Switzerland's AntonKrasch won a TCOOP event in only 94 minutes in a hyper-turbo event. Where else can you turn $215 into $25K in 94 minutes or, less time it takes to watch Rounders?

6-Max Hyper-Turbos are efficiently thrilling. The money bubble in TCOOP Event #43 burst in an under an hour, the final table was set in 80 minutes, and a champion declared in less than fourteen minutes. It total... 94 minutes from start to finish. Oh, did I forget to mention this was a split-pot game?

As the kids would say today... "Hyper-Turbos, bruh."

If you bought into the event and started watching the movie Rounders at the same time, the money bubble would have burst 49 minutes in, or just before the scene when Mike McD (Matt Damon) and Worm (Ed Norton) take a road trip to Atlantic City, where "the sand turns to gold." And this tournament would have ended in the middle of the infamous scene when Matt Damon plays Johnny Chan heads-up in a pot.

2016 TCOOP Event #43 $215 NL Omaha Hi/Lo, 6-Max was a Hyper-Turbo format with 3-minute levels. This no-limit O8 hyper-event attracted 641 runners. They created a prize pool worth $135,122.80. The top 84 places paid out with $24,998.15 set aside for the champ.

A pair of Team Online secured themselves a cash. At the money bubble, Team Online nkeyno from Japan was in the Top 25 and Team Online talonchick was 69th overall. Canada's talonchick would bust in 71st place and earn $391.85.

At the first break, nkeyno was 22/48. By the next break... um... there was no "next" break. The tournament reached a climax in 94 minutes and nkeyno had fizzled out in 38th place. nkeyno lost the majority of his stack in a three-way pot in which he lost boat over boat. A couple of hands later, nkeyno was knocked out in 38th place in a 3-way pot with [As][Kh][8h][2d] and lost to R_Caiaffa's [Ad][Jd][5h][3c]. Team Online nkeyno won $621.56.

With 12 remaining on the final two tables, Czech Republic's filfedra sat a top the big stack with 850K and was seeking  a second career COOP title.

Action went hand-for-hand with seven remaining. filfedra was closing in on 1M and mabelstark was the shorty with under 90K. However, Pikiniki ™ ran into SHIPP ITT's [As][Ac][Ts][4h] and Pikiniki ™ bubbled off the final table in seventh place. The 6-Max final table was set.

TCOOP 2016 - Event #43 Final Table Chip Counts:
 Seat 1: SHIPP ITT (1,013,789)
Seat 2: OELoose (474,993)
Seat 3: duremar2001 (159,958)
Seat 4: mabelstark (161,336)
Seat 5: AntonKrasch (461,290)
Seat 6: filfedra (933,634)

The final table kicked off during Level 26 with blinds at 15K/30K and a 6K ante. Canada's SHIPP ITT held the lead with 1M and filfedra was right behind with 993K. Meanwhile, duremar2001 and mabelstark were both the shorties with 160K. SHIPP ITT had previously won a 2014 SCOOP bracelet and won the Sunday Million in 2010 on 10/10/10. Also, filfedra once won a 2011 SCOOP.

JACOB'S LADDER: duremar2001 eliminated in 6th place

Action did not last a full orbit before a first bustout. Short-stacked duremar2001 open-shoved for 141,958 and OELoose called from the big blind.

OELoose: [As][6h][6d][2d]
duremar2001: [Ad][4c][3s][3c]

The board finished up [Td][9h][7h][Ah][Kh]. Without a qualifying low hand, OELoose won the pot with a pair of Aces and a better kicker. duremar2001 became the first player to ecit the final table and won $4,053.68.

STUCK WITH YOU: mabelstark eliminated in 5th place; OELoose eliminated in 4th place

Three-way pot. Two players busted. SHIPP ITT opened to 82,994, OELoose re-raised all-in for 243,661, and super-short mabelstark called all-in for 58,336, and SHIPP ITT called.

SHIPP ITT: [Tc][3s][3h][2s]
OELoose: [Ah][Kh][4s][2d]
mabelstark: [Ad][9s][7c][2c]

The board ran out [9h][9d][3d][6c][Js]. Without a qualifying low hand, SHIPP ITT won the main pot and side pot with a full house. The U.K.'s mabelstark made a final stand with trip nines buyt busted in fifth place, which paid out $6,756.14. Norway's OELoose never improved and was knocked out in fourth place, which paid out $9,458.59.

