Nahrain '2Rivers' Tamero Wins World Series of Poker Online $1,000 No-Limit hold'em Championship

Nahrain ‘2Rivers’ Tamero has won the final event of the American-facing segment of the 2020 World Series of Poker Online. Tamero defeated a field of 2,126 total entries in the $1,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em championship event to earn their first gold bracelet and the first-place prize of $310,832. The first 31 events on the schedule for the 85-bracelet 2020 WSOP Online series were hosted on WSOP.com and were only available to those within the borders of Nevada and New Jersey during play. A total of 44,229 entries were made throughout those 31 tournaments, creating more than $26,870,985 in total prize money that was awarded throughout the month of July.

The ultimate event of the series saw 1,455 unique players post the $1,000 buy-in, with another 671 re-entries made to create the only prize pool of more than $2 million throughout the American-facing events of this series. The top 330 finishers made the money in this event, earning a payday of at least $1,616. Among the big names to make a deep run were all-time bracelet leader Phil ‘Lumestackin’ Hellmuth (133rd – $2,424), two-time bracelet winner Tony ‘Panoramic’ Dunst (106th – $2,626), bracelet winner Kathy ‘Luckygal’ Liebert (100th – $2,626), Matt ‘berkey11_s4y’ Berkey (56th – $4,645), 2013 WSOP main event champion Ryan ‘BiTC0iN’ Riess (50th – $5,453), Jamie ‘DanBilzerian’ Kerstetter (37th – $6,463), bracelet winner Ryan ‘Protential’ Laplante (30th – $7,877), bracelet winner Bryan ‘Pellepelle’ Piccioli (27th – $9,897), three-time bracelet winner Upeshka ‘gomezhamburg’ De Silva (18th – $12,320), five-time ring winner Soheb ‘TommyConway6’ Porbandarwala (17th – $12,320), and Farid ‘GatoVolador’ Jattin (16th – $12,320).

Brian ‘foxxx’ Kirchhoff held the chip lead when the nine-handed final table began, with WSOP bracelet winner and World Poker Tour main event champion Andrew ‘WATCHGUY42’ Lichtenberger sitting in second chip position. Tamero had the next largest stack after knocking out David ‘bewater’ Goodman in 10th place ($19,995) to set up the final table.

Two-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Kevin ‘SpecialK333’ Calenzo was the first to fall when he ran KQ into the A9 of Tamero. Calenzo got all-in on a J104 flop for less than 3.5 big blinds with his open-ended straight draw, and Tamero called with ace high. Neither player improved by the river and Calenzo hit the rail with $25,650 as the ninth-place finisher.

Michael ‘merlot’ Bailey’s run in this event came to an end when he ran A-9 into the A-10 of Lichtenberger. Both players flopped an ace, but the kickers played by the end and Bailey was eliminated in eighth place ($33,123). Lichtenberger scored his second consecutive knockout a handful of minutes later with another preflop domination. Arian ‘4632647’ Stolt got his last chips in holding 109 and was called by the A9 of Lichtenberger, who made aces up to lock up the pot. Stolt took home $43,424 as the seventh-place finisher.

Norman ‘abnormality’ Michalek earned his first knockout at the final table when his K-8 suited outran the pocket fives of short stack Greg ‘Bubblealot’ Wish. He sent Wish home with $57,561 and entered five-handed play with the biggest stack at the table. Tamero closed the gap on Michalek by eliminating Edan ‘goatplaya’ Sucov. It was an action flop for the two players after the money got in preflop with Sucov holding J10 against the A8 of Tamero. The first three cards brought the AQ2 to give Sucov both a flush draw and a straight draw, while Tamero picked up top pair. The turn and river brought no help for Sucov, though, and they were eliminated in fifth place ($76,749).

Brian ‘foxxx’ Kirchhoff began the final table in the lead, but he eventually fell to the bottom of the leaderboard during short-handed play and got his last 10 or so big blinds in with A-6, only to run into the A-Q of Michalek. The queen high flop gave Michalek an even bigger lead, and Kirchoff was left drawing dead after the turn. He earned $103,206 as the fourth-place finisher.

Andrew ‘WATCHGUY42’ Lichtenberger ultimately fell just short of securing second bracelet in this event. He got his last chips in with A5, three-betting all-in over the button min-raise of Michalek who held 88. Michalek made the call and his pocket pair held up to send Lichtenberger to the rail in third place ($140,167).

With that Michaelek took 30.5 million chips into heads-up play with Tamero, who sat with just shy of 12 million chips. The heads-up battle lasted roughly ten minutes. Tamaro picked off an all-in river bluff from Michalek with 64 on a 652J2 board. Michalek had Q-4 offsuit, which Tamero’s sixes and deuces could beat. After that hand Tamero held the lead.

In the final hand Tamero min-raised to 1,000,000 from the button with K8 and Michaelk called with 54. The K86 saw Michalek check and Tamaro bet 1,000,000. Michalek check-raised to 2,500,000. Michalek called and the Q hit the turn. Michalek bet 2,750,000 and Tamaro called. The river was the 10 and Michalek moved all-in for 5,677,408. Tamero called with two pair to pick off another big bluff from Michalek, and in doing so secured the pot and the title. Michalek earned $192,073 as the runner-up.
Here is a look at the payouts awarded at the final table:

Related Articles

'Gambledore' Vanquishes Triton Wizards For $4.3M

Ben Tollerene Takes Triton PLO Title For $1 Million

PGT Texas PLO Roundup Set For November

Most Viewed Articles