After a week of 12-plus hour days grinding away at the felt in the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, the 2019 World Series of Poker Main Event has come down to nine players. Nine players and one will walk away with $10 million and poker immortality.
Five North Americans and four Europeans. An EPT champion with a monstrous chip lead. A poker industry lifer who crushes the WSOP Main Event. A nosebleed regular with over $8 million in cashes. A little-known software engineer who busted a legend with the semi-bluff shove heard 'round the poker world.
Each has his own story, but they all have one thing in common: they've spent the past week making their way through a field of 8,569, and they all earned the right to play for $10 million on poker's grandest stage.
Have a look at how the players stack up coming into the Final Table.
The favorite heading into the final table appears to be German-based EPT reg Hossein Ensan. With more than $2.6 million in cashes, including an EPT Prague title, few could have imagined the lead with which Ensan would end Day 7.
Second in chips but certainly not in the hearts of a robust rail, Garry Gates had the well wishes of many a high roller coming his way from the poker Twitterverse. They're familiar with Gates from his years working in the industry, formerly with PokerNews and for the past 10 years helping run PokerStars' live events and VIP services. Mike McDonald Pretty much Nailed it with this tweet. I'm not a big believer in karma but my god after so many years of putting up with every single high roller diva in poker my god @GarryGates deserved that ace on the river and 10 million dollars of poker player money that are going to follow!
An event every week that begins at 11:15 am on Thursday, repeating until January 30, 2020 « Winter Series of Poker Satellites.
Poker As 1 Of 11
Zhen Cai with 60.6 million is the only other player anywhere near Gates and Ensan. One player nobody wants to see gain any momentum is high-stakes pro Dario Sammartino. The Italian with the piercing stare and $8 million in cashes would be the clear favorite, all things being equal. Luckily for everyone else, all things aren't evened out, and he sits sixth in the counts with a little more than thirty big blinds.
However, plenty of play remains as even the shortest stacks — belonging to start-of-day leader Marchington and Day 6 giant slayer Timothy Su — are good for twenty big blinds. In the WSOP Main Event's famously slow structure, they'll have a bit of time to look for a spot to double right back into contention.
Nine players remain, and each will be hoping he's the one that will walk away with ten million dollars and pokers biggest prize. And Lucky for us, we all have a seat to watch 3 days of the most exciting tournament all year. You can watch the action on ESPN 2 at 7pm or you can get all the LIVE hand for hand action with us here on PokerNews.com
The Holland Casino in Amsterdam is preparing to host the 2019 edition of the Masters Classic Of Poker (MCOP), one of the most eagerly anticipated live poker events of the year. This year’s festival runs from November 22nd and concludes on December 1st and it is going to be huge.
The MCOP takes over as soon as the WSOP Circuit Rotterdam festival crowns its final champion; you can follow the action from some of the WSOPC Rotterdam events right here on PokerNews. Our team of live reporters will be on the ground in Amsterdam and brings you coverage of the €9,800 No-limit Hold’em High Roller and the €4,300 MCOP Main Event.
The High Roller costs €9,800 this year with both the 2017 and 2018 editions featuring a €10,300 buy-in. Joris Ruijs won the 2017 MCOP High Roller, topping a field of 65 entries to bank €206,242. Ruijs defeated Ole Schemion heads-up for the title.
Hakim Zoufri triumphed in 2018 as 68 players bought in. Zoufri found himself heads-up against Jan Schwippert and emerged from the battle victoriously to lock up a cool €215,761.
It is the €4,300 MCOP Main Event that everyone wants to win. This year’s Main Event has two starting flights, with Day 1B having a turbo blind structure. Germany’s Claas Segebrecht, who recently finished second in the WSOP Europe Main Event, was the winner in 2017. The German scooped €235,087.
Alberto Stegeman is the reigning MCOP Main Event champion having outlasted 293 opponents in 2018 and turning his €4,300 into €240,183.
