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.

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.

After four days of blood, sweat and tears inside the Crown Poker Room, the Aussie Millions Main Event field has been reduced from 732 to just seven.

Tony Dunst. Ari Engel. Samantha Abernathy. Kitty Kuo. Alex Lynskey. Dylan Honeyman. John Apostolidis.

One of those players will be crowned the 2016 Aussie Millions champion!

The start of Day 4 would see 40 players return to the battle on the Aussie Millions felt. They had already locked up a nice pay day for their efforts in Melbourne, and some were more than satisfied with that. However for others, the goal was simple - survive the day and reach the Aussie Millions final table.

The action was fierce throughout the day with eliminations coming at a steady clip. Stephen Chidwick (34th), Jessica Dawley (31st), Alex Lee (28th), Laurence Hall (27th), Andrew Bassat (25th) and Jack O'Neill (19th) were among those to fall short of the final three tables.

As the final table approached, play did slow somewhat as the big stacks started to emerge and the shorties hung on to every pay jump.

Former APPT Sydney champion Martin Rowe was unable to make it a double as he bowed out in 18th place before Australian poker veteran Tino Lechich was derailed in 16th in a big three-way all-in pot on the feature table. It was Lechich with ace-queen up against the pocket kings of Alex Lynskey, but it would be Kitty Kuo's ace-king which scooped the pot when a two-outer ace appeared on the river.

Mikel Habb entertained the railbirds with his antics, both in the poker room and on the live stream, but in the end, it was a cruel river that also brought his tournament undone. Habb wasn't sure whether to commit with his pocket kings, but when Samantha Abernathy spiked a set with her pocket sixes, the pot was shipped to her and Habb was sent on his way in 15th place.

Artur Koren (14th), Adam Monaghan (13th) and Cankai Zhang (12th) were next to go, before James Obst's run would end in 11th place. Obst attempted a resteal with a suited jack-ten but couldn't shake Bobby Zhang from his pocket jacks. Obst was crippled and eliminated a short time later.

Zhang was unable to make the most of those chips as he fell in 10th place and when Japan's Yuki Ko (9th) was coolered with kings against Ari Engel's aces, we were one elimination away from the official final table.

However it would take another three and a half hours for that final table bubble to eventually burst. John Apostolidis fought gamely as the short stack to survive, while on the feature table Dylan Honeyman was also getting short.

In the end it would be 2015 Asia Player of the Year runner-up KC Wong who would fall.

A lost race with ace-king against the queens of Apostolidis would do some damage before Wong committed what was left with pocket sevens against Engel's ace-eight. An ace on the flop brought relief around the room as the Aussie Millions final table line up was finally set.

2016 Aussie Millions Final Table
Seat 1: Dylan Honeyman (Australia) - 885,000
Seat 2: Alex Lynskey (Australia) - 2,390,000
Seat 3: Tony Dunst (United States) - 5,990,000
Seat 4: Samantha Abernathy (United States) - 2,485,000
Seat 5: Ari Engel (Canada) - 8,155,000
Seat 6: Kitty Kuo (Chinese Taipei) - 1,005,000
Seat 7: John Apostolidis (Australia) - 960,000

Click here for the complete prize pool and payout information

Tony Dunst and Ari Engel were the dominant forces of Day 4. Both were able to accumulate chips with little resistance, and avoid the landmines that struck a few other players during the day.

However it's testament to the resilience of the likes of Alex Lynskey, John Apostolidis and Samantha Abernathy who suffered crippling blows to their stack during the day but recovered to reach the final stage.

While it will be Canadian pro Ari Engel who carries the chip lead into the final day, the story lies with the two female players who have reached the final stage. Not only is it the first time in the history of the Aussie Millions that two females have ever made the final table, but it's only the fourth time a female has reached this point of the tournament in the modern era of the Aussie Millions (post 2003).

Both Kitty Kuo and Samantha Abernathy have proven themselves to be fierce competitors on the table and it would be fantastic for the growth of the game of poker if one of them can challenge for the title.

The seven players will return to the Crown Poker Room on Sunday at 12:30pm where one of them will be crowned champion and take home AU$1.6 million in prize money.

