On Sunday, 46 players from many different countries entered the most expensive online poker tournament to date: PokerStars 2015 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) $51,000 Super High Roller!
Mike "Timex" McDonald was the chip leader when the first day concluded with 8 players. McDonald had a bit of luck on Day 1 when he managed to beat the AK of 2014 WCOOP Main Event champion Fedor "CrownUpGuy" Holz with A5 in a crucial pot, however, his good run came to an end on yesterday's final table and he went out already in 5th place ($172,500).
The tournament had a scheduled break after 2,5 hours of play, at which point the final trio (Ben "Ben86" Tollerene on top with 409,960, Nikita "fish2013" Bodyakovskiy close behind with 404,456, and José Ángel "Cejakas14" Latorre third with 335,584) discussed a possible deal.
It didn't take long before they agreed to the "ICM"-based numbers: $596,518.34 for Tollerene, $594,069.53 for Bodyakovskiy, and $560,412.13 for Latorre, with $20K left to play for.
Bodyakovskiy was the first player to hit the rail after losing an all in with pocket 6's against Latorre's AJ of hearts. Heads-up play began with Tollerene in front with 666k to Latorre's 484k. Although both players were pretty deep stacked with blinds at only3k/6k, it took less than a few minutes before the final hand was played.
Tollerene bet 42k, Latorre called. The flop rolled out 9T7. Tollerene checked, Latorre bet 42k, Tollerene called. Both players then checked to the turn card J. The river brought the 6. Tollerene moved all in, and Latorre called with his last 468,520.
Tollerene: 87
Latorre: 99
Latorre had three-of-a-kind nines but was beat by Tollerene's jack-high straight. Tollerene received the extra 20k and the WCOOP bracelet!
WCOOP-47: $51,000 NL Hold'em (8-Max, Super High Roller)
Entries: 46
Prize pool: $2,300,000
Places paid: 6
1. Ben "Ben86" Tollerene (Canada) $616,518.34*
2. José Ángel "Cejakas14" Latorre (United Kingdom) $560,412.13*
3. Nikita "fish2013" Bodyakovskiy (Belarus) $594,069.53*
4. Nopaleva (Russia) $230,000.00
5. Mike "Tîmex" McDonald (Canada) $172,500.00
6. Fedor "CrownUpGuy" Holz (Austria) $126,500.00
* = denotes a three-way deal