The 2015 World Championship of Online Poker has seen some big names make some deep runs and claim some big victories during this series. But sometimes, it's the unheralded grinders of online poker that are making the biggest impact.

Today we saw just that as a player known as aDrENalin710 collected victory in WCOOP Event #59. aDrENalin710 may not be someone you've heard of before, but this victory is aDrENalin710's second WCOOP victory and fourth COOP title overall which elevates the Russian into elite company.

A field of 878 entrants took part in Event #59 of the 2015 WCOOP, a $215 No Limit Omaha Hi/Lo 6-Max Event. They combined to form a prize pool of $175,600 which easily surpassed the advertised guarantee.

George Danzer, Naoya Kihara, Jason Mercier, Kosei Ichinose and Andre Akkari were some of the Team PokerStars pros competing in this one, but they fell short of the money as 114 players would take home a profit.

When the UK's Bassysaffari was bounced out on the money bubble, the remaining players had locked up a minimum $351.20.

There were plenty of big names still in contention during the money stage of the tournament. Shaun Deeb locked up another WCOOP cash, sneaking into the money in 111th place, while Adrienne Rowsome (75th - $456.56), Eugene Katchalov (65th - $491.68) and Marcin Horecki (51st - $561.92) all finished in profit for their efforts.

Approaching the final table, Lithuanian Kar0lka had a big chip lead on one table, while on the other Canada's Bebop86 emerged as a contender with the elimination of Russian Vovan7778 on the final table bubble. With all the chips in preflop, Vovan7778 couldn't improve as Bebop86 made two pair, and with no low possible, our final table was set:

Final Table Line up
Seat 1: aDrENalin710 (351,110 in chips)
Seat 2: elmelogno4 (320,996 in chips)
Seat 3: Kar0lka (1,863,837 in chips)
Seat 4: oldjunior (365,637 in chips)
Seat 5: Bebop86 (979,928 in chips)
Seat 6: smily (508,492 in chips)

Bebop86 and smily didn't waste any time in getting busy as they chopped a one million chip pot in the early stages, but it would be former Sunday Million winner elmelogno4 who was first to be eliminated.

elmelogno4 three-bet all in preflop with [Kc][6d][Kd][3s] and aDrENalin710 made the call with [9h][8d][2d][as]. The board ran out [Qc][9s][Jh][Td][4h] to give aDrENalin710 the bottom end of the straight which was too much for elmelogno4's unimproved kings. elmelogno4 departed in sixth place for $5,268 in prize money.

A short time later, a massive three-way all-in unfolded between oldjunior, Bebop86 and aDrENalin710. oldjunior shoved for ten big blinds and Bebop86 moved all in to try and isolate, but aDrENalin710 wasn't going anywhere, calling all in with [3d][3h][As][Ac]. Bebop86 also had aces with [7s][Ah][Kc][Ad] while oldjunior tabled [3c][Qh][Qs][2d]. Incredibly, the flop was perfect for aDrENalin710 as the[2h][4c][5c] board rolled out a wheel. aDrENalin710 locked up the high and low when the [Tc] turn and [Kd] river completed the board for a huge double up. Bebop86 had some chips left over while oldjunior was left to exit in fifth place for $8,341.

Bebop86 didn't waste any time in getting back into contention with a double up next hand with a straight against the trips of Kar0lka, and while the big pots were being played out across the table, smily was struggling to find a spot to get involved.

The PokerStars Supernova was blinded down to around six big blinds before committing all in from under the gun. Play folded to Bebop86 in the big blind who made the call with [8h][2h][Td][2s] to take on smily's [8c][Qd][3d][Kc]. The board ran out [4d][5c][4h][As][6d] which missed smily for the high while Bebop86's 8-5-4-2-A low narrowly pipped the 8-5-4-3-A low of smily. That meant that smily was out in fourth place which was worth $11,853 in prize money.

The three-handed battle was an entertaining affair with all three players prepared to stick their chips in the middle if they sensed weakness. Bebop86 was the short stack but landed a double up with a flush against Kar0lka's two pair, however those chips headed to aDrENalin710 who won a nice pot with a pretty [ac][2h][as][2d].

