Smyth and Kotelnikov Capture WPT WOC Titles

A proper tournament schedule requires proper time to play it out. The World Poker Tour and PartyPoker teamed up to offer a significant schedule of events for the WPT World Online Championships, creating a solid structure and plenty of time for players to compete and play side events.

While there are many daily tournament offerings throughout the series, which began in mid-July and will continue through mid-September, there are only 12 official WPT-branded events. And almost every one of them play out with three buy-in levels, two starting days, and then a playdown to the final table and another day for the final table.

We’ve been keeping track:

–Events 1 and 2:  Paul Tedeschi and Alex Manzano win

–Events 3 and 4:  Gavin Cochrane and Nick Petrangelo win

Event 5 and Event 6 are now complete, taking the series to its halfway point. All other major WPT events will finish in September, with the final one – a $100K buy-in High Roller – wrapping things up on September 16-17.

For now, let’s get to the latest results.

Event 5: WPT NLHE Knockout Championship

The Micro version of this event required a $33 buy-in and drew 10,122 entries for the $300K guarantee. Only 1,330 players made it to Day 2 to play for pieces of the $303,660 prize pool. When it was over, Gabriel Merenda collected $17,946.49 in first-place prize money plus $9.271.81 in bounties.

Alongside that one, a Mini version offered a $320 buy-in for a $1 million guarantee. There were 3,377 entries, creating an actual prize pool of $1,013,100. Of the starting fields, there were 481 players surviving to Day 2. In the end, Daniel Koloszar was the last player standing to collect $60,800.32 in prize money and an additional $47,784.22 in bounties.

The actual championship event required $3,200 to play but guaranteed $3 million in the prize pool.

Buy-in: $3,200

Total entries:  1,035

Total prize pool:  $3,105,000

Paid players: 136

Minimum payout: $3,555.22

1st place:  Daniel Smyth (Ireland) $415,391 ($208,803.83 + $204,588.92 in bounties)

2^nd place:  Manig Loeser(UK) $279,358 ($208,492.98 + $70,866.22 in bounties)

3^rd place:  Joao Maureli (Brazil) $174,510 ($142,061.51 + $32,449.23 in bounties)

4^th place:  Pim Gieles (Netherlands) $118,980 ($95,502.03 + $23,478.51 in bounties)

5^th place:  Pedro Marques (Croatia) $89,069 ($66,687.63 + $22,382.80 in bounties)

6^th place:  Artur Martirosian (Russia) $63,874 ($37,281.38 + $16,593.75 in bounties)

7^th place:  Shyngis Satubayev (Kazakhstan) $24,254 ($29,699.32 + $18,562.50 in bounties)

8^th place:  Matheus Resende (Brazil) $32,725 ($23,504.85 + $750 in bounties)

From a $33 satellite to a WPT title, congrats to Dan Smyth 🇮🇪 for winning the #WPTWOC Knockout 🥊 on @partypoker! 🏆

Smyth wins $208,803 for the title and an additional $204,588 in bounties along with a @Hublot watch and an Everyday @Baccarat Tumbler set. Way to go, Dan! pic.twitter.com/EvbWK8yR0u

— World Poker Tour (@WPT) August 19, 2020

Event 6: WPT NLHE/PLO Mix-Max Championship

With the same buy-ins as the previous tournament, there were three versions of the mix-max game.

The Micro version had a $300K guarantee for the $33 buy-in, garnering 8,256 entries. That was only enough to put $247,680 into the pot, so the WPT and PartyPoker covered the rest to make it $300K. Ronni Ravnholt Borg won the event for $33,850.93.

There were 3,007 total entries for the $320 buy-in, but that was only enough for $902,100 in the pot. The hosts had to kick in close to $100K to uphold the $1 million guarantee. Conor O’driscoll took this one down for $121,980.

Following the trend, the Main Event missed its guarantee of $3 million but not by much.

Buy-in: $3,200

Total entries:  989

Total prize pool:  $2,967,000 (overlay)

Paid players: 132

Minimum payout: $6,489

1st place:  Andrey Kotelnikov (Russia) $488,508

2^nd place:  Stuart Guite (UK) $366,605

3^rd place:  Sven Joakim Andersson (Sweden) $271,903

4^th place:  Oleg Vasylchenko (Ukraine) $190,500

5^th place:  Maciej Gasior (UK) $124,500

6^th place:  Dimitar Danchev (Bulgaria) $89,016

7^th place:  Jerry Wong (Canada) $69,300

Congrats to Andrey Kotelnikov 🇷🇺for winning the #WPTWOC Mix-Max event on @partypoker!

Kotelnikov takes down $488,508, a seat to #WPTTOC presented by @Baccarat Crystal, a @Hublot watch, and a set of Everyday Baccarat tumblers 🥂👏 pic.twitter.com/cfJGS7vRNm

— World Poker Tour (@WPT) August 25, 2020

Bicknell Leads Leaderboard

Someone has been happy to get back to online poker after years on the road. Kristen Bicknell had been traveling the world for some time but settled into Canada during the quarantine for the coronavirus pandemic. First up, she won her third career World Series of Poker bracelet.

Not bad.

Then, as a PartyPoker ambassador, Bicknell began tearing up the tables on PartyPoker during the WPT WOC. Nearly two weeks ago, she won the $5,200 buy-in NLHE 7-Max High Roller for $79,275. Next up, she won the $1,050 NLHE Knockout Turbo for $13,835, plus an additional $19,375 in bounties.

Halfway through the series, Bicknell is in first place on the leaderboard with 201.17 points, quite a distance ahead of Scott Margerson and his 159.48 points and fellow PartyPoker Ambassador Roberto Romanello with 152.73 points.

She told PartyPoker that she’s been enjoying the series but had an eye on the leaderboard, which will award $50K to the winner. And she hinted at doing something unique with the winnings. “Anything that I do win from the leaderboard promotion will be awarded back to poker players on PartyPoker,” she said. “Fingers crossed I do end up taking it down, and there will be something exciting for you all to take part in!”

"I’m excited at the opportunity to potentially win 1st prize in the leaderboard, as I have some exciting plans for what I will be doing with any of my winnings." You want @krissyb24poker to win the @WPT Player of The Championship leaderboard. Trust us. https://t.co/mzOvbienDC pic.twitter.com/Ni42gHYOu3

— partypoker (@partypoker) August 26, 2020

Next Up on the Schedule

The second half of the WPT WOC includes everything from heads-up to high rollers and the Main Event:

–Event 7 (Aug 29-Sep 1): $109 / $1,100 WPT Micro/Mini NLHE Main Event ($1M / $5M GTD)

–Event 8 (Sep 2-3): $33 / $320 / $3,200 WPT NLHE Heads-Up ($20K / $100K / $500K GTD)

–Event 9 (Sep 5-8): $10,300 WPT NLHE Main Event ($10M GTD)

–Event 10 (Sep 8): $33 / $320 / $3,200 WPT NLHE Turbo ($300K / $1M / $3M GTD)

–Event 11 (Sep 12-15): $25,500 WPT NLHE High Roller ($10M GTD)

–Event 12 (Sep 16-17): $102K WPT NLHE Super High Roller ($5M GTD)