Overlay for the spotlight Main Event

The 19th annual PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) concluded Wednesday night as the champions of the three Main Events were crowned. Just a few thousand dollars shy of $100m in prize money was awarded across all 75 events, each of which had three buy-in levels: Low, Medium, and High. In all, PokerStars drew over 1.1 million entries during the 2020 WCOOP, the most anticipated online poker tournament series each year.

The $55 “Low” Main Event drew 24,408 players and 14,252 re-entries to generate a prize pool of $1.933m. Emerging victorious was “klimono” from Poland, who won $186,841.09. The $530 “Medium” Main Event fielded 4,821 players and 2,284 re-entries to build a $3.553m prize pool. “1mSoWeeeaK” of Thailand did not live up to his name, winning the title and $504,583.85.

PokerStars was on the hook for $115,000 of overlay

The $5,200 “High” Main Event was the highlight tournament of the 2020 WCOOP. 1,436 players participated, contributing another 541 re-entries. The 1,977 total entries fell just short of the 2,000 required to meet the $10m guarantee, meaning that PokerStars was on the hook for $115,000 of overlay. Andre “PTFisherman23” Marques won the championship and $1,147,270.86.

The deal is struck

The High Main Event was a four-day event; just nine players entered action on the final day. After the first elimination, Marques, former EPT champ Robin “robinho” Ylitalo, and Teun “tinnoemulder” Mulder were nearly tied for the chip lead. They rode their stacks all the way to the final four, at which point there was some talk of a deal, though nothing came of it.

After Ylitalo was knocked out in fourth place, the remaining three players discussed a deal again. Tonio “prrrak4783” R?der had 179 million chips, Mulder had 160 million, and Marques had 154 million. After calculating the payouts, R?der and Marques were willing to give up $15,000, so they agreed to the following chop: Mulder $1,101,527.64, R?der $1,082,522.50, and Marques $1,047,270.86. They left $100,000 on the table as an incentive to keep playing.

The champ spikes the river

Mulder was eliminated in third place and Marques went into heads-up play with a 2-to-1 chip lead. R?der quickly doubled-up, but Marques didn’t flinch, regaining the lead and eventually whittling R?der’s stack to just 20 big blinds.

On the final hand, both players got in for the minimum pre-flop and checked after the 2?6?9? flop. With the 9? on the turn, Marques checked, R?der bet, Marques raised, and R?der called. The river was the 10?, prompting Marques to shove all-in. R?der called off his remaining 48 million and turned over 6?5? for two pair. Marques showed 8?7?, rivering the straight and taking down the 2020 WCOOP title.

It’s not just my story… it’s for my friends… and my country.”

Later, Marques hopped on the live stream with PokerStars’ commentators to discuss his win. He played in the tournament from the Netherlands, but Marques had his home country of Portugal on his mind, saying, “It’s not just my story… it’s for my friends… and my country.”