What an incredible day of poker we enjoyed in the WPT World Online Championships (WPTWOC) on July 20 with players from around the world padding their bankrolls with massive prizes and the first Championship Events reaching their final tables.
Two members of Team partypoker will look back on the day fondly thanks to excelling in the $1 million guaranteed WPT Opener and winning a combined $138,050 between them.
WPT Opener Final Day: $1M Gtd
Team partypoker’s Day Kotoviezy and Kristen Bicknell came agonisingly close to taking down the $1,050 edition of the WPT Opener on July 20. Some 124 players, from the 962 starters, returned to the action for the final day knowing only the top 120 were paid.
Austria’s Stefan Jedlicka was the unfortunate soul who burst the money bubble, falling in 121st place. Jedlicka’s demise paved the way for the likes of Jon Van Fleet, Jason Wheeler, Chance Kornuth, Anatoly Filatov and Roberto Romanello to bank some cash.
Two more Team partypoker stars went deep. Patrick Leonard’s tournament ended in 19th place while Matthew Staples busted in 16th place, leaving Kotoviezy and Bicknell to represent the orange diamond.
Both navigated their way to the final table and locked up $16,450 as a result. That sum continued increasing as Sergey Konovalov, Leonard Maue and Francisco Correia fell by the wayside. Then came the demise of Matas Cimbolas, a former WPT Main Event champion. Cimbolas fell in fifth for $39,500.
The first of our heroines, Bicknell, crashed out in fourth-place. The Canadian superstar banked $56,000 for her deep run. Kotoviezy joined Bicknell on the sidelines when she ran out of steam in third place, a finish good for $82,000.
Kotoviezy’s exit left British high stakes pro Scott Margereson and Malta’s Gabriele Lepore to fight it out for the title. Lepore got the job done and secured a $172,175 prize, leaving Margereson to collect $123,223.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gabriele Lepore | Malta | $172,175 |
| 2 | Scott Margereson | United Kingdom | $123,223 |
| 3 | Day Kotoviezy | Brazil | $82,050 |
| 4 | Kristen Bicknell | Canada | $56,000 |
| 5 | Matas Cimbolas | United Kingdom | $39,500 |
| 6 | Francisco Pinho Correia | Brazil | $28,300 |
| 7 | Leonard Oliver Maue | Germany | $20,000 |
| 8 | Sergey Konovalov | Russia | $16,450 |
WPT Opener Mini Final Day: $500K Gtd
Radjendernath Chigharoe took down the $109 WPT Opener Mini and walked away with a cool $78,413 as a result. The Dutch grinder defeated Brazil’s Alex Mariano Machado heads-up to secure the win, leaving the runner-up to scoop a still-impressive $55,523.
Brazilians made up three of the eight finalists. You’ve heard about Machado being the runner-up but Matheus Cardoso finished in third for $35,915 while Luis Gustavo Fontes Ribeiro busted in fourth-place for $24,100.
All but two of those who reached the final table won a five-figure prize, showing the awesome value WPTWOC events have packed into them.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Radjendernath Chigharoe | Netherlands | $78,413 |
| 2 | Alex Mariano Machado | Brazil | $55,523 |
| 3 | Matheus Cardoso | Brazil | $35,915 |
| 4 | Luis Gustavo Fontes Ribeiro | Brazil | $24,100 |
| 5 | Beka Kikava | $16,750 | |
| 6 | Petr Koula | Mexico | $11,450 |
| 7 | Vasilii Krasnobaev | Russia | $7,875 |
| 8 | Mark Howard | United Kingdom | $5,777 |
WPT Opener Micro Final Day: $100K Gtd
Imagine turning $11 into $15,285, it’d be superb, right? That’s exactly what Germany’s Karl Jasmen Dick did by triumphing in the WPT Opener Micro tournament.
Dick did his chances of securing a WPT Rising Star leaderboard prize no harm by topping a bumper field and banking the tournament’s largest prize. The runner-up, Hernan Creixell of Argentina, also padded his bankroll with five-figures as second-place weighed in at a cool $10,729.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Karl Jasmen Dick | Germany | $15,285 |
| 2 | Hernan Creixell | Argentina | $10,729 |
| 3 | Zoila Ibarra Moreno | Mexico | $6,892 |
| 4 | Kevin Thomas Berry | United Kingdom | $4,560 |
| 5 | Gabor Fancsik | Hungary | $3,150 |
| 6 | Hristo Gavazov | Bulgaria | $2,150 |
| 7 | Przemyslaw Szmyd | Poland | $1,495 |
| 8 | Nahib Nasser Cury | Brazil | $1,127 |
WPT High Roller Opener: $1M Gtd
The biggest prize of the WPTWOC so far went to the supremely talented Artur Martirosian. The Russian star loves high roller events so it was no surprise to see his name at the top of the payouts in the $10,300 WPT High Roller Opener tournament.
