Oscar "MendaLerenda" Serradell had already come close to earning a TCOOP title and special card capper this series, coming in second out of 2,505 in Event #19, a $215 NLHE Hyper-Turbo affair. Today the U.K. player did one better, taking down Event #36, an $82 no-limit five-card draw event with optional re-entries.
Serradell -- who also has three Super Tuesday titles to his credit -- topped a 498-entry field (300 entries, 198 re-entries) to claim the top prize of $7,096.70. Here's the story of how he did it.
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That 498-entry field meant a $37,350 prize pool in this one, well over the $25K guarantee. The tournament swiftly reached the bursting of the bubble just shy of the two-hour mark, at which point Artur "ARTSchGamble" Scerbak enjoyed the chip lead with 66 players left. Just over a half-hour later they were already down to 12 with Scerbak remaining in front and approaching the 500,000-chip mark.
swoopey (12th), igoorgn (11th), and giyoung1123 (10th) next fell, earning $504.22 apiece, followed by JoeG121 (ninth), 7PRS (eighth), and DENV3UR (seventh) who each picked up $784.35.
With Artur "ARTSchGamble" Scerbak still the chip leader as one of three Germans making the final table, they were down to six.
Seat 1: Artur "ARTSchGamble" Scerbak (Germany) -- 822,759
Seat 2: Oscar "MendaLerenda" Serradell (United Kingdom) -- 490,636
Seat 3: risto155 (Estonia) -- 223,502
Seat 4: schn4trick (Germany) -- 414,709
Seat 5: Bigboss300 (Germany) -- 108,346
Seat 6: MaTitheone (Poland) -- 430,048
They had just crossed the tournament's three-hour mark when risto155 limped from early position, Bigboss300 open-pushed from the button for just under 65,000 (a little more than two big blinds), then leader Artur "ARTSchGamble" Scerbak reraise-shoved from the big blind and risto155 called.
Scerbak then drew three cards while both risto155 and Bigboss300 took just one. Scerbak turned over [Ah][Ad][Kc][Qd][2c] for a pair of aces, which wasn't as good as risto155's [Jd][Jh][5s][5d][3d] for two pair. Meanwhile Bigboss300 only had jack-high with [Jc][Ts][9c][8h][4c], and BigBoss300 was out in sixth.
Nearly 15 minutes later the blinds were up to 25,000/50,000 when Scerbak open-pushed all in for just over 450,000 from the button, and Oscar "MendaLerenda" Serradell reraise-shoved from the small blind to isolate. Both players drew a single card, then Scerbak turned over [Ad][Ks][Qs][Ts][3s] having missed making either a flush or straight and ending with ace-high. Serradell had that easily beat with [Jh][6c][6h][4s][4s] for two pair, and Scerbak's run was suddenly over in fifth.
Just two hands after that, schn4trick raised to 110,000 from the small blind, MaTitheone reraised all in for almost 335,000 from the big blind, and schn4trick called. Both then drew three cards, with MaTitheone's [9s][9h][8s][6s][2h] (pair of nines) proving best over schn4trick's [Kh][Jd][9c][5h][5c] (pair of fives), sending schn4trick railward in fourth.
They battled three-handed for a few more hands, then it was risto155 limping for 50,000 from UTG, Oscar "MendaLerenda" Serradell raising to 100,000 from the big blind, and risto155 calling with the 24,200 left behind.
Serradell drew just one and risto155 three, with the latter turning over [Qd][Qs][Tc][5c][3c] for a pair of queens. That wasn't enough against Serradell's trip sevens -- [Ah][9c][7c][7s][7d] -- and risto155 was eliminated in third.
MaTitheone had a slight edge to begin heads-up play with 1,346,814 to Oscar "MendaLerenda" Serradell's 1,143,186. Serradell soon grabbed the lead away, then MaTitheone took it back for a short while before Serradell seized it once more, moving up over 1.57 millino to MaTitheone's not quite 920,000 when the final hand took place.
The blinds were up to 40,000/80,000, and MaTitheone started things with a raise to 172,800 from the button. At that Serradell shoved all in, and MaTitheone called with the 725,714 behind.
Both drew just one card, then came the showdown:
MendaLerenda: [Qd][Qc][Th][3h][3c] -- two pair, queens and treys
MaTitheone: [Tc][Ts][5c][4h][4c] -- two pair, tens and fours
Both had made strong hands, but Serradell's two pair were better than MaTitheone's, knocking the latter out in second and giving the title to Serradell.
Congratulations to Oscar "MendaLerenda" Serradell who adds a TCOOP title to his multiple Super Tuesday wins!
TCOOP-36 ($82 NL Draw, Turbo, Optional Re-Entry) results
Entrants: 498 (300 entries, 198 re-entries)
Total prize pool: $37,350
Places paid: 66
1. Oscar "MendaLerenda" Serradell (United Kingdom) $7,096.70
2. MaTitheone (Poland) $5,229.00
3. risto155 (Estonia) $3,828.37
4. schn4trick (Germany) $2,614.50
5. Artur "ARTSchGamble" Scerbak (Germany) $1,867.50
6. Bigboss300 (Germany) $1,195.20
There remains much action left to go in the 2016 Turbo Championship of Online Poker, highlighted by the $700 buy-in Main Event with a $2 million prize pool guarantee coming up Sunday. Check out the TCOOP page for complete details of what events remain.
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Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.
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