'I got the WCOOP monkey off my back' — Lex Veldhuis wins first title and $130K

"I've been really close and I've had some really big scores. It feels amazing to crown a run like that with a title."

Mere months after notching his first-ever PokerStars Championship of Online Poker (COOP) title in the 2024 Spring Championship of Online Poker, Lex Veldhuis has done it again. 

The 2024 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) has only just begun and, for Veldhuis, the series is off to a hot start. The PokerStars Pro claimed his first WCOOP title on Tuesday, along with $130,000 split between prize money and bounties, in WCOOP Event 09-H: $5,200 NLHE (Bounty Builder Super High Roller). 

As always, Veldhuis streamed his gameplay live on Twitch and YouTube, giving his fans a front row seat to the thrilling run. As part of his typical fun antics on-stream during big online series, the Dutchman appeared dressed in an Ali G costume — icing on the cake, really. 

Veldhuis' WCOOP win comes after multiple close calls in past series. We spoke to the PokerStars Pro, and member of our Player Advisory Board:

"It's so incredibly nice to have a huge score at the start. It takes the edge off of the grind, especially with the streaming because it's so intense. An energy boost right off the bat. And now I have two 'COOP titles and I got the WCOOP monkey off my back so Spraggy [Benjamin Spragg] and Fintan [Hand] can't lord that over me anymore."  

Veldhuis continued, "It's such a tough field, so many good players. I won heads up against a friend of mine, 'Pwndidi', who might be the very best bounty builder player in the world."

Two steps forward, one step back

Day 1 of the event saw 69 players pony up the buy-in, with 20 of them clicking the rebuy button to bring the prize pool to $445,000, split evenly between placement prizes and bounties. Veldhuis began Day 2 action sitting 7th in the chip counts of the remaining 11 players, but managed to make the final table without much involvement. 

Once there, however, he scored the first knockout, eliminating the short-stacked 'starwins :)' in 9th place within the first few orbits to score a pay jump and a bounty. With 8 players remaining, Veldhuis was put to the test by Yuri 'theNERDguy' Dzivielevski. The Brazilian live and online superstar forced Veldhuis to make a decision for his tournament life with just one pair. 

After thinking over the spot thoroughly, Veldhuis clicked the call button and saw two good things: a ten-high missed flush draw in his opponent's hands and a stack of virtual chips heading his way. Dzivielevski, now short-stacked, bowed out in 8th place the very next hand. 

'zelvavegas' exited in 7th place soon after when his top pair was run down by an opponent's flush draw. 'PAX176' followed suit, committing the last of their chips with a pocket pair, only to run straight into aces and end the day in 6th place. There were some setbacks along the way for Veldhuis, including an unfortunate blind vs. blind confrontation with Alex 'Pwndidi' Theologis that saw both players commit stacks with pocket pairs. Theologis held the larger of the two pairs and Veldhuis failed to improve on the runout, awarding the Greek online crusher a full double up. 

Veldhuis adds a second COOP title to his online resume

Running good when it counts

There were also some fortuitous runouts in Veldhuis' favor, including another blind vs. blind confrontation, this time against chip leader Alexandre 'aminolast' Raymond. After a small blind complete from his opponent, Veldhuis raised with . Raymond responded with a jam over the top and Veldhuis clicked the call button without much hesitation. It was a flip, slightly in Raymond's favor as he held , but the virtual dealer spread the board to give Veldhuis the full double up and the chip lead. 

Veldhuis continued to run hot, scoring another elimination soon after. 'rofllocktree' committed their stack on the turn with a massive combo draw — on a board. Veldhuis, with , called it off. The river was a brick and the chips, along with the bounty prize, went Veldhuis' way once again. 

"rofllocktree" puts Veldhuis to the test

Moments later, Veldhuis caught the perfect river card to score another knockout. 'aminolast' defended from the big blind against Veldhuis' open and flopped the dream with on a board. Veldhuis, meanwhile, made top two pair with . 

Facing a continuation bet from his opponent, Raymond opted for the fast play and put in re-raising chips. Veldhuis made the call and the turn didn't change much. Raymond continued for a small sizing and Veldhuis moved in over the top for the rest. It was a snap call for the Canadian and he had his opponent drawing thin, but the river improved Veldhuis to a full house and ended Raymond's run in 4th place. 

Veldhuis catches the perfect river card

Three-handed play saw Veldhuis take on Theologis and Aleksejs 'APonakov' Ponakov with an overwhelming chip lead. The players traded pots for a while, with Veldhuis keeping a firm grip on the steering wheel despite doubling Theologis' stack on two occasions. Ponakovs stuck around, nursing the short stack and allowing Veldhuis to apply maximum pressure to Theologis. 

It took a blind vs. blind, ace-high vs. ace-high setup to send play to the heads-up stage. Ponakovs committed his stack with and Veldhuis quickly called with . The saw both players pair their sidecar, but Ponakovs needed more than that to stay alive and his run ended with a 3rd place finish. 

Heads up for the title

Heads up play started with Veldhuis holding a little more than a 2:1 chip advantage over Theologis. An early pot saw Veldhuis turn top pair to cut away a sizable chunk of his opponent's stack. A few more pots shipped Veldhuis' way left Theologis with right around 25 big blinds for the final hand of the tournament. From the button, Theologis completed and Veldhuis checked his option with . The flop connected with him fairly well — bottom pair and a gutshot straight draw. 

Theologis bet out after being checked to and Veldhuis opted for a re-raise, which was met with a call. The turn didn't change much for Veldhuis, but he continued his story with a large bet. Theologis made the call and the two players saw the river, the perfect card once again for Veldhuis. After taking a moment to take in the situation and plead aloud for his opponent to have a calling hand, Veldhuis moved all in. Theologis took a second or two, but made the call, tabling — good for two pair, but not the winner. 

 WCOOP Event 09-H: $5,200 NLHE (Bounty Builder Super High Roller) - final results

^{Images Courtesy of PokerStars/Rational Intellectual Holdings Limited/Joe Giron/Lex Veldhuis}