British Charlie Godwin has won $620,000 at the WPT Online Championships after starting with a $109 satellite ticket.
The poker insider works as the VIP manager at partypoker and was already enjoying the highlight of her poker life just by qualifying for the Super High Roller.
Charlie Godwin Does a Chris Moneymaker
Everyone who plays poker loves to see this kind of heart-warming story. This is why amateurs play the game – anyone can turn up and have their day in the sun.
Here's an amazing story for you. @charlie_godwin turned a $109 satellite ticket into a $1050 satellite ticket and then turned that into a seat into the @partypoker $102,000 super high-roller. She now sits 1 person away from cashing!! Let's go, Charlie!
— Jason Koon (@JasonKoon) September 24, 2020
When Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker Main Event in 2003 this whole idea that all you needed was a chip and a chair to stand a chance started a wave of belief.
People really believed that if he could do it then so could they.
Moneymaker famously qualified for the main event via a $86 satellite tournament online. The complete unknown battled through the 839-man field to win $2.5 million.
Godwin might have only won a quarter of that but it’s still life-changing money.
Taking on the World’s Best
We should be clear on what an amazing achievement this is for Godwin. This is totally different from satelliting into the World Series of Poker Main Event.
In the WSOP, even the main event, you will find a long list of amateur shot takers who have been waiting for their chance to take on the elite all year.
Charlie Godwin fought through the $109 satellite stage into a $1,050 event and finally a $100,000 Super high roller populated by pretty much only the best players in the world.
There were only 40 entrants to fight over an insane $4 million prize pool.
Let’s put it another way, this is only a five and a half table sit & go tournament when you look at it. The problem is there are no weak players.
We've had some amazing satellite stories in the #WPTWOC but we saved the best for last. @charlie_godwin turns a $109 satellite into 3rd place and $620,000 in the @WPT Super High Roller. Huge congratulations to Charlie! 🙌😍👏🎉 pic.twitter.com/MaD8USVCqL
— PartyPoker (@partypoker) September 24, 2020
Every single hand that Godwin played was under the microscope of an expert who knew every trick in the book to wrong foot her.
Charlie Godwin Goes for Glory
With only six places paying and 39 elite players to battle, Godwin probably wasn’t expecting much more than enjoying her day.
Patience and possibly not being seen as a serious threat helped things turn out differently from what was expected though. Slowly but surely she hung in there and kept on accumulating chips.
After lining up for the final table on Day 2 Godwin was now the shortstack and a protracted battle lasted over an hour until Daniel Dvoress was out.
Not long after Ike Haxton and Sergi Reixach collided, and Godwin was $250,00 richer for simply folding.
Sadly, the run then came to an end with a rather vanilla hand. A2o jammed on the button and A6o calls in the big blind with no help for the weaker hand.
Watch the Final Table of the $100k Super High Roller here:
This ranks as the best feel-good story in poker this year and we certainly need some more the way 2020 is going.
Wow – I’m so overwhelmed by all of this, I think I’m still in shock! I haven’t been able to read all of the messages yet, but I’d like thank everyone who was rooting for me on the stream and those who took the time to congratulate me – so many of you! TYTYTY 😅 💕
— charlie godwin (@charlie_godwin) September 28, 2020
| Place | Player | Country | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Addamo | United Kingdom | $1,284,114* |
| 2 | Isaac Haxton | Canada | $1,216,286* |
| 3 | Charlie Godwin | United Kingdom | $620,000 |
| 4 | Sergi Reixach | Mexico | $374,000 |
| 5 | Linus Loeliger | Austria | $276,000 |
| 6 | Christoph Vogelsang | United Kingdom | $229,600 |
| 7 | Daniel Dvoress | Canada | – |
