WCOOP Day 23: Thomas "Kallllle" Pedersen Wins WCOOP Main Event

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Thomas "Kallllle" Pedersen

The 2011 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker has come to a close. More than $47 million in prize money was handed out over the course of 63 events, and several well-known pros added WCOOP bracelets to their already illustrious careers. Among the winners this year were Team PokerStars Pros Noah "Exclusive" Boeken, Shane "shaniac" Schleger and Anders "Donald" Berg, who won his record-tying third WCOOP bracelet in Event #16, Six-Max Pot-Limit Omaha.

Spain's Joel Adam “2FLY2TILT” Gordon locked up Player-of-the-Series honors on Monday after an exceptional series in which he won his first bracelet and cashed 10 times. Gordon tied "Big_Nemo" with 295 points but won the tiebreaker by earning more money during the series. For his efforts, Gordon collected a 2012 PCA package, a 2012 EPT Grand Final package, a SCOOP Main Event entry, and a commemorative chip set.

The biggest winner of the series, though, was Denmark's Thomas "Kallllle" Pedersen. The Danish pro earned more than $1.2 million on Tuesday morning for becoming the newest WCOOP Main Event champion and joined the likes of Tyson "POTTERPOKER" Marks, Yevgeniy "Jovial Gent" Timoshenko and Carter "ckingusc" King as WCOOP Main Event winners.

PokerStars WCOOP 62 - $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event Two-Day ($5M Guaranteed)

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool
$5,000+$2001,627$8,135,000

After 22 levels of play on Day 1, 167 players survived to make it to Day 2 and have a chance at making the WCOOP history books. Among them were Team PokerStars Pros Eugene Katchalov, Matthias "mattidm" De Meulder, Johnny Lodden, Bertand "ElkY" Grospellier, and Team Online's Mickey "mement_mori" Petersen. However, all would fall in the beginning stages of the day. Other notables who had early exits on Day 2 were David "Gunslinger3" Bach, Shawn "buck21" Buchanan, Luke "lb6121" Schwartz, and Steve "gboro780" Gross.

It took about eight and a half hours, but the final table of nine was reached with the elimination of Kenny "LoneHixx" Hicks in 10th place. With 99 and a stack of about 19 big blinds, Hicks three-bet shoved into Vojtech "Vojta_R" Ruzicka's QQ. No help came for Hicks, whose elimination set the stage for the final table. Here were the chip counts at the start:

SeatPlayerChips
1Vojtech "Vojta_R" Ruzicka5,011,956
2Dan "dan82mur" Murariu2,548,423
3BackDoorovic4,495,888
4Thomas "Kallllle" Pedersen11,178,222
5Nick "OU THE NICK" Hahn2,154,851
6Vadzim "VadziMoney" Kursevich1,422,861
7WhySoSrsSon3,039,785
8jle901,353,647
9Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah1,224,637

Dan "dan82mur" Murariu bit the dust first, four-betting all-in for about 27 big blinds with A10. Chip leader Thomas "Kallllle" Pedersen looked him up with AK and held up as the board came down Q6532. Shortly thereafter, Pedersen held 99 and looked to bust Nick "OU THE NICK" Hahn who tabled KQ. The board fell 87523, offering Hahn nothing of value to end his tournament in eighth place.

Somebody else finally got in on the action as "VadziMoney" sent "jle90" to the rail in seventh place on the next hand. In the big blind with two raises in front, "jle90" re-raised all-in for 17 big blinds with 1010. However, "VadziMoney" had the goods with AA, holding up when the board rolled out 982JJ. Thomas Pedersen got back in the elimination game, felting "WhySoSrsSon" in sixth place. Just like the previous elimination, "WhySoSrsSon" woke up with a pair in the big blind and four-bet shoved. However, this time it was for about 40 big blinds and with JJ. Pedersen had picked up KK and took down the pot when the board ran out Q858Q.

