Nemeth Near the Top; Dzivielevski, Leonard and Spragg Advance to the Money in WCOOP-22-H: $5,200 NLHE PKO
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The next high-stakes contest of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) 2021 is one step closer to crowning a champion. Out of a field of 160 entries in WCOOP-22-H: $5,000 NLHE PKO, only 20 players remain. They have all locked up a portion of the $800,000 prize pool and all but two finalists have also earned bounty prizes on their final entry.
"HITRII999" leads the pack with a stack of 4,784,840 after bursting the money bubble against fellow Russian player "Nes1989". Right behind on the leaderboard is Hungarian high-stakes crusher Andras "probirs" Nemeth with a stack of 4,284,408. Nemeth has numerous accolades on his online and live poker resume, which includes his maiden victory in WCOOP 37-H: $5,200 PLO during the 2020 edition.
Third in chips is the Pablo "pabritz" Brito Silva with 3,539,824. The 2020 SCOOP Main Event champion headlines an armada of Brazilians after Day 1 as no fewer than seven of them made the cut. This also includes Yuri "theNERDguy" Dzivielevski, who earned his fifth WCOOP title a few days ago and now sits in seventh place with a healthy stack of 2,030,103.
Other well-known online regulars such as Thomas "WushuTM" Muehloecker, Christian "WATnlos" Rudolph, Teun "tinnoemulder" Mulder, Simon "C. Darwin2" Mattsson, Konstantin "krakukra" Maslak, and Rafael "GM_Valter" Moraes can also be found in the overnight chip counts.
Top 10 Counts After Day 1 in 2021 WCOOP-22-H: $5,200 NLHE PKO
| Position | Player | Country | Bounty | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | HITRII999 | Russia | $5,625 | 4,784,840 | 120 |
| 2 | Andras "probirs" Nemeth | Hungary | $13,438 | 4,284,408 | 107 |
| 3 | Pablo "pabritz" Brito Silva | Brazil | $1,250 | 3,539,824 | 88 |
| 4 | Pedro "pvigar" Garagnani | Brazil | $9,375 | 3,254,297 | 81 |
| 5 | Thomas "WushuTM" Muehloecker | Austria | $13,750 | 2,849,462 | 71 |
| 6 | Christian "WATnlos" Rudolph | Germany | $7,031 | 2,712,346 | 68 |
| 7 | Yuri "theNERDguy" Dzivielevski | Brazil | $4,375 | 2,030,103 | 51 |
| 8 | FishOnHeater | Hungary | $4,688 | 1,929,528 | 48 |
| 9 | Teun "tinnoemulder" Mulder | Netherlands | 1,715,772 | 43 | |
| 10 | Simon "C. Darwin2" Mattsson | Sweden | $4,688 | 1,700,789 | 43 |
Ben "Spraggy" Spragg was the only PokerStars ambassador to survive the day out of the five that entered the fray. The newly-married online poker streamer advanced with a stack of 1,044,059. He will be joined on the final day by fellow Brit Patrick "pads1161" Leonard, who has already claimed two WCOOP titles during the ongoing festival.
The Action of the Day
Five PokerStars ambassadors entered the event and some of them even shared the same table for an extended period.
Parker "tonkaaaa" Talbot and Lex "L. Veldhuis" Veldhuis were among the early chip leaders but couldn't keep the momentum going, as they had to settle for the accumulated PKO bounties. Sam "SamSquid" Grafton saw his kings cracked by the turned nut straight of online legend Jon "apestyles" Van Fleet in level three and his following two bullets were not crowned by success either.
Fintan "easywithaces" Hand spent some time among the big stacks but ultimately exited on a bad beat when his ace-jack suited ended up second-best to the ace-nine suited of Eder "edercampana" Campana. Once Talbot departed in 28th place, only Spragg was left to represent the red spade. Along the way, the Brit knocked out Damian "pampa27" Salas, who was one of many high-profile casualties throughout the day.
At the business end of the day, Andras "probirs" Nemeth dominated the action and secured one of the biggest stacks despite several setbacks. Justin "ZeeJustin" Bonomo fell two spots away from the money and the bubble burst shortly after to send all 20 survivors on break.
The final day resumes at 1.05 pm EST on Saturday, August 28. The blinds will continue at 20,000 / 40,000 with a running ante of 5,000 and the PokerNews team will provide as many key hands as possible en route to crowning another WCOOP champion.
and Garagnani check-folded to a continuation bet worth 102,102 and the call by "Nes1989".
turn and check-called for 280,000, which led them to the 
river. "HITRII999" checked once more and "Nes1989" bet 720,000 with 770,871 behind. That triggered a check-raise to 1.6 million by "HITRII999" and "Nes1989" called all-in.
for the nut straight but "HITRII999" had that beat with 
for the effective nuts. And just like that, the money bubble has burst and the remaining 20 players are now on a break until Saturday, August 28.
. The 
turn sent Bonomo on the brink of elimination and he couldn't find any help on the 
river.
, Koliakov check-called for 70,750 and checked again the 
on the turn. Nemeth now bet 325,000 to earn another check-call and the 
river completed the board.
for a set. For Koliakov, 
for the top pair was no good and Nemeth jumped into the lead.
board to eliminate Salas.
river and Muehloecker jammed for 1,200,813. "CPUrul0r" called and showed 
.
turn to secure the double, as a meaningless 
flop.