The Turbo Championship of Online Poker revealed a lot about the nature of today's game. Of the many things we learned, it's that the series can produce champions from the ranks of relative unknowns.

Just a few days removed from the end of the first TCOOP, we asked a few of the new champions to tell us a bit about themselves and what the TCOOP title means to them.

Here's what they had to say.

***

Name: Cejakas14
Location United Kingdom
Age: 26
Title 2012 TCOOP Event #11 $100 Heads-Up NLHE
Winnings: $38,290

In his own words: "I lived in a village of less than 1,000 people until I was 16. it was a village with agricultural-economy. I came from a modest family. When I was 17, I went to Soria and then to Segovia in order to study. I could not do it with the help of my parents. I left my degree to play poker and luckily, I managed to succeed, so now I can live with the money I raised and I can pay back the money my parents gave me.

I had to leave home due to study purposes. During the following years, I studied Advertising and Public Relations. The degree was okay, but I did not find it fulfilling. So, when I started to move up in poker, I left my studies aside untill I completely gave them up to become a professional poker player.

Football is my hobby. I like to visit football stadiums and enjoy games either with someone else or alone. I have visited many Spanish 1st division stadiums and now I that live in UK, one of my ideas is to travel around the country enjoying Premier League.This week i was watching Manchester United against Stoke city in Old Traffor."

Cejakas14

Name: phatlat
Location Canada
Age: 31
Title 2012 TCOOP EVent #14 Event #14 NL Omaha Hi/Low 6-Max 2R1A
Winnings: $22,326

In his own words: "I love poker, but it's not my central focus in life. I'm an easy going 31-year-old Canadian with parents from South Africa (originally India). I grew up with an east-west balance and loving travel. I am a lifelong vegetarian (born and raised Hindu). I enjoy writing to the point where I do it for a part time living at the moment as well. Winning MTTs helps with that. I love reading, music, and people. Part of the reason being a full time online grinder doesn't seem to be my eventual goal. In life, I'm very interested in areas of intersection between nutrition, health and fitness and agriculture.

I just believe that a lot of today's challenges are best-served by plant-based solutions, and we're slowly moving in this direction. So, after doing a masters in international economics, I went to work for the federal government in Ottawa - Department of Agriculture, then our equivalent of the Department of Commerce (Industry Canada) - as a strategic policy analyst. Not completely satisfied in the line of public policy work (as a junior, anyway), I returned to school for a PhD in Food Agriculture and Resource Economics (FARE). A year and a half in, I decided to withdraw and re-assess. Since then I've been working on a blog, playing MTTs part time, crushing some, donking some of that back to the online ring community, and note taking for deaf and hard of hearing students, a job I love because I effectively get paid to go to school. The big question is whether to complete the PhD in a different degree (political economy) or to pursue an entirely different field/line.

The TCOOP championship means a lot since it backs up some decent o8 performances (online) with another. After winning a SCOOP PLO8 event and nearly final tabling a WCOOP NLO8 event, taking down a TCOOP O8 event, gambly as it is, feels like it's helping me slowly sustain the confidence I should have in my O8 game at higher levels.

As for what I'm doing with the money, between being a formerly broke PhD student and now a part time online grinder, I'll probably save most and use some for my online roll. I should probably learn how to play ring properly one day, too. I get too bored and distracted with it but, if you're managing your roll properly, ring's where the money's at."

phatlat


Name: Mcolombo
Location Brazil
Age: 34
Title 2012 TCOOP Event #27 $22+R NLHE 2x-Turbo
Winnings: $82,562

In his own words: "I'm 34 years old, from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I love soccer and often go to see my soccer team Flamengo (it´s flag is my avatar). I'm happily married, and I love to travel. Recently we went to New York and Vegas, and believe or not a didn't play poker. With so many places to visit and my wife always by my side, I couldn't find the time.

I'm a lawyer, but I'm studying a lot of poker. Who knows? This could be the first tournament win in my future career. At first was only a dream, but when I reached the final table, I knew it was possible and I tried to play my best game ever. I think i will reinvest a bit on my poker games, and the rest I will use to improve some things in my professional life.

Also, I'm a magician as a hobby, and I love to entertain my friends with several tricks--mostly with cards, of course."

Mcolombo

Scott "Mongy" O'Reilly played every single event of the 2012 Turbo Championship of Online Poker. Scott "Mongy" O'Reilly won a TCOOP championship and tens of thousands of dollars. Scott "Mongy" O'Reilly won the TCOOP Player of the Series title.

We knew all of those things about Scott O'Reilly. But...how did he do it?

Well, that's what we wanted to know.

When the 50 TCOOP events were finally finished, O'Reilly was actually tied with another played named TeHKai for the Player of the Series title. Ultimately, however, O'Reilly won more money overall, and that variable served as the tie-breaker.

After it was all said and done, we had some questions for O'Reilly. We started with the most obvious.

PokerStars Blog: It appears you made a concerted effort to win the leaderboard. I mean, you played every event!. What was your motivation for doing so?

O'Reilly: I planned from before TCOOP started to play as many events as I wanted, so I purposefully didn't make any plans for the eleven days. Turbos are definitely my preferred type of poker, so PokerStars announcing TCOOP was a great day in my books.

I think the major contributing factor to playing every event was winning an event and running deep in another on the first day. I was in the lead after Day 1 on the leaderboard, so I thought it would be stupid not to give each event a go to try to get another early result to extend my lead.

I guess had I not been in contention for the leader board so early then I probably would have taken a day off in the middle to clear my head. I am lucky in the fact that I have been around the poker world for quite a few years now, so I have learned all of the mixed games along the way.

Player of the Series is a notoriously hard achievement as it requires you to run and play good for 50 tournaments, which unfortunately is sometimes out of the players' hands. As soon as I felt I had a shot at winning it, there was no way I wasn't going to play every event.

PokerStars Blog: So now that you have officially won it, is it as satisfying as you thought it would be?

O'Reilly: Winning means a lot to me. I have been in this game a long time now, and especially over the last few years I have dedicated myself to tournaments, particularly turbos. Throughout this time I have had some great results, but I have lacked a title. As soon as TCOOP was announced, I knew it was for me. The thought crossed my mind quite a few times on the weeks leading up that I have a shot for winning one of the events, but it was only a very small hope at wining Player of the Series, too! The last few days have made me a wreck.

PokerStars Blog: How much of a grind was it to play every single event?

O'Reilly: Toward the end of the series I was suffering from sleep deprivation, as I couldn't keep a regular sleep pattern. So, when it was all over, it felt like a relief! I think on the last day there were six events which I had to play all of to give myself the best opportunity to win, but the problem was that there was a 12 hour 30 minute gap between the first and last event, certainly not the session I needed after ten days straight!

Other than that I thought it was pretty simple, Most of the events I was just one- tabling, so I was able to do other real life stuff at the same time. It doesn't really feel like you are working when you are used to playing at least a dozen tables. I think overall the SCOOP seat is great, but the trophy and the title probably mean more to me. To quote Rupert Elder: "I am only in it for the trophies!"

PokerStars Blog: Talk a little about the battle with TeHKai.

O'Reilly: It was all very close at the top. I have to say unlucky to TeHKai , because for the last couple days you could barely separate us. On the penultimate day he took over me in the last tournament. With six events left on the Sunday I knew it would be a fight.

I started by cashing both of the first two to recapture the lead, but in the third event, the $2100 high roller, I got dreadfully close to the money, points, and well-needed extension of my lead. I busted six from the money with kings versus king-queen. Lets just say it hurt!

Funny, I remember spilling a cup of coffee on my new iPhone and some very important papers, and I just didn't care. The poker was just too much of a priority. Don't worry though. Apparently iPhones are tough.

Still, though, I had the lead again to put me in the drivers seat. With three tournaments left, it looked like an utter disaster. TehKai decides to go deep in the 8-game and the main event, taking a 20-point lead on me with one event to go: the supersonic.