With three to go, SHIPP ITT led with almost 1.5M, followed by filfedra (934K) and AntonKrasch (784K).

FOREST FOR THE TREES: SHIPP ITT eliminated in 3rd place

SHIPP ITT's lead was short lived before AntonKrasch wrestled away the top spot. SHIPP ITT went from the penthouse to slumming it in the basement with the short stack.

SHIPP ITT bombed it all-in for 781,661 and AntonKrasch called.

AntonKrasch: [Qd][Qc][4h][2d]
SHIPP ITT: [As][9c][4s][3h]

The borad ran out [Ad][Kh][Qs][Jh][Jc]. AntonKrasch flopped a set of Queens and rivered a full house. Without a qualifying low, AntonKrasch won the pot and sent SHIPP ITT to the rail in third place. SHIPP ITT was dunzo in third, which paid out $13,850.08.

HEADS-UP: AntonKrasch (Switzerland) vs. filfedra (Czech Republic)
Seat 5: AntonKrasch (2,567,911)
Seat 6: filfedra (637,089)

With two to go, AntonKrasch held almost a 4-1 edge. Heads-up would only last 12 hands.

HIP TO BE SQUARE: filfedra eliminated in second place; AntonKrasch wins Event #43

On 12th hand of heads-up and the final hand... filfedra bombed it all-in for 547,089 and AntonKrasch called with Aces.

AntonKrasch: [Ad][Ah][7c][2s]
filfedra: [Kd][Td][6h][3h]

The board ran out [Tc][7s][4d][Jh][Jc]. filfedra had flopped a gutshot draw, but whiffed on the river. Without a qualifying low... AntonKrasch won the pot with two pair -- Aces and Jacks. filfedra lost with a lower two pair -- Jacks and tens.

For a runner-up finish, Czech Republic's filfedra took home $18,646.94.

Congrats to AntonKrasch for winning Event #43. First place pay day was worth $24,998.15.

TCOOP-43 ($215 NL Omaha H/L, 6-Max, Hyper-Turbo) results
Entrants: 641
Total prize pool: $135,122.80
Places paid: 84

1. AntonKrasch (Switzerland) $24,998.15
2. filfedra (Czech Republic) $18,646.94
3. SHIPP ITT (Canada) $13,850.08
4. OELoose (Norway) $9,458.59
5. mabelstark (United Kingdom) $6,756.14
6. duremar2001 (Russia) $4,053.68

Pauly McGuire is a freelance contributor to PokerStars Blog.

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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1:55pm: Day 1B set to start
Welcome to live coverage of Day 1B of the UKIPT5 Series 3. Yesterday 134 players entered the fray with 39 of them making it through to Day 2.

Yesterday the main Matcham Room was packed and with today expected to be busier the Poker Deck will also be in use at the start meaning play will be split across two floors.

The target for anyone with aspirations of the overnight chip lead is 170,900 as that's what Sam Orledge finished on last night. A surge in the final level of the day saw him pip Chris Gordon to the chip lead. You can catch up on Day 1A action here.

UKIPT5 Series 3 key facts:
- 20,000 starting stack
- Blinds starting at 25/50 for 400 big blinds
- Levels are 30 minutes throughout and they'll be 12 of them today.
- On Sunday the Day 1B survivors will join the 39 players who advanced from Day 1A and play to a winner from noon.
- No re-entry here, this is an old school straight freezeout.

Fancy playing a UKIPT? There are always plenty of online satellites, click here to get an account.

PokerStars Blog Reporting Team at UKIPT Series: Nick Wright. Photos by Mickey May

The first seven figure pay day of the 2016 Aussie Millions has been won on Saturday with Fabian Quoss defeating a star-studded field to win Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge and top prize of AU$1,446,480.

With the Aussie Millions Main Event enjoying a rest day before the final table on Sunday, the attention of the Crown Poker Room was firmly focussed on the final table of the $100,000 Challenge. An event which started earlier in the week with 41 entrants (30 unique and 11 re-entries) was down to the final six players with Ben Tollerene, Fabian Quoss, Jason Mercier, Connor Drinan, Sam Greenwood and Fedor Holz forming a superb final table line up.

