Event #33 of the 2008 World Championship of Online Poker was the one everyone was waiting for, the $5,200 No Limit Holdem Main Event. The Main Event saw 2,185 players enter the tournament, some buying in directly while others earned their entries through satellite tournaments. The prize pool stood at nearly $11 million with $1,260,000 going to the Main Event champion, ckingusc, a 22-year old poker player from South Carolina.
Kovi99 was short stacked when final table play began but would double up twice in quick succession. The surge would come to an end when all of Kovi99’s chips went in on a flop of [Kc][8s][3d] while holding [Ah][Js]. Markush13 showed [Kh][7h] for a pair of kings and no help would come for Kovi99 as the turn fell [9h] and the river fell [10h]. Kovi99 would collect $121,267.50 for finishing in ninth place.
BOLLPOKER would be knocked just two hands after Kovi99, doing so after pushing all-in with [3h][3d] and seeing ckingusc make the call with [Ad][Qh]. The two were off to the races and the flop would fall [Jd][9s][5d] to keep BOLLPOKER in the lead. The turn fell [Kh] and ckingusc would make a broadway straight when the [10c] landed on the river. BOLLPOKER exited in eighth place, richer by $196,650.
Klslcz would fall in seventh place as the third elimination within ten hands. After heavy betting preflop klslcz moved all-in on the flop of [Qc][9s][9h]. Markush13 flipped up [Kh][Kc] but was dominated by klslcz’s [Ad][Ac]. The turn would fall [8c] and when it looked like klslcz would double up the [Ks] landed on the river to give Markush13 the winning set. Klslcz would take home $305,900 for finishing in seventh place.
Sumpas would be the next to fall, exiting after moving all-in with [Ac][Qd] before the flop. The original raiser, ckingusc, folded and liberace made the call with a dominating [Ad][Kh]. The board would be no help to the dominated Sumpas as it fell [10d][10s][3c][8d][Jh]. Sumpas’s sixth place finish would be rewarded with $415,150. The pot would also give Liberace a stack that held almost half of the chips in play.
The five remaining players entered negotiations for a deal, but the first two proposed deals would be shot down before the five finally agreed to the following deal:
Liberace: $1,375,249
Ckingusc: $1,065,432
Markush13: $961,718
ShoesRDurrty: $801,153
AJKHoosier1: $782,542
Still up for grabs was $200,000 and the WCOOP bracelet for the winner.
Shortly after the deal ShoesRDurrty doubled up AJKHoosier1 to take a big hit and would soon after move all-in with [3s][3c]. Ckingusc made the call with a dominating pair of [Qh][Qs]. The board rolled out [8h][6c][4h][7d][Jh] to officially eliminate ShoesRDurrty in fifth place and award the payout agreed to in the deal.
Markush13 would fall after tangling with liberace. Markush13 reraised liberace before the flop, which came down [Qs][9s][9d]. Both players checked and saw the turn fall [6d]. Markush13 bet and received a call from liberace, sending them to the [7h] river, where Markush13 moved all-in. Liberace called and showed a straight with [10h][8h] while Markush13 was only holding [Ad][10s] for a total and totally failed bluff. Markush13 exited in fourth place with the $961,718 earned in the deal.
AJKHoosier1 had been the short stack for a while, and he would finally fall when he moved all-in with [Ad][7c] and was facing ckingusc’s [9h][9c]. AJKHoosier1 would not get the help he needed as the board fell [4s][3c][2d][Qh][2h]. AJKHoosier1 was knocked out in third place and collected the $782,542 dictated by the deal.
Ckingusc was a huge underdog to liberace when heads-up play began but would storm back to take the lead and keep on going until he was the winner of the 2008 WCOOP Main Event. In the final hand ckingusc had 40 million chips to liberace’s 15 million. Ckingusc pushed all 40 million in with [Ac][8c] and liberace called all-in with [Kd][Jd]. The flop gave each player a pair as it fell [As][Kc][10h]. Still needing help, liberace would get none as the turn fell [4c] and the river fell [9d].
The Main Event was over with the young kid from South Carolina winning $1,265,432 and a WCOOP bracelet while the runner-up liberace, collected an even better payday of $1,375,249.