Top-ranked pros continued to add more titles to their collections in the 2020 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), while a couple of worthy players picked up their first ever wins. Here’s the latest news from Day 19.

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TODAY’S HEADLINES

• Kovalski claims third of career with huge win in Midweek Freeze
• Sintoras and markovitsus both cash-in overdue WCOOP win
• Bountiful victory for Pappe_Ruk in PKO
• Jussi “calvin7v” Nevanlinna makes it four
• Andrey “Kroko-dill” Zaichenko makes it five
• “XD89lol<3” nearly becomes first ever to win two in a day

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BEHIND THE HEADLINES

Kovalski claims third of career with huge win in Midweek Freeze : Fabiano “kovalski1” Kovalski is one of the top ranked players in Brazil, and currently 43^rd worldwide in the PocketFives rankings with a lifetime total of $4.7 million. With two already under his belt (one in 2018 and another on 2019), Kovalski was looking to make it three years in a row. He found his moment in the $5,200 Midweek Freeze, outlasting the field to earn $119,483.

Sintoras and markovitsus both cash-in overdue WCOOP wins: By this point in the competition, much of the focus is on the race for the leaderboard. It’s easy to lose sight of what an accomplishment it is to take down a single WCOOP event. “Sintoras” from Germany and “markovitsus” from Estonia have both been “overdue a title”, at least in terms of previous credentials. Sintoras has SCOOP and Winter Series on record. They took down the $520+R WCOOP 60-H for $56k. Markovitsus is currently ranked 21^st in the world on PocketFives, with $8.5 million to his name and a steady string of high stakes MTT wins – yet until now a WCOOP title has always eluded him. markovtsus won the $1,050 65-H for $73k.

Bountiful victory for Pappe_Ruk in PKO: Two time WCOOP champion “deivid29” was on the hunt for his third title in the $1,050 WCOOP 61-H (PKO, Freezeout), but finished in fifth place, leaving “Pappe_Ruk” to sweep up and earn more than their fair share in bounties. The Dutch player has done well out of WCOOP in his career, with a first place in 2014 worth $159k and a second place in the Phased Event in 2019 for $158k. This year’s win bags him $68,096 ($35,644 coming by way of knockout).

Jussi “calvin7v” Nevanlinna makes it four: Finnish player Jussi “calvin7v” Nevanlinna has been one to watch at the medium stakes this series – indeed, he’s nearly always a player to watch given that he won Player of the Series in the 2018 SCOOP and the 2019 WCOOP. It’s unlikely he’ll claim POS this time, but a win in the 60-M $55+R event nets him the fourth WCOOP title of his career and, along with a fourth place finish in the high stakes version of the same event, brings him up to sixth place in the medium leaderboard.

Andrey “Kroko-dill” Zaichenko makes it five: Andrey “Kroko-dill” Zaichenko has nearly $2.9 million in online cashes, including a Sunday Million win and three WCOOP titles. His first came way back in 2010. Zaichenko picked up another in 2016 in an Omaha event, a third in an Omaha hi-lo event in 2017, and then a fourth in 2019 in a Deepstack tourney. This time it was Stud Hi-Lo, validating Zaichenko’s incredible versatility. He won the $1,050 62-H for $24,745, making it five titles in total throughout his career.

“XD89lol<3” nearly becomes first ever to win two in one night: This is arguably the story of the day. If it had been just a little different, it would have undoubtedly been the story of the series, perhaps even one of the most historical moments in the history of WCOOP. No stranger to huge MTTs, “XD89lol<3” won the 2018 SCOOP special edition Sunday Million for $196k, and has had a number of other big ‘uns – but never quite clenched down on a WCOOP title. Until now. They won the $1,050 #64 FLO8 for $30,855, denying Mike “SirWatts” Watson in the process. In the same night, XD89lol<3 also came second in the 62-H (losing heads-up to Zaichenko). Nobody has ever won two titles in a single night. And they still haven’t. But “XD89lol<3” from Finland came really close.

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TODAY’S RESULTS

*Denotes deal was made

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STAT TRACKER

Events completed: 189
Entries so far: 736,914
Prize pools so far: $66,224,082
First prizes so far: $10,032,042
In-the-money finishers so far: 108,398
Tournaments starting today: 0

(Note: completed events only)

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INTERVIEWS! INTERVIEWS! INTERVIEWS!

We’ve been talking with a few WCOOP winners to hear about their tourney triumphs (and perhaps to pick up a few tips for ourselves). Check out our latest interviews from this year’s winners so far:

Matheus “MathCamillo1” Camillo rides out the storm, wins #15-M
Persistence pays off for Kevin “Care_Teddy” van Veen
Three WCOOP 2020 titles for the unstoppable Yuri “theNERDguy” Martins: ‘Every day I learn something new’
Ruan ‘jokkers_br’ Bispo punches way to big PKO win, turns $55 into $54K
Gavin “gavz101” Cochrane on what he’s learned in 10 years as a high-stakes pro
Brazilian Brunno ‘botteonpoker’ Botteon in the winner’s circle again
Preben “prebz” Stokkan continues to progress and crush
Mike “SirWatts” Watson again collecting cashes, final tables
“Bryn12” drifts through life and WCOOP towards top of leaderboard
$2K Sunday Slam champ Matas “NoTilit” Cikinas confirms power of the cat avatar
“va1umart” finds value, pockets nearly $80K for Event #21-M win
Mario “brandon0903” Mastropietro’s WCOOP win relieves pressures of $400k court case
That winning feeling carries Tiago “Tayguera” Guimarães to #13-M title
Tyler “Juicy_J_93” Jardine sends warning to Pot limit Omaha players
A bountiful $10K Sunday Slam for Dimitar Danchev
Heads up! Ankush Mandavia wins third title in $530 TKO HU Zoom
Marksman_M casually streams huge WCOOP win to three Twitch viewers

