Between the relatively small number of events on the schedule compared to WCOOP and SCOOP and the turbo structures at play in all of its events, TCOOP might be the toughest PokerStars tournament series for players to earn repeat victories in. Tough, but not impossible. Just ask buzzard1881, who followed up on a victory late last week in Event #6 with another win today in Event #31, an $82 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo tournament.

The game kicked off at 2:00 p.m. ET with a $25,000 guarantee and by the time late registration closed had drawn 665 players, good for a $49,875 prize pool. With $9,361.75 awaiting the winner, they played on. The average stack was worth 36K as the money bubble approached, with stakes at 5K/10K, so nobody was too comfortable even with 11 tables still in play. That lack of ease continued on for the rest of the tournament, with one small exception: the knowledge that every eliminated opponent meant a pay jump when the final table arrived at 4:53 p.m. ET.

The stakes and antes were up to 50K/100K/10K for these eight finalists:

Seat 1: buzzard1881 (770,738 in chips)
Seat 2: admiralph (405,720 in chips)
Seat 3: SiiliSuhonen (268,150 in chips)
Seat 4: jasonpavlich (165,427 in chips)
Seat 5: tvtotaliwin (233,220 in chips)
Seat 6: l0serk1ng14 (316,570 in chips)
Seat 7: 7PRS (660,623 in chips)
Seat 8: viking47 (504,552 in chips)

The average stack coming in was worth just four big bets on the 50K/100K/10K level, so a lengthy final was never in the works. The first to go Twitch broadcaster and 2014 TCOOP runner-up tvtotaliwin, who started Hand #3 with 205K in chips and ([Qh] [Kh]) [Ah] in hand. tvtotaliwin completed to 50K and only 2012 WCOOP NL Draw champion 7PRS came along. 7PRS was holding ([5d] [7s]) [5c] and capped the betting on fourth street after making two pair, sevens and fives, with the [7d]. tvtotaliwin picked up a flush draw on fifth with the [9h] but never got the chance to chase it, as the [7h] on fifth gave 7PRS a full house. With that, tvtotaliwin finished in 8th place ($748.12).

7PRS scooped 770K on the next hand to settle into first place with 1.34M chips, but Event #6 champion and past WCOOP winner buzzard1881 struck back immediately to retake the lead. buzzard1881 started with ([Ad] [Ah]) [Td] and bet on every street without improving; 2009 WCOOP finalist viking47 was all-in on third with the [9h] showing, while 7PRS called down to seventh street but mucked (x-x) [7h] [6h] [Qs] [Ks] (x) to give buzzard1881 the 566K-chip side pot. viking47 couldn't beat a pair of aces, either, giving buzzard1881 the main pot and eliminating viking47 in 7th place ($1,122.18).

The jockeying for position continued four hands later when 7PRS started with the bring-in and ([3d] [5c]) [2d]. 7PRS called buzzard1881's completion to 60K before leading out on fourth with the [3h] for a pair of threes. buzzard1881 came along with [8h] [Ts] showing, led out on fifth with the [Qd], and then called on sixth and seventh before mucking when 7PRS scooped the pot with ([3d] [5c]) [2d] [3h] [Qs] [4h] ([Ah]) for a wheel straight.

jasonpavlich had come to the final table with a little more than one big bet and had been anted down to less than half of that by the time WCOOP 2010 runner-up and past Sunday Warm-Up finalist SiiliSuhonen had the bring-in with the [2s] showing and, holding a buried pair of fours, opted to complete instead. jasonpavlich called all-in with ([7h] [9h]) [8d] and improved to a pair of eights with the [8h] on fourth street to take the lead. SiiliSuhonen made two pair on fifth to jump back ahead and held on from there, knocking jasonpavlich out in 6th place ($1,745.62).

