Samuel Vousden is the 2024 PokerStars WCOOP Main Event Champion

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Oct 03, 2024 6 min read

Samuel "€urop€an" Vousden sat down at the 2024 PokerStars World Championship Of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event with a reputation for being one of the toughest competitors in the tournament poker world. He leaves it as a world champion, a five-time WCOOP winner, and with $1,070,058 to show for his efforts in the $10,300 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em Main Event.

Vousden was fifth in chips when the star-studded final table commenced under the watchful eyes of the PokerStars Twitch stream, with a stack over three times smaller than chip leader Guillaume "Nolet20" Nolet. However, anyone who has watched the proud Finn in action knows that he never gives up and is always a danger while he has chips at his disposal.

WCOOP 108-H: $10,300 NLHE Main Event Final Table Results

No eliminations occurred for the first 30 minutes of the eight-handed final table. United Kingdom-based Norwegian Preben "prebz" Stokkan was the unfortunate soul who broke the deadlock. After the action folded to Stokkan in the small blind, he open-shoved for 6.6 big blinds with ace-eight, and can consider himself unlucky to run into the dominating ace-king of Pascal "Pass_72" Lefrancois. Stokkan was drawing dead on the turn, and he bowed out with $105,462 to show for his latest deep run.

Vousden doubled his stack with pocket aces versus the jack-ten of Darrell "FourSixFour" Goh with the chip going in on a ten-high flop. Shortly after, Vousden doubled through Goh again when he backed into an ace-high flush with ace-ten of spades when Goh improved to a jack-high straight. The Finn was now only a few big blinds behind the leader.

Belarusian "Natrium111" was the next player to find themselves void of chips around 70 minutes into the final table's action. "Natrium111" open-shoved from early position for 6.6 big blinds with ace-queen, which folded out two players. Lefrancois flat-called on the button with pocket queen, putting the action on Vousden in the small blind holding ace-king. Vousden shoved, and Lefrancois called off the 40 big blinds he had behind. A nine-high board sent "Natrium111" to the showers, Lefrancois into second place, and cut a chunk from Vousden's stack.

Sixth place went to Brazilian superstar Joao "IneedMassari" Simao a few hands after Lefrancois' huge haul. Simao moved all-in from the button for less than 10 big blinds with ace-trey, Lefrancois called with pocket kings in the small blind, and flopped a full house to leave Simao drawing dead.

The five surviving players locked in over a quarter of a million dollars and were four bust-outs away from raking in a seven-figure prize. The blinds increased to 200,000/400,000/50,000a and started biting into the shorter stacks. Lefrancois min-raised to 800,000 under the gun, Vousden laid a trap by just calling with pocket kings, and Goh took the bait, jamming slightly less than 18 big blinds with king-jack of clubs. Vousden snap-called when the action folded back to him, and his kings held on an ace-high board.

Brazil's hopes of becoming the world champion of No-Limit Hold'em were dashed when Davi "DaviMMaker" Cola crashed out in fourth. Cola got to the river with king-ten having hit a heart flush on the final community card, but he was unknowingly up against Lefrancois' turned full house. Cola's chips went into the middle, and he saw his flush was a very expensive second-best hand. Cola bowed out in fourth for $351,448, while Lefranoics climbed to a dominant position.

The final three became only two with the untimely demise of Nolet. He lost a chunk to Vousden, and although he didn't bust for more than an hour, Nolet couldn't find any spots to improve his chip count because two aggressive and deep-stacked opponents sandwiched him.

Something had to give, and it did when Nolet looked down at pocket jacks on the button and min-raised to 1,200,000. Lefrancois called in the small blind with ace-four of clubs, with Vousden squeezing all-in from the big blind with king-queen. Nolet called, Lefrancois ducked out of the way, and the five community cards were king-high, sending Nolet home in third for $487,407.

That hand gave Vousden a significant 93,855,425 to 31,644,575 chip advantage over Lefrancois, making him a clear favorite for the title and the $1,007,058 top prize. Try as he may, Lefrancois couldn't get a foothold in the heads-up battle, partly because Vousden's aggression was relentless.

The final hand saw Lefrancois min-raise with five-three, and Vousden check with ten-six of diamonds. A flop reading three-three-ace with two diamonds hit both players, and the chips were destined to go into the middle. Vousden check-raised Lefrancois' lead on the flop, and Lefrancois called. The four of diamonds on the turn improved Vousden to a flush, and he bet one-third pot, which Lefrancois called. The river was an offsuit six, and Lefrancois only had a pot-sized bet behind. Vousden set his Canadian opponent all-in, and Lefrancois instantly called and saw the bad news.

Lefrancois banked $659,899 for his bridesmaid finish, leaving Vousden to get his hands on a colossal $1,007,058 top prize and the title of 2024 WCOOP Main Event champion.

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Vamos! "stek94" Takes Down $1,050 Main Event For $441,809

The $1,050 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event's final table ran alongside the $10,300 edition that Vousden won. It ended in a three-way chop, with Brazilian "stek94" coming out on top and the lion's share of the $3,856,000 prize pool.

"stek94" saw a cool $441,809 land in their PokerStars account, with the other deal-makers hailing from the United Kingdom. "Riverbanged" officially finished in second place for $410,482, with Andy "BowieEffect" Wilson collecting $371,915 for his third-place finish.

The prize pool was so vast that the top six finishers won six-figure prizes. "KKrichitAAs" ($101,450), "99dm84" ($142,319), and "absoluteD37" ($199,653) were the players to capture those huge payouts.

WCOOP 108-M: $1,050 NLHE Main Event Final Table Results

*reflects a three-way deal

PokerStars Player Turns $1.50 Power Path Ticket Into WCOOP Title and $36K

Three-Way Deal Concludes the $109 NLHE Main Event

The $109 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event also ended in a three-handed deal, where players from Ukraine finished in first and second. All eyes were on Finland's Sami "Lrslzk" Kelopuro at the start of the final table, but he could only muster a sixth-place finish worth $46,895.

After "giannisLg" busted in fourth, the final three players struck a deal that leveled the payouts. The deal meant "Muringa.SP" banked $182,258 for their third place finish, almost $9,000 more than the $173,890 awarded to runner-up "psyoagromor."

"777ANTONY777" came out on top with the title and $209,747 in tow.

WCOOP 108-L: $109 NLHE Main Event Final Table Results

*reflects a three-way deal

Recent WCOOP Champions

There was a first WCOOP title for Mathias "mdf92" Duarte, who won WCOOP 119-M: $215 NLHE Super Tuesday for $39,819, and a second for Fernando "JNandez1987" Habegger, who triumphed in WCOOP 122-H: $1,050 PLO 6-Max for $25,178.

Juanki "B4NKR0LLER" Vecino finally got his hands on a WCOOP title after winning the final event of the series, WCOOP 123-H: $530 NLHE 7-Max Hyper PKO for $20,965.

*includes bounty payments

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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• Tags Guillaume Nolet Joao Mathias Joao Simao Juan Vecino Online Poker Pascal Lefrancois PokerStars WCOOP Video WCOOP24 Samuel Vousden
• Related Players Pascal LeFrancoisJoao SimaoSamuel VousdenJuan VecinoGuillaume Nolet