"NVladislav" raised to 160,000 from the cutoff and Steve "Mr. Tim Caum" O'Dwyer three-bet shoved for 1,064,088 from the button for "Strekoza85" to four-bet from the small blind and everyone else to fold.
Steve "Mr. Tim Caum" O'Dwyer:
"Strekoza85":
The board ran out for "Strekoza85" to flop two pair to send O'Dwyer out of the tournament.
Bela "SlyderS1" Toth raised to 220,000 from under the gun and Jonas "Tulkaz" Klausen called from the cutoff. Oscar "owilson25" Ramirez three-bet to 845,677 for Toth to four-bet to 1,851,354. Klausen folded but Ramirez made the call.
The flop came , Ramirez bet 1,150,000 and Toth shoved for 4,629,386 which Ramirez called.
Bela "SlyderS1" Toth:
Oscar "owilson25" Ramirez:
Ramirez held the higher pocket pair but Toth had some outs to survive with the flush draw.
The rest of the board was completed with the on the turn and the on the river for the big pot to go to Ramirez.
For more than a decade, Steven "SvZff" van Zadelhoff has been a force to be reckoned with at the poker tables.
Originally from Holland, the Dutchman has been residing in Malta when not on the road or setting up shop for several months in his beloved Las Vegas during the World Series of Poker. Elected into the Dutch Poker Hall of Fame in 2017, Van Zadelhoff sports nearly $2.5 million in lifetime cashes according to The Hendon Mob including six-figure cashes in Malta, Spain, and the United States.
While those results are impressive on its own, Van Zadelhoff is predominantly known as an online powerhouse. Under his "SvZff" moniker, he has racked up nearly $7 million in lifetime cashes on PokerStars alone according to PocketFives. He's currently ranked in 35th place in the world and once held the top spot in the rankings back in 2017.
Daniel "Allanon85" Drescher raised to 317,800 from the middle position and Jonas "Tulkaz" Klausen three-bet shoved for 3,071,277 for the action to fold to Drescher who made the call.
Jonas "Tulkaz" Klausen:
Daniel "Allanon85" Drescher:
The board ran out for Drescher to hold with the higher pocket pair to bust Klausen.
Martin "Matto 23" Ilavsky raised to 301,000 from the button and Jase "SSSMBRFC2/C" Regina three-bet to 1,050,000 from the small blind. The big blind folded and Ilavsky made the call.
The flop came , Regina bet 560,000 and was called.
The turn was the , Regina opted to check. Ilavsky bet 2,275,000 for Regina to shove for 2,532,313 which Ilavsky called.
Jase "SSSMBRFC2/C" Regina:
Martin "Matto 23" Ilavsky:
Regina had turned the pair of sevens while Ilavsky held the gutshot to a straight.
The river completed the board with the for Ilavsky to hit the higher pair to bust Regina.
One of online poker's most-prestigious festivals has been running since 2002 and it's time to have a closer look at some of the winners and stories that emerged in the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event thus far.
It all started back in the year 2002 with a buy-in of $1,050 and Sweden's "MultiMarine" topped a field of 238 entries to claim the top prize of $65,450. One year later, the buy-in remained the same but the field skyrocketed to a total of 891 entries. Joseph “DeOhGee” Cordi became the first American winner and took home $222,750.
While the field size remained just shy of that in 2004, the buy-in increased to $2,600 and Scandinavia had another reason to celebrate as Edgar “Ragde” Skjervold the first and only victory for Norway in the WCOOP-H Main Event, walking away with $424,945 for the efforts.
What followed was the domination of players from the United States prior to Black Friday as they earned the title for the next six consecutive years. Among those to shine in the spotlight were such big names as J.C. “area23JC” Tran (2006), Carter “ckingusc” King (2008), and Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko (2009).
The last American to win the title was Tyson “POTTERPOKER” Marks in 2010 and he earned the biggest winner prize in the history of the pinnacle event thus far. Out of a field of 2,443, the biggest tied to a buy-in of $5,200, Marks received $2,278,098 for his efforts.
Two years later in 2012, some online poker fans may still recall the deal discussions of Marat “maratik” Sharafutdinov who demanded in chat "I wont million". The micro stakes grinder from Russia had won his entry into the tournament after starting his journey with a 40 FPP satellite and eventually won the title and top prize of $1,000,907.
Online poker stronghold Germany then notched up three wins in the next four years as David “PlayinWasted” Kaufmann (2013), Fedor “CrownUpGuy” Holz (2014) and Jonas “llJaYJaYll” Lauck (2016) came out on top. For Holz, it was the start of an incredibly successful period and he has amassed millions in cashes on the virtual and live poker tables since.
The Netherlands got on the scoreboard with back-to-back victories by Steven “ SvZff” van Zadelhoff (2017) and "wann2play" (2018). However, a controversy ensued shortly after when "wann2play" was caught multi-accounting and the account was frozen shortly after the victory. Ultimately, the top prize was split among all players in the money which in return also crowned Ezequiel "eze88888" Waigel as the champion.
