by Frank Op de Woerd
The WPT Online Series only just began, but some players are already padding their bankroll with thousands of dollars. During the opening weekend, some big money was to be won. Here’s the lowdown on what happened online on partypoker this weekend.
Alex’s WPT Online Series Update (May 16)
The Opener
Day 1A for The Opener event saw 75 entries take a shot on Friday, with ten players surviving. Ioannis Angelou Konstas topped the leaderboard after the first day of the $1,050 event, accumulating over 2.2 million in chips and already $2.312 in bounties.
Angelous Konstas
Day 1B on Saturday saw a much larger turnout gather as 193 entries signed up. Twenty-nine of them made it through to Day 2 as Manuel Bueno Fernandez led the charge with 1.7 in chips.
The turbo flight 1C was by far the most popular, with 306 players entering and 45 securing their ticket for that evening’s Day 2. partypoker’s Kristen Bicknell and Dayane Kotoviezy were amongst those making it through to Day 2, but they had relatively short stacks. Christoph Erbler from Austria went into Day 2 with the biggest stack of all from Day 1C, 1.6 million.
Kotoviezy would bust early on Day 2, still finding a small pay jump to take home $1,142. Christian Rudolph, Dominik Nitsche, and Joao Vieira picked up the same paycheck for their deep runs.
Dzmitry Urbanovich (44th) and Kristen Bicknell (42nd) earned $1,420 for the event, with Urbanovich picking up an additional $1,062 in bounties while Bicknell only made $250 in bounties.
The top honors went to Billy Irvine from the United Kingdom as he took down the event for $39,608, defeating Dutchman Ronnie Lemmens heads-up ($39,550). Famed online grinder Conor Beresford took home bronze for $26,835. On top of his payout from the regular prize pool, Irvine took home $42,233 in bounties for a combined prize of $81,841. Lemmens earned $19,483 in bounties ($59,033) while Beresford took $5,406 ($32,241)
Mini Opener
With a total field of 2,626 entries (612 for 1A, 835 on 1B, and 1,179 on Day 1C), it was always going to be anything but easy to win it. Day 2 saw 372 players start their journey for glory, with many falling early for nothing but some small bounties more than the mon cash of $137.
The final table was an international affair with Russia, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Marocco, Malta, Belarus, and Finland represented. Toby Lewis was a standout name to make it to the most critical tournament table but busted in 7th place for $2,578 plus $1,500 in bounties ($4,078).
The trophy went to Finland as Riku Koivurinne took down the $109 buy-in Mini Opener event for $18,239 plus $14,393 in bounties ($32,632). Lukas Jankaitis had to settle for second, taking home $18,206 plus $1,848 ($20,054).
Micro Opener
Day 1A saw 1,363 entries competed, and 202 survive. Another 1,248 gave it a shot on Day 1B, with 186 surviving their first day. On Day b1C, 1,627 players signed up, and 244 secured a ticket for Day 2.
Markus Jäppinen was by far the chip leader after all three Day 1’s, starting Day 2 with a massive 2.87 million in chips from 100,000 starting. The Finnish player “only” had $25.31 in bounties at that time, but the best position to add some more to that on Day 2.
After a hard-fought battle, Jäppinen finished in 13th place for $185. He added $85 in bounties to that.
Rodrigo Vianna from Brazil took down the Micro Opener for $3,279 plus $1,596 in bounties ($4,875). Diogo Gomes from Malta finished second for naturally almost the same portion of the regular prize pool ($3,270) but had to do with $202 in bounties for $3,472 total.
$5,200 High Roller Turbo
The $5,200 High Roller Turbo attracted 54 of the world’s best players online to battle it out for the $270,000 prize pool. Kevin Macdonald, Andras Nemeth, and Kristen Bicknell were just some of the players busting early, but they had the option to buy back in. All three of them did, but they didn’t fare much better on their second bullet. Macdonald especially, as he bubbled the event in 10th place.
David Szep (9th) and David Peters (8th) got $11,745 for sneaking into the money, with Artur Martirosian (7th, 12,966) and Sven Joakim Andersson (6th, $15,066) earning a tiny bit more. partypoker’s Mikita Badziekouski (5th, $17,982) and Christopher Brewer (4th, $24,288) both missed the podium as well.
Steve O’Dwyer finished third for $35,031, while recently engaged Alex Foxen took second for $53,715. The top prize of $87,459 went to none other than Michael Addamo.
The Big Game
The Big Game saw 520 players take to the felt to battle for $300,000 in prizes. The top 72 made it into the money as big names like Thomas Boivin (77th), Simon Mattson (76th), Stevan Chew (75th), Kevin Rabichow (74th), and Connor Drinan (73rd) all missed out. Joseph Cheong did a lot better, but his tenth place ($3,960) will probably still feel a little bit disappointing.
The last two players made a Big Deal on The Big Game as Dániel Koloszár and Maxi Lehmanski chopped up the remaining prize pool. Lehmanski settled for $45,873 and second place, while Koloszár won for $48,680.
In The Mini Big Game, the last four players from a field of 2,659 made a deal as well. They all agreed to a proposal that saw Alysson Bruno (4th), Thomas Jeremy Duggan (3rd), and José Maria Lucena E Vale Rodrigues Tavares (2nd) all take $14,000 while the eventual winner Tautvydas Tukaciauskas took home $17,271.
$10,300 High Roller
Michael Addamo already padded his bankroll with $87,459 by winning the High Roller Turbo, but he’s primed to add some more as he’s leading the High Roller. The $10,300 buy-in event attracted a field of 99 players battling for $1,000,000, and Addamo sits up top with over 1.5 million in chips. His closest rival for the title, Ramiro Petrone from Argentina, collected a little over a million in chips on the first day.
Ivan Raich bubbled the event in 18th place, prompting the virtual bagging and tagging for the 17 remaining players. They’re all guaranteed a cash of $21,277 at this point. Tonight at 20:05 BST, they resume play and battle it out for the $249,791 first-place prize. Besides Addamo and Petrone, such familiar names like Michael Watson (679,074), David Peters (564,485), Sergi Reixach (426,585), and Rob Yong (266,964) are also still left in contention.
Check out all upcoming tournaments on partypoker LIVE.