High stakes online crusher Ben Tollerene was the chip leader while German Fedor Holz was the short stack entering the day. Despite dressing in a dapper suit and bow tie, Holz was unable to turn things around as he was first to go. Holz was all in with [kh][qs] but received no help against the pocket fours of Connor Drinan. Holz was in for three bullets in this tournament, which mean that his AU$281,260 prize resulted in a small loss for him on his investment.

Drinan was responsible for the next elimination as well when Sam Greenwood three-bet all in with [ac][2c]. Drinan was priced in with his [qc][9c] and the board of [jc][6d][3d][4d][9d] caught a pair of nines for Drinan to eliminate Greenwood in fifth place.

Drinan was in the thick of the action, and after distributing some of his chips around the table, he found himself in a tricky spot against Fabian Quoss. Drinan check-called two streets before leading on the river holding [qc][9s] on a board of [7c][td][jc][9c][6c] with his queen-high flush. Quoss moved all in on the river to put Drinan to a decision that required the use of both of his timebreaker buttons. As the clocked ticked down to the final seconds, Drinan finally flicked out a call but discovered the bad news when Quoss tabled [ac][2c] for the nut flush. Drinan collected AU$441,980 for fourth place.

Quoss continued to dominate and he was responsible for also ending the run of Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier. From the button, Mercier raised with [ah][8h] before Quoss three-bet with [ks][qd]. Mercier moved all in and Quoss made the call. The board fell [qs][3s][3h][kh][2d] and despite picking up a flush draw on the turn, the river bricked to leave Quoss' two pair to take down the pot and eliminate Mercier in third place.

Fabian Quoss would carry a handy chip advantage into heads-up play against Ben Tollerene and didn't give the American any spots to breathe. Tollerene landed one double up with pocket queens, but Quoss continued to grind down his opponent with a series of small pots.

In the end Tollerene was forced to make a stand for his last five big blinds with [js][Td] but found himself dominated by Quoss' [kh][jh]. The board bricked out [6h][4d][5c][5h][5d] to eliminate Tollerene in second place and crown Quoss as the $100,000 Challenge champion!

After a fifth and a third place in the $250,000 Challenge at the Aussie Millions in 2013 and 2014, Quoss lands his first title "Down Under" and a top prize of AU$1,446,480 to boost his career prize money to almost US$8 million.

Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge Results
1st Fabian Quoss (Germany) - $1,446,480
2nd Ben Tollerene (United States) - $924,140
3rd Jason Mercier (United States) - $602,700
4th Connor Drinan (United States) - $441,980
5th Sam Greenwood (Canada) - $321,440
6th Fedor Holz (Germany) - $281,260

The final table action will continue on Sunday with the final table of the Aussie Millions Main Event kicking off at 12:30pm local time. We'll have live updates from the final table in conjunction with the live stream at RunItUp.TV.

Click here for Main Event Final Table player profiles

We hope you'll join us then!

The 2016 Aussie Millions Main Event has been reduced from a field of 732 entrants to a final table of seven. It's a fantastic mix of international and local, live and online as well as male and female players!

Let's take a closer look at the seven remaining players in preparation for the Aussie Millions final table on Sunday.

Seat 1: Dylan Honeyman (Perth, Australia) - 885,000 chips

Dylan Honeyman is a 25-year old professional poker player from Perth in Western Australia. An unassuming character at the table, Dylan's quiet demeanour belies his aggressive play that has been honed in the online world under the moniker "WhiteRabbito".

Dylan clearly enjoys the big stage of the Aussie Millions. His best live result came with a win in the Bounty Event at the 2013 Aussie Millions for AU$120,000. He also cashed in the Aussie Millions Main Event last year in 56th place. Now with at least AU$210,000 locked up, Dylan has recorded his best ever result and will be looking to at least climb a few more pay jumps as the short stack of the final table.

Dylan says that his progress through this tournament has been "a blur", but clearly it was Day 2 where he made the biggest impact where he ended the day as the chip leader. He says that he has enjoyed the excellent deep structure of this event and has had an amazing time in Melbourne. There would be nothing more amazing that to end his trip with the Aussie Millions title.