I love this tournament. It's always been my favourite of the week. I have been lucky enough to chop it heads up, too, which is always nice. The problem with it is it's a hyper turbo. This means that you need that little bit of extra luck at showdown, as it's occurring far more regularly. I had to get 20 points (top third of people finishing in the money) and I needed TeHKai to not make the money.

I was lucky in the fact that he busted out pretty quickly, so I now knew I had a clean shot at it. I had to get to top 132 out of the 3,000-player field. Certainly not an easy task! Well, a lot of run good later and I found myself busting in around 70th place, frantically checking that no-one could bink both the main event and the supersonic to take me over!

TehKai and I ended on the same exact points, but I knew I had him on the money-won goal difference. Let just say I was a very happy, relieved...and drunk.

PokerStars Blog: So, I'll assume you're ready for a break?

O'Reilly: Definitely! My girlfriend has had to put up with me, so she's going to get some well-deserved time. Poor girl doesn't even play poker...yet. I will probably treat myself to something nice, and a nice holiday.

If you blinked, you might have missed it, but there was no mistaking the sound of a lot of money rushing by really fast and slamming into the bankrolls of PokerStars' newest Turbo Championship of Online Poker champions.

Sunday marked the end of the very first TCOOP, one that was an an unqualified, unmitigated success by almost any measure. In all, the fifty turbo events built up more than $18 million in prize money, including the massive $2.4 million main event prize pool. When that event was done, betudontbet had won more than $380,000 for a few hours work.

It was a fascinating experience to watch TCOOP play out over its first run. We met champions among poker players we've never seen before. We saw well-known tourney pros step up for a win. All of them walked away with big cash and one-of-a-kind TCOOP card cappers. In some cases, people played every event, but it didn't take that kind of effort to win a title. For example, the winner of Event #9, Baja272 played just one TCOOP tourney.

It was worldwide event, to be sure. When it came time to play the final table of Event #42, all nine seats at the table represented different countries. Of all the countries who played TCOOP, Russia had the most entrants, while Germany won the money money, and Canada took home the most titles.

Meanwhile, Scott "Mongy" O'Reilly was one of those people grinding it out in every one of the 50 TCOOP events. Not only did he win an event , he also did well enough in the rest to win the TCOOP leaderboard. As it happened, his points title happened to tie with TeHKai, however, as O'Reilly won about $9,000 more than THKai, O'Reilly will officially take first place for the SCOOP Main Event ticket.

Scott "Mongy" O'Reilly

For a look back at all of our TCOOP reporting, check out the 2012 TCOOP coverage page.

Congratulations once again to Scott "Mongy" O'Reilly for his TCOOP leaderboard win, and to all the other TCOOP champions from 2012.

The Turbo Championship Of Online Poker (TCOOP) is in full swing with 31 of the 50 events already consigned to the history books. Has it been a success so far? We would like to think so and the prize pools seem to confirm that thought too, as through the first 31 events there have been guaranteed prize pools of $5,000,000 and the total prize money awarded to date stands at a staggering $10,497,098.40!

One man who is absolutely loving the TCOOP right now is the Exeter-based pro Scott "Mongy" O'Reilly. Mr O'Reilly finds himself 10 points clear at the very top of the TCOOP 2012 Leaderboard thanks to some impressive results at the virtual felt. He has played in each and every one of the 31 events so far, cashing on eight occasions for a total of $30,010.80 and he even took down Event #4, the $33 No-Limit Hold'em $100,000 Guaranteed. O'Reilly was amongst the 9,877 entrants who helped to smash the guarantee by more than $196,000 and once the bumper crowd had been whittled down to the final six players a deal was struck and he walked away with $23,134.25 for his efforts.

Scott O'Reilly

Victoria Coren is one of a whole host of Team PokerStars Pros who have been thoroughly enjoying the TCOOP thus far, and seems particularly impressed by how fast the tournaments have been progressing. She tweeted to her legion of fans, "Yay, in the money in #TCOOP event 15! 7000 of us started playing an hour ago, already down to 875 players. That's what I call a turbo." Event #15 was the $55 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em Six-Max Hyper-Turbo that attracted 6,928 entrants. Despite the field being the size of your average Sunday Million the tournament was brought to a conclusion after just two hours 35 minutes of play! A deal was struck when three-handed "ocropTi" of Germany claiming the win and $48,000 in prize money whilst fellow choppers "StoyanB" of Bulgaria and "koka77" of Germany helped themselves to $37,824.72 and $37,408.39 respectively. Miss Coren busted out in 539th place for $123.22.

Another happy Tweeter was Toby "810ofclubs" Lewis, who despite playing a ton of events at the Aussie Millions has still found time to participate in no fewer than 13 TCOOP events. He entered TCOOP-16, the $55 No-Limit Hold'em Knockout event and by the time registration had closed he had been joined by 12,269 other competitors! Just over five and a half hours after buying in Lewis had outlasted the gargantuan field and was awarded $68,676.14 for his efforts, earning more than $12,000 per hour. Not a bad wage if you can get it! He tweeted from his @810ofclubs account saying, "Won myself a TCOOP with 12k runners lol." Before we sign off this article we will let Dale "Daleroxxu" Philip's brag-tweet serve as a warning to those of you who like to count their proverbial chickens before they are hatched. Shortly after the start of TCOOP-24, the $109 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Low Six-Max event, Daleroxxu informed his 2,291 followers the he had "Just booked last longer bet with @ShaneSchleger in #TCOOP-24 and doubled up 2 hands later. Looks like his luck finally ran out." But how wrong the Scotsman was because his fellow PokerStars Team Online Pro went on to finish in 94th place for a score of $244.38 whilst Daleroxxu busted out in 179th place, just 10 spots from the money bubble!

After 48 events and over $16 million in combined prize pools, PokerStars' inaugural TCOOP sprinted to the finish today with its $700 buy-in NLHE main event. The $1.5 million guarantee was shattered, the player count rising to 3,667 and the prize pool to $2,438,555 by the close of late registration. 495 players earned a share of it with first place set to take home $382,855.67.

A little perspective? That's about twice the average first-place haul in the Sunday Million for a tournament that took less than half the time. Tonight's top five finishers all came away with six figures apiece and a trip to the final table guaranteed players at least $19,508. The only catch? Well, you'd better know how to work a short stack.

A scroll of the registration list revealed a who's who of online poker. Alongside familiar screen names like Tmay420, ZeeJustin, molswi47, aejones, Iftarii, and gipsy74 were more than forty members of Team PokerStars Pro and Team Online, including Vanessa Selbst, Andre Akkari, Viktor Blom, Liv Boeree, Alex Kravchenko, Pius Heinz, Martin Staszko, Lex Veldhuis, and Shane "shaniac" Schleger. A trio of Red Spades finished in the money: Kristian "CharismA3" Martin (462nd), Humberto Brenes (299th) and Mikhail "innerpsy" Shalamov (115th).

Ten remained after four and a half hours of play, the blinds up to 400,000/800,000 and the 7.33 million-chip average stack amounting to only nine big blinds. Two players ended up risking their tournament lives during the same deal of hand-for-hand play. The shortest stack remaining, vulcano23, had only 1.44 million left after posting the small blind and called all-in behind ImDaNuts' shove, his [Kd][Ts] in a race situation with [9d][9s]. Vulcano23 did not improve and hit the rail in 10th place while ImDaNuts raked in the 5 million chip pot. Meanwhile, on the other table, MON3Y$HOT open-shoved for 5.08 million with [Ks][Js] and Gala_Terry called off his remaining 3.43 million with [As][Qd] in the small blind. Gala_Terry flopped an ace and turned trips, doubling to 8.96 million, while MON3Y$HOT was crippled heading into the final table.

Final table chip counts

Seat 1: Didak04 (7,880,488 in chips)
Seat 2: DimaDima13 (4,327,242 in chips)
Seat 3: swissman29 (7,794,273 in chips)
Seat 4: zyxel888 (4,410,438 in chips)
Seat 5: Gala_Terry (8,962,312 in chips)
Seat 6: mmbittencour (4,227,806 in chips)
Seat 7: Betudontbet (25,828,771 in chips)
Seat 8: ImDaNuts (8,653,894 in chips)
Seat 9: MON3Y$HOT (1,254,776 in chips)

Betudontbet had a dominant chip lead with almost three times the stack of second-in-chips Gala_Terry. And with the blinds up to 500,000/1,000,000, he was also the only player starting the final table with more than 10 BB.

