Andrey “Kroko-dill” Zaichenko had quite a rail as he approached the final table of today’s TCOOP High Roller event. The Russian is one of only two players in the PokerStars universe that’s one win away from being the first to complete a PokerStars Grand Slam. With WCOOP, SCOOP and Sunday Million titles already in the bag, Kroko-dill needs a TCOOP win to make the historic achievement. After a near-death experience with ten players remaining, Kroko-dill survived to the final table and got the rest of his chips in as a favorite, but saw his run cut short with a ninth-place finish. Instead, today’s high roller title went to pokerkluka, who took out his last two opponents and banked over $284k for his four hours on the felt.

1,041 players bought into Event #47, creating a $2,082,000 prize pool that more than doubled the $1M guarantee. 135 places were paid with first place set to earn $374,760. Thirteen Red Spades joined the field and five cashed: George “Jorj95” Lind III (124th), Lex Veldhuis (121st), Andre Akkari (118th), Pierre Neuville (94th), and Marc-Andre “FrenchDawg” Ladouceur (68th).

It took 2 hours and 25 minutes of play to bust the money bubble and an hour later, 10 players remained. With the blinds up to 30,000/60,000, heißtercamp opened for a UTG in-raise, bluehawail three-bet shoved for 697,514 from the cutoff and Kroko-dill reshoved for 762,122 from the small blind. Heißtercamp got out of the way and the cards went on their backs, Kroko-dill’s A♣ Q♣ up against 9♥ 9♦ . Bluehawail hit a set of nines on the J♦ 9♠ 4♣ flop and filled up on the 4♥ turn. The river A♥ was too little too late and Bluehawail raked in the 1.6 million-chip pot, leaving Kroko-dill on only 57,000.

On the very next deal, Kroko-dill picked up A♥ Q♦ again, but hit a far more favorable A♣ A♦ Q♥ flop vs. heißtercamp’s pocket jacks. Kroko-dill doubled to 186,000 and a few hands later, called all-in for 111,000 from the big blind with 5♠ 6♦ . Pokerkluka’s 10♠ 7♥ held up through the turn on the 9♥ 4♥ 4♣ J♦ board, but Kroko-dill hit the 5♦ on the river to win the 380,000 pot.

Meanwhile on the other table, PokerSavage1 open-shoved for 682,109 from UTG and OMGitshunt called all-in from the small blind. OMGitshunt’s K♠ K♠ was in great shape vs. K♣ J♥ and stayed that way on the A♦ 8♠ 7♥ flop, but PokerSavage1 hit running cards to make a Broadway straight with the 10♠ and the Q♦ . His kings snapped off, OMGitshunt was suddenly on the rail in tenth place, one spot short of the final table.

Final table chip counts

Seat 1: Mr. cariry (663,215 in chips)
Seat 2: heißtercamp (1,842,813 in chips)
Seat 3: DSmunichlife (881,158 in chips)
Seat 4: bluehawail (1,150,028 in chips)
Seat 5: pokerkluka (1,903,364 in chips)
Seat 6: PokerSavage1 (1,303,260 in chips)
Seat 7: Kroko-dill (467,648 in chips)
Seat 8: ImWithSumo (894,397 in chips)
Seat 9: 19Pistike93 (1,304,117 in chips)

Kroko-dill eliminated in ninth place

Befitting a high roller event, this final table was decorated with major online titles. Both heißtercamp and PokerSavage1 have won the Sunday Warm-Up, the latter also earning a runner-up finish in the Sunday Million. ImWithSumo is a regular in high stakes cash games, and Kroko-dill has won nearly every MTT title there is on PokerStars, with the exception of a TCOOP. Unfortunately, his run at the Grand Slam ended on fourth hand of this final table. Down to 267,648, Kroko-dill moved all-in on the button with A♣ 3♦ and 19Pistike93 called the balance from the 100,000 big blind. 19Pistike93’s Q♣ 7♠ made top pair on the 7♣ 3♣ 2♣ flop, but Kroko-dill hit the nut flush draw. 19Pistike93 improved to trips when the 7♥ turned and the river 4♥ missed Kroko-dill’s draw. For ninth place, Kroko-dill took home $24,984.00.

ImWithSumo pinned in eighth

19Pistike93 took the chip lead with 2.1 million, but soon lost it when he doubled PokerSavage1 to 2.38 million, his A♦ K♠ failing to improve vs. pocket nines. DSmunichlife also got a boost when ImWithSumo open-shoved from UTG with A♣ 3♥ and he woke up with A♠ K♥ in the cutoff. DSmunichlife’s dominating hand held up and he topped 2 million in chips, crippling ImWithSumo to only 739. ImWithSumo was eliminated on the next deal, his A♠ 7♥ falling to PokerSavage1’s jack-high straight with J♠ 3♣ on a 9♣ 8♦ 4♣ 7♦ 10♣ board. For his eighth-place finish, ImWithSumo collected $41,640.00.

PokerSavage1 sacked in seventh

ImWithSumo’s departure left Mr. cariry as the table short stack. With the blinds up to 60,000/120,000, DSmunichlife opened for 265,200 and Mr. cariry three-bet shoved for 483,215. DSmunichilife called, his 2♦ 2♠ crushed by Q♠ Q♦ . Mr. cariry’s queens held up and he doubled to 1.2 million.

