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12:40pm: Cards in the air for the 2016 Aussie Millions Main Event

The 2016 Aussie Millions Main Event is officially underway!

The players were welcomed to the Crown Poker Room by "The Voice" of Australian poker, Mr. Paul Khoury, before he introduced Twitch sensation, US pro Jason Sommerville.

Sommerville is a special guest at the Aussie Millions this year and will be live streaming every day on his Twitch channel at runitup.tv. Sommerville will be streaming with hole cards, on a 30-minute delay and it's completely free to watch! Today and tomorrow, Sommerville will be covering the 100k Event before focussing on the Main Event later in the ween.

The microphone was then handed to Crown Poker Room Tournament Director Joel Williams. He thanked the staff for their tireless efforts, as well as the local players for their ongoing suppor. Williams announced that there were over 300 local qualifiers for the Main Event, and eight of the first ten events of the schedule had year-on-year growth which is a tremendous result.

Finally Khoury introduced a man who knows the feeling of winning this great event - last year's Aussie Millions champion, Manny Stavropoulos. The home town hero said that the last twelve months has gone by very quickly, but he's enjoyed a few overseas trips and travelling the poker circuit.

The honour was then given to Stavropoulos to utter the immortal words, "Shuffle up and deal!"

With that, the cards are now in the air for Day 1a of the 2016 Aussie Millions Main Event. We'll be playing seven 90-minute levels today, which means we'll be wrapping up tonight at 1:30am local time.

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.

It was a rampage.

At 12:00 ET, 8,766 players started jumping into Event #10. They were allowed to jump straight back in if they were eliminated for the first 120 minutes. In that time, players rebought a total of 43,967 times, an average of about five times per player.

The 4x-Turbo feeding frenzy went on for five hours and nine minutes. When the dust settled, Sh4rK309 was the last one standing. Sh4rK309 started the final table with a commanding lead and held on to it until play got four-handed.

Sh4rK309 then jostled for the lead and finally emerged victorious. The win earned Sh43K309 $42,349.14 and a TCOOP title.

Seat 1: nunovoelz - 31,053,892
Seat 2: mecco - 36,976,204
Seat 3: monoco1965 - 14,898,334
Seat 4: grogros - 33,588,505
Seat 5: schulze505 - 14,497,636
Seat 6: Marc.GC - 15,953,050
Seat 7: Sh4rK309 - 116,723,031
Seat 8: Die Ventura - 18,495,150
Seat 9: dermot 67 - 57,546,198

Our 4x-Turbo final table lost its first player on the third hand.

schulze505 moved all-in for 13.7 million from middle position and Die Ventura, who had a few million more, re-shoved from the cutoff.

The blinds and button folded and schulze505 showed [ad][qc] to Die Ventura's [as][kd]. The board ran [9s][7s][8h][Ts][5s] and Die Ventura took the pot with an ace-high flush.

schulze505 won $2,957.39 for the ninth place elimination while Die Ventura rose to 37.3 million.

Then there was a very similar elimination two hands later.

Mar.GC moved all-in for 21.5 million from under-the-gun and Sh4rK309 moved all-in for 115.6 million from early position. The rest of the table got out of the way and Sh4rK309 showed [as][kd] --the same exact hand as Die Ventura's-- to dominate Marc.GC's [ah][qc].

Sh4rK309 was already in the lead but spiked a king on the river to end Marc.GC's tournament. Our eighth place finisher won $4,388.39 while Sh4rK309's lead grew to 143.9 million.

Players then had to wait a whole three hands for the next elimination.

In that hand, nunovoelz raised to 7.5 million from under-the-gun and monoco1965 re-raised all-in for 20.5 million from the hijack. nunovoelz called and we had a flip.

nunovoelz: [as][qd]
monoco1965: [th][ts]

nunovoelz hit a full house on the [ac][6d][ad][4h][6h] board and ended up with 87.1 million. monoco1965 on the other hand won $7,631.98 for finishing seventh.

Then we had a pair of double ups before we lost another player.

Sh4rK309 became the first player at the final table to score two eliminations after he eliminated grogros with pocket kings.

grogros moved all-in for 12.1 million from the cutoff and Sh4rK309 re-shoved for 130.4 million from the button. grogros showed [ah][kd], but Sh4rK309 tabled [kh][kc].

The [3s][6s][th][4s][5c] board brought no ace for grogros and the German player was eliminated in sixth place. grogros took home $11,447.98 for the finish while Sh4rK309's massive lead grew to 150.9 million.

nunovoelz was in a distant second with 87.1 million.

Double double for dermot 67

dermot 67 was the short stack, but scored two doubles and joined Sh4rK309 in the 100+ million club. First, dermot 67's [as][qc] held up against Sh4rK309's [kh][jd] and dermot 67 doubled up to 43.2 million.

A few hands later, Sh4rK309 moved all-in for 167.0 million from the cutoff and dermot 67 called all-in from the small blind.

Sh4rK309 turned over [td][8d] while dermot 67 tabled [as][kc]. dermot 67 hit a king on the [5d][4s][ks][5h][2d] board and doubled up to 106.3 million while Sh4rK 39 dropped to 117.6 million.

Then we got down to four players.

mecco moved all-in for 28.9 million from the button and a short-stacked Die Ventura called all-in from the big blind.

Die Ventura, who had less than two big blinds, showed [9d][5c] while mecco showed [ac][th]. mecco paired both his hole cards on the [ah][4s][tc] flop and Die Ventura was eliminated in fifth place. Die Ventura got a $15,263.97 payday while mecco chipped up to 45.0 million.