Eventually Bebop86 and aDrENalin710 collided on a flop of [2s][9h][Ts]. aDrENalin710 moved all in and Bebop86 called it off with [9c][3h][4d][Ad] which was ahead of aDrENalin710's drawing [4s][8c][Qc][As]. However the turn was the [qs] to give aDrENalin710 a flush, and when the [3s] completed the board, Bebop86 was busto in third place for $17,103.44.

Heads-up chip counts
Seat 1: aDrENalin710 (2,971,258 in chips)
Seat 3: Kar0lka (1,418,742 in chips)

With aDrENalin710 holding a two-to-one chip lead over Kar0lka, the two were quick to pause the action and strike a deal based on chip counts. With the payouts flattened, there was $2,000 and the WCOOP title left in the middle to play for when play resumed.

There wasn't a great deal of fluctuations in the chip stacks during this heads-up battle as Kar0lka looked for an opportunity to strike.

Kar0lka got the chips in good with a powerful [Ad][4s][Ks][Ac] but could only land half as aDrENalin710 made the best low with [Jh][2d][6d][Ah].

Kar0lka was again a little unlucky to not find a double up making a wheel a short time later. The chips were all in on the river but aDrENalin710 had flopped a set and rivered a full house to again take half the pot.

The third time the two collided in a big pot, it would be the last pot of the tournament.

After a raise preflop, aDrENalin710 check-raised the flop and led with a bet on the turn. By the river, the pot was swelling and the board read [Ac][9s][Jd][8d][4d]. aDrENalin710 checked and Kar0lka moved all in. aDrENalin710 didn't have a flush, or a low, but made a solid call with [Th][Qs][9d][8c] for the queen-high straight. Kar0lka could only table [4s][Ah][5s][8s] for two pair which meant that our champion was decided!

It was a great tournament for Kar0lka who would take home $24,438.26 after the heads-up deal, but today, the WCOOP title would go to Russia's aDrENalin710. Now a four-time COOP champion, aDrENalin710 is no stranger to the winner's circle picking up a second WCOOP title and another $28,680.74 in prize money. Congratulations!

WCOOP-59: $215 NL Omaha Hi/Lo 6-Max - $100K Guaranteed
Entrants: 878
Prize Pool: $175,600
Places Paid: 114

1. aDrENalin710 (Russia) $28,680.74*
2. Kar0lka (Lithuania) $24,438.26*
3. Bebop86 (Canada) $17,103.44
4. smily (Switzerland) $11,853.00
5. oldjunior (Romania) $8,341.00
6. elmelogno4 (Uruguay) $5,268.00

* denotes heads-up deal

The 2015 World Championship of Online Poker is approaching the final events of the series with close to $50,000,000 in prizes already awarded! Check out the WCOOP home page for the full schedule of events.

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Heath "TassieDevil" Chick is a freelance contributor to PokerStars Blog.

If you host it, they will come in droves. Like ravenous moths flocking en masse to flame, PokerStars ignited another raging inferno with its WCOOP PLO Championship. The final table in event #57 featured three-time WCOOP bracelet winner Norway's Mikal "mikal12345" Blomlie and Russia's Vladimir "vovtroy" Troyanovskiy, who advanced to a fourth final table this WCOOP and started the day in seventh place on the Leader Board. Unfortunately, mikal12345 could do no better than sixth place and vovtroy busted in fifth place.

The WCOOP PLO Championship bracelet was determined by a rapid-fire, intense heads-up battle between a pair of Scandis with IAmSoSo representing Sweden and RealCrapDad fighting under the Danish flag. RealCrapDad held a minor edge but the two agreed on a money chop before they threw down and voraciously attempted to plunder each other's stack. When it was all settled, IAmSoSo came from behind to pick off RealCrapDad in second place. Sweden's IAmSoSo binked Event #57 and won a WCOOP bracelet.

2015 WCOOP Event #57 $2,100 PLO Championship (6-Max) attracted 374 runners. They created a prize pool worth $748,000.00, which crushed the $150K Guarantee. First place initially paid out $153,340.00.

Day 1 ended with only 18 players and RealCrapDad in the lead with 384K. The top of the leader board was dominated by Scandis...