For the next hour, the remaining five players hashed out a deal that ensured each a score of at least $560,000. Once the numbers were worked out, "VadziMoney" exited in fifth place. With 1010, "VadziMoney" got it in good against the A5 of Thomas Pedersen. However, a Q924A board fell as the ace on the river spelled the end for "VadziMoney." A mere seven hands later, Pedersen picked up AA. BackDoorovic, with KJ, got his chips in on the J108 board against Pedersen, but was unable to overtake the chip leader's aces and finished in fourth place.

It was quite the tournament for third-place finisher Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah. On the money bubble with 15 big blinds on Day 1, Leah tanked for a good three minutes before committing his stack (luckily, he was not called). About 21 hours later, Leah was pocketing more than a half million dollars. He entered the final table as the short stack, but rode it all the way an excellent result. On his final hand, Leah was all-in for just shy of 16 big blinds with AQ against the AK of Vojtech "Vojta_R" Ruzicka. A J10399 ended Leah's Main Event, setting the stage for heads-up play:

Thomas "Kallllle" Pedersen: 21,398,383
Vojtech "Vojta_R" Ruzicka: 11,141,617

With nearly a 2:1 chip lead to start heads-up play, Pedersen had little trouble closing it out. He extended his lead to about 7:1 before finishing Ruzicka off. On the button Ruzicka min-raised, but for probably the 100th time or so, Pedersen three bet. With 33, Ruzicka re-raised all-in for about 25 big blinds. Pedersen called with A10 and won the race as the final board of the 2011 WCOOP came down 109254. Not only did Thomas "Kallllle" Pedersen win the WCOOP bracelet and $1,260,018.50, but he has cemented a place for himself in WCOOP history.

PlacePlayerPrize
*1Thomas "Kallllle" Pedersen$1,260,018.50
*2Vojtech "Vojta_R" Ruzicka$710,000
*3Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah$560,000
*4BackDoorovic$650,000
*5Vadzim "VadziMoney" Kursevich$750,000
6WhySoSrsSon$222,086
7jle90$162,700
8Nick "OU THE NICK" Hahn$122,025
9Dan "dan82mur" Murariu$81,350

*denotes five-handed deal

Notable Finishes: Kenny "LoneHixx" Hicks (10th - $53,691), Niki “RealAndyBeal” Jedlicka (12th - $53,691), Dani "supernova9" Stern (13th - $45,556), Sam "Rekrapmas" Parker (18th - $37,421), Sebastien "p0cket00" Sikorski (20th - $33,353.50), Jason "jadedjason" James (22nd - $33,353.50), Tom "kingsofcards" Marchese (23rd - $33,353.50), Dave "sexygee" Gent (24th - $33,353.50), Kyle "kwil20" Wilson (25th - $33,353.50), Lari "Operga" Sihvo (29th - $29,286), Chris "Big Huni" Hunichen (35th - $29,286), Terrence "Unassigned" Chan (36th - $29,286)

PokerStars WCOOP 61 - $10,000 8-Game High Roller Two-Day ($500K Guaranteed)

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool
$10,000+$30070$700,000

Regardless of how Eugene Katchalov's day went, he was going to add six figures to his bankroll.
The stacks going into Monday's Day 2 are the following:

Eugene Katchalov: 396,517
"Ostrov:" 303,483

Despite entering with the chip lead, Katchalov was unable to capture WCOOP gold. "Ostrov" mounted a comeback and took it down during no-limit hold'em. On the final hand with the blinds and antes at the 2,500/5,000/625 level, "Ostrov" min-raised to 10,000 on the button. Katchalov shoved for 122,734 with KQ. "Ostrov" called with A8, but fell behind when the flop came down KJ3. Katchalov appeared primed to double up and get back in the match. However, the A landed on the turn and gave "Ostrov" the lead. The 4 river sealed the deal, securing the WCOOP bracelet and $210,000 first-place prize for "Ostrov."

