This afternoon, for the second time in as many days, Geraldo Cesar “GeraldoCesar” Neto was heads-up for a TCOOP title with the chip lead. Yesterday he saw his lead in Event #20 slip away into a runner-up finish within moments, his opportunity for a second TCOOP title in as many years sacrificed at the altar of the hyper-turbo tournament structure. Today he turned that result around in Event #23, maintaining his heads-up lead to earn $51,880.33 and his second career TCOOP title.

A $215 6-Max Bubble Rush no-limit hold’em tournament, Event #23 drew a total field of 1,715 players in its 75-minute registration period. That $343,000 prize pool was split among the top 215 players, a list which included Team Online’s George “Jorj95” Lind (135th place) and Mickey “mement_mori” Petersen (146th). In a total of just under four hours, the field was trimmed to its final two tables, and GeraldoCesar’s elimination of Hoenst Adtil in seventh left him with these five players to overcome:

Seat 1: Liam “MON3Y$HOT” O’Rourke (2,950,066 in chips)
Seat 2: noirduck (2,137,904 in chips)
Seat 3: WATnlos (2,900,364 in chips)
Seat 4: Geraldo Cesar “GeraldoCesar” Neto (5,087,216 in chips)
Seat 5: pagiopavleas (1,909,716 in chips)
Seat 6: Ole “wizowizo” Schemion (2,164,734 in chips)

The most decorated player at the table would be the first to go. Two-time Super Tuesday winner and EPT10 Player of the Year Ole “wizowizo” Schemion was in the big blind on the 10th hand of the final table, holding A♣ 6♣ , when GeraldoCesar opened with a min-raise to 160K on the button. pagiopavleas called from the small blind, putting the action on Schemion. He dipped into the time bank for a bit and ultimately opted to move all-in for 1.96M chips, looking to steal the 460K chips already in the pot. GeraldoCesar called quickly and, once pagiopavleas had folded, turned over A♥ K♦ . Both players made a pair of aces on the J♠ 8♥ 4♥ A♠ 2♣ board, putting GeraldoCesar’s kicker into play and eliminating Schemion in sixth.

WATnlos, a past Sunday Warm-Up champion with past SCOOP, WCOOP, and multiple Super Tuesday final table appearances, won the next sizeable pot five minutes later, flopping a set in the big blind with 5♦ 5♠ and getting some value out of original raiser GeraldoCesar on the river for a 1.77M-chip pot. WATnlos grabbed another 1.3M-chip pot from Liam “MON3Y$HOT” O’Rourke after an uncontested bet on the turn, but O’Rourke got those chips back on the next hand. Dealt K♣ K♦ in the big blind, he snap-called when pagiopavleas jammed for 917K in the small blind. pagiopavleas’s 8♥ 8♠ got no help from the 9♥ 3♠ 2♠ 10♠ Q♥ board and exited in fifth.

GeraldoCesar led the way now with 5.9M chips, a 20-big-blind cushion over his three opponents. He would lose it temporarily after dropping one 1.4M-chip pot against WATnlos and then seeing the German player win another 2.16M from MON3Y$HOT on the following hand. But the lead returned to GeraldoCesar five hands later after a heads-up win against noirduck for 1.5M, and he expanded it again two hands after that when he flopped a pair of fours and rivered two pair with his J♣ 4♣ in the big blind. WATnlos, in the small blind, made a pair of jacks with Q♣ J♦ on the same river card, so GeraldoCesar got some extra value for a 1.62M-chip pot.

Aggressive as ever, GeraldoCesar continued to lean on the other three players and won exactly half the pots over the next 10 minutes, moving from 6.9M chips to 9.7M while seeing just two flops and one showdown. That run cut off the supply of chips to the rest of the table, leaving WATnlos with just 1.38M chips when the German player moved all-in on the button with K♦ 8♣ . GeraldoCesar called with K♠ 10♠ and made the better pair on the 8♠ 10♥ 5♥ J♠ 2♣ board, busting WATnlos in fourth.

Two minutes later, MON3Y$HOT open-shoved for 3.3M in the small blind and noirduck, a Sunday Million finalist last week and Super Tuesday finalist in 2010, called with K♥ 9♠ in the big. The river of the Q♣ 10♦ 6♥ 6♣ K♦ board gave noirduck a pair of kings for the 4.2M-chip win, and MON3Y$HOT was left with just eight big blinds. He open-shoved from the button on the following hand with J♠ 9♥ and GeraldoCesar, sitting in the big blind with A♥ 10♦ , made the call. Both players made a heart flush on the 8♥ 3♥ 2♥ 6♥ 6♣ board, but GeraldoCesar had the nuts, sending MON3Y$HOT to the rail in third.

Down with 4.1M chips to GeraldoCesar’s 13M, noirduck came out on the attack as heads-up play began. The Hungarian player raised on the button with 5♣ 3♥ and then fired bullets of 243K on the A♠ 6♦ K♠ flop, 648K on the 4♠ turn, and 1.42M on the 10♠ river. None of those bets shook GeraldoCesar, who turned over Q♥ 6♠ for a pair of sixes to win 5.3M chips.

With 1.4M chips and blinds and antes at 80K/160K/20K and rising, noirduck had no choice but to remain highly aggressive. Five steals later, noirduck ended up calling all-in with A♠ Q♠ after GeraldoCesar jammed on the button with 7♦ 6♣ . noirduck missed the 5♠ K♥ 6♦ 4♦ 8♠ board completely, but GeraldoCesar made an eight-high straight to win the pot and bring the tournament to its end.

noirduck took home $33,911.96 as the runner-up, a top-five career finish for the Hungarian player here at PokerStars. Meanwhile, Geraldo Cesar “GeraldoCesar” Neto grabbed $51,880.33 for the win, marking his second top-two TCOOP 2017 finish in the last day and his second career TCOOP title after a win in 2016. He’s also now officially tied with caprioli for the lead on the TCOOP 2017 Player Of The Series leaderboard. Congratulations to him on a very profitable 24 hours!

TCOOP-23: $215 NL Hold’em [6-Max, Bubble Rush] results
Entrants: 1,715
Total prize pool: $343,000
Places paid: 215

1. Geraldo Cesar “GeraldoCesar” Neto (Brazil) $51,880.33
2. noirduck (Hungary) $33,911.96
3. Liam “MON3Y$HOT” O’Rourke (Australia) $22,167.30
4. WATnlos (Germany) $14,490.17
5. pagiopavleas (Greece) $9,471.80
6. Ole “wizowizo” Schemion (Germany) $6,191.45

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Jason Kirk is a Freelance Contributor to PokerStars Blog.

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