There's a debate over which is tougher: defeating a large field tournament or the smaller fields in tournaments like the Super High Rollers that have become so popular among the elite players? While mixed games do not bring the masses (337 players signed up), they definitely bring the talent. Several former -COOP champions were battling late for the $25,000.00 guarantee TCOOP 2016 $215 Event #40 HORSE title. And one of them would take a step closer to the Triple -COOP as WCOOP champ maggess88 claimed the win and $12,974.50.

Want any proof that the mixed games tournaments are tougher to claim a -COOP win despite their (usually) smaller fields? Check out this table on the money bubble:

That's WCOOP 2014 Event #11 and WCOOP 2015 Event #6 champ Matt "Plattsburgh" Vengrin.

Sam "ugritaly" Fazzino who already picked up two victories in this series winning Event #3 and Event #28.

Toby "810ofclubs" Lewis who has EPT, TCOOP, and WCOOP titles.

Grebinat took third a few days ago in Event #24's PLO8 6-Max tournament.

Villepn is going for the Triple -COOP after winning a SCOOP title in 2010 and the WCOOP title last year defeating Andy McLEOD (who finished ITM here taking 27th for $454.95) heads-up for the Event #54 Razz championship.

Rounding around the table guns_n_fight has a MicroMillions title.

Still like your chances?

SCOOP 2013 Event #16-M champ thefish01x would sadly take away zero dollars after finishing on the 48 player money bubble.

Floating over to other tables one could find a Red Spade holding on for dear tournament life as Team PokerStars Pro George Danzer safely made it into the money and, like Villepn, is trying to complete the Triple -COOP with a victory today. Unfortunately, this was not his day as cladarth would eliminate Danzer in the Stud round earning $657.15 for 22nd place.

Ouchbadbeat would add a precious few TCOOP Player of the Series points after finishing in 18th place ($657.15) to break the tie for third with TCOOP 2014 Player of the Series Christian "CMoosepower" Elgstrøm.

After Lewis was eliminated in 17th place ($657.15), the final two tables quickly got work as only 13 would make it to the third hour of play after chip leader SharkBoy217 eliminated Das Kapital author (not really) Karl Marx in 14th place ($909.90).

The switch from Star Trek to Star Wars did not help Vengrin after ditching the Klingon avatar for Yoda as Vengrin and Fazzino would both fall to maggess88's aces in the Stud Hi/Lo round. Lack of the Force was worth $1,179.50 for both Fazzino and Vengrin finishing 11th and 12th place respectively.

On the final table bubble with the stakes at 25K/50K ante 5K still in the Stud Hi/Lo round SlyderS1 would take on chipleader SharkBoy217 all-in after receiving the door cards. SlyderS1's deuces never improved [2s] [5s] / [2c] [Td] [9d] [Kh] / [7s] as SharkBoy217 found a trey on seventh [Qd] [Th] / [5c] [3s] [7h] [6d] / [3h] to start up the final table below:

Seat 1: scrubbyz (216476 in chips)
Seat 2: Piipboy (180045 in chips)
Seat 3: RL1D (42548 in chips)
Seat 4: cladarth (280118 in chips)
Seat 5: Donald (64840 in chips)
Seat 6: maggess88 (140012 in chips)
Seat 7: berserk64 (183599 in chips)
Seat 8: SharkBoy217 (577362 in chips)

In of the seventh hand of the final table with the stakes moving to 30K/60K ante 6K Piipboy would raise to 39K over a raise by SharkBoy217 as cladarth came along for the ride. Cladarth would check-call fourth street looking for a decent Razz hand. Showing [7h][4c][6d] cladarth would lead out on fifth as SharkBoy217 looked for easier prey and folded. Piipboy's decent starting hand crumbled only notching a king-queen [3h] [8c] / [5d] [Ks] [8d] [Qs] / [3c] as cladarth's nine-seven [4d] [Ad] [7h] / [4c] [6d] [9h] / [As] was enough to knockout Piipboy in eighth place ($1,516.50).

