Our Top 10 Favourites to Win WCOOP 2013
Monday, 30 September 2013
Mercier, Cody and Boeree all go into Day 2
Three action-packed weeks have passed since the beginning of the twelfth annual World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP). Thousands of grinders have turned up to take their shot at glory, and millions have been given away in prizes.
But all of these events have been building up to the one thing that everyone has been waiting for – The Main Event.
Last year’s Main Event winner Marat ‘maratik’ Sharafutdinov went down in legend when he persisted with a certain stubborn and slightly misspelt chatbox demand during deal negotiations. “I wont million” became the new poker catchphrase overnight, and stood for a man who wanted ultimate glory, and refused to take anything less.
However, the 2013 main event is bigger and better than ever before. If you thought last year’s prizepool was monumental, then you’d better have a sit down – because this year’s winner stands to take away a staggering $1,877,573.25. There’s still 296 players left from the original field of 2133, so here we take a look at ten of our favourites to win.
Mike McDonald
Screenname: Timex
Chip Stack going into Day 2: 298,150
Current position out of 292: 24
With over $1.3 million in online cashes to his name, Mike ‘Timex’ McDonald is a seasoned online grinder. Making a good finish in the WCOOP main event would top off a pretty amazing year for him – over the last six months, McDonald has made two EPT final tables (coming 2nd and 4th respectively) for a combined total of close to half a million dollars. His stack going into Day 2 is just over double the average of 144,121, making him a strong candidate for a deep run. Having said this, he is currently sharing a table with fellow pro Steve ‘Zugwat’ Silverman (also on the list), whose hyper-aggressive style could put him to some difficult decisions.
Jason Mercier
Screenname: JasonMercier
Chip Stack going into Day 2: 273,783
Current position out of 292: 31
Mercier is the highest placed remaining member of Team PokerStars Pro. The Canadian pro has already had success in this year’s WCOOP, coming 3rd in Event 24 for $229,965.47. He has been running hot recently, and coupled with his hefty stack we like his chances for success.
Screenname: PearlJammer
Chip Stack going into Day 2: 268,244
Current position out of 292: 36
Jon ‘PearlJammer’ Turner has among the most online successes of his other candidates, with over $6 million in online tournament cashes to his name. Turner favours a tight-aggressive style, which has helped him pick up a substantial chip stack. As an online pro who specialises in full-ring NL Hold’em tournaments, Turner is truly in his element here – we have high hopes for him.
David ShallowScreenname: CrabMaki
Chip Stack going into Day 2: 95,219
Current position out of 292: 185
David ‘Crabmaki’ Shallow may have some ground to gain considering that he is rather below average stack, but if anyone can make a comeback, it’s him. Shallow is a WCOOP veteran, with a win of over $600k from 2010 and a final table finish in 2012. As if that wasn’t enough already, he won Event 10 for $40,369.72 two weeks ago. He’ll need a double up, but if he manages to get that then we wouldn’t like to be the one standing in his way.
Jake CodyScreenname: jakecody
Chip Stack going into Day 2: 109,307
Current position out of 292: 161
Jake Cody is another surviving member of Team PokerStars Pro. After a deep run in Event 12 where he eventually missed out on glory by a hair’s breadth, Cody is no doubt raring to rack up a big score before the end of the series. The young British pro is known for specialising in heads-up poker rather than the full-ring of the Main Event, but don’t let that fool you – he is certainly a force to be reckoned with.
Liv BoereeScreenname: Liv Boeree
Chip Stack going into Day 2: 81,394
Current position out of 292: 208
Boeree is one of the biggest underdogs on our list due to her stack being on the shorter side, but we’re not ready to write her off just yet. She has already scored some glory for Team Pro this series after coming 5th in Event 5, and we have a feeling that if things go her way tonight then she could make a deep run.
Mickey PetersenScreenname: mement_mori
Chip Stack going into Day 2: 141,951
Current position out of 292: 115
Part of Team Online, Mickey ‘mement_mori’ Petersen knows his way around the virtual felt. He may not be the most well-known pro in the event, but you’d be a fool to underestimate him. Petersen already has some huge cashes in SCOOP events to his name, and we feel that he is definitely long overdue another big score.
Jonathan Concepcion Screenname: OMGjonyctt
Chip Stack going into Day 2: 97,897
Current position out of 292: 179
Concepcion will need to work a little harder to get his stack up to par, but if he manages this then he could certainly be a formidable opponent. The British pro has a win in the Sunday Warm-Up and a runner-up finish in the Sunday Million, as well as winning Event 9 for $216,000 at the beginning of this year’s series. This is currently his biggest cash by far, but that could all change if things go well for him in the Main Event.
Andrey ZaichenkoScreenname: Kroko-dill
Chip Stack going into Day 2: 440,745
Current position out of 292: 7
Andrey Zaichenko has been putting in some serious volume this WCOOP, and has already racked up a final table finish in Event 23 (the $10,300 High Roller) for $119k. He has a monster stack going into Day 2, currently ranking 7th overall. We have a feeling that this German pro could be something of a wrecking ball once play resumes – we certainly wouldn’t mess with him anyway.
Steve Silverman Screenname: Zugwat
Chip Stack going into Day 2: 83,041
Current position out of 292: 204
Railbirds’ favourite Steve ‘Zugwat’ Silverman has over a million dollars in online tournament earnings, having taken down numerous regularly scheduled events (including the PokerStars Nightly Hundred Grand, which he’s won twice). He currently holds a more modest stack, but we’re definitely not worried about him quietly blinding out – Silverman’s trademark hyper-aggro playing style will make sure that nobody’s bored. He’ll definitely go hard or go home… we’re just not quite sure which yet.
It’s Day 2 of the biggest online tournament of the year, and it starts tonight on PokerStars at 7:30pm GMT (11:30am PST). We’ll see you at the rail.
There are still tons of fantastic tournaments and cash bonuses on offer, so sign up to
PokerStars.com and get playing today!
Tags:
WCOOP, Mike McDonald, Jason Mercier, Jon Turner, David Shallow, Jake Cody, Liv Boeree, Mickey Petersen, Jonathan Concepcion, Andrey Zaichenko, Steve Silverman