Deal

Our final four players struck a deal. They went to the negotiating table with the following stacks:

Sh4rK309 - 102,097,056
dermot 67 - 110,833,632
nunovoelz - 81,306,118
mecco - 45,495,194

Players saw a few numbers and agreed on the following:

dermot 67 - $39,262.40
Sh4rK309 - $38,349.14
nunovoelz - $35,801.30
mecco - $29,662.91

Left to play for place first: $4,000.00

While players had most of the prize money locked up, play slowed down a bit. Sh4rK309 and dermot 67 jostled with the lead while mecco and nunovoelz struggled to stay alive.

mecco lost that battle first. mecco moved all-in for 23.2 million from under-the-gun and Sh4rK309 called from the button. The blinds folded and mecco showed a pair of red fives. Sh4rK showed a pair of black kings.

The board brought no 5 for mecco and the German played won the agreed-upon $29,662.91 for finishing fourth. Sh4rK309 on the other hand chipped up to 188.3 million.

Then dermot 67 brought the tournament heads-up.

nunovoelz moved all-in for 42.9 million with [ad][ks] and dermot 67 called with [th][tc]. dermot 67 won the flip when the board came [8h][7s][3s][jh][js] and nunovoelz took home $35,801.30 for the third-place finish.

Heads up

Sh4rK309 - 189,115,448
dermot 67 - 150,616,552

dermot 67 quickly took over the lead and had Sh4rK309 down to 72.6 million. Then Sh4rK309 moved all-in with [5c][3c] and won. dermot 67 called with [kc][qs], but Sh4rK309 took over the lead on the [js][ac][5d][9c][4d] board.

Sh4rK309 doubled up to 147.3 million and dermot 67 dropped to 192.5 million. Sh4rK309 then took down a series of pots and reversed the roles.

dermot 67 was down to 66.2 million and moved all-in with [ts][9h]. Sh4rK309 called with [kc][3c] and paired both cards on the [5h][6c][4h][ks][3h] board.

dermot 67 got $39,262.40 for the runner-up finish while Sh4rK309 won the TCOOP title and $42,349.14.

TCOOP-10 ($7.50+R NL Hold'em, 4x-Turbo) results
Entrants: 8,766
Rebuys: 43,967
Add-ons: 3,220
Total prize pool: $381,599.46
Places paid: 1,170

1. Sh4rK309 (Slovenia) $42,349.14*
2. dermot 67 (Ireland) $39,262.40*
3. nunovoelz (Brazil) $35,801.30*
4. mecco (Germany) $29,662.91*
5. Die Ventura (Peru) $15,263.97
6. grogros (Germany) $11,447.98
7. monoco1965 (Uruguay) $7,631.98
8. Marc.GC (Argentina) $4,388.39
9. schulze505 (Lithuania) $2,957.39

*Reflects the results of a four-way deal that left $4,000 in play for the winner

Because a turbo structure doesn't generate enough action, why not throw in some Zoom poker to juice it up a little further. There are three Zoom events on the TCOOP schedule and Event 9 was the first, a $215 buy-in tournament with a $250,000 guaranteed prize pool.

The fast-fold format kept things moving quickly with players seeing more hands than a standard turbo. If players found themselves without chips in the first 75 minutes, they had up to three re-entries available to them.

The tournament drew 1,367 entrants with 676 re-entries during the late registration period. They blasted past the guarantee and the prize pool was up to $408,600 when registration was shut down. The tournament paid out the last 270 players with the winner set to earn $65,376.

The tournament was in the money less than 30 minutes after registration closed and those 270 players wasted no time mixing it up. The Zoom portion of the tournament closed with three tables remaining and it played out as a standard turbo.

Team PokerStars' Naoya "nkeyno" Kihara had a top five chip stack when they settled into the last three tables and had a chance to add a major online title to his 2012 WSOP bracelet. His efforts fell short when he three-bet shoved with [qc][9c] straight into girafganger7's [ts][tc] to go out in 16th.

The tournament hit the final table when Mantas "bagoch" Bagočius sent MeBeKing out in 10th place after his [ac][4h] out-turned [ah][5s]. Bagočius came to the final table with a past record that includes two Sunday Million titles, the last coming this past summer.

Seat 1: Econometrist (986,035 in chips)
Seat 2: Mantas "bagoch" Bagočius (3,003,052 in chips)
Seat 3: Joao Valli (627,003 in chips)
Seat 4: girafganger7 (1,045,883 in chips)
Seat 5: DJeka[MD] (340,830 in chips)
Seat 6: Zagalo87 (1,681,302 in chips)
Seat 7: kraftatze (1,320,610 in chips)
Seat 8: hateblondies (827,788 in chips)
Seat 9: TANGKETAN (382,497 in chips)

Blinds: 20K/40K with 5K Ante

TANGKETAN can't capitalize on making final table

The turbo final table was expected to play out quickly and they actually waited until the second hand for one player to get all their chips in the middle. It was TANGKETAN to start things off with an open-shove for only 132,497 from under the gun and girafganger7 called.

TANGKETAN: [as][jd]
girafganger7: [ah][qd]

TANGKETAN needed a lot of help to stay alive, missed the [9s][7s][5s] flop, but picked up the nut flush draw. None hit on the [6d] turn or [kh] river to send TANGKETAN out in 9th place for $4,086.

DJeka[MD] makes a move, falls out in 8th

DJeka[MD] probably thought he found a good spot to pick up a few bonus chips but it went sideways. He was in the small blind when girafganger7 limped from button and DJeka[MD] shoved with [ks][jh]. It might have worked to get girafganger7 out of the hand but Zagalo87 followed that move with one of his own.

Zagalo87 moved all-in over the top to get the fold from girafganger7 and his big blind [ac][ad] was dominating. DJeka[MD] needed a miracle but didn't catch the [td][5d][2s] before getting a brief glimpse of salvation on the [js] turn.

