PokerStars WCOOP 2020

It took fewer than six and a half hours in WCOOP-73-M: $1,050 PLO [6-Max, Main Event] to whittle down the 267 players to the final 18 contenders.

Players from 11 different countries remain in contention to claim the title in the latest medium stake event of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) 2020.

The lion's share of the $788,000 prize pool is still up for grabs and a familiar face of the international poker circuit sits atop the leaderboard, U.K. poker pro Ludovic "ludovi333" Geilich

Geilich, who already has a WCOOP title this series, dominated the late stages to claim a stack of 11,712,462 to his name, which is well ahead of two-time WSOP bracelet winner Kahle "ROFLshove" Burns (9,528,964) and "Riphraph94" (7,568,015).

Other well known players to advance through to the final day include Olli "Erä_Koira" Ikonen (5,737,163), Thiago "KKremate" Crema (3,642,030), Joep "Pappe_Ruk" van den Bijgaart (2,815,046), Dimitri "MITS 304" Michaelides (2,785,531), and Day 1 Chip Leader Guilherme "guilherme12" Decourt (1,021,506).

The Final 18 Players in WCOOP-73-M: $1,050 PLO [6-Max, Main Event]

The Action of the Day

Right from the start, the eliminations came at an incredibly fast pace as the hopes of an even deeper run for all those that made it through to the money started to fall apart.

Shaun "shaundeeb" Deeb was seen riding around on a rollercoster all day until he crashed into "beastishngry's" nut flush, ending his tournament early in the money.

Jens "Jeans89" Kyllönen was hoping to ride his heater through to the end of the night but it came to a cold end after his trip threes froze after Geilich found a third lady on turn making queens-full.

As virtual bodies kept dropping closer to the hard stop, there were two players who continued to tussle until one lost their chips. Francisco "Tomatee" Benitez, who started the final level fifth in chips, lost his wrestling match with Burns and became the final elimination of the evening.

The final 18 players have been reached meaning Day 2 has concluded. Final chip counts and recap will follow.

Kahle "ROFLshove" Burns opened for 176,000 from under the gun and Francisco "Tomatee" Benitez three-bet to 560,000 from the next seat over.

Action folded back around to Burns who four-bet to 1,800,000 and Benitez called to see a flop appear.

Burns moved all in for 3,327,623 and Benitez called off his 2,481,341 stack.

Kahle "ROFLshove" Burns:
Francisco "Tomatee" Benitez:

Benitez was behind looking to get lucky but neither the turn nor the river were that as he was eliminated in 19th place for $5,901.

Gavin “gavz101” Cochrane has been playing for over a decade, usually tearing up cash games and occasionally crossing over into the tournament arena to put a few notches on his record. Last week, he won event 26-H for $63,236k, claiming the first WCOOP win of his illustrious poker career.

Speaking of his win, Cochrane says, “It feels like it’s about time! I’ve played enough WCOOPs. I’m happy to win in 5 card PLO, as I really enjoy playing that game.”

He describes his 10+ year long poker journey as “pretty turbulent, but lots of fun.”

Cochrane was once involved in some of the most insane cash games of all time, including regular $100/$200 sessions against players such as Viktor “Isildur1” Blom. In one particularly memorable session, Cochrane came off $600k in profit against Blom. Another time, Cochrane won $150k in a single hand against Scott Palmer.

“I had quite a lot of gamble in my twenties – loved the high stakes and big swings. But I feel that urge less these days,” says Cochrane. “I still have a lot of love for the game, but I have a very different relationship with poker these days. It doesn’t consume me like it used to.”

Read the full story over at the PokerStars Blog

The remaining 22 players are on a quick five-minute break.