The Sunday Briefing: Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier Adds Another WCOOP Bracelet
Extraordinary. That is how day 18 of the 2009 World Championship of Online Poker can be summed up. Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier and Dan “djk123” Kelly each claimed their second bracelets of the series, going a long way toward proving that they are online poker’s best. Just two days after winning Event 38, “ElkY” toppled an enormous field of 9,220 to win Event 43. Meanwhile, Kelly added the $10,000 High-Roller HORSE bracelet to his wrist, besting an excellent field and final table. These two incredible feats were the highlights of an action-packed Sunday on the virtual felt, and perhaps the biggest highlights of this year's WCOOP.
Event 43 was a different tournament yet a familiar story for Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier at the final table. Much like Event 38 two days ago, “ElkY” worked his way to the top after becoming one of the shorter stacks. His timely aggression, excellent reads and good luck made for heads-up play against Torsten “jektiss” Brinkmann with the two having virtually even stacks. What happened next can only be described as an ultimate cooler.
On the button, “jektiss” raised and Grospellier called. The J♦5♣6♥ flop was checked by both players and the 8♣ fell on the turn. “ElkY” put out a bet, “jektiss” called, and the 9♠ emerged on the river. “ElkY” checked and “jektiss” bet just over half the pot; however, “ElkY” raised and it was not long before “jektiss” three-bet all-in, having “ElkY” slightly covered. Grospellier called all-in and their hands were revealed. It was the second nuts, 10♥7♠, for “jektiss”. Amazingly, “ElkY” tabled Q♥10♣ for the stone-cold nuts to win the monster hand. He closed it out three hands later to win his second WCOOP bracelet and $263,323.20.
PokerStars WCOOP 43 - $215 No-Limit Hold’em
Buy-in: $200 + $15
Prize Pool: $1,844,000
Entrants: 9,220
1. Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier - $263,323.20
2. Torsten “jektiss” Brinkmann- $193,620
3. chilipepp - $137,285.80
4. KNtheKid - $92,200
5. Profesigh - $73,760
6. kezug - $55,320
7. jm18 - $36,880
8. bundesmiro - $20,284
9. Trippple_A - $12,908
Notable Finishes: Stephan “delegator” Kjaerstad (20th - $3,964.60), Victor Ramdin (22nd - $3,964.60), Peter “Apathy123” Jetten (39th - $3,319.20).
Event 44, the $10,300 high-roller H.O.R.S.E. tournament, produced a final table loaded with big names. Dan “djk123” Kelly was the last man standing, however, defeating Ozenc “ozenc” Demir to score the $252,350 payday. Demir began the heads-up duel with the chip lead in the stud round. Kelly dominated from that point on, taking the chip lead and sealing the deal in stud hi-lo. He scooped a key pot to extend the lead en route to winning the tournament. He was dealt split kings and after the two exchanged several bets and raises in the middle streets, Kelly made kings-up on seventh street. Demir could not table a better hand and Kelly went on to win his second WCOOP bracelet of the series.
PokerStars WCOOP 44 - $10,300 H.O.R.S.E. [High Roller]
Buy-in: $10,000 + $300
Prize Pool: $1,030,000
Entrants: 103
1. Dan “djk123” Kelly - $252,350
2. Ozenc “ozenc” Demir - $175,100
3. Marco “NoraFlum” Johnson - $133,900
4. Matt “Hoss_TBF” Hawrilenko - $92,700
5. Noah “Exclusive” Boeken - $66,950
6. Allen “wallfly” Cunningham - $51,500
7. matchpoint20 - $41,200
8. George “Jorj95” Lind III - $30,900
Notable Finishes: Chad Brown (10th - $25,750), Shannon “basebal1b” Shorr (11th - $25,750), RAYNEE. (12th - $25,750), Katja Thater (13th - $20,600).