The Micros

The first hand at the final table saw another player crippled, zyxel888 shoving for 4.28 million with [2h][2c] in the cutoff and mmbittencour making the call with [Ah][Jd] in the small blind. A jack hit the flop and mmbittencour came away with all but 182,632 of zyxel888's chips. The next deal of the cards found MON3Y$HOT under-the-gun and facing the 1,000,000 big blind on the next hand. He decided to go for it on this one, moving all-in for 1,004,776 with [8c][Tc]. Didak04 raised to 2.5 million from UTG+1 and mmbittencour called on the button. The rest of Didak04's chips went in on the [Kh][Th][Jc] flop and mmbittencour quickly called, both players holding ace-queen for Broadway. Only running clubs could save MON3Y$HOT, but a heart and a club fell instead to send him home in ninth place. Xycel888 succumbed two hands later when his [Kd][4d] did not improve against Betudontbet's [Ad][3s]. For eighth place, xycel888 earned $30,481.93.

DimaDima13 nearly tripled up, going from less than two big blinds to nearly six when [As][Tc] held against swissman29's [Kc][Td]. A few hands later, swissman29 had 1.4 million of his remaining 3.1 million committed in the big blind. Swissman29 tossed in the rest with pocket sevens after his nemesis opened for 4.2 million from the small, but unfortunately for him, DimaDima13 turned up [Ah][As], the board running out king-high to end his run in seventh place.

ImDaNuts flops DimaDima13 dead

With six players remaining, the blinds rose to 800,000/1,600,000. Betudontbet still led the pack with 34.5 million (21.5BB), Gala_Terry and ImDaNuts held about 10 million apiece (6.25BB) and the bottom three sported stacks between five and seven million. Didak04 was the next to move in, shoving for 5.3 million with [9c][Td] when the action was folded around to him in the small blind. DimaDima13 looked down at [Kc][8s] in the big and after a bit of a tank, made the right call, having Didak04 slightly covered. Didak04 caught up on the [Th][4h][3h] flop, his pair of tens holding up through the turn and river to double him up to 11.8 million. Left with 1.62 million, DimaDima13 put the last of his chips in the middle against ImDaNuts on the next deal. DimaDima13's [2d][3c] was drawing dead on the [Tc][8c][7d] flop, ImDaNuts hitting a set of eights to eliminate him in sixth place with a $79,253.03 payday.

No deal for mmbittencour

With $1.1 million in prize money at stake, five players remaining and only 46 big blinds left in play, mmbittencour thought it was time to make a deal.

"Agreement?" he wrote in the chat box, his time bank ticking down as he waited for a response.

Although a few players told him they'd already checked the requisite box that would pause the tournament for discussions, it wasn't unanimous. His clock down to zero, mmbittencour couldn't wait any longer and moved in for 4.32 million from the button with [Kh][9s]. Betudontbet re-shoved from the small blind with [7s][7d] and ImDaNuts ducked out of the way from the big. Betudontbet's sevens held up and mmbittencour was out, his fifth-place finish earning him $103,638.58.

Who will blink first?

With the field down to four, and the blinds at 1M/2M, Betudontbet controlled 58% of the chips in play, his stack up to 42.4 million. ImDaNuts held 11.8 million, Didak04 had 11.2 million and Gala_Terry was the short stack with 7.9 milliion. Betudontbet maintained his aggressive approach, leaving his three opponents to play a high-stakes game of chicken when it came to the gargantuan pay jumps. Betudontbet continued whittling away his opponents' stacks, moving up to 56.1 million in chips before Didak04 put his remaining 4.7 million in the pot. Didak04's [Ah][Tc] held up against Betudontbet's [Qh][8h], taking him up to 10.9 million.

Gala_Terry claimed some of those chips on the very next hand when his [Ac][Js] held up against Didak04's [5h][6d]. Then ImDaNuts made it a hat trick of double-ups, his [Kc][8d] holding up against Betudontbet's [Kd][6h] to take him up to 14.7 million. A few hands later, Gala_Terry went for it again, shoving 4.57 million from the small blind with [Kd][8d], but unfortunately ran right into Betudontbet's [Ad][Kh] in the big. Betudontbet made aces up on the [4c][9h][9d][4s][Ac] board and KOed Gala_Terry in fourth place, a $140,216.91 payday awaiting him in his PokerStars account.

Math is hard

Despite Betudontbet's monster chip lead, the final three agreed to pause the action and discuss a deal. However, once the chip count chop numbers were revealed, it became glaringly apparent that they waited too long. Final table host Andre Coimbra and the PokerStars support team ran the calculations several times, leaving $30,000 on the table for the eventual winner, but the chip count chop formula gave Betudontbet a $392,843.08 share of the prize pool, already more than the published first place.

ImDaNuts: lol what
ImDaNuts: that cant be right
ImDaNuts: betudontbet gets more than first?
acoimbra (TeamOnline): the numbers are correct, you are free to dicuss them
ImDaNuts: lol
Didak04: well I wont take a deal unless I get $250000
ImDaNuts: lol jus play
Didak04: ok lets play
Betudontbet: gl

Cards went back in the air and on the first hand after the pause, Didak04 moved all-in for his last 4 million from the small blind. Betudontbet called, his [Qs][2s] leading Didak04's [Js][8h]. Betudontbet's queen ended up playing on the [9s][9c][3c][7d][5h] board and Didak04 departed in third, earning $201,180.78.

Heads-up chip counts

Seat 7: Betudontbet (64,079,934 in chips)
Seat 8: ImDaNuts (9,260,066 in chips)

The final two are no doubt a distinguished duo. Behind the moniker "ImDaNuts" is poker pro Chris Oliver, who earned $1.8 million for his runner-up finish in the 2011 PCA Main Event. Additionally, Oliver has a number of major online wins on his C.V., including a $88k win in the Sunday 500, a fourth-place finish in the Sunday Million, and a sixth-place finish in the 10th Anniversary High Roller tournament for $93,500. David "Betudontbet" Emmons is also no stranger to a major final table. He took third in the Super Tuesday back in October for nearly $37,000 and has made more than 20 five-figure tournament scores on PokerStars.

With smaller blinds and a less lopsided chip count, this could have been a heads-up battle royale between two online heavyweights. But this is TCOOP, and it was all over in one hand. Betudontbet found [As][5h] and shoved, ImDaNuts calling all-in with [Ks][7d]. Although ImDaNuts flopped a king, Betudontbet turned an ace to seal the win:

A hearty congrats is due to Betudontbet for a dominating final table performance en route to the TCOOP Main Event title. His pockets are $382,855.67 fuller while ImDaNuts collected $285,310.93 for second place.

2012 TCOOP Event #49 ($700 NLHE Main Event) results

1. David "Betudontbet" Emmons (Mexico) $382,855.67
2. Chris "ImDaNuts" Oliver (Costa Rica) $285,310.93
3. Didak04 (Australia) $201,180.78
4. Gala_Terry (United Kingdom) $140,216.91
5. mmbittencour (Brazil) $103,638.59
6. DimaDima13 (Russia) $79,253.03
7. swissman29 (Luxembourg) $45,867.48
8. zyxel888 (Russia) $30,481.93
9. MON3Y$HOT (Australia) $19,508.44

To all the players who raised, shoved, called, binked, spiked, and shipped their way through these last eleven days of turbo tournaments, thanks for making the first TCOOP such a smashing success. Back to your regularly scheduled grind, everyone. But don't forget-- SCOOP is only three months away!

Normally the Sunday Supersonic - a $215 hyper-turbo tournament held on PokerStars every Sunday - sports a modest $40,000 guarantee and attracts between 900 and 1,000 players. The whole tournament typically plays out in less than two hours, providing large prizes to the players that make the final table for minimal time investment.