In the meantime, the final table of the $100k Challenge will take place from 2:10pm on Saturday. It's a cracking line up and should provide plenty of entertainment tomorrow.

We'll have live updates of all the action right here on the PokerStars Blog, while you can watch a live stream hosted by Jason Somerville over at RunItUp.TV.

We hope you'll join us then!

1:55pm: The final Series event of Season 5
Season 5 of the UKIPT is almost done, but before we head off on our holidays there are two more events to entertain you with. In less than a fortnight we'll all be heading over the Irish Sea to Dublin, but this weekend the action is coming to you from PokerStars LIVE! at The Hippodrome Casino.
This is the fourth and final 'Series' event of the Season and after October's Super Series, which carried a £550 buy-in which Dale Garrard won - it's back to a plain old 'Series' event. The buy-in is a reasonable £250+£25 and if the qualifier numbers are anything to go on it's going to be big. There were 27 online qualifiers and 16 players earned seats in a live satellite last night.

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 on Day 1A, which is today and Day 1B, which is tomorrow.
- The field then combines and plays to a winner from noon on Sunday.
- 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

For every problem there's a solution, or so they say, and at PokerSchoolOnline we love to solve problems. Sometimes it's a trivial thing like helping a new player to learn the basic rules of the game. Sometimes it's a little more complex, like discussing in our poker forum if that four-bet bluff in a high-stakes cash game was really a good idea or not. As the stakes go up the competition gets tougher and hence the decisions are also harder to make. But that's what PokerSchoolOnline is all about - it is a poker school after all.

As you can imagine with a poker school a lot of the members are relatively new to the game and they are eager to learn and improve their poker ability. It's at the poker school that new players can post hands for analysis and practice getting their feet wet at the micro-stakes before moving up in the World. It's a place where players can ask questions in a friendly environment without the fear of being ridiculed. That's what the school is there for, to help players to learn.

Another problem that a new player might have is they might never have played any live poker, or might not even be able to afford the buy-in to a major live event. The majority of new players start-off with a small bankroll, and rightly so. Thankfully - at for least one lucky player - PokerSchoolOnline has the solution to that, with a chance to win a package to the UKIPT Dublin Cup this February.

If you are a UK or Ireland player you can head over to PokerSchoolOnline to get your ticket to the UKIPT Dublin Cup Satellite on January 31 at 7.10pm UK time. (Tournament ID #1444666236). This is a winner-takes-all event and if you are lucky enough to win you'll earn a trip to the Irish capital Dublin with a package that includes:

* Return flights to Dublin from the UK.*
* 3 nights' accommodation at a luxurious four-star hotel.
* Entry into the UKIPT Dublin Cup event taking place between February 12th - 14th.
* Interviews and photos posted at PokerStarsBlog.
* Regular updates on the PokerStars Social Media channels as you play in the event.

It's an opportunity not to be missed so don't delay, head over to PokerSchoolOnline and get your satellite ticket.

*This promotion is open to all UK & Ireland players only. Full Terms & Conditions can be found here.

How would you feel if 39 people stood between you and $1,600,000?

That's the situation our remaining players find themselves in after an exciting week of poker at this Aussie Millions Main Event.

Today was full of ebbs and flows. Things slowed down dramatically as players approached the money bubble and tried to hold on for a guaranteed $15,000 payday. In the end the bubble would burst just 10 minutes after dinner break. It was Mark Bevan who ended up one shy of the money.

Bevan found himself all in preflop holding [ac][ks] but needed help against the [kh][kd] of Artur Koren. A huge rail had gathered around to sweat the action as the runout came [5s][5h][qd][2s][6c]. Bevan couldn't improve and while his tournament dreams were crushed, the remaining 80 players could breathe easy knowing they'd see a return on their investment.

And then, the floodgates opened.

The shortstacks who were clinging on had lost their inhibitions and the chips began flying. A sea of eliminations followed in the following levels as the field was chopped down significantly. Some of those who couldn't run it up included Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree, Joe and Tony Hachem, Gary Pepper, Ryan Hong, Sam Cohen and Phillip Gruissem.