DJeka[MD] had five ace-cracking outs but blanked the [5h] river to be the next sent out, eliminated in 8th place for $7,150.

Econometrist not strong, second best for 7th

Keeping with the theme, the final table let one hand go by without a knockout before two players mixed it up in a big pot. It also produced one of the few hands in the fast tournament that featured post-flop play.

It started when Bagočius opened to 105,000 under the gun then picked up calls from Zagalo87 and Econometrist to see the three-way, diamond-friendly [ad][7d][2d] flop. Econometrist and Bagočius checked before Zagalo87 led out for 170,200.

Econometrist responded with a check/raise all-in for 796K. Bagočius let his hand go but Zagalo87 quickly called with the nuts. His [kd][qd] was crushing Econometrist's [td][8d] to leave him with less than 0.2% chance of winning.

He needed perfect-perfect running straight flush cards and the [7h] turn was not one of them. That meant Econometrist was drawing dead to 7th place for $10,215.

hateblondies hates Queens, gone in 6th

Three players were gone in mere minutes of final table action and the pace stayed hot when hateblondies tossed in his (nearly) 500K virtual stack in the middle from middle position. Bagočius stayed busy and followed it up with a shove of his own next to act.

Everyone else got out of their way and hateblondies saw his predicament. Bagočius was ahead with [ah][qd] against [ac][jh] then nearly locked up the hand on the [qs][qc][5d] flop. Another miracle was needed but we instead saw another player drawing dead after the turn.

It was the [9d] to leave hateblondies with zero river outs and he was gone in 6th place for $14,301.

girafganger7 runs set up, run out in 5th

The knockout of hateblondies set up an odd stretch of play at the final table. They played nearly two orbits without a single player at risk, almost unthinkable in this game. Then we saw Zagalo87 run into a monster and (Kings full) before he produced one of his own.

It started when he raised it up under the gun with [as][ac] and girafganger7 came along in the big blind. girafganger7 checked after the [ah][8s][6c] flop and Zagalo87 played it cool with a check behind. He saw another check from girafganger7 after the [7c] turn and fired a small, 122K bet.

girafganger7 called the bet and check one last time after the [kh] river and raised after another small bet from Zagalo87. The check/raise was for all his chips with bottom pair [9s][6s] and Zagalo87 quickly called with his top set to send girafganger7 out in 5th place for $18,387.

This was not the first taste of big tournament success for girafganger7. He came very close to picking up a WCOOP title this past September when he finished 2nd in Event 67.

kraftatze jacked up and out in 4th

kraftatze is having a very nice week, this deep run comes on the heels of his Sunday Kickoff tournament victory a few days ago. He earned more than $30,000 for that result and was close to doubling it at this final table.

If he was going to cash for more than $30K, kraftatze needed to pick up some chips and he tried with an under the gun shove with [7s][7d]. The bet got through Bagočius but Joao Valli reshipped with [jd][jh] to get heads up.

kraftatze fell further behind on the [qs][ts][js] flop but did pick up a flush draw. The [kd] turn added some chop outs but he whiffed the [4h] river for a 4th place finish.

Zagalo87 loses long battle

Only 12 minutes to go from a full final table to three-handed action, it would take more than double that amount of time to get to a champion. The final three players went at it for 34 hands, more than 20 minutes, plus the regularly scheduled break before they hit heads up.

The fast action meant the average stack deepened enough to give them some flexibility. It might have gone longer if not for a couple big hands to get closer to a champ.

In a battle of the blinds, Zagalo87 opened to 70,000 from the small and Bagočius three-bet to 414,400 from the big. Zagalo87 took the opportunity to move all-in with his second place stack and Bagočius quickly called.

Bagočius: [ad][kd]
Zagalo87: [jd][th]

Zagalo87 had two live cards but missed the [qh][6c][2h] flop before adding outs on the [kh] turn. He had flush and straight outs going into the river but the [7d] was not one of them. It was a long grind at the end but Zagalo87 had to settle for 3rd place money.

Mantas "bagoch" Bagočius wins first TCOOP title

Seat 2: Mantas "bagoch" Bagočius (8,043,899 in chips)
Seat 3: Joao Valli (2,171,101 in chips)

Blinds: 70K/140K with 17.5K Ante

Bagočius had a comfortable lead at the start of heads up play but Joao Valli evened things up on the third hand. His [ad][qs] was best for the double against [jd][td] but that was the end of his good run.

The two went back and forth over 14 hands before they flipped a coin to finish it. Bagočius opened a big lead once again and shoved after Joao Valli limped on the button.

Bagočius was ahead with [5c][5h] against [kh][7c] and dodged the over cards as the board ran out [8h][4s][2c][ac][8d]. A predictable fast end to a tournament that only took four hours from start to finish.

Joao Valli earned $49,032 for his runner-up finish while Bagočius picked up his third major title for $65,376. The win gives Bagočius a TCOOP title to go along with his previous two Sunday Million victories, half way to a PokerStars Grand Slam.

TCOOP-09 ($215 NL Hold'em, Turbo, Zoom, Optional Re-Entry) results
Entrants: 1,367 (676 Re-Entries)
Total prize pool: $408,600
Places paid: 270

1. Mantas "bagoch" Bagočius (Lithuania) $65,376.00
2. Joao Valli (Brazil) $49,032.00
3. Zagalo87 (Czech Republic) $36,744.00
4. kraftatze (Germany) $26,211.69
5. girafganger7 (Belgium) $18,387.00
6. hateblondies (Russia) $14,301.00
7. Econometrist (Netherlands) $10,215.00
8. DJeka[MD] (Moldova) $7,150.50
9. TANGKETAN (Chinda) $4,086.00

January is a magnificent time to be in Melbourne. Sure, I'm a little biased in my home town, but just ask any of the visitors around the floors of the Crown Casino this week and I'm confident they'll agree. They might be here for a holiday to enjoy the heat of the Australian summer. Or perhaps they're in town for the Australian Open - one of the biggest international tennis events in the world. Maybe they've come to enjoy international cricket at the Melbourne Cricket Ground - a stadium which seats 100,000 people. Or maybe they're just enjoying the amazing food, shows, entertainment or culture that Melbourne brings.

