Grafton Bags Chip Lead as WCOOP 2021 Explodes into Action

The $100 million guaranteed 2021 PokerStars World Championship Of Online Poker (WCOOP) exploded into action on August 22 with 18 events shuffling up and dealing. Three events crowned their champions, and several household names bagged up tournament-leading stacks at the conclusion of their respective Day 1s.

Sam "SamSquid" Grafton Leads WCOOP-04-M: $530 NLHE [8-Max]

Team PokerStars’ Sam "SamSquid" Grafton has put himself in a fantastic position to securing a WCOOP title by bagging the chip lead in the WCOOP-04-M: $530 NLHE [8-Max] event.

Some 3,213 players bought into this tournament and created a guarantee-busting $1,606,500 prize pool. Only 200 of those starters progressed to Day 2. Each of the returning players is guaranteed $1,672 for their efforts, but with a whopping $231,598 awaiting the champion, nobody will want to collect the lesser sum.

Grafton returns to the action at 6:05 p.m. BST on August 23 in the envious position of chip leader. The popular British grinder is one of seven players who have more than four million chips in their stacks.

Russia’s "sokol47" is only two big blinds behind Grafton in the chip counts, with "ich_b1n_du" only a couple of blinds behind sokol47.

Two of Grafton’s fellow Brits, Tom "Jabracada" Hall and Luke "Bit2Easy" Reeves have done their chances of WCOOP glory no harm at all because they sit down on Day 2 in fifth and sixth place respectively.

WCOOP-04-M: $530 NLHE [8-Max], $1.5M Guarantee

Pedro "pvigar" Garagnani Leads WCOOP-04-H: $5,200 NLHE [8-Max, High Roller] Final Table

Only nine players remain in contention for the $195,689 top prize of the WCOOP-04-H: $5,200 NLHE [8-Max, High Roller] and what a final nine it is.

Pedro "pvigar" Garagnani is the man to catch going into the final table. There is some distance between Garagnani and second-placed Diego "DieVentura" Ventura.

Others to keep an eye on when the final table commences are Christian "WAtnlos" Rudolph, Michel "FreeLancerZZ" Dattani, and Dinesh "NastyMinder" Alt. That trio of players have 50 or more big blinds at their disposal.

Do not write off the chances of Samuel "€urop€an" Vousden, former WCOOP champion Sam "Str8Homey$$$" Greenwood, or Pascal "Paffchen" Hartmann either. Nor David "dpeters17" Peters, although Peters does only have 18 big blinds when play resumes.

2021 WCOOP Results From August 22

Three PokerStars players became 2021 WCOOP champions on August 22 with the trio of special edition Sunday Cooldown events concluding. Ukrainians "goodday2211" and "gunnersfun" won the $5.50 buy-in event for $4,088 and the $55 buy-in medium event for $27,718, with "nmi128" of the Netherlands triumphing in the $530 High event for $79,041.

WCOOP-07-L: $5.50 NLHE [8-Max Progressive KO, Mini Sunday Cooldown SE], $50K Gtd

WCOOP-07-M: $55 NLHE [8-Max Progressive KO, Sunday Cooldown SE], $300K Gtd

WCOOP-07-H: $530 NLHE [8-Max Progressive KO, Turbo, Mini Sunday Cooldown SE], $400K Gtd

In-Play Events

All the other events that kicked off on August 22 are in play, with Day 2s taking place on August 23. Dutch star Joris "BillLewinsky" Ruijs leads the WCOOP-02-H: $530 NLHE [WCOOP Kickoff], $400K Gtd, while Andrey "ThePateychuk" Pateychuk is the chip leader going into Day 2 of the WCOOP-03-H: $2,100 NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO, Sunday Warm-Up SE] event.

Uruguayan Ramiro "ramastar88" Petrone is also a stellar name holding a chip lead. He returns to the WCOOP-06-H: $1,050 NLHE [6-Max] first in chips from 59 remaining players.

WCOOP-02-L: $5.50 NLHE [WCOOP Kickoff – Mini Sunday Kickoff SE], $75K Gtd

WCOOP-02-M: $55 NLHE [WCOOP Kickoff – Sunday Kickoff SE], $300K Gtd]

WCOOP-02-H: $530 NLHE [WCOOP Kickoff], $400K Gtd]

WCOOP-03-L: $22 NLHE [Progressive KO, Freezeout], $275K Gtd

WCOOP-03-M: $215 NLHE [Progressive KO, Freezeout Sunday Warm-Up SE], $700K Gtd

WCOOP-03-H: $2,100 NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO, Sunday Warm-Up SE], $700K Gtd

WCOOP-04-L: $55 NLHE [8-Max, Sunday Million SE], $1M Gtd

WCOOP-05-L: $22 PLO [6-Max], $100K Gtd

WCOOP-05-M: $215 PLO [6-Max], $175K Gtd

WCOOP-05-H: $2,100 PLO [6-Max], $275K Gtd

WCOOP-06-L: $11 NLHE [6-Max], $125K Gtd

WCOOP-06-M: $109 NLHE [6-Max], $300K Gtd

WCOOP-06-H: $1,050 NLHE [6-Max], $500K Gtd

2021 WCOOP Events Scheduled on August 23

Twelve fresh events get underway on August 23 in addition to the 15 in-play events that will crown their champions. August 23 sees the first non-hold'em events kick off with HORSE and NLO8 tournaments scheduled.

Follow along with the dedicated PokerNews WCOOP Hub to stay on top of all things WCOOP.