Scotland's Fraser “BigBlindBets” Russell then emerged as the latest champion in 2019. A high stakes cash game regular that had barely dipped into the MTT scene, Russell binked a payday of $1,665,962 and will be the man to watch if he decides to try and defend his title in 2020.
While there were already only 80 players left, there was still one hand going on while the rest had gone on a break for Day 3.
"Pentakilator" raised to 550,000 from the hijack and Igor "Garrin4e" Yaroshevskyy three-bet to 1,675,000 from the cutoff. The action folded back to "Pentakilator" who made the call.
The flop came , "Pentakilator" check-called the 1,304,325 bet of Yaroshevskyy.
The turn was the , "Pentakilator" checked again. This time, Yaroshevskyy barreled a bet of 3,000,000 into the pot and was called again.
The river completed the board with the , "Pentakilator" checked for the last time. Yaroshevskyy shoved for "Pentakilator" to dive deep into the tank. After a while, they opted to call for the 7,789,388 they had behind. Yaroshevskyy tabled the for the missed flush draw for "Pentakilator" to double up for the chip lead with the for two pair.
After 8.5 hours of play on Day 2, the PokerStars WCOOP-72-M: $530 NLHE [8-Max, Main Event] has come to an end with 80 players making it through to Day 3. Day 1 attracted 6,500 entries and before the start of the day, another 605 entries were collected to get to 7,105 in total to create a prize pool of $3,552,500 which smashed the original $2,000,000 guarantee which was set.
Poland's "Pentakilator" claimed the chip lead in the final hand of the night when they doubled through Igor "Garrin4e" Yaroshevskyy with the flopped two pair when the latter tried to bluff the former off the hand. "Pentakilator" will come back for Day 3 with 28,139,926 in chips which will be worth 113 big blinds. They are followed in the top five by "S.N.I.N.1" (22,901,193), "ZAR84" (20,462,671), "shusiu11" (18,830,047), and a more familiar name and face to the poker world: Chris "ImDaNuts" Oliver virtually bagged 18,593,495 for Day 3.
But there are many more notable players left, Daniel "Allanon85" Drescher, Saymon "Saymon9" Nascimento, Mats "Matsull" Ullereng, Evan "PURPLE"K"99" Parkes, Day 1 chip leader Guilherme "Guizãoo_" Carmo, Victor "vituhu3" Macedo, Henrique "Galochina10" Coutinho, and Alexis "J0hnny_Dr@m@" Zervos have all bagged an above average stack.
WCOOP-72-M: $530 NLHE [8-Max, Main Event] Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
"Pentakilator"
Poland
28,139,926
113
2
"S.N.I.N.1"
Moldova
22,901,193
92
3
"ZAR84"
Germany
20,462,671
82
4
"shusiu11"
Hungary
18,830,047
75
5
Chris "ImDaNuts" Oliver
United States
18,593,495
74
6
Rafael "GM_VALTER" Moraes
Brazil
18,183,738
73
7
"kirbyi17"
Germany
18,043,051
72
8
"ross_654"
Mexico
17,737,265
71
9
"cladarth"
Poland
16,801,506
67
10
Oscar "owilson25" Ramirez
Honduras
16,408,470
66
Today's Action
With all those extra entries, the tournament kicked off with 2,611 players who would all be trying to fight their way to the top 863 as that would mean that they would cash for at least $1,141. The players dropped like flies on the road to the money. Former WCOOP Main Event Champion Steven "SvZff" van Zadelhoff busted in the first level of the day and was followed by many familiar names.
Brunno "botteonpoker" Botteon, Dzmitry "Colisea" Urbanovich, Talal "raidalot" Shakerchi, Michael "merla888" Gathy, Gianluca "Tankanza" Speranza, Kenny "SpaceyFCB" Hallaert, and Parker "tonkaaaa" Talbot are just some of the players to bust before the first break of the day.
In the end, it would take just over five hours for the field to be reduced to the final 80 players who will return for Day 3 at 7:05 p.m. CEST on Tuesday, September 22. The returning players will finish the last 16 minutes of Level 38 which has a small blind of 125,000, a big blind of 250,000 with a running ante of 32,500. After this level is done, the duration will go back up to 25 minutes each and play will continue until the final table has been reached.
All players have secured at least $3,177 but they will all be wanting to reach the final table where they will win at least $33,638 while the first-place comes with a prize of $504,584 and PokerNews will be there from the first bustout throught the climb through the pay ladder so make sure to follow along.
for "Strekoza85" to flop two pair to send O'Dwyer out of the tournament.
, Ramirez bet 1,150,000 and Toth shoved for 4,629,386 which Ramirez called.
on the turn and the 
on the river for the big pot to go to Ramirez.
for Drescher to hold with the higher pocket pair to bust Klausen.
, "Pentakilator" check-called the 1,304,325 bet of Yaroshevskyy.
for the missed flush draw for "Pentakilator" to double up for the chip lead with the 
for two pair. 
