With two more Canadian poker players claiming 2011 World Championship of Online Poker bracelets on Sunday, Canada is now tied for second place and only one victory behind Russia for “Most Events Won by a Country”.
We are however leading in Most Cashes by a Country, Most Cashes by a Player and just a half dozen deep finishes behind the Russians for Most Final Tables by a Country, as well as currently holding second place for Money Won by a Country.
So far, after 42 events, Canadians have won over $3,268,000 in the 2011 WCOOP and now have 4 bracelets on the board. Those playing out of Canada are occupying 4 of the top 5 spots on the series leader board; Kevin “ImaLucSac” MacPhee in 2nd, Vancouver’s “Big_Nemo” in 3rd, Steve “gboro780” Gross in 4th and Mike “GoLeafsGoEh” Leah in 5th. “Big_Nemo” is however, currently 1st for most cashes in the series, with 11 in the money finishes so far.
Steve “gboro780” Gross claimed us number 3, after taking down Event #39, a $320 HORSE that had 591 entries. The victory added another $33,332 to his monstrous online tournament winnings total, now over $5,774,000. Steve?s live tournament poker career winnings look to be around another $773,000, making it safe to assume that though this was his first WCOOP title, it?s just another day in the office for Gross. Like “ImaLucSac”, “gboro780” is one of our latest visiting grinders, finding there is life after “Black Friday” when it comes to online poker; just look to the north.
Number #4 was also courtesy of some “borrowed” talent, as Ankush “pistons87” Mandavia claimed the bragging rights and $119,000 in the $10,300 Heads-Up “High Roller”. Event #42 had 32 entries with a first place pay-out set at $144,000 prior to the deal made between the final two players, which left $14,000 and the bracelet to play for. Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu also cashed in the event, going out in the semi-finals for a $48,000 pay-day. Besides some better than average statistics on the tournament felts ranking Ankush in the top 98-99% on PokerStars for the majority of the past five years, “pistons87” also appears to be a regular in the $50/$100 nose-bleed ring games and somewhat of a “Heads Up Specialist”; having also played the $25,000 “High Roller” Heads Up Event at this years WSOP. According to his player blog, Ankush made the decision to relocate to Canada in late July, trying to decide between Montreal and Toronto as a place to set up camp. Looks like things are working out in that decision so far; those interested in the 23 year old University of Georgia graduate’s journey, can follow @Mandavia87 on Twitter.
To wrap up this recap, a quick shout-out is also deserved for Canada’s Mike “GoLeafsGoEh” Leah for his 7th 2011 WCOOP cash; coming in 20th today in Event #40. Leah has also already won a bracelet over the series, coming last week in a “Badugi” event.
This latest $215 No Limit Hold?em had 8,322 entrants, with Canada’s best showing made by Ryan “Daut44” Daut, who finished in 2nd for $208,500 and as you may have already guessed, is yet another new addition to our online player roster.
There are still 20 events left to complete in this years PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker, including the $5,200 Main Event with a $1,000,000 first place guarantee. Already, over $25,000,000 in prize money has been divvied out; pretty much making it a lock that the pre-series guarantee of $30,000,000 in combined prize-pools will be easily surpassed.
