Event #23 of the 2008 World Championship of Online Poker was a $530 No Limit Holdem event with each player allowed one rebuy and one add-on. The prize pool collected buy-ins from each of the 1,159 players along with 807 rebuys and 954 add-ons. In the end it would be ddrufnek who would walk away as the victor.
The short stack, MT456, was the first to fall at the final table, moving all-in preflop with [7h][6s]. Ddrufnek made the call with pocket tens, which would hold up as the board fell [Kd][Qh][3c][5d][8h]. MT456 exited in ninth place, richer by $20,440.
1bigbluffer1 would be ddrufnek’s next victim, moving all-in with pocket tens only to face ddrufnek’s [Ac][Ks]. A king fell on the flop of [Kc][5h][2s] and once the turn and river fell [Qs][Jh] 1bigbluffer1 was officially eliminated. 1bigbluffer1 collected $32,850 for his eighth place finish.
Another race developed when MaxHam moved all-in preflop with pocket sixes and received a call from imeasy2read, who held [Ks][Qh]. The board of [Kd][8c][3h][7d][9c] delivered the winning pair of kings to imeasy2read and MaxHam was gone in seventh place, having earned $47,450.
Dinkel shoved all-in preflop with [Ad][10s] but to his dismay luckyuli called and flipped up a dominating [As][Ks]. The board rolled out [Ah][Js][2c][8d][9c] and dinkel exited in sixth place, richer by $62,050.
MPetes was the next to fall, doing so when he moved all-in with [Ad][Ks] only to find out that his opponent, luckyuli, had picked up pocket aces. The board would not deliver salvation to MPetes, as it ran out [Kh][Js][4d][6d][6h]. MPetes earned $76,650 for his fifth place finish.
With four players remaining a deal was struck. The second through fourth place finishers would receive $169,804 while the winner would take home $210,000 and a WCOOP bracelet.
ILAN17 exited in fourth place when he tangled with ddrufnek. ILAN17 shoved his chips in with [Kc][Qd] before the flop and ddrufnek called with [Js][9s]. The board would favor ddrufnek as it fell [Ac][9d][5c][9c][3s] to give him a set of nines. ILAN17 would take home the agreed upon $169,804 for his fourth place finish.
Imeasy2read fell when his pocket fives could not hold up luckyuli’s [Ac][Ks]. Two pair fell on the board of [10s][10h][8h][8c][3h] and luckyuli’s ace kicker won the pot. Imeasy2read’s third place finish was also good for $169,804.
Heads-up play was a roller coaster affair as ddrufnek started as a huge chip leader, fell to a nearly 10:1 chip disadvantage and then made a miraculous comeback to win the tournament. A second deal then was agreed to, with 2nd place now receiving $184,902 and 1st place receiving $194,902 and the WCOOP bracelet.
The tournament would end soon after the second deal was struck. Luckyuli pushed all-in with [Ks][Jc] and was facing the [Ah][7s] of ddrufnek. The board fell [Qd][4h][4s][As][Js] to give ddrufnek the victory.
Luckyuli earned $184,902 for his runner-up performance while ddrufnek took down the victor’s prize of $194,902 and the WCOOP bracelet.