Seat 2: Alex Lynskey (Brisbane, Australia) - 2,390,000 chips

Another Australian young gun on this final table is Queensland's Alex Lynskey. At just 25 years of age, Alex has already racked up an impressive poker resume at events all around the world.

Last year Alex rose to prominence with a deep run in this very event. He looked set to reach the final table before a cruel bad beat would send him home in ninth place. He has bettered that mark this time around and looks focussed to gain vengeance with a run at the top prize of AU$1.6 million.

The 2015 Aussie Millions kick-started a great year for Alex with a couple of WSOP cashes and results on the EPT and UKIPT. However his biggest cash came with a final table result at the WPT Choctaw event where his sixth place finish was worth US$135,504. The experience he gained under the bright lights of that TV table will hold him in good stead for this final table.

Away from poker, Alex enjoys travel, food and sport, and he says that he has enjoyed the home field advantage over the international visitors at this event. He says he has enjoyed playing with such a good structure in a venue as great as the Crown Poker Room.

Seat 3: Tony Dunst (Las Vegas, United States) - 5,990,000 chips

A familiar face on the final table to most of the poker world is World Poker Tour commentator Tony Dunst. With fourteen years experience in poker and over US$1.6 million in career earnings, Tony is arguably the most experienced player on this final table.

Tony is particularly familiar here in the Crown Poker Room where he spent several years grinding the local poker scene while studying in Melbourne. His first poker results came in this very room way back in 2005, and he was the runner-up in the inaugural ANZPT event in Adelaide in 2009. Since then, he's amassed a string of results in the US, with multiple WSOP and WPT cashes, including a victory at the WPT St. Maarten Event and two final tables in back-to-back years at the WPT World Championship.

The biggest story with Tony at this event was that he was almost not going to play at all. Tony somehow dropped a $5,000 chip from his pocket while waiting in the registration line. He was obviously upset by this and decided he didn't want to play at all. It wasn't until late on day one, that Mike "Timex" McDonald offered him a freeroll for a small percentage of his action. Tony thought "what the hell" and in attempting to punt off his stack, he has turned it into the second biggest stack at this final table.

In his spare time, Tony enjoys tennis, reading and travelling, and says that he has enjoyed everything that the Aussie Millions and the Crown Poker Room has offered during this series.

Seat 4: Samantha Abernathy (Las Vegas, United States) - 2,485,000 chips

Samantha Abernathy has captured the hearts of the Australian poker community. The 24-year old hails from Las Vegas and despite being relatively new to the game, she's proving to have plenty of game at the tables thanks to the tutelage of online phenom Calvin Anderson.

Samantha's live resume is modest, with a string of small tournament cashes throughout Vegas, but she did finish third in the Aussie Millions Terminator Event just a few days ago. However Samantha is known primarily as a cash game player, grinding stakes up to $5/$10. Those familiar with the television show "Poker Night in America" would know Samantha for a rather impressive bluff in the cash game where she bombed the river with an eight-high bluff and managed to get ace-king to fold top pair. Don't let her innocent smile fool you, this girl's got game!

However it might be another video which propels Samantha into the poker spotlight. Some are calling it a slowroll, others think it's a nitroll, but when Mikel Habb took his time to call with pocket kings against Samantha's pocket sixes with just fifteen players left in this event, the Twitterverse started trending #shipittomama when Samantha hit a two-outer six on the river.

Samantha says that every single person at the Aussie Millions has made her felt right at home, unlike anywhere else she has ever been.

Samantha has a background in graphics design, but it seems that the transition from poker as a hobby to a profession will be complete following this final table. A woman has never won the Aussie Millions Main Event but with two females on the final table, we are already guaranteed of the best result ever by a female at this event.

Seat 5: Ari Engel (Toronto, Canada) - 8,155,000 chips

Alan "Ari" Engel is a former number one ranked online player in the world and 2014 PokerStars SCOOP champion. At one point "Bodog Ari" was considered one of the highest volume online tournament players in the world, but following Black Friday, he was forced to pack up his residence in Las Vegas and travel the world as a nomadic poker grinder.

