By Frank Op de Woerd
Things were still relatively easy-going last night with just three major events on the docket with the weekend approaching. The World Poker Tour World Online Championships had something for everyone, though, with $5,200, $530, and $109 events.
We saw a fan-favorite return, a heads-up chop for big money, and some newcomers making deep runs. Read on for a recap of last night’s action!
$5,200 WPT High Roller
Some of the world’s best players signed up for the $5,200 buy-in WPT High Roller last night as a compact field of 12 entries battled it out on partypoker.
The only player to reenter after busting was fan-favorite Marcello “luckexpress” Marigliano. Famous for once battling (and beating!) Tom Dwan in the Durrrr Million Dollar Challenge, Marigliano couldn’t get anything going and busted in tenth and eight place.
Belgian high roller Bert Stevens busted in third place, bubbling the event. That left Jonathan “apestyles” Van Fleet and Scott “Aggro Santos” Margereson to battle for the title. The two made a deal to flatten the payout and called it a day, going home with around $30,000 each.
Scott Margereson
$530 WPT 6-Max Knockout ($100K GTD)
Yesterday, we reported on the 7-Max Knockout event. Today, we bring you a recap of the 6-Max Knockout. A field of 194 entries gathered for the tournament, with a 100,000 starting stack and 12-minute levels for all.
The Dutch legion of players wasn’t as fortunate at the start, with four of the first five players busting all hailing from the small European country. partypoker-sponsored pro Philipp Gruissem could go to bed on time as well, busting in 182nd and 173rd place for an early night.
With 27 players getting paid, things heated up with just a few tables remaining. Many big-name players came within a little of cashing but ultimately busted right before the bubble burst. Daniel Smyth (36th), Boris Angelov (32nd), and Steven van Zadelhoff (30th) came close but failed to cash besides the bounties collected. Marc Berger was the stone bubble, finishing in 28th for nothing but a $125 bounty.
After five hours and five minutes of play, Petar Petrov from Bulgaria triumphed, beating Shachar Moshe Haran from Germany for the title. Petrov walked away with $9,085 from the regular prize pool plus $11,109 in bounties for a combined score of $20,194. Haran received $9,074 plus $3,796 in bounties for $12,870 total.
$109 WPT Mini 6-Max Knockout ($50K GTD)
The $109 variant of the 6-Max Knockout easily met its guarantee as 660 entries were collected. With a prize pool of $66,000, half of that would be distributed in regular payouts while the other half would be on players’ heads as a cumulative bounty.
From the first eight players to exit, three came from the UK, three from Germany, and two from Ukraine.
Robin Andreas Berggren from Sweden bubbled in 85th place. He still recouped some of his buy-in by busting some players, though, with $87.50 in bounties.
Portugal’s Rui Martins (64th, $127 + $187.50), Christophe De Meulder (43rd, $147 + $50), and Espen Uhlen Jørstad (29th, $193 + $144.14) made a run for it but missed out on the final table. Famed Swedish player Bertin Andreas Samuelsson came a lot closer but ultimately busted in seventh place for $884 plus $577.34 in bounties.
The heads-up for the title was between Tomasz Chmiel from Poland and Manfred Hermann, playing from Austria. The former ended up victorious, earning himself $4,486 plus $4,639 for a score of $9,125. Hermann received $4,479 plus $1,995, for a hail of $6,474.
Daily Schedule
The weekend is upon us! Here are the great World Poker Tour World Online Championships events you can play tonight to kick things off.