For 40 though it was a different story, and for World Poker Tour commentator Tony Dunst it was the best story of the day. Dunst had a great time at the table over the last seven levels, bagging up 1,627,000 at the end of play. He amassed a chunk of chips doling out eliminations to Phillip Gruissem and Pascal Hartmann.

Joining Dunst tomorrow on Day 4 are Stephen Chidwick (388,000), Jessica Dawley (302,000), KC Wong (423,000), Tino Lechich, (364,000) and Dylan Honeyman (726,000). Honeyman finished 11th in chips while James Obst, Samantha Abernathy, Alex Lynskey and Kitty Kuo all posted up top ten finishes to the day (see below).

Aussie Millions Main Event Day 3 Top Ten Chip Counts
Tony Dunst (USA) - 1,627,000
James Obst (Australia) - 1,196,000
Samantha Abernathy (USA) - 1,195,000
Artur Koren (Austria) - 1,109,000
Alex Lynskey (Australia) - 1,073,000
Ari Engel (Canada) - 834,000
Yuki Ko (Japan) - 828,000
Bobby Zhang (Australia) - 809,000
Kitty Kuo (Taiwan) - 783,000
Martin Rowe (Australia) - 729,000

Aussie Millions Main Event Day 4 Seating Draw

And that's it! 40 remain, one will take home $1,600,000 and the prestigious Aussie Millions Main Event title. Play resumes again tomorrow from 12:30pm local time and we'll be playing down until our final table of seven is set.

We hope you can join us then!

Weirdly, Mike "MikeyGG3" Gentili had a hunch he would win a TCOOP event this year. So much so that he'd told a friend a few days prior to the start. Somehow he just knew it.

We don't know how his friend reacted, but one thing was certain. Gentili wasn't kidding, and to prove it he won TCOOP-13 last Sunday for $24,298. I wonder what else he can predict?

"Obviously I wasn't expecting that coming in!" said Gentili. "I would have been happy to have made a final table even in one of the events."

It was the first COOP win for Gentili, from Canada, and if you were able to choose the fashion in which to win it, "wire to wire" would probably be right up there. In a game that prefers to punish and frustrate, it must have felt to Gentili like everything was going perfectly.

"Sums it up about right," he said. "With such an overwhelming chip advantage I was able to raise relentlessly and take down many pots with the short stacks all battling to out last one another."

That doesn't tell the full story. Gentili had the same challenges as everyone else on his way to the final, surviving countless all-ins and such. "Things just kind of fell into place," he said, credited his strong grasp of shoving and calling ranges as the single thing that helped him do well, something crucial in a tournament of a TCOOP structure.

But in his view the key moment was not anything that set up his win. It was the hand that sealed it, the final hand.

"Just spiking the eight on him (Ukrainian player po82m) heads-up and ending it there and taking down the championship, that was a really great moment for me."

Gentili admits to not spending as much time planning for TCOOP as for say SCOOP or WCOOP, but the effect seemed just the same. He plans a break after it's all over, but for now his attention is on the rest of the series.

"I'm gonna continue going hard this week till the end of TCOOP," he said. I'll be playing almost all events until the main as I have made a couple cashes and might actually have a shot at the series leader board if I were to close out this week strong."

Take note, his predictions have been right before.

You can check Gentili's progress on the TCOOP Leader Board here as the series inches towards the Main Event on Sunday. Find all the results so far on our TCOOP results page.

It happens in every COOP series. You get into the habit of checking the names of winners each morning, ticking off event numbers as you go and subconsciously acknowledging each player in the win column. Days later you see a name that rings some distant bell. It's one you've seen before, recently too. "How do I know that name?" you ask yourself.

That happened twice this morning. There had been four more TCOOP events played on Wednesday, two of which were won by players whose names set the bells off ringing - ugritaly, and buzzard1881. The cause of this mental noise? Both had just earned a second TCOOP in the space of a week.

Just a few days ago Canadian player buzzard1881 was telling us how much he enjoys shoot out contests (this was shortly after he won TCOOP-06, a shootout). It gave him an opportunity to focus on winning just one table; he'd said in an interview I'll admit now needs a bit of a re-write. Seems he had no trouble in a "straightforward" limit stuff H/L tournament either.