Even with that win, SiiliSuhonen still had just two and a half big bet at 306K, making every hand potentially the last. That potential became reality five hands later after trying to steal the antes and bring-in with ([5h] [6s]) [7s] and running up against l0serk1ng14, who raised to 120K with ([5s] [Kc]) [5d] for a split pair of fives. SiiliSuhonen made sevens on fourth street but l0serk1ng14 picked up the [Kh] on fifth for two pair. SiiliSuhonen never caught up and bowed out in 5th place ($2,493.75).

admiralph, the winner of MicroMillions 9 Event #48, turned the trend of busting short stacks around after starting with a split pair of aces on the same hand as 7PRS started with a split pair of queens. That scoop was worth 491K, but still left the table split into two strata:

Seat 1: buzzard1881 (1,137,290 in chips)
Seat 2: admiralph (491,440 in chips)
Seat 6: l0serk1ng14 (353,147 in chips)
Seat 7: 7PRS (1,343,123 in chips)

2013 TCOOP finalist l0serk1ng14 took a stab at evening things out a bit when the action folded around, raising with the [7h] showing to 7PRS's [4s]. 7PRS called and by fifth street both players had made 8-7 lows and the rest of l0serk1ng14's chips went in the middle. 7PRS had the better hand at that point with ([8s] [3d]) [4s] [7d] [As], not just for the low against l0serk1ng14's ([2s] [5s]) [7h] [8h] [6d] but also with ace-high. Neither player improved for the high on sixth or seventh, and l0serk1ng14 left in 4th place ($3,740.62).

admiralph doubled through buzzard1881 on the next hand, turning ([4h] [5s]) [2d] into a 6-5 low and six-high straight by sixth street against the ace-high, no-low hand that developed from buzzard1881's ([7h] [Ac]) [4c] starter. buzzard1881 dipped as low as 249K from there before doubling back through admiralph with, fittingly, a 6-5 low and six-high straight for the scoop. The two-time COOP winner survived one more all-in moment with a split pot before coming up with a pot on the 120K/240K/24K level that changed the course of the final.

7PRS got the hand in question going by completing to 120K with ([Kc] [5c]) [Qc] and buzzard1881 called with ([6d] [4d]) [7h]. Both players checked by fourth street and on fifth buzzard1881, holding a made 7-6 low, led out. 7PRS called with ([Kc] [5c]) [Qc] [3c] [Jh] showing and then again after picking up the [Td] on sixth and the [9s] on seventh, making a king-high straight. But that was no good against buzzard1881's ([6d] [4d]) [7h] [2c] [3d] [7d] [8d], which made a diamond flush for the high to scoop the 1.77M-chip pot.

7PRS was anything but out of the game with 743K chips, but unfavorable starting positions saw that stack whittled down to 467K by the antes before the past WCOOP champ picked up ([9h] [9s]) [Kd] and completed for 120K. buzzard1881 called there and then again on fourth and fifth streets, holding ([6s] [7s]) [6c] [Ts] [4c] for a split pair of sixes. Neither player improved on sixth street but buzzard1881 made a two pair with the [7c] on the river, good enough to take the pot with two pair and end 7PRS's run in 3rd place ($4,987.50).

Four uneventful hands of heads-up play passed before admiralph had a reason to press the issue, starting with ([2d] [2s]) [6s], but the past MicroMillions winner had the misfortune of picking that hand up while buzzard1881 held ([9c] [9h]) [7s]. buzzard1881 sat back and called admiralph's bets there and on fourth, unimproved, before leading out with ([9c] [9h]) [7s] [Qd] [Ah]. admiralph called with the unimproved deuces and finally made two pair by seventh street, showing down ([2d] [2s]) [6s] [Qs] [Kh] [Jd] ([6d]), but it was too late. buzzard1881 had made nines and sevens with the [7d] on sixth street, and they claimed the pot to bring the tournament to an end.

Finishing the runner-up was worth $6,733.12 for admiralph, three times as much as winning that MicroMillions event back in 2014. As for buzzard1881, the win was worth $9,361.85, about half of the score from last week's Event #6 victory. It's also good for another 100 points on the TCOOP Player of the Series leaderboard, good for second place at the moment behind TedyKGB88 of the U.K. Congratulations on the win, and good luck chasing down that trophy!

TCOOP-31 ($82 FL Stud Hi-Lo, Turbo) results
Entrants: 665
Total prize pool: $49,875.00
Places paid: 88

1. buzzard1881 (Canada) $9,361.85
2. admiralph (Belgium) $6,733.12
3. 7PRS (Canada) $4,987.50
4. l0serking14 (Finland) $3,740.62
5. SiiliSuhonen (Finland) $2,493.75
6. jasonpavlich (Mexico) $1,745.62
7. viking47 (United Kingdom) $1,122.18
8. tvtotaliwin (Switzerland) $748.12