2020 World Series of Poker Online: Allan 'Treeoflife' Cheung Wins $500 Turbo DeepstackNew York Native Outlasts Field of 1,579 Entries To Win His First Bracelet and $120,083 |
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Allan ‘Treeoflife’ Cheung has won the latest gold bracelet awarded during the 2020 World Series of Poker Online. The Little Neck, New York resident overcame a field of 1,579 total entries to win the $500 buy-in no-limit hold’em turbo deepstack event, earning his first piece of WSOP hardware and the top prize of $120,083.
The tournament attracted 1,082 unique players, who collectively re-entered 497 times to create a final prize pool of $710,550 that was paid out amongst the top 248 finishers. Plenty of big names made deep runs in this fast-paced event, including three-time World Poker Tour champion and two-time brcelet winner Anthony ‘heheh’ Zinno (93rd – $1,066), Erica ‘huckcheevers’ Lindgren (69th – $1,492), recent bracelet winner Robert ‘bustinballs’ Kuhn (40th – $2,416), four-time bracelet winner Brian ‘tsarrast’ Rast (33rd – $2,913), six-time bracelet winner Daniel ‘DNegs’ Negreanu (32nd – $2,913), and Ryan ‘Protential’ Laplante (31st – $2,913). This was Laplante’s 14th cash of the series, with nine consecutive in-the-money finishes, one per day from July 14 – 22.
A number of notables made it down to the final three tables, only to fall just short of the official nine-handed final table, including bracelet winner Brett ‘urofakind’ Shaffer (14th – $5,684), two-time bracelet winner Calvin ‘projector52’ Anderson (13th – $5,684), and four-time WSOP champion Mike ‘mouth123’ Matusow (10th – $7,248). Matusow got knocked out on the final table bubble when his A5 couldn’t hold up against the K10 of two-time WPT champion Brian ‘JackBogle’ Altman. The flop brought three clubs to give Altman a flush and he never looked back from there.
With that knockout, Altman took the chip lead into the final table. Myles ‘Shipthemoney’ Kotler sat in second chip position, and closed the gap a bit by eliminating Robert ‘Nvrstsfied’ Nativida (9th – $9,308). Kara ‘theLMT90’ Denning was the next to fall. They got their last chips in holding AK against the K10 of Derek ‘this1smyvice’ Salgals. enning was looking good to double up heading into the flop, but the QJ9 gave Salgals a straight to turn the tables. The turn and river were no help to Denning and they were eliminated in eighth place ($12,079).
Despite scoring the most recent elimination, Salgals was the next to see their run come to an end in this turbo event. All of the chips went in preflop, with Salgals holding A10 against the AK of Kotler. The A63 flop saw both players pair their aces and pick up a flush draw. The Q on the turn gave Kotler the higher flush for an insurmountable lead in the hand and Salgals was sent to the virtual rail with $15,916 for their seventh-place showing in this event.
Louie ‘pongpong’ Valderrama called the early position shove of Daniel ‘juice’ Buzgon with AJ from the big blind. Buzgon had been dealt the JJ. Valderrama picked up a lot of additional outs when the flop came down K75, but a pair of bricks on the turn and river locked up the pot for Buzgon. Valderrama was awarded $21,174 as the sixth-place finisher.
Recent WSOP $500 no-limit hold’em turbo event champion Terrell ‘heezahustla’ Cheatham backed his victory in that fast-paced event with another deep run in a turbo tournament. He ultimately got his last chips in preflop with A9 against the AQ of Kotler, who flopped a flush to leave Cheatham drawing dead. He earned $28,493 for making it down to the final five.
With that Kotler took the chip lead heading into four-handed action. Altman swiftly regained the advantage by knocking out Daniel ‘juice’ Buzgon in fourth place. Buzgon three-bet shoved over the top of Altman’s open with pocket sevens. Altman called with A-J and flopped a pair of aces to take a commanding lead in the hand. Buzgon was unable to come from behind and was sent to the rail with $38,725.
Three-handed play saw Cheung and Kotler chip away the lead Altman had taken after eliminating Buzgon. By the time the next big confrontation arose, he had slipped into third place on the leaderboard. With blinds of 500,000-1,000,000 and an ante of 125,000, Kotler raised to 2 million from the button with K2. Altman called from the big blind with 62 and the flop came down 332. Altman checked and Kotler bet 1,234,567. Altman check-raised all in for around 16.7 million. Kotler called with the same two pair as Altman, but a superior kicker. Niether player’s hand improved on the turn or river and Altman was knocked out in third place ($53,291).
Kotler took 41 million chips into heads-up play with Cheung, who sat with 22.1 million to start. Kotler had made it down to the final two players just four days earlier, and ultimately finished in second place in the $1,000 no-limit hold’em turbo deepstack event for $111,955. Less than a week later, he was back to being just one knockout away from securing his first WSOP gold bracelet. Kotler was able to extend his lead to more than a 4:1 advantage before Cheung scored a much needed double up and then won a sizable pot with a rivered pair of queens after bluffing on the previous streets. After that pot, Cheung had managed to overtake the lead.
In the final hand Cheung min-raised to 2,400,000 from the button with A7. Kotler moved all-in for 23,370,202 with 108. Cheung called and the 662A8 runout secured the pot and the title for Cheung. Kotler earned $74,039 for his second runner-up showing in the span of a week.
Here is a look at the payouts awarded at the final table:
Place | Name | Earnings |
1 | Allan ‘Treeoflife’ Cheung | $120,083 |
2 | Myles ‘Shipthemoney’ Kotler | $74,039 |
3 | Brian ‘JackBogle’ Altman | $53,291 |
4 | Daniel ‘juice’ Buzgon | $38,725 |
5 | Terrell ‘heezahustla’ Cheatham | $28,493 |
6 | Louie ‘pongpong’ Valderrama | $21,174 |
7 | Derek ‘this1smyvice’ Salgals | $15,916 |
8 | Kara ‘theLMT90’ Denning | $12,079 |
9 | Robert ‘Nvrstsfied’ Natividad | $9,308 |