There was just a single straightforward stud event on this year's Turbo Championship of Online Poker schedule, although if you blinked you might have missed it. That's because it took less than three-and-a-half hours for the $82 buy-in Event #25 to play out this afternoon, at the end of which André "Sira Al Aziz" Santos of the Czech Republic had collected all the chips and a nice $7,654.70 first prize. Santos had to best a 540-entry field to take away the largest share of the $40,500 prize pool that comfortably exceeded the event's $25K guarantee.
The top 72 finishers made the money in this one, and just two hours in they were already down to 83 players, with FNickel leading the counts and Team PokerStars Pro George Danzer sitting just inside the top 10.
The third hour had just begun when the money bubble burst, then about a half-hour after that they were down to three tables with André "Sira Al Aziz" Santos having jumped out in front of FNickel, pushing way up over 500,000 when no one else had even half that amount. Just a few hands later Danzer found himself short-stacked and then finally knocked out in 18th for a $334.12 cash.
Danzer was knocked out by TCOOP star TedyKGB88 who before this event already had six cashes and two final tables to sit in second position in the TCOOP Player of the Series standings.
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Soon they were down to two tables. Freddy(DM(3) (16th) and FENOMENICO (15th) then were eliminated, and after getting short FNickel (14th) followed them to the rail. A few minutes later nemisoi hit the rail (13th), with those four players each earning $405 for their finishes.
ouchbadbeat (12th), iamfunnyb0t (11th), and Iraqing (10th) were the next out, followed by TedyKGB88 (ninth) who just missed another final table, but with this finish moves into first in the TCOOP Player of the Series standings at the halfway mark of the series. Those four each earned $564.75.
With the three-hour break coming up, the final table was underway with André "Sira Al Aziz" Santos the chip leader by a wide margin as the only player over 1 million in chips.
Seat 1: mddgfc (United Kingdom) -- 169,196
Seat 2: fel_iv (Brazil) -- 53,198
Seat 3: André "Sira Al Aziz" Santos (Czech Republic) -- 1,051,983
Seat 4: manunanu (Australia) -- 470,011
Seat 5: pxc666 (China) -- 256,142
Seat 6: droseff (Bulgaria) -- 309,834
Seat 7: krec23 (Russia) -- 76,244
Seat 8: 10Badboy10 (Russia) -- 313,392
The first final table elimination came quickly in a hand that saw the table's short stack, fel_iv, get felted by droseff.
All in by third street for less than half a big bet, fel_iv ultimately drew ([5h])([3s]) / [As][Kh][9h][5d] / ([Qh]) for a pair of fives, which wasn't enough against droseff's ([Ah])([3h]) / [Qc][8h][Qs][4c] / ([2c]) for queens, and fel_iv was done in eighth.
Just a few hands later, krec23 was the short stack all in by third street with only leader André "Sira Al Aziz" Santos sticking around. krec23 had ([Qs])([9c]) / [8s], then drew [4s][2h][5h] / ([7s]) to make only queen-high. Meanwhile Santos started out ([3d])([Tc]) / [4d] and picked up [9s][5c][8c] / ([Qd]) -- also queen-high but with a better kicker, and krec23 was eliminated in seventh.
The fourth hour began, and the limits were up to 50K/100K when manunanu called a third-street raise from Santos, then called again to go all in on fourth. By then manunanu had ([4d])([Jc]) / [Kc][Qd], and three more cards -- [3s][2d] / ([6s]) -- didn't improve manunanu to better than king-high. Santos had ([7d])([Ts]) / [Ad][6c] when the last chips went in, and after drawing [6h][Kh] / ([Ks]) to finish with kings and sixes and knock out manunanu in sixth.
A minute later 10Badboy10 was raising with the [7s] showing, pxc666 reraised with the [8d] up, 10Badboy10 reraised again to put all 169,392 in the middle, and pxc666 called. Their hole cards turned up, 10Badboy10 had three cards with a lot of potential with ([8s])([6s]) / [7s], then drew [6c][Ad][2c] / ([3c]) to finish with a pair of sixes. pxc666 had that beat already by third street with ([9d])([8h]) / [8d], picking up [Th][3d][Jd] / ([9h]) thereafter to end with two pair and stop 10Badboy10 in fifth for a seventh cash already this TCOOP series.
The final four battled onward for another seven minutes, enough time for the betting limits to increase to 80K/160K. By then pxc666 had slipped to 141,676, and after André "Sira Al Aziz" Santos raised on third street pxc666 called all in. pxc666 would finish that hand with ([2h])([4d]) / [2s][5c][8s][Jc] / ([6c]), having been unable to improve on a pair of deuces made by third street. Santos beat that with ([Ac])([7d]) / [Ts][Js][2c][3d] / ([Jd]), rivering a pair of jacks to oust pxc666 in fourth.
Santos was well in command then with three left, and before long droseff -- who won a SCOOP title last year in a 2-7 triple draw event -- would be down to less than a small bet with just 55,138. All of that went in by third street versus the chip leader, and droseff's ([5c])([Jc]) / [2c][Jd][As][9c] / ([Ts]) (a pair of jacks) proved not enough against Santos's ([8d])([7s]) / [6h][6s][4s][7h] / ([Kh]) (two pair, sevens and sixes), and they were down to two.
Santos had a better than 5-to-1 chip lead to start heads-up play with more than 2.25 million to mddgfc's just over 445,000, but mddgfc managed to get all those chips in on the first hand between them to earn a double-up and narrow the gap. A few hands after that mddgfc was all in again on fourth street, then after hitting two pair on fifth saw the hand hold up, and suddenly the two players were nearly even in chips.
But Santos would win a similarly-large pot just a few hands later, and was again up around 2.37 million while mddgfc slipped under 325,000 when the final hand took place.
It began with Santos bringing it in for 30,000 with the [2c] showing, mddgfc raising to 100,000 with the [9c] up, then the pair continuing to reraise back and forth until Santos capped it and mddgfc called all in. Here's what it looked like on third:
mddgfc: ([4h])([7s]) / [9c]
Sira Al Aziz: ([4s])([Ts]) / [2c]
And after each player was dealt four more cards, here's how they ended up:
mddgfc: ([4h])([7s]) / [9c][Ac][5d][Tc] / ([7d])
Sira Al Aziz: ([4s])([Ts]) / [2c][3h][2d][9d] / ([4d])
mddgfc had at last made a pair of sevens on seventh, but Santos picked up a second pair on the last round to make the best hand and win.
Congratulations to André "Sira Al Aziz" Santos for outlasting 539 opponents in just three hours and 19 minutes to win Event #25 and turn $82 into a cool $7,654.70.
TCOOP-25 ($82 Stud, Turbo) results
Entrants: 540
Total prize pool: $40,500
Places paid: 72
1. André "Sira Al Aziz" Santos (Czech Republic) $7,654.70
2. mddgfc (United Kingdom) $5,609.25
3. droseff (Bulgaria) $4,131.00
4. pxc666 (China) $3,037.50
5. 10Badboy10 (Russia) $2,025.00
6. manunanu (Australia) $1,417.50
7. krec23 (Russia) $1,012.50
8. fel_iv (Brazil) $708.75
Event #25 marks the halfway point of the 50-event Turbo Championship of Online Poker series. Check the TCOOP page for a full rundown of the remaining 25 events along with results and lots of other TCOOP-related information.
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Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.
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