The PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) features three buy-in levels for most tournaments - Low, Medium and High. There’s nothing to stop you from playing them all, of course, and nothing to stop you winning them - aside from the hundreds of other players trying to score the win themselves.
While multiple winners at WCOOP are nothing new, one player from the UK has just pulled off the unprecedented feat of winning two of the three pot-limit Omaha Main Events. On the same day. Within two hours of each other. For a combined $257K.
No one can keep up with the Joneses
Gruffudd ‘d.apollo777’ Jones entered the final day of the High $10,300 PLO World Championship second in chips, and the Medium $1,050 version of the same event as chip leader. The High Main Event (ME) was being led by Martin ‘Imbajimbaa’ Dam, the defending champion, who was after a rare double of his own in an attempt to go back-to-back and win the event two years in a row. He came extremely close, eventually chopping the tourney with Jones - and taking the bigger chunk of the prize money - but it was Jones who eventually triumphed heads-up for the title and the trophy.
Incredibly, Jones and Dam were contesting both the High and Medium PLO ME finales simultaneously, but Dam was the first out in the latter, finishing in 9th place. Jones repeated the feat, however, chalking up his second ME win of the night - and $92,442 - less than two hours after his first. As of 8:50pm UK time he had no WCOOP titles to his name. By 10:50pm he had two.
Over in the Low $109 edition of the PLO ME, fan favorite Lex Veldhuis (above) was attempting to win a second WCOOP title of his own. Veldhuis made the final table but was ultimately unable to reach the biggest payouts, finishing in sixth place for a little over $5K. Playing from Poland, ‘Sajmon152’ eventually took it down for $31,377.
WCOOP 111-High $10,300 World Championship of PLO Main Event final results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gruffudd ‘d.apollo777’ Jones | *$164,627 |
| 2 | Martin ‘Imbajimbaa’ Dam | *$185,574 |
| 3 | Benny 'RunGodlike' Glaser | $113,284 |
| 4 | 'Suhepxm' | $86,317 |
| 5 | Linus 'LLinusLLove' Loeliger | $65,770 |
| 6 | 'DingeBrinker' | $50,113 |
| 7 | 'Lrslzk' | $38,184 |
| 8 | 'Alister307' | $29,094 |
| 9 | 'ComeForLunch' | $29,094 |
*denotes final table deal
WCOOP 111-Medium $10,50 PLO Main Event final results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gruffudd ‘d.apollo777’ Jones | $92,442 |
| 2 | 'CJH1979' | $66,027 |
| 3 | 'gavz10' | $47,161 |
| 4 | Mikhail ‘FAL1st’ Yakovlev | $33,685 |
| 5 | 'mikki696' | $24,060 |
| 6 | 'badbomen' | $17,185 |
| 7 | 'barbababa9' | $13,774 |
| 8 | 'URMYLeNoR' | $11,040 |
| 9 | Martin ‘Imbajimbaa’ Dam | $11,040 |
WCOOP 111-Low $109 PLO Main Event final results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 'Sajmon152' | $31,377 |
| 2 | 'C. Darwin2' | $21,861 |
| 3 | 'SureShot26' | $15,232 |
| 4 | 'Legionse' | $10,613 |
| 5 | 'Sasuke234' | $7,395 |
| 6 | Lex 'L. Veldhuis' Veldhuis | $5,152 |
| 7 | 'vavan199212' | $3,590 |
| 8 | 'Killinfields' | $2,501 |
| 9 | 'JoseGuti' | $2,501 |
No-limit hold'em Main Events build to a climax
While the PLO Main Events ended on Tuesday, the NLHE editions played down to the final tables for each of the buy-in levels, all of which will conclude on Wednesday evening at 6:30pm CET.
The final nine in the High $10,300 World Championship of NLHE are currently led by Guillaume 'Nolet20' Nolet, whose stack of 38M chips (around 150bbs) is some way ahead of nearest rival Darrell 'FourFourSix' Goh's 29M. The shortstack, 'prebz', comes in to the final day's play with just 8bbs, and will be looking to spin it up rather than take the $78,985 on offer for 9th place. First place prize money is $1,007,058.
The Medium $1,050 NLHE Main Event has $551,205 up top, and chip leader 'Riverbanged' has 84M chips. Stacks range from around 50 down to 9, so expect fireworks, and someone to claim the $36,746 9th place prize money sooner rather than later.
Finally, the Low $109 NLHE Main Event has even shallower stacks, with chip leader '777ANTONY777' sitting on 121M, or around 40bbs. The shortstack here has only around 6bbs, and while the $16,986 available for 9th represents a good return on the $109 investment, all eyes will be on the $254,806 top prize.
