On the opening day of the 2016 TCOOP, Ukraine's Shtopol' was the runner-up in Event #2. Less than one week later, Shtopol' had a second shot at a TCOOP title. And this time, Shtopol' did not squander the opportunity.
Two Ukrainians battled each other for the 6-Max PLO TCOOP title: Shtopol' vs. petro_popovi. The heads-up bout lasted only two minutes and a total of eight hands. Shtopol' held almost a 4 to 1 edge going into heads-up. Although petro_popovi nearly pulled even on the seventh hand, Shtopol' thwarted any comeback attempt by landing a knockout blow on the next hand. Shtopol' even faded a straight flush draw that petro_popovi had flopped. Shtopol' dodged a malestrom of bullets to emerge the newest TCOOP champion.
Another rapid-fire finish. The entire Event #30 was wrapped up in 4 hours and 21 minutes. The final 6-max table itself was completed in under 14 minutes.
2016 TCOOP Event #30 $7.50 PLO Rebuys, 6-Max, 3x-Turbo attracted 2,578 total runners. They contributed 12,322 re-buys and 1,417 add-ons as the prize pool swelled to $111,281.94. The top 330 places paid out with $17,528.56 set aside to the eventual champion.
As the money approached the money bubble... PokerStars Team Online Jamie Staples was in the top 70 in chips, but fellow member of Team Online Mickey "mement_mori" Petersen was near the back of the pack. Chris Moorman took out mement_mori on the bubble. Yes, he was the proverbial bubble boy, or non-gender specific bubble person. Moorman flopped a Broadway straight with [As][Jd][Tc][2h] to take out mement_mori's [Jc][9s][5d][4s]. Team Online's mement_mori bubbled off the money in 331st place.
Jamie Staples cashed, but ran out of gas when he lost with [As][Qs][Jh][4c] against rasul80's [Kd][Kh][4d][3d]. rasul80 flopped a set of Kings which held up against Staples' Broadway gutshot. Team Online Jamie Staples busted in 141st place, which paid out $139.10.
With 18 remaining on the final three tables, SwizzHawk emerged as the leader with 13.5M and no one else was close to 10M. With 12 to go on the final two tables, DaMethod snuck into the top slot by closing in on 15M.
With seven remaining in the hunt, DaMethod had surged to over 33M, or 13M more than petro_popovi in second place, or 25M more than third place. Action went hand-for-hand on the money bubble. Macedonia's amourinio turned a straight with [Ah][8d][7s][5h] and faded a Boadway straight draw to take out XtraVirgen's [Ac][Ks][7d][3s]. XtraVirgen bubbled off the final table in seventh place and the final table was set.
TCOOP 2016 - Event #30 Final Table Chip Counts:
Seat 1: damourinio (11,020,200)
Seat 2: petro_popovi (15,882,900)
Seat 3: SwizzHawk (6,826,518)
Seat 4: DaMethod (39,170,696)
Seat 5: DoEasyMoney (6,078,058)
Seat 6: Shtopol' (8,231,628)
The final table kicked off during Level 44 with blinds at 500K/1M. DaMethod led with 39M or 44% of all the chips in play. DoEasyMoney and SwizzHawk were both battling for the short stacks.
Three players of note were seated this final table: Shtopol', DaMethod, and damourinio.This was the second final table for Shtopol' at this year's TCOOP. DaMethod took third place at a 2011 WCOOP. Also, damourinio has over $1M in earnings on PokerStars and final tabled a TCOOP last year.
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TEMPORARY LIKE ACHILLES: DoEasyMoney eliminated in 6th place
A full level played out before we saw a bustout. DaMethod opened to 3.75M, DoEasyMoney bombed it all-in for 8,531,116 and DaMethod called.
DaMethod: [Kh][9c][7c][5d]
DoEasyMoney: [Td][7d][6c][6h]
The board ran out [Ah][Ts][8s][Jd][As] and DaMethod turned a Jack-high straight to win the pot. DoEasyMoney could only muster up two pair and failed to double up. DoEasyMoney became the first player to exit the final table. Sixth place paid $2,108.79.
