Unstoppable Ivan "ILS007" Stokes Wins the 2023 $10,300 WCOOP Main Event for $1,047,257 While Completing Trifecta of Chip Leads
It seemed like no one could stop Ivan "ILS007" Stokes during the past few days of the 2023 $10,300 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event. Every time the Brit sat down on the virtual tables on PokerStars, all of the big pots went his way.
And indeed, after capturing the chip lead midway through Day 2 and retaining it throughout Day 3, Stokes saw himself being crowned the WCOOP Main Event champion on Day 4, bagging a hefty sum of $1,047,257. The last hurdle on his way to victory was Sweden’s online regular "ShipitFTW911”, who started the heads up with a very large chip deficit and, despite mounting a small comeback at the very start, was quickly disposed of as well, leaving them with $765,389 as a consolation prize.
Meanwhile, Juan "xPastorcitox" Pastor took home the bronze medal and $559,385, while Stokes’ most threatening competitor throughout the final table, online phenom Niklas "Lena900" Astedt, who briefly held the chip lead at the final table, crashed out in fourth place for $408,827.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ivan "ILS007" Stokes | United Kingdom | $1,047,257 |
| 2 | ShipitFTW911 | Sweden | $765,389 |
| 3 | Juan "xPastorcitox" Pastor | Argentina | $559,385 |
| 4 | Niklas "Lena900" Astedt | Sweden | $408,827 |
| 5 | Leonard "Grozzorg" Maue | Germany | $298,792 |
| 6 | Jamil "Jamil11" Wakil | Canada | $218,372 |
| 7 | Kelvin "Kelvin_FP:AR" Kerber | Brazil | $159,598 |
| 8 | Mario "livinmydream1" Mosboeck | Austria | $116,642 |
| 9 | Kayhan "KayhanMok" Mokri | Norway | $94,330 |
Final Table Play
In a deep-stacked final table full of superstars, it was high roller regular Kayhan "KayhanMok" Mokr who was the first to bow out after around an hour of play. After running into a set he was left short, and could not win a flip against Pastor for his final 13 blinds. Mario "livinmydream1" Mosboeck, who started the day as the shortest stack, would follow not soon thereafter when his king-four did not improve against Pastor’s ace-six in a blind-on-blind encounter.
Next to go was Kelvin "Kelvin_FP:AR" Kerber, who created a chip lead pot against Stokes when he got his queens preflop against the latter’s aces. This would create a big lead for Stokes which only slipped away from him for a couple of moments during the rest of the final table. Jamil "Jamil11" Wakil then went on an emotional rollercoaster by first doubling up with aces against the ace-king of Leonard "Grozzorg" Maue, but still being the next one to be eliminated when his ace-king could not win against the kings of Astedt but one orbit later.
With five players left, it was Maue’s time to go. After losing the aforementioned pot against Wakil, he could not win a preflop flip versus Pastor and had to take his leave. Astedt then briefly captured the chip lead four-handed, but would not much later double up Pastor with two pair against a straight, and it fell right back into Stokes’ hands.
Stokes Closes It Out Short-Handed
It would take an hour of intense battling before Astedt himself fell victim next when he clashed in a huge pot against Stokes, who had flopped a set against Astedt’s kings and received every chip of the latter’s stack, leaving Stokes with nearly two-thirds of the chips in play. After Pastor doubled “ShipitFTW911” and both were left short-stacked, he would be the one to miss the heads-up as he fell in third place when he got it in preflop against Stokes and lost a flip with pocket fours against the ace-nine of Stokes.
Thus, it was “ShipitFTW911” and Stokes that were battling for the title, with Stokes having an enormous chip lead over the anonymous Swede. “ShipitFTW911” started off well by winning a lot of smaller pots and clawing their way back in the game, but not much later Stokes would add one more name to his tally of eliminations when his kings received full value from “ShipitFTW911”s pocket nines on a low board.
Thus, it was Stokes who rightfully received the trophy and more than one million dollars after dominating the WCOOP Main Event for three straight days.
That wraps up the PokerNews coverage for the 2023 World Championship of Online Poker, but be sure to check out our other ongoing live reports to not miss any of the action across the globe.