Or just maybe they are here to participate in one of the world's richest poker tournaments - the 2016 Aussie Millions Poker Championship.

It's an event with a deep history with prize money that rivals even a tennis Grand Slam. Since 2003, the Aussie Millions Main Event has awarded in excess of AU$20,000,000 in first-place prize money alone, with the entire prize pool of the 2015 edition hitting a whopping AU$32,000,000!

While the internationals love heading "Down Under", the locals have performed very admirably in this event. Last year, one of the Australia's favourites - poker veteran Manny Stavropoulos - defeated a field of 648 players to capture the top prize of $1,385,500. Other locals to claim the title in recent years include David Gorr, Oliver Spiedel, Tyron Krost and Stewart Scott.

With its partnership with the Asia Pacific Poker Tour now into his third year, tournament organisers are extremely confident of an increase in numbers this year. APPT President Danny McDonagh has claimed that a number over 700 is a very likely for a number of reasons.

Firstly, PokerStars have satellited in a record number of online qualifiers. Previously the record was 133, but this year the number is up over 150 at the time of writing. Crown Poker have also satellited in a huge number of players with a mega-satellite earlier in the week giving away a record 30 Main Event seats!

There's no WSOP APAC to clash with this year so that should mean deeper pockets for local players, but overseas players will also be able to take advantage of the falling Aussie dollar. In previous years the Aussie dollar was at parity to the US dollar, but now international players are getting much more bang for their buck.

That also means we should see some amazing fields for the incredible array of High Roller Events on the schedule. The AU$25,000 NLHE Event attracted a record 122 entrants just a few days ago, and with both AU$100,000 and AU$250,000 events on the schedule, many of the world's biggest and best players will be in town.

When you throw in the tennis, the food, the beaches and everything else we love about Melbourne, it means we're in for a massive week ahead of us at the Aussie Millions Poker Championship.

The AU$10,600 Main Event will kick off at 12:30pm local time on Sunday with the first of three opening day flights.

We'll have all of the live updates of the 2016 Aussie Millions Main Event, as well as the two big High Roller events, right here on the PokerStars blog. Stay tuned!

Haven't got a PokerStars account yet? Join the world's biggest site now.

Heath Chick is Freelance Contributor for the PokerStars Blog.

With three tables remaining in TCOOP Event #8 Big Antes, Russia's IvanHaldi seized the lead and appeared to be the one player that everyone else was chasing. When the final table was seated, IvanHaldi held a formidable lead and LuckboxStami was treading water with 6th in chips, or near the back of the pack of shortstacks. LuckboxStami from Finland dodged an early elimination and picked off two players early to stay alive. LuckboxStami managed to get heads-up with big-stacked IvanHaldi. LuckboxStami trailed 3-1 in chips when heads-up began, but after ten minutes of rapid-fire play, the lead swapped hands a few times. LuckboxStami avoided a bustout and seized the lead by winning a coin flip with pocket sevens versus Big Slick. After an unusual heads-up deal discussion that took longer than the final table...and never went anywhere... LuckboxStami finished off IvanHaldi in a mere six hands to win Event #8. LuckboxStami had final tabled a SCOOP event last year, but this was the Fin's first-ever COOP title.

2016 TCOOP Event #8 $82 NL Big Antes with an optional re-entry (up to 3x) attracted 3,075 entries and 1,055 re-entries for a total of 4,080 entries. The prize pool swelled to $306,000, which trumped the 200K Guarantee. Only the top 540 places paid out with $48,042 set aside for the champ.

A pair of PokerStars Team Online cashed: nkeyno and mement_mori. As this Big Antes tournament raced toward the money bubble, nkeyno was 62nd overall and mement_mori in 279th in chips. Once the money bubble burst, mement_mori was on the defensive with a short stack... mement_mori made a final stand with [Td][8d] but lost to Siewas's [Ad][Qh]. Although mement_mori turned an open-ended straight draw, he whiffed on the river. Alas, mement_mori was dunzo is 292nd place, which paid out $171.36.

Shortly after, nkeyno was knocked out in 255th place when nkeyno busted with [Ks][Qs] against pazipro's [Ah][Td]. For 255th, Japan's nkeyno took home $183.60.

With 100 to go, 0tecpokera (Ukraine) led with 682K. 0tecpokera lead was short lived and 0tecpokera inevitably bowed out in 57th place. With 50 to go, raidalot rocketed over 1M and seized the lead. With 25 to go, IvanHaldi snagged the lead and was closing in on 4M.

By the time the final two tables were set with 18 to go, IvanHaldi still retained the lead and was inching toward 5M, which was at least 2x as much as gio_pot7 in second.

On the final table bubble blackaces93 moved into second place with 2.5M, trailing IvanHaldi's 5M big stack. Germany's pal73 was struggling with a shortstack under 1M.

Two players busted on the same hand on the final table bubble. Short-stacked pal73 shoved with [Ah][5c], gio_pot7 re-shoved with [Ad][2d], and HochMeista couldn't call fast enough with [Kh][Ks]. Pokcet Kings held up for HochMeista, who surged into second overall with 3.2M. Meanwhile, Greece's gio_pot7 went out in 9th place and shorty pal73 busted in 10th. The final table of eight was set.

