Oliver in Top Five of the PokerStars WCOOP-72-M: $530 NLHE [8-Max, Main Event] with "Pentakilator" in the Lead
After 8.5 hours of play on Day 2, the PokerStars WCOOP-72-M: $530 NLHE [8-Max, Main Event] has come to an end with 80 players making it through to Day 3. Day 1 attracted 6,500 entries and before the start of the day, another 605 entries were collected to get to 7,105 in total to create a prize pool of $3,552,500 which smashed the original $2,000,000 guarantee which was set.
Poland's "Pentakilator" claimed the chip lead in the final hand of the night when they doubled through Igor "Garrin4e" Yaroshevskyy with the flopped two pair when the latter tried to bluff the former off the hand. "Pentakilator" will come back for Day 3 with 28,139,926 in chips which will be worth 113 big blinds. They are followed in the top five by "S.N.I.N.1" (22,901,193), "ZAR84" (20,462,671), "shusiu11" (18,830,047), and a more familiar name and face to the poker world: Chris "ImDaNuts" Oliver virtually bagged 18,593,495 for Day 3.
But there are many more notable players left, Daniel "Allanon85" Drescher, Saymon "Saymon9" Nascimento, Mats "Matsull" Ullereng, Evan "PURPLE"K"99" Parkes, Day 1 chip leader Guilherme "Guizãoo_" Carmo, Victor "vituhu3" Macedo, Henrique "Galochina10" Coutinho, and Alexis "J0hnny_Dr@m@" Zervos have all bagged an above average stack.
WCOOP-72-M: $530 NLHE [8-Max, Main Event] Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Pentakilator" | Poland | 28,139,926 | 113 |
| 2 | "S.N.I.N.1" | Moldova | 22,901,193 | 92 |
| 3 | "ZAR84" | Germany | 20,462,671 | 82 |
| 4 | "shusiu11" | Hungary | 18,830,047 | 75 |
| 5 | Chris "ImDaNuts" Oliver | United States | 18,593,495 | 74 |
| 6 | Rafael "GM_VALTER" Moraes | Brazil | 18,183,738 | 73 |
| 7 | "kirbyi17" | Germany | 18,043,051 | 72 |
| 8 | "ross_654" | Mexico | 17,737,265 | 71 |
| 9 | "cladarth" | Poland | 16,801,506 | 67 |
| 10 | Oscar "owilson25" Ramirez | Honduras | 16,408,470 | 66 |
Today's Action
With all those extra entries, the tournament kicked off with 2,611 players who would all be trying to fight their way to the top 863 as that would mean that they would cash for at least $1,141. The players dropped like flies on the road to the money. Former WCOOP Main Event Champion Steven "SvZff" van Zadelhoff busted in the first level of the day and was followed by many familiar names.
Brunno "botteonpoker" Botteon, Dzmitry "Colisea" Urbanovich, Talal "raidalot" Shakerchi, Michael "merla888" Gathy, Gianluca "Tankanza" Speranza, Kenny "SpaceyFCB" Hallaert, and Parker "tonkaaaa" Talbot are just some of the players to bust before the first break of the day.
But it didn't stop there, the elimination kept coming in in a quick pace. Three hours after the tournament had started, it was almost time for the bubble. Fedor "CrownUpGuy" Holz busted to Gabriel "aaurelio" Moura just before the bubble. In the end, it would be "aJarov" who would actually bubble in a three-way all-in situation.
PokerStars Ambassador Ramon "RamonColillas" Colillas fell to Luke "LFmagic" Fields when he flopped a set but Fields had turned the flush. "234241234214432" busted Niall "firaldo87" Farrell and "10rmc10.com" in the same hand and"Strekoza85" took out Steve "Mr. Tim Caum" O'Dwyer for example.
In the end, it would take just over five hours for the field to be reduced to the final 80 players who will return for Day 3 at 7:05 p.m. CEST on Tuesday, September 22. The returning players will finish the last 16 minutes of Level 38 which has a small blind of 125,000, a big blind of 250,000 with a running ante of 32,500. After this level is done, the duration will go back up to 25 minutes each and play will continue until the final table has been reached.
All players have secured at least $3,177 but they will all be wanting to reach the final table where they will win at least $33,638 while the first-place comes with a prize of $504,584 and PokerNews will be there from the first bustout throught the climb through the pay ladder so make sure to follow along.
, "Pentakilator" check-called the 1,304,325 bet of Yaroshevskyy.
, "Pentakilator" checked again. This time, Yaroshevskyy barreled a bet of 3,000,000 into the pot and was called again.
, "Pentakilator" checked for the last time. Yaroshevskyy shoved for "Pentakilator" to dive deep into the tank. After a while, they opted to call for the 7,789,388 they had behind. Yaroshevskyy tabled the 
for the missed flush draw for "Pentakilator" to double up for the chip lead with the 
for two pair. 
, Regina bet 560,000 and was called.
, Regina opted to check. Ilavsky bet 2,275,000 for Regina to shove for 2,532,313 which Ilavsky called. 
for Ilavsky to hit the higher pair to bust Regina.
for Drescher to hold with the higher pocket pair to bust Klausen.
on the turn and the 
on the river for the big pot to go to Ramirez.
for "Strekoza85" to flop two pair to send O'Dwyer out of the tournament.
