The 2020 WCOOP is just ten days old, but like the calf of a caribou, it was pretty much born at a gallop.
The very first day saw Benjamin “Spraggy” Spragg final table the $530 WCOOP-05-L. He quit his Twitch stream after busting in 9th in a standard coin flip. But he went right back to broadcasting not long after as he was running deep in the $5.50 WCOOP-05-S. He ended up winning the second event.
Not a bad start to his series. Plus, PokerStars must have been thrilled, as Spraggy is one of their ambassadors.
He joyfully tweeted in all caps: “I JUST WON A F[***]ING WCOOP TITLE!”
There was evening and there was morning — the first day.
Day one: the sequel
Day two brought with it a more diverse set of dramas. The $10,300 event got down to heads up between two former champs of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Dimitar “KuuL” Danchev’s Ace-7 held against Mike “SirWatts” Watson’s K-Q in a bid for that final bounty.
Shaun Deeb looked set to gain another WCOOP in the $2.1k Omaha event. the tourney ran into the small hours of day three. Unfortunately, Deeb ended up with a disappointing fifth-place finish.
Meanwhile, Day three's $5.2k Omaha event went to Dante “dantegoyaF” Goya.
The third day brought with it some more exotic games. Specifically, the first draw event (no limit 2-7 single draw) and some PLO8.
There was evening and there was morning — the second and third days.
Settling in
Things found a rhythm after that. The next few days were business as usual. Some solid Twitch streams, but not much in the way of drama.
The turn-outs for some of the events were a little disappointing.
There were only 85 entrants for the $1k fixed limit 6-max Holdem event on day four, for example. And the medium and large short deck events on day five attracted just 83 and 119 players respectively.
Day six brought with it a WCOOP first. The $109 WCOOP-16-L went to a Jerseyperson called “herves01”. This is the first time a WCOOP title has shipped to Jersey.
For anyone needing a geography refresher, Jersey is an island just off the north coast of France. This 120-square-kilometer speck on the map is best known for having named one of the United States. And for being the second best of the Channel Islands.
A week is a long time in poker
Day seven brought with it a tense heads up showdown between to 2020 WCOOP title holders. The $1k HORSE tourney ended up with Yuri “theNERDguy” Martins squaring off against Murilo “Muka82” Figueiredo.
Each of them had finished first previously. But only Martins ended up with a second first.
Meanwhile, Naoya “nkeyno” Kihara took second place in both the medium and the high buy-in 5-card draw events. A sting that only heaps of cash could salve. Luckily for Kihara, second place in both events came with five-figure scores.
Day eight came and went with little comment. Except for some words from Spraggy, who continued to rock the series. He tweeted, “Double Day 2 for WCOOP tomorrow. Nice stack in the $1050 PKO. Nearly $4,200ish locked up. $100,000 + for 1st.”
The end of the beginning
Day nine saw Fedor Holz chop a tourney for half a mill and then come in second to Adrian “Amadi_017” Mateos. That was the second WCOOP title in two days for Mateos. Meanwhile, Holz was winning his second bracelet.
There was evening and there was morning — the ninth day.
And that brings us up to today which is day ten. So, with play still underway in several events, stick with us for further WCOOP coverage.
Featured image source: Instagram
