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Poker can be a game of amazing highs and crushing lows. But also amazing lows. And highs that are only half-good.
Well, that's true in this game at least. A total of 1,206 players hit the register button for this TCOOP $82 PL Omaha Hi/Lo 6-max event, resulting in a crescendoed prize pool of $90,450 - way more than the $50,000 that was guaranteed.
PokerStars Team Pro George Danzer was in this one chasing his first TCOOP title (and the triple COOP), but would eventually bust just seven players before the money. He was the last red spade standing, while other notable names to go deep included Chris 'Moorman1' Moorman, Scott 'Aggro Santos' Margereson, and Chris 'NigDawg' Brammer.
In fact, Brammer was the chipleader with around 50 players remaining. He'd eventually fall in 26th place, but Margereson would reach the final 6. With a Sunday Million win and two WCOOP titles to his name, a TCOOP title would fit very nicely on his online poker mantelpiece.
The final table outlined in this blog is a twisting and turning tale of unwavering all-ins and a dismissed deal that eventually led to our latest TCOOP champion, Germany's Raabinator93, banking a good few thousand more than he would have if he'd shook hands when he was outchipped 3 to 1 (he took home a not-too-shabby first place pay out of $15,150.81).
But before we get to that, let's rewind a little.
The magnificent six
Here's how the final six players stacked up coming into this final table:
sandman201 (Canada) 2,322,520
Scott 'Aggro Santos' Margereson (Mexico) 1,064,953
Raabinator93 (Germany) 508,472
Grebinat (Ukraine) 422,646
imcastleman (Canada) 1,294,948
Olsen33 (Denmark) 356,461
Aside from Margereson's accomplishments, there was another notable winner at the table. Canada's sandman201 already has a SCOOP title under his belt, and was coming in to this final table as the chipleader.
The shortest stack at the table belonged to Grebinat, but he'd soon fix that with a double up early through sandman201. With the blinds at 40K/80K, sandman201 opened to 160,000 and Grebinat defended his big blind leaving just 262,646 behind. It would all go in the middle on the [4s][2d][jd] flop and Grebinat's [tc][js][jh][kc] for a set of jacks was ahead but at risk against his opponent's [td][kd][ad][5h] flush and straight draws. The [2h] on the turn improved his hand to a full house and Grebinat shot up to 885,292.
sandman201 remained active though, and clashed with the second biggest stack, imcastleman, not long after. The blinds were 50K/100K at this point and imcastleman opened to 200K on the button. Sandman201 made the call from the big blind and the two saw a [ks][kc][9s] flop, which both checked. That brought the [9d] on the turn and now sandman201 bet 200K, which was called. The [jc] on the river was again checked by both, and sadman201's [3d][jd][2c][4s] couldn't compete with the [qh][8c][5d][qd] for a two pair, kings and queens. Ship the pot and chiplead to imcastleman.
He'd put it to good use, knocking out Olsen83 in 6th for $2,713.50. The player from Denmark had little over 2 big blinds when he found himself having to put 120K in the middle without yet seeing his cards. Unsurprisingly he called off imcastleman's shove and it was [8c][qc][kh][jc] for the shorty against [9c][5h][js][8s]. The board ran out [as][4c][3s] [td] [6s] and that was all she wrote for Olsen83.
Exit sandman201
Things weren't looking good for the Canada-based player and after doubling up Grebinat once more he was gone. Sandman201 opened to 420,000 under the gun and imcastleman called out of the big blind. The [kc][4s][9h] flop fell and both players checked, but when the [2h] arrived on the turn imcastleman put sandman201 all-in and found a caller.
Sandman201 [3d][as][2c][6c]
imcastkeman [jh][kh][kd][9d]
imcastleman was ahead with top set but sandman201 had a chance to win the whole pot with a straight or chop it on the low end. The river, however, was the [9s] and the full house sent sandman201 to sleep in fifth for $3,853.17.
Grebinat refused to be eliminated from this tournament, doubling up and chopping the pot at every all-in opportunity, but imcastleman was running away with it in between, continuously picking up the blinds hand after hand, chipping up to 4 million.
It would be Scott 'Aggro Santos' Margereson who would finish in 4th. Raabinator93 opened to 490,000 under the gun leaving little behind. Aggro Santos shoved for 618,897 and Raabinator93 made the call.
Aggro Santos [6d][ts][kd][as]
Raabinator93 [2h][qs][qh][4s]
The cards fell as follows: [tc][7d][4h] [7h] [qc] and with a full house (queens full of sevens) Raabinator93 scooped the 1.3 million pot and Margereson had $5,879.25 added to his PokerStars account.
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Then came another elimination, this time the plucky Grebinat (only after he'd doubled up once or twice more, of course). A blind vs blind pre-flop raising war saw him all-in at the hands of imcastleman, with a hand that played well for the low pots - [2c][3s][js][4d]. Imcastleman had the [td][4c][th][2h] and we saw a board of the [tc][as][9s] [9d] [8h]. In the end yet another boat for imcastleman would secure him another knockout, while Grebinat secured a 3rd place finish for $8,592.75.
"Deal" and "No deal"
As soon as heads up play started, the two remaining players decided to discuss their deal options. However, it would be a short conversation, as you can see below.
There were 2 surprises here. One was that imcastleman was so willing to make the deal despite having a 3 to 1 chip lead. And the second was that Raabinator93 was so quick to turn it down.
But we digress. After a short break we were under way and the all-in confrontations came thick and fast.
After a few chops, Raabinator93 found a double up. It would all go in before the flop: [6d][ac][9s][8s] for Raabinator93 and [qs][ad][jh][ts] for imcastleman. After five community cards were dealt, [6c][kc][7c] [8d] [2d], Raabinator93 won both the Hi (with two pair) and the Lo (with 8,7,6,2,A) for the whole shebang and 2.8 million in chips to imcastleman's 3.2 million.
Not long later Raabinator93 had totally reversed the chip counts. The final hand of the tournament played out like this.
Raabinator93 made a 3x open on the button to 750,000 and imcastleman shoved for 1,831,790, which got a quick call.
The cards were revealed and here's what we saw:
Raabinator93: [5s][7c][7h][ah]
imcastleman: [qh][9s][ac][7s]
Although behind to begin with, imcastleman would take the lead the on the [qd][6s][jd] flop. The turn was the [8d], giving Raabinator93 an up and down draw and imcastleman more cards to dodge. He couldn't do it though; the [4s] on the river gave Raabinator93 the straight and the win.
For his 2nd place finish, imcastleman banks $11,306.25.
Winning in this game is never easy - you've got to take the highs with the lows. By refusing the deal and saying those two simple words ("let's play"), Raabinator93 secured himself the TCOOP title, and $15,150.81.
TCOOP-24 ($82 PL Omaha H/L, 6-Max, Turbo) results
Entrants: 1,206
Total prize pool: $90,450
Places paid: 156
1. Raabinator93 (Germany) $15,150.81
2. imcastleman (Canada) $11,306.25
3. Grebinat (Ukraine) $8,592.75
4. Aggro Santos (Mexico) $5,879.25
5. sandman201 (Canada) $3,853.17
6. Olsen83 (Denmark) $2,713.50
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Jack Stanton is freelance journalist for the PokerStars Blog.
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