On the next hand moving to Stud and 40K/80K ante 8K limits, RL1D was all-in for 22,548 with a [5c] showing as scrubbyz and Sharkboy217 stayed in. SharkBoy217 bet fourth street as scrubbyz called all-in for 41,476. RL1D would take down the main pot with trip eights and trip fives (ok, it's a full house but looks bigger) [8s] [4d] / [5c] [5h] [5s] [8c] / [8h]. Scrubbyz's split kings would not improve [3d] [Kd] / [Kh] [7s] [Qh] [5d] / [4h] but SharkBoy217's flush draw did [Tc] [Kc] / [6c] [2h] [9c] [Qs] / [Jc] handing $1,853.50 to scrubbyz in seventh place in a second TCOOP final table this week after placing third in Event #32 for $19K.

During the hold'em round with the bets going up to 50K/100K we would say farewell to yet another familiar face. Anders "Donald" Berg is well known for making the -COOP tournaments his bankroll multiplier, winning three WCOOP titles and two SCOOP titles while barely missing on a TCOOP title last year in Event #48's 8-Game tournament taking fourth. The wait for the Triple -COOP would continue as RL1D raised all-in preflop for 71,644 with cladarth in the small blind and Berg in the big blind calling. Berg's remaining 6,036 would be placed in the middle after calling cladarth's flop bet. Berg's [7d][Jd] would turn a straight draw after cladarth's [Ks][8d] flopped a pair of kings. But, RL1D's [Ac][Jc] found an ace on the river [Kc] [3h] [5d] [6h] [Ad] to stay alive. The former Team PokerStars Online Pro however could not overcome cladarth for the side pot finishing in sixth place ($2,527.50).

With SharkBoy217 still holding the chiplead in the Omaha Hi/Lo round berserk64 would raise as maggess88 three bet from the big blind. Berkserk64 shoved all-in for 35K more as maggess88 called with queens [Qs][Qd][2h][6c]. Berserk64's low wrap hand [4s][Ah][5h][3s] could not catch any luck [Qc] [Jd] [4c] [5d] [3h] as maggess88's straight would send berserk64 off in fifth place ($3,538.50).

Five minutes later in the Stud round RL1D was not able to build after knocking out Berg and shoved all-in for 65,684 after the door cards were dealt. SharkBoy217, after losing the chiplead to maggess88, stayed around with jacks that's flourished into a jacks full [Td] [Jh] / [Js] [Ks] [Jd] [Qh] / [Ts]. RL1D's hand failed to blossom [3s] [Tc] / [5d] [8s] [9d] [Kc] / [4c] ending the tournament in fourth place ($5,223.50).

WCOOP 2015 Event #56 champ maggess88 would carve into cladarth's stack, doubling through in the Stud Hi/Lo round for a 1.06 million chip pot. On the next hand and moving to hold'em with betting at 80K/160K SharkBoy217 raised from the button as cladarth called all-in for 16K and maggess88 called. After checking the flop with the board showing [6d] [7c] [Td] [5h] maggess88 bet the turn as SharkBoy217 swam for clearer waters. Maggess88 turned over a pair with a straight and flush draw [8d][7d] as cladarth's pair of fives was alive [5c][3d]. But, an [8h] river would excuse cladarth in third place ($7,245.50) narrowing missing out on TCOOP title number two after winning last year's Event #2.

SharkBoy217's dominate chiplead was gone at this point as maggess88 headed into heads-up play with a 1.2 million to 403K advantage. That lead would grow to 1.4 million to 283K after six hands as the two players decided to end things in the hold'em round. After capping preflop and 567K in the middle, SharkBoy217 turned over [7s][Qc] only to see a bigger queen held by maggess88 [As][Qd]. The kicker would hold up on the [3s] [5s] [3d] [9h] [6d] board as maggess88 claimed the second leg of the Triple -COOP by claiming the TCOOP Event #40 win and $12,974.50!

TCOOP-40 ($215 HORSE, Turbo) results

Entrants: 337
Total prize pool: $67,400.00
Places paid: 48

1. maggess88 (Netherlands) $12,974.50
2. SharkBoy217 (United Kingdom) $9,604.50
3. cladarth (Poland) $7,245.50
4. RL1D (Norway) $5,223.50
5. berserk64 (Russia) $3,538.50
6. Anders "Donald" Berg (Norway) $2,527.50
7. scrubbyz (Canada) $1,853.50
8. Piipboy (Russia) $1,516.50

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