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TWITCH WATCH

Here’s Filipe “Zagazaur” Oliveira losing a flip in a succession of quick bust-outs on the final table of the high stakes Midweek Freeze, leaving Fabiano Kovalski to clean up:

Spraggy and co didn’t make any final tables on Day 19, but they still kept us well entertained. Here’s Spraggy bumping into ONSCREEN, throwing shit at him, then getting his Tens cracked by Eights:

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TOP TWEET

In case you felt sorry for him:

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LEADER BOARDS

Rinat “Zapahzamazki” Lyapin has made comfortable gains at the top of the overall leader board. It’s going to take a stellar performance from on of the other top dogs as we enter the final weekend. When it comes to the individual leader boards, there’s barely anything in it. Mike “SirWatts” Watson sits 10 points behind Niklas “Lena900” Astedt, and there’s only five points between first and second in the low and medium leader boards. Here’s how it all stands:

Overall

1 – Rinat “Zapahzamazki” Lyapin, Russia, 1,115 points
2 – Yuri “theNERDguy” Martins, Brazil, 1,000
3 – aleksandrs10, Latvia, 980
4 – Konstantin “krakukra” Maslak, Russia, 925
5 – chininhaltig, Germany, 910

Prize: Overall – $25,000 plus trophy

High buy-in:

1 – Niklas “Lena900” Astedt, Sweden, 555 points
2 – Mike “SirWatts” Watson, Canada, 545
3 – Yuri “theNERDguy” Martins, Brazil, 495
4 – Joao “Naza114” Vieira, Netherlands, 450
5 – Talal “Raidalot” Shakerchi, 445

Prizes: Winner $12,500; 2nd $10,000; 3rd $7,500

Medium buy-in:

1 – Rinat “Zapahzamazki” Lyapin, Russia, 430
2 – Murilo “Muka82” Figueiredo, Brazil, 425
3 – Yuri “theNERDguy” Martins, Brazil, 410
4 – Konstantin “krakukra” Maslak, Russia, 395
5 – chininhaltig, Germany, 375

Prizes: Winner $8,500; 2nd $6,000; 3rd $3,000 (top 15 are rewarded)

Low buy-in:

1 – aleksandrs10, Latvia, 495 points
2 – B–rabbit444, Norway, 490
3 – icandodge22, Finland, 450
4 – Voziyanov15, Russia, 410
5 – rastafari898, Germany, 405

Winner $5,000; 2nd $3,000; 3rd $2,000 (top 25 are rewarded)

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COUNTRIES LEADER BOARD

Germany picked up four titles, the most out of any country on Day 19. Russia keep up with their consistency and claim another three titles. The UK only manage one, whilst Brazil claim another two titles, putting the three frontrunners on even footing as we head into the final weekend of WCOOP.

Latest standings

29 – UK, Brazil, Russia
14 – Germany
8 – Canada, Netherlands
7 – Norway
5 – Ukraine, Finland, Bulgaria
4 – Austria, Poland, Latvia, Hungary
3 – Argentina, Estonia
2 – Belarus, Malta, Romania, Lithuania, Sweden, Estonia, Ireland
1 – Chile, Denmark, Slovenia, Taiwan, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Jersey, Serbia, Peru, Luxembourg, Greece, Monaco, Croatia, Japan and Georgia.

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ONGOING TOURNAMENTS

The Thursday Thrill is the event to keep an eye on as we head into the weekend. Tomorrow is rest day, so these tournaments will resume on Saturday.

WCOOP-63-L: $22 NLHE (PKO, Freezeout)
Entries: 12,511 | Prize pool: $250,220
Players left: 250 | Chip leader: mc_fred33 (Canada)

WCOOP-63-M: $215 NLHE (PKO, Freezout, Mini-Thursday Thrill SE)
Entries: 3,092 | Prize pool: $618,400
Players left: 142 | Chip leader: Breno2728 (Brazil)

WCOOP-63-H: $2,100 NLHE (PKO, Thursday Thrill SE)
Entries: 97 | Prize pool: $500,000
Players left: 62 | Chip leader: Jo589 (Germany)

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STARTING TODAY

It’s rest day, so no need to stress. Just chill out and enjoy a few spin n gos or something. Or, if you can’t get enough of the WCOOP action, take a look at the Side Events on offer (just remember, they don’t count towards leaderboard scores). These Side Events are also a great opportunity to try out novel poker variations. There’s 5-Card Draw and 6+ Hold ‘em, along with good ol’ Texas.

12:05pm ET: WCOOP Side Event: NLHE, 7-Max
Buy-ins: $5.50, $55, $530
Guarantees: $20,000, $35,000, $50,000

1:05pm ET: WCOOP Side Event: Pot limit 5-Card Draw, 6-Max
Buy-ins: $2.20, $22, $215
Guarantees: $3,500, $15,000, $25,000

2:05pm ET: WCOOP Side Event: 6+ Hold ‘em, 6-Max
Buy-ins: $1.10, $11, $109
Guarantees: $3,000, $7,500, $15,000

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PREVIOUS ROUND-UPS

DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 | DAY 4 | DAY 5 | DAY 6 | DAY 7 | DAY 8 | DAY 9 | DAY 10 | DAY 11 | DAY 12 | DAY 13 | DAY 14 | DAY 15 | DAY 16 | DAY 17 | DAY 18

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