Ninety-five of the world’s best players bought in and fought it out for a share of the $1 million kitty. Two of our players, Mikita Badziakouski and Kristen Bicknell played their way into the money. Bicknell busted in 12th for $25,000 with Badziakouski falling in 10th for a $30,000 score.
The final table read like a who’s who of the poker world. Former MILLIONS Online champion Jon Van Fleet was the first casualty; eighth-place weighed in at $40,000. Van Fleet gained some company on the rail in the shape of Aliaksandr Hirs and Sergi Reixach before reigning Irish Open Online Main Event champion Pablo Brito Silva crashed out in fifth for $70,000.
Hungarian genius Laszlo Bujtas’ tournament ended abruptly in fourth for $90,000, the last five-figure haul of the event.
Sergio Aido bust in third for $126,500 which left Martirosian and Pascal Hartmann to lock horns one-on-one for the title. The difference between first and second place was $71,500 but no deal was struck. This meant Martirosian banked $251,250 when he came out of the final clash unscathed, resigning Hartmann to the $179,750 consolation prize.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Artur Martirosian | Russia | $251,250 |
| 2 | Pascal Hartmann | Austria | $179,750 |
| 3 | Sergio Aido | United Kingdom | $126,500 |
| 4 | Laszlo Bujtas | Hungary | $90,000 |
| 5 | Pablo Brito Silva | Brazil | $70,000 |
| 6 | Sergi Reixach | United Kingdom | $52,500 |
| 7 | Aliaksandr Hirs | Belarus | $45,000 |
| 8 | Jon Van Fleet | Canada | $40,000 |
Six-Figure Score For Bicknell
Bicknell also came super close to winning the WPT edition of The Big Game. Some 187 players made it through to the final day and Bicknell finished in second place, a result worth a massive $157,350.
Estonian pro Aleksejs Ponakovs was the only player who outlasted Bicknell. He collected $219,750 for his impressive victory.
Others who reached the final table included Jake Schindler, renowned poker streamer Parker Talbot, Swedish legend Simon Mattsson, and popular British pro Sam Grafton.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aleksejs Ponakovs | Estonia | $219,750 |
| 2 | Kristen Bicknell | Canada | $157,350 |
| 3 | Francois Billard | Canada | $113,900 |
| 4 | Sam Grafton | United Kingdom | $83,000 |
| 5 | Espen Jorstad | Norway | $58,000 |
| 6 | Simon Mattsson | Sweden | $46,000 |
| 7 | Parker Talbot | Canada | $37,000 |
| 8 | Jake Schindler | Mexico | $30,500 |
WPT #01 Omaha Hi-Lo Championship: $500K Gtd
The $3,200 buy-in WPT #01 Omaha Hi-Lo Championship has reached its final table with only seven players remaining. UK-based Frenchman Paul Tedeschi is the man to catch in the race for the first title and the $124,703 top prize.
Dan Shak, Erik Dahlberg, Joao Vieira, Anssi Kinttala, Guilherme Decort and Ozenc Demir make up the final table but 100% are not there to simply make up the numbers and will all have a major say in where the title ends up.
You can watch all the action from this event from 21:00 CET on July 21. We’ve got some awesome cards up coverage on our Twitch channel, YouTube, Facebook, and partypoker.com. Read more about this new level of online poker tournament streaming here.
WPT #01 Omaha Hi-Lo Mini Championship: $150K Gtd
The $320 Mini is also down to its final seven players and it’s Sweden’s Jesper Hoog who holds the chip lead. You’ll also notice that British pro Adam Owen is still in the hunt for the title, don’t write off his chances of glory despite returning sixth in chips.
WPT #01 Omaha Hi-Lo Micro Championship: $50K Gtd
Ireland’s Derrick Wall returns to the fray in the $33 buy-in WPT #01 Omaha Hi-Lo Micro Championship: $50K Gtd with a massive chip lead. The Irishman has 55,335,287 chips in his arsenal while Matthew Harrison, his nearest rival, has 20,521,196 chips!
Tune into the partypoker blog on July 22 to discover if Wall manages to get his hands on the title and $8,141 top prize.
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