The teams are set for the inaugural WCOOP League as a handful PokerStars ambassadors gear up to battle for bragging rights and to make their teams proud during the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP).
Team captains Ben “Spraggy” Spragg, Fintan Hand, Parker “Tonka” Talbot, Sebastian Huber, Andre Akkari and Lex Veldhuis, who earlier won the first-ever SCOOP League, selected their teams in a snake draft at PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona.
Each team includes one of the top six players from the WCOOP Boot Camp tournament leaderboard: “farrokh674”, “zidix”, “So00oSick”, “FollowTheBreath”, “Revenge4Dodo”, and “king153246”, all of whom won $10,300 WCOOP Gold Passes.
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Team Lex
- Lex Veldhuis
- Denis “aDrENalin710” Strebkov
- Benny “RunGodlike” Glaser
- Roman “RomeOpro” Romanovsky
- “Farrokh674”
Veldhuis had the first pick and went with SCOOP crusher Denis “aDrENalin710” Strebkov before choosing SCOOP GOAT Benny “RunGodlike” Glaser and rounding things out with Ukraine’s Roman “RomeOpro” Romanovsky, while also picking up “Farrokh674” from the WCOOP Boot Camp leaderboard.
Team Tonkaaaa
- Parker “Tonkaaaa” Talbot
- Niklas “Lena900” Astedt
- Jerry “PerryMejsen” Odeen
- “ShipitFTW911”
- “Zidix”
Talbot, who was fresh off a final table finish in the Estrellas Poker Tour Main Event and has been having an all-round spectacular year, was next to pick and went with Swedish online poker legend Niklas “Lena900” Astedt, followed by another Swede, Jerry “PerryMejsen” Odeen, and “Zidix” from the WCOOP Boot Camp leaderboard.
“I’ve got a nice Swedish squad, I decided to go with the Swedes,” Talbot told PokerNews after the draft. “I wanted (Simon “C. Darwin2” Mattsson) but didn’t get him, Spraggy grabbed him in the first round. So fair enough.”
SCOOP League didn’t go great for Talbot earlier this year, but the streamer noted he was “a little bit busy last time around” and that “I’m taking this one a lot more serious.”
“I’m going to be in there myself a decent amount more and I drafted a much better team. I’ve got the solid Swedish power. I think we’re going to be really good.”
Team Huber
- Sebastian “peace&loove” Huber
- “Fal1st”
- Thiago “tgrigoletti” Grigoletti
- Lasse “Wistern” Jagd Lauritsen
- “King153246”
Huber went with “Fal1st” as his first choice, who he called “probably one of the best online mixed game players that there is out (there).” After that, Huber went with Thiago “tgrigoletti” Grigoletti and Lasse “Wistern” Jagd Lauritsen, who is “a good friend of mine and I think we could make something cool happen together.”
From the Boot Camp leaders, Huber selected “King153246” and noted that “this guy’s a really good mixed game player and plays almost all the formats.”
Team Akkari
- Laurie “LaliTournier” Tournier
- Yuri “theNERDguy” Dzivielevski
- Felipe “lipe piv” Boianovsky
- Pedro “PadiLhA SP” Padilha
- “FollowTheBreath”
Akkari went with fellow Brazilians Laurie “LaliTournier” Tournier, Yuri “theNERDguy” Dzivielevski, Felipe “lipe piv” Boianovsky and Pedro “PadiLhA SP” Padilha. Meanwhile, Akkari chose “FollowTheBreath” from the list of available Boot Camp leaders.
Team Fintan
- Fintan “easywithaces” Hand
- Patrick “Pads1161” Leonard
- Renan “Internett930” Bruschi
- Adrian “Amadi17” Mateos
- “So00oSick”
Hand went with streaming legend Patrick “Pads1161” Leonard as his first choice, followed up with Renan “Internett930” Bruschi and Spain all-time money leader Adrian Mateos.
Team Spraggy
- Benjamin “Spraggy” Spragg
- Kelvin “kelvin_fp:ar” Kerber
- Simon “C. Darwin2” Mattsson
- Daniel “SmilleThHero” Smiljkovic
- “Revenge4Dodo”
Last to draw was Spragg, who went with Kelvin “kelvin_fp:ar” Kerber and Simon “C. Darwin2” Mattsson and Daniel “SmilleThHero” Smiljkovic before picking up “Revenge4Dodo” as the last of the Boot Camp leaderboard players.
Who Will Win WCOOP League?
Who has the best chance of taking down WCOOP League? Most eyes are on Veldhuis after the veteran streamer’s dominant SCOOP performance.
“He’s got a really good team, and honestly the scariest part of Lex is you know he’s going to be in every event every day from the start playing most of the high all the way down to the low,” said Talbot. “I’ll play a decent amount, Spragg will play a decent amount, but Lex will play 27 tables and play every event running. He’s older than I am, but I’m just a little too old to do that.”
“Lex’s team is going to be tough because he makes himself a lot of points,” Huber added. “It’s going to be very tough to compete with him. Besides that, it’s pretty much an open game.”
Bet on the Right Team to Win a Power Path Gold Pass
Did you know you can win a Power Path Gold Pass by engaging in the WCOOP League?
Head over to the PokerStars Sports client and back your favorite team. If your team comes out on top, not only will you win your bet, but you’ll also receive a free ticket to an exclusive freeroll on October 5, with these fantastic prizes up for grabs:
- 1st – Power Path Gold Pass ($10,300)
- 2nd – Power Path Silver Pass ($2,500)
- 3rd – NAPT Las Vegas satellite ticket ($530)
- 4th-9th – Power Path Bronze Pass ($109)
- 10th-18th – NAPT Las Vegas satellite ticket ($55)
- 19th-75th – Power Path Step 3 ticket ($11)
- 76th-125th – NAPT Las Vegas satellite ticket ($5.50)
To take part you must place a minimum $/£/€5 bet in PokerStars Sports on the team you think is going to win before 23:59 CET on Sep 12.
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Editor & Live Reporter U.S.
Editor & Live Reporter