Online poker is suited for anonymity. It’s suited for convenience. It’s suited for playing in your underwear. It’s suited for being able to convince yourself that, despite any evidence to the contrary, there is a very good chance you are the best player at the table at all times. After all, who are these schlubs, anyway, right?

Of course, it’s rare you know who is behind the screen name and avatar. I’d suggest that many times, you’d be quite surprised.

Sometimes, though, the cloak of anonymity falls off, and you find yourself staring at someone you really didn’t expect to see at your WCOOP table.

Thursday night, as WCOOP Event #12 (Stud Hi-Lo) began, six of the players found themselves looking at the immistakable avatars of none other than WSOP bracelet-holders Chris Moneymaker and Scott Fischman.

Here’s how the final nine stacked up to each other at the beginning of the final table.

Seat 1: chuiwon (El Cajon, CA) $63,232
Seat 2: emptyseat88 (Henderson, NV) $166,532
Seat 3: yamaha r 1 (Park Ridge, IL) $177,679
Seat 4: Consagres (Severna Park, MD) $100,179
Seat 5: Bunsen (Tempe, AZ) $389,080
Seat 6: Money800 (Bellevue, TN) $297,919
Seat 7: I_eatt2loud (Davis, CA) $51,753
Seat 8: Clockwork (Los Angeles, CA) $76,126

Chuiwon and I_eatt2loud came the final table with the shortest stacks and at the 10,000/20,000 level, they only had about one hand to play. Chuiwon came out of the gates first and doubled his stack through Money800 (that’s Moneymaker, in case you weren’t paying attention earlier). Then chuiwon turned right around and gave almost all his chips to I_eatt2loud on a subsequent hand. Moneymaker exacted his revenge on chuiwon and knocked him out in eighth place shortly thereafter. Chuiwon won $6,612 for his efforts.

Moneymaker proved to be an unlikely force in the Stud Hi-Lo game. Known more as a NL Hold’em specialist, Moneymaker was not expected to do as well in Event #12 as he did. Out to prove the skeptics wrong, Moneymaker rolled over the table. Immediately after knocking out chuiwon, Moneymaker found two aces in the hole and rode them all the way to a victory over Consagres, who left in seventh place, taking home $9,257.

I_eatt2loud saw what was happening to the shortstacks and decided to make a stand. With ThAh/Kh as his first three cards, I_eatt2loud pushed hard against Clockwork, who had two kings in the hole. By the end of the hand, Clockwork had made kings up, but I_eatt2loud had rivered his flush. Clockwork left in sixth place, earning $11,902.

I_eatt2loud would not be around for too much longer. He took a massive hit against emptyseat88 (Scott Fischman) after taking a hand all the way to the river, then mucking. He then picked up kings in the hole and got all-in against Moneymaker. Moneymaker ended up making trip-queens by the river and knocked I_eatt2loud out in fifth place. I_eatt2loud won $14,547.

Having busted three of the first four final table players, it seemed no one could stop Moneymaker. Yamaha r 1 chose to dispell that idea as quickly as possible. He took a nice chunk out of Moneymaker’s stack to even the score a bit. Then the players traded some chips around for a bit before the biggest hand yet of the final table came up.

At the beginning of the hand, the chip counts stood as such:

Seat 2: emptyseat88 (385353 in chips)
Seat 3: yamaha r 1 (112358 in chips)
Seat 5: Bunsen (441080 in chips)
Seat 6: Money800 (383709 in chips)

Bunsen brought it in with a 2s showing, Fischman raised with the ace of hearts showing, and Bunsen called. Bunsen drew the 3s to Fischman’s 7d on fourth street. Fischman bet out, Bunsen raised, and Fischman called. By sixth street, Fischman was showing Ah7dQc2h to Bunsen’s 2s3s8s4h. Again, Fischman bet out, Bunsen raised, and Fischman called. Fischman check-called the river, then mucked his hand after Bunsen showed a king-high spade flush (made on the river) and a six-high low. The pot was worth more than 320,000 in chips.

The win gave Bunsen a 3-2 chip lead over Moneymaker, who sat in second place. Yamaha r 1, last in chips, needed to make a stand. He decided to take on Moneymaker who hit king-king on his fifth and sixth cards to make kings up and send yamaha r 1 out in fourth place for $18,515.

That, folks, is where the real game began. Moneymaker. Fischman. And a virtual unknown. A guy they call Bunsen.

With three players remaining, Bunsen held a slight chip lead over Moneymaker and Fischman. The two WSOP bracelet-holders were willing to do an even three-way chop, but Bunsen wanted none of it if he didn’t get more money than the other two. There were surely people out there who were asking…who is this guy?

As it turns out, Bunsen, known in the real world as Matt Mortensen, knows a thing or two about a thing or two. He told the table he plays 12 hours of stud hi-lo a day. It is…HIS game.

In fact, Bunsen plays $30/$60 stud hi-lo for a living, once making nearly ten grand in four hours of play. It’s what he does. The 27 year-old recently left college to play cards full time. Now, he was up against two champions. The thing is, he was up against two hold’em champions. Bunsen had them on his home field.

At first it seemed Bunsen’s hubris would get the better of him. Moneymaker and Fischman went to town on Bunsen’s stack. Moneymaker made the wheel to scoop a $250,000 pot against Bunsen. Then Fischman took a $300,000 pot off him with a 6-high low and no better than a pair of sevens for the high. Then Fischman scooped another one with a full house. It seemed Bunsen was crippled and would be punished for not taking the deal.

Then something happened. Down to less than $100,000 in chips, Bunsen made a run, including taking a monster hand off Moneymaker with an ace-high flush and six-high low when Moneymaker’s low draw missed.

That is where things would turn south for Moneymaker. After a fantastic night, he started coming up second-best too many times, the worst of which was was making aces up when Fischman had rolled up sixes that eventually turned into a boat. Down to jut one small bet, Moneymaker eventually succumbed to Bunsen, taking third place and winning $25,497.

As heads up play began, Fischman had a sizable lead on Bunsen, but per his usual form, Bunsen again closed the gap. This time Bunsen asked if Fischman wanted to chop and Fischman refused.

From there, it would go pretty much down hill for Fischman. No hand he could put together could best Bunsen’s. Bunsen opened up a 2-1, then 3-1, then 5-1 chip lead. Fischman could not come back.

Bunsen later said, “Fischman was easier playing heads up. He’s a good player, but his style is more suited to hold’em than 7 stud. So, I was able to exploit a couple of weaknesses a number of times. I also called him down on some of his bluffs.”

With that, Bunsen took home the WCOOP bracelet, and the right to say he beat to champions.

WCOOP Event #12 Final Table Results

1. Bunsen (Tempe, AZ) $66,125.00
2. emptyseat88 (Henderson, NV) $39,675.00
3. Money800 (Bellevue, TN) $25,497.80
4. yamaha r 1 (Park Ridge, IL) $18,515.00
5. I_eatt2loud (Davis, CA) $14,547.50
6. Clockwork (Los Angeles, CA) $11,902.50
7. Consagres (Severna Park, MD) $9,257.50
8. chuiwon (El Cajon, CA) $6,612.50

Click here for a full list of cash winners.

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