Ivan 'ILS007' Stokes wins WCOOP $10k World Championship of NLHE for $1,047,257

The 2023 WCOOP $10,000 World Championship of NLHE crowned a title holder on Wednesday. The United Kingdom's Ivan 'ILS007' Stokes outlasted the field of 600 entrants to claim the prestigious WCOOP World Champion title, along with the top prize of $1,047,257.

The final table played out with cards-up coverage on the PokerStars Twitch channel, with commentary from the classic duo of James Hartigan and Joe Stapleton. The analysis of the play came courtesy of Sam Grafton and Maria Ho. The full replay of the final table remains available to watch.

Stokes takes chip lead to glory

Stokes emerged at the end of Day 2 as the dominant chip leader and carried that advantage into the start of play on Day 3 yesterday. The Brit continued to amass chips throughout and, despite a few dips along the way, began today's final table securely in the driver's seat.

The chip lead to start comes with no guarantee of sticking around, however, especially at such a deep-stacked table. The average stack coming into play stood at over eighty big blinds, offering plenty of room for even the shorter stacks to maneuver. The final nine players each began the day with $94,330 locked up, but all had dreams of the seven-figure payday up for grabs.

Kayhan 'KayhanMok' Mokri, of Norway, would be the first player eliminated, unable to find a pay ladder before bowing out in ninth place. Juan Martin 'xPastorcitox' Pastor's early position raise provided an opening for Mokri to commit his stack in hopes for a fold. Mokri's three-bet wasn't for all of his chips, but the action folded back to Pastor who moved all-in for the rest. Mokri made the call and his king-queen suited failed to improve against Pastor's pocket nines, ending his run.

The short stack at the start of play was the next to fall. The Austrian professional Mario 'livinmydream1' Mosbeck failed to find the double up when his king-high holding failed to improve against his opponent's ace-high in a blind vs. blind all in. Again, it was the Argentinian, Pastor, to score the knockout. Mosbeck's short stack required him to risk it all with a wide range in the spot, but the runout offered no help.

Mario Mosboeck

Neil Stoddart

Stokes pulls away from the field

Kelvin 'Kelvin_FP:AR' Kerber, of Brazil, managed to find an early double through Niklas 'Lena900' Astedt courtesy of an aces vs. kings cooler in his favor. The early run good would not last long, however, as his pocket queens ran headfirst into Stokes' pocket aces. The massive pot would have given Kerber the chip lead if he had found the miracle two-outer, but it didn't come. Instead, Stokes' already-sizable chip lead grew even further and Kerber's run ended with a seventh place finish.

Astedt himself would score the next knockout, finding a bit of redemption with his pocket kings against Jamil 'Jamil11' Wakil's ace-king. After getting a full double up with pocket aces one orbit prior, Wakil picked up ace-king and raised from the cutoff. Astedt, in the big blind, three-bet with his pocket kings. Wakil responded with an all-in shove, which Astedt called. The board offered no help to Wakil, no miracle ace, and the Canadian would have to settle for a sixth place finish.

Leonard 'Grozzorg' Maue, of Germany, now found himself on the short stack, with around ten big blinds. Pastor's cutoff open offered a perfect opportunity for Maue to pick up some chips with his ace-ten. Unfortunately for Maue, Pastor's open came with a real hand, pocket eights, and the German would need to improve to stay alive. Pastor's turned full house left Maue drawing dead and finished his run in fifth place.

Astedt takes a bad beat, Stokes unstoppable

Stokes would widen the gap even further by scoring the next elimination, taking out perhaps the biggest threat at the table--Astedt. Stokes' raise with pocket deuces opened the door for Astedt to three-bet with pocket kings. The massive heap of chips he held, along with the implied odds of flopping a set, led Stokes to make the call. The flop, much to Astedt's dismay, provided Stokes with a set of deuces, on a rather inconspicuous board nonetheless. There was no getting away for Astedt and the runout failed to save him from losing all his chips, ending his run in fourth place.

Astedt fell first, but he'll be back

Stokes' took an overwhelming chip lead into three-handed play, allowing him to run over his opponents as they tried to outlast one another for the pay jump. Eventually, Pastor would commit the remainder of his chips with pocket fours, jamming over the top of an open-raise from Stokes. The Argentinian would have to flip for his tournament life, up against Stokes' ace-nine. The ace-high flop spelled disaster for Pastor and with no help on the turn or river, his day ended with a third place finish.

The final hand of the tournament played out a little slower than some might have expected, but the end result would have been the same either way. Stokes' run good continued into heads-up as he picked up pocket kings against the pocket nines of 'ShipitFTW911'. The hand is worth the three minutes of your time, check it out below!

WCOOP $10k World Championship of NLHE final table payouts

^{Feature Image Courtesy of PokerStars/Tomas Stacha}