WCOOP: Tyson “POTTERPOKER” Marks Earns $2.2 Million for Main Event Win

When the WCOOP began in 2002, the notion of a $2 million online payday was something you thought of the same way you thought of hovercrafts or a McDonalds on the moon. It was a notion we didn’t think we’d see until far off in the future.

Unless your conception of “far off” is eight years, the future is now. This year’s WCOOP Main Event shattered records with a more than $12 million prize pool and three seven figure paydays. Everyone at the final table banked at least $100,000. Last year, the aggressive tag team of eventual WCOOP Main event winner Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko and WCOOP Player of the Series Dan “djk123” Kelly resulted in a lightning fast final table with no time to talk chop.

This year, there was once again an outright winner, but the final table was not exactly speedy. In fact, the second day of Main Event play was a testament to PokerStars’ slow structures, as it took twelve hours to play from 271 down to a champion, with several big names falling along the way.

In the end,it was Tyson “POTTERPOKER” Marks who claimed the biggest payday in online poker history worth $2,278,097.50. Marks came into the final table with a sizeable chip lead and retained that advantage wire to wire en route to the victory. POTTERPOKER’s big stack was never in jeopardy, as joeysweetp, who finished in second place, was the only player to even come close to rivaling his chip stack. Other notables at the final table included Darren “darrenelias” Elias (6th) and Grayson “gray31” Ramage (8th). The final table was devoid of Team PokerStars Pros, though Alexey “LuckyGump” Makarov did post an impressive finish for the sponsored roster, coming in 22nd place.

Marks was not the only big winner on the day though. The tournament action got underway earlier in the day with the final table of the 8 Game High Roller event. That tournament went to another Team PokerStars pro player, Alex Kravchenko, who took the team out on a high note with a victory worth $345,800. Nacho Barbero, another PokerStars pro, finished in third place, while Jon “PearlJammer” Turner took fifth.

The Player of the Series race is over as well and that honor went to James “Andy McLEOD” Obst, who claimed his second career WCOOP title this season and made a final table appearance in the $2,100 HORSE event earlier this weekend. All told, he made four final tables this series. He earns an EPT Grand Final package, a PCA package, a SCOOP High buy-in Main Event ticket, and a commemorative poker chip set for his efforts.

And with that, the 2010 World Championship of Online Poker is in the books. We saw big names, repeat winners, dramatic storylines, and some crazy games of poker along the way. As for 2011? Perhaps a $3 million payday isn’t as far-fetched as we thought.

Here are the final table results from the final day of WCOOP:

WCOOP Event $10,300 8 Game High Roller
Prize Pool: $1,330,000
Entrants: 133

1st: Alex Kravchenko ($345,800.00)
2nd: kirbynator ($232,750.00)
3rd: Nacho Barbero ($172,900.00)
4th: bigfish302 ($113,050.00)
5th: Jon “PearlJammer” Turner ($86,450.00)
6th: Indigoae ($59,850.00)

Notable finishes: Pat Pezzin (7th), Brett “get crunk” Richey (8th), Joel “Odonkor1” Nordqvist (9th), Daniel Negreanu (11th), Andrew “good2cu” Robl (15th), David “WhooooKidd” Baker (16th), Allen “albari” Bari (17th), and Scott “BigRiskky” Clements (18th)

WCOOP Main Event: $5,200 No Limit Hold’em
Prize Pool: $12,215,000
Entrants: 2,443

1st: Tyson “POTTERPOKER” Marks ($2,278,097.50)
2nd: joeysweetp ($1,404,725.00)
3rd: Russian_nuts ($1,019,952.50)
4th: dazzy2004 ($696,255.00)
5th: Jack “jackellwood” Ellwood ($509,976.25)
6th: Darren “darrenelias” Elias ($396,987.50)
7th: ROMDOM ($280,945.00)
8th: Grayson “gray31” Ramage ($183,225.00)
9th: carryhero ($112,988.75)

Notable finishes: Bryn “BrynKenney” Kenney (17th), Gregory “gregy20723” Merson (19th), Jason “JP OSU” Potter (21st), Alexey “LuckyGump” Makarov (22nd), Mike “Timex” McDonald (30th), and Rami “arbianight” Boukai (31st)