In just under two hours, PokerStars user alberto ka managed to rake in $90,728.44 during his TCOOP Event 19 win. The tournament, which featured the standard No Limit Hold’em, was played at Hyper Turbo speed.
So far, the Turbo Championship of Online Poker has been a smashing success for PokerStars. In Event 19 alone, some 2,724 players ponied up the necessary $210.80 buy in, bringing the total prize pool up to $574,219.20. As with several earlier events, this figure represented almost a doubling of the guarantee (which, in this case, was $300,000).
It wasn’t just the amateurs who enjoyed the Hyper Turbo action, either. More than 30 PokerStars sponsored players joined the fray, with five managing to make bank. The best of these were 2011 WSOP Champ Pius Heinz (162nd, $689.06), Nacho Barbero (62nd, $1,033.59), and Matthias De Muelder ($1,291.99).
In the end, however, the action boiled down to just two men — Brazil’s alberto ka and Russia’s daitemillion. It was the Russian, in fact, who held the chip lead for much of the battle between the two. But then, alberto ka managed to snag a queen-high flush on the turn. The two traded several raises before ka found himself all in and ahead against his opponent’s two pair. Five hands later, the match was over.
Here’s how things shook out for the rest of the final table:
#1 – alberto ka ($90,728.44)
#2 – daitemillion ($68,142.59)
#3 – 1banditpanda ($48,808.63)
#4 – StoyanB ($33,591.82)
#5 – Xcellent58 ($25,552.75)
#6 – TotalBiz ($19,810.56)
#7 – J. The Greek ($14,068.37)
#8 – The Temple55 ($8,326.17)
#9 – YUD1006 ($4,880.86)
The top 342 places were paid for their participation, with a minimum handout of $378.98.