WCOOP Event #57 - End Day 1 Top 5 Chip Counts:
1. RealCrapDad (Denmark) 384,195
2. IAmSoSo (Sweden) 359,101
3. ShipitFTW911 (Sweden) 353,078
4. KuntaKinte90 (Israel) 289,071
5. Sauce123 (Canada) 263,942

Day 2's action picked up with one player busting in the first five minutes. It took about 40+ minutes to trim the field from three to two tables. With 12 to go on the final two tables, RealCrapDad still led with 720K. Sweden's IAmSoSo seized the lead with 850K after picking off ShipitFTW911 in ninth place.

With seven remaining, action went hand-for-hand. The top 4 in chips were on one table (IamSoSo, RealCrapDad, mikal12345 and KunteKinte90), while the three shorties were approximately even as the trio slugged it out on the other table. The final table bubble lasted over a full level. On the four-handed table, two of the stacks emerged as 1M monster stacks (RealCrapDad and IAmSoSo) as the other two were severely reduced to around 250K.

When the final table bubbled final burst... KuntaKinte90 bubbled out in seventh place when [Ks][Qh][Tc][3s] lost to IAmSoSo's [As][9h][6s][5h]. KuntaKinte90 whiffed on a straight draw, and IAmSoSo rivered two pair to win the pot.

WCOOP Event #57 - Final Table Chip Counts:
Seat 1: mikal12345 (224,289)
Seat 2: IAmSoSo (870,672)
Seat 3: EEE27 (359,966)
Seat 4: vovtroy (218,860)
Seat 5: JohnyK91 (676,661)
Seat 6: RealCrapDad (1,389,552)

The final table commenced during Level 26 with blinds at 6K/12K. RealCrapDad led with was with 1.39M. Russia's vovtroy was last with 218K, but mikal12345 was next-to-last with 224K. The final table featured Norway's Mikal 'mikal12345' Blomlie, who won 3 WCOOPs including two last year. Meanwhile, Russia's Vladimir 'vovtroy' Troyanovskiy won a SCOOP title in 2014, but made three other final tables at this year's WCOOP such as Event #41 and a third-place finish in Event #31.

WHEN THE LEVEE BREAKS: Mikal "mikal12345" Blomlie eliminated in 6th place

On the second hand at the final table, we saw fireworks. RealCrapDad opened to 32,160, mikal12345 potted to 114,480, RealCrapDad re-raised to 358,125, and mikal12345 called all-in for 109,809.

RealCrapDad: [As][Ac][Ah][3h]
mikal12345: [Ks][Kd][Jd][8c]

RealCrapDad was ahead with Aces versus Kings. The board ran out [6h][5d][3s][9d][2h]. Although mikal12345 picked up a diamond flush redraw, he never got there. RealCrapDad won the pot with a pair of Aces versus mikal12345's Kings. Mikal "mikal12345" Blomlie became the first player to exit the final table. The 3-time WCOOP chamoion took home $28,050.00 for sixth place.

GOING TO CALIFORNIA: vovtroy eliminated in 5th place

It did not last five handed very long before someone busted... vovtroy opened to 42,000 and EEE27 called. On the flop of [Jc][7c][6d], EEE27 fired out 60,000 and vovtroy called all-in for 58,460. Both players tabled their hands...

EEE27: [Qh][5c][4c][3h]
vovtroy: [Ac][As][Qc][Ts]

Although vovtroy flopped a flush draw, it never filled in when the board finished up out [Jc][7c][6d][6h][3d]. EEE27 won the pot with a seven-high straight against vovtroy's two pair (Aces Up). Russia's vovtroy busted in fifth place, which paid out $43,010.00.

With four remaining in the hunt, RealCrapDad held the lead with 1.4M, narrowly ahead of IAmSoSo (1.3M), followed by the two shorties who were roughly even: JohnyK91 (498K) and EEE27 (508K).

BLACK DOG: JohnyK91 eliminated in 4th place

RealCrapDad min-raised to 32,000 and JohnyK91 called. JohnyK91 check-raised the flop for 572,750. On the turn, JohnyK91 shoved for 187,141 with a flush draw and a straight draw.

JohnyK91: [Jc][3s][6c][8h]
RealCrapDad: [4s][5s][5h][4d]

RealCrapDad called with a set of fours and a straight draw. The board ran out [4h][3c][7h][2c][Ts]. JohnyK91 whiffed on a flush and straight draws and could only muster up a pair of treys. RealCrapDad dragged the pot with a set of fours. JohnyK91 was knocked out in fourth place, which paid out $57,970.00.

