Andy Taylor and Billy Chattaway Win a Combined $510K

Prior to Black Friday, nobody questioned the US’s online poker dominance. After the unfortunate event that ended with a massive Americanmarketexit, a gap was created and someother country needed to close it. Many still argue the gap can never be fully closed, but one thing is for sure: the UK has done a good job so far. The latest example is PokerStars’ World Championship of Online Poker.

British Players Galore

We;re halfway through this year’s high-stakes online poker festival, the UK is dominating almost all leaderboards. It all starts with the number of player participating in WCOOP - according to PokerStars stats, so far 6,758 British players have hit the WCOOP tables in search of a life-changing cash topping countries like Canada (6,750), Russia (5,761) and Germany (5,314).

Of course, having numbers is a great advantage but in poker, the quality of play has equal meaning. So how does UK fare in this category?

4, 28, 971… 3,229,321

No, the numbers above aren’t random! First thing first: 4WCOOP tourneys out of the 32 completed had a British winner. Only the Russians are on the same level with 4 tournament wins. Canada, Germany and Sweden have 3 tourney wins each.

Furthermore, 28 British poker players have reached a final table and the number is on the rise. Canada is the only other country with 20+ finals tables (25). Russia currently has 19 while Germany has 17.

The number of cashes is trickier for the UK. As compared to the other leaderboards, Britain is not in the lead, Canada is. Canada is the only nation with 1,000+ cashes (1,031). Second are the British with 971 cashes, followed by the Russians (884) and Germans (828).

And what about money you ask? Actual dollar bills? Well, the British players lead this category with $3,229,320.87 won so far in the WCOOP. The Canadians are not that far behind cashing in ‘only’ $3,073,379.47. In fact, the North Americans led the money list until two British-based players cashed in big in two major tournaments:theSunday Million,WCOOP Edition- Andy “wiisssppppaa” Taylor won $273,850 - and the Super Tuesday, Special Edition - Javier “aricontre” Contreras won $272,020.

Rui "RuiNF" Ferreira Leads the Players’ Leaderboard

And since we are talking about actual names, let’s also take a look at the 2015 Players’ Leaderboard. Halfway through, the Player of the Series isn’t British, nor Canadian, nor Russian. Rui “RuiNF” Ferreira, a player based in Czech Republic, is currently leading with 290 points. Ferreira has the most cashes (10) and the most final tables (3) - more than any other WCOOP player. Up until this point, he has won over $217,795 at this year’s world championship, good for 11th place.

A relatively unknown player from Germany is leading the individual money list; ‘tobi123456’ won the $10,300 High-Roller for $654,500 beating Andrew "RunThisTable" Lichtenberger in the process who can brag with a second place in the money leader board and $487,454.

The Bigger Picture

All of these numbers don’t tell the whole story. The all-time stats are more daunting supporting the case of those who say the Black Friday damage cannot be repaired. Since 2002, the US is the clear and deserved leader of the WCOOP leader board even though the Americans stopped playing four years ago.

The Americans cashed in 18,929 times for over $73.5 million at WCOOP and made it to 676 final tables for 103 online bracelets. The UK is still far away from those numbers cashing in 10,820 times for over $39.1 million since 2002. The British also have 341 final tables overall and 43 WCOOP bracelets.

The Canadian are the only real threat who could dethrone the US in the upcoming years winning over $66.6 million and 65 bracelets throughout the years.

So it turns out the gap may be in fact irreparable and only a US online poker comeback could truly close it once and for all. But, till then, let’s just live in the moment, watch how the UK and Canada duke it out online and enjoy the rest of the WCOOP.