WCOOP Day 21: Rachid Ben Cherif Wins $210K While Blom Finishes Fifth
Day 21 of the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) at PokerStars saw another nine champions named with two big buy-in events and seven low buy-in events coming to an end.
One of the biggest winners of the day was Rachid “SkaiWalkurr” Ben Cherif who bested a field of 1,522 in the WCOOP-76-H: $1,050 NLHE [6-Max, Turbo, Progressive KO], $500K Gtd to walk away with a total of $210,813 after prize money and bounties were awarded.
Final Table Action Begins
The final table began seven-handed as opposed to the regular six-max style of this event.
The first elimination happened when Viktor “Isildur1” Blom held pocket aces and Anthony “holdplz” Spinella shoved over the top of Blom's opening min raise with K♣Q♥. Spinella couldn’t catch up and was eliminated in seventh place for $13,302 along with $6,578 in bounties earned throughout the course of the tournament.
Swedish Pair Hits The Rails
Anton “antesvante” Wigg was the next player to be eliminated. He shoved his stack preflop with 9♥9♣ and ran into the K♠K♣ of Ben Cherif. Ben Cherif's kings held after the board ran out A♠A♣10♥10♣A♦ and he earned a $2,976 bounty for busting Wigg. Wigg exited in sixth place for $19,052, also pocketing $6,578 in bounties.
After becoming the short stack, Blom moved all in over Ben Cherif’s opening raise while holding A♣Q♣. A pot-committed Ben Cherif called with KxQx and a kind board run out of A♠A♥10♥9♣J♠ gave Ben Cherif a straight and a knockout worth $4,769. Blom received $27,343 and $9,039 in bounties for fifth place.
”SkaiWalkurr” Continues to Bounty Hunt
Ben Cherif and Mark “scrubbyz” Zajdner were the top two stacks left of the four remaining players and decided to tango. Ben Cherif ended up dragging in the pot to eliminate Zajdner and take a commanding chip lead into three-handed play. Zajdner collected $39,242 and $20,884 in bounties for the fourth-place finish.
Boba Fett wasn’t the bounty hunter in this tournament, it was “SkaiWalkurr”. After eliminating three of the first four at the final table, Ben Cherif collected his fourth bounty in a row. Ben Cherif called the shove of “99Palanke” with Q♥5♣. “99Palanke” held K♥J♠.
Ben Cherif flopped a pair of fives on the A♦5♠2♣ flop to take the lead. “99Palanke” couldn’t improve as the turn was the 8♥ and the river was the 4♥. “99Palanke” received $56,320 and $14,983 in bounties for third place while Ben Cherif had one foot in the door with a commanding chip lead going into heads-up play.
Heads-Up Play Begins
Ben Cherif had 69,736,437 chips to the 6,363,563 chips of Andrey “drupe-lucker” Chernokoz to start heads-up. Chernokoz stayed out of trouble at the final table to get to the final two, but Ben Cherif made quick work of the Russian in heads-up play, needing only two hands to dispose of his opponent.
In the final hand, Ben Cherif shoved putting his opponent at risk while holding J♠9♣ and Chernokoz made the call holding 9♠9♦. Ben Cherif caught runner-runner on the turn and river to make a straight on the 10♠4♣3♦7♣8♥ board to capture WCOOP glory and eliminate Chernokoz in second place for $80,831 and $10,154 in bounties. Ben Cherif walked away with $116,008 in prize money along with $94,805 in bounties (including his own bounty for winning the tournament).
WCOOP-76 Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rachid “SkaiWalkurr” Ben Cherif | $116,008 + $94,805 in bounties |
| 2 | Andrey “drupa-lucker” Chernokoz | $80,831 + $10,154 in bounties |
| 3 | 99Palanke | $56,320 + $14,983 in bounties |
| 4 | Mark “scrubbyz” Zajdner | $39,242 + $20,884 in bounties |
| 5 | Viktor “Isildur1” Blom | $27,343 + $9,039 in bounties |
| 6 | Anton “antesvante” Wigg | $19,052 + $5,453 in bounties |
| 7 | Anthony “holdplz” Spinella | $13,302 + $6,578 in bounties |
Other WCOOP Highlights
- Andrey “Kroko-dill” Zaichenko captured the WCOOP title in WCOOP-71-H FLO8 [8-Max], $125K Gtd. Zaichenko beat out a field of 185 players to capture $36,700.
- Viktor “Isildur1” Blom had quite the day on the felt. First, he finished in fifth place in WCOOP-76-H: $1,050 NLHE [6-Max, Turbo, Progressive Knockout], 500K Gtd for 27,343 along with $9,039 in bounties. He then finished Day 1 of the WCOOP-75-H: $10,300 8-Game [High Roller], $750K Gtd fourth in chips with 11 remaining. With almost $250,000 for first in that one, Blom looks poised for another deep run and big score.
- Kenny “SpaceyFCB” Hallaert made a deep run in the WCOOP-66-L: $1,050 NLHE [8-Max, High Roller], $500K Gtd. He eventually fell in fourth place of the 981 entries to secure $58,089. Joseph “jughead11” Lacasse was the eventual winner of the event collecting $142,454 after a three-way deal.
- “ImluckNuts” still sits atop the WCOOP leaderboard with 785 points. “MITS 304” has moved into second place, five points ahead of “PSMozak", with 725 points.
Day 7 WCOOP Winners
| Event | Buy-In | Prize Pool | Champion | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #76 NLHE-H 6-Max, Turbo, Progressive KO | $1,050 | $1,522,000 | SkaiWalkurrr | $210,813 |
| #66 NLHE-L 8-Max High Roller | $1,050 | $981,000 | Joseph “jughead11” Lacasse | $142,454* |
| #65 NLHE-L Progressive Knockout | $109 | $617,800 | DeGhjalt | $39,309* |
| #71 FLO8-H 8-Max | $1,050 | $185,000 | Andrey “Kroko-dill” Zaichenko | $36,700 |
| #70 NLHE-L 6-Max | $27 | $201,629 | Juchem1006 | $28,310 |
| #64 PLO-L 6-Max | $55 | $149,500 | PolecatRider | $21,609 |
| #68 NLHE-L 8-Max | $11 | $75,050 | gabsdrogba | $10,629 |
| #67 Stud-L | $55 | $31,350 | rubak787 | $5,878 |
| #72 PLO-L Heads-Up, Progressive Total Knockout, Zoom | $215 | $74,620 | dav8429 | $3,430 |
* denotes deal made at the final table
PokerNews will be recapping all of the action as it is played out during the 2017 WCOOP so check back for daily updates, news, and more.