With three remaining, RealCrapDad led with 2M, followed by IAmSoSo's 1.2M and EEE27's 420K.

BATTLE OF EVERMORE: EEE27 eliminated in 3rd place

RealCrapDad min-raised to 32,000, EEE27 raised to 104,000, RealCrapDad called. The flop was [Ac][Th][3c]. EEE27 fired out 216,000, RealCrapDad bumped it up to 432,000, EEE27 called all-in for 48,531.

EEE27: [Ah][Qc][Qd][2h]
RealCrapDad: [Kc][7c][5h][2d]

RealCrapDad had a flush draw and a Wheel draw. EEE27 flopped top pair. The turn was the [Js] and the river was the [4d]. EEE27 turned a Broadway draw, but missed that. RealCrapDad rivered the Wheel to win the pot. Finland's EEE27 was dunzo in third place, which paid out $8,4150.00.

HEADS-UP: RealCrapDad (Denmark) vs. IAmSoSo (Sweden)
Seat 2: IAmSoSo (1,514,085)
Seat 6: RealCrapDad (2,225,915)

In the battle of Scandinavia, the final two quickly decided to cut a deal with RealCrapDad holding a slim edge.

DEAL

After one hand, RealCrapDad led with 2.36M and IAmSoSo held 1.38M. They had to leave $3,000 on the table to the winner. The deal terms were floated: RealCrapDad ($136,276.69) and IAmSoSo ($126,263.31). Both players quickly agreed and play resumed.

MISTY MOUNTAIN HOP: RealCrapDad eliminated in 2nd place; IAmSoSo wins WCOOP Event #57!

After the deal, IAmSoSo jumped out of the gates and won four consecutive pots to seize the lead. IAmSoSo padded the lead after rivering a flush to win a 890K pot with [Jh][Th][9d][2h] to snap off RealCrapDad's [Kc][Ks][5s][2d]. IAmSoSo surged to over 3M with that hand. Once RealCrapDad got short, it was too late to mount a comeback.

Going into the final hand, IAmSoSo was way ahead with 3M to RealCrapDad's 744K... IAmSoSo opened to 48,800 and RealCrapDad called. The flop was [Qh][6s][5s]. RealCrapDad checked, IAmSoSo fired out 67,000, and RealCrapDad called. The [9d] fell on the turn and RealCrapDad check-called a 180,000 bet from IAmSoSo. The river was the [4s]. RealCrapDad moved all-in for 415,312 and IAmSoSo called.

RealCrapDad: [Kd][9c][8h][6c]
IAmSoSo: [7d][5d][5c][4c]

IAmSoSo won the pot with a set of fives against RealCrapDad's two pair and busted straight draw. RealCrapDad was knocked out in second place.

Denmark's RealCrapDad earned $136,276.69 for a second-place finish.

Congrats to Sweden's IAmSoSo for winning Event #57! First place paid out $129,263.31.

WCOOP-57: $2,100 PL Omaha Championship (6-Max)
Entrants: 374
Prize Pool: $748,00
Places Paid: 48

1. IAmSoSo (Sweden) $129,263.31 *
2. RealCrapDad (Denmark) $136,276.69 *
3. EEE27 (Finland) $84,150.00
4. JohnyK91 (Netherlands) $57,970.00
5. Vladimir 'vovtroy' Troyanovskiy (Russia) $43,010.00
6. Mikal 'mikal12345' Blomlie (Norway) $28,050.00

* = denotes a deal between the final two players

Visit the WCOOP home page for a schedule of remaining events and find out who is contention for Player of the Series.

Want to join the action at PokerStars? Click here and sign up for an account and start playing now!

Pauly McGuire is an author and freelance contributor to PokerStars.

The final weekend is almost here for 2015 World Championship of Online Poker players and they were given a small tournament, big prize pool gift before the really big games take off.

Event 56 was a $530 No Limit Hold'em tournament with unlimited rebuys during the late registration period plus a bonus add-on if they decided to stick around that long. The tournament drew 560 players and they popped the rebuy button 376 times then threw another 467 add-ons in there.

All told they created a $701,500 prize pool to easily surpass the $500,000 Guarantee with some big money loaded up top. The final table would all bank at least $10,000 with the winner getting the only six-digit payout; $132,583 is a nice goal.

