The WPT World Online Championships came to a close on Tuesday at partypoker with Rok Gostisa taking the $5,300 Main Event title. Along with adding his name to the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup, the Slovenian players scored $959,493.
The score capped over a month of WPT action at the site featuring numerous main events and other side action. Gostisa topped a field of 1,179 entries with a prize pool of $5.9 million shared by the top 178 finishers.
Inside the partypoker WPT Main Event
Gostisa is a regular online player and also has more than $205,000 in live tournament winnings. The main event included four starting flights and Team partypoker’s Joao Simao was one of those at the final table. He spoke with PokerScout earlier this month about his dream to win a WPT title.
“I’m a hunter of event titles,” Simao said. “I won a WPT PLO event in May on partypoker and now I’m looking to go for more titles because the feeling was incredible, and I want more of it.”
However, Simao came up just short in his quest. The Brazilian pro finished ninth for $76,713.
Vlad Darie, based in Austria, held a significant chip lead going into the final table, but ultimately finished third.
He was eliminated after moving all in with A-7 and Gostisa flopped a set with 8-8. Darie cashed for $453,677 in third and Gostia faced Canada’s David Peters heads-up for the title.
Peters has been one of the hottest players in poker recently. He held almost a 2-to-1 chip lead, but Gostisa turned things around and eventually scored the championship.
The final hand saw Peters flop a set of sixes on the flop against Gostisa’s pocket tens. Gostisa then hit a set on the river to become the latest WPT champion.
What an incredible final hand!
Congratulations to Rok Gostisa who is the #WPTWOC Main Event Champion and wins $959,492. Well played to the latest @WPT Champion. pic.twitter.com/jgLfA1Tkqo
— PartyPoker (@partypoker) September 14, 2021
Along with almost $1 million, Gostisa has also won a Hublot watch. The final table was streamed live on partypoker’s Twitch, YouTube and Facebook Live channels with Team partypoker’s Jeff Gross and James Dempsey calling the action.
Big scores from small buy-ins, other champions crowned
The WPT Main Event offered opportunities for players of all bankrolls to take a shot at becoming a champion. Partypoker ran numerous Main Event satellites and qualifiers starting at just one cent.
A few players really cashed in on these qualifying opportunities. Yaroslav Bogaev and Nikolai Gorbunov both entered at the daily centroll stage and advanced to Day 2. Bogaev placed 39th for $23,499 and Gorbunov finished 99th for $13,204.
A few more champions were also crowned in the series’ final few days. The $1,050 Mini and $109 Micro Main Events also crowned winners.
The Mini title went to Mexico-based Barry Hutter, who won $257,423. Sweden’s Kristian Karlsson took the Micro for $45,434.
That was last break! Still in all 3/3 Main Event's this break! 24/45 mini main, 11/12 $2,100 $1M & 14/33 in $5,300 $5M @WPT @partypoker https://t.co/QbjoLGIQlr
— Jeff Gross (@JeffGrossPoker) September 13, 2021
Gross scored some nice finishes in two of the Main Events and ran deep in all three. He reached Day 2 and cashed in both the Main Event and Mini version, banking a total of $30,586. The finish in the championship came after qualifying in a Phase 3 satellite.
“To make both Day 2s was incredible,” he said in a news release. “The WPT Main Event was extra special, as I played a $109 phase into the $530 Mega Sat, and then things went well from there.
“I absolutely love playing in WPT events on partypoker because they have the best structures and events.”
* photo courtesy partypoker