It’s already the “action game.” Pot-limit Omaha, that is. Make it six-handed and allow for some rebuys and add-ons, and the adrenaline flows even more freely. WCOOP Event #33 combined all of those elements, a 6-max., $320 buy-in PLO event with one re-buy available ($300 for 5,000 chips) and one add-on (also $300 for 5,000). And, as expected, an exciting, fast-paced, drama-filled tournament it turned out to be.

A total of 811 players entered, between them taking 506 re-buys and 503 add-ons. That created an overall prize pool of $546,000, exceeding the event’s $500K guarantee. The top 102 finishers would get paid, with a handsome $96,259.80 due the winner.

Early on it was Steve “stevesbets” Jacobs of PokerStars Team Online and Andrew “RunThisTable” Lichetenberger leaping to the top of the leaderboard, although soon both shampusik and Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul would challenge them for the chip lead.

At the four-hour mark, Supa4real had assumed the lead with 321 players remaining, while PokerStars Team Online pro Alexey “LuckyGump” Makarov was moving up the leaderboard into the bottom of the top 30, and Friend of PokerStars Orel Hershiser (“O.Hershiser”) was hovering around 60th place. A couple more hours passed and shampusik had once more assumed the chip lead.

Not long after that the money bubble began drawing near, at which point Makarov and Team PokerStars pro Richard Toth had both moved into the top ten. Fellow PS pro Noah “Exclusive” Boeken hung on with a short stack, but before the cash was reached Boeken found himself all in for his last 31,580 with A♥ Q♣ Q♠ 6♥ against KJulius10’s K♠ K♦ 5♣ 4♣ . The board ran out 9♥ 5♥ 7♦ 6♠ 10♦ , and Boeken missed the cash, finishing in 110th place.

At the seven-hour break exactly 103 players remained — just one elimination from the money. kleath was in first place at that point, followed by AJSuited16 in second and “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul in third. Toth was still there in seventh, with “LuckyGump” Makarov in 43rd and Hershiser in 48th.

The bubble finally burst in a hand at LuckyGump and BeL0WaB0Ve’s table. With the blinds 800/1600 (Level 19), a series of preflop raises between BeL0WaB0Ve and zzzzzamm resulted in the latter being all in for 96,112 — a better than average stack at that point. During the preflop back-and-forthing between the pair, zzzzzamm typed “bubble boy lol,” realizing that it was looking as though he was about to risk becoming such in the hand.

zzzzzamm had a good hand — K♣ K♠ J♦ J♣ — though would have to outdraw Saul’s A♦ A♣ K♥ Q♠ . But the 10♠ 7♥ 4♣ 5♦ 5♣ board didn’t cooperate with zzzzzamm, and he was out just shy of the money in 103rd.

Eliminations came quickly thereafter, including “LuckyGump” Makarov going out in 78th (at the hands of nemesis662), Hershiser in 66th (knocked out by ProCasanova), and Toth in 59th.

In Toth’s elimination hand, he found himself all in before the flop with A♥ J♠ 9♣ 7♥ against Ben “Benba” Lamb’s K♥ Q♣ 10♣ 2♥ , and when the community cards brought three clubs, Lamb’s flush sent Toth packing.

Team PokerStars Pro Richard Toth

That hand would help move Lamb into the top ten with 50 players left, at which point James “Andy McLEOD” Obst was riding along at the top of the counts with more than 600,000 chips. As the field shrunk to 30, Obst continued to maintain his lead, pushing out even further.

With 24 to go, he still led, having moved past the one million-chip mark. With 18 to go, Andy McLEOD was still in first position, now with nearly 1.5 million.

A while later “Benba” Lamb went out in 14th and Browntown19 in 13th, leaving 12 players sitting around two tables. The tourney had reached the 11-hour mark, and chapmoney had just wrested the chip lead away from Obst, sitting with 1.33 million to Obst’s 1.27 million. And less than 2,000 chips behind Obst in third place sat Jonathan “Iftarii” Jaffe, winner of last year’s WCOOP Event #27, the $25,500 NLHE heads-up event. The three leaders were all seated at the same six-handed table, as it happened, leading one to expect some fireworks between them would be occurring.

It was another player — umbrillo — who would soon get into it with Iftarii, however, doubling his stack of 674,313 through Iftarii in a hand in which umbrillo got it all in on the flop with a straight draw versus Iftarri’s overpair of aces, and managed to hit on the river. Just a few hands later Andy McLEOD finished off Iftarii, who hit the rail in 12th. Jaffe was followed by Volanthn in 11th, nemesis662 in 10th, and pgcannonball in ninth.

Andy McLEOD, meanwhile, moved up close to 2.5 million before doubling up NYC P.I.M.P. in a hand in which the latter was all in before the flop with K♠ K♣ 10♣ 9♠ against Obst’s A♣ A♦ K♦ J♠ , flopped the case king, and had his hand hold up. NYC P.I.M.P — who won a WCOOP bracelet in 2008 in a $1K NLHE event — moved close to a million on that one, but Andy McLEOD still had a comfortable lead among the final eight with 2.1 million.

Soon Andy McLEOD dispatched of both kleath in eighth place and K_ROSE in seventh, and thereby carried a massive chip lead to the six-handed final table.

