Fabiano "Kovalski1" Kovalski Wins Third WCOOP Title in WCOOP-59-H: $5,200 NLHE [8-Max, Midweek Freeze]
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The year of Brazil continues as yet another title in the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker 2020 has been awarded to a player from the poker stronghold in South America. Fabiano "Kovalski1" Kovalski who earned his third WCOOP title in as many years in WCOOP-59-H: $5,200 NLHE [8-Max, Midweek Freeze] after defeating Steve "Mr. Tim Caum" O'Dwyer to best a field of 97 entries and took home the lion's share of the $500,000 guaranteed prize pool.
A maiden WCOOP title for Kovalski came in 2018 WCOOP-31H: $1,050 NLHE as he topped a field of 2,077 entries for $282,545. He then conquered a 767-entry strong field one year later in WCOOP-19-H: $530 NLHE [4-Max] to claim $64,912.
The Brazilian has already cashed for more than $3.5 million on PokerStars and racked up several cashes in the ongoing festival including a 4th place in WCOOP-27-H: $1,050 NLHE [Freezeout] for $32,915. The latest victory comes with a top prize of $119,483 whereas runner-up O'Dwyer was denied a second title and received a consolation prize of $92,338.
Also featured on the final table were the known poker pros Filipe "Zagazaur" Oliveira, Samuel "€urop€an" Vousden, Tomi "elmerixx" Brouk and Sam "Str8$$$Homey" Greenwood.
Final Result WCOOP-59-H: $5,200 NLHE [8-Max, Midweek Freeze]
| Place | Winner | Country | Payout (in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fabiano "Kovalski1" Kovalski | Brazil | $119,483 |
| 2 | Steve "Mr. Tim Caum" O'Dwyer | Ireland | $92,338 |
| 3 | Filipe "Zagazaur" Oliveira | Portugal | $71,360 |
| 4 | MaxHendrix | Russia | $55,148 |
| 5 | Samuel "€urop€an" Vousden | Finland | $42,619 |
| 6 | Sintoras | Germany | $32,936 |
| 7 | Tomi "elmerixx" Brouk | Finland | $25,453 |
| 8 | Sam "Str8$$$Homey" Greenwood | Canada | $19,671 |
| 9 | SmilleThHero | Austria | $15,755 |
| 10 | Apo5555 | Russia | $12,619 |
| 11 | Jonathan "Proudflop" Proudfoot | United Kingdom | $12,619 |
The first player to bust was the UK's Jonathan "Proudflop" Proudfoot followed by "Apo5555" and that set up the nine-handed final table after just ten minutes of play on the final day.
The Action of the Final Day
With several short stacks returning to their virtual seats it was not unexpected to see two early eliminations and it took just ten minutes to set up the nine-handed final table. Jonathan "Proudflop" Proudfoot was left short after doubling "SmilleThHero" and then lost the last few chips to Sam "Str8$$$Homey" Greenwood. Kovalski then flopped a set of deuces to leave "Apo5555" drawing dead on the turn.
For "SmilleThHero", the laddering ended in 9th place as Tomi "elmerixx" Brouk flopped quads tens to end all hopes of an even deeper run. Steve "Mr. Tim Caum" O'Dwyer then won a race against Greenwood with queens against ace-king to get into contention and scored an even bigger double against Brouk to become the second-biggest stack.
For Greenwood and Brouk the end came soon after, which left another two short stacks in contention. The first of those to bow out was "Sintoras" against O'Dwyer and Vousden sent his chips in the same direction.
Down to the final four, it took a while to lose another player as "MaxHendrix" managed to double at least once against each other finalist but the Russian eventually succumbed in 4th place when Kovalski got on the scoreboard again with queens full of sixes against trips sixes. In the very next hand, Filipe "Zagazaur" Oliveira lost a flip with sixes against the ace-eight of O'Dwyer and the heads-up duel was set.
By then, Kovalski had been in the lead for all but a few minutes throughout the entire day and would not surrender his comfortable lead anymore. O'Dwyer doubled once but never threatened to close the gap as it was all over just a few minutes later. It was yet another of those typical coin flips with the ace-ten for Kovalski and the pocket nines of O'Dwyer. A ten on the flop gave Kovalski the lead and two blanks later he had earned his third WCOOP title in consecutive years.
The final day of WCOOP-59-H: $5,200 NLHE [8-Max, Midweek Freeze] was streamed on the PokerStars Twitch channel with cards-up coverage and commentary on a delay of at least 20 minutes. Exclusive PokerStars WCOOP 2020 highlights, results and live updates of other events can be found right here!