The tournament attracted a field of 160 entries, consisting of 117 unique players and 43 re-entries. Only the top 20 finishers will earn a portion of the $800,000 prize pool and especially the accumulated PKO prizes will play a pivotal role during the late stages.
Andras "probirs" Nemeth opened the action with a raise to 54,750 from under the gun and was called only by Sergei "Futti18" Koliakov out of the big blind. On a flop of , 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.
Koliakov checked with 893,905 behind and called all-in when facing a jam. This time, Nemeth had no bluff but turned over for a set. For Koliakov, for the top pair was no good and Nemeth jumped into the lead.
After losing the massive pot just prior, Christian "WATnlos" Rudolph was in the big blind and faced the limp of Justin "ZeeJustin" Bonomo in the small blind. Rudolph jammed for almost 1.2 million and Bonomo called for one big blind fewer.
Justin "ZeeJustin" Bonomo:
Christian "WATnlos" Rudolph:
Both players flopped a pair on . The turn sent Bonomo on the brink of elimination and he couldn't find any help on the river.
"HITRII999" opened to 82,400 and was called by fellow Russian player "Nes1989" on the button and Pedro "pvigar" Garagnani in the big blind. The flop fell and Garagnani check-folded to a continuation bet worth 102,102 and the call by "Nes1989".
"HITRII999" slowed down on the 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.
They revealed 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 full chip counts and a recap of today's action are to follow.
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.