Fabiano "Kovalski1" Kovalski Leads Final 15 in the WCOOP $25K Super High Roller
The 2021 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) showcased its largest buy-in event on the schedule this festival at PokerStars with Sunday featuring the first of two days of the WCOOP 34-H: $25,000 Super High Roller.
The action was down to just 15 hopefuls by the end of the day, each of whom will benefit from the fact that the event missed the lofty $3 million guarantee by a few players to create $155,100 in added value to the 15 players that cashed for at least a $54,828 min-cash.
Three-time WCOOP champion Fabiano "Kovalski1" Kovalski found himself in familiar territory at the end of the day with a chip leading stack of 5,006,522. Kovalski was involved in the largest pot of the day when he eliminated Sam "Str8$$$Homey" Greenwood near the end of the day when his rockets held against big slick.
Laszlo "omaha4rollz" Bujtas, Adrian "Amadi_017" Mateos, and Chris "ImDaNuts" Oliver were the only other players to virtually bag at least 3 million in chips, while "Sintoras" was the only other player to advance with more than 2 million in chips.
Other notable players coming back on Monday to compete for the $657,557 top prize include Justin "ZeeJustin" Bonomo, Christian "WATnlos" Rudolph, Pedro "PaDiLhA SP" Padilha, Aleksejs "APonakov" Ponakovs, Eelis "EEE27" Parssinen, Conor "1_conor_b_1" Beresford, and Mike "SirWatts" Watson.
2021 WCOOP-34-H: $25,000 Super High High Roller Day 1 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fabiano "Kovalski1" Kovalski | Brazil | 5,006,522 | 125 |
| 2 | Laszlo "omaha4rollz" Bujtas | Hungary | 3,159,334 | 79 |
| 3 | Adrian "Amadi_017" Mateos | Spain | 3,054,797 | 76 |
| 4 | Chris "ImDaNuts" Oliver | United States | 3,023,286 | 76 |
| 5 | Sintoras | Germany | 2,036,861 | 51 |
| 6 | Justin "ZeeJustin" Bonomo | United States | 1,960,585 | 49 |
| 7 | Christian "WATnlos" Rudolph | Germany | 1,919,729 | 48 |
| 8 | Pedro "PaDiLhA SP" Padilha | Brazil | 1,850,440 | 46 |
| 9 | kZhh | Hungary | 1,609,936 | 40 |
| 10 | CrazyLissy | Russia | 1,603,416 | 40 |
| 11 | Aleksejs "APonakov" Ponakovs | Latvia | 1,260,911 | 32 |
| 12 | Eelis "EEE27" Parssinen | Finland | 1,091,730 | 27 |
| 13 | Conor "1_conor_b_1" Beresford | United Kingdom | 501,910 | 13 |
| 14 | spaise411 | Russia | 480,586 | 12 |
| 15 | Mike "SirWatts" Watson | Canada | 439,957 | 11 |
| Total | 29,000,000 | 725 | ||
| Average | 1,933,333 | 48 |
Pye Runs Into a Royal Flush
It wasn't the best of days for Team PokerStars with Benjamin "bencb789" Rolle, Sam "SamSquid" Grafton, Lex "L. Veldhuis" Veldhuis, Fintan "easywithaces" Hand, Parker "tonkaaaa" Talbot, Ben "Spraggy" Spragg, and Mason "Pye_Face21" Pye firing a dozen bullets between them only to come up empty.
Although he was freerolling the event after winning a PokerStars Ambassador sit-and-go, Pye had a particularly rough outing after cruising along with a big stack for a good part of the day. Pye first lost a huge chunk of his stacks with trips against a flush before losing the rest with a full house to a royal flush.
Final Table Payouts
The 15 returning players are each slated to receive at least a $54,828 payout with the winner set to add $657,557 to their PokerStars balance.
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | $657,557 |
| 2 | $509,470 |
| 3 | $394,733 |
| 4 | $305,835 |
| 5 | $236,959 |
| 6 | $183,593 |
| 7 | $142,247 |
| 8 | $110,211 |
| 9 | $87,327 |
| 10-12 | $69,195 |
| 13-15 | $54,828 |
Final Day Schedule
The second and final day will kick off on Monday, Aug. 30 at 5:05 p.m. GMT. PokerStars will be streaming the final table with hole cards exposed on a 30-minute delay. PokerNews will report the final table on the same delay as to not reveal any spoilers.
The blinds will resume with the remainder of Level 20 (20,000/40,000/5,000a) and increase every 30 minutes until a winner is crowned.
Stay tuned at PokerNews to see who will win the WCOOP-34-H: $25,000 Super High Roller at PokerStars.
flop from 108,000 to 429,770 and Oliver called.
turn and 
river completed the board to end the day.
board didn't save Greenwood and he was eliminated in 17th place. Meanwhile, Kovalski soared over 5 million in chips to take a huge chip lead with 16 players remaining and the day ending when the action reaches the money with 15 players remaining.
runout didn't connect with Volkmann's hand and he was eliminated in 18th place. The action went hand-for-hand for the rest of the day with 17 players remaining and 15 advancing in the money to Day 2.
turn. The 
river didn't help Muehloecker and he was ousted in 19th place.