It's worked out well for Ari with over US$2.2 million in live career earnings to date with results all over the world. His biggest score came with a win in the 2014 Punta Cana Classic for US$177,000 but he is best known for his six WSOP circuit rings across the US. An Aussie Millions title would further confirm his place as one of the world's elite players, and with a big chip lead entering the final table, he's in pole position to do so.

Ari credits Andrew Brown for teaching him the game some 12 years ago, while Kevin McColgan and Nachman Berlin have been his biggest poker influences.

Ari spent eight years of his youth living in Melbourne, so winning the Aussie Millions would be a very special accomplishment.

Seat 6: Kitty Kuo (Chinese Taipei) - 1,005,000 chips

Chinese Taipei's all-time leading money earner, Hui Chen "Kitty" Kuo is a popular figure on the Asia poker circuit with her colourful attire and entertaining table banter.

A former Asia Player of the Year, Kitty has over US$900,000 in lifetime earnings with results spread all over the world. Kitty is a former Macau Poker Cup champion while she has two fourth place finishes in open WPT and WSOP events.

Approaching the final table of this event, Kitty was all in with ace-king against both ace-queen and pocket kings. She was one card away from elimination but one of the two remaining aces appeared on the river to keep her alive and from there, she carved her way to the final table.

Kitty says she has enjoyed her time in the Crown Poker Room with the professional tournament directors and dealers running a great tournament. Kitty says her hobbies are drinking and shopping - she'll have plenty of time for both if she can win this tournament to become the first ever female Aussie Millions champion.

Seat 7: John Apostolidis (Melbourne, Australia) - 960,000 chips

The final Australian on the final table is John Apostolidis. He's also the only amateur player and the lone Melbourne local representative remaining in the field.

A regular grinder in the $5/10 cash game and local tournaments at Crown, this final table result is already larger than John's career tournament earnings to date. No one was happier when they made the pay jumps for ninth place and then for the final table of seven. Despite being one of the short stacks, expect John to dig in his heels to try and climb further up the payout ladder on the final table.

John is a little fortunate to still be alive after he was all in preflop with pocket kings against pocket aces earlier in the tournament. He found a third king on board and used that stroke of luck to make it all the way to his first major final table.

Away from poker John likes playing chess and he says he has most enjoyed the restaurants and dining options available here at the Crown Casino.

Click to refresh for latest updates

2:10pm: Cards in the air!
Level 16: 10,000/20,000 (3,000)

It's finally here. The $100,000 Challenge final table has been set for four days and now it's finally time to play down to a champion. Our remaining six will be playing for the $1,446,480 top prize.

Here's their seating draw and chip counts:

1) Connor Drinan - 943,000
2) Fedor Holz - 192,000
3) Jason Mercier - 508,000
4) Sam Greenwood - 458,000
5) Fabian Quoss - 478,000
6) Ben Tollerene - 1,522,000

Ben Tollerene is the current chip leader but as poker fans know anything can happen. Cards are now in the air with blinds recommencing at 10,000/20,000 and a 3,000 ante. Stay with us to see how it plays out!

*In a bid to avoid spoilers the blog will be running at a 30-minute delay*

Take a look at the Aussie Millions official website for tournament schedules, structures, news and information from the Crown Poker Room in Melbourne.

Live updates brought to you courtesy of Brad Kain and Heath Chick. Photos by Jonno Pittock and Christian Zetzsche.

There was a time when limit hold'em was "the only game in town" in just about any town where people were playing poker. It's been a long time since those days, and a lot of people will tell you that game is out of style and never coming back. The United Kingdom's duffm0n will probably beg to differ after taking down the title in Event #39, a 6-max limit hold'em tournament, and winning nearly $9,000 for it.

The game began at 2:00 p.m. ET and ended up drawing a total field of 643 players, good enough to nearly double the guarantee with a $48,225 total prize pool. The top 84 players would earn at least $130.20, with $8,921.95 set aside for the last player standing.

As the field was narrowed to just two tables at the start of the fourth hour of play, Team Asia's Kosei "K. Ichinose" Ichinose was down to less than two big bets. He managed to double up with a pair of sevens after flopping a set, though, and chipped up as the field shrank to the bubble. And then he popped it with a humble starting hand to seize the chip lead, busting one player and putting another on the verge of elimination.

