How do you make Stud Hi-Lo exciting? Some might say deal a flop, but how about adding a turbo-charged twist to the action? Suddenly chips are all in on third street and it’s actually pretty exciting when you have two full boards to sweat on an all-in!
Today’s TCOOP Stud Hi-Lo Event was all over in three and a half hours with Canada’s umaebitz recovering from the absolute short stack at the start of the final table to claim the title.
It was Event #31 of the 2015 TCOOP and a field of 671 players ensured the guarantee was easily smashed with a prize pool of $50,325.
Among the starters were Martin Hrubý, Jonathan Duhamel and Adrienne Rowsome, but they fell short of the money. Other Team PokerStars Pros who had a little more success were Naoya Kihara (66th – $150.97) and Kosei Ichinose who looked a chance for the final table before bowing out in 14th place for $490.66.
Simultaneous eliminations across the final two tables during hand-for-hand play would see our final table start one short.
NigDawG would finish ninth when all in on third street and making just a pair of nines with Aguskb rivering trips tens to claim the pot. At the same timeBIGtittitilt was all in on fourth street on the other table with a promising 7♥ A♠K♦ 2♥ . BIGtittitilt caught good again with the 3♥ on fifth, but the final two cards were bricks to be left with just ace-high and no low. rtspurs started with queens and ended with two pair to see BIGtittitilt officially take eighth place for $754.87 as our final table of seven looked as follows:
Final Table Lineup
Seat 1: (empty)
Seat 2: Eagle2319 (267,292 in chips)
Seat 3: rtspurs (1,674,541 in chips)
Seat 4: umaebitz (62,008 in chips)
Seat 5: Mike “goleafsgoeh” Leah (305,156 in chips)
Seat 6: CandyJohnson (403,202 in chips)
Seat 7: absolutD37 (293,918 in chips)
Seat 8: Aaron “Aguskb” Gustavson (348,883 in chips)
Despite coming in super short, umaebitz was able to survive the first couple of all-ins to claw back a few antes, before big clash with Mike “goleafsgoeh” Leah.
umaebitz raised and goleafsgoeh was all in on third, with umaebitz making the call. The boards ran out as follows:
umaebitz: 3♣ 7♣ A♣ Aâ™ Kâ™ K♣ 10â™
goleafsgoeh: K♦ Q♣ K♥ 5♣ 4♦ 7♠J♥
umaebitz had a nice high-low starting hand but ended up making two pair with aces and kings as goleafsgoeh was unable to improve on his starting pair of kings. goleafsgoeh would take home $1,132.31 for seventh place.
absolutD37 would be next to fall, with both CandyJohnson and absolutD37 all in on third street with Aguskb gunning for the double KO. CandyJohnson improved to 2♠8♠Q♠Q♣ A♠Q♦ A♣ for a full house which was good to scoop. Aguskb started with three to a low but could only end up with a pair of sixes while absolutD37 started with three clubs and ended with two pair. CandyJohnson more than doubled as absolutD37 departed in sixth place for $1,761.37.
umaebitz would continue the come back with a big double through CandyJohnson with a six-high straight good for both the high and low against CandyJohnson’s two pair.
Then moments later, umaebitz would rake in another multi-way monster. The chips were all in on fifth street with the boards running out as follows:
umaebitz: A♦ 5♠8♠2♥ A♣ 4♥ 4♣
CandyJohnson: 2♣ 5♣ 2♠3♦ 3♥ 6♦ Q♦
Aguskb: 6♥ 10♦ 10â™ K♥ 8♣ 7♣ Kâ™
All three players made two pair but umaebitz’s aces and fours took the high and also the only low to scoop the lot, leaving Aguskb to exit in fifth place for $2,516.25.
Eagle2319 was the short stack and took a shot at the double up in a hand against CandyJohnson. A series of re-raises on third would see the chips all in with Eagle2319 making two pair with aces and fours. However CandyJohnson improved even further, making a full house to take it down. With neither player showing a low, Eagle2319 was eliminated in fourth place. That was worth $3,774.37.