The two-day WCOOP Main Event also began on Sunday. After 22 levels on day 1, a starting field of 2,144 was down to 178. Sitting atop the leader board is Jason “TheMasterJ33” DeWitt. Hot on his heels are several big-name players including David “SexSeen” Sands, Hunter “HEMIpowerSWT” Frey, Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko, and yes, Dan “djk123” Kelly. The top 10 chip counts are as follows:
1. Jason “TheMasterJ33” DeWitt – 925,921
2. pakd650 – 776,413
3. 5902838181 – 734,682
4. David “SexSeen” Sands – 696,659
5. Hunter “HEMIpowerSWT” Frey – 695,540
6. GIVE_IT2 – 654,843
7. Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko – 632,010
8. reddeevil – 611,559
9. GtRealGtOut – 580,712
10. Dan “djk123” Kelly – 555,410
Notable Chip Counts:
46. Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin – 321,812
66. Scott “dorinvandy” Dorin – 250,016
85. Shawn “buck21” Buchanan – 191,812
91. Isaac “philivey2694” Haxton – 177,245
93. Tom “tommyboy83” Koral – 173,240
96. Joe “BUTCH ACIDY” Cassidy – 168,797
97. Jordan “scarface_79” Smith – 168,215
124. JC “area23JC” Tran – 127,408
Full Tilt $1 Million Guarantee
Buy-in: $500+ $35
Prize Pool: $1,238,000
Entrants: 2,476
1. gdluck - $227,111.10
2. Pocketownage420 - $139,398.80
3. BONCELA - $91,240.60
4. Ruben “rubenrtv” Visser – 72,794.40
5. Evan “NEONPILS99” Parkes - $55,091
6. Kyle “kwob20” Bowker - $39,616
7. bentebabe69 - $29,093
8. Max “KaKeTKa” Katz - $22,779.20
9. Brian “dubbeemin” Mintz - $17,332
Notable Finishes: Kenny “Kenny Rap” Weinstein (14th - $9,285), Russell “rdcrsn” Carson (23rd - $4,828.20), Jonas “Klausen” Klausen (27th - $4,828.20), Svetlana Gromenkova (41st - $2,971.20).
Full Tilt Mini FTOPS Main Event
Buy-in: $50+ $5
Prize Pool: $721,400
Entrants: 14,428
*1. noitall611 - $89,982.27
*2. McFugu - $94,075.73
3. Joel “BlueFocus” Dodds - $52,301.50
4. Shihai911 - $37,512.80
5. mdfgreat1 - $26,691.80
6. takeithard_23 - $19,117.10
7. paulique - $13,706.60
8. PassTheRoxi - $10,099.60
9. fishfinder22 - $7,141.86
* denotes two-way deal
Notable Finishes: Zach “fahmie” [Removed:115] (25th - $1,803.50), Garry “oouuucccchhh” Gates (27th - $1,803.30), Evan “NEONPILS99” Parkes (63rd - $937.82).
Ultimate Bet $200K GTD
Buy-in: $200 + $15
Prize Pool: $200,000
Entrants: 894
1. NJW111 - $44,600
2. Brian “DUBBEEMIN” Mintz - $26,700
3. DOUCHEBURGER - $18,100
4. SAILORLOBELL - $12,900
5. SHARKBAIT33 - $10,900
6. WILDHENRY - $8,900
7. MATT126912 - $6,900
8. TCHUSTLERFAN - $4,900
9. TEXASFAN23 - $3,400
Notable Finishes: Chris “BONEZEE” Bonita (10th - $2,100).
Bodog $100,000 Guarantee
Buy-in: $150 + $12
Prize Pool: $100,000
Entrants: 405
1. cmizzles3687 - $25,000
2. X___X - $15,000
3. Alain Delon - $9,500
4. Marshall “Balla686” Trauernicht - $7,000
5. terags - $5,500
6. billyboy5 - $4,500
7. JACKOFHOGS - $3,500
8. bigratbastard - $2,200
9. sonajero - $1,700
Notable Finishes: David “SirSands” Sands (13th - $900).
The best part about big poker Sunday? It happens again next week. Get in on the action by signing up for your very own online poker account now.
