Introduced by PokerStars less than a month ago, Triple Stud has already proven a popular choice on the site. Players of stud games — in which the order of things often changes with every street — are used to making constant adjustments. Add to that the necessity to shift through three different stud variants — seven-card stud (high only), razz, and stud high/low eight-or-better — and you have a true challenge of poker acumen.
Got a cool name, too. Way cooler than referring to it as “H.O.R.S.E.’s back end.”
As further proof of Triple Stud’s popularity, 788 players entered the $215 buy-in WCOOP Event #8. That added up to a prize pool of $157,600, with the top 104 finishers getting paid. The eight players making the final table were all guaranteed at least $2,364, with the winner due to take $29,550, the bracelet, and the honor of being the first-ever WCOOP Triple Stud stud.
For the tournament, play rotated between stud, razz, stud H/L (in that order), with the game changing every 20 minutes along with an increase in antes and stakes. After an hour of play, Team PokerStars Netherlands pro Marcel Luske had surged into second place, with his fellow team members George Danzer and Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu both hovering just outside the top 20.
Nominees Talk Poker Hall of Fame
Negreanu was seated at Barry “barryg1” Greenstein’s table in the early going, and the many railbirds gathering gave their table a “feature table” kind of feel. The WSOP recently announced who were the top ten most nominated players for this year’s Poker Hall of Fame, and both Negreanu and Greenstein were among that group. An observer congratulated the pair, and a discussion began among both those watching and those playing about the upcoming vote for the 2010 class.
One observer suggested Negreanu (aged 36) to be too young at present to be inducted. “It’s the only time I’ve had an edge on daniel by being older,” quipped Greenstein in the chatbox.
Kid Poker responded by saying if he had a vote he’d pick Jennifer Harman and Eric Drache, the WSOP’s first tournament director and significant contributor to tournament play, the creation of satellites, and a guiding force behind the establishing of many Vegas poker rooms. Greenstein agreed with Negreanu’s endorsement of Drache, and as the conversation continued it was noted that Drache has played for high stakes for a number of years, with his chosen game being — appropriately — stud.
Amid the gabbing, players continued to fall, and at the three-and-a-half hour mark the field had already been chopped in half. Luske continued his good start, sitting with the most chips at that point out of the 394 remaining. Bill Chen had cracked the top thirty as well. However, both Luske and Chen — as well as Greenstein and Negreanu — would fall short of the cash, as would all of the other PS pros (16 in all) who entered Event #8, save one.
Making the Money
The money bubble finally burst just after the six-hour mark, with serbie, megastacks, JBROO, albari, and Anna “VietCutie” Wroblewski all at the top of the counts. Darus Suharto of Team PokerStars Canada was on the list, too, in 70th place out of the 104 remaining. An hour later they were down to 50 players, with naumans out in front as the only player with more than 200,000 chips, and Suharto still kicking just outside of the top 30.
With about 40 players remaining, Podlodka2001 moved into the chip lead after claiming half the pot in a wacky four-way stud H/L hand with GLF13, Mercury7077, and valdemaar74. The four players each put three bets in on third street, then the fun continued all of the way to seventh where GLF13 finally stepped aside. Watch as both Mercury7077 and valdemaar74 make wheels, while Podlodka2001 hits a one-outer on seventh street to claim the high half of the pot.
Suharto finally succumbed in 32nd place, knocked out in a Stud H/L hand by PairStars. Meanwhile, Podlodka2001 continued to be aggressive, increasing his lead as the tourney moved toward the final table. Sensor, who won a WCOOP bracelet in 2008 in a $215 H.O.R.S.E. event and who final tabled another stud event in the WCOOP in 2007, was eliminated in 15th place. And McMang, winner of the 2010 SCOOP #29-High event ($3,150 8-game mix) back in May, would go out in 11th.
Trouble on the Bubble
An interesting situation arose on the final table bubble when the game changed from Stud H/L to Razz. CianoMar won a couple of hands early in the level, and had a stack of more than 325,000, a bit below average at the time, but enough for middle of the pack. Then things got weird.
First CianoMar took a hand to sixth street showing Q-9-J-4 before folding. Then CianoMar fired away starting K-T, eventually making it all of the way to the river before mucking. It was evident CianoMar hadn’t noticed the switch to razz, and suddenly was in danger of bubbling the final table with less than 100,000 chips!
CianoMar recovered, however, and had built back to nearly half a million by the end of the level. Meanwhile, mddgfc and mercury7077 had slipped to the back of the pack on the other table. At last, almost exactly 10 hours after the tourney had begun, “VietCutie” Wroblewski eliminated mercury7077 in a stud H/L hand, and the final table was set.
Seat 1: CianoMar — 636,516
Seat 2: mddgfc — 288,861
Seat 3: miw210 — 165,374
Seat 4: ozenc — 979,464
Seat 5: GVOZDIKA55 — 344,440
Seat 6: Podlodka2001 — 576,319
Seat 7: Glücksi203 — 411,767
Seat 8: VietCutie — 537,259
From Eight to Four
Still in the stud H/L level, it wasn’t long before a huge three-way hand developed between VietCutie, GVOZDIKA55, and chip leader ozenc. After each put in two bets on third (calling GVOZDIKA55’s raise), the betting was capped on fourth street, with VietCutie pushing the action. Her two opponents then called VietCutie’s bets on fifth, sixth, and seventh, with the final bet putting GVOZDIKA55 all in.
