Sunday Briefing: Leah and Deeb Secure WCOOP Titles

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Sep 16, 2019 6 min read Last updated Dec 19, 2019

It was another super Sunday on Sep. 15 with the major online poker sites running festivals and creating massive prize pools. Several established players banked large sums of cash, with Mike Leah and Shaun Deeb winning titles in the PokerStars World Championship Of Online Poker (WCOOP).

WCOOP-38-H: $2,100 NLHE Turbo at PokerStars

A field of 219 players competed in the WCOOP-38-H: $2,100 NLHE Turbo event and created a $438,000 prize pool shared among the top 26 finishers. Everyone at the nine-handed final table guaranteed themselves a five-figure prize, and what a final table it was.

Argentina’s “Crisper” was the first player to bust from it, their ninth-place netting them $10,596. Mexico-based Kahle “ROFLshove” Burns was the next casualty; he banked $13,756. Then it was the turn of British pro Luke “Bit2Easy” Reeves to lose his tournament life, Reeves padded his bankroll with the $17,858 seventh-place prize.

“8_Spizzico_9” turned their $2,100 investment into $23,183 from their home in Malta, before the first of two players calling the Netherlands home crashed out. “Daenarys T”, obviously a Game of Thrones fan, was slain in fifth-place for a $30,096 score.

Former Team PokerStars Pro Tatiana “Mysters_Y” Barausova ran out of steam and fell in fourth-place for $39,070 and was then joined on the sidelines by the other Netherlands-based grinder Rui” RuiNF” Ferreira. That third-place finish was worth $50,720.

Heads-up saw Mike “goleafsgoeh” Leah and Sweden’s Andreas “mrAndreeew” Berggren lock horns for the title. No deal was discussed despite a $20,000 difference between the two places. This meant when Berggren busted in second place, he won $65,843, and Leah walked away with a WCOOP title and $85,476.

WCOOP-37-M: $530 6-Max PLO at PokerStars

Shaun “shaundeeb” Deeb added yet another ‘COOP title to his already impressive poker resume by triumphing in the WCOOP-37-M: $530 6-Max PLO event. Deeb fired three $530 bullets at this tournament, and it proved to be a case of third time lucky as that final bullet won him $52,371.

Deeb defeated “killerrog” to lock up the title and resign his German opponent to the $36,587 consolation prize.

Earlier at the final table, “Sir Gluttony” of Finland finished in sixth-place and secured an $8,715 payout. Fifth-place and $12,475 went to “smokeyumyum” of Mexico before “IAmSoSo” fell in fourth-place for $17,857.

The penultimate bust out was that of “bio946” whose third-place exit won them $25,560.

Deeb now has an incredible eight WCOOP titles to his name, which is pretty unbelievable when you consider the quality of the fields he had to battle through each year.

KO Series #35-HR: $750K Gtd 8-Max at partypoker

Over at partypoker, the KO Series continued creating bumper prize pools, including one of $750,000 in the KO Series #35-HR: $750K Gtd 8-Max event. Each of the 352 players paid $2,100 for the chance to become a KO Series champion, and the PKO format created some chunky bounty payments indeed.

All but one of those who reached the final table won five-figures when bounties were taken into consideration. “MrDreamMachine” exiting in eighth-place for a combined $9,443. They were joined in the role of spectator by “NewYorkJimmY” who won $14,611 with “leosss” banking $16,973.

“Noname69” busted in fifth-place for $20,592 but this was padded with an impressive $17,521 worth of bounties for a total prize worth $38,113.

Also bagging a ton of bounty payments was “iRunStims” whose total prize of $58,476 was more than $14,000 more than the third-place finisher “Forrest_guuump”. This goes to show how important it is to play aggressively in PKO tournaments as those bounty payments can make all the difference.

Heads-up saw “zootopia” and “rifatpalevic” battle it out for similar main prize pool prizes but a vastly different payout from the bounty prize pool. When zootopia fell in second-place, they won $58,203 plus $11,484 worth of bounties, with the champion netting a similar $58,279 but a whopping $90,464 from the bounty prize pool!

KO Series #35-H: $750K Gtd 8-Max at partypoker

The KO Series #35-H: $750K Gtd 8-Max ended with “dhilton13” as the last player standing and a six-figure prize being awarded. “Dhilton13” swept aside “Hit-and-run” for the victory and won the $49,539 to prize plus a huge bounty payment of $51,731 for a total of $101,270; a superb result for a $320 buy-in.