Day 1 finished after they already hit the final table, not a normal occurrence but that left the last nine players with plenty of ammunition to fire at pots. There were plenty of big names remaining including Mike "Tîmex" McDonald.

The high roller specialist is just a small cash away from having $12 million in live career earnings though he has yet to break through in a major online event. He has five live cashes over $1 million and finished 2nd in the 2014 PCA Main Event. McDonald came close to combining his High Roller skills and first online major just a few days ago. He was deep in the $51,000 WCOOP Super High Roller but went out in 5th place.

Peter "Belabacsi" Traply had the most interesting story coming in to the final table. Traply is one of only a handful of players in line this series for the elusive Triple COOP honors. Traply won his first SCOOP title in 2010 then followed up with a TCOOP title in 2013 and second SCOOP that spring. If he could pull off the win today, he would join James "Andy MCLEOD" Obst and Shawn "buck21" Buchanan as only the third player with a title from WCOOP, SCOOP, and TCOOP each.

Not to be left behind, Ben "vindog03" Vinson has some impressive results himself, especially over a short span in 2014. Vinson made a lot of money in a few days when he finished fourth in a Sunday Million event for a nice chunk then followed it up with an outright win in the next Super Tuesday tournament. He was another to keep an eye on at the Day 2 restart.

Event 56 Final Table

Seat 1: Giuseppe "Ansgar2000" Pantaleo (404,875 in chips)
Seat 2: Ben "vindog03" Vinson (776,735 in chips)
Seat 3: rodckz (387,870 in chips)
Seat 4: superf1sh (375,692 in chips)
Seat 5: dreamland23 (1,136,359 in chips)
Seat 6: Peter "Belabacsi" Traply (512,234 in chips)
Seat 7: Mike "Tîmex" McDonald (537,674 in chips)
Seat 8: No Shock (445,796 in chips)
Seat 9: maggess88 (565,765 in chips)

Blinds: 6,000/12,000 with 1,500 Ante

Final table starts out with the ol' suck/resuck

There were plenty of chips in play with all the rebuying and fast Day 1 play. The nine players took some time to get their feet under themselves and feel each other out, it took 30 minutes to get the first major hand and it was a good one.

Vinson opened the action from middle position with a little raise to 35,000 and superf1sh three-bet it up to 87,621. No Shock had to like a little of the action four-bet shoved with a big hand. It was a quick call and No Shock saw his dilemma, his big hand wasn't so big after all.

No Shock: [qs][qd]
superf1sh: [as][ad]

No Shock was in trouble but the dealer gave him a potential bailout on the [qc][8d][2d] flop. It looked like a tough beat for superf1sh when the [4s] turn dropped before he hit the two-out [ac] river to complete the classic suck/resuck. A very swingy hand for No Shock but he was the first eliminated from the final table, picking up $10,732 for his efforts.

No second leg for Pantaleo

While the majority fo the attention was on Traply and McDonald, Pantaleo was also looking for another major title. He had the first part of the Triple COOP with a SCOOP win 2014 and close to adding a WCOOP title.

He came to the final table with one of the shorter stacks and was never able to run it up. He moved all-in for a tick over ten big blinds and rodckz moved in over the top to isolate. It worked and Panteleo's [kh][jh] was live against [ad][qh].

He caught the flop but rodckz hit it a little better when it came [ah][ks][3s]. It left Panteleo drawing very thin and he missed as the board completed [6h][as] to cut him short of the second leg, gone in 8th place for $15,783.

maggess88 has not time for Tîmex

It took more than one hand to knock out one of our most accomplished players at the final table. Even someone with McDonald's record has to win some flips to get a title. He lost one and was gone soon after.

The hand to really damage McDonald came against maggess88 after a lengthy stretch of play with few big hands. It was a battle of the blinds with maggess88 getting all-in with [ac][tc] in the small blind against McDonald's [9h][9s] in the big.

maggess88 hit right on the [ad][jd][2h] flop and McDonald never caught up. He was left with less than four big blinds and lasted only a few more hands. McDonald put his last chips in the middle with [ac][3c] but lost to Traply's [5c][5h] flopped set, rivered full house. McDonald ran deep but could not pick up his first COOP title.

rodckz climbs the ladder, cashes out

rodckz was never a big stack at the final table despite his KO of Panteleo but slowly moved up the payout ladder until he had to make a move one hand after McDonald was gone. He was down to peanuts when he moved all-in from the big blind with [ad][jc] after Traply opened with [js][9d].

