Official Report
August 9, 2004

Event 12

No-Limit Texas Hold'em Championship Event
Buy-in: $2,500 (+$100)

Total Entries:	843
Total Prize Pool:	$2,107,500

Started - 8/8/2004 4:30:00 PM (EST)
Finished - 8/9/2004 4:43:00 AM (EST)

A Star is Born: Norwegian Player "Ragde" is the 2004 World Championship of Online Poker Winner!

Official Results (Note: Standings reflect order of finish, payouts reflect actual prize money received - deal made between final two players)
1.	Ragde	Oslo		Norway	$424,945.26
2.	mr. steal	Hellerup		Denmark	$396,979.74
3.	iamlucky	Shepperton		United Kingdom	$189,675.00
4.	Sealand	Copenhagen		Denmark	$136,987.50
5.	sonofjws	Jackson	WY	United States	$113,805.00
6.	Van Diesel	Toronto	ON	Canada	$92,730.00
7.	PagonaB	Media	PA	United States	$71,655.00
8.	Kid Blaast	Bristol		United States	$50,580.00
9.	William	Varberg		Sweden	$32,666.25
10th through 18th place paid $21,075.00 19th through 27th place paid $11,591.25 28th through 36th place paid $8,430.00 37th through 45th place paid $6,322.50 46th through 63rd place paid $5,268.75 64th through 81st place paid $4,215.00

Overall 2004 WCOOP Statistics Total Entries to Date: 10,085 Total Prize Money Distributed: $6,002,300

The third annual World Championship of Online Poker is now over. With 12 events completed, the final numbers are astounding. Not only was the 2004 WCOOP the largest online poker tournament in history by an overwhelming margin, the annual event sponsored by PokerStars.com now rivals the biggest and most prestigious land-based tournaments in the world. Over ten thousand players entered this year's online world poker championships. With satellite entries, the total number of participants in this year's championship was about 30,000. The total prize money distributed to the winners amounted to a staggering $6,002,300. Over six million dollars!

Players came from all 50 U.S. states and over 50 countries. They played Omaha High-Low, Pot-Limit Omaha, Heads-up Hold'em, Limit Hold'em, No-Limit Hold'em, Pot-Limit Hold'em, Seven-Card Stud, and Seven-Card Stud High-Low. PokerStars.com was the first online site to offer a major Heads-up Hold'em tournament. This year's WCOOP also featured a "re-buy" tournament for the first time in history.

The grand finale of the tournament was the official "World Championship of Online Poker - main event." The entry fee cost $2,500 - a high enough figure to attract many of the biggest names in poker. Many of the participants put up the $2,500 entry fee. But for others, the entry fee came at a bargain. A sizable number of players qualified through online satellites held regularly at PokerStars.com. Many more players gained their entry into the tournament with "Frequent Player Points" alone - which meant the entry fee essentially cost nothing.

The total prize pool for the main event alone exceeded two million dollars - a higher figure than many of the biggest poker events shown on television. A total of 81 places were paid, with the top spot advertised as $526,875. No Internet-based competition of any kind in history has ever awarded such a large cash prize. Incredibly, all of the top five spots won in excess of six-figures, an unprecedented payout for an online poker tournament. Twenty-seven players won $10,000 or more in this event.

For anyone still doubting whether poker is an "international" game, all one must do is glance at the payout tables. The payouts reflected a wide variety of countries and player nationalities. Here are the counties represented, along with money won by players of the respective country for the championship event:

United States	$647,002.50
Denmark	$533,967.24
Norway	$424,945.26
United Kingdom	$268,706.25
Canada	$92,730.00
Sweden	$79,031.25
Australia	$25,290.00
Netherlands	$10,537.50
Russian Fed.	$6,322.50
Ireland	$5,268.75
Switzerland	$5,268.75
Mexico	$4,215.00
Finland	$4,215.00
Grand Total	$2,107,500.00

The championship event also attracted many of the top names in poker including five former world poker champions. Several other top stars competed as well, including former gold bracelet winners, former World Poker Tour and World Series of Poker finalists, and at least one WSOP runner-up. Grey Raymer, Daniel Negreanu, Josh Arieh, and David Williams were just a few of the big names who played in the main event.

