World Championship of Online Poker 2004

Official Report
August 6, 2004

Seven-Card Stud High-Low
Buy-in: $500 (+$30)

Started - 8/5/2004 3:00:00 PM (EST)
Finished - 8/6/2004 2:47:48 AM

"LBJ1" Takes Seven-Card Stud High-Low Online World Championship - Texan Stages Most Impressive Comeback Victory in Online Poker History

Another day of the World Championship of Online Poker, and another quarter of a million dollars distributed to the winners. With nine events now complete, over 8,000 poker players have entered this year's championships, from nearly every state in the U.S. and dozens of nations scattered throughout the world. Winners have now collected over $3 million in prize money - with three of the largest events still to come.

The "Seven-Card Stud High-Low Online World Championship" attracted a whopping 454 entries - more than the number of players who entered the same event at this year's World Series of Poker. Many of the participants put up $500 (plus a $30 entry fee). For others, the entry fee was significantly less. A sizable number of players qualified through online satellites held at PokerStars.com. Many players gained their entry into the tournament from "Frequent Player Points" alone - which meant the entry fee essentially cost nothing. A total of 40 places, just short of ten percent of the field, were paid from a prize pool of $227,000.

The ultimate winner was from Texas, with the screen name "LBJ1," perhaps in reference to the 36th U.S. President from the Lone Star State. The winner collected $56,750, plus the coveted 14 karat gold bracelet awarded to each world champion. The gold bracelet is engraved with the name of the event, along with the PokerStar's 2004 WCOOP trade mark.

It wasn't just that LBJ1 won this event, it was the manner in which he staged a staggering comeback, arguably one of the most stunning comebacks in the history of online poker.

Players started the tournament with $2,500 in chips with limits set at $15-30. It took LBJ1 a total of 862 hands to reign supreme in the tournament. In heads up play, he topped another Texan, "jdags21."

Although finalists have come from many countries, this final table was decidedly an all-North American affair - with seven Americans and one Canadian. Seating and chip counts were as follows:

THE FINAL TABLE

Seat 1: Kingmaker (32,312 in chips)
Seat 2: donnalee (67,991 in chips)
Seat 3: sheets (131,449 in chips)
Seat 4: annand (84,597 in chips)
Seat 5: LBJ1 (39,004 in chips)
Seat 6: DontGoBroke (201,877 in chips)
Seat 7: jdags21 (369,317 in chips)
Seat 8: fuzzyamp (208,453 in chips)

Incredibly, LBJ1 came to the final table with just $39,004 in chips. Contrast this with Jags21 (runner up) with over $369K. The 10-1 chip disadvantage didn't matter. With limits pumped up to $4,000-8,000 LBJ1 caught fire and burned everyone at the final table with a scorching victory.

It took 370 hands - one of the longest final tables ever on record (in live action or online play) to determine the winner. Even with the accelerated play of online poker, the final table took nearly five hours to complete. With hundreds of observers watching from their computers all over the world, the final two hands came as follows:

THE FINAL HANDS

Hand #861
PokerStars Game #595817300: Tournament #1742809, 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo Limit - Level XVIII (15000/30000) - 2004/08/06 - 02:46:49 (ET)
Table '1742809 38'
Seat 5: LBJ1 (947846 in chips)
Seat 7: jdags21 (187154 in chips)
LBJ1: posts the ante 2000
jdags21: posts the ante 2000
*** 3rd STREET ***
Dealt to LBJ1 [7s]
Dealt to jdags21 [Td]
LBJ1: brings-in low 5000
jdags21: calls 5000
*** 4th STREET ***
Dealt to LBJ1 [7s] [Kc]
Dealt to jdags21 [Td] [Kd]
jdags21: checks
LBJ1: bets 15000
jdags21: raises 15000 to 30000
LBJ1: calls 15000
*** 5th STREET ***
Dealt to LBJ1 [7s Kc] [3h]
Dealt to jdags21 [Td Kd] [9s]
jdags21: bets 30000
LBJ1: calls 30000
*** 6th STREET ***
Dealt to LBJ1 [7s Kc 3h] [2h]
Dealt to jdags21 [Td Kd 9s] [5h]
jdags21: bets 30000
LBJ1: raises 30000 to 60000
jdags21: calls 30000
*** RIVER ***
Dealt to LBJ1 [7s Kc 3h 2h] [4c]
jdags21: checks
LBJ1: bets 30000
jdags21: calls 30000
*** SHOW DOWN ***
LBJ1: shows [3d 2c 7s Kc 3h 2h 4c] (HI: two pair, Threes and Deuces)
jdags21: mucks hand
LBJ1 collected 314000 from pot
No low hand qualified
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 314000 | Rake 0
Seat 5: LBJ1 showed [3d 2c 7s Kc 3h 2h 4c] and won (314000) with HI: two pair, Threes and Deuces
Seat 7: jdags21 mucked [Jc 9d Td Kd 9s 5h 8d] - HI: a pair of Nines

That left jdags21 severely short-stacked. He was eliminated on the next hand:

Hand #862
PokerStars Game #595818156: Tournament #1742809, 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo Limit - Level XVIII (15000/30000) - 2004/08/06 - 02:47:23 (ET)
Table '1742809 38'
Seat 5: LBJ1 (1104846 in chips)
Seat 7: jdags21 (30154 in chips)
LBJ1: posts the ante 2000
jdags21: posts the ante 2000
*** 3rd STREET ***
Dealt to LBJ1 [7s]
Dealt to jdags21 [2h]
jdags21: brings-in low 5000
LBJ1: raises 10000 to 15000
jdags21: raises 13154 to 28154 and is all-in
LBJ1: calls 13154
*** 4th STREET ***
Dealt to LBJ1 [7s] [7c]
Dealt to jdags21 [2h] [5h]
*** 5th STREET ***
Dealt to LBJ1 [7s 7c] [5d]
Dealt to jdags21 [2h 5h] [5s]
*** 6th STREET ***
Dealt to LBJ1 [7s 7c 5d] [9d]
Dealt to jdags21 [2h 5h 5s] [Ad]
*** RIVER ***
Dealt to LBJ1 [7s 7c 5d 9d] [Jd]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
LBJ1: shows [9h 2c 7s 7c 5d 9d Jd] (HI: two pair, Nines and Sevens)
jdags21: shows [3h Tc 2h 5h 5s Ad 3c] (HI: two pair, Fives and Threes)
LBJ1 collected 60308 from pot
No low hand qualified
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 60308 | Rake 0
Seat 5: LBJ1 showed [9h 2c 7s 7c 5d 9d Jd] and won (60308) with HI: two pair, Nines and Sevens
Seat 7: jdags21 showed [3h Tc 2h 5h 5s Ad 3c] and lost with HI: two pair, Fives and Threes

LBJ1's two-pair was victorious. By any account, it was one of the most impressive and most unlikely tournament wins in recent memory. He becomes the ninth PokerStars.com 2004 WCOOP Champion.

Report by Nolan Dalla
Director of Communications - PokerStars.com

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