Juan 'MalakaStyle' Pardo triumphs in WCOOP $25k Super High Roller

The final table of the PokerStars WCOOP (World Championship of Online Poker) $25,000 Super High Roller saw a murderer's row of online legends battle it out for a top prize of nearly $500,000.

Christoph Vogelsang, Joao Vieira, Juan Pardo, Jordi Urlings, and David Peters all made it to the final table, along with 'kZhh' and 'Bo$$ D4wg', two players whose identities are unknown. Cumulatively, the players at the table hold fifteen WCOOP titles. Joao Vieira, notably, holds ten of those fifteen himself.

The event also marked the first day of live coverage from the PokerStars streaming team. The entire final table played out live on the PokerStars Twitch channel and the replay remains available to watch. The excellent commentary duo of James Hartigan and Joe Stapleton ran the play-by-play for the stream, with analysis assist from Sam Grafton and Maria Ho.

A top-tier final table

The first elimination came at the hands of Vogelsang and the expense of Peters. The hand in question saw Peters pile in his chips with pocket tens, only to see Vogelsang, with pocket jacks in the small blind, click the call button. Peters couldn't find the two-outer he needed to stay alive, ending his run in seventh place.

Then, just two hands later, Vogelsang struck again. This time around it was Vieira on the chopping block, all-in and at risk with the ace-eight of hearts. Vieira had jammed over the top of Vogelsang's relatively loose open with king-five off suit, most likely hoping for a fold. Vogelsang, however, had other thoughts and made the call. The flop and turn were clean for Vieira, but the king on the river paired Vogelsang and sent the Brazilian to the rail in sixth place.

Christoph Vogelsang came in as chip leader and took the first two players out on the final table

Neil Stoddart

Pardo pulls ahead

Vogelsang took a sizable chip lead into five-handed play, but it wouldn't last. Pardo began to separate himself from the others in the chip counts. He won pot after pot, utilizing the looming pay jumps and his own aggression to apply pressure to the shorter stacks. The main target of Pardo's aggression was Vogelsang, who had to deal with Pardo on his direct left, suffering the consequences of being out of position in each hand they played. Pardo used this advantage well, taking nearly all of Vogelsang's chips.

'kZhh' fell next, running his pocket fours into Pardo's pocket tens. After the elimination, Pardo assumed a runaway chip lead, with a stack nearly six times bigger than second place. Not long after, 'Bo$$ D4wg' committed the last of his chips, only about five big blinds, with ace-queen of hearts. Vogelsang woke up with pocket kings in the small blind. Two hearts on the flop provided some hope, but the flush didn't come home and 'Bo$$ D4wg' exited in fourth place.

Pardo continued to ramp up the aggression as three-handed play began. Both Vogelsang and Urlings held similar stacks, allowing Pardo to leverage them against one another in the hopes of securing second place. Urlings navigated the final table well, benefiting from his position on Pardo's left, but also choosing spots wisely to keep his stack away from risk.

Vogelsang's exit came following his jam from the small blind with nine-ten. Pardo, in the big blind, found an ace and made the call. The ace high held for Pardo and Vogelsang, the start-of-day chip leader, would have to settle for a third place finish.

'MalakStyle' vs. 'prot0' - Pardo vs. Urlings

The heads-up showdown between Pardo and Urlings saw the latter chip up nicely in the early goings, more than doubling his stack. Pardo, though, didn't let up the pressure at any point. The Spaniard's many years of online poker experience at the highest levels served him well as he whittled down Urlings' stack. Finally, on a stack of around ten big blings, Urlings made a stand with king-ten against Pardo's pocket fours. The flop provided a gut-shot straight draw in addition to the pair outs Urlings held, but the turn and river failed to improve his hand.

Pardo, for the second time in his career, claimed a WCOOP title.

WCOOP $25k NLHE Super High Roller final table payouts

Pardo double dips, scores another WCOOP title

After winning the $25k, most players might take time to celebrate or get some rest to keep themselves in fighting shape for the rest of the series. Pardo isn't most players and his work for the day wasn't done.

Instead, Pardo saw fit to go ahead and make the final table of the Medium buy-in level of this event, the $2,100 Super Tuesday. If you thought the final table of this event might be a little softer than the $25k, think again. In fact, Pardo wasn't the only player to reach the final table in both events. Joao Vieira, coming off a sixth place finish in the $25k, battled his way to the end of this event as well.

In a deja-vu-esque moment, Pardo finished atop the mountain in the $2,100 Super Tuesday event, taking home another $100k+ score and the third WCOOP title of his career.

$2,100 NLHE Super Tuesday final table payouts

The PokerStars WCOOP continues through to October 4th, with the Main Events kicking off this Sunday, October 1st.