One of the key hands of the tournament took place when reigning world poker champion Greg Raymer was eliminated by Sealand - who would go on to dominate play during much of the tournament as the chip leader. The hand went as follows:

RAYMER ("FOSSILMAN") ELIMINATED BY SEALAN

PokerStars Game #602454598: Tournament #1742813, Hold'em No Limit - Level
XII (1000/2000) - 2004/08/08 - 22:50:18 (ET)
Table '1742813 55' Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Sealand (68818 in chips)
Seat 2: aggiedad (15704 in chips)
Seat 5: Rigoletto (31800 in chips)
Seat 6: must peel (14698 in chips)
Seat 8: gangster2222 (16141 in chips)
Seat 9: javahound (35191 in chips)
Seat 3: FossilMan (57657 in chips)
Seat 4: animalmother (59301 in chips)

22:50:18 Sealand: posts the ante 100
22:50:18 aggiedad: posts the ante 100
22:50:18 FossilMan: posts the ante 100
22:50:18 animalmother: posts the ante 100
22:50:18 Rigoletto: posts the ante 100
22:50:18 must peel: posts the ante 100
22:50:18 gangster2222: posts the ante 100
22:50:18 javahound: posts the ante 100
22:50:18 Moving Bets to Pot
22:50:18 aggiedad: posts small blind 1000
22:50:18 FossilMan: posts big blind 2000
22:50:48 Sealand: raises 2000 to 4000
22:50:52 FossilMan: calls 2000
22:50:52 Moving Bets to Pot
22:50:52 *** FLOP *** [8h Td Jc]
22:50:56 FossilMan: checks
22:51:06 Sealand: bets 4000
22:51:09 FossilMan: calls 4000
22:51:09 Moving Bets to Pot
22:51:09 *** TURN *** [8h Td Jc] [6c]
22:51:12 FossilMan: checks
22:51:27 Player Sealand has requested TIME
22:51:34 Sealand: bets 10000
22:51:39 FossilMan: raises 39557 to 49557 and is all-in
22:51:54 Player Sealand has requested TIME
22:53:20 Sealand: calls 39557
22:53:20 Moving Bets to Pot
22:53:24 *** RIVER *** [8h Td Jc 6c] [Jd]
FossilMan: shows [6h 8c] (two pair, Jacks and Eights)
22:53:27 Sealand: shows [As Ah] (two pair, Aces and Jacks)
22:53:30 Sealand collected 116914 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 116914 | Rake 0
Board [8h Td Jc 6c Jd]
Seat 1: Sealand (button) showed [As Ah] and won (116914) with two pair, Aces and Jacks
Seat 3: FossilMan (big blind) showed [6h 8c] and lost with two pair, Jacks and Eights

After he busted out, Raymer analyzed the hand as follows:

"I started the hand with $57K, and was paying a big blind of $2K. Sealand raised the minimum preflop, so I'm going to call with a WIDE variety of hands, even though such a raise does have the smell of a trap to it. Trapping the trapper is always fun and often profitable. When I caught bottom pair on the coordinated 8-T-J flop, I was prepared to check-fold. However, Sealand's very small bet of $4K into a pot of over $10K was odd. Even if trapping with A-A or K-K, I would've expected a larger bet here. One possibility that occurred to me at this point was that he merely had overcards, and was figuring me to fold easily if I had nothing. That is, he could have A-K or A-Q that he played a little slow pre-flop, and was continuing to play it slow; not because he was trapping anymore, but because he felt a $4K bet might work almost as often as a more reasonable $8K bet. In that case, my one pair is ahead, and if I flat call the $4K flop bet, check the turn (and it's not an A, K, or Q), he probably checks behind me on the turn, and I know with a relatively high degree of certainty that my one pair is ahead.

When I made two pair on the turn, I knew it was very likely I was in the lead. I checked without being sure if I would call or raise. If he had bet the pot or so ($15-20K) I probably just call. But, since he bet small ($10K) only about half the pot, I was pretty certain that I was ahead. As such,since he could easily have a good straight draw, or even a pair plus a straight draw, I decided to raise 'all-in' and make sure he did not have pot odds to draw to any of those hands. I also wanted to deny proper pot odds to other hands he could still hold, such as A-A, K-K, Q-Q, A-J, or A-T. If he had flopped a straight, two pair, or a set, then I was way behind. But since I would've paid him off on the river anyway, I preferred to charge the drawing hands and take the risk of running into a monster. Once he called, I was glad he had, until he hit his 8-outer on the river."