With the 2012 Turbo Championship of Online Poker ending on a Sunday, it only made sense to hold a special TCOOP version of the Sunday Supersonic as the final event in the series. Event 50, $215 No-Limit Hold'em (Hyper-Turbo) served as the Wrap Party for a week and a half of turbo madness. And to celebrate the occasion, PokerStars bumped the guarantee to $300,000. It was a way of saying "thank you" to the fantastic PokerStars players who made the 2012 TCOOP such a success.

Players responded in droves. 2,992 found $215 to throw at Event 50, creating a prize pool of more than $630,000 and a 1st-place prize that flirted with $100,000 - more than 2.5 times the normal guarantee for the whole prize pool! As befits a hyper-turbo, it took only 58 minutes (five of which were spent on break) to whittle the 3,000-strong field down to the 378 players who would cash.

The red spade was well represented among those cashing players. Six members of Team PokerStars Pro and PokerStars Team Online cashed in Event 50; three of them made the final five tables of the tournament. Team Pros Martin "AABenjaminAA" Hruby (216th, $599.17) and Bryan Huang (122nd, $851.46), and Team Online player Grayson "spacegravy" Physioc (112th, $882.99) each enjoyed a modest level of success. They were outdone by Team Online player Kristian "CharismA3" Martin (38th, $1,356.03) and Team Pros Viktor "Isildur1" Blom (28th, $1,576.78) and Marcin "Goral" Horecki (25th, $1,892.14). Those runs were perhaps not as deep as Martin, Blom and Horecki would have preferred, but a six-to-nine times return on your buy-in will fund a few more tournaments.

Exactly 58 minutes after the money bubble burst (five of which were again spent on break), the final event of the 2012 TCOOP reached its final table of nine players.

Seat 1: Hasn82 (1199578 in chips)
Seat 2: Slart42 (1294112 in chips)
Seat 3: xxxALBxxx (4040782 in chips)
Seat 4: GangstaZab (2125809 in chips)
Seat 5: KvicKiller (1307442 in chips)
Seat 6: rytsen (1346106 in chips)
Seat 7: ottocat01 (1305818 in chips)
Seat 8: smerks (802764 in chips)
Seat 9: Team Sexy14 (1537589 in chips)

A group affair

With blinds at 100k / 200k and an ante of 40k, this would be a lightning final table. On the very first hand, smerks was eliminated with [as][qh] when ottocat01 woke up with pocket aces and snap-called smerks' all in.

rytsen lost a flip moments later when [kc][qd] couldn't out-flip Team Sexy14's pocket 8s, especially after an 8 flopped. That hand crippled rytsen to just 80,000 chips; rytsen made a quiet exit in 8th place the next hand.

KvicKiller was the next player to tally an elimination. Hasn82 raised all in for 1.25 million, five big blinds at the new levels. KvicKiller called with [as][6c], a hand that was flipping against Hasn82's pocket 4s. This flip went KvicKiller's way. True to his/her screen name, the end was quick - an ace flopped, and Hasn82 never improved from there.

GangstaZab refused to be left on the sideline of the elimination party. When xxxALBxxx moved all in for 1.77 million, GangstaZab got right in there for 2.12 million with pocket 10s. xxxALBxx had only one over-card with [as][7s], and this time no ace hit the board. [qh][6s][6h][4d][3s] ensured xxxALBxxx's demise in 6th place.

KvicKiller was at it again a few hands later during the 150k / 300k level. Dealt [7d][5d], KvicKiller used the power of a big stack - 4.1 million - to shove all in and intimidate. ottocat01 called with the better hand, [as][8s], but making a pair of 8s on the river of a [8h][6c][tc][jh][8c] board was a killer for ottocat01, as that card gave KvicKiller a jack-high straight. ottocat01 bowed out in 5th place.

Cut a deal then cut the remaining players

The limits moved up to 200k / 400k with an 80k ante. Less than two big blinds separated the four remaining players: GangstaZab (4,175,037), KvicKiller (3,801,303), Slart42 (3,723,482) and Team Sexy14 (3,260,178). They agreed to pause the tournament and talk deal.

With relatively even stacks, the chip chop numbers were also relatively event. Each player was guaranteed better than 3rd place money with a proposed split of: GangstaZab $67,697.33, KvicKiller $64,939.62, Slart42 $64,365.39 and Team Sexy14 $60,946.75. The remaining $6,000 would be allocated to the winner.

The exceedingly even stacks did not prevent KvicKiller from trying to get more money.

"70k for me," proposed KvicKiller. GangstaZab laughed.
"You're dreaming donkey boy," said Team Sexy14.
"Just check OPR," KvicKiller shot back.
"I've already came in 2nd in one of these," Team Sexy14 said. "So I'll do the numbers or nothing."
"I need more from gangsta and slart," said KvicKiller.
GangstaZab relented. "I can give you 2k."
"Take that kvic," said Team Sexy14. "Lets play for the 6k and end this donk show."
"I can't give anything bro," said Slart42. "Numbers are already a little bit tiny for me you know."
"OK," said KvicKiller.

The deal was agreed with the modification that $2,000 of GangstaZab's share would go to KvicKiller. Play resumed with just $6,000 left undecided.

On the first hand back from the break, Team Sexy14 moved all in with [qh][10s]. GangstaZab tanked and called with [ac][6c]. Although Team Sexy14 flopped an up-and-down straight draw, [9h][3d][jc], it never came home. The board came running 5s to end Team Sexy14's run in 4th place.

A few hands later KvicKiller sent Slart42 to the rail in 3rdd place. KvicKiller called Slart42's all in with a dominating hand. [kc][jh] held for KvicKiller against Slart 42's [kd][3s] when both players missed a queen-high board.

The chips were almost dead even to start heads-up play. GangstaZab and KvicKiller each had about 7.5 million at the 200k/400k level. They passed the antes back and forth for six hands. On the seventh hand, having slipped to 6.6 million, GangstaZab opened for the minimum raise to 800,000. KvicKiller shoved all in for 8.2 million and GangstaZab called. The last hand of the 2012 TCOOP played out in KvicKiller's favor:

RSS readers: click through to see replay

Aces full of sevens sealed the win for KvicKiller and brought the 2012 Turbo Championship of Online Poker to a close. And that, as they say, is a wrap.

2012 TCOOP Event 50 $215 No-Limit Hold'em (Hyper-Turbo) results (reflect 4-way deal):

*1st: KvicKiller ($72,939.62)
*2nd: GangstaZab ($65,697.33)
*3rd: Slart42 ($64,365.39)
*4th: Team Sexy14 ($60,946.75)
5th: ottocat01 ($27,436.04)
6th: xxxALBxxx ($21,128.90)
7th: Hasn82 ($14,821.76)
8th: rytsen ($9,145.34)
9th: smerks ($5,361.06)

We hope you enjoyed the 2012 TCOOP. However, just because the turbo action is over doesn't mean the party has to stop. Milestone hands are once again in effect as PokerStars continues down the Road to 100 Billion. Make sure to get your share of the milestone money that's up for grabs!

On the last day of TCOOP, Event 46 was one of six events that focused mainly on NLHE but threw an 8-game mix as well. Yes, the series is already coming to an end. If it seemed like a fast 11 days of events, it was. They were all turbo tournaments, of course, so what did you expect?

There was nothing fancy about this tournament, with the exception of its amazing $750,000 guarantee. Other than that, it was a simple $200 + $15 No Limit Hold'em turbo tournament, one of several leading up to today's Main Event. The five-minute levels were set, and action kicked off at 11:00 ET.

After 90 minutes of registration time, the numbers were in:

Players: 4,847
Prize pool: $969,400.00
Paid players: 630

The money bubble was on tap just 20 minutes into the third hour of play, and it took several minutes of hand-for-hand play to determine that calcuttaboy finished in 631st place on said bubble. Wallentin72 became the first player to cash for $348.98, and the bustouts were fast and furious going forward.

