Posted on by Sean Chaffin

POKER PODIUM: November Online Poker Winners Include Luis Faria for Massive $1.2 Million Payday 

The month of November brought about plenty of major winners in the international online poker scene. That was highlighted by Portugal’s Luis Faria coming out on top in the WCOOP Take 2 Main Event for a seven-figure score.

Other action also saw players cash in for major victories at a tiny price point. That included a six-figure win for only $6 at GGPoker. An 888poker winner also turned a free entry into a major championship. Here’s a look at some players who shined in November.

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PokerStars

The World Championship of Poker (WCOOP) Take 2 played out in November and saw some big names rise to the top. The mini-series featured $28 million guaranteed and several main events.

The $10,300 Main Event highlighted the series with Luis Faria coming out on top for $1.3 million. The event brought in 760 entries for a $7.6 million prize pool.

The massive score came after winning a $530 PKO Sunday Warm-Up earlier in the series for $83,854. Along with his massive online winnings, Faria also has $811,000 in live tournament cashes.

Benny “RunGodlike” Glaser proved to be another nice winner in the series, taking two titles in Take 2 for a total of four during the entire WCOOP series. During Take 2, Glaser scored $19,107 for winning Event 14-H: HORSE and also grabbed a title in Event 04-L: No Limit Omaha Hi/Lo for $2,334.

PokerStars ambassador Parker “Tonkaaaa” Talbott also grabbed a trophy, winning Event 02-H: $1,050 Eight-Game for $21,092. It was almost a Take 2 double for the Canadian poker pro as well.  He finished runner-up in Event 05-H: $1,050 Turbo for $30,970.

Some other Stars ambassadors also found nice runs in the series. Spanish pro and the winner of the first PokerStars Player Championship, Ramon Colilas, scored runner-up in Event 01-H for $26,846. Mason “Pye_Face” Pye also found a second place in Event 02-M: $109 Eight-Game for $4,980.

The United Kingdom’s Sam Grafton is no stranger to online poker success and that continued in Take 2. He just missed out on winning the $530 Main Event, finishing runner-up for $44,258. Argentina’s Ramiro “ramastar88” Petrone took that title for $62,088.

Grafton also finished in third place in a $5,000 Titans side event for $94,343. He also has more than $12 million in live tournament winnings.

GGPoker

A nice story emerged from GG in November. The site’s $11 Flip & Go Millionaire offered players of all bankrolls a chance at a nice payday and topped the $1 million guarantee.

In the end, 22-year-old German university student Niclas G. came out on top for $54,929.

“It still feels incredible to have won such a big tournament with over $1 million guaranteed,” he told PokerScout after the win. “Many players wait for these spots their entire life, and it really took me a while to realize what I had achieved.”

Interestingly, Niclas missed out on much of the early stages of the tournament.

“I was actually on the road for the first one or two hours of the tournament, and was sitting out like a third of the hands since I wasn’t able to be on the phone the whole time,” he says. “Nevertheless, I managed to build a stack and continued playing at home until the end.”

GG also recently launched Bet & Go tournaments to correspond with World Cup events. Players can notch some nice wins in these football-style tournaments. One player celebrated grabbing a $10,000 SuperMillion$ seat after an Argentina win. It looked to be a nice feeling to score a win on the tournament felt and on the pitch.

One player on the site also saw quite an interesting hand play out with a majority of the table starting with pocket pairs.

888poker

It was a busy month in November at 888poker with plenty of winners in the site’s Knockout Games Mystery Bounty series. One of the biggest of those was Germany’s “quvai” in the $250 Main Event. 

Quavi scored a free entry into the $250 Main Event for free via 888pokerTV ticket giveaway. He then turned that into winning the title and scoring a total of $40,613 – a 100% return on investment.


888’s own StreamTeam member Jordan Banfield also produced a nice result in the event. He took fourth place for $17,327. The tournament saw 1,924 entries and featured a $500,000 prize pool with a $50,000 top bounty. The UK’s “youler” was the lucky winner of that prize, taking home a total of $52,050.

In the $2,100 Super High Roller PKO saw 57 players for a $114,000 prize pool. “Matas.C” scored the title for a total payout of $35,656.

Overall, players from Brazil notched the most wins in the series with five titles. Lithuanians players finished second with three. Ukraine, Chile, Latvia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, and Ukraine all had two titles.

In other recent action, the 888poker continued the site’s 20th-anniversary celebration in November with the CNP888poker LIVE Madrid series in Spain at the Casino Gran Madrid Torrelodones.

Abel Gongora celebrates his 888poker Live Madrid win. (photo courtesy 888poker)

The €1,100 Main Event highlighted the action and brought in 374 entries for €349,241 prize pool. Spain’s Abel Gongora reached the final table with  a sizable chip lead and parlayed that into a win.

He scored €70,000 for his efforts and now has more than $100,000 in live tournament winnings. Bernat Carreras, also of Spain, finished runner-up for €50,000.

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PartyPoker

One of the biggest recent winners at PartyPoker may be Sebastien Proulx. The Canadian player took down the MILLIONS Online KO Winter Edition Main Event for $123,602 after qualifying via a $6 satellite.

Proulx advanced up three qualifying steps before taking his seat into the Main Event. It was quite a run to winning six figures for the price of a hamburger and fries.

In other action, the $1,050 Grand recently saw Jans Arends, of Austria, come out on top for $22,397. The event produced 120 players for a $118,700 prize pool. Beyond his online winnings, Arends also has $522,144 in live tournament winnings.

Earlier in November, Brazil’s Rodrigo Seiji also grabbed a Grand title for $23,495. He topped a field of 103 final phase players that created a $104,055 prize pool. Seiji also has more than $900,000 in live tournament winnings.

Next up at the site is the PartyPoker Players Championship Winter Edition, running Dec. 25 – Jan. 17. The festival features a $530 Main Event with $500,000 guaranteed. Online qualifiers are already underway and for a complete preview, click here.