And so, Greg "Fossilman" Raymer was gone. Despite all the big names, the final table was comprised of several newcomers, who were playing for the biggest prize pool of their life. Six countries were represented, including Canada, Denmark, England, Norway, Sweden, and the United States. The tournament had begun ten hours earlier, and exactly 573 hands later, the final table was set:

THE FINAL TABLE

Seat 1: iamlucky (359,964 in chips)
Seat 2: sonofjws (62,864 in chips)
Seat 3: Kid Blaast (111,060 in chips)
Seat 4: Vandiesel (389,725 in chips)
Seat 5: mr. steal (362,284 in chips)
Seat 6: Sealand (516,487 in chips)
Seat 7: NO PLAYER (William busted out on the hand prior to moving to the final table)
Seat 8: Ragde (132,526 in chips)
Seat 9: PagonaB (172,590 in chips)

"Sealand," from Denmark enjoyed a definitive chip advantage when the final table began - eight-handed. Blinds were $6,000-12,000. After three of the shortest stacks busted, Sealand increased his chip lead even more and became the first player to exceed one-million in chips.

Four-handed play took over an hour, as 68 hands were played before the next player was eliminated. Incredibly, Sealand was the next player to make an exit. Sealand lost two huge pots, both to Ragde - which essentially took him from a decisive chip lead to the rail. The turning point occurred as follows:

KEY HAND (THE TURNING POINT)

Hand #691
PokerStars Game #602996877: Tournament #1742813, Hold'em No Limit - Level XX (20000/40000) - 2004/08/09 - 04:07:48 (ET)
Table '1742813 99' Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: iamlucky (344274 in chips)
Seat 5: mr. steal (430340 in chips)
Seat 6: Sealand (734454 in chips)
Seat 8: Ragde (598432 in chips)
04:07:48 iamlucky: posts the ante 2000
04:07:48 mr. steal: posts the ante 2000
04:07:48 Sealand: posts the ante 2000
04:07:48 Ragde: posts the ante 2000
04:07:48 Moving Bets to Pot
04:07:48 Ragde: posts small blind 20000
04:07:48 iamlucky: posts big blind 40000
04:07:51 mr. steal: folds
04:08:01 Sealand: raises 80000 to 120000
04:08:14 Ragde: raises 100000 to 220000
04:08:19 iamlucky: folds
04:08:32 Sealand: calls 100000
04:08:32 Moving Bets to Pot
04:08:32 *** FLOP *** [Js 7d Jd]
04:08:46 Ragde: bets 60000
04:09:06 Sealand: raises 452454 to 512454 and is all-in
04:09:08 Ragde: calls 316432 and is all-in
04:09:08 Moving Bets to Pot
04:09:15 *** TURN *** [Js 7d Jd] [4s]
04:09:18 *** RIVER *** [Js 7d Jd 4s] [4c]
04:09:21 *** SHOW DOWN ***
Ragde: shows [Ah Ac] (two pair, Aces and Jacks)
04:09:21 Sealand: shows [Td Qd] (two pair, Jacks and Fours)
04:09:23 Ragde collected 1240864 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1240864 | Rake 0
Board [Js 7d Jd 4s 4c]
Seat 1: iamlucky (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: mr. steal folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Sealand (button) showed [Td Qd] and lost with two pair, Jacks and Fours
Seat 8: Ragde (small blind) showed [Ah Ac] and won (1240864) with two pair, Aces and Jacks

Sealand had a diamond draw, but missed. Had he hit a diamond on the turn of river, it's fair to say the result of the WCOOP main event would have been completely reversed. Instead, Sealand was left with just $136K in chips while Ragde doubled up to $1.24 million. A short time later, Sealand busted out as the fourth-place finisher and Ragde had over $1.6 million in chips. It appeared Ragde would end the final table quickly, with a hyper-aggressive style that had his two opponents on the defensive.

CHIP COUNTS

Seat 1: iamlucky (253,274 in chips)
Seat 5: mr. steal (164,340 in chips)
Seat 8: Ragde (1,689,886 in chips)

Out-chipped by more than 6 to 1, "Mr. Steal" started to make his move. After "iamlucky" was eliminated in third place, Mr. Steal nearly stole the show. He rocketed up from nowhere to acquire over $1 million in chips, within just a ten-hand span. Faced with the prospect that it was now either player's tournament to win, the two finalists agreed to a deal and the remaining prize money was divided according to chip counts. In the end, Ragde took $424,945,26. Mr. Steal agreed to take $393,979.74.