Of the members of Team PokerStars in the field, four of them sailed into the money. Team Online's Andres "Donald" Berg continued the fight until exiting in 212th place for $630.11, and fellow Team Online player Kristian "CharismA3" Martin was the next to go in 99th place with $1,211.75. Team PokerStars Pro Vivian Im of South Korea made it all the way to 55th place for a $1,696.45 payday, and that left Team Pro Christophe "chrisdm" De Meulder of Belgium working his way through the last six tables.

Chrisdm stayed strong in the middle of the pack as the tournament was reduced to three tables. But he became one of the shorter stacks amidst the turbo action. Just after the four-hear break, he finally pushed that stack all-in with K-4 against the A-4 of achen, and no king could save him. Christophe de Meulder exited in 19th place with $2,423.50.

The last two tables quickly thinned to only ten players, at which point hand-for-hand produced several double-ups that led to one key hand. FullMaster34 raised, and Powergolf reraised all-in with [9d][9s]. FullMaster34 called with [As][2s], and the board of [5c][2d][7s][3c][2c] made trip deuces to eliminate Powergolf in tenth place with $5,816.40.

FullMaster34 and Senterpied battle for chip lead

The final table started in Level 48, with blinds of 300,000/600,000 and a 75,000 ante. Players' starting stacks were as follows:

Seat 1: AAChri$AA (3,397,545 in chips)
Seat 2: achen (5,475,784 in chips)
Seat 3: schulle1 (4,572,094 in chips)
Seat 4: TOMASHAN (5,576,684 in chips)
Seat 5: dvash9 (2,741,704 in chips)
Seat 6: FullMaster34 (9,344,328 in chips)
Seat 7: actafool9 (5,210,402 in chips)
Seat 8: clunged (2,768,390 in chips)
Seat 9: Senterpied (9,383,069 in chips)

Dvash9 doubled through FullMaster34 to start things off.

The very next hand saw schulle1 push all-in from middle position with [Ah][Qd], and FullMaster34 called from the big blind with [Ad][Kc]. The board came [2d][5s][6s][5h][4h], and the king kicker played to eliminate schulle1 in ninth place with $7,755.20.

Dvash9 made another move several hands later, pushing all-in UTG with [6c][6h]. Actafool9 reraised all-in to isolate, which worked, and showed [Ad][Kd]. The flop of [Kc][9d][Th] immediately gave actafool9 the edge, and the [Kh] on the turn solidified that with trip kings. The [Qs] on the river sent dvash9 out in eighth place with $12,117.50.

TOMASHAN tripled through actafool9 and clunged. That loss for clunged forced an all-in on the small blind of the next hand. AAChri$AA also moved all-in, and TOMASHAN called both players.

TOMASHAN: [Ad][Qh]
AACHRI$AA: [6c][6s]
clunged: [Kd][9d]

The board produced [5c][8h][8s][3h][5h], and AAChri$AA doubled up while TOMASHAN took one of the side pots. Clunged was out in seventh place with $21,811.50.

TOMASHAN doubled through achen, and then achen doubled through FullMaster34.

Six-way deal

The final six players paused the tournament to discuss a potential deal, and chip-chop numbers were given. They were changed once, and then again amidst a very lengthy discussion before they finally agreed on these numbers. There was also $15,000 set aside for the eventual winner.

Seat 1: AAChri$AA (1,159,341 in chips) = $41,926.12
Seat 2: achen (6,231,644 in chips) = $73,017.40
Seat 4: TOMASHAN (4,994,924 in chips) = $55,168.24
Seat 6: FullMaster34 (12,683,896 in chips) = $99,251.07
Seat 7: actafool9 (11,642,126 in chips) = $93,981.57
Seat 9: Senterpied (11,758,069 in chips) = $94,123.68

About 45 minutes later, the action resumed, and it only took three hands to see big action. Achen pushed all-in with [4c][4d], and TOMASHAN was along with [Ad][5s]. The board came [9c][7d][4h][Jh][Th] to give achen the set of fours and eliminate TOMASHAN in sixth place with $55,168.24.

Two hands later, AAChri$AA was all-in with the big blind holding [Qs][7s], and Senterpied called from the small blind with [Ad][4h]. Senterpied was ahead the entire way on the [2c][Th][Ah][9h][3h] board, resulting in a flush. AAChris$AA exited in fifth place with $41,926.12.

FullMaster34 suffered after the deal talks and finally risked it all with [Qs][Jh] against the [Ah][Qh] of Senterpied. The board of [Ks][As][8c][6c][9h] only put Senterpied further ahead with the pair of aces. FullMaster34 had to leave in fourth place with $99,251.07.

Actafool9 dominates

This double-up by actafool9 through achen put the former in solid chip position:

RSS readers click through to see replay

Achen soon doubled through Senterpied but moved all-in again soon after. Achen took the risk with [Kc][6d], and actafool9 called with [Ad][2c]. The board of [4s][4h][8h][7s][4c] allowed the ace kicker to play, and achen was out in third place with $73,017.40.

Heads-up play started with these counts:

Seat 7: actafool9 (35,178,136 in chips)
Seat 9: Senterpied (13,291,864 in chips)

On the second hand of the duel, Senterpied pushed all-in with [Qh][5d], and actafool9 called with [Kd][8c]. The flop of [4s][Kc][3h] gave actafool9 two pair, and the [Ac] and [8d] finished the board with two pair for actafool9. Senterpied had to accept second place and $94,123.68.

Actafool9 of Germany won TCOOP Event 46 and $108,981.57 in cash. Congrats!

TCOOP Event 46 ($215 NLHE) Results (reflects 6-way deal):

1st place: actafool9 ($108,981.57)*
2nd place: Senterpied ($94,123.68)*
3rd place: achen ($73,017.40)*
4th place: FullMaster34 ($99,251.07)*
5th place: AAChri$AA ($41,926.12)*
6th place: TOMASHAN ($55,168.24)*
7th place: clunged ($21,811.50)
8th place: dvash9 ($12,117.50)
9th place: schulle1 ($7,755.20)

*Participants in an event six-way chop with $15,000 set aside for the winner.

It's the last day of TCOOP action! Check out the main page for leaderboard information and event results.

The high-dollar event on the TCOOP schedule was Event #47, a $2,100 buy-in no-limit hold'em "high roller" tourney that attracted many of online poker's top players.

About 460 were seated when first hands were dealt at noon ET, although the total field would continue to grow over the 90 minutes of late registration. By that point a final total of 814 had signed up, making for a whopping $1.628 million prize pool (more than triple the $500K guarantee).

The top 108 finishers would divide the cash. Making the final two tables would earn at least a five-figure payday. Getting to the last table would guarantee a $20K-plus deposit in the PokerStars account. A final four finish would land one a six-figure score. And winning meant taking away a huge $294,668 prize for first, barring any final table deals.

At the time registration closed, more than half of those who had registered had already seen their chances at that prize money dashed as less than 300 players remained. frtk had pushed to the top of the leaderboard, closing in on 150,000, while Chris "Big Huni" Hunichen and Alex21reg were both just under 100,000. And Team PokerStars Pro Sebastian Ruthenberg was right there as well in fourth place with just over 97,000.

Ruthenberg's good start wouldn't sustain him, however, as over the next half-hour he slid in the counts until he finally was ousted in 143rd, shy of the cash, joining fellow teammates and other recent eliminations Viktor "Isildur1" Blom (156th) and Johnny Lodden (160th).

The cash bubble burst at the two-hour-and-20-minute mark, at which juncture Nicolas "PKaiser" Fierro had taken the lead with better than 316,000, followed by Ken "kenny05" Smaron (253,782), Vinkyy (244,918), RaydeN08 (225,328), and David "davidv1213" Vamplew (217,505).

Four representatives of Team PokerStars were among those cashing. Matthias "mattidm" de Meulder of Team PokerStars Belgium was inside the top 30 with better than 100,000. Ville Wahlbeck of Team PokerStars Finland was in the top half of the counts as well with more than 75,000. Maxim Lykov of Team PokerStars Russia was hovering around 70th with a below-average stack of just over 42,000. And George "gkap13" Kapalas, Challenger to Team Greece, was hanging on with the short stack.

