On Monday, June 29, Matt Bode called his shot. “Here goes to becoming a secret online crusher,” the behavior therapist, ultimate frisbee medalist and tournament grinder said on Twitter just days before the 2020 World Series of Poker, Online began. “Using pio solvers programs poker coaching sites backers and discord to ship a bracelet. No retweets when this ages well.” Just six days later, Bode’s prediction came true when he defeated a field of 1,179 total entries to win the fourth event of the series, a $500 buy-in no-limit hold’em super turbo tournament. Bode earned his first gold bracelet and the top prize of $97,091 for the win. According to another one of his tweets, he was playing this series from his father’s basement.
Hey look ma we made it. Wsop 2020 from dads basement! pic.twitter.com/vWyTYBm0ts
— Matt Bode (@Matt_Bode79) July 2, 2020
This event lived up to its billing as a super turbo tournament. It took just over six hours from when the cards first got in the air for a champion to be decided. The event drew a total of 828 unique players, who collectively re-entered 351 times to grow the final prize pool to $530,550. That money was paid out to the top 180 finishers, with a min-cash being worth $743.
Plenty of notable players made deep runs in this event only to fall short of the final table, including Jon ‘havuuuuuc’ Turner (179th – $743), two-time bracelet winner Ben ‘WhyIsGamora’ Yu (167th – $742), Mike ‘mouth123’ Matusow (86th – $955), two-time bracelet winner Eric ‘circleball’ Baldwin (66th – $1,220) Ryan ‘protential’ Laplante (58th – $1,432), Phil ‘Lumestackin’ Hellmuth (37th – $1,963), event #3 champion Robert ‘bustinballs’ Kuhn (33rd – $2,334), Matt ‘RubberFist’ Stout (24th – $2,864.97), Ari ‘philivey’ Engel (16th – $3,502), and Ryan ‘KOVID19’ Ko (14th – $4,404), who finished runner-up in event #2 just a couple days earlier for $104,242.
Bode came into the final table in eighth chip position with nine players remaining. Jason ‘Daluxxx’ Luxenberg was the first player to hit the virtual rail at the final table, with his A-K offsuit failing to win a classic race against the pocket queens of Brian ‘XcrazylegsX’ Frasca. Luxenberg took home $7,162 as the ninth-place finisher.
Shawn ‘Saygoodnight’ Daniels was at his second final table of this series, having placed fourth in the kickoff event for $42,060 just three days earlier. Daniel’s run in this event came to an end when his AK couldn’t hold up against the KQ of Kevin ‘ImaLuckSac’ MacPhee. Daniels had to settle for $9,338 for his latest strong showing in this WSOP Online series.
Ryan ‘Whosyourdodd’ Dodd got his last chips in with KJ up against the pocket tens of Frank ‘spaghetti’ Marasco, the champion of the recent WSOP Circuit Online Season Finale main event. Marasco made a set on the end to knockout Dodd in seventh place ($12,362).
The next big all-in confrontation featured Marasco, who once again was dealt pocket tens, up against two shorter opponents. David ‘DrJayTrotter’ Bernsen had pocket eights for a lower pair, while Bode was dealt the AQ. Bode made aces full of deuces by the river to secure the pot. Bersen cashed for $16,500 as the sixth-place finisher. Marasco remained the chip leader despite losing a chunk of his stack in this hand.
Short stack Kevin MacPhee shoved the last of his chips in from under the gun holding A Q and Bode called with A10. Mode spiked a ten on the flip and held from there to bust MacPhee in fifth place. The two-time WSOP bracelet winner and European Poker Tour champion earned $22,389 for his latest deep run in a major event.
With the blinds at 600,000-1,200,000 and an ante of 150,000, Bode moved all-in from the small blind holding 107. Marasco called all-in for his last 5.2 million with A6 out of the big blind. Bode flopped two pair to take the lead, and Marasco was drawing dead after the turn. He was awarded $30,772 as the fourth-place finisher.
Caitlin ‘KTUUUH’ Dillon was down to just 1.5 big blinds by the time the next elimination took place. Frasca shoved all-in from the small blind with J2 and Dillon called with the K8. The board came down A1029A and Frasca made aces and deuces to knock Dillon out in third place ($42,603).
With that Frasca took roughly 22.3 million into heads-up play against Bode, who saw with just over 13 million. The action continued to be fast and furious. Bode doubled up with pocket threes against the A-K of Frasca to overtake the lead. In the final hand Bode shoved all-in from the button with Q7 and Frasca called with AQ for around 13.5 million. The 973J7 runout gave Bode trips to lock up the pot and the title. Frasca earned $59,952 as the runner-up.
Here is a look at the payouts awarded at the final table:
Place | Name | Earnings |
1 | Matt ‘Bodeyster’ Bode | $97,091 |
2 | Brian ‘XcrazylegsX’ Frasca | $59,952 |
3 | Caitlin ‘KTUUUH’ Dillon | $42,603 |
4 | Frank ‘spaghetti’ Marasco | $30,772 |
5 | Kevin ‘ImaLuckSac’ MacPhee | $22,389 |
6 | David ‘DrJayTrotter’ Bernsen | $16,500 |
7 | Ryan ‘Whosyourdodd’ Dodd | $12,362 |
8 | Shawn ‘Saygoodnight’ Daniels | $9,338 |
9 | Jason ‘Daluxxx’ Luxenberg | $7,162 |