Darroch Demolishes the Grand Prix KO Autumn Opener

Ladies and gentlemen, we have crowned our first champion of the PartyPoker Grand Prix KO Autumn series, and it is Canada’s Travis Darroch who is that champion. Reports of Darroch running around his house, swinging his mouse around his head while whooping like a crazy person are still to be confirmed, but the fact he turned $33 into $8,692 means the Canadian is likely to be on cloud nine for the next few days.

A bumper crowd of 2,436 PartyPoker players bought into the opening event, and 360 of those made it through to Day 2, locking in a min-cash from the main prize pool as a result. Only 27 of the 360 returning players failed to get their hands on at least one bounty before they busted. Darroch captured 19 bounties, including the one on his head; those scalps came with $4,142 in cold, hard cash.

Grand Prix KO Autumn #01 Opener Final Table Results

Place | Player | Country | Bounties | Prize | Total Prize
1 | Travis Darroch | Canada | $4,142 | $4,550 | $8,692
2 | Marcelo Wenzel De Oliveira | Brazil | $906 | $4,541 | $5,447
3 | Joseph Maczka | United Kingdom | $900 | $2,923 | $3,823
4 | Yin Zhang | Luxembourg | $379 | $1,921 | $2,300
5 | Leonardo Mendes | Brazil | $246 | $1,299 | $1,545
6 | Stanislav Georgiev | Bulgaria | $178 | $986 | $1,164
7 | Michael Skeldon | United Kingdom | $277 | $713 | $990
8 | Santeri Mielonen | Finland | $475 | $565 | $1,040
9 | Matheus Da Silva | Brazil | $384 | $440 | $824

Matheus Da Silva was the nine-handed final table’s first casualty; he was the first of three Brazilian finalists to crash out. Da Silva, with bounties included, logged off having won $824.

Eighth-placed Santeri Mielonen of Finland won $1,040 for their efforts, which was slightly more than the $990 Michael Skeldon won when he busted on place deeper. This is because the Finn received $475 from the PKO prize pool on top of his main prize pool payout, while Skeldon’s bounty haul tipped the scales a $277.

Stanislav Georgiev of Bulgaria, Brazilian Leonardo Mendes, and Yin Zhang from the tiny country of Luxembourg all saw themselves left with empty space where their chips once stood. The latter headed into the night having reeled in $2,300 for their fourth-place finish.

The final three became two when Joseph Maczka of the United Kingdom bowed out. He collected $3,823 for his impressive deep run.

Darroch found himself heads-up against Brazil’s Marcelo Wenzel De Oliviera for the title and the final big bounty. Both players locked in more than $4,500, but that final bounty payment was almost as large as that prize. Darroch dazzled in the one-on-one battle and emerged as a worthy champion. His 19th scalp of the tournament came with $4,142, taking his total haul to $8,692, leaving De Oliveira to console himself with a prize worth $5,447.

Grand Prix Autumn Edition Schedule

Don’t worry if you missed out on PartyPoker Grand Prix KO Autumn edition glory in the Opener because there are ten more events waiting for you to climb to the summit in, and bag both bragging rights and a princely sum of cash.

Our next champion is crowned on October 13 in the Grand Prix KO Autumn #02 6-Max Championship, a $215 buy-in $200,000 guaranteed affair that has seen 76 of the 505 starters progress to the final.

Nine flights remain for this awesome event, three on October 11, another three on October 12, and a trio of flights on October 13. Day 2 commences at 20:05 BST on October 13.

Hughes Mazerolle is the man to catch right now. The Maltese grinder turned his 100,000 starting stack into a tournament-leading 1,575,703 in addition to $681.25 worth of bounties, meaning he is freerolling his way to one of the larger prizes. Nobody has more in bounty prize money than Mazerolle; will you change that fact today?

Start Date | Event | Format | Buy-in | Guarantee
Thu 6 Oct | #02 6-Max Championship [2-Day Event] | 6-Max | $215 | $200,000
| #03 Mini 6-Max Championship [2-Day Event] | 6-Max | $22 | $75,000
| #04 Main Event [2-Day Event] | 8-Max | $109 | $500,000
Sat 8 Oct | #05 Mini Main Event [2-Day Event] | 8-Max | $11 | $100,000
| #06 7-Max High Roller [2-Day Event] | 7-Max | $320 | $250,000
Mon 10 Oct | #07 Super 50 [2-Day Event] | 7-Max | $55 | $150,000
Thu 13 Oct | #08 7-Max Championship [2-Day Event] | 7-Max | $215 | $200,000
| #09 Mini 7-Max Championship [2-Day Event] | 7-Max | $22 | $75,000
Mon 17 Oct | #10 6-Max High Roller [2-Day Event] | 6-Max | $320 | $200,000
| #11 Closer [2-Day Event] | 6-Max | $33 | $100,000