VISIONS OF JOHANNA: damourinio eliminated in 5th place
Once DoEasyMoney busted in sixth, the flood gates opened. We saw another quickie elimination when Shtopol' opened to 4.5M, damourinio shoved for 9,145,200, and Shtopol' called.
Shtopol': [Ac][Qs][7s][5h]
damourinio: [Ad][Jh][Jc][4d]
Although damourinio led with a pair of Jacks, the board ran out [9s][6s][3d][9c][3s]. Shtopol' flopped a Queen-high flush draw and got there on the river. For a fifth-place performance, damourinio collected $3,894.86.
STUCK INSIDE OF MOBILE WITH THE MEMPHIS BLUES AGAIN: SwizzHawk eliminated in 4th place
Shtopol' opened to 5.25M, SwizzHawk shoved for a little more with 5,528,036, and Shtopol' called.
SwizzHawk: [As][Kh][6c][3h]
Shtopol': [Ad][Th][8d][5s]
The board finished up [Qs][8s][4s][8h][9h]. Shtopol' flopped middle pair and turned trips. SwizzHawk never improved and Shtopol' won the pot with trip eights. Switzerland's SwizzHawk was dunzo in fourth place and earned $6,120.50.
With three to go, Shtopol' led with 44.8M, followed by DaMethod (34.9M) and petro_popovi (7.4M).
SAD EYED LADY OF THE LOWLANDS: DaMethod eliminated in 3rd place
Shtopol' min-raised to 3M, DaMethod potted to 9.75M, Shtopol' re-potted to 25.5M, and DaMethod called all-in for 10,279,362.
DaMethod: [7c][5d][4d][3c]
Shtopol': [Ac][Qd][Th][5h]
The board ran out [Qh][8h][2h][Ks][6d]. DaMethod never improved and Shtopol' flopped a flush to win the pot. For a third-place finish, DaMethod took home $9,458.96.
HEADS-UP: petro_popovi (Ukraine) vs. Shtopol' (Ukraine)
Seat 2: petro_popovi (18,475,528)
Seat 6: Shtopol' (68,734,472)
The battle of the bread basket! Shtopol' held a sizable advantage, but with turbos...especially PLO turbos...you never know.
On the sixth hand of heads-up, petro_popovi doubled up in a 40M hand by rivering a full house. After winning the next hand uncontested, petro_popovi closed the gap and only trailed 45.2M to 41.9M. That's the closest that petro_popovi would get.
MOST LIKELY YOU GO YOUR WAY AND I'LL GO MINE: petro_popovi eliminated in second place; Shtopol' wins Event #30
On the 8th and final hand of heads up, Shtopol' delivered the knockout blow. All the money went all-in on the turn, which was a change of pace! Here's what happened on the final hand... both players limped in pre-flop. The flop was [Ts][6s][5d] petro_popovi check-called a 2M bet from Shtopol'. The turn was the [3c]. petro_popovi fired out 8M, Shtopol' raised to 32M, petro_popovi shoved for 37,951,056, and Shtopol' called.
petro_popovi: [9s][7h][7s][5s]
Shtopol': [5h][4c][3h][2d]
Shtopol' turned a six-high straight, but needed some help because petro_popovi flopped a monstrous draw -- a straight flush draw and a higher straight draw. The river was the [6h]. Alas, petro_popovi whiffed on every draw and could only scratch together two pair versus a straight. Shtopol' dodged an avalanche of outs to win the pot and bink the tournament.
For a runner-up finish, Ukraine's petro_popovi earned $12,797.42.
Meanwhile, fellow Ukrainian Shtopol' took home a first-place payday worth $17,528.56.
TCOOP-30 ($7.50+R, PL Omaha, 6-Max, 3x-Turbo) results
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
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Pauly McGuire is a freelance contributor to PokerStars Blog
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