BADEXTASY had opened the hand with a raise under the gun, holding [Kh] [Qh], and got calls from both blinds, including DJeka[MD] all-in for 58K in the small blind. K. Ichinose led for 40K in the big blind on the [Ts] [4c] [7c], called when BADEXTASY raised to 80K, and then check-called on both the [5s] turn and [7d] river. Ichinose held [6h] [4h] for two pair, sevens and fours, and took 698K between the main and side pots, knocking DJeka[MD] out in 7th place ($988.61) and leaving BADEXTASY with a stack worth next to nothing.

Seat 1: Team PokerStars Pro's Kosei "K. Ichinose" Ichinose (909,096 in chips)
Seat 2: RyderRock (363,203 in chips)
Seat 3: TaBuLA_Ras4 (857,065 in chips)
Seat 4: duffm0n (806,945 in chips)
Seat 5: _stel_23_ (276,152 in chips)
Seat 6: BADEXTASY (2,539 in chips)

The odds were long but BADEXTASY won the first all-in and got in ahead with [Ah] [7c] on the second. TaBuLA_Ras4's [Ks] [Th] flopped top pair and stayed ahead, though, and BADEXTASY left in 6th place ($1,446.75).

The pots stayed mostly small in the early going, with only two of the first 14 getting as large as four big bets. By the time a bigger pot came along the stakes were already up to 60K/120K, so the 536K up for grabs was still only worth four and a half bets. Two-time MicroMillions finalist and RyderRock took that one from Ichinose, calling with [Ts] [9c] in the big blind after Ichinose raised with [As] [Kd] in the small blind and then flopping two pair against the unimproved Big Slick.

Everyone had been playing so close to the vest because of the structure and pay jumps that all the action on the largest pot so far went bet-call on every street. Both duffm0n and past Super Tuesday finalist TaBuLA_Ras4 had picked up open-ended straight draws on the flop of the [5d] [6d] [7c] [5h] [Ah] board, but duffm0n's [8c] [6c] had made a pair and TaBuLA_Ras4's [Td] [8h] hadn't, so duffm0n dragged the 840K chips in the middle to move into the lead with 1.29M.

No matter which short stack got involved at this point, they found a way to survive. TaBuLA_Ras4 got back to 784K on the next hand with unimproved [As] [Js] in a checked-down three-way pot. Kosei Ichinose tripled up with an [As] [Jc] of his own three hands later, but the Red Spade pro still had just two big bets at 257K. RyderRock doubled through duffm0n with [Ah] [As] against [8d] [8s], chipping up to 691K. And then Ichinose picked up [Ac] [Js] again, winning the race against duffm0n's [5c] [5h] for the 455K-chip pot.

Unfortunately for Kosei Ichinose, the next big ace that came along wouldn't fare as well. With the stakes up to 80K/160K, he opened with a raise on the button, holding [As] [Ks], and then capped the betting after RyderRock re-raised in the small blind with [Jc] [Td]. RyderRock called and then both players essentially ended up all-in on the [5c] [Qc] [9h] flop, there being just a 1,664-chip difference between their stacks. Ichinose had a 1.2-percent edge in equity on the flop, and it grew to 13.6 percent on the [9c] turn, but the [3c] on the river made a club flush to win the 1.11M-chip pot for RyderRock. And with that, Kosei Ichinose's tournament came to an end in 5th place ($2,411.25).

Like the block holding a Jenga tower together being pulled out of place, Ichinose's departure set the final table's collapse into motion. _stel_23_ wasn't far behind. Holding just 91K, the Greek player was essentially forced all-in on the next big blind. The [6d] [Qd] [Ks] was extremely friendly to _stel_23_'s [Kd] [7d], though, and the kings held up against RyderRock's [Ac] [2h] for a near triple-up to 223K. _stel_23_ made another pair on the next big blind, this time fives on the [2c] [5h] [3c] flop with [7d] [5s] in the hole. But this time RyderRock had [Kc] [Ks] in the hole, the cowboys held, and _stel_23_ left in 4th place ($3,375.75).

