For nearly two years, there have been only two people in all of poker who have won a WCOOP, SCOOP, and Triple COOP title. Now there are three.
Today, Rui "RuiNF" Ferreira became only the third person in history to enter the exclusive Triple COOP club. Here's how he did it.
Rebuy tournaments have all but faded away in the live poker world but they are very much alive online. They lack the logistical issues of live games and rebuy tournaments allow players to keep the same table dynamic if they bust their stack, different than a re-entry event where players get a new seat.
Event 33 was a 6-Max Turbo which allowed players to mash the rebuy button as many times as they needed over the first 60 minutes of the tournament and they crushed it. The tournament drew 659 players and they hit rebuy 1,094 times and survivors took 449 add-ons when the late registration/rebuy period was over. The tournament had a $300,000 guaranteed prize pool and they ran it up to $440,400 before registration closed.
The last 84 players grabbed a piece of the prize pool with everyone at the final table set to pick up a five-digit payout. The eventual winner was scheduled to pocket more than $80,000 plus the title of TCOOP champion.
Chris "Moorman1" Moorman and Team PokerStars' Naoya "nkeyno" Kihara were near the bottom of the counts as the money bubble approached. Kihara dropped out short of the money when he opened under the gun with [ah][qs] leaving just 1,616 behind. pokerturo called to the [jd][js][6s] flop then snap-called Kihara's shove. [9d][6d] was good and he tripped up on the [6c] turn to send the pro out in 89th, five spots out of the money.
Moorman was the shortest stack when they hit hand-for-hand play and watched while jackstack99 took the bubble position to let him slide into the money. Not only did he make the last 84, he laddered up nicely and had a top ten stack 20 minutes later. He spent much of the latter parts of the tournament having to deal with fellow big stack and Team PokerStars' Mickey "mement_mori" Petersen.
Petersen dropped out in 12th place while Moorman rode his former short stack all the way to the final table bubble. That's where it ended for the former WPT champion, he moved all-in from the button with [kc][8s] and oswald187 called in the big blind with [ah][td]. Moorman flopped the nut flush draw on the [ac][tc][3c] board which also gave oswald187 top two. Moorman couldn't catch the [5d] turn or [3d] river to go out in 7th place, a nice run after being the shortest on the bubble.
Rui "RuiNF" Ferreira was the most interesting name in the counts as the tournament crept closer to the final table. The Czech grinder is one of those who came into this series with a chance to capture the coveted Triple COOP honors. His first COOP title came in 2014 with a win in the high buy-in version of the SCOOP heads up tournament. Ferreira earned his second COOP title a few months ago when he won the $215 Big Antes WCOOP tournament. If he could pull it off here, he would become only the third player to capture a title in each of the COOP series.
Ferreira was among the leaders for much of the tournament and hit the final table with a healthy lead, better than 1 million more than the second biggest stack.
Seat 1: Rui "RuiNF" Ferreira (2,235,845 in chips)
Seat 2: oswald187 (961,144 in chips)
Seat 3: mczhang (1,033,681 in chips)
Seat 4: felter1989 (1,081,816 in chips)
Seat 5: Tankanza (866,794 in chips)
Seat 6: uWannaLoan? (1,324,720 in chips)
Blinds: 30K/60K with 7.5K Ante
Tankanza felted by felter1989, eliminated in 6th
Tankanza was the shortest stack to start the final table and it went a full orbit before he took a shot to get back in the game. He three-bet shoved from the small blind after felter1989 min-raised the button. uWannaLoad? let his big blind go and felter1989 called with [ac][ts].