Seat 1: umbrillo — 848,176
Seat 2: Darreta — 1,405,510
Seat 3: chapmoney — 945,306
Seat 4: greenrizla — 1,142,972
Seat 5: NYC P.I.M.P — 895,784
Seat 6: Andy McLEOD — 3,862,252

With more than 40% of the chips in play, “Andy McLEOD” Obst appeared the odds-on favorite to add a second WCOOP bracelet to his collection to go with the one he won in 2008, also a PLO event.

umbrillo began the final table with the shortest stack, and within a few minutes it had been cut further down to 425,171. With the blinds 15,000/30,000 (Level 32), umbrillo raised to 90,000 from under the gun and got one caller in chapmoney. The flop came 8♠ 6♦ 2♦ , umbrillo bet 225,000 (the pot), chapmoney raised to 450,000, and umbrillo called with his remaning 110,171.

umbrillo had K♣ K♠ J♦ J♥ for an overpair, but chapmoney’s 7♠ 6♣ 5♦ 4♥ and wrap draw was actually a favorite — more than 2-to-1, in fact. The turn was the Q♦ and umbrillo was still best, but the 9♦ on the river gave chapmoney the straight, and umbrillo hit the rail in sixth just prior to the 12-hour break.

The remaining five would then battle for nearly a full hour, with Andy McLEOD maintaining his large lead and the other four bouncing between 1-1.5 million chips. Finally came a hand in Level 34 (blinds 25,000/50,000) in which Darreta opened for 103,003 from the button, then chapmoney raised to 359,009 from the small blind. greenrizla folded in the big blind, and Darreta called.

The flop came 3♠ 6♥ 8♣ , and chapmoney pushed all in for 713,008. Darreta called, showing 9♠ 8♠ 6♠ 5♣ for two pair, while chapmoney needed help with A♣ A♥ K♣ 2♣ . The turn was the 2♥ and river the 9♣ , and Darreta’s hand remained best, knocking chapmoney out in fifth.

The battle continued, with the tourney passing the 13-hour mark. NYC P.I.M.P., having slipped to last position with 595,239, limped from the small blind, and Andy McLEOD raised to 150,000 from the big blind. NYC P.I.M.P then check-raised to 450,000, Obst made it 750,000, and NYC P.I.M.P called with his remaining chips.

NYC P.I.M.P held K♦ Q♦ Q♥ 10♦ and Andy McLEOD K♥ K♣ 9♠ 4♦ . The five community cards were delivered. Unfortunately for NYC P.I.M.P, all were small and there were no diamonds to be found — 7♠ 7♥ 8♣ 5♠ 2♣ — and NYC P.I.M.P was out in fourth.

The final trio moved into Level 35 (blinds 30,000/60,000), with Andy McLEOD now sitting with a little over 5 million, greenrizla with 2.33 million, and Darreta 1.74 million. Then came a huge hand between Andy McLEOD and Darreta in which the latter ended up all in preflop with A♦ A♠ K♠ 3♥ versus Andy McLEOD’s K♣ K♦ Q♦ 4♦ , and Darreta’s aces held. Suddenly, for the first time since the final table had begun — and well before that, too — Andy McLEOD was out of the chip lead.

The three continued to compete, with Obst and Darreta trading the chip lead back and forth while greenrizla sat not too far behind. Then came the hand of the tournament — a nearly 6 million-chip pot! — again pitting Andy McLEOD and Darreta against one another.

The blinds were still 30,000/60,000. Darreta had a little over 3.57 million to Andy McLEOD’s 2.98 million when Darreta opened with a raise to 122,055 from the button. greenrizla folded, then Andy McLEOD reraised to 396,165 from the big blind. Darreta called.

The flop came 3♥ Q♠ 4♠ . James “Andy McLEOD” Obst fired out a pot-sized bet of 822,330, Darreta raised all in, and Obst called. The hands:

Andy McLEOD 7♦ 7♥ 6♣ 5♣ — wrap straight draw
Darreta Q♦ 9♠ 6♦ 3♠ — two pair, plus flush draw

The turn brought a tantalizing 7♠ , giving Darreta the flush, but keeping Obst alive with a set of sevens and drawing to a boat. He’d get a boat, but the river would nonetheless sink him, coming the Q♣ and giving Darreta queens full of treys for the better hand.

Just like that Andy McLEOD — who once seemed sure to win — was out in third. Heads-up play began with Darreta at 6,585,203 chips to greenrizla’s 2,514,797.

Within a couple of hands the pair had the tourney paused to discuss a possible deal. Chip-chop numbers were presented, but greenrizla wanted a couple of extra thousand on top of what was offered and Darreta was not amenable. So the pair played on.

Darreta and greenrizla would ultimately spar for 60 hands and nearly half an hour, with greenrizla unable to gain much ground on Darreta. Finally, about 14 hours after the first hands of Event #33 were dealt, the end would arrive.

With the blinds up to 50,000/100,000 (Level 37), greenrizla was down to 1,461,334 to Darreta’s 7,638,666. Darreta had the button, and raised before the flop to 203,885. greenrizla reraised to 611,655, Darreta made it 1,834,965, and greenrizla called with the 849,679 left.

Darreta showed A♦ 10♥ 10♠ 7♦ and greenrizla A♠ J♠ 8♣ 6♣ . The board ran out 6♦ 9♥ 5♦ 10♣ 3♥ , and Darreta’s set of tens meant the bracelet had been won.

Congratulations to Darreta, Event #33 champion!

WCOOP Event #33 ($320 PLO 6-max. 1R1A) Results
1st place: Darreta ($96,259.80)
2nd: greenrizla ($70,980)
3rd: Andy McLEOD ($54,600)
4th: NYC P.I.M.P ($38,220)
5th: chapmoney ($27,300)
6th: umbrillo ($16,380)

Still a lot more WCOOPin’ to happen before the 2010 series is complete. Check out the WCOOP site for the full schedule of remaining events, including information about satellites. You can also find a lot of other information there, including updates on the 2010 WCOOP Player of the Year race. And also go over to PokerStars.tv for still more reports on the biggest online tournament series in the world.

Back to Top