Kapalas would soon fall in 103rd ($3,418,80), knocked out by jektiss. Interestingly, as the field was trimmed to 70, the three remaining Team PokerStars Pros were all seated at the same table, with Lykov and de Meulder on big stacks (both in the top 20) and Wahlbeck having slid into the danger zone with just over 6 big blinds.

That table soon broke, but all were still alive when 55 remained. Cesar "caio_pimenta" Pimenta had risen to the top of the leaderboard by then with just over 346,000, with Jimmy "AlusivPnkBny" Guinther, Ken "kenny05" Smaron, and Lykov the only other players with over 300,000. That's when Wahlbeck finally got his short stack in against two other players, with Siervos winning the hand to send the Finnish pro out in 55th ($4,884).

They played down to the final four tables, and not long after that Matthias "mattidm" de Meulder open-pushed 74,581 (not quite three big blinds) from the small blind with [Ks][9s] and was called by Serkules in the big blind who had [Jh][9h]. The Team Pro was good through the turn as the board came [Tc][6d][3h][Kc], but the [Qs] river gave Serkules a straight and knocked de Meulder out in 31st ($6,837.60).

Team PokerStars Pro Matthias "mattidm" de Meulder

Soon they were down to two tables, with Lykov still hanging on with a short stack and Alexander "AlexKP" Petersen -- winner of TCOOP Event #37 -- out in front with more than 1.73 million chips.

Three were eliminated in short order -- Sasuke234 (18th), ynd! (17th), and marlin555 (16th) -- all earning $11,070.40). Then Lykov finally fell in a three-way all in against e1mdopp and Ken "kenny05" Smaron in which the latter's [Ah][Ac] took out both players -- Lykov in 15th and e1mdopp in 14th (both earning $14,326.40).

Team PokerStars Pro Maxim Lykov

A few minutes later JackOrsen72 fell in 13th (also good for $14,326.40). It would then take just a few hands more to lose two more, with nordlending (12th) and obywatel_g (11th) each taking $17,582.40 for their efforts.

Then two eliminations occurred on simultaneous hands on the two five-handed tables. First Siervos fell in 10th ($17,582.40) when his [9h][9d] failed to hold up against Serkules' [Ac][Js]. Then Vinkyy went out in ninth ($20,838.40) after running the same [9h][9d] hand into RuiNF's [Jd][Js].

After three hours and 15 minutes, the final table -- with one seat empty -- was underway.

Seat 1: Madridcash -- 892,830
Seat 2: kenny05 -- 664,139
Seat 3: AlexKP -- 1,616,832
Seat 4: davidv1213 -- 631,979
Seat 5: RuiNF -- 1,800,749
Seat 6: Serkules -- 944,498
Seat 7: empty
Seat 8: Icallany -- 1,295,976
Seat 9: rUbEnhEnAo92 -- 292,997

That knockout of Vinkyy had helped RuiNF nudge out into the lead, but with the blinds rising fast there was sure to be a lot more rapid chip movement before this one would be decided.

Four hands into the final table the blinds had skipped up to 30,000/60,000 when Alexander "AlexKP" Petersen opened for 120,000 from the button. David "davidv1213" Vamplew reraised all in for 680,729 from the small blind, then RuiNF reraised all-in over the top of that to force out Petersen.

Vamplew showed [Jc][Js] and RuiNF [As][Ks], and when the board rolled out [Qc][Kc][Ah][3s][3c], davidv1213 was sent railward in eighth.

It was only a half-dozen hands after that when rUbEnhEnAo92 opened for 120,000 from the cutoff, leaving himself but 25,497 behind. AlexKP reraised from the big blind, and rUbEnhEnAo92 called, showing [Kh][9s]. Alas for him, Petersen held [Ks][Kc], and when the flop came [4d][Kd][4s] to give AlexKP a full house, rUbEnhEnAo92 was all but drawing dead. The [As] on the turn sealed it, and they were down to six.

Petersen had grabbed the chip lead and was nearing 3 million when he opened from UTG soon after that to 160,000 (a 2x raise), then Ken "kenny05" Smaron reraised all in from the big blind for 355,389 and AlexKP called. Smaron had [3c][3h] and Petersen [Ad][9d]. All was well for kenny05 after the [8h][Jc][7h] flop and [Js] turn, but the [9s] fell on the river to pair Petersen and send kenny05 out in sixth.

Just a few hands after that, RuiNF open-pushed for 1,069,480 from UTG and got one caller in lcallany from the button. RuiNF had [6c][6h] and lcallany [Ac][Qh]. The flop came [2h][8c][As], bringing an ace to pair lcallany. The turn was the [9c] and RuiNF was hoping for one of two sixes, but the river was another ace -- the [Ad] -- and RuiNF was out in fifth.

The tourney was paused shortly thereafter for the remaining four to discuss a deal. AlexKP led with 3,497,547, lcallany was next with 2,329,206, Madridcash third with 1,170,330, and Serkules 1,142,917.

It took a bit of back-and-forthing, but finally the players were able to come to an agreement after modifying the "chip chop" numbers a bit, with AlexKP and lcallany each giving a bit to the other two. Terms having been reached -- and leaving $10,000 on the table for which to play -- cards were soon back in the air.

The four played on for several minutes, during which stretch Madridcash chipped down a bit, then won a preflop all-in versus Serkules to double back. Serkules then doubled his short stack versus AlexKP before pushing his six-BB stack with [9s][5c] from the small blind and getting called by lcallany with [Qh][6s] in the BB. A five flopped, and Serkules' hand held.

Serkules luck would only last a short while longer, however. With the blinds 60,000/120,000, Serkules open-raised all in for 1,325,348 from UTG and got a caller in AlexKP in the big blind. Serkules was hoping his [3h][3c] would hold versus Petersen's [Kd][Th], but the board came [Js][Jh][2c][Kc][6d] to give AlexKP the better two pair and send Serkules out in fourth.

They reached the four-hour break, at which point lcallany led with 5,131,906 to AlexKP's 2,014,934 and Madridcash's 993,160. "I don't want that deal after all," cracked lcallany as they waited for play to resume. "me neither," joked AlexKP in response. The deal had been done, however, and only a few more hands of poker remained.

It was the very first hand back, in fact, that Madridcash's run would come to an end. All in for his nearly 1 million-chip stack from the small blind before the flop, AlexKP instantly called from the big blind, tabling [Ad][Kc]. Madridcash had [Ah][7h], and after the board ran out [Ks][7s][4h][6d][4d] they were down to two.

RSS readers click through to see replay

As heads-up began lcallany had the edge with 5,116,906 to AlexKP's 3,023,094. It would take just eight more hands to settle TCOOP Event #47, during which lcallany chipped up to just under 6 million while AlexKP fell back to almost 2.15 million.

With the blinds 70,000/140,000 (Level 41), lcallany raised to 280,000 from the button, then Petersen pushed all in and lcallany called in a flash.

AlexKP: [Kh][7d]
lcallany: [Ac][Ad]

":D" was AlexKP's reply at the sight of lcallany's aces. And five cards later -- [6h][Ts][2c][4d][Kd] -- the pair were exhanging "gg"'s as lcallany had won.

RSS readers click through to see replay

Congratulations to lcallany for besting a tough field of 814 to win TCOOP Event #47, the gold-plated card capper, and better than $210K! And congrats as well to AlexKP who came one spot shy of grabbing his second TCOOP title of the series, with a whopping $239K-plus payday his handsome consolation prize.

TCOOP Event #47 Results ($2,100 NLHE High Roller) (*reflects four-way deal):
1st: lcallany ($210,259.47)*
2nd: AlexKP ($239,104.29)*
3rd: Madridcash ($167,761.76)*
4th: Serkules ($166,756.48)*
5th: RuiNF ($83,842)
6th: kenny05 ($67,562)
7th: rUbEnhEnAo92 ($51,282)
8th: davidv1213 ($35,978.80)
9th: Vinkyy ($20,838.40)

We're nearly done with the inaugural Turbo Championship of Online Poker, though the big ones -- including the $1.5 million-guaranteed Main Event (Event #49) -- are still to be decided. Check back here on the PokerStars blog for all the results.