That gave RyderRock the edge in chips as three-handed play began, with 1.25M to duffm0n's 1M and TaBuLA_Ras4's 758K, and the German player suggested a deal. duffm0n was against the idea so play continued, and after 17 hands, with stakes at 100K/200K, those two players tangled in a pot that set the course for the tournament's end. Ryder Rock opened for a raise on the button ,called when duffm0n three-bet from the big blind with [Ad] [Ts], and then called bets on the [8h] [Jd] [6c] flop, [Qs] turn, and [Kc] river before mucking with 112K in chips remaining. duffm0n's [Qh] [5s] held up unimproved against RyderRock's [Td] [7c] on the next hand, and RyderRock departed in 3rd place ($4,943.06).

duffm0n limped on the button on the next hand with [8h] [4h], called TaBuLA_Ras4's raise, and promptly caught three of a kind on the [Ah] [4d] [4s] flop. duffm0n flat-called TaBuLA_Ras4's bet on the flop, and then did the same after making a full house on the [8s] turn, before raising all-in on the [2d] river. TaBuLA_Ras4 had been bluffing with [Qc] [Jh], and the tournament was over.

TaBuLA_Ras4 earned $6,655.05 as the runner-up, a top-10 score in the Greek player's career here at PokerStars. Meanwhile duffm0n earned a first career TCOOP title $8,921.95, the fourth-best cash of the U.K. player's career here and the most ever for an outright win. Congratulations to both players!

TCOOP-39 ($82 FL Hold'em, 6-max, Turbo) results
Entrants: 643
Total prize pool: $48,225
Places paid: 84

1. duffm0n (United Kingdom) $8,921.95
2. TaBuLA_Ras4 (Greece) $6,655.05
3. RyderRock (Germany) $4,943.06
4. _stel_23_ (Greece) $3,375.75
5. Team PokerStars Pro's Kosei "K. Ichinose" Ichinose (Japan) $2,411.25
6. BADEXTASY (United Kingdom) $1,446.75

chickensssss is quickly accumulating COOPs.

Just last September, chickensssss took down a $1,050 Omaha Hi/Lo 6-max event in the 2015 WCOOP and now chickensssss can add a TCOOP title to that. Event #38 has one of the longest names of the series, $215 NL Hold'em Turbo, Ante Up, Progressive Super-Knockout. That's almost as many qualifiers as there are 'S's in chickensssss' name.

There were also a lot of entries. A total of 1,191 players signed up for event, creating a $238,200.00 prize pool that was split right down the middle. There was $119,100.00 in the regular prize pool and an equal amount in the bounty prize pool.

Each player started with a $100 bounty. Each time a player was eliminated, half their bounty would go to their eliminator while the other half would be added to the eliminator's bounty.

chickensssss took the largest chunks out of both prize pools. It was a might peck. chickensssss won $20,556.66 out of the regular prize pool and $8,468.

Seat 1: The Carnadas - 368,123
Seat 2: chickensssss - 736,386
Seat 3: marksfive - 270,468
Seat 4: Tankanza - 262,313
Seat 5: philipgm - 845,063
Seat 6: pcayobh - 1,182,120
Seat 7: RodRish - 434,085
Seat 8: MarcusG22 - 1,013,687
Seat 9: FiatEruditio - 842,755

marksfive's elimination was a quiet one. The UK player quietly slid his cards into the muck after the elimination, leaving the rest of the world with just a guess as to what his final hand was.

In that hand, MarcusG22 raised to 63,500 from early position and marksfive called all-in for 60,447 from the cutoff. pcayobh called from the big blind and the flop fell [ah][3h][tc]. MarcusG22 bet 101,177, pcayobh called and an [ad] came on the turn. Both players checked and then checked again when the [ks] completed the board.

pcayobh showed [kh][3d] and the other two players mucked. pcayobh chipped up to 569,806 and picked up half of marksfive's $300 bounty while marksfive won $1,310.10 for finishing 9th.

The next elimination was an old-fashioned all-in, call and a flip. Tankanza moved all-in for 374,812 from early position and The Carnadas called all-in for 123,083 from the big blind. Tankanza showed [ac][Th] and The Carnadas tabled [2d][2h].

The [ah]6s][8d][7c][8c] board gave Tankanza the ace and the pot. The Carnadas's $487.50 bounty went to Tankanza while The Carnadas won $2,322.45 for finishing 8th.

