2009 WCOOP: Sick! ElkY scores 2nd bracelet in Event #43, $215 NLHE - PokerStars Poker Blog

I've been taking an interest in the WCOOP this year as I get more and more involved in the poker world. With work not being overly busy all the time, I log on to PokerStars during the day just to rail some of the big name players. I tend to watch the big name pros such as Daniel Negreanu, Joe Hachem, Chris Moneymaker plus some of the bigger name online players such as Shaun Deeb, Tony Dunst and Alex Fitzgerald.

As the work day was winding down, I ended up watching Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier take down his 2nd bracelet of the series. As we speak, he's down to the final 12 of a second chance event where the first prize is over $130,000. Run better ...

Here's the story of how he got his 2nd bracelet, click on the title to read the full story.

2009 WCOOP: Sick! ElkY scores 2nd bracelet in Event #43, $215 NLHE - PokerStars Poker Blog

Event #43, the last of the $215 buy-in no-limit hold'em events in this year's WCOOP series, drew a whopping 9,220 entrants, making for a $1,844,000 prize pool. That was well beyond the $1 million guarantee, and the eighth time during the series we've seen a prize pool of greater than $1.5 million. (There'd be one more WCOOP event with at least a $1.5 million prize pool, of course -- the Main Event, with more than $10 million up for grabs!) The top 1,350 finishers would be cashing in this one, with first place scheduled to earn a nifty $263,323.20.

After nine-and-a-half hours of play, the field had been whittled down to 250 players, with Team PokerStars pros Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier in 12th, Victor Ramdin in 22nd, and Barry 'barryg1' Greenstein in 90th. At that point, 0926ricsi held the chip lead with 683,105, followed closely by LakersGTD, kezug, ångvälten, and HN Kakaroto.

At the 11-and-a-half hour mark, they were down to 100 players. Greenstein had departed in 203rd, followed by Team PokerStars Holland Pro Lex 'RaSZi' Veldhuis in 152nd. But Ramdin was still there in 42nd, and Grospellier had chipped all of the way up to second place, just behind LakersGTD who was nearing the 200,000 mark.

ElkY would soon overtake LakersGTD and claim the chip lead. With five cashes already this WCOOP and a bracelet in Event #38 (NLHE $530 + 1R1A), the London-based French pro appeared to be gearing up for yet another deep run in an WCOOP event. (Click here to read ElkY's reflection on his WCOOP win for the PokerStars blog.)

World Series of Poker update

Day 6 at the World Series of Poker was rough for many of the players I was following.

First elimination was Joe Hachem. He couldn't get anything going on day 5 or 6 and ended up pushing all-in short-stacked with jack 9 suited. Joe was called by pocket 4's but his hand didn't improve and he finished 103rd.

Kenny Tran was struggling near the bottom stacks, doubling up occasionally but not staying far enough ahead of the blinds. He pushed with a suited ace, got called by pocket 8's, didn't improve and bust out in 86th place.

Also hitting the rail on day 6 were one-time chip monster Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier in 122nd, one-time chip leader Matt Affleck in 81st and last year's champ Peter Eastgate in 78th.

The story of the day was the rise and rise of Phil Ivey. He had sat in the middle of the pack for much of the tournament but by the end of day 6 he was in 3rd and looking very dangerous. Midway through day 7 he's still cruising along in 2nd place and the field has narrowed to just 29 players left in action.

Phil Ivey, the man to watch

World Series of Poker update

We're now midway through day 5 in the World Series of Poker and with 232 players remaining out of the 6494 starters, one of Assassinato's mates Matt Affleck currently leads the field.

The poker community would love for one of the big name pros to take down the Main Event and this year there are a number still in contention. Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier has been at the top of the leader board for the last few days and is currently in the top 20 while my boys Joe Hachem and Kenny Tran aren't far behind. Phil Ivey is also roughly midfield and has plenty of time to make a move.

From last year's Main Event, Dennis Phillips and defending champion Peter Eastgate are both still well in the hunt.