With the money concerns out of the way, it was now time to play for the WCOOP gold bracelet and the title "2004 Online Poker World Champion." With several thousand observers watching from their computers all over the world, the final hand came as follows:

THE FINAL HAND

Hand #740
PokerStars Game #603029634: Tournament #1742813, Hold'em No Limit - Level XX (20000/40000) - 2004/08/09 - 04:42:47 (ET)
Table '1742813 99' Seat #8 is the button
Seat 5: mr. steal (477634 in chips)
Seat 8: Ragde (1629866 in chips)
04:42:47 mr. steal: posts the ante 2000
04:42:47 Ragde: posts the ante 2000
04:42:47 Moving Bets to Pot
04:42:47 Ragde: posts small blind 20000
04:42:47 mr. steal: posts big blind 40000
04:42:47 *** HOLE CARDS ***
04:42:52 Ragde: raises 80000 to 120000
04:42:54 mr. steal: raises 355634 to 475634 and is all-in
04:43:13 Ragde: calls 355634
04:43:13 Moving Bets to Pot
04:43:17 *** FLOP *** [Td Qc Jd]
04:43:23 *** TURN *** [Td Qc Jd] [7s]
04:43:26 *** RIVER *** [Td Qc Jd 7s] [8c]
04:43:29 *** SHOW DOWN ***
mr. steal: shows [4d 4s] (a pair of Fours)
04:43:29 Ragde: shows [7d 7c] (three of a kind, Sevens)
04:43:31 Lee Jones [observer] said, Good match both players!! Well done!
04:43:32 Ragde collected 955268 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 955268 | Rake 0
Board [Td Qc Jd 7s 8c]
Seat 5: mr. steal (big blind) showed [4d 4s] and lost with a pair of Fours
Seat 8: Ragde (button) (small blind) showed [7d 7c] and won (955268) with three of a kind, Sevens

Ragde had three sevens when a 7 came on the turn, and Mr. Steal was drawing dead. A few seconds later, the tournament was over. That gave the Norwegian poker player the world online poker championship. He thus becomes the third PokerStars.com WCOOP Champion. Ragde received the coveted 14 karat gold bracelet, which is engraved with the name of the event, along with the PokerStar's 2004 WCOOP trade mark.

Ragde is a married 30-year-old financial analyst from Oslo, Norway. After the tournament, Ragde was interviewed in a trans-Atlantic conference call. He said that he plays poker part-time, both online and live-action. He attended 2004 WSOP (and admittedly did not do so good, in his own words. Ragde is part of Norwegian group of players who have burst upon the poker scene in recent years. The WCOOP is his first major tournament win.

"Today, I made more money in ten hours than I would make in about ten years of working my job, Ragde said afterward. My main goal was just to end up in the money. Then, when I made it into the money, my goal changed. Then, I just wanted to play the best that I could.

Ragde quietly went about his business, while most of the attention was focused elsewhere. He was never a force until the final stages of the tournament. I stayed pretty much even all through the entire tournament. At one point, after about 4 hours, I was very short -- then, I doubled up twice and was back to average. When asked about the financial deals that were proposed, Ragde said: All four of us had been playing for more than ten hours. I thought it would be reasonable to try and split the money. But the guy from Denmark (Sealand) did not want to make a deal. We kept on playing....I played two big pots with him and took almost half of his chips. Then, he started to talk about a deal. We took a vote and wanted to deal, but we couldn't agree. So, we played down to two and then dealt based on the chip counts, which I think was fair."

When asked what's it like to win half a million dollars, Ragde was nearly speechless. "I don't think it's quite sunk in yet. I still can't believe it, he said. I'll probably pay off some debts and pay the mortgage on the house.

Ragde closed his victory by congratulating his opponents and complimenting PokerStars, the host of the 2004 World Championship of Online Poker: "PokerStars is the leading poker site online, because of the number of players. You are always able to get into a cash game or tournament at PokerStars. I play mostly at PokerStars because it's one of the best sites."

News of Ragde's victory spread quickly. In his home country of Norway, his win was the morning headline at VG Nett, the website of Norway's largest newspaper.

Another player becomes a "World Champion" at PokerStars.com.

Report by Nolan Dalla
Director of Communications - PokerStars.com

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