stand behind him in the money queue and reflect that yes, film stars really are shorter in real life.
Of course, the joy of the WCOOP (as opposed to a live tournament) is that it's easier to be patient, since you're in your own home and can watch TV at the same time. I was watching "The Tudors". We're at the point in the story where Henry VIII has started chopping off the heads off priests who disagree with him. I found that very inspiring as I played a poker tournament. Really helped me to feel bloodthirsty. If only we'd been at the end of the series, where I assume he's going to chop off the head of his own wife, I reckon I'd have made the final.
Good game, Vicky. Enjoy the muffins.
9:49pm -- jaja82 is your new chip leader
Thanks to this huge full house against the pocket queens of cdg1912, jaja82 has a commanding 100,000 chip lead over LordTBird at the moment.
9:39pm BadBeatKid_2 back again, looking strong after recent Sunday Million win
Currently sitting at 81st in chips, BadBeatKid_2 isn’t sitting on the $175,000 he won on July 7th while taking down 7130 players in the Sunday Million. I’m sure he will find a place is his account for another $200K should he win tonight. Story on his Sunday Million win found here.
9:14pm--Chip counts at the six-hour mark
Level 13
Blinds 600/1,200, antes 125
Average chip count: 66,414
Players remaining: 326
First prize: $212,179.81
Top ten in chips:
1. LordTBird 279,427
2. Damige 228,916
3. andersmeli 213,885
4. jaja82 203,625
5. polpolpol 185,564
6. QuickPay 178,626
7. LastLife07 173,441
8. FM Jason 172,288
9. TruthSerum33 158,534
10. Den the Zen 158,029
Team PokerStars pros:
Hevad "RaiNKhAN" Khan 74,515
Eliminated:
Vicky Coren (527th place)
Alexandre “Allingomes” Gomes (808th)
Victor Ramdin (1,020th)
Humberto “HumbertoB” Brenes (1,185th)
Isabelle "NoMercy" Mercier (1,235th)
Luca Pagano (1,928th)
Katja Thater (2,141st)
Marcin "Goral" Horecki (2,722nd)
Tom McEvoy (3,642nd)
Andre "aakkari" Akkari (4,050th)
Lee "LeeNelsonP*" (4,470th)
John Duthie (4,513rd)
Gavin Griffin (4,627th)
William "William" Thorson (4,899th)
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier (5,728th)
Dario Minieri (5,920th)
Vanessa "LadyMaverick" Rousso (6,447th)
Chad Brown (6,700th)
Alex Kravchenko (6,826th)
9:08pm--We'll have fun-fun-fun 'til LordTBird takes our chips away
LordTBird just vaulted past 270,000 and into the chip lead after this hand went down versus mcatdog:
9:04pm--Perhaps Khan would make a better professional video game player
Observers started talking about Halo 3 and Hevad “RaiNKhAN” Khan replied, "I'm awesome with the warthog."
He now sits comfortably with 76,000 chips
8:52pm--QuickPay takes quick chip lead
It didn’t last long. Almost as soon as QuickPay had reached 230,000 chips -- briefly passing polpolpol -- he lost more than half his stack on a cooler.
andersmeli raised to 2,450 from the button and QuickPay called in the small blind. After a flop of Kd-7d-9c, QuickPay led out for 4,000, andersmeli raised to 11,500 and QuickPay called. The turn brought a third diamond in the 4d and QuickPay checked. andersmeli bet 16,700, QuickPay check-raised to 39,000 and andersmell pushed all in. QuickPay called with Jd-9d for a flush, but andersmeli held Ad-6d for the nut flush.
A meaningless 6c fell on the river and andersmeli was up to 205,000 while QuickPay fell to 130,000.
8:49pm--Our beneficent leader
It's no fun sitting to the left of the chip leader. Usually, anyway. Right now luckybucket9 occupies that seat, made all the more uncomfortable by the fact that the leader -- polpolpol -- has more than 225,000 at the moment, while luckybucket9 only has about 10,000.
Just now there was a hand in which the table folded around to polpolpol in the small blind. "here" he typed, "a present from me," and he folded, giving luckybucket9 a walk in his big blind.
"yeah! 8-4 won. thank you," typed luckybucket9 in response.