TCOOP 2016 - Event #8 Final Table Chip Counts:
Seat 1: HochMeista (3,228,798)
Seat 2: IsseG (1,838,755)
Seat 3: blackaces93 (2,997,450)
Seat 4: LuckboxStami (1,587,078)
Seat 5: patasss (2,580,794)
Seat 7: plokker292 (988,498)
Seat 8: artmaxx_dk (1,524,269)
Seat 9: IvanHaldi (5,654,358)

The final table kicked off during Level 43 with blinds at 60K/120K and a "big ante" of 24K. IvanHaldi continued to hold the lead with a 5.6M stack. The shorty was plokker292 with 988K and the only stack under 1M.

VISIONS: patasss eliminated in 8th place

LuckboxStami open-shoved for 1,197,078 with [Ad][Qd] and super-shorty patasss called all-in for 345,996 with [Kd][Qh]. The board ran out [Ts][3h][4d][Ah][8c]. LuckboxStami won the pot with a pair of Aces and patasss never improved. Uruguay's patasss was knocked out in eighth place, which paid out $3,825.00.

JOURNEY OF THE SORCERER: blackaces93 eliminated in 7th place

After a stint of inaction to start the final table, two players busted out right after each other. blackaces93 bombed it all-in for 1,661,452 with [3d][3h] and LuckboxStami called with [Kc][8c]. LuckboxStami had a generous flop of [Ah][Jc][Tc] and picked up a gutshot Broadway draw and a flush draw. The turn was the [8s] and LuckboxStami picked up two pair. The river was the [4s], which did not help blackaces93's pocket treys. Poland's blackaces93 busted in seventh place, which paid out $6,885.00.

HOLLYWOOD WALTZ: plokker292 eliminated in 6th place

Two of the shorties rumbled... plokker292 shoved for 1,329,727 with [5h][4h] and artmaxx_dk called with [Ad][2c]. An ace on the flop sunk plokker292's hopes of doubling up. The board finshed up [Ah][Qd][9s][Tc][Jh] and artmaxx_dk won the pot with a pair of Aces. Fot a sixth-place finish, plokker292 earned $9,945.00.

TOO MANY HANDS: IsseG eliminated in 5th place

Big-stacked IvanHaldi opened to 750,000, IsseG raised all-in for 2,575,255 with [Ad][2h] , and IvanHaldi insta-called with [5s][5h]. Neither player improved when the board finished up [Qh][7s][4h][Jh][6d]. However, IvanHaldi won the pot with a pair of fives. For a fifth place finish, Sweden's IsseG took home $13,005.00.

With four to go, IvanHaldi chipped up to 7.5M, followed by HochMeista (5.9M), LuckboxStami (3.6M), and artmaxx_dk (3.2M).

AFTER THE THRILL IS GONE: HochMeista eliminated in 4th place

LuckboxStami opened to 1.2M, HochMeista bombed it all-in for 1,854,596 with [Kd][Td] and LuckboxStami called with [As][Js]. The board finished up [6d][2c][2h][6s][7c]. Neither player improved, but LuckboxStami won the pot with two pair and an Ace-high kicker. For fourth place, HochMeista won $17,595.00.

ONE OF THESE NIGHTS: artmaxx_dk eliminated in 3rd place

IvanHaldi min-raised to 1M and artmaxx_dk called from the big blind. The flop was [8c][2c][3c]. artmaxx_dk checked, IvanHaldi fired out 1.5M, artmaxx_dk check-raised all-in for 4,832,265 and IvanHaldi called.

artmaxx_dk: [Ac][Td]
IvanHaldi: [3d][3s]

IvanHaldi flopped a set and artmaxx_dk flopped a nut flush draw. The turn was the [3h] and IvanHaldi turned quads. The river was a meaningless [As]. IvanHaldi's qaud treys were good. Denmark's artmaxx_dk was busto in third place, which paid out $25,245.00.

HEADS-UP: LuckboxStami (Finland) vs. Ivan Haldi (Russia)
Seat 4: LuckboxStami (5,582,645)
Seat 9: IvanHaldi (14,817,355)

With two to go, IvanHaldi held almost a 3-1 edge.

The two played for ten minutes and the lead swapped hands a few times. LuckboxStami seized the lead in a 14.3M pot after winning a race with [7s][7c] versus IvanHaldi's [Ad][Kh]. IvanHaldi got the lead back after winning a 12M pot by rivering a Wheel with [Ac][Qh] and fading LuckboxStami's flush draw with [Jc][5c]. LuckboxStami regained the lead but only held a short edge by 2M. They decided to discuss a deal.

DEAL... DELAY... NO DEAL

LuckboxStami led 11.3M to 9M. Any deal had to leave $4,000 on the table for first place. The initial deal was floated: LuckboxStami locking up $40,393.85 and IvanHaldi locking up $39,450.15.

LuckboxStami quickly agreed but IvanHaldi did not answer the deal offer.

LuckboxStami said, "He doesn't talk much."

Support scrambled to find a Russian translator. The silence went on for more than a half hour while support scrambled to contact the silent Russian.

LuckboxStami joked, "Please call. Make sure he's even human!"

At that point, the break to discuss the deal was equaling the length of the final table before action was paused.

LuckboxStami got tired of waiting. "Let's play then. My hourly rate is taking a big hit in this tournament. You can check if he's a human later."

After a 57-minute delay, action finally resumed without a deal in place.

TAKE IT TO THE LIMIT: IvanHaldi eliminated in second place; LuckboxStami wins Event #8

Six hands. LuckboxStami finished off IvanHaldi in six hands. On the final hand... IvanHaldi min-raised to 1.6M, LuckboxStami shoved for 14,888,180 with [As][8s], and IvanHaldi called all-in for 3,591,820 with [9d][6d]. The board ran out [Js][8c][3s][4d][6c]. LuckboxStami flopped a pair of eights which held up. IvanHaldi failed to stave off elimination and hit the virtual rail in second place. LuckboxStami won the pot and the tournament and $48K!