2019 Masters Classic Of Poker (MCOP) Schedule
| Date | Time | Tournament |
|---|---|---|
| Fri 22 Nov | 1:30 p.m. | €550 NL Hold’em MCOP Meets WSOP Day 1B |
| 7:00 p.m. | €2,250 PLO High Roller Day 1 | |
| 8:00 p.m. | €550 NL Hold’em Hyper Turbo | |
| Sat 23 Nov | 1:30 p.m. | €3,250 PLO High Roller Final Day |
| 1:30 p.m. | MCOP Meets WSOP Final Day | |
| 7:00 p.m. | €1,600 NL Hold’em Day 1 | |
| 8:00 p.m. | €330 NL Hold’em Hyper Turbo | |
| Sun 24 Nov | 1:30 p.m. | €1,600 NL Hold’em Day 2 |
| 5:00 p.m. | €330 NL Hold’em Day 1 | |
| 8:00 p.m. | €330 Satellite to MCOP Main Event Day 1A | |
| Mon 25 Nov | 1:30 p.m. | €1,600 NL Hold’em Final Day |
| 1:30 p.m. | €330 NL Hold’em Final Day | |
| 1:30 p.m. | €1,100 PLO 8-Max Day 1 | |
| 5:00 p.m. | €1,100 NL Hold’em PKO | |
| 8:00 p.m. | €800 Satellie to MCOP Main Event | |
| Tue 26 Nov | 1:30 p.m. | PLO 8-Max Final Day |
| 1:30 p.m. | NL Hold’em PKO Final Day | |
| 8:00 p.m. | €1,100 PLO Hyper Turbo | |
| Wed 27 Nov | 2:00 p.m. | €4,300 NL Hold’em MCOP Main Event Day 1A |
| 8:00 p.m. | €330 NL Hold’em Hyper Turbo | |
| 9:00 p.m. | €1,100 Satellite to NL Hold’em High Roller | |
| Thu 28 Nov | 12:30 p.m. | €4,300 NL Hold’em MCOP Main Event Turbo Day 1B |
| 1:30 p.m. | €330 NL Hold’em Freezeout | |
| 7:00 p.m. | €4,300 NL Hold’em MCOP Main Event Day 2 | |
| Fri 29 Nov | 1:30 p.m. | MCOP Main Event Day 3 |
| 1:30 p.m. | €880 PL Omaha | |
| 3:00 p.m. | €1,100 Satellite to High Roller | |
| 8:00 p.m. | €9,800 NL Hold’em High Roller Day 1 | |
| 8:00 p.m. | €275 NL Hold’em Hyper Turbo | |
| Sat 30 Nov | 1:30 p.m. | PL Omaha Final Day |
| 1:30 p.m. | €825 NL Hold’em Day 1 | |
| 1:30 p.m. | €9,800 NL Hold’em High Roller Day 2 | |
| 3:00 p.m. | MCOP Main Event Final Day | |
| 8:00 p.m. | €5,250 NL Hold’em Day 1 | |
| Sun 1 Dec | 1:30 p.m. | €825 NL Hold’em Final Day |
| 1:30 p.m. | €5,250 NL Hold’em Final Day | |
| 1:30 p.m. | €220 NL Hold’em Team Event | |
| 3:00 p.m. | High Roller Final Day | |
| 6:00 p.m. | €275 NL Hold’em Hyper Turbo |
Bookmark our Live Reporting pages if you want to keep up-to-date with all the action stemming from the 2019 MCOP festival in beautiful Amsterdam.
Finding a trustworthy room to play online poker can be a monumental burden. That's all the more true if you're just looking for a place to play poker for free. We've listed five of the best play-money poker sites to enjoy and help hone your skills.
Tags
Live casino pokerOle SchemionOmahaPoker eventsWSOPWSOP CircuitRelated Tournaments
World Series of PokerWorld Series of Poker CircuitRelated Players
Ole Schemion