Preben "prebz" Stokkan Wins Second WCOOP Title in WCOOP-21-H: $5,200 NLHE [6-Max, Progressive KO]
A new two-time champion has been crowned in the latest high stakes event of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker 2020 as Norways's Preben "prebz" Stokkan earned his second career title in WCOOP-21-H: $5,200 NLHE [6-Max, Progressive KO]. Stokkan came out on top of a field of 108 entries, which had created a prize pool of $540,000, and defeated Alexandros "Pwndidi" Theologis in heads-up.
The first title of Stokkan also came in the very same format back in 2017 when he defeated a field of 976 entries in Event #65: $2,100 NLHE [Progressive KO, Thursday Thrill SE] for a top prize of $160,824. His repeat victory came with a similar payday as he kept the own bounty of $86,484 and earned a cash prize of $53,626 for a combined payday of $140,110.
Theologis started the final day as the second-shortest in chips out of 14 Day 1 survivors and made it all the way to second place. Talal "raidalot" Shakerchi achieved an equally impressive rise from being the bottom stack with nine blinds at the start to 4th place finish. Other notables on the seven-handed final table included the Dutch 2020 SCOOP event winner "Passiveaggro", Michael "merla888" Gathy, "zas91" and Michel "FreeLancerZZ" Dattani.
Final Result WCOOP-21-H: $5,200 NLHE [6-Max, Progressive KO]
| Position | Winner | Country | Bounty Prize | Cash Prize | Total Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Preben "prebz" Stokkan | Norway | $86,484 | $53,626 | $140,110 |
| 2 | Alexandros "Pwndidi" Theologis | Greece | $22,188 | $53,626 | $75,813 |
| 3 | Passiveaggro | Netherlands | $9,141 | $35,704 | $44,844 |
| 4 | Talal "raidalot" Shakerchi | United Kingdom | $8,438 | $27,383 | $35,820 |
| 5 | Michael "merla888" Gathy | Belgium | $5,000 | $21,001 | $26,001 |
| 6 | zas91 | Russia | $7,500 | $16,107 | $23,607 |
| 7 | Michel "FreeLancerZZ" Dattani | Portugal | $6,875 | $12,353 | $19,228 |
| 8 | PedersenC | Denmark | $9,474 | $9,474 | |
| 9 | Alexandru "steakaddict." Papazian | Romania | $9,688 | $9,474 | $19,162 |
| 10 | Jon "apestyles" Van Fleet | United States | $13,906 | $7,266 | $21,173 |
| 11 | retro_cheetah01 | Poland | $8,750 | $7,266 | $16,016 |
| 12 | mao2015 | Chile | $5,000 | $5,573 | $10,573 |
| 13 | Sami "Lrslzk" Kelopuro | Finland | $5,781 | $5,573 | $11,354 |
| 14 | Patrick "pads1161" Leonard | United Kingdom | $9,063 | $5,573 | $14,635 |
Patrick "pads1161" Leonard was the first casualty of the day followed by Sami "Lrslzk" Kelopuro and start-of-the-day chip leader Jon "apestyles" Van Fleet bowed out in 10th place but still claimed the third-biggest bounty prize of $13,906.25 to his name. WSOP bracelet winner Alexandru "steakaddict." Papazian was also among those to bust before the field combined to one table.
Action Until the Final Table
Patrick "pads1161" Leonard had a rough start into the final day and paid off quads to then lose a flip with pocket tens against the king-jack of Sami "Lrslzk" Kelopuro. The Finn traded double ups with Alexandros "Pwndidi" Theologis then lost a flip to "Passiveaggro" to reduce the field to the final two tables.
Jon "apestyles" Van Fleet suffered several setbacks including a lost flip with queens against the ace-king of "Passiveaggro" to become short and then busted to Preben "prebz" Stokkan when both flopped top pair. Next to go was Alexandru "steakaddict." Papazian, who had become short after doubling Talal "raidalot" Shakerchi and subsequently ran into aces. Final table bubble boy was then "PedersenC" who ran with queen-jack into king-queen as "Passiveaggro" collected another bounty prize.
Stokkan and Theologis Dominate the Final Table
Stokkan held more than two times as many chips as the nearest follower when the final table of the last seven was set. Michel "FreeLancerZZ" Dattani would be the first casualty soon after that. Dattani's aces and treys were beaten by the aces and queens of Alexandros "Pwndidi" Theologis to leave the Portuguese poker pro with fumes and Shakerchi collected the bounty with turned two pair moments later.
Shakerchi took over the lead from Stokkan when scooping a big pot with queens versus jacks, as Stokkan pulled closer again after knocking out "zas91". A few double ups later, Michael "merla888" Gathy was short and hit the rail to leave the tournament four-handed.
At some point all players were within a few big blinds but Stokkan and Theologis dominated the action to become the run-away chip leaders. Shakerchi succumbed first with ace-king versus ten-eight suited and "Passiveaggro" then first doubled through Stokkan to send all his chips over to the Norwegian in the very next hand.
Theologis established a comfortable lead early on but Stokkan struck back with aggression to then earn every bigger pot in the heads-up duel. In the final hand, Theologis flopped the top two pair but Stokkan turned the nut straight to earn his second WCOOP title.
The final day of the tournament was streamed on the PokerStars Twitch channel with commentary and cards-up coverage on a delay of at least 20 minutes. Check out the results and exclusive PokerNews live updates of all other assorted WCOOP events right here!