For a rather bizarre runner-up finish, IvanHaldi won $35,802.00.

LuckboxStami won Event #8 for a first-place payday worth $48,042.00.

TCOOP-08 ($82 NL Hold'em, Turbo, Big Antes, Optional Re-Entry) results
Entrants: 4,080 (3,075 entries, 1,055 re-entries)
Total prize pool: $306,000
Places paid: 540

1. LuckboxStami (Finland) $48,042.00
2. IvanHaldi (Russia) $35,802.00
3. artmaxx_dk (Denmark) $25,245.00
4. HochMeista (United Kingdom) $17,595.00
5. IsseG (Sweden) $13,005.00
6. plokker292 (Netherlands) $9,945.00
7. blackaces93 (Poland) $6,885.00
8. patasss (Uruguay) $3,825.00
9. gio_pot7 (Greece) $2,448.00

Pauly McGuire is a freelance contributor to PokerStars Blog.

For players pursuing the elusive Triple COOP, the TCOOP title can sometimes be the toughest of the three to chase down. TCOOP's turbo structures tend to make things a little more chaotic than during, say, a SCOOP or WCOOP tournament. But for buzzard1881, who took down a second COOP title in TCOOP Event #6, catching a few breaks at the right time today guarantees that the rest of 2016 will hold literally dozens of non-turbo opportunities to join the Triple COOP club.

The field for today's event, which had no late registration and started at 10:00 a.m. ET, was 1,672 players, good for a $125,400 prize pool. The top 216 players - those who won their first two tables - cashed for at least $205.65, with $877.80 going to the players who busted from the semifinal tables. Those kicked off at 1:37pm ET, and it took an hour and eight minutes for them to play out completely. Once they did, these six winners of four tables apiece were left to compete for the first shootout title of TCOOP 2016:

Seat 1: buzzard1881 (5,000 in chips)
Seat 2: Avi Popo (5,000 in chips)
Seat 3: Knakworst93 (5,000 in chips)
Seat 4: Mrcaimann (5,000 in chips)
Seat 5: madnutscrazy (5,000 in chips)
Seat 6: Rodrigo "caprioli" Caprioli (5,000 in chips)

The first major action came on the 30/60 level when Mrcaimann opened for 150 on the button and madnutscrazy came along in the small blind to see the [2c] [Jh] [9h] flop. madnutscrazy check-raised Mrcaimann's bet of 180 to 420, and Mrcaimann called there and after madnutscrazy led for 528 on the [3c] turn. madnutscrazy then check-called a bet of 720 on the [5d] river, mucking when Mrcaimann turned over [Jc] [9c] for two pair, jacks and nines. That 3,696-chip pot gave Mrcaimann a stack worth 6,638 chips and the lead heading into the first break of the final table.

Mrcaimann grabbed another 1,535 chips nine minutes after the break without having to show down a hand, four-betting on the button after an opening raise to 225 under the gun by buzzard1881 and a re-raise to 550 from Avi Popo. But the biggest pot yet for the player from the U.K. came four minutes later after raising in the cutoff with [Td] [9d], flopping a combination flush-and-open-ended-straight draw, catching the straight on the turn of the [Ad] [8d] [7s] [Js] [Jc] board, and getting three streets of value out of buzzard1881, who had called the initial raise from the big blind.

After that 4,946-chip pot went to Mrcaimann, the chip counts looked like this with blinds and antes at 50/100/10:

Seat 1: buzzard1881 (3,166 in chips)
Seat 2: Avi Popo (4,803 in chips)
Seat 3: Knakworst93 (4,590 in chips)
Seat 4: Mrcaimann (11,681 in chips)
Seat 5: madnutscrazy (1,380 in chips)
Seat 6: caprioli (4,380 in chips)

Mrcaimann used the ammunition to try to take out the shorter stacks, but without success. First madnutscrazy, winner of a Sunday Kickoff last year, survived all-in against the leader in a blind-versus-blind showdown, calling with [Jd] [Td] after Mrcaimann shoved from the small blind with [Kc] [4c]. madnutscrazy caught top pair, turned a jack-high straight, and dodged any clubs on the river to chip up to 2,778. Mrcaimann got those chips back quickly enough through sheer aggression, but then buzzard1881 got all-in behind with [Ah] [9h] against Mrcaimann's [Tc] [Th], flopped an ace, and seized the lead with 7,546 chips.

The loss dropped Mrcaimann to second place, but not that far behind at 7,378 chips. But with the blinds and antes now up to 125/250/30, the momentum now shifted to buzzard1881, who picked up two pocket pairs and put that chip lead to work. First the Canadian player successfully isolated with [7d] [7s] after short-stacked madnutscrazy open-shoved, winning the flip against madnutscrazy's [Kc] [Th] on the [5h] [4d] [3c] [2d] [Qs] board to eliminate the player from India in 6th place ($3,109.92).

Four hands after that came a bigger score. buzzard1881 picked up [Js] [Jh] and called in the big blind after Knakworst93 open-shoved for 5,155 chips. The Dutch player's [6c] [6h] didn't improve on the [Qd] [Kc] [2s] [5h] [Ah] board, and Knakworst93 was gone in 5th place ($5,016).

buzzard1881 took a swing for the fences four hands later, calling with [7d] [7h] in the big blind after Avi Popo jammed for 2,800, but the Latvian player's [Ac] [Tc] caught an ace on the flop for the double-up. Eight hands later Avi Popo looked to be in position for another double at buzzard1881's expense, after opening under the gun with [Ad] [Qs] and being re-raised by buzzard1881 with [Ah] [8h]. But then the flop came [Jh] [8c] [Jc], and suddenly Avi Popo needed an ace, king, or queen to stay in the game. The [Js] and [4s] came instead, and Avi Popo was out in 4th place ($7,524).

