by Christian Zetzsche
As the second full week of the S19 World Poker Tour World Online Championships (WOC) draws to an end on the partypoker online platform, the next highlight tournament offers a few last chances to secure a stack for the final day. The WPT500 is more than halfway to meeting the $1 million guarantee and players with lower bankrolls can also take a shot at glory in the Super5 and Super50 events.
Furthermore, a brand new event kicks off on Saturday, August 28. The 7-Max Championship will feature three different buy-in tiers and four starting days each. Several Side Events of the mid-week schedule have concluded and notable winners can be found below.
Event #3 WPT500 ($1 million gtd)
One of the highlights of the entire festival is the popular WPT500, which comes with a $530 buy-in and $1 million prize pool. The first flights have already concluded but poker players from all over the world still have the chance to secure their seats for Day 2. Similar to the other multi-flight tournaments, each heat plays down to the top 15% and all survivors have locked up a portion of the prize money.
So far, 159 players out of 1,071 entries made the cut, and Stevan Chew turned his starting stack of 500,000 into nearly 9.5 million. With many poker pros on the road, the Aussie is flying the Canadian flag. The closest follower of Chew is UK-based German player Patrice Brandt with 8,887,689 and another two players surpassed 8 million in chips so far including Foad Larki and Pedro Marques.
Among the big names in the overall top ten are Vlad Darie, Daniel Dvoress, and Tomi Brouk. Not far behind that are the likes of Andreas Samuelsson, Pablo Brito Silva, Sam Greenwood, Jarest East, and Jerry Ödeen.
The action resumes on Monday, August 30, and concludes when nine players remain. The final table will then be streamed on August 31 with cards-up coverage and commentary available on the WPT and partypoker Twitch and YouTube channels.
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count |
| 1 | Stevan Chew | Canada | 9,471,222 |
| 2 | Patrice Brandt | United Kingdom | 8,887,689 |
| 3 | Foad Larki | Canada | 8,628,936 |
| 4 | Pedro Marques | Croatia | 8,399,626 |
| 5 | Goncalo Castanheira | Netherlands | 7,910,260 |
| 6 | Vlad Darie | Austria | 7,657,692 |
| 7 | Angelo Mirabella | Malta | 7,631,530 |
| 8 | Daniel Dvoress | Canada | 7,602,113 |
| 9 | Tomi Brouk | Finland | 7,234,658 |
| 10 | Stefan Reiser | Austria | 7,111,654 |
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Event #4 Super50 ($250k gtd) and Event #5 Super5 ($50k gtd)
The bargain editions of the WPT500 are running alongside the flagship tournament and can be found in the partypoker lobby as Event #4 Super50 and Event #5 Super5.
With an ambitious guarantee of $250k, the Super50 with a buy-in of $55 is well on track to easily surpass it thanks to 3,648 entries so far. Only 539 players reached the top 15% of their respective starting days so far and a familiar name appears at the top of the leaderboard. The UK’s Endric Geci leads the pack with 10,891,220 and another three players have turned their 500,000 stacks into more than 10 million. Two players from Brazil are among them including Neville Endo Costa, French poker pro Arnaud Enselme sits in fifth place with 9,673,980
Top Five Counts Event #4 Super50:
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count |
| 1 | Endrit Geci | United Kingdom | 10,891,220 |
| 2 | Miguel Angelo Faria Lopes | Netherlands | 10,225,992 |
| 3 | Gustavo Dos Santos | Brazil | 10,095,582 |
| 4 | Neville Endo Costa | Brazil | 10,027,126 |
| 5 | Arnaud Enselme | United Kingdom | 9,673,980 |
In the $5.50 Super5, a guaranteed prize pool of $50k awaits and 901 players have so far locked up a portion of that. In total, there have been 6,172 entries thus far but that number will certainly grow in the days to come. The Super50 and Super5 recommence at 8.05 pm BST on Monday, August 30.