Moments later, bluehawail open-shoved for 805,028 and 19Pistike93 called all-in from the small blind with K♥ K♣ . Bluehawail was in deep trouble with 7♠ 8♠ and although he flopped middle pair, he failed to improve any further on the 10♦ 7♥ 5♣ Q♣ 3♥ board. 19Pisitike93 doubled to 1.6 million, leaving bluehawail on less than one big blind.

On the next hand, heißtercamp took the chip lead. Holding J♦ J♣ vs. A♦ 4♣ , he doubled through PokerSavage1, increasing his stack to 3.22 million. However, he lost it just as quickly to 19Pistike93. In a three-way all-in, bluehawail’s A♦ 6♣ flopped top pair, cracking 19Pistike93’s K♦ K♥ and heißtercamp’s 10♥ 10♦ . Bluehawail tripled to 509,000 and 19Pistike93 won the 3 million side pot, good for the chip lead.

PokerSavage1 hung on until the 80,000/160,000 level, when DSmunichilife open-shoved for 796,577 from the cutoff. PokerSavage1 looked down at Q♠ 4♠ in the big blind and called off his remaking 309,446. DSmunichilife’s 6♦ 6♣ held up on the nine-high board, ending PokerSavage1’s run in seventh place ($62,460.00).

DSmunichilife KOs three

On the very next deal, the action folded to Mr. cariry in the small blind. Holding J♣ J♥ he open-shoved for 1.05 million, only to run headlong into DSmunichlife’s A♥ A♠ . Mr. cariry did not improve and he exited in sixth place, good for $83,280.00.

Stilll hanging on with 332,000 in chips, bluehawail picked up A♦ A♣ and doubled through DSmunichilife, who looked him up from the big blind with 4♣ 8♦ . DSmunichilife, however, soon found himself in trouble after running his A♥ J♣ into heißtercamp’s K♥ K♦ in a pre flop all-in. Luckily, DSminichilife hit an ace on the flop to snap off the kings and he doubled to 4.89 million.

Heißtercamp was left with only 15,000 in chips and although he quintupled to 75,000 on the next deal, he was eliminated one hand later. All-in from the big blind with Q♥ 2♦ , heißtercamp ran into DSmunichilife’s A♥ A♦ and was eliminated in fifth place, good for $104,100.00.

On the next hand, the action folded to DSmunichilife in the small blind. Holding only 5♠ 9♥ , he set bluehawail all-in and bluehawail quickly called from the big with K♦ Q♥ . Luck was on DSmunichilife’s side as a five hit the flop and bluehawail hit the rail in fourth place ($149,904.00).

A deal as easy as one, two, three

Immediately following bluehawail’s elimination, the final three agreed to pause the action and discuss a potential deal. Here’s a look at how they stacked up at the time:

DSmunichlife – 5,583,801
pokerkluka – 2,676,748
19Pistike93 – 2,149,451

Final table host George Danzer provided the trio with ICM numbers and within two minutes, they agreed to the terms. With $20,000 and the title still up for grabs, cards went back in the air.

Moments later, pokerkluka open-shoved from the small blind for 1.96 million and 19Pistike93 called all-in from the big with Q♦ J♣ . Pokerkluka’s A♦ 3♣ made two pair on the 9♠ 6♣ 2♦ 3♦ 9♦ board and 19Pistike93 was left with less than two big blinds.

Two hands later, 19Pistike93 moved in for his last 435,203 with 6♣ 9♥ and DSmunichilife called with K♠ 8♣ . DSmunichilife rivered two pair on the Q♦ 3♣ 3♥ J♣ 8♦ board and went out in third place, his share of the deal worth $252,724.58.

Heads-up chip counts

Seat 3: DSmunichlife (6,419,004 in chips)
Seat 5: pokerkluka (3,990,996 in chips)

Thanks to a few well-timed pre-flop three-bets, pokerkluka moved into the chip lead after a dozen hands, holding 5.6 million to DSmunichilife’s 4.8 million. Pokerkluka closed it out in one final hand, his pocket nines holding up vs. K♣ 8♦ :

Congratulations to pokerkluka on his first TCOOP title! He banked $284,204.37 for the win. Kudos are also due to runner-up DSmunichlife. Thanks to the three-way deal, he took home the largest share of the prize pool at $304,823.65.

TCOOP-047: $2,100 NLHE [Turbo, High Roller]
Entrants: 1,041
Prize pool: $2,082,000.00
Places paid: 135

1. pokerkluka (Netherlands) $284,204.37*
2. DSmunichlife (Germany) $304,823.65*
3. 19Pistike93 (Hungary) $252,724.58*
4. bluehawail (China) $149,904.00
5. heißtercamp (Austria) $104,100.00
6. Mr. cariry (Brazil) $83,280.00
7. PokerSavage1 (Mexico) $62,460.00
8. ImWithSumo (Finland) $41,640.00
9. Kroko-dill (Russia) $24,984.00

*= reflects the results of a three-way deal that left $20,000 in play for the winner

Kristin Bihr is a freelance contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

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