It was less than a min-raise and the bet was quickly called. rodckz was ahead for the double up but Traply hit his lone live card on the [kh][9h][4d] flop. Not a good situation for rodckz then only went downhill on the [2c] turn and [7c] river to send him out in $29,813 for a nice payday.

superf1sh makes it three-for-three

After such a long draught of big hands, they tore through two hands with two eliminations and tried again on the next one. This time it didn't take a bad beat to get them one player closer to a champ.

superf1sh was under ten big blinds when action folded to him in the small. He put them all in the middle with [tc][7c] and maggess88 called in the big with [td][9d]. superf1sh needed that same type of flop Traply found on the previous hand but the board ran dry for both with [ad][ac][4s][2d][ts] and the kicker played to send him out.

dreamland23 goes to sleep after leading

Three staight knockout hands and they took a little break. They woulnd't get another big pot until an near-marathon five hands later. And this time around they waited longer than preflop action to get things moving.

It was three-way action to the [qc][8c][7d] flop between Traply, maggess88, and dreamland23. Traply and dreamland23 checked before maggess88 led out for 135,200 to get a fold from Traply and call from dreamland23.

It was a check/raise from dreamland23 after the [4s] turn facing a maggess88 299,000 bet. The move was for all his chips and maggess88 quickly called with the flopped set [8d][8h]. It was bad timing for dreamland23, he was drawing dead with top pair [qs][jd]. There was no miracle card available and he was gone in 4th place for $54,015.

Vinson can't duck Jacks

Three-handed action settled down after the quick string of eliminations boosted the average stack and they could all see a six-digit payout at the end. Vinson was in no danger of getting blinded down but found a pair to get things moving.

He was over 30 big blinds when he got into a preflop raising war with maggess88. Vinson opened the action from the button and maggess88 popped it back with a big blind three-bet. Vinson responded with a shove holding [2d][2h] but his baby pair was in deep trouble when maggess88 called with [jd][js].

Vinson needed another duck or miracle cards but found none of them. The virtual dealer ran out a [kd][8d][7c][8s][7d] board to send Vinson out in 3rd place and set up a potential Triple COOP title.

maggess88 denies Triple COOP to Traply with Event 56 win

Seat 5: maggess88 (3,568,020 in chips)
Seat 9: Peter "Belabacsi" Traply (1,574,980 in chips)

Blinds: 17,500/35,000 with 4,375 ante

maggess88 began heads up play with a healthy chip lead but Traply wasn't going to give up the battle easily. His "short stack" was still 100 big blinds deep and they settled in for the long haul.

Despite the gap in tournament results, maggess88 never let Traply get a toehold. They went at each other for more than 30 minutes with Traply slowly getting deeper in the hole. He finally took a stand and it was one final tough beat to close out Event 56.

Traply was ground under ten big blinds and all-in from the button with [qs][th]. maggess88 called with the better hand but [kh][jd] was out flopped when it came [qh][5h][3c] to give Traply the lead. maggess88 paired the [jc] to give him more river outs and he nailed the [kd] to hand a tough loss on Traply.

It was an impressive run for the Hungarian champ but he will have to wait for another chance to add to his SCOOP and TCOOP titles, he will have to be content with the $97,157 consolation prize. maggess88 never gave up at the final table and rode it all the way to his first WCOOP title and a very healthy $132,583 payout.

WCOOP-56: $530+R NL Hold'em
Entrants: 560 (376 Rebuys, 467 Add-ons)
Prize pool: $701,500
Places paid: 72

1. maggess88 (Germany) $132,583.50
2. Peter "Belabacsi" Traply (Hungary) $97,157.75
3. Ben "vindog03" Vinson (United Kingdom) $71,553.00
4. dreamland23 (Argentina) $54,015.50
5. superf1sh (Norway) $37,881.00
6. rodckz (Brazil) $29,813.75
7. Mike "Tîmex" McDonald (Canada) $22,798.75
8. Giuseppe "Ansgar2000" Pantaleo (Germany) $15,783.75
9. No Shock (Canada) $10,732.95

More than 277,000 people tried for the chance, now 47 of them have an opportunity to win $1 million this weekend.