But buzzard1881 wasn't the only one notching up a second win of the series. A little more than a week ago Sal "ugritaly" Fazzino won the third TCOOP event of the series, picking up $33,363 for winning the Progressive-Ultra Knockout (another red-letter day for our "Tournament Naming" department, well done guys). He added another $31,202 to that tally, winning TCOOP-28, a relatively vanilla hold'em turbo with an optional re-entry.

But there were four winners this day and two others are worthy of a mention.

Shtopol' of Ukraine picked up $17,528 in the PL Omaha, 6-Max, 3x Turbo, an event that moves so quickly that to blink risks missing your blinds.

Then there was the familiar sight of "1BigAceHole", a name to make you flinch for more than 1Big reason. It belongs to Tim Ulmer, a recent PCA Main Event finalist and all round poker protagonist. He earned $18,848 for his win in TCOOP 29, his second career COOP title.

Here are all the day's results in full. Click on the link in each to read the full final table report.

TCOOP-28 ($82 NL Hold'em, Turbo, Optional Re-Entry)
Entrants: 2,633 (1,935 entries, 698 re-entries)
Total prize pool: $197,475

Places paid: 342

1. Sal "ugritaly" Fazzino (Australia) $31,202.54
2. max-horror (Russia) $23,434.35
3. Seven_DV (Russia) $16,785.37
4. Loxagos (Germany) $11,552.28
5. SimonToronto (Netherlands) $8,787.63
6. villepn (Finland) $6,812.88
7. TiltStarter (Russia) $4,838.13
8. gpainn (Philippines) $2,863.38
9. flip flop250 (United Kingdom) $1,678.53

TCOOP-29 ($215 NL Hold'em, 6-Max, Shootout, Progressive Super-Knockout)
Entrants: 1,178
Regular prize pool: $117,800
Bounty prize pool: $117,800
Places paid: 216

1. Tim "1BigAceHole" Ulmer (Canada) $18,848.36
2. PALblCH (Belarus) $14,136.00
3. Skrb1c (Serbia) $10,602.00
4. Zagalo87 (Czech Republic) $7,068.00
5. seppo1k (Norway) $4,712.00
6. STELARI198 (Greece) $2,921.44

TCOOP-30 ($7.50+R, PL Omaha, 6-Max, 3x-Turbo)
Entrants: 2,578 (12,322 re-buys; 1,417 add-ons)
Total prize pool: $111,281.94
Places paid: 330

1. Shtopol' (Ukraine) $17,528.56
2. petro_popovi (Ukraine) $12,797.42
3. DaMethod (Austria) $9,458.96
4. SwizzHawk (Switzerland) $6,120.50
5. damourinio (FYROM) $3,894.86
6. DoEasyMoney (Belgium) $2,108.79

TCOOP-31 ($82 FL Stud Hi-Lo, Turbo)
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

Find all the results from this year's Turbo Championship of Online Poker, along with links to all the stories from the series, on our TCOOP results page.

Coming up today

There are four more TCOOP events scheduled for Thursday, which means you can pick your own highlight. For some this might be the biggest of the day, the $700 NL Hold'em 8-Max Turbo, Progressive Ultra-Knockout, with a guaranteed prize pool of $700,000. Then again if Razz is your game, your day might be all about TCOOP-33, an $82 Razz event with $25,000 guaranteed. Either way there's more than $1 million to be one today. If you're so inclined you might want to play them all.

TCOOP-32: $7.50+R NL Hold'em (3x Turbo) $200K GTD - 12:00 ET
TCOOP-33: $82 Razz (Turbo) $25K GTD - 14:00 ET
TCOOP-34: $700 NL Hold'em (8-Max, Turbo Progressive Ultra-KO) $700,000 GTD - 16:00 ET
TCOOP-35: $27+R PL Omaha (6-Max Turbo) $100K GTD - 18:00 ET

We're now just four days away from the TCOOP 2016 Main Event, but there's plenty still to play for before then. Check out the TCOOP homepage for everything there is to know about the Championship, as well as details of how to win your seat for each event, including the Main Event on Sunday, in one of countless satellites now underway.
As always send your thoughts and comments to us on Twitter @PokerStarsBlog.com.

