The $100 million guaranteed 2021 PokerStars World Championship Of Online Poker (WCOOP) continued over the weekend, and what a weekend of action it was. There were titles for the likes of Chris "Moorman1" Moorman and Talal "raidalot" Shakerchi, but the player of the house was none other that "RaulGonzalez" of Germany who won the $10,300 8-Game for the second consecutive year.
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"RaulGonzalez" Defends Title in the WCOOP-52-H: $10,300 8-Game High Roller
The PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker 2021 has crowned the next mixed game champion and it was a familiar face at the top of the final result in Event WCOOP-52-H: $10,300 8-Game High Roller. Out of a field of 44 entries, it was Germany's "RaulGonzalez" who walked away as the champion. He denied Denis "aDrENalin710" Strebkov the tenth victory and earned his second WCOOP title in the process.
One year ago, the very same tournament attracted a field of 67 entries and "RaulGonzalez" took it down for a top prize of $235,531. The German has now doubled that tally after overcoming the other four contenders in just one hour and 16 minutes to pad his bankroll with another $196,176.
While the real name of "RaulGonzalez" has not been revealed so far, it was confirmed in a podcast interview late in 2020 that the high-stakes cash game specialist is in his early thirties. "RaulGonzalez" transitioned to mixed games several years ago and regularly participated in the nosebleed action against big names such as Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky, Viktor "Isildur1" Blom. He most recently battled back and forth with Swedish player "BERRI SWEET" and announced his decision to retire from the high stakes cash game action.
Besides Strebkov, the final day also featured Ari "BodogAri" Engel as well as the five-time WCOOP champions Yuri "theNERDguy" Dzivielevski and Joao "Naza114" Vieira.
Final Result 2021 WCOOP-52-H: $10,300 8-Game High Roller
"OManstrom" Defeats Star-Studded Final Table in WCOOP-54-H: $2K Thursday Thrill
Sweden's "OManstrom" came out on top of a star-studded final table including the likes of Jon "apestyles" Van Fleet, Chris "ImDaNuts" Oliver, and Dzmitry "Colisea" Urbanovich to win the WCOOP-51-H: $2,100 Thursday Thrill at PokerStars for $174,676 including a whopping $100,500 in bounties.
The event was yet another success story during the 2021 World Championship of Online Poker with 480 players creating a $960,000 prize pool to smash the $800,000 guarantee.
"OManstrom" began the day in seventh place with 62 hopefuls remaining and was near the top of the pack most of the day. The Swede had an early memorable hand when his ace-four got there to end the hopes and dreams of a WCOOP title in the Thursday Thrill for PokerStars Team Online member Ben "Spraggy" Spragg, and Christian "WATnlos" Rudolph against ace-jack and king-queen.
The eventual champion never held the lead on the second and final day until heads-up play against Eduardo "Eduardo850" Silva and came out of nowhere to find their first taste at WCOOP gold.
WCOOP-51-H: $2,100 Thursday Thrill Final Table Results
Nineteen PokerStars players emerged from their events victoriously, including some of the biggest names in the business.
Talal "raidalot" Shakerchi lives for these big festivals. The British high-stakes guru added the WCOOP 52-M: $1,050 8-Game [6-Max], $100K Gtd to his long list of accomplishments, which include a victory in the 2016 Spring Championship Of Online Poker (SCOOP) Main Event.
Shakerchi's fellow Brit, online poker legend Chris "Moorman1" Moorman, took down the WCOOP 59-M: $109 NLHE [4-Max, Turbo, Progressive KO], $200K Gtd for $28,537, while Portugal's Netherlands-based Joao "Naza114" Vieira won the WCOOP 59-H: $1,050 NLHE [4-Max, Turbo, Progressive KO], $175K Gtd for $41,337 which included bounties.
The 2021 WCOOP continues on September 5 with 18 brand new events! There is a WCOOP tournament for everyone, as you can see in the table below. Event #63 looks particularly juicy because the trio of tournaments sporting that number have combined guarantees of some $4 million!