In the 2023 World Championship of Online Poker’s $10,300 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event, which carried a $6,000,000 guarantee, the target was successfully reached with 600 entries. This massive online tournament took place on PokerStars from October 1st to 4th.
The champion of this year’s WCOOP main event turned out to be poker professional Ivan Stokes, who hails from the UK and goes by the online moniker ‘ILS007.’ Stokes skillfully navigated his way through the substantial field and a challenging final table to secure the coveted title and a top prize of $1,047,257.
Stokes is not just an accomplished player but also a co-founder and head coach of the MTT (Multi-Table Tournament) division at Poker Detox, a training site. His bio on the company’s website boasts several prior COOP titles as part of his impressive poker resume.
The final day of this four-day tournament began with nine contenders remaining, each already guaranteed at least $94,330 for their remarkable journey so far.
In the early stages of the final table, some notable names met their fate, including Kayhan Mokri, the recent European Poker Tour Barcelona €100,000 high roller winner (9th place), high-stakes regular Mario Mosboeck (8th place), Kelvin Kerber, who finished third in the 2023 WSOP $10,000 super turbo bounty event (7th place), Jamil Wakil, who placed fifth in the 2023 Triton London $50,000 high roller (6th place), and Leonard Maue, the 2022 EPT Barcelona €25,000 high roller champion (5th place).
Sweden’s Niklas Astedt, known as ‘Lena900′ online, momentarily seized the chip lead during the four-handed play. However, his fortunes turned when his pocket kings were outdone by Ivan Stokes’ flopped set of deuces. Astedt settled for fourth place, earning $408,827. It’s worth noting that according to PokerStake, Astedt boasts nearly $46 million in recorded online tournament earnings, the highest in their database.
During three-handed play, Stokes continued to extend his lead over the remaining players. The next elimination occurred when Stokes’ A-9 prevailed in a preflop race against Juan Pastor’s pocket fours, leaving Stokes with a commanding 7.5:1 chip lead over Sweden’s ‘ShipitFTW911,’ the only player among the final nine whose real name remained undisclosed. Pastor secured $559,385 for his third-place finish.
The final hand of the event began with a button min-raise to 1,600,000 from ‘ShipitFTW911’ with 9♠9♥. Stokes responded with a three-bet to 4,400,000 from the big blind, holding K♦K♣, and was called. The flop came down 10♣7♥6♥. Stokes bet 2,970,000, which was again called. The turn revealed the 2♠, prompting another bet from Stokes, this time amounting to 4,930,200. ‘ShipitFTW911’ remained in the hand and saw the 2♥ on the river. Stokes went all-in, and ‘ShipitFTW911’ called off their last 12,921,085, only to receive the disappointing news. They secured $765,389 as the runner-up finisher.
Here is a look at the final table result:
| Place | Player | Earnings |
| 1 | Ivan ‘ILS007’ Stokes | $1,047,257 |
| 2 | ShipitFTW911 | $765,389 |
| 3 | Juan ‘xPastorcitox’ Pastor | $559,385 |
| 4 | Niklas ‘Lena900’ Astedt | $408,827 |
| 5 | Leonard ‘Grozzorg’ Maue | $298,792 |
