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This year's WCOOP started off large, with each event expected to be just as large of a success. The 2008 WCOOP has a total of 33 events with a total guaranteed prize pool of $30 million, the main event having a third of that, a full $10 million, reserved for the single event. Last year's main event winner "Ka$ino" booked a $1,378,330 pay day.

Event #1

 

The first event, a $215 buy in 6-max No-Limit Hold'em freeze-out, brought in a total of 7,211 players on a Friday afternoon for a combined prize pool of over $1.4 million. With 6-max being the format of choice for most players, it was no surprise the first event would attract so many runners.

The well structured tournament gave the players plenty of deep stacked play, helping make skill more important than luck. It took fourteen hours to get down to a final table of six. After this half-day+ marathon the final table looked like this:

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Seat 1: - DoV - (3455180 in chips)
Seat 2: CURDOG1KCK (1258356 in chips)
Seat 3: scarface_79 (3016834 in chips)
Seat 4: SilverSocks (4867367 in chips)
Seat 5: pffwhatever (2199042 in chips)
Seat 6: shane147 (6854221 in chips)

With the final table still being very deep stacked, compared to the standard online tournament, it took one full hour of play before the first elimination. After countless more hands dealt, the remaining four players struck a deal:

DOV: $110,000
silversocks: $136,894
pffwhatever: $94,136
shane147: $182,409

The final four played for the final $20,000 cash and the WCOOP Bracelet. In the end Britain's Shane147 took home the first place prize. Including the deal, and first place winnings, the final six players all won the following amount:

1. shane147 (United Kingdom) $202,409
2. pffwhatever (Austria) $94,136
3. SilverSocks (Netherlands) $136,894
4. - DoV - (France) $110,000
5. CURDOG1KCK (United States) $49,075.61
6. scarface_79 (United States) $23,686.20

Event #2

Starting just one hour after event #1, event 2 attracted 1,024 players looking to make it rich playing Pot Limit 5-Card Draw.

The event organizers greatly underestimated the popularity of this event, setting the guaranteed prize pool line at $100,000. The actual prize pool was an impressive $204,800. The crowd was a mix of young sharps, old-timers who actually remember playing this game live, and PokerStars pros.

Some of the PokerStars pro's to buy in include Gavin Griffin, Humberto Brenes, John Duthie, Tom McEvoy, Bill Chen, Chad Brown, Vanessa Rousso, Dario Minieri, Katja Thater, Victor Ramdin, ElkY, Hevad "RaiNKhAN" Khan, Andre Aakkari and Isabelle Mercier.

Out of all the pro's to enter, it looked like Hevad "RaiNKhAN" Khan would be the only to make the final table, before busting as the final table bubble in 7th place. Here's how the final table shaped up:

#img: 208PSWCOOPevent2_24086.jpg: right:#

Seat 1: ImBillMcNeal (564,310 in chips)
Seat 2: nathalie111 (1,202,345 in chips)
Seat 3: wedlowjones (420,941 in chips)
Seat 4: Yamzit (379,148 in chips)
Seat 5: xoxol73 (98,730 in chips)
Seat 6: Isidor3 (406,526 in chips)

After some intense final table play the tournament ended with ImBillMcNeal winning the bracelet and largest share of the prize pool:

1. ImBillMcNeal $34,201.60
2. Wedlowjones $25,395,20
3. Isidor3 $18,739.20
4. Yamzit $14,848.00
5. nathalie111 $11,038.72
6. xoxol73 $7,680.00

With the 2008 WCOOP underway, some of the largest tournament action is going down daily on PokerStars right now. Sign up now to get your seat in one of the next events.

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