Then chickensssss dealt an elimination and took over the lead.

MarcusG22 raised to 75,000 from the cutoff and FiatEruditio moved all-in for 677,730 from the button. chickensssss re-shoved from the big blind and MarcusG22 folded.

chickensssss: [ac][tc]
FiatEruditio: [8c][7c]

FiatEruditio had a 35.9 percent chance of winning the hand, but the [9s][4h][9h][2h][ah] board didn't defy the odds. chickensssss soaked up the hefty $2,399.59 bounty and took the lead with 1.8 million while FiatEruditio won $3,513.45 for finishing 7th.

Then chickensssss pecked away at the field again.

Tankanza moved all-in for 207,870 from under-the-gun and chickensssss called from the big blind. Tankanza turned over [6d][6s] and was flipping against chickensssss' [as][8s]. The [ac][7s][ts] flop gave chickensssss an ace and the [5s] on the turn brought the Canadian player a flush.

chickensssss got another bounty --this time worth $2,301.55-- and chipped up to 2.4 million. Tankanza on the other hand was eliminated in 6th and won $4,704.45.

The lead wouldn't stay with chickensssss long. MarcusG22 dealt pcayobh a one-two knockout to take the lead. First MarcusG22 doubled up to 2.4 million with [as][qd] against pcayobh's [qh][tc]. The hand left pcayobh with just 638,784 and it went all-in against MarcusG22 the following hand.

But pcayobh was dominated once again.

MarcusG22: [as][7s]
pcayobh: [ac][3c]

The board ran [qs][4s][qh][kc][5s] and pcayobh won $5,895.45 for the 5th place elimination. MarcusG22 got the $3,270.69 bounty and the lead with 3.2 million.

chickensssss was ready to strike again though.

chickensssss called from under-the-gun and RodRish moved all-in for 422,485 from the small blind. chickensssss called and showed [ac][4c] to RodRish's [3h][3s]. The coin fell in chickensssss' favor again.

The [7c][6s][ts][as][kd] board gave chickensssss the lead again with 2.6 million along with RodRish's $781.25 bounty. RodRish won $8,389.36 for for the 4th place finish.

chickensssss never let go of the lead and, after a few minutes of play, brought the tournament from three to one in just two hands.

MarcusG22 was the first to go. MarcusG22 checked from the small blind, chickensssss moved all-in from the big blind and MarcusG22 called. MarcusG22 showed [ah][9c] and chickensssss turned over [2s][2d]. The [6s][kc][4s][5h][3d] board gave chickensssss a straight and MarcusG22's $5,066.20 bounty.

MarcusG22 won $11,314.50 for finishing 3rd while chickensssss started the heads-up match with 4.6 million to philipgm's 1.3 million.

chickensssss checked from the small blind the following hand and philipgm raised to 90,010 from the big blind. chickensssss called and the flop came [tc][3c][kh]. philipgm bet 119,007 and chickensssss called. A [7h] fell on the turn and philipgm upped the bet to 202,311. chickensssss called and the last river of the tournament was an [8d].

philipgm moved all-in for 849,047 with [qc][9c] and chickensssss called with [th][5d]. philipgm won $14,887.50 for finishing 2nd while chickensssss won the TCOOP title and $20,556.66.

TCOOP-38 ($215 NL Hold'em, Turbo, Ante Up, Progressive Super-Knockout) results
Entrants: 1,191
Total prize pool: $238,200.00
Places paid: 153

1. chickensssss (Canada) $20,566.66 + $8,468.09 bounties
2. philipgm (Denmark) $14,887.50 + $2,649.20
3. MarcusG22 (Canada) $11,314.50 + $5,065.20
4. RodRish (Chile) $8,289.36 + $781.25
5. pcayobh (Brazil) $5,895.45 + $3,270.59
6. Tankanza (Austria) $4,704.45 + $2,301.55
7. FiatEruditio (Russia) $3,513.45 + $2,399.59
8. The Carnadas (United Kingdom) $2,322.45 + $487.50
9. marksfive (United Kingdom) $1,310.10 + 300.00

Alexander Villegas is a freelance contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

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