In Event #20 of the 2008 World Championship of Online Poker the game was $1,050 No Limit Holdem, which drew a 3,467 players who wished to take down the awesome first place prize. In the end it was NYC P.I.M.P who would win the tournament, earning $257,953 after a final table deal was made. This was actually less money than the $340,000 earned by QuasiFiction, who had the most chips at the time of the deal.
The final table started off fast and furious, with two players exiting within the first fifteen minutes. Sumar07 was facing a coin flip situation for their tournament life when they moved all-in before the flop with [Ah][Qc] and came up against the pocket nines of JSchnett. There would be no ace or queen on the board as it came down [10c][6h][2c][4s][K] and Sumar07 was eliminated in ninth place, earning $31,203.
VuaXi`Tô’ would fall in eighth place when they pushed all-in with [Jd][10d] while under the gun. CamoJr made the call with [Ah][Qh] and made a pair of queens on the flop of [Qd][8s][6s]. The [Kd] fell on the turn to give VuaXi`Tô’ a lot of outs with the open-ended straight flush draw, but the [2c] that fell on the river was none of these outs. VuaXi`Tô’ collected $45,071 for finishing in eighth place.
Play quieted down for a little bit before the next elimination. Mary717 had gone all-in and the short stack, henri72 called all-in. Henri72 had the advantage with his [Ac][Qd] dominating Mary717’s [Qh][7h], but the board would give Mary717 a straight as it fell [6c][5d][3d][4h][8h]. Henri72’s seventh place finish would be rewarded with $72,807.
Five minutes later JSchentt would move all-in with pocket jacks, only to see C.K. reveal pocket aces. No help came for JSchnett on the board of [Kc][6h][2c][3h][7c] and JSchentt could do nothing but collect the sixth place prize of $107,477.
With five players remaining, a deal was struck. Four of the five players immediately agreed to a chip-count deal when the idea was floated, but CamoJr was holding out for an additional $20,000. The only player willing to give up any of their money was QuasiFiction, who offered $680, as that would bring him down to an even $340,000 and give him a chance to win $400,000 with the $60,000 that was left for the winner. CamoJr would cave in and accept the $680 addition to his payday.
Here are the payouts that were agreed to by the deal, along with the final position of the players:
QuasiFiction: $340,000 (2nd place)
Mary717: $288,155 (5th place)
CamoJr: $230,388 (3rd place)
C.K.: $226,965 (4th place)
NYC P.I.M.P: $197,953 (1st place)
Despite being the short stack NYC P.I.M.P would survive and prosper until he finally took the advantage in heads-up play when he doubled up with pocket aces against QuasiFiction. NYC P.I.M.P would keep on going, increasing his chip lead until QuasiFiciton moved all-in on the turn of a board reading [Qd][9c][6h][4c]. QuasiFiction held [Ks][9h] for a pair of nines while NYC P.I.M.P showed [Qh][2h] for a pair of queens. The [4d] on the river was no help to QuasiFiction, who was eliminated in second place.
QuasiFiction earned $340,000 through the five-way deal, and NYC P.I.M.P would add the victor’s prize of $60,000 to give himself a grand total of $257,953, which was less than the second and fifth place finishers.