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.
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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
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