Ludovic "ludovi333" Geilich Wins Second WCOOP Title in 2020 WCOOP-10-H: $10,300 NLHE [8-Max, High Roller] ($238,966)
It took fewer than six hours on the final day of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) 2020 to determine a champion in the first if six tournaments which features a five-figure buy-in. WCOOP-10-H: $10,300 NLHE [8-Max, High Roller] drew a total of 94 entries and the top 11 finishers shared a portion of the $1 million guarantee.
After an intense heads-up battle of more than one and a half hours, Ludovic "ludovi333" Geilich defeated German wizard Ole "wizowizo" Schemion in heads-up to claim the top prize of $238,966. Both had one WCOOP title to their name from previous years and it was Geilich that doubled his tally. Back in 2016, the Scotsman topped a field of 93 entries in the $21,000 PL Omaha [6-Max, High-Roller] which came with a top prize of $462,182.
While Geilich entered the final day as the chip leader, it wasn't an easy ride to victory by any means as he had to overcome a tough line-up including some of the biggest names in the world of live and online poker. 2020 online crusher Artur "mararthur1" Martirosian, SCOOP and WCOOP Main Event finalist Pieter "XMorphineX" Aerts, and the High Roller regular Timothy "Tim0thee" Adams, Thomas "WushuTM" Muehloecker and Mikita "fish2013" Badziakouski all fell on the wayside.
Chris "Big Huni" Hunichen went from one of the shortest stacks to dominating chip leader for a decent portion of the final day but his bid of a repeat victory ended in third place.
Final Result 2020 WCOOP-10-H: $10,300 NLHE [8-Max, High Roller]
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ludovic "ludovi333" Geilich | Scotland | $238,966 |
| 2 | Ole "wizowizo" Schemion | Germany | $184,676 |
| 3 | Chris "Big Huni" Hunichen | United States | $142,719 |
| 4 | Mikita "fish2013" Badziakouski | Belarus | $110,295 |
| 5 | Thomas "WushuTM" Muehloecker | Austria | $85,237 |
| 6 | Timothy "Tim0thee" Adams | Canada | $65,872 |
| 7 | Filipe "Zagazaur" Oliveira | Portugal | $50,907 |
| 8 | fishbones11 | Canada | $39,341 |
| 9 | Pieter "XMorphineX" Aerts | Belgium | $31,510 |
| 10 | Artur "mararthur1" Martirosian | Russia | $25,238 |
| 11 | despedespi33 | United Kingdom | $25,238 |
Hunichen Dominates Early Stages; Geilich Survives Crucial Showdown
It would not take long to set up the nine-handed final table as "despedespi33" and Artur "mararthur1" Martirosian became the first two casualties of the day. Chris "Big Huni" Hunichen was in the middle of the pack when the action resumed but scored a double with kings versus ace-queen, then knocked our Martirosian in a flip with eights versus queen-jack suited.
Pieter "XMorphineX" Aerts lost a flip to Ole "wizowizo" Schemion and Hunichen pulled further away at the top of the leaderboard by eliminating "fishbones11" with kings versus sevens. Ludovic "ludovi333" Geilich was suddenly in the middle of the pack and flopped a set of eights in a preflop three-way all-in to eliminate Filipe "Zagazaur" Oliveira. The same hand left Thomas "WushuTM" Muehloecker but the Austrian survived his next showdowns to jump back into contention.
Muehloecker had to start another come back when he lost a flip to Mikita "fish2013" Badziakouski for most of his chips and doubled twice. He even made a pay jump as Timothy "Tim0thee" Adams came up second-best with ace-eight suited against the ace-five suited of Geilich. However, in the very next hand Muehloecker failed to hold with an overpair against a pair and gutshot to reduce the field to the final four.
Badziakouski then fell to Hunichen with eights versus kings before three-handed play was a roller coaster ride. Soon after all stacks were within one big blind, Hunichen suddenly became short and saw his kings cracked by the fours of Schemion.
With more than 50 big blinds at their disposal for the start of the heads-up duel, Geilich and Schemion didn't hold back with three-bets and check-raises. The lead changed numerous times and the intense battle lasted for more than 90 minutes. It then all came to a crashing end when Schemion flopped top pair with king-queen and Geilich called him down with king-nine for flopped two pair and a full house on the river.
The final day of the event was broadcasted on the PokerStars Twitch with commentary and cards-up coverage on a delay of 20 minutes. Ludovic Geilich overcame a tough heads-up battle with Ole Schemion to win his second WCOOP title. The PokerNews live reporting team will continue to provide updates throughout the festival and you can follow the all the action right here!