8:38pm--Khan gets his aces cracked
Hevad “RaiNKhAN” Khan doubled up goatzilla when the two got it all in preflop and goatzilla hit a set. After this hand, Khan is down to 43,000.
8:35pm--468 players left
As we approach the end of Level 11, there are 468 players left on 79 tables. The average stack is 46,262, with our chip leader, polpolpol, sitting on 216,337. All players left are guaranteed at least $505.19 for their efforts today.
8:27pm--Coren out in 527th place
Down to 9,648 in chips, Team PokerStars Pro Vicky Coren pushed her stack in preflop with Ac-2c and colombusval called with Ad-Kh. The board was a tease for Coren as it came 5h-Ah-8c-2d-8d, giving her two pair and then counterfeiting her.
8:23pm--Hevad Khan could have a future as a politician
When asked what he thought about the WSOP final table delay by an observer, Hevad "RainKhAN" Khan replied, “Might be good, might be bad, it all depends upon how the results turn out. That’s the gamble of trying something new!”
8:19pm--Vicky Coren is not a porn star…
…but she apparently did try to make an X-rated film. Observers are chatting her up at Table 120 about her career, including one book she wrote called Once More With Feeling about her experience trying to direct an erotic picture.
“I made an x-rated movie (directing! not performing!) and it's the story of making the movie,” she told the observers. More information about the book can be found at http://www.victoriacoren.com/main/books.
8:05pm--Chip counts at the five-hour mark
Level 11
Blinds 400/800, antes 75
Average chip count: 35,204
Players remaining: 615
First prize: $212,179.81
Top ten in chips:
1. polpolpol 160,844
2. tydean 146,217
3. GJvH89 136,187
4. BadBeatKid_2 124,969
5. jalla79 115,423
6. Fold U Phish 114,605
7. LastLife07 113,243
8. YK VIKING 108,451
9. iacog4 96,629
10. RandALLin 94,910
Team PokerStars pros:
Hevad "RainKhAN" Khan 53,488
Vicky Coren 18,273
Eliminated:
Alexandre “Allingomes” Gomes (808th place)
Victor Ramdin (1,020th)
Humberto “HumbertoB” Brenes (1,185th)
Isabelle "NoMercy" Mercier (1,235th)
Luca Pagano (1,928th)
Katja Thater (2,141st)
Marcin "Goral" Horecki (2,722nd)
Tom McEvoy (3,642nd)
Andre "aakkari" Akkari (4,050th)
Lee "LeeNelsonP*" Nelson (4,470th)
John Duthie (4,513rd)
Gavin Griffin (4,627th)
William "William" Thorson (4,899th)
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier (5,728th)
Dario Minieri (5,920th)
Vanessa "LadyMaverick" Rousso (6,447th)
Chad Brown (6,700th)
Alex Kravchenko (6,826th)
8:02pm--Chip leader takes a hit
tydean had put some distance between himself and the rest of the field during this hour, and was threatening to reach the 200,000-chip mark before the conclusion of Level 10. Then came a bit of a hiccup for the chip leader.
tydean raised from under the gun to 1,635, then DesertQuest reraised to 5,000 from the button. It folded back to tydean who quickly shoved his imposing stack of 180,000 all in. DesertQuest made the call with his remaining 25,000 chips.
tydean showed Ad-4h, well behind DesertQuest's Ac-Kh. The board ran out 2c-Tc-Jc-5s-Qd, giving DesertQuest the Broadway straight and a nice pot of 62,546. After that hand, tydean was still in second place with 154,667.
7:45pm--Tizzle 10 finishes off Allingomes
Team PokerStars Pro Alexandre Gomes had managed to build his crippled stack up to nearly 8,000, but finally pushed at the wrong time.
On his final hand, Gomes shoved his 7,928 stack from the cutoff with Jh-Td and was called by Tizzle 10 on the button with Ac-Qs. The board bricked off with 5c-Kd-4h-4d-8s and Gomes was done in 808th place.
7:29pm—Victor Ramdin rams in his last chips
Down to less than 1,500, Team PokerStars pro pushed all in preflop with Qh-Jh and saw a flop he couldn’t have liked. Ramdin finished in 1,020th place.
There are several ways to watch the 
