And on the fifth day of TCOOP, PokerStars gave every Omaha player an extra card, to do with whatsoever they pleased.
Only 252 players were registered for Event #20 as the tournament’s first pixels came off the deck at 8:00 EST on the PokerStars clock. But the lure of a handful of cards, five that is, was too much for many, and the final number of entrants ballooned to 741 before registration closed. Between rebuys and add-ons the $75,000 guarantee came and went, the final prize pool, $102,750.
Five cards, you see, is better than four, and there was a commensurate acceleration in the pace of play — the entire field whittled down to one in less than four hours. That last player standing was Germany’s luckys luke, who improved upon a sixth place finish in Event #14 of this very series. That event, which had began less than 24 hours before, was Omaha as well, same buy-in format, but different everything else (Hi-Low, No-Limit). Not satisfied with yesterday’s $5,708.25 score, luckys luke added a TCOOP title to their name and $12,717.22 to their bankroll.
German Martin Glöck was the unfortunate final table bubbler, having moved all-in for his last five-and-a-half big blinds over a small blind raise from shrekpoker91, with A♥ Q♣ K♥ 7♣ 6♣ . The covering stack in the small blind called with Q♦ J♠10♠7♠5♦ .
A classic race if ever there was one!
Actually, the short-stack had a 52.8% to 47.2% advantage before any cards in the deck became communal. So it was a race indeed. They were drawing dead by the turn though, which is reasonably difficult to do in 5 Card Omaha, the board running out J♥ J♦ 5♠, 3♠, K♣ . With that river card we had a final table of six!
Final Table Chip Counts
Seat 1: shrekpoker91 (Ukraine) — 2,250,755
Seat 2: Lud0Max (Russia) — 640,960
Seat 3: goorkaPL (Poland) — 553,263
Seat 4: Tonimonntana (Germany) — 1,440,632
Seat 5: luckys luke (Germany) — 995,272
Seat 6: SuPerNeo1971 (Australia) — 969,118
Neo is the six
On the second hand of the final table goorkaPL doubled through chip-leader shrekpoker91 with ragged aces, which set up short-stacks luckys luke and SuPerNeo1971 to have at it in blind versus blind the next hand.
The German luckys luke potted it to three big blinds at 50,000-100,000 and SuPerNeo1971 moved all-in for 669,118. It was A♥ Q♠9♥ 5♥ 2♦ for luckys luke and A♣ K♠8♥ 7♣ 4♣ for the at-risk Aussie. We are reasonably sure that no one knew what cards to cheer for, the short-stack having 55% equity in the pot. The J♥ 10♥ 6♦ flop put an end to that advantage, luckys luke would now scoop the pot over 61% of the time. This was one of them as the 5♠river (after a 10♦ turn) gave luke bottom pair, which to our eye, was enough to scoop. SuPerNeo1971 had not been interested in a six-handed deal and was eliminated sixth for $3,082.50.
It was probably small consolation for the Aussie who bubbled the six-handed Omaha final table of Event #5 earlier this TCOOP.
Deal with it
“Man don’t angry me,” shrekpoker91 warned goorkaPL as deal negotiations began in earnest.
“So it was okay we are all lucky, be happy,” luckys luke interceded. Easy for them to say, they final tabled a TCOOP even the day before!
After the hardball simmered all five players agreed to an ICM chop that saw slim chip-leader Tonimonntana guaranteed $11,610.46, $14 more than shrekpoker91. Both Tonimonntana and LudoMax would be glad the ink dried because not long thereafter fifteen cards were tabled in a preflop carnage-a-trois.
It began with LudoMax potting to 420,000 at 60,000-120,000 on the button, which goorkaPL re-potted all-in for 1,186,526 from the small blind. Tonimonntana covered both and moved all-in, LudoMax had a small blind left in their stack and called off.
LudoMax: A♥ 6♥ 6♣ 7♦ 4♦
goorkaPL: Aâ™ A♣ 7♥ 8♣ Qâ™
Tonimonntana: K♣ K♠8♦ 8♥ 5♦
When the flop came 6♦ 5♠3♠LudoMax was suddenly in possession of the nuts and a 50% chance of survival. The 4♥ halved that as goorkaPL retook their preflop lead. Scarface was drawing dead to scoop, so the K♦ changed nothing. LudoMax earned $8,275.78 for fifth.
The very next hand Tonimonntana moved all-in for their last 200,000 on a flop of Aâ™ 5â™ 8♣ against luckys luke in blind versus blind. The German with the Joker avatar called and Al Pacino was in trouble with just a pair of jacks, J♦ J♥ 9♥ 3♥ Q♦ , against the flush draws, overcards, and runner-runner straights of luckys luke’s K♣ J♣ 10â™ 7â™ 3â™ . Fate was sealed on the 2â™ turn and Tonimonntana took home $11,596.51 for fourth place.
A whopping three hands passed before another player bit the electronic dust. luckys luke opened on the button with double-suited aces, Aâ™ A♥ 8♥ 5â™ 3â™ and shrekpoker91 potted to commit themselves with A♣ 10♣ 3♣ 4â™ 10♦ . The flop came K♦ 4♣ 3♦ and shrekpoker91 was less of an underdog than before, but still had some bullets to dodge. The 6â™ turn wasn’t the safest, but it was the 2♦ river that did them in. Out in third was shrekpoker91, winning $11,610.46.
Two players, ten cards
Heads-up was a relatively long, draw-out affair — it lasted ten hands. goorkaPL doubled on the second and luckys luke returned the favour on the third. On the final hand, luckys luke potted on the button to 420,000 and goorkaPL went all-in from the big blind for 1,256,048. The chip-leader called with a vague rundown Q♣ J♥ 10♦ 7â™ 6â™ while goorkaPL’s tabled a mildly connected A♣ J♣ 10♣ 9♣ 5â™ .
The shorter stack from Poland flopped a pair and the nut flush draw on 8♣ 5♣ 2â™ , but their adversary had an open-ended straight draw and backdoor spades. The 2♥ changed nothing — there are in fact bricks in this game. The Q♦ however cinched victory for luckys luke, they had riverred the all-mighty top pair to collect all 6.85M chips in play and the extra $1,500 for first prize.
goorkaPL had a wild ride on their way to $10,512.96 and second place.
Congratulations once again are in order for luckys luke, who was not satisfied with one TCOOP final table, so decided to wake up the very next day and take down Event #20 for $12,717.22!
TCOOP-20: $82 Pot-Limit 5 Card Omaha (1R1A)
Entrants: 741 (497 re-buys, 132 add-ons)
Prize pool: $102,750.00
Places paid: 96
1. luckys luke (Germany) $12,717.22*
2. goorkaPL (Poland) $10,512.96*
3. shrekpoker91 (Ukraine) $11,610.46*
4. Tonimonntana (Germany) $11,596.51*
5. Lud0Max (Russia) $8,275.78*
6. SuPerNeo1971 (Australia) $3,082.50
*denotes a 5-way deal
TCOOP is not even halfway finished, the action continues unabated through to February 2nd. Check out the full TCOOP schedule here.
Gareth Chantler is a Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.
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