Andrey Kotelnikov Wins World Poker Tour World Online Championship Mix-Max Event For $488,508Russian Player Defeats Field of 989 Entries To Win His First WPT Title |
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Andrey Kotelnikov is the latest player to ahve his name added to the World Poker Tour’s Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup. The Russian player overcame a field of 989 entries in the $3,200 buy-in WPT World Online Championships mix-max no-limit hold’em event to earn his first WPT title and the top prize of $488,508. This was Kotelnikov’s largest recorded tournament score, surpassing the $90,870 he earned as the third-place finisher in a $80,000 HKD ($10,309 USD) buy-in event at the 2015 Asia Pacific Poker Tour Macau Cup. He now has more than $1.1 million in recorded cashes to his name.
The final table of this event began with 2016 WPT Prague main event champion Oleg Vasylchenko in the chip lead. Kotelnikov sat in fifth chip position among the final seven, but he was far from short with 42 big blinds to start.
Jerry Wong came into the final table in second chip position, but doubled up one of the shorter stacks early to fall toward the bottom of the counts. The 2016 World Series of Poker main event eighth-place finisher ultimately got the last of his stack in with A10 up against the QQ of Stuart Guite. The pocket queens held up and Wong was eliminated in seventh place ($69,300).
2013 PokerStars Caribean Adventure main event winner Dimitar Danchev was the next to fall. The Bulgarian got all-in with KQ facing the A4 of Vasylchenko. Danchev took the lead on the Q63 flop, but the A turn put Vasylchenko back on top. The 4 on the river locked up the pot for Vasylchenko and knocked out Danchev in sixth place ($89,016).
Kotelnikov scored his first elimination at the final table when he picked up pocket eights on the button and got all of the chips in against the pocket threes of Maciej Gasior. Neither player improved and Gasior was sent to the virtual rail in fifth place, earning $124,500.
Oleg Vasylchenko shoved for approximately 18 big blinds with KQ when it folded to him in the small blind during four-handed action. Kotelnikov woke up with AQ in the big blind and made the call. His ace high remained good through the river and Vasylchenko was knocked out in fourth place ($190,500).
The very next hand it folded to Kotelnikov in the small blind and he shoved with QQ. Joakim Andersson called all in from the big blind for around 17 big blinds with A9. The board came down Q87Q2 and Andersson’s run came to an end in third place. He earned $271,903 for his strong showing in this event.
With that Kotelnikov took more than a 2:1 chip lead into heads-up play with Stuart Guite. The shorter stack was able to overtake the lead after flopping a straight in a hand where Kotelnikov made trips on the turn. Kotelnikov regained the lead when his A-K held against the A-J of Guite in preflop showdown, doubling up to 90 million and leaving Guite with just shy of 35 million. The two battled back and forth from there, but Kotelnikov held the lead when the decisive hand was dealt. Guite min-raised to 1,400,000 with J4 on the button and Kotelnikov called with the 63. The flop came down J54 and Kotelnikov checked. Guite bet 2,100,000 and Kotelnikov called. The turn brought the 2 and Kotelnikov made a straight on the turn. He checked again and Guite bet 5,400,000 with his flopped two pair. Kotelnikov check-raised to 11,200,000. Guite called and the river brought the K. Kotelnikov moved all-in and Guite called for his tournament life to find out that his hand was second best. Kotelnikov secured the pot and the title, while Guite earned $366,604 as the runner-up finisher.
Here is a look at the payouts awarded at the final table:
Place | Name | Earnings |
1 | Andrey Kotelnikov | $488,508 |
2 | Stuart Guite | $366,605 |
3 | Sven Andersson | $271,903 |
4 | Oleg Vasylchenko | $190,500 |
5 | Maciej Gasior | $124,500 |
6 | Dimitar Danchev | $89,016 |
7 | Jerry Wong | $69,300 |
Winner photo credit: partypoker LIVE.