WCOOP Event #2 Final Table Report
Landmines. They are everywhere. Flop the nuts? No good. There are still two more cards to come. Like a big canister of Planters Mixed, the nuts change every time you look back. That's Omaha and that was WCOOP Event #2.
Omaha is a game the rewards both the loosey gooses (er, geese) and the uber-tight. Fall somewhere in between and you're likely to be doing inventory on your Planters by dinner time. As a game that, in essence, offers you six hold'em hands per deal, making the right decision is often as easy as deciding whether to jump off the bridge with or without the parachute.
That's what makes Event #2's final table finisher's worth talking about. They landed safely every time and settled in at a final table where no small amount of money was at stake.
Here's what it looked like as they all sat at the same table for the first time.
Seat 1: Rabscuttle $431,530
Seat 2: bugsen $878,092
Seat 3: epokerman (Los Angeles, CA) $230,814
Seat 4: Siegel (Oslo, Norway) $541,299
Seat 5: #1PEN (Irvine, CA) $302,264
Seat 6: MR32 (Jersey City, NJ) $1,200,922
Seat 7: bogg $335,508
Seat 8: osten (El Segundo, CA) $1,013,417
Seat 9: PokerMillion (Memphis, TN) $1,606,154
Pen dried up?
Poor #1PEN. He came into the final table with nearly the shortest stack. Only epokerman sat lower. Earlier in the game #1PEN had been accused of being a pro because his name appeared in many a WCOOP tournament lobby. His response? "Just a kid trying to make some money."
How did he go about that? Well, he doubled up early on. Facing an open raise from bogg, #1PEN re-raised for nearly half his stack from the big blind. Bogg called and they saw a flop: Qc2c5d. As expected, #1PEN pushed all in and bogg called. Bogg had flopped top pair with 8sJcQsAs, but #1PEN had an overpair with 7s6cKdKc. The pair of kings held up and #1PEN doubled up.
Who's the shortstack now, eh?
Full of grace...
"Hail Mary."
It appeared in the chatbox from the fingers of the shortstack, epokerman. He had raises in front of him and he decied to make his move and pushed in his stack. He held a pair of aces among his four cards and that seemed to make it just about as good a time as any.
Er...wait. What's Siegel doing? Yep, that's called an isolation move, folks. Siegel pushed all his chips in and got rid of the chaff, leaving him heads up with epokerman. What could Siegel have that he felt so strongly about?
Indeed, Siegel had a pair of aces as well. The problem, as it readily became apparent, was Siegel was way ahead on the flop. The flop held two diamonds and that opened up the nut flush draw for Siegel. The third diamond came mercilessly and sent epokerman to the rail in ninth place and $7,743.80.
Landmines, I say.
To further prove the power of the turn and river, Rabscuttle got all his chips in with top pair versus Poker Million's overpair. A seven on the river gave Rabscuttle two pair and what I would call a suckout if EVERY hand didn't seem like some sort of suckout in this game.
Nice hand, sir.
Poker, how many million do you need?
It became clear early on that Poker Million was the man to beat. There was barely a time at the final table where he didn't have the biggest stack at the table. Player bugsen might have noted this as he got in a raising and re-raising battle with Poker Million that ended with bugsen all-in pre-flop. Bugsen held KKQJ two-suited to Poker Million's AA72 with an ace suited. The flop came Q99, the turn an A, and the river a K, to give Poker Million the boat over boat win. Bugsen, not the first player to lose with a strong full house in Omaha, left in eighth place and $11,990.40.
As the sun started to rise over Europe and the European players started looking out their window at the children on their way to school, Poker Million counted his chips. He had a 2-1 chip lead over second place, MR32. A lock? No, but it sure must've been nice.
For the moment, anyway.
Landmines. They are everywhere. Flop the nuts? No good. There are still two more cards to come. Like a big canister of Planters Mixed, the nuts change every time you look back. That's Omaha and that was WCOOP Event #2.
Omaha is a game the rewards both the loosey gooses (er, geese) and the uber-tight. Fall somewhere in between and you're likely to be doing inventory on your Planters by dinner time. As a game that, in essence, offers you six hold'em hands per deal, making the right decision is often as easy as deciding whether to jump off the bridge with or without the parachute.
That's what makes Event #2's final table finisher's worth talking about. They landed safely every time and settled in at a final table where no small amount of money was at stake.
Here's what it looked like as they all sat at the same table for the first time.
Seat 1: Rabscuttle $431,530
Seat 2: bugsen $878,092
Seat 3: epokerman (Los Angeles, CA) $230,814
Seat 4: Siegel (Oslo, Norway) $541,299
Seat 5: #1PEN (Irvine, CA) $302,264
Seat 6: MR32 (Jersey City, NJ) $1,200,922
Seat 7: bogg $335,508
Seat 8: osten (El Segundo, CA) $1,013,417
Seat 9: PokerMillion (Memphis, TN) $1,606,154
Pen dried up?
Poor #1PEN. He came into the final table with nearly the shortest stack. Only epokerman sat lower. Earlier in the game #1PEN had been accused of being a pro because his name appeared in many a WCOOP tournament lobby. His response? "Just a kid trying to make some money."
How did he go about that? Well, he doubled up early on. Facing an open raise from bogg, #1PEN re-raised for nearly half his stack from the big blind. Bogg called and they saw a flop: Qc2c5d. As expected, #1PEN pushed all in and bogg called. Bogg had flopped top pair with 8sJcQsAs, but #1PEN had an overpair with 7s6cKdKc. The pair of kings held up and #1PEN doubled up.
Who's the shortstack now, eh?
Full of grace...
"Hail Mary."
It appeared in the chatbox from the fingers of the shortstack, epokerman. He had raises in front of him and he decied to make his move and pushed in his stack. He held a pair of aces among his four cards and that seemed to make it just about as good a time as any.
Er...wait. What's Siegel doing? Yep, that's called an isolation move, folks. Siegel pushed all his chips in and got rid of the chaff, leaving him heads up with epokerman. What could Siegel have that he felt so strongly about?
Indeed, Siegel had a pair of aces as well. The problem, as it readily became apparent, was Siegel was way ahead on the flop. The flop held two diamonds and that opened up the nut flush draw for Siegel. The third diamond came mercilessly and sent epokerman to the rail in ninth place and $7,743.80.
Landmines, I say.
To further prove the power of the turn and river, Rabscuttle got all his chips in with top pair versus Poker Million's overpair. A seven on the river gave Rabscuttle two pair and what I would call a suckout if EVERY hand didn't seem like some sort of suckout in this game.
Nice hand, sir.
Poker, how many million do you need?
It became clear early on that Poker Million was the man to beat. There was barely a time at the final table where he didn't have the biggest stack at the table. Player bugsen might have noted this as he got in a raising and re-raising battle with Poker Million that ended with bugsen all-in pre-flop. Bugsen held KKQJ two-suited to Poker Million's AA72 with an ace suited. The flop came Q99, the turn an A, and the river a K, to give Poker Million the boat over boat win. Bugsen, not the first player to lose with a strong full house in Omaha, left in eighth place and $11,990.40.
As the sun started to rise over Europe and the European players started looking out their window at the children on their way to school, Poker Million counted his chips. He had a 2-1 chip lead over second place, MR32. A lock? No, but it sure must've been nice.
For the moment, anyway.