With the table three-handed, the blinds and antes at 150/300/35 and rising, and buzzard1881's lead at almost 10,000 chips, a deal was struck. Mrcaimann had the shortest stack but asked for a bit more than ICM, citing a track record at sit-and-go tournaments. Then something interesting happened. Before three-time SCOOP champion Rodrigo "caprioli" Caprioli could add anything, buzzard1881 offered to give up $400 not just to Mrcaimann, but to caprioli as well, and offered up this nugget of humility:

buzzard1881: biggest holdem score im a fish

caprioli: lol

That sealed the deal and with $2,000 left on the table for the victor, the path to the tournament's end was clear. caprioli opened the second hand for the minimum on the button, holding [4c] [4s], and called quickly when buzzard1881 shoved from the small blind. But the leader held [Kd] [Kh], which stood up after the board came [Qh] [3d] [Td] [3c] [9h] and sent caprioli to the rail in 3rd place ($14,841.50), two spots shy of a fourth career COOP title.

Four hands later Mrcaimann picked up [Qh] [8s] and shoved on the button, and buzzard1881 called with [Kc] [7c]. Mrcaimann flopped top pair but buzzard1881 caught up with a club flush on the river of the [2s] [5c] [8d] [4c] [2c] board to end the game.

Mrcaimann took $14,018.13 from the deal, a little less than last year's winnings after making a four-way deal in SCOOP Event #17-L. As for buzzard1881, the winner's share was worth $17,539.45. Even more notably, it's a second career COOP title after WCOOP 2013's Event #42, adding a little more anticipation to this year's SCOOP and WCOOP series. Congratulations to both players for their early success in TCOOP 2016!

TCOOP-06 ($82 NL Hold'em, 6-Max, Turbo, Shootout) results
Entrants: 1,672 
Total prize pool: $125,400.00
Places paid: 216

1. buzzard1881 (Canada) $17,539.45*
2. Mrcaimann (United Kingdom) $14,018.13*
3. caprioli (Brazil) $14,481.50*
4. Avi Popo (Latvia) $7,524.00
5. Knakworst93 (Netherlands) $5,016.00
6. madnutscrazy (India) $3,109.92

*Reflects the results of a three-way deal that left $2,000 in play for the winner

Pot-limit Omaha is already one of the more lively variants of poker to play. Make the game short-handed, and that quickens the pace still more. Play it as turbo tournament and add bounties for knockouts, and you've got a formula guaranteed to satisfy action-seekers.

Such was the invitation being offered by Event #5 of the Turbo Championship of Online Poker, an $82 buy-in PLO tournament played six-handed and with progressive "super-knockout" bounties. In the end 1,649 players accepted that invite, and from that field Serbia's bokinjo emerged as the winner after just four hours and 12 minutes of play, earning $10,049.55 from the regular prize pool plus another $300 worth of bounties.

The big turnout created a $123,675 prize pool divided evenly between the regular prize pool and the bounty prize pool, and exceeding the event's $100K guarantee. While the top 216 finishers would divide up the regular prize pool, the rest went for bounties with players picking up $37.50 every time they knocked out an opponent.

In just over two hours the field had already been carved down under 100 players, with Team PokerStars Pro Vivian Im sitting atop the chip counts as the first player to have spun the starting stack of 5,000 up over 300,000.

By the three-hour break they were down to 31, with Im still near the top and AlexElizarov the new leader with just over 525,000. About 20 minutes later just 12 remained, with treinen the new leader with more than 1.75 million and Vivian Im having become the short stack.

Im hung on for a few more hands, then was ousted in a hand versus eventual champ bokinjo to go out in 12th for a $618.37 cash plus another $225 for having collected six bounties.

lodiniz (11th) and tema77728 (10th) followed, both also picking up $618.37 from the regular prize pool plus extra for bounties. Then Psycel (ninth), cnfr12 (eighth), and Esben7 (seventh) went out, earning $927.56 each plus bounties.

treinen was still leading with six to go, having pushed up just over 3 million just before the final table began.

Seat 1: GiBobH/L (Poland) -- 1,616,073
Seat 2: TedyKGB88 (United Kingdom) -- 1,051,960
Seat 3: bokinjo (Serbia) -- 1,195,937
Seat 4: LLCoolJ23 (Germany) -- 833,543
Seat 5: CMoosepower (Denmark) -- 547,262
Seat 6: treinen (Netherlands) -- 3,000,225

It would take less than an orbit for the first knockout to occur at the final table.

With the blinds 40,000/80,000, CMoosepower opened for 280,000 from under the gun, TedyKGB88 reraised all in from the button, and it folded back to CMoosepower who called all in with the 237,262 behind.

CMoosepower was double-suited with [Ac][Jh][8h][5c] while TedyKGB88 had [Ah][Kd][Tc][3c]. The board then came [9d][Ts][4h][Ad][2d], adding up to two pair for TedyKGB88 (aces and tens) but just one for CMoosepower (aces), knocking out the latter in sixth.

A few minutes later LLCoolJ23 min-raised to 160,000 from first position and got three callers in GiBobH/L (button), TedyKGB88 (small blind), and bokinjo (big blind). The flop came [4s][Qc][5s], and it checked to LLCoolJ23 who continued for 640,000. It folded back to TedyKGB88 who check-raised all in, and when the action came back LLCool23 called all in with the 193,543 left.