Tankanza was ahead and racing with [3s][3c] before felter1989 hit the [as][kc][7h] flop. He was drawing thin but couldn't catch as the board completed with the [7c] turn and [6c] river to send Tankanza out in 6th place for $13,212.
oswald187 runs out of time, eliminated in 5th
Five hands after Tankanza had his chance to double up, oswald187 held less than seven big blinds, a dream, and [ah][2s]. He moved all-in from under the gun and chip leader Ferreira called in the big blind with the dominating [ac][tc].
oswald187 needed a lot of help to stay in the game and things got really desperate when Ferreira hit the [th][8d][4s] flop. He was less than 2% to double and was drawing dead to 5th place after the [7s] turn. oswald187 had a nice run and picked up $22,020 for his deep run.
mczhang chases oswald187 out the door, eliminated in 4th
Keeping with the turbo pace, mczhang waited three hands before putting in his short stack in the middle trying to catch up to the leader. He shoved from the button with [jc][8c] and felter1989 shipped from the small blind with [ah][td].
uWannaLoad? dropped his big blind hand before felter1989 extended his lead on the [kh][tc][5c] flop. mczhang added a flush draw to his overcard but missed everything as it finished running [5h][5s] top boat up felter1989. mczhang was sent to the rail in 4th place for $30,828.
King beats Queen, felter1989 eliminated in 3rd
felter1989 took out more than a few players late in the tournament but it was his turn at the bottom of the counts when they hit three-handed action. They pushed chips around for five minutes before he found a big hand.
Ferreira put felter1989 all-in from the small blind and he called with [qd][qc]. He was a big favorite against Ferreira's [kd][jh] but that didn't stop the virtual dealer from pairing his overcard on the [ac][kh][6d] flop. felter1989 needed to catch a Queen to stay in the game but that changed after the [th] turn.
A Queen was no longer good though he added three Jack outs, none of which appeared on the [7s] river. A tough beat at this stage of the tournament and felter1989 had to settle for 3rd place money while Ferreira went into heads up play with a big lead.
uWannaDeal? No thanks
Seat 1: Rui "RuiNF" Ferreira (5,715,277 in chips)
Seat 6: uWannaLoan? (1,788,723 in chips)
Blinds: 60K/120K with 15K Ante
uWannaLoad? was able to pull back some of Ferreira's lead, enough to prompt a pause in action while the two looked at a possible deal. The chop numbers showed Ferreira earning $70,525 while uWannaLoan? would get $65,723 with $6,000 set to aside to play for.
uWannaLoan? agreed to the deal but Ferreira quickly rejected it and action was back underway.
Rui "RuiNF" Ferreira earns Triple COOP honors with Event 37 title
uWannaLoan? immediately picked up a 1 million chip pot after the restart but that was as close as he could get to the top. They traded chips back and forth until uWannaLoan? picked a spot where he was favored to double into the lead.
He opened to 336,000 with [jc][jh] and called when Ferreira put him all-in. uWannaLoan? needed to dodge an overcard against [ah][6s] but Ferreira hit one again on the [ac][kd][3h] flop. uWannaLoan? was in trouble and missed the [8c] turn and [6h] river to fall short of the title. The Irish poker legend added $60,775 to his bankroll but still waiting on his first COOP title.
Ferreira is now part of a rare group of players, those who hold a title from each of the three annual COOP series. His win today, plus his 2014 SCOOP and 2015 WCOOP victories, make him the third player to accomplish that feat. Shawn "buck21" Buchanan was the first to do it during TCOOP 2014 and James "Andy McLEOD" Obst followed him into the history books only two days later.
Many players have been in a position to pick up a Triple COOP, but none were able to pull it off until today. Two years after Buchanan and Obst completed the feat, Rui "RuiNF" Ferreira is now in rarefied air as the third Triple COOP winner.
Congrats to Ferreira on the incredible run! Stayed tuned to hear from the man himself.
TCOOP-37 ($215+R No Limit Hold'em, 6-Max, Turbo) results
Entrants: 659 (1,094 Rebuys, 449 Add-Ons)
Total prize pool: $440,400
Places paid: 84
1. Rui "RuiNF" Ferreira (Czech Republic) $81,474.00
2. uWannaLoan? (Ireland) $60,775.20
3. felter1989 (India) $45,141.00
4. mczhang (United Kingdom) $30,828.00
5. oswald1987 (United Kingdom) $22,020.00
6. Tankanza (Austria) $13,212.00
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