WCOOP – Event #13, $530 PLHE.: 'antroff' Wins in Pot Limit
The PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) finished up its second weekend of events with the conclusion of Event #13, $530 Pot-Limit Hold'em. A total of 1,090 players participated, generating a prize pool of $545,000, with first place taking home $117,175.
The top 153 places cashed in this event and it took only a mere six hours to reach when 'KresimirS' was eliminated in 154th place. Bill 'Bill Chen' Chen held the lead going into the final two tables, where he would remain until the break when he dropped down to fifth place, although it was only 90,000 out of first place. Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier also placed at the final two tables, sitting at a comfortable ninth place going into the top eighteen.
The final table was reached when Chen made it 30,000 to go pre-flop and 'SnickerDog' came over the top for an additional 70,000. Chen bumped it up to 170,000 and SnickerDog called, putting himself all-in. SnickerDog showed K♣Q♦ and was up against Bill Chen's A♦J♦. The board came 10♦2♥2♣3♦4♦, giving Bill Chen the running flush and eliminating SnickerDog in tenth place.
The final table was made up of ElkY, Bill Chen, 'SpotLIGHT19,' 'kedvedert,' 'betgo,' 'sh00ter,' 'Tycoon_kid,' 'antroff,' and 'shahmat.' The first elimination of the table came when shahmat raised preflop from the button. ElkY, from the small blind, reraised to 102,000 and shahmat raises an additional 48,975 to put ElkY all-in ElkY made the call and showed A♣J♠ while shahmat showed AdKd. The board came A♥10♣5♥2♥7♥ and shahmat's kicker was good enough to eliminate ElkY in ninth place.
The second elimination came only five hands later when SpotLIGHT19, short-stacked to under 10,000, called the big blind of 12,000 and was all-in. kedvedert, tycoon_kid, and Bill Chen all saw the flop of 9♣3♣2♥ together. But once Chen led out, the other two quickly folded and he was up against spotLIGHT19's K♦J♦. However, Chen had made an interesting call from middle position with 9♥3♦ and had flopped top two versus SpotLIGHT19's draw. SpotLIGHT19 did catch a king on the turn, but the river was of no help.
sh00ter was eliminated in seventh place when kedvedert raised pre-flop and sh00ter re-raised all-in for only 120,000. kedvedert made the call and the two of them went heads up to the flop with sh00ter holding AhKs while kedvedert had pocket nines. With a flop of J♦10♦8♥, sh00ter flopped a gutshot straight draw, but was unable to catch a queen, an ace, or a king by the river.
kedvedert was the next player from the table to be eliminated when, just a few hands later, his pocket sevens were all-in against betgo's pocket eights. kedvedert was left drawing to improve but found no help on a board of K♥10♦6♦9♠A♦ and was eliminated in sixth place.
With the first four eliminations happening over the course of just 30 hands, it was made very clear that this final table would be an aggressive one. Just ten hands after kedvedert's elimination, Bill Chen was eliminated when he was in the small blind when betgo raised pre-flop. Chen came back over the top for a total of 150,000 and betgo raised it up again, this time to 465,000. Chen pushed all-in for 527,713 and was all-in with A♠J♦ against betgo's A♥Q♣. betgo made top pair/top kicker on the flop of Q♥10♣3♥, but Chen still had a gutshot straight draw. The 9♣ on the turn and the 7♦ on the river, however, ended Chen's Event #13 run in fifth place.
betgo quickly took control of the table and was up to a near three-to-one chip lead when the other players at the table asked to look at a deal. betgo agreed, and the numbers came back with betgo getting $85,019, the largest share. Betgo asked for more but antroff pointed out that he was guaranteed $20,000 more than second place if he took the deal now, and betgo decided it was fair. However, Tycoon_Kid, the short stack at the table, declined the deal saying that the money difference between fourth place and his deal wasn't significant enough for him to throw in the towel just yet.
It appeared to be a good decision when just a few hands later shahmat was eliminated in fourth place when he raised pre-flop to 75,000 and was re-raised by betgo to 225,000. shahmat reraised to 566,850 and was all-in. betgo called and showed Q♠Q♦ while shahmat showed K♣J♥. The board came J♠7♠10♠10♣K♠ and betgo made a four flush on the river to win the hand.
Tycoon_kid was eliminated next when he raised pre-flop to 60,000 and was re-raised by antroff to 180,000. Tycoon_kid put himself all in by raising up to 511,606. antroff called and showed pocket tens while Tycoon_kid held A♦K♥. The board came J♠8♠4♠6♣9♥, leaving Tycoon_kid with ace high and antroff's pocket tens on top.
betgo and antroff continued to play heads up with betgo holding the lead for the majority of it. Eventually, betgo lost the chip lead and was down to 1.4 million in chips while antroff held 1.8 million.
Antroff asked if betgo was interested in a deal, but betgo said he would only agree to a 50/50 chop. antroff, with a 400,000-chip lead, vetoed the deal and play continued. antroff eventually whittled betgo down to just 500,00 in chips when betgo raised pre-flop to 120,000. antroff made the call and saw a flop of J♦6♣4♥. antroff checked and betgo led out for 240,000. antroff reraised to 480,000 and betgo called, putting himself all-in. antroff showed J♣9♠ for a pair of jacks against betgo's K♥9♦. The turn and river both missed betgo and antroff sealed the win in WCOOP Event #13.
Final Results:
1. antroff - $117,175
2, betgo - $64,473.50
3. Tycoon_Kid - $43,600
4. shahmat - $34,880
5. Bill Chen - $28,067.50
6. kedvedert - $21,255
7. sh00ter - $15,805
8. SpotLIGHT19 - $10,900
9. ElkY - $6,26750
