It was a shell-shocked but philosophical Lex Veldhuis who emerged from a potential WCOOP double on Saturday night with third and fourth place finishes. It meant a welcome $80k+ bankroll boost, but the search for his first COOP title goes on.
The PokerStars pro, who talked to us ahead of his big double Day 2, was hoping for more, sitting 1/4 in the $10,300 8-Game and 4/9 in the $5,200 NLH Turbo as the tournaments resumed.
Day 2 of WCOOP-55H: $10,300 8-Game
Ahead of the 8-Game restart, Veldhuis admitted, “I don’t have a strategy set out,” and added in reply to a follower, “I am by far the worst player here; they should not deal with me.”
Facing online beasts Connor “blanconegro” Drinan, Rui “RuiNF” Ferreira, and Finnish pro “XD89lol<3” made Veldhuis’ task even more difficult.
It started badly. In the first few levels, very little went his way, with Veldhuis saying, “The combination of not knowing wtf you’re doing, and variance, and ICM? Sheez!”
With Drinan taking some very unorthodox lines and Ferreira surviving several all-ins, the usually cool Veldhuis was getting animated: "I’m gonna react to every hand because I’m stressed. I don’t know what’s going on," Veldhuis told his viewers.
Things didn’t improve much from there, and just when they looked like they might... the poker gods struck, and Veldhuis departed in fourth place in a hand of limit hold'em. You can watch his unfortunate exit here.
WCOOP-55H: $10,300 8-Game results
| Place | Player | Prize |
| 1 | XD89lol<3 | $127,483 |
| 2 | RuiNF | $78,673 |
| 3 | blanconegro | $46,214 |
| 4 | L.Veldhuis | $22,630 |
Day 2 of WCOOP-56H: $5,200 Turbo
Veldhuis didn't have much time for reflection. Day 2 of the $5,200 Turbo kicked off almost straight after his exit from the Eight-Game.
Within 5 minutes – just half a level – we had a seven-handed final table, with everyone guaranteed $18.1k and more than $100k up top. Ole “wizowizo” Schemion was one of the casualties.
A massive ace-high flush against king-high flush hand saw Veldhuis chop that number down to six, and shortly afterwards came a critical point in his search for gold.
Four-handed and all-in with 66 vs 55, the board ran out to a chopped pot, a stunned Veldhuis staring in disbelief at his screen.
"I want to win!"
A hero call with second pair returned some hope and was accompanied by a “Yes! Yes! Come on man, come on!” And when “SerVlaMin” fell in fourth with AJ vs AQ there was still a chance, although Veldhuis was the short stack.
“Next pay jump $20k – I want to fucking win!” screamed Veldhuis to his equally hopeful band of online followers, but it wasn’t to be. His final hand saw him get it in with AQ against eights, only to see "alberto.m7" – the eventual winner – make a straight. Watch the final flip and a despondent Veldhuis here.
Clearly saddened at missing out on a WCOOP title, it was a philosophical Vedhuis who reasoned, “All said and done it’s good... I’m very fucking happy with this cash... $58k.”
The near-misses will likely take some getting over, though, as he shared: “The 8-game... that is the most insane adrenaline-filled hours. That was insane.”
WCOOP-56H: $5,200 Turbo results
| Place | Player | Prize |
| 1 | alberto.m7 | $103,915 |
| 2 | Jepser8 | $77,678 |
| 3 | L.Veldhuis | $58,065 |
| 4 | SerVlaMin | $58,065 |
| 5 | Negriin | $32,446 |
| 6 | thelpoker | $24,253 |
| 7 | srxakgirona | $18,130 |
| 8 | wizowizo | $13,552 |
| 9 | RUMUKULUS | $13,552 |
Breaking: Veldhuis went on to come close in another two WCOOP titles on Saturday night, finishing second in the $1k Turbo and third in the $1k Turbo KO. Those two deep runs capped off an extraordinary day for the PokerStars pro, who will keep battling for his first WCOOP title.
The WCOOP is still running on PokerStars, with the four-day $6 million guaranteed main event starting on October 1. There are also $1,050 and £109 versions of the main event starting on the same day.