PlacePlayerPrize
1Ostrov$210,000
2Eugene Katchalov$140,000
3roi kin23$105,000
4Brryann$70,000
5Daniel "KidPoker" Negreanu$52,500
6Maria "Femmeonfelt" Ho$38,500

Notable Finishes: Anders "Donald" Berg (7th - $28,000), Jason "TheHood" Gray (8th - $28,000), Matt "Hoss_TBF" Hawrilenko (9th - $28,000)

PokerStars WCOOP 60 - $200 No-Limit Hold'em Two-Day ($1.25M Guaranteed)

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool
$200+$159,664$1,932,800

Nearly 10,000 players entered the final $200 two-day event of the 2011 WCOOP to create a prize pool of close to $2 million. After 11 hours of play on Day 1, only 72 players were left vying for a first-place prize of $284,319 and one of the last WCOOP bracelets of the 2011 series.

Among the notables still alive entering Day 2 were Team PokerStars Pro Victor Ramdin and Matt "All_in_at_420" Stout, who began Day 2 fourth overall in chips. However, both were eliminated early on Monday as Ramdin finished in 56th and Stout bowed out in 38th.

That left a group of unknowns to battle it out at the final table. Here's how it stacked up:

SeatPlayerChips
1X-Front9,164,935
2The_Stat6,842,252
3DeRp0kErGuRu10,040,976
4yarik190315,974,839
5Veg 1018,570,524
6Zanjong18,250,976
7tormos4,021,132
8Flyboys0072,329,454
91WHALEN121,444,912

"Flyboys007" began the final table as the short stack and was the first to go down. He got his remaining chips in preflop with KK against the A4 of "Veg 101," but the A3457 board gave his opponent two pair to send him to the rail.

It took a while for the next elimination to occur as "Veg 101," "The_Stat" and "tormos" all doubled up to survive. "DeRp0kErGuRu" then lost a massive pot to "X-Front" and met his demise moments later when he lost a flip to "Veg 101." "Zanjong" had lost most of his stack early at the final table and was sent packing after moving his short stack in preflop with K9 and failing to improve against the A7 of "X-Front," who was the new chip leader.

"Veg 101" was ousted in sixth place when he three-bet all-in with A2 and lost to the KQ of "X-Front," who continued his demolition of the table. However, tormos made up some ground by eliminating "1WHALEN1" and "The_Stat" in fifth and fourth place, respectively.

The final three players discussed a potential deal but couldn't come to terms and decided to play on. "X-Front" lost the chip lead to "Yarik1903" but the two players battled for a massive pot that would again give "X-Front" control. With the blinds at 300,000/600,000, "X-Front" opened the button with a min-raise and "Yarik1903" three-bet to 3 million from the small blind. "Tormos" folded and "X-Front" four-bet to 5,222,250. "Yarik1903" called and the two players saw a flop of AK2."Yarik1903" check-called a bet of 3.9 million and the turn brought the A. "Yarik1903" check-called again, this time a bet of 5,250,000, and the J fell on the river. "Yarik1903" checked for a third time and then folded to a shove from "X-Front," who won the 30 million-chip pot without seeing a showdown.

"Yarik1903" was eliminated on the very next hand when his pocket tens couldn't hold up against the A9 of "tormos". The two players got their chips in preflop and the A landed on the river to send "Yarik1903" to the rail in third place with $144,960.

That gave "tormos" a slim lead over "X-Front" going into heads-up play. The two exchanged the pole position numerous times during a lengthy match but ultimately it was "X-Front" who chipped away at his opponent and secured the victory with the cooler of all coolers. On the final hand, "tormos" moved all-in for just under 13 million preflop with KK but dove face first into the AA of his opponent. The harmless 45955 board changed nothing and "X-Front" won his first WCOOP title and $284,319.

PlacePlayerPrize
1X-Front$284,319
2tormos$207,776
3yarik1903$144,960
4The_Stat$96,640
51WHALEN1$77,312
6Veg 101$57,984
7Zanjong$38,656
8DeRp0kErGuRu$21,260
9Flyboys007$14,979

Notable Finishes: Matt "All_in_at_420" Stout (38th - $3,577), Victor Ramdin (56th - $2,996)

That concludes our daily coverage of the 2011 WCOOP. Thanks for checking in with PokerNews for all the updates!

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*Photo courtesy of POKERNYHEDERNE.com

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