The rapid rate of eliminations continued as three quickly became just two with the fall of CandyJohnson.
The betting was capped on third street, before CandyJohnson fired bets on fourth and fifth to be all in. rtspurs made the call and the final boards were spread:
CandyJohnson: 10♥ 4♥ 10â™ 4â™ 8♦ 3♣ 9â™
rtspurs: 3â™ 5â™ 2♦ 9♦ 4♣ 2♥ 6â™
CandyJohnson started with two pair but couldn’t improve on that as rtspurs rivered a six-high straight to scoop both the high and low. That meant CandyJohnson would have to be content with $5032.50 for third place.
Heads-up chip count
Seat 3: rtspurs (1,756,710 in chips)
Seat 4: umaebitz (1,598,290 in chips)
umaebitz took down the first pot to switch the chip lead before the two players paused the clock to discuss a deal, but before the figures had been presented, former TCOOP winner rtspurs was already on the defensive.
rtspurs says, “I’d be looking for an even split with money still left for 1st”
umaebitz says, “no”
rtspurs says, “you still have advantage with stack, but have to take records into account”
rtspurs says, “I’d be willing to leave 1k for 1st”
rtspurs says, “which obviously favours the big stack”
umaebitz says, “eh I’ll do a chip chop otherwise let’s play”
The numbers were then presented and rtspurs tried one last time to squeeze out a few extra dollars.
rtspurs says, “ok, get me to 7,800 and I deal”
umaebitz says, “you really going to quibble over 50 bucks?”
rtspurs, “edge buddy, not asking much”
umaebitz, “i’ll do the chip chop or play”
rtspurs, “k”
With the fruitless negotiations out of the way, the two finally agreed to chip chop numbers with $500 and the TCOOP title left in the middle to play for.
rtspurs claimed the first major blow when both started with quality high-low hands. rtspurs started with A♥ 4♥ 2♣ and ended with two pair, aces and fours, while umaebitz started with Aâ™ 4â™ 3♣ and even picked up the 2♥ on fourth, but couldn’t make a low, instead pairing up twice for aces and threes.
That put rtspurs into the lead, but umaebitz was quick to claw it back with a single pair of queens raking in a nice pot when rtspurs bricked the river and could only showdown jack-high.
umaebitz was back in front, and just a few hands later, it was all over.
Betting was capped on third, rtspurs bet on fourth and fifth before umaebitz raised enough to put rtspurs all in and the cards were tabled:
rtspurs started with queens but that was as good as it got which wasn’t enough to get past umaebitz’s pair of kings. rtspurs takes home $7,751.58 for second place as umaebitz is our TCOOP champion, winning $8,488.71. Congratulations!
TCOOP-31: $82 Stud H/L Turbo – $25K Guaranteed
Entrants: 671
Prize Pool: $50,325
Places Paid: 88
1. umaebitz (Canada) $8,488.71*
2. rtspurs (Ireland) $7,751.58*
3. CandyJohnson (Norway) $5,032.50
4. Eagle2319 (Belgium) $3,774.37
5. Aaron “Aguskb” Gustavson (Macao) $2,516,25
6. absolutD37 (Austria) $1,761.37
7. Mike “goleafsgoeh” Leah (Canada) $1,132.31
8. BIGtittitilt (Germany) $754.87
* denotes heads-up deal
The 2015 Turbo Championship of Online Poker runs right through until February 1st with a guaranteed $15,000,000 in tournament prize pools across 50 fantastic events. The highlight of the series is the TCOOP Main Event on February 1st which offers a $2,000,000 prize pool guarantee and a top prize of at least $300,000.
Check out the TCOOP home page for the full schedule, satellite information, results, series leaderboard and more.
Heath “TassieDevil” Chick is a Freelance Contributor for the PokerStars Blog.
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