For some players a series like TCOOP homepage means time spent planning ahead. It requires attention as you block off the schedule and settle down to grind away at ten days' worth of high stakes poker. By the end of it you hope to have a few results and finish up, maybe even reach a final table. A fortunate few may even win a TCOOP title.

Then there are the other players, for whom a different approach is required. Like Stephen "woody1234321" Woodhead for example, winner of TCOOP-17, who instead of concentrating purely on one thing juggled the demands of the online game with those of the live one instead, all from a hotel room in Melbourne where he's staying while he competes in the Aussie Millions.

Stephen "woody1234321" Woodhead: Dividing his time between TCOOP and the Aussie Millions

It means things can feel a little upside down from time to time.

Woodhead put the finishing touches to his TCOOP victory at 11.30am in the morning Melbourne time. While others might do the same at the end of the day, his was just starting. But nothing beats the feeling of a tournament win, regardless of geography, as Woodhead explained.

"I felt so good that i nearly registered Day 1b of the Aussie Millions that started at noon," he said. "I came to my senses and decided to just chill out for the day and get some rest, playing day 1c the day after instead."

It was a good decision for the American, who put in a solid performance to reach Day 2 of the Aussie Millions main event. But so far TCOOP remains the highlight of his week, what was his second COOP title, coming as it did with a first prize of $118,818. How did this one compare to the first?

"Obviously the first TCOOP win meant more to me," said Woodhead. "It was my first big series win. I've made some big SCOOP final tables before but could never clinch the win so it felt good to get the monkey off my back. That being said, it felt pretty good to get TCOOP titles in back to back series in two of the biggest events.

The tournament itself had been a difficult one, "super swingy" as he put it, and there were times when Woodhead looked on the point of elimination.

"One key point that I remember was with two tables left when I ran queen-jack suited into kings and lost, and was left with 1.5bbs. The stacks were so shallow at this point that two double ups in the next two hands got me back to average stack. I started the final table pretty short stacked, but after getting a couple of shoves through i managed to double up with AJ v AT to put me at double average. From there it was a pretty easy ride."

For a man who admits to occasional periods of boredom in SCOOP and WCOOP, regardless of how much he loves to play them, TCOOP hits the spot. It's a place where he can thrive, and ironically where he can focus, despite the gallop at which play moves.

"The action is so fast paced that you barely have a minute to breathe... That's where TCOOP is a great change of pace."

It's a sentiment that lends an air of nonchalance to his TCOOP win, belying the sheer effort such an event demands of you to survive and thrive in one of poker's most volatile arenas. Woodhead puts that down to a couple of things, but his advice for TCOOP success comes down to one thing: fearlessness.

"There's going to be a lot of times where you're chips are going into the middle with very marginal hands," said Woodhead. "I think this is what I did well, especially at the final table. Once I had the chip lead at the final table i was able to put pressure on all the other shorter stacks that had ICM to consider so i was able to pick up a lot of uncontested pots."

Not bad for a man juggling multiple challenges half way around the world. Hardly standard preparation, as Woodhead himself admits.

"Usually when a series is on I'll plan to do nothing but play poker for the whole duration, but this year's TCOOP was different. I wasn't really planning on playing many TCOOPs except for on Sundays. I'm in Australia for the Aussie Millions and the TCOOP schedule is tough at this side of the world. I had to wake up at 4am on Monday morning for the start of the Sunday grind so obviously this isn't ideal preparation, especially when I'm playing live poker during the daytime."

In terms of the rest of TCOOP is concerned, well that depends. Whether Woodhead plays or not depends on many things, not least his performances in Australia.

"I'll probably be skipping most of the TCOOPs until this Sunday. I can't miss the main event or the high roller. As I'm typing this i just made Day 2 of the Aussie Millions main event with 80k so hopefully i won't have any time to play further events for the next few days."

So if you don't see him at TCOOP before Sunday you can make a good guess as to how things are going Down Under. If you do see him well, it'll be his bad luck, and yours too when you think of it. For Woodhead is a man on form.

Read the final table report of Woodhead's TCOOP on the PokerStars Blog, where you'll also find all the latest results. For everything else there's the TCOOP homepage.