The action was down to just 62 hopefuls by the end of the day, each of whom advanced to Day 2 in the money with a $2,138 min-cash in their pocket along with any bounties collected along the way.
Brazil's Eduardo "Eduardo850" Silva advanced to Day 2 as the chip leader after winning a massive pot near the end of the day. Silva is in hot form having finished Day 1 of WCOOP 49-H: $1,050 NLHE as chip leader on the same night.
Dozens of stars are through to Day 2, including Jon "apestyles" Van Fleet, Conor "1_conor_b_1" Beresford, Thomas "WushuTM" Muehlocker, and recent WCOOP champion Dzmitry "Colisea" Urbanovich.
However, all eyes are on PokerStars Ambassador Ben "Spraggy" Spragg who was the sole PokerStars Ambassador to advance to Day 2. Spragg returns to the action with one of the shorter stacks (796,810) but the army of fans from his Twitch channel will be hopeful their hero can turn things around.
2021 WCOOP-51-H: $2,100 Thursday Thrill Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts
Denis Strebkov Leads Final Five in WCOOP-52-H: $10,300 8-Game High Roller
Only five players remain in contention for the next title of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker 2021 and Russia's Denis "aDrENalin710" Strebkov chases an unprecedented tenth victory. Event WCOOP-52-H: $10,300 8-Game High Roller drew a field of 44 entries and came up short of meeting the $500,000 guarantee, providing additional value to the mixed game aficionados.
Once the bubble had burst with the elimination of Austrian player "donthnrmepls", it was nine-time WCOOP winner Strebkov who led the survivors with a stack of nearly 1.5 million. He spent most of the day near the top of the leaderboard and but still has a tough battle ahead if he wishes to extend his lead on the all-time ranking of the annual flagship series on PokerStars.
Defending champion "RaulGonzalez" is close behind in second place with a stack of more than 1.3 million while Ari "BodogAri" Engel turned a max-late entry into another shot at a maiden WCOOP title. Furthermore, the five-time WCOOP champions Yuri "theNERDguy" Dzivielevski and Joao "Naza114" Vieira also made the cut as well.
WCOOP-52-H: $10,300 8-Game High Roller Day 2 Chip Counts
Seat
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Bets
1
Denis "aDrENalin710" Strebkov
Russia
1,457,296
24
2
RaulGonzalez
Germany
1,305,654
22
3
Ari "BodogAri" Engel
Canada
804,236
13
4
Yuri "theNERDguy" Dzivielevski
Brazil
454,174
8
5
Joao "Naza114" Vieira
Portugal
378,640
6
The final five players will return on Saturday, September 4 at 2.15 pm EST to determine a champion. Action resumes with blinds of 6,250 / 12,500 and around seven minutes remaining in Pot-Limit Omaha. All finalists have $36,091 locked up for their efforts and the eventual winner can look forward to the title, trophy and top prize of $196,176.
Another 15 PokerStars players became WCOOP champions on September 2, including British mixed game specialist Benny "RunGodlike" Glaser who took down the WCOOP 50-M: $55 NLO8 [6-Max], $50K Gtd for his fourth WCOOP title and almost $9,300 in prize money.
Glaser’s fellow Brit, Simon "simon1471" Higgins, will no doubt be celebrating today after emerging from the WCOOP 53-H: $5,200 NLHE [6-Max, Turbo Freezeout], $500K Gtd victoriously and with his PokerStars account crammed full of the event’s $127,846 top prize.
There are no new WCOOP events taking place on September 3, but there are ten WCOOP Side Events for you to get your teeth into if you do not fancy a break from the WCOOP action!
Date
Time (ET)
Event
Fri 3 Sep
13:05
$5.50 WCOOP Side Event: NLHE [Win The Button], $10K Gtd
Fri 3 Sep
13:05
$22 WCOOP Side Event: NLHE [Win The Button], $30K Gtd
Fri 3 Sep
13:05
$215 WCOOP Side Event: NLHE [Win The Button], $50K Gtd