LLCoolJ23 had [Ah][Ad][3c][3h] for aces and a gutshot wheel draw, while TedyKGB88 had [As][Js][9s][6c] for a spade flush draw. The turn and river brought two more spades -- coming [7s] and [Qs] -- making that flush for TedyKGB88 and knocking out LLCoolJ23 in fifth.

The pace slowed a bit at that point, and the final four all made it through almost a half-hour more to reach the four-hour break at which point GiBobH/L had assumed a large lead with nearly 4 million while no one else had as much as 1.6 million.

Not long after that, TedyKGB88 opened with a 3x raise to 600,000 from the small blind, committing nearly two-thirds of the starting stack, and after bokinjo reraised from the big blind, TedyKGB88 put the rest in as a call.

TedyKGB88 had [Qd][Jc][4h][3d] while bokinjo showed [Kd][Ks][7h][2h]. The board came [Qc][8s][7d], then [Td], then [Ts], making kings and tens for bokinjo and queens and tens for TedyKGB88, thus ending TedyKGB88's run in fourth.

TedyKGB88 did get a nice consolation prize, however, having knocked out 15 players -- more than anyone else in the tournament -- to add an extra $562.50 to the fourth-place prize.

There was some brief deal talk in the chat box among the final three players, but the tournament was never paused to continue the discussion. Soon treinen had gotten short was was all in from the button for just under 500,000 (about two BBs) versus both GiBobH/L (small blind) and bokinjo (big blind).

Both of the remaining players checked down the board as it came [7h][Ad][Td][6c][6s], and when GiBobH/L turned over [As][Ks][7d][6h] for a full house, the others mucked and treinen was on the rail in third.

GiBobH/L had the edge to start heads-up play with 4.54 million to bokinjo's 3.70 million and would stay in front for the first few hands until bokinjo enjoyed a big double-up to grab the advantage.

Four hands after that the blinds were 150,000/300,000 when GiBobH/L raised to 900,000 from the button, bokinjo called, and the pair saw a flop come [7s][4s][8h]. bokinjo checked, GiBobH/L went all in for 1,340,672, and bokinjo called.

bokinjo: [Td][9s][7h][6s]
GiBobH/L: [Ac][Qs][Tc][9d]

bokinjo had flopped a pair of sevens with both a spade flush draw and a bunch of straight outs, while GiBobH/L could complete an open-ender as well. The turn then brought the [8s], filling a flush for bokinjo and making the river [4d] no matter.

bokinjo had collected the tournament's final bounty and the Event #5 title.

Congratulations to bokinjo for besting a field of 1,649 in just over four hours to win a TCOOP title and claim a five-figure score for just $82.

TCOOP-05 ($82, PL Omaha, 6-Max, Turbo, Progressive Super-Knockout) results

Entrants: 1,649
Total prize pool: $123,675.00 ($61,837.50 regular prize pool; $61,837.50 bounty prize pool)

Places paid: 216

1. bokinjo (Serbia) $10,049.55 (+ $300 for 8 bounties)
2. GiBobH/L (Poland) $7,513.25 (+ $375 for 10 bounties)
3. treinen (Netherlands) $5,565.37 (+ $337.50 for 9 bounties)
4. TedyKGB88 (United Kingdom) $3,710.25 (+ $562.50 for 15 bounties)
5. LLCoolJ23 (Germany) $2,473.50 (+ $300 for 8 bounties)
6. CMoosepower (Denmark) $1,545.93 (+ $150 for 4 bounties)

With 50 total events stretching over the next week-plus, there's a lot more Turbo Championship of Online Poker to go. Check the TCOOP site for details of all the remaining events. https://www.pokerstars.com/tcoop/

We firmly believe there is no rest for the wicked, nor rest for a wicked-good poker schedule. None of the the PokerStars Blog team from the PCA has fully recovered from the jet lag and Bahama Mamas, but there is no time to rest. No time at all. There is a weekend of coverage and money-making opportunities ahead.

If you're up for a big weekend yourself, here's what you need to know.

MEGA BONUS LAST CHANCE

You have just a few more days to cash in on the PokerStars Mega Bonus. If you make a deposit of $30 or more using the code MEGA2016 you will get a prize anywhere from a .50 $1 Million Spin & Go ticket or up to $100,000 in cash. You will get the prize with no play requirements and no restrictions. If you get a $100,000 prize like Belarus' sarcasmpoker just did, you can cash it out without playing a single hand if you want.

But, the promotion is only open until January 24, so you will need to get on it today. For full details, visit the PokerStars Mega Bonus home page.

Here are some of the bigger winners from the past few weeks.

AUSSIE, AUSSIE, AUSSIE

We're also not going to be backing off our live poker coverage. Our team is assembling in Melbourne for the Aussie Millions Main Event.

Last year, Melbourne local Manny Stavropoulos won the Aussie Millions Main Event. Now, the live poker world is getting together for the 2016 running of Australia's most prestigious poker event.

Our coverage will kick off here on Sunday for Day 1A of the Aussie Millions Main Event. We'll have Aussie Millions live updates from the first flop to the last river.

MASSIVE TCOOP WEEEKEND

As you might have read earlier today in TCOOP 2016: New titles from Down Under to Deutschland, the Turbo Championship of Online Poker is already underway. Yesterday, one player turned a $27 buy-in into $110,000 in the matter of a few hours.

You have that same chance this weekend with some huge TCOOP events. Here's what's on offer between now and Sunday night.

Also, don't forget to keep an eye on the PokerStars Twitch stream for special broadcasts and final table coverage.

For the first time, the PokerStars Twitch channel is hosting daily shows, presented by members of Team PokerStars Online, featuring live commentary (15-min delay) of several key events, along with replay commentary for the Main Event and High Roller.

Enjoy!