Top Five Counts Event #5 Super5:
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count |
| 1 | Martin Hüttel Bollund | Denmark | 15,757,347 |
| 2 | Domenik Becker | Germany | 13,562,274 |
| 3 | Marco Aurelio Alves | Brazil | 12,290,245 |
| 4 | Martin De Mondehare | Canada | 11,833,904 |
| 5 | Rustam Vildanov | Russia | 11,582,861 |
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The Next Tournament Highlights
This upcoming Saturday, WPT Event #06 7-Max Championship will get underway. The second championship event of the festival comes with three different price tags of $22 ($100k gtd), $215 ($300k gtd), and $2,100 ($1 million gtd). All of them bolster a starting stack of 100,000 in chips and a single re-entry is available during the four starting days from August 28 to 30.
The final day of each 7-Max Championship gets underway at 8.05 pm BST on Monday, August 30, which concludes with the business end of the WPT500, Super50, and Super5.
Day 1a: August 28 at 19:05 BST
Day 1b: August 29 at 19:05 BST
Day 1c: August 30 at 16:05 BST
Day 1 Turbo: August 30 at 18:00 BST
Final Day: August 30 at 20:05 BST
Furthermore, the Weekender returns for the second time during the festival and includes two tiers with buy-ins of $11 and $109. Both respective Day 1a get will take place on Friday, August 27 and players have another two regular flights available. Last but not least, a turbo heat is scheduled for Sunday, August 29, two hours prior to the start of the final day.
This upcoming Sunday also features the first starting day of the $5,300 Main Event as well. More than 100 players are already registered for the flagship tournament of the festival, which comes with a massive $5 million guarantee. Various step satellites with buy-ins up to $530 are available to give players of all bankrolls the chance to participate.
One particular satellite stands out as the phase final of the Day 1a Mega Satellite is scheduled to take place four hours prior. A total of 50 seats are guaranteed and the late registration is open for the first nine levels of seven minutes each. Players can buy-in directly for $530 to start their journey with 500,000 chips or accumulate their stack through more affordable phases.
Notable Side Event Winners
Former WSOP Main Event finalist Michiel Brummelhuis narrowly missed out on a victory in the WPT Super $215 on August 24. Out of a field of 469 entries, he finished as the runner-up for $2,582.41 in bounties and $6,594.38 in cash as Duarte Ranhada Da Cunha Afonso earned more than $15k combined for his victory. The $22 edition of this very event drew 1,789 entries and Carlos Roberto from Brazil claimed $4,616.62 in combined prizes.
Leonid Orman topped a field of 379 entries in the $109 WPT 7-Max Turbo Knockout, for which he earned more than $6k. Notable finalists included Damir Gabbullin and Andreas Samuelsson. One day later on August 25, the WPT Super $320 drew a field of 376 entries. Another Russian player went deep as Sergei Koliakov finished in third place for $2,923.24 in bounties and $5,543.29. Michiel Brummelhuis was in the mix once more and finished fourth, Belorussian player Ihar Tsaryk earned a combined payday of more than $21.1k.
Roman Matveichuk was the next Russian player to take the spotlight in a Side Event. Out of a field of 266 entries in the $162 WPT 6-Max Turbo Knockout, he walked away with $5,294.61 in bounties and $3,068.50 in cash.
The most expensive mid-week tournament was the WPT Super $530 on August 26 and it attracted 238 entries. The top 39 finishers earned a portion of the cash pool and the UK’s Tom Hall topped it all after defeating Jozsef Liszkovics in heads-up. Hall’s bounty portion of $10,130.88 was bigger than the $9,167.29 cash prize.
In the $215 WPT Mix-Max Turbo Knockout, 204 entries battled for the $50k guarantee. Flavio Reis and Viktor Ustimov were among the notable finalists but it was Aliaksei Shchurevich who earned the largest slice of the prize pool. He accumulated $3,588.49 in bounties and $4,639.70 in cash as a booster for the bankroll.
Further notable winners of the second ever WPT WOC festival on partypoker will be announced early next week.