Divus wins PlayWCOOP Main event to become first ever Play Money World Champion

We know what you're thinking. A play money World Champion? The solution to that's a powerful "Yes".

This year, because the World Championship of Online Poker got underway, there has been a parallel competition taking place, a whole roster of events, so long as the regular WCOOP, that made up the primary ever PlayWCOOP with events in all manner of poker variants and buy-ins.

It culminated with the PlayWCOOP Main Event, a finale that featured a fully staggering prize pool of greater than 9.3 billion. And when you might think play money is simple to get hold of, only a few play money players have the sort of bank roll. This was a competition that might only ever feature some pretty solid players.

Some pretty big numbers: the lobby of the PlayWCOOP Main Event

For proof of that we'd like look no further than eventual winner, and the primary Play Money World Champion Divus, from the us. Divus, who have been playing poker for 11 years, explained his solution to Play Money to the PokerStars Blog.

"Unfortunately I USED TO BE focusing on live cash games before Black Friday. I'VE had some success in live tourneys within the last couple years, however it is difficult to get in much volume. The travel expenses also make it hard to be profitable unless you'll be able to afford bigger buy-ins. I deal to supplement my bankroll, and am hopeful real money play on Pokerstars could be available within the USA again eventually. Within the meantime, I LOVE to go into play money tourneys to practice and for fun."

As if to lend credence to the truth that play money is a well-liked way, not just for brand new players to find poker but for American players to get their fix, no fewer than five Americans reached the general table. Certainly the practice works well for Divus, although as he explained, his journey to the general table was not exactly straightforward.

"I was short stacked a number of the way, but picked my spots to stick in contention," he said. "Once it was right down to two tables, I EVENTUALLY accumulated enough chips so I DID NOT must play push/fold poker anymore.

Divus -- the primary play money World Champion

"On the overall table I USED TO BE in an even seat with the 2 big stacks on my right. The important thing hand was a three-way all in: My bottom set held vs. two pair and a large draw. After this I USED TO BE in a position to whittle down the last two players for the win!"

After nearly four and half hours of play, Divus topped a field of 208 multi-millionaires to the primary prize of 957 million chips. For the record a min-cash (54 players were paid) is worth 84 million.

Here are the consequences in full:

PlayWCOOP 50 Million NL Hold'em Main EventPlayers: 208Prize pool: 9,360,000,000Places paid: 54

1. Divus (USA) 957 million2. gorr450 (Slovenia) 730 million3. redsom1 (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA) 580 million4. Case Keenum (USA) 468 million5. GT.08.25.56 (Canada) 383 million6. dclhsps (Mexico) 327 million7. fastcobra1 (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA) 271 million8. Spirit Name (Germany) 224 million9. Red Bluff (U.S.A.) 196 million

Congratulations to Divus on a marvelous result. If you need more details on learn how to start with Play Money on PokerStars, take a look at the Practice totally free page here.

Stephen Bartley is a staff writer for the PokerStars Blog.

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