Earlier at the final table, “koreanbbq” and “I_am_Totti” were the first casualties of the final table, and they walked away with $9,036 and $8,138 respectively. $13,175, the first five-figure prize, went to “CrtrAltDel” for their sixth-place exit before “Vilolawo” busted in fifth for a combined prize worth $17,571.

“SunTzu” saw their tournament end in fourth-place for $29,791 with “Merrovingien” securing a $34,446 payout for their third-place exit. The bridesmaid in this tournament was “Hit-and-run” who netted $54,788 after falling at the final hurdle.

Rake or Break Whale - $25,000 Target at 888poker

United Arab Emirates' “Placebo36” won a brace of 888poker’s biggest Sunday tournaments, the first being the Rake or Break Whale. A field of 47 entrants created a $23,500 prize pool, missing the $25,000 target set by 888poker meaning every entrant received their $30 rake back.

Six players were paid in this event, “888topPair” being the first to bank some cash, $1,292 to be exact. Malta’s “stroposoz” scooped $1,762 when they busted in fifth-place before Ukraine’s “Fukuruku” collected $2,350 for their fourth-place finish.

UK-based Norwegian star Preben “prebzzz” Stokkan fell shy of victory in this tournament, falling in third for $3,525 which left “hustlejg” and Placebo36 to fight for the title. Placebo36 managed to win all the chips in play and the $8,695 top prize, leaving their British opponent to add $5,875 to their 888poker account.

The $20,000 Sunday Challenge at 888poker

Amazingly, Placebo36 triumphed in the $20,000 Sunday Challenge too and won an additional $4,429. The UAE-based player fired three $109 bullets at this tournament, that third bullet being a great decision. Placebo36 defeated Ukraine’s “normannolly” heads-up for the title, with second-place paying out $3,193.

Four other players turned their $109 into a four-figure prize. Sixth-place finisher “Smithstudent” of Russia won $1,030 while “GetSomeValue” did exactly that and won $1,236 for their fifth-place bust-out. “vanPingelen” saw their fourth-place finish yield $1,802 while the third-place elimination of “AUTISPOSTI” of Malta yielded $2,420.

GGS #157:$500K Gtd

The GG Series continued on Sep. 15 and Event 157 on the schedule was a $25,000 buy-in super high roller that attracted 33 entries to the virtual felts of Natural8 and other skins. This compact field created an $808,500 prize pool that was shared among the top five finishers.

The UK’s “StacknNvrSlackn” was the first player to collect some prize money, namely $50,819. Then Andras “PokerBluff1” Nemeth ran out of steam and had to make do with the $80,737 fourth-place prize.

Nemeth’s exit locked up a six-figure haul for the remaining three players ad it was Canada’s “Picasso16” who was the first player to collect this amount. Picasso16’s tournament ended in third-place, and that was worth a cool $128,268.

“Omar Bingo” of Russia and “NOMAMES” of Poland battled heads-up for the title in what was a $141,113 fight! Amazingly, no deal was struck, and the duo fought tooth and nail for the victory. Ultimately, it was Omar Bingo who emerged victoriously, resigning their Polish opponent to a $ 203,780-second place prize and locking up a huge $344,893 for themself.

GGS #161: $200K Gtd

Another significant GG Series event was the 161st on the schedule; a $10,000 buy-in affair that saw 40-entries processed. Like the $25,000 buy-in, this tournament paid out the top five finishers, and it was Picasso16, fresh from cashing in the $25K, who finished in fifth place for $24,388.

Canada’s “ravenoustrashdog” busted in fourth-place for $38,746 and was joined on the sidelines by “Pinger Slinger” of the United Kingdom who collected $61,556 for their $10,000 investment.

A pair of Canadians fought heads-up for the title and the not so small matter of a $165,514 payday. The one-on-one battle ended with “SasukeUchiha” holding all the chips, therefore collecting the $165,514 prize, leaving “ImLividBuddy” to console themselves with a $97,794 prize.

_{The Stars Group is a majority shareholder in iBus Media}

Matthew Pitt hails from Leeds, West Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom, and has worked in the poker industry since 2008, and worked for PokerNews since 2010. In September 2010, he became the editor of PokerNews. Matthew stepped away from live reporting duties in 2015, and now concentrates on his role of Senior Editor for the PokerNews.

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