Grafton Bags Chip Lead as WCOOP 2021 Explodes into Action

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Sam "SamSquid" Grafton

The $100 million guaranteed 2021 PokerStars World Championship Of Online Poker (WCOOP) exploded into action on August 22 with 18 events shuffling up and dealing. Three events crowned their champions, and several household names bagged up tournament-leading stacks at the conclusion of their respective Day 1s.

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Sam "SamSquid" Grafton Leads WCOOP-04-M: $530 NLHE [8-Max]

Sam Grafton

Team PokerStars’ Sam "SamSquid" Grafton has put himself in a fantastic position to securing a WCOOP title by bagging the chip lead in the WCOOP-04-M: $530 NLHE [8-Max] event.

Some 3,213 players bought into this tournament and created a guarantee-busting $1,606,500 prize pool. Only 200 of those starters progressed to Day 2. Each of the returning players is guaranteed $1,672 for their efforts, but with a whopping $231,598 awaiting the champion, nobody will want to collect the lesser sum.

Grafton returns to the action at 6:05 p.m. BST on August 23 in the envious position of chip leader. The popular British grinder is one of seven players who have more than four million chips in their stacks.

Russia’s "sokol47" is only two big blinds behind Grafton in the chip counts, with "ich_b1n_du" only a couple of blinds behind sokol47.

Two of Grafton’s fellow Brits, Tom "Jabracada" Hall and Luke "Bit2Easy" Reeves have done their chances of WCOOP glory no harm at all because they sit down on Day 2 in fifth and sixth place respectively.

WCOOP-04-M: $530 NLHE [8-Max], $1.5M Guarantee

PlacePlayerCountryChipsBig Blinds
1Sam "SamSquid" GraftonUnited Kingdom4,651,481133
2"sokol47"Russia4,585,759131
3"ich_b1n_du"United Kingdom4,527,663129
4"tcavallin"Canada4,453,519127
5Tom "Jabracada" HallUnited Kingdom4,319,513123
6Luke "Bit2Easy" ReevesUnited Kingdom4,265,271122
7"ModzillaPL"Canada4,084,688117
8"Flying Smile"Russia3,961,009113
9"Mr. Havener"Brazil3,575,007102
10"ACNRULES"Canada3,493,413100

For all the updates from WCOOP-04-M, check out the PokerNews live reporting pages

Pedro "pvigar" Garagnani Leads WCOOP-04-H: $5,200 NLHE [8-Max, High Roller] Final Table

Garagnani leads

Only nine players remain in contention for the $195,689 top prize of the WCOOP-04-H: $5,200 NLHE [8-Max, High Roller] and what a final nine it is.

Pedro "pvigar" Garagnani is the man to catch going into the final table. There is some distance between Garagnani and second-placed Diego "DieVentura" Ventura.

Others to keep an eye on when the final table commences are Christian "WAtnlos" Rudolph, Michel "FreeLancerZZ" Dattani, and Dinesh "NastyMinder" Alt. That trio of players have 50 or more big blinds at their disposal.

Do not write off the chances of Samuel "€urop€an" Vousden, former WCOOP champion Sam "Str8Homey$$$" Greenwood, or Pascal "Paffchen" Hartmann either. Nor David "dpeters17" Peters, although Peters does only have 18 big blinds when play resumes.

RankPlayerCountryChipsBig Blinds
1Pedro "pvigar" Garagnani 10,329,67386
2Diego "Die Ventura" Ventura 7,896,51466
3Christian "WATnlos" Rudolph 7,357,21661
4Michel "FreeLancerZZ" Dattani 6,394,82853
5Dinesh "NastyMinder" Alt 5,959,37750
6Samuel "€urop€an" Vousden 3,737,40131
7Sam "Str8$$$Homey" Greenwood 3,707,55231
8Pascal "Päffchen" Hartmann 2,397,47920
9David "dpeters17" Peters 2,219,96018

For all the updates from WCOOP-04-H, check out the PokerNews live reporting pages


2021 WCOOP Results From August 22

2021 WCOOP

Three PokerStars players became 2021 WCOOP champions on August 22 with the trio of special edition Sunday Cooldown events concluding. Ukrainians "goodday2211" and "gunnersfun" won the $5.50 buy-in event for $4,088 and the $55 buy-in medium event for $27,718, with "nmi128" of the Netherlands triumphing in the $530 High event for $79,041.

WCOOP-07-L: $5.50 NLHE [8-Max Progressive KO, Mini Sunday Cooldown SE], $50K Gtd

Entries10,815
Prize Pool$52,993
Winnergoodday2211 (Ukraine)
First-place Prize$2,981 + $1,107 in bounties

WCOOP-07-M: $55 NLHE [8-Max Progressive KO, Sunday Cooldown SE], $300K Gtd

Entries6,212
Prize Pool$310,600
Winnergunnersfun (Ukraine)
First-place Prize$18,842 + $8,876 in bounties

WCOOP-07-H: $530 NLHE [8-Max Progressive KO, Turbo, Mini Sunday Cooldown SE], $400K Gtd

Entries971
Prize Pool$485,500
Winnernmi128 (Netherlands)
First-place Prize$34,375 + $44,666 in bounties


In-Play Events

Joris Ruijs
Joris Ruijs

All the other events that kicked off on August 22 are in play, with Day 2s taking place on August 23. Dutch star Joris "BillLewinsky" Ruijs leads the WCOOP-02-H: $530 NLHE [WCOOP Kickoff], $400K Gtd, while Andrey "ThePateychuk" Pateychuk is the chip leader going into Day 2 of the WCOOP-03-H: $2,100 NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO, Sunday Warm-Up SE] event.