Pitch, Spit in the Ocean, No Peeky Baseball, 31, Chicago, Black Bottom, Follow the Queen, Rivers. All games you may play at a home game (although the last one was an event at the recent PokerStars Caribbean Adventure ). On the last day of the 2012 Turbo Championship of Online Poker http://www.pokerstars.com/tcoop/ fit in between the $2,100 High Roller event the $700 Main Event, were eight games that the average player would see in a regular casino versus during Tommy's Friday Night game in his parent's basement. $100,000.00 guaranteed Event #48's $320 buy-in 8-game tournament features H.O.R.S.E. plus 2-7 triple draw, NLHE, and Pot Limit Omaha to make sure the big bet specialists had a round to play. Well, almost a round with the three minute level one could get up to help themselves to a beer and miss out on a game.

557 players would beat yet another PokerStars guarantee as the $167,100.00 prize pool paid out 72 ways. The leaders for the TCOOP Player of the Series award trying to gain points for that 2012 SCOOP Main Event-High ticket along with a trophy to show to all your home game mates. Tied at the top Mongy would not gain any points in 302nd place, but co-leader TeHKai would going into the 72 player bubble with a top ten stack. Third place StoyanB would sit out as fourth place MrP0P, who final tabled the H.O.R.S.E. tournament yesterday, took an early exit today in 510th place. Team PokerStars Pro Theo "Theo J" Jorgensen and Team Online Adrienne "talonchick" Rowsome would sit on the same table late into the tournament but may have jinxed each other finishing just out of the cash in 96th and 90th place respectively.

Leaving Team Pro Vanessa Selbst and Team Online's Mikhail "innerpsy" Shalamov to safely make it into the cash after PureProfitFo busted in 73rd place on Selbst's table to a flopped straight by staknchip83.

TeHKai would eventually go out in the 12K/24K bets 2-7 Triple Draw round in 27th place picking up 15 valuable TCOOP Player of the Series points.

interpsy: "Hey Vanessa : ) "
V.Selbst: "heya gl to you"

Down to 24 left and both near the top of the leaderboard Mikhail and Vanessa would join up at Table 20 as the possibility of a two Red Spades reaching the final table came closer and close as players continued to bust at a rate of about one every other hand

Flushing out the pros
Watch Kaila show Selbst to the door and scoop a 402,736 chip pot from innerpsy at the same time:

By hitting a flush on fifth street [5d] [3d] / [Ad] [6d] [Kd] [4s] / [6c] Kalia would take the chip lead and knockout Selbst in 17th place ($1,554.03).

Down to two tables of six, Mikhail still reeling from the huge hand against Kalia, would be all-in before the draws in 2-7 Triple Draw and bets at
K/60K. 220,796 chips in the middle as Jamie_KK would take one on each of his draws as the Russian Team Online member would take two. "innerpsy" at least did not catch a pair on the last draw [8h] [6h] [2s] [5c] [Ad] but neither did Jamie_KK who notched a decent Eight-smooth [8s] [4d] [3s] [2c] [5s] to take out Mikhail in ninth place ($3,509.10).

The bubble would burst quickly after WERPOI was dumped in eighth place ($3,509.10). Moving to limit hold em' and bets at 30K/60K Bowlerman14 would set Jarcon86 all-in after Jarcon86 had only 17,236 after paying the big blind for a 94,472 chip pot. [7d][5s] for Jarcon86 needed a little boost against Bowlerman14's [8c][Qh]. Both players would throw gutter balls on the [6c] [3h] [Td] [Jd] [Kh] board but Bowlerman14's queen played ending Jarcon86's night in seventh place ($3,509.10) starting up the final table below:

Seat 1: Klaus-tro-fo (365268 in chips)
Seat 2: Kiikot_2008 (163008 in chips)
Seat 3: Kaila (468579 in chips)
Seat 4: Bowlerman14 (676310 in chips)
Seat 5: Tridynamo (763985 in chips)
Seat 6: Jamie_KK (347850 in chips)

KK no good in Razz

Shortly after the start of the final table the players were moved to the 40K/80K Razz round and Jamie_KK, unable to do anything with the chips acquired from innerpsy, would have his tournament chips all-in by fourth street against Kalia. Starting out with a nice [5s] [2d] / [4s] and ending with a Razz-like [Kh] [9c] [Kd] / [Jc] Jamie_KK's Jack-nine was well behind the [8h] [2c] / [7d] [5c] [3c] [As] / [3h] Seven-Five of Kalia earning $5,347.20 in sixth place.

No deal = No extra money for fifth place

As soon as our final four sat down they tried to broker a deal but could not get the entire table to accept the attempt to pause. Just before the hourly break and three and half hours into the tournament Kalia would claim yet another player's chips. On to Stud Hi-Lo and bets of 50K/100K ante 10K Klaus-tro-fo would try to find a winning combination against the bulldozer Kaila by raising all of his remaining 169,268 chips after the door cards were dealt. Wired aces [As] [3c] / [Ah] [4c] [Qh] [5h] / [9c] were plenty to take down the deuces of Klaus-tro-fo [2d] [8d] / [7c] [9s] [Ac] [2c] / [Kd] and scoop the 383,536 chip pot as Klaus-tro-fo slid off the final table in fifth place ($8,355.00).

Finding a kot of money to sleep on

On to 2-7 Triple Draw and bets at 80K/160K, Kiikot_2008 found five cards to go with holding just 205,774 chips and three-bet all-in. Tridynamo called the extra 45,774 and drew two. Kiikot_2008 would draw two on the first and second draws as Tridynamo liked his five card hand and stood pat on the second draw. Kiikot_2008 drew one more on the third draw needing an eight, a six, or a four to beat Tridynamo's [3s] [8c] [5d] [4c] [7d]. But, hit a ten instead [3h] [Tc] [2h] [5h] [7s] earning $11,697.00 in fourth place.

Cannot convert the 2-7 split

Still in the 80K/160K 2-7 Triple Draw round, Bowlerman14 holding 486,140 chips would raise from the button as Kalia three-bet from the big blind and Bowler14 made the call. Kalia took one, Bowlerman14 drew two as Kalia bet and Bowlerman14 called. Bowlerman14 only needed one for the second draw and Kalia bet again while drawing one and set Bowlerman14 all-in. Kaila was pat with an Eight-Seven [5c] [7h] [8s] [2h] [4h] as Bowlerman14 needed an eight. Instead Bowlerman14 hooked it right and caught another trey [3c] [5h] [3d] [6d] [4d] finishing the 10th frame with a $17,127.25 score in third place.

Too dynamo for Kaila to handle

Despite taking down the remaning Team PokerStars players and half the final table, Kaila was not able to overcome a slight heads-up disadvantage (1.44 million to 1.34 million) against Tridynamo. The two would battle for five minutes, enough for the game to switch over to Omaha Hi-Lo and with Tridynamo taking the lead (2.08 million to 703K) the final hand was pitched below:

With the bets at 100K/200K Kaila tried representing a big hand by betting and raising on every street with the board showing [Qc] [3d] [6d] [2h] [3s]. Unfortunately for Kaila, it was Tridynamo who had the set hand keeping pace with all the raises and putting in a few of his own showing queens full with a six-five low [Qh] [Qd] [Ah] [5d] as Kaila fell short holding [7h] [7c] [6h] [4c]. No deal in place meant Sweden's Tridynamo would capture the entire $31,749.00 first place prize and the TCOOP champion's gold card protector!

$100,000 guarantee 2012 TCOOP Event #48 $320 8-Game results (01-29-12)
1. Tridynamo (Sweden) $31,749.00
2. Kaila (Canada) $23,394.00
3. Bowlerman14 (Canada) $17,127.25
4. Kiikot_2008 (Russia) $11,697.00
5. Klaus-tro-fo (Germany) $8,355.00
6. Jamie_KK (United Kingdom) $5,347.20

All good things must come to an end; it's the one guarantee there is in this life. Sadly, TCOOP is no exception to this rule, and today was the final day for what has been an action-packed 10 days of turbo poker. With six tournaments on the schedule, this series would end in style - and it would do so starting with Event 45.

