By August Darnell | May 11, 2010

PartyPoker’s inaugural Online Cash Game Championships (OCGC) concluded this past Friday, with Slovenia’s Primoz Cimerman, known as “MassiffOwnich” on the world’s third largest online poker site, wearing the crown in the end. In addition to his winnings every step of the way, plus cash prizes awarded from Level 2 onwards, Cimerman received $40,000 for taking the OCGC title.

As a refresher, here is how the Online Cash Game Championships worked:

The competition ran from April 5th through May 7th, starting at the $0.50/$1 No-Limit Hold’em tables. Anyone who wished to participate would need to play at least 400 hands during the Level 1 time frame. Those whose profits through their first 400 hands (and first 400 hands only) put them in the top 30 percent of participants moved on to Level 2. Levels 2 and 3 were more of the same, with Level 3 being at the $1/$2 No-Limit stakes. Starting with Level 2, players who advanced also won cash prizes. Only 50 players advanced from Level 4 ($1/$2 No-Limit), while only the top 18 made it past Level 5 ($2/$4 No-Limit).

The 18 players who made it to Level 6 ($5/$10 No-Limit)) were required to sit down at 4:00pm ET on May 3rd and play at least 400 hands, with their first 500 hands counting towards the standings. Only the top six made it to the final table. The final table players ($25/$50 No-Limit) were again required to begin play against each other at a specific time and play at least 400 hands, with the first 500 hands being the only ones that counted.

Cimerman almost didn’t make it to the final table, as he was nearly felted during Level 6. He made a great comeback, however, as he doubled-up near the end of the session, allowing him to advance.

At the final table, Cimerman made his big move during hand 190, winning a coin-flip with pocket 10’s versus “sw3333333t’s” A-Q. The $15,000 pot gave Cimerman a comfortable cushion over the other five players, so he sat back and waited for the premium hands to roll in. While he of course could have played more hands to try to win more money – it was a cash game, after all – he wanted to lock up first place and the guaranteed $40,000. According to the PartyPoker blog, he even folded K-K pre-flop when faced with a raise and re-raise. Once the first 500 were finished, Cimerman had $29,336 (minimum buy-in was $5,000, maximum was $10,000 – we assume he bought in for the max), almost double his nearest competitor. He, like everyone else in the competition, kept all profits plus his prize money. The three “in the money” finishers at the final table were as follows:

1. MassiffOwnich - $29,336 ($40,000 prize)
2. aFFeNmArDeR - $15,449 ($20,000 prize)
3. HScomeback - $8,103 ($10,000 prize)

As it turns out, the OCGC was a great promotion for PartyPoker. Cimerman was quoted in the PartyPoker blog as saying, “I am really excited to be the Online Cash Game Champion and I have been celebrating this result with my friends. As soon as I saw the promotion I opened an account with PartyPoker.com because I thought I had a chance to win it.”

Cimerman, a recent law school graduate, went on to say that his poker playing is going well enough that he is putting his law career plans on hold for now.

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