Uruguayan Ramiro "ramastar88" Petrone is also a stellar name holding a chip lead. He returns to the WCOOP-06-H: $1,050 NLHE [6-Max] first in chips from 59 remaining players.

WCOOP-02-L: $5.50 NLHE [WCOOP Kickoff – Mini Sunday Kickoff SE], $75K Gtd

Entries17,420
Players Left86
Prize Pool$85,358
Chip LeaderBukhamet (Russia)
First-place Prize$9,127

WCOOP-02-M: $55 NLHE [WCOOP Kickoff – Sunday Kickoff SE], $300K Gtd]

Entries7,341
Players Left79
Prize Pool$367,050
Chip Leaderasseb677 (Denmark)
First-place Prize$52,030

WCOOP-02-H: $530 NLHE [WCOOP Kickoff], $400K Gtd]

Entries1,130
Players Left46
Prize Pool$565,000
Chip LeaderJoris "BillLewinsky" Ruijs (Netherlands)
First-place Prize$90,131

WCOOP-03-L: $22 NLHE [Progressive KO, Freezeout], $275K Gtd

Entries12,938
Players Left103
Prize Pool$275,000
Chip LeaderDitya pokera (Russia)
First-place Prize$15,613 (plus bounties)

WCOOP-03-M: $215 NLHE [Progressive KO, Freezeout Sunday Warm-Up SE], $700K Gtd

Entries3,561
Players Left51
Prize Pool$712,200
Chip Leaderkrantzsz07 (Romania)
First-place Prize$43,822 (plus bounties)

WCOOP-03-H: $2,100 NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO, Sunday Warm-Up SE], $700K Gtd

Entries460
Players Left15
Prize Pool$920,000
Chip LeaderAndrey "ThePateychuk" Pateychuk (Belarus)
First-place Prize$71,868 (plus bounties)

WCOOP-04-L: $55 NLHE [8-Max, Sunday Million SE], $1M Gtd

Entries21,885
Players Left606
Prize Pool$1,094,250
Chip LeaderAdyJunior (Romania)
First-place Prize$112,606

WCOOP-05-L: $22 PLO [6-Max], $100K Gtd

Entries4,195
Players Left81
Prize Pool$100,000
Chip Leaderlyren154 (Brazil)
First-place Prize$14,273

WCOOP-05-M: $215 PLO [6-Max], $175K Gtd

Entries975
Players Left46
Prize Pool$195,000
Chip Leaderjokkee_apart (Norway)
First-place Prize$14,273

WCOOP-05-H: $2,100 PLO [6-Max], $275K Gtd

Entries181
Players Left16
Prize Pool$362,000
Chip Leader#Naktro91 (Andorra)
First-place Prize$72,202

WCOOP-06-L: $11 NLHE [6-Max], $125K Gtd

Entries13,187
Players Left189
Prize Pool$129,232
Chip LeaderV1ru$69 (Germany)
First-place Prize$16,293

WCOOP-06-M: $109 NLHE [6-Max], $300K Gtd

Entries3,930
Players Left179
Prize Pool$393,000
Chip Leaderabsinttivaa (Finland)
First-place Prize$56,165

WCOOP-06-H: $1,050 NLHE [6-Max], $500K Gtd

Entries554
Players Left49
Prize Pool$554,000
Chip LeaderRamiro "ramastar88" Petrone (Uruguay)
First-place Prize$97,850

2021 WCOOP Events Scheduled on August 23

Twelve fresh events get underway on August 23 in addition to the 15 in-play events that will crown their champions. August 23 sees the first non-hold'em events kick off with HORSE and NLO8 tournaments scheduled.

Time (BST)Event
6:05 p.m.WCOOP 08-L: $55 NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO], $500K Gtd
6:05 p.m.WCOOP 08-M: $530 NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO], $650K Gtd
6:05 p.m.WCOOP 08-H: $5,200 NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO], $600K Gtd
7:15 p.m.WCOOP 09-L: $22 HORSE [8-Max], $30K Gtd
7:15 p.m.WCOOP 09-M: $215 HORSE [8-Max], $60K Gtd
7:15 p.m.WCOOP 09-H: $2,100 HORSE [8-Max], $100K Gtd
8:30 p.m.WCOOP 10-L: $11 NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO, Freezeout], $100K Gtd
8:30 p.m.WCOOP 10-M: $109 NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO, Freezeout], $350K Gtd
8:30 p.m.WCOOP 10-H: $1,050 NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO, Freezeout], $300K Gtd
10:05 p.m.WCOOP 11-L: $5.50 NLO8 [8-Max, Turbo, Progressive KO], $10K Gtd
10:05 p.m.WCOOP 11-M: $55 NLO8 [8-Max, Turbo, Progressive KO], $35K Gtd
10:05 p.m.WCOOP 11-H: $530 NLO8 [8-Max, Turbo, Progressive KO], $60K Gtd

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