With a $100,000 guaranteed prize pool, just 1,001 players would need to buy in to this $109 NLHE event to continue the grand TCOOP tradition of flattening guarantees. In the end a total of 2,772 players entered, creating a prize pool of $277,200 and setting up the winner with a sweet payday of $43,798. Only 471 of them remained at the tournament's second break, just 111 spots away from the money. Chip leader was the United Kingdom's jeffshooter (190,139 chips), followed by Norway's ssletten10 (188,324), the UK's nay*8686 (179,095), Germany's _paul€Faul_ (173,593) and Chile's chilenocl (171,672). Only 22 minutes later the money bubble popped when Janilein1 of Germany busted, leaving 360 players to spread the prize pool out amongst themselves.

Another tourney, another cash for Liv Boeree

As it happened, two of those 360 were members of Team PokerStars Pro: Liv Boeree and Matthias "mattidm" De Meulder. With the structure ratcheted up to Level 27 (6K/12K/1.5K), both were on shorter-than-average stacks - Boeree with 63,326 and De Meulder at 33,210 - and surrounded by players who could double them up. De Meulder had the misfortune to run pocket fours into pocket tens just a few hands after the bubble popped, making him the 295th-place finisher ($199.58). Two minutes later the action folded to Boeree on the button on she shoved with [Ks] [6s], only to be called in the big blind by Denmark's Maverick1, who held [9s] [9c]. Boeree caught a piece of the [6c] [5d] [3s] flop and picked up more outs on the [5s] turn but blanked on the [Ac] river to finish 280th ($207.90).

Break it down

After another 33 minutes the third break of the tournament had arrived, and only 86 players lasted long enough to take advantage of it. The new chip leader was the Netherlands' Freakstah with 1,083,860 chips, followed by Costa Rica's Pokergenius2 (1,002,371), the Netherlands' uknowProsky* (990,850), Estonia's neemekas (912,656) and Turkey's arrmutt (820,700). They returned to play at Level 33 (15K/30K/3.75K) and managed to winnow the field all the way down to the final two tables during Level 40 (60K/120K/15K).

With the average stack only at 1.54 million chips and 315K in the pot every hand before anyone even received their cards, it didn't take long for the action to get going. Within two minutes, Bulgaria's Socre (18th), Russia's romich198272 (17th) and neemekas (16th) had all collected their $1,025.64 payouts. The action slowed from there and another full level would go by without an elimination. Australia's tanker232, who looked likely to be the next out, managed to survive four all-in confrontations on the short stack while Poland's MilanRabsz (15th), South Africa's decamps (14th) and the Netherlands' Tjinoe (13th) collected their$1,413.72 prizes. Germany's cappu82 (12th, $1,801.80) also busted before tanker232 finished 11th ($1,801.80); just moments later SirFlux had knocked out Ukraine's LigterKsen in 10th ($1,801.80) and the final table was set.

One last thing

The final table began on Level 43 (100K/200K/25K) with this lineup:

Seat 1: nog nuBkoM (1070474 in chips)
Seat 2: KARNA1983 (2235830 in chips)
Seat 3: ollé (588295 in chips)
Seat 4: sadam83 (1256469 in chips)
Seat 5: Jonny 4 Hand (1565127 in chips)
Seat 6: Cbank32 (2682421 in chips)
Seat 7: SirFlux (8591903 in chips)
Seat 8: Goldboy2005 (1587632 in chips)
Seat 9: dsnka (8141849 in chips)

It only took two hands to see the first player eliminated; a desperate ollé moved all-in from early position for 538K holding [Qc] [3c] but ran into Cbank32's [Js] [Jh] to finish 9th ($2,356.20). After that Russia's nog nuBkoM managed to double up once, get most of his stack in as a 4-to-1 favorite against sadam83 only to double his opponent up, and then double up again. Only after that did the United Kingdom's KARNA1983 move all-in from late position for 1.76M chips with [Ah] [8c] and get a call from Cbank32 in the small blind with [Ac] [Kh]. The board came [As] [Ks] [Jd] [Ts] [Td], KARNA1983 finished 8th ($4,019.40), and the tournament went on what would be its final break.

Moments after returning, Germany's Jonny 4 Hand moved all-in for 1.59M with pocket eights and Cbank32 tried to score a third elimination by isolating with [As] [Qd]. The [Qs] [8c] [4s] flop put Jonny 4 Hand ahead but left a lot of room for drama, and the [Qc] gave Cbank32 plenty of outs, but the [5h] river doubled the German up and cut into Cbank32's stack. Two hands later, Greece's SirFlux opened on the button with [4c] [4s] and called after Russia's Goldboy2005 moved all-in on the button for 900K with [As] [3c]. The board was all blanks, the fours held, and Goldboy2005 was out in 7th place ($6,791.40).

A few more double-ups from nog nuBkoM and Poland's sadam83 dominated most of Level 45 (150K/300K/37.5K), but SirFlux struck a huge blow to take the field down to five players. Cbank32 opened the betting in second position with an all-in bet of 2.57M chips; SirFlux flat-called behind and turned up [Th] [Td], while Cbank32 showed [Ac] [5s]. The [Ts] [5c] [3c] flop was great news for SirFlux, and though the [9c] turn was dangerous the river came the [6s] to send Cbank32 out in 6th ($9,563.40).

The home stretch

With the blinds now up to 200K/400K, nog nuBkoM was in the big blind with 2.58M chips behind when the Czech Republic's dsnka moved all-in from the small blind for 4.3M. nog nuBkoM called and was a favorite with [As] [Jc] over [6h] [3h], but a straightening board of [7s] [Qh] [5d] [8s] [9s] sent him home in 5th place ($12,335.40). Now up to 7.54M chips, dsnka's stack would grow even greater one pot later thanks to this hand:

That sent Jonny 4 Hand out in 4th place ($16,216.20). Four hands later he was joined on the rail by sadam83, who moved all-in on the button for 4.15M with [Qc] [Js] only to see SirFlux isolate with [Ac] [Qs]. The [Ad] [Qh] [Jh] flop brought two pair for both players, but SirFlux's hand held up as the rest of the board came [8c] [6d] to eliminate sadam83 in 3rd place.

Now holding 17,612,512 chips to his opponent's 10,107,488, SirFlux offered dsnka a chance to make a deal. dsnka wanted an even chop of the remaining money or nothing, so the two quickly and amicably agreed to play it out. On the fifth hand of their duel there was finally a confrontation; SirFlux min-raised to 1M on the button, dsnka shoved all-in for 8.42M with [Ad] [2h], and SirFlux called with [As] [9d]. The 16.96M-chip pot would have given dsnka the lead, and the [3h] [Jc] [5c] left some hope that the wheel might come home. But the [Jh] on the turn and [Qc] on the river left both players with a pair of jacks, ace kicker - and SirFlux's [9d] played to grab the pot.

With that, the first event of the last day of the inaugural Turbo Championship of Online Poker was in the history books. Congratulations to SirFlux, who becomes the second Greek player to win a TCOOP event, and to the rest of the players who made the final table (and have nice card cappers heading their way!).

TCOOP Event 45 - $109 No-Limit Hold'em
2,772 entrants, $277,200 prize pool

1st place - SirFlux (Greece) - $43,798
2nd place - dsnka (Czech Republic) - $32,895.32
3rd place - sadam83 (Poland) - $23,562
4th place - Jonny 4 Hand (Germany) - $16,216.20
5th place - nog nuBkoM (Russia) - $12,335.40
6th place - Cbank32 (Czech Republic) - $9,563.40
7th place - Goldboy2005 (Russia) - $6,791.40
8th place - KARNA1983 (United Kingdom) - $4,019.40
9th place - ollé (Brazil) - $2,356.20