At the showdown, VietCutie showed (6♠ )(7♥ )5♣ 4♦ A♠ 8♦ (J♥ ), an eight-high straight and a 7-6-5-4-A low. She was best both ways, as both ozenc and GVOZDIKA55 mucked, with the latter going out in eighth place. Taking that massive 760,000-chip pot meant Wroblewski had wrested the chip lead from ozenc, moving up to 1.24 million to ozenc’s second-place stack of 810,464.
The next elimination would come near the end of the subsequent level in stud (high) hand. After Podlodka2001 brought in for 7,500 with the 2♦ , miw201 made it 25,000 to go with 8♦ . The others got out, and Podlodka reraised. miw210 then reraised again, Podlodka followed suit, and miw210 called all in for 8,374.
miw210 held (K♦ )(8♥ )8♦ , while Podlodka2001 had (A♣ )(Q♠ )2♦ . miw201 would pick up two aces by seventh street to make two pair, but Podloka2001 drew out J♠ 3♦ 10♠ (K♣ ) to end with a Broadway straight, eliminating miw210 in seventh.
The game changed to razz, at which point mddgfc — who had been nursing a short stack for a while — decided to call CianoMar’s opening raise on third street. mddgfc would call again on the next three streets, finally putting the last chips in on sixth. By then, CianoMar held (A)-(2)-6-Q-6-5 and mddgfc (4)-(2)-5-K-7-4. The river brought CianoMar a king, making for a not-so-great queen-low. But mddgfc paired up again, drawing a seven on seventh, and thus hit the rail in sixth place.
That hand pushed CianoMar up to 955,338 and past Podlodka2001 into second place, not far behind leader VietCutie who had a bit more than 1.03 million. Meanwhile, ozenc had become the short stack with less than 400,000, and when the game changed to stud H/L, ozenc — now down to 160,901 chips (at 40,000/80,000 stakes) — found a hand with which to try to turn things around.
With the Q♣ up ozenc raised, and Glücksi203 reraised with the J♥ showing, prompting further reraises until ozenc was all in. The down cards were flipped over to show that both players had paired their door cards, putting ozenc in front to start. But by the time all streets were dealt, ozenc had failed to improve on that pair of queens, while Glücksi203 picked up a second pair of aces. ozenc was out, and just four remained.
From Four to Two
Glücksi203 would go on to win a few more stud H/L hands, taking the lead away from VietCutie. Soon those two would push out further, while the stacks of Podlodka2001 and CianoMar began to shrink to just a couple of big bets each. With the stakes 50,000/100,000 and the game stud (high), CianoMar was all in on third street against VietCutie. The remaining cards were dealt:
CianoMar: (10♥ )-(A♠ )-6♣ –7♦ –A♣ –4♠ -(8♦ ) — a pair of aces
VietCutie: (9♣ )-(Q♥ )-2♣ –Q♦ –7♠ –2♥ -(K♥ ) — two pair, queens and deuces
And CianoMar was out in fourth place. About ten minutes later the game was still stud (high), and a series of raises put Podlodka2001 all in on third street, this time against Glücksi203. And here’s how that battle went.
Podlodka2001: (7♦ )-(3♥ )-A♣ –K♥ –9♦ –7♠ -(6♠ ) — a pair of sevens
Glücksi203: (K♦ )-(2♦ )-2♣ –2♥ –6♦ –5♥ -(J♦ ) — three deuces
Podlodka2001 was done in third, and the tourney had arrived at heads-up.
Heads-Up
Glücksi203 and VietCutie were nearly even in chips to begin their duel, with Glücksi203 at 2,032,297 and VietCutie 1,907,703.
The pair began with stud (high). Wroblewski — also known as the “Poker Pixie” — started out taking an early advantage, but soon began to slip. After 11 minutes they’d reached the end of the stud level, with Glücksi203 up to 2.52 million to VietCutie’s 1.41 million. Fifteen minutes later they’d nearly finished the next razz level when they arrived at a scheduled break. By then, Glücksi203 was up close to 3.38 million and VietCutie down to just over 560,000.
Play resumed, and soon — more than 12 hours after the first hands of the tournament were dealt — the end would finally arrive.
They’d moved to stud H/L, and VietCutie was down to just 294,703 chips when the hand began, while Glücksi203 had 3,645,297. With the 8♦ showing, VietCutie brought in for 24,000, and Glücksi203 made it 80,000 to go with the 10♠ . VietCutie called. Glücksi203 would lead with bets on fourth and fifth, and VietCutie called both times, the last bet putting her all in. Their down cards were turned over to show VietCutie with (4♠ )-(6♥ )-8♦ –10♦ –9♦ and Glücksi203 with (J♣ )-(8♥ )-10♠ –Q♦ –8♠ .
Glücksi203 would pick up two kings on sixth and seventh — K♦ K♣ — making two pair, while VietCutie would draw 10♥ Q♣ , leaving her with just a pair of tens and no low.
Congratulations to Glücksi203, 2010 WCOOP Event #8 Champion!
WCOOP Event #8 ($215 Triple Stud) Results
1st place: Glücksi203 ($29,550)
2nd: VietCutie ($21,276)
3rd: Podlodka2001 ($15,760)
4th: CianoMar ($11,820)
5th: ozenc ($7,880)
6th: mddgfc ($5,516)
7th: miw210 ($3,546)
8th: GVOZDIKA55 ($2,364)
Be sure to check out PokerStars.tv for more reports on all of the action. Check out the WCOOP site for the full schedule plus all of the results. And come back here to the PokerStars blog for ongoing coverage of the biggest online poker tournament series in the world!
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