About a month ago, we told you about the PokerStars Dream Team Collection. It was a fun little game with a potentially big payoff. Players collected pieces from three puzzles, one each for our PokerStars Dream Team of Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar Jr. and Ronaldo Nazário. At the end were lots of rewards, including Golden Tickets for 47 people.

Now, one of those 47 players will win $1 million this Sunday.

Ready to sign up for PokerStars? Click here to get an account.

Sunday at 13:47 ET, the 47-player All-In Shootout will go off. In a matter of minutes, one of those players will remain and he or she will get $1 million deposited into their PokerStars account. The players hail from all over the world--22 different countries, in fact. It's anybody's guess where the million will end up.

There are a lot of ways you can watch. If you click on ONLINE EVENTS and DREAM TEAM COLLECTION in the PokerStars lobby, you will see the final there. If you don't have access to the PokerStars software but still want to watch, Team PokerStars Pro Online's Felix Schneiders will be broadcasting it on Twitch.

Good luck to all the people who are up for the million! Don't forget us little guys when you become a millionaire.

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It's only been a few short weeks since the PokerStars poker school introduced a new series of challenges that help a completely new player to the game learn how to play and improve their poker skills and reward them as put the effort in. You can read more about the Beginners Bankroll challenge in a previous PokerStars Blog post but in this one we want to focus on a success story. It's the story of PokerStars player 'tofsty' who became the first player ever to complete all fifteen steps of the challenge and accomplish his mission!

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PokerSchoolOnline: Before we chat about the challenges tell us a little more about yourself?

tofsty: My name is Mariano Piedrabuena Spoturno, I'm 35 years old and I'm from Paraná, Argentina. As a professional I'm an International Trade Technician and I started to play poker recently on PokerStars as 'tofsty'.

PokerSchoolOnline: Tell us why you decided to start playing poker?

tofsty: I first got curious about Poker back in March of this year. I had some free time then so I could play a lot. I've have a Brother and a good friend of mine who also play poker so that helped. Soon I realized however that it would also help if I dedicated some time to studying the theory of the game and not just playing. The PokerStars poker school community have been great and my curiosity began to grow even more when I found out about the Beginners Bankroll challenge.

PokerSchoolOnline: OK, so tell us what you found to be so good about these challenges?

tofsty: As a new player it can be difficult to know where to start. The Beginners Bankroll challenge gives you direction putting you on the right path. It also keeps you focused. I believe the Beginners Bankroll Challenge promo makes it interesting to play poker and at the same time it helps you grow as a player. All this while at the same time earning rewards for completing missions which can really boost your bankroll.

PokerSchoolOnline: Did you find the missions easy to accomplish?

tofsty: Definitely yes, but that doesn't mean that you don't have to put effort into it. I believe the missions have an adequate degree of accessibility so that all poker fans can start building a bankroll, and from there start exploring greater challenges. At the same time this leaves a clear message that for us to achieve our goals we have to study, practice, watch videos, and interact with other users, etc.

PokerSchoolOnline: Now that you've finished the challenge what's your conclusion of it?

tofsty: Getting the rewards was great, but more than just boosting my bankroll these missions increased my desire to achieve more and more every day. It also gave me an opportunity to play in tournaments that I would otherwise not have had the chance to. Besides all that, knowing that I was the first ever player to finish all of the missions and that you recognize that with this interview, made me very proud and satisfied.

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PokerSchoolOnline: What advice would you give to new players reading this interview?

tofsty: My advice would be to take advantage of this promotion, besides helping you build up a bankroll it will really help you improve as you acquire important information and new knowledge with each challenge.

PokerSchoolOnline: And finally, what's the next step for you on your journey into the world of poker?

tofsty: The next step for me is to take the skills I've learned at the poker school and use them not just for playing online poker but to also bring them into the live arena. It's a dream of mine to play in a Latin American Poker Tour main event. I've been playing some satellites for the LAPT, unfortunately without success, but with the confidence I've now gained I'll keep perusing that goal knowing that one day my big break will come.

PokerSchoolOnline is the official PokerStars poker school and it's free to join if you would like to try out this challenge for yourself.