Something was happening. No one knew it at the time, but PokerStars Championship of Online Poker was on its was to becoming the third biggest poker festival in the world. Ever. It only sits behind the 2005 World Series of Poker and the 2005 WPT Championship events at Bellagio.

In the penultimate WCOOP event, the prize pool once again crested over the guarantee and, although limit poker isn’t know for its adrenaline production, the battled for the Event #14 bracelet was intense and more than fun to watch.

Here’s how the final nine players stacked up.

Seat 1: ram00 (Salt Lake City, UT) $95,391
Seat 2: Devin1 (Highland Lakes, NJ) $133,502
Seat 3: imSMARTurDUM (Huntington Beach, CA) $286,280
Seat 4: mcstuntz (Hertfordshire, United Kingdom) $148,060
Seat 5: jennicide (Wilmington, DE) $61,834
Seat 6: Juice It Up (Fairfield, OH) $261,107
Seat 7: tibster (Vienna, VA) $200,334
Seat 8: sambot (Paris, France) $280,639
Seat 9: DietDrPoker (Anchorage, AK) $247,853

It’s not even been a year since I blogged the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and dealt with a deluge of requests for pictures of a player named jennicide. Since then, she has gone on to greater fame, created her own web site, and will soon appear in a televised poker tournament.

What’s more, she stepped up to the plate in Event #14 and masterfully played a shortstack (made so short when her aces ran into a set of kings) all the way to the final table. Unfortunately for her fans, her stay at the final table would not last for long. Sitting at the 8,000/16,000 level with only $61,000 in chips, jennicide made her move from the button, coming in for a raise with A7s. The small blind folded, but tibster, in the big blind, re-raised. The flop seemed promising for jennicide: Ah2d8h. It wasn’t her suit, but it was her ace. She was all-in by the turn, only to tibster had flopped two pair with A8. Jennicide was out in ninth place, cashing for $10,976.

The chips were moving around the table at lightning speed. Player imSMARTurDUM moved up into the chip lead. Ram00 doubled through mcstuntz with a pair of sixes versus an unimproved AKs. But the player we all were watching sat in the nine seat. DietDrPoker was making moves and building a nice stack of chips. Ram00 soon discovered, messing with the Dr. was bad medicine.

Ram00 had barely more than $60,000 in chips and decided to take a stab at a pot by re-raising DietDrPoker. Ram00 held Ad7h and made top pair on a TdAcJc flop. Ram00 and DietDrPoker capped the flop and by the turn, a king, ram00 was all in. Thing is, that king was the card that made all the difference. DietDrPoker held a pair of queens and had turned the straight. Ram00 could only respond, “ouch” and leave with eighth place and $17,150.

Juice It Up had the juice, no doubt. With more than $200,000 in chips, he had a good chance. But again, the DietDr came to play. While we never saw what Juice It Up was holding (after calling a raise in the big blind from DietDrPoker) it seems a safe bet he was holding an ace. He got a lot of his chips in the middle with the board reading 2c4c5s3c. The problem was, DietDrPoker held the king-high flush. Five minutes later imSMARTurDUM made aces full of kings against Juice It Up’s trip kings. Juice It Up departed in seventh place and $24,010.

Tibster would be the next to go. He was looking to pick up some chips and got in a pre-flop raising battle with Devin1, who was also short-stacked. Tibster was ahead with an ace, but Devin flopped a king to pair the one in his hand. Tibster was crippled then fell in sixth place a few hands later. He cashed for $30,870.

McStuntz, who had hit some incredible hands to make it to the final table (including hitting trip-eights against The Grinder after re-raising with T8), finally saw the luck turn against him. His pair of nines couldn’t run down DietDrPoker’s QQ. Needing chips, the ultimate dramatic hand, must have been hard to watch. In a fine example of the ye olde suck, re-suck, McStuntz went into the flop (KcQdKh) and turn, an ace, behind. On the turn, he paired the ace in his hand. But then, sambot’s JJ re-sucked when a ten fell on the river. McStuntz was gone in fifth place, earning $37,730 for his efforts.

Devin1’s stack was eventually in trouble. He had very few chips left and got in pre-flop with Q7 after posting the small blind. The Q7 was no good against AK and Devin1 was out in fourth place, cashing for $47,334.

By that point, DietDrPoker had opened up a commanding chip lead, with more than one million chips. ImSMARTurDUM had around $150,000 when he found QQ. DietDrPoker took a shot with AT and flopped a queen. ImSMARTurDUM was out in third place and cashed for $63,112.

It seemed DietDrPoker’s chip lead was insurmountable and sambot briefly entertained the idea of a deal. After much discussion, they could not come to terms.

That’s when it started: the nest heads-up match so far this year in the WCOOP events. Fighting tooth and nail, sambot clawed back to even the score. Then, the players were able to strike the deal. It was an even split, with $10,000 and the WCOOP bracelet going to the winner.

Often times, when a bulk of the money is taken off the table, the level of play deteriorates. That was not the case here, as the players battled again for an inordinate amount of time. Finally, winning three 400K+ pots within five hands, DietDrPoker finally wore down sambot and laid him to rest.

DietDrPoker took home more than $139,000 and the WCOOP bracelet.

As a tireless reporter, I wanted very badly to introduce you to DietDrPoker. Alas, I must respect PokerStars privacy policy and the wishes of the player. In this case, DietDrPoker wishes to remain anonymous. The player told me, “I have always considered being a poker player a bit like being a burglar in that it is much more advantageous to be stealthy, and UNKNOWN. Many ‘plays’ are successful because of the mere fact that a given opponent does not know or believe the capability exists within me to make such a play, whereas a known player does not have that advantage of opponent-underestimation. My idea of a successful day at the tables is if I hear muttering about what a sucker I am.

“The art of poker playing is akin to the art of magic: revealing ones identity and level of expertise is about as conducive to winning at future poker games as a magician showing his bag of tricks and AFTERWARDS getting hired, (or not hired as the case would surly be). Certainly I am not saying it is ethical to make misrepresentations, for example to tell people you are just learning, or ask whether a straight beats a flush, that type of aggressive ‘suckerism,’ but I feel there is nothing wrong with NOT bragging or being identified.”

With that, I’ll let DietDrPoker fade back into the shadows and let the gleam of the WCOOP bracelet remain the only shining light.

Very nicely done, Dr.

WCOOP Event #14 Final Table Results

1. DietDrPoker (Anchorage, AK) $139,799.00
2. sambot (Paris, France) $129,799.00
3. imSMARTurDUM (Huntington Beach, CA) $63,112.00
4. Devin1 (Highland Lakes, NJ) $47,334.00
5. mcstuntz (Hertfordshire, United Kingdom) $37,730.00
6. tibster (Vienna, VA) $30,870.00
7. Juice It Up (Fairfield, OH) $24,010.00
8. ram00 (Salt Lake City, UT) $17,150.00
9. jennicide (Wilmington, DE) $10,976.00

Click here for a full list of cash winners.

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