Russia's "Nikki_Hefner" Wins PokerStars TCOOP Main Event for $396,516

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Feb 02, 2015 3 min read

The National Football League's (NFL) Super Bowl XLIX wasn't the only huge event taking place on Sunday, as PokerStars wrapped up its 50-event Turbo Championship of Online Poker (TCOOP) yesterday with some huge events, none bigger than the $700 buy-in TCOOP Main Event.

The $2 million guaranteed Main Event was shattered with 4,169 generating a robust $2,772,385 prize pool. After more than five hours of play, it was Russia's "Nikki_Hefner" finishing on top by winning the heads-up battle against Brazil's "riversouza".

Both poker players earned huge paydays with the duo agreeing to a chop. "Nikki_Hefner" earned $396,516.38 along with the prestige of become the 2015 TCOOP Main Event champion, and "riversouza" earned $363,119.56 for just falling short of the victory.

While at first glance it may appear the United Kingdom and Germany dominated the final table representing five of the nine players, it was "Nikki_Hefner" who broughtvthe TCOOP title to Russia after entering the final table with almost more chips than the second and third place players combined.

The two German players exited the tournament just a few minutes after the final table began with "GhettoHomie" winning $22,179 for his ninth place finish and "majo-K88" bringing home $34,654 for eighth place.

Ten minutes later, it was Portugal's "yryryryr" who exited after doing his best to climb the pay ladder with just half a big blind. His efforts earned him $62,378 for seventh place.

Two hands later, Colombia's Jonathan "jxarturo" Arturo found himself on the sidelines $90,102 richer after he couldn't double up the six big blinds he had remaining when his A♦K♠ was dominated by the A♠A♣ held by "riversouza".

Three of the remaining five players remaining were all from the United Kingdom. Unfortunately for them, they were also the next three players to bust out of the tournament.

"Basil86" was the first Brit to exit the final table when his Q♥10♥ was out flopped by the 4♦3♥ held by "riversousa" with the board showing K♣4♥3♦. "Basil86" was unable to catch up, and finished in fifth place for $117,826.

A little more than an orbit later, "Spraggs" exited the tournament in fourth place for $159,412 after his A♦4♣ couldn't hold against the K♠9♥ of "riversousa" on a J♦4♥K♥Q♥J♥ board.

Eight hands later, "PitBully01" joined his country mates on the rail. "Nikki_Hefner" jammed all-in from the small blind with 5♦5♣ with "PitBully01" calling his remaining six big blinds with K♣10♣. "PitBully01" was unable to pair up or otherwise improve his hand on a 3♥9♣9♦6♠A♦ board, leaving the tournament in third place for $228,721.

"Riversousa" and "Nikki_Hefner" played one hand before agreeing to a chop, guaranteeing each player at least a $350,000 payday. "Riversousa" began the heads-up battle with a slight lead with almost 45.6 million chips compared to his opponent's stack of over 35 million chips.

"Nikki_Heffner" was able to come back and eventually got his opponent down to just five big blinds. That's when "riversousa" went all-in from the button with A♣5♠ before being called by the 10♥9♥ by "Nikki_Heffner". "Riversousa" appeared to be in excellent shape when he flopped two pair on a 5♣7♠A♦ flop, but the 6♥ appeared on the turn followed by the 8♠ on the river to give "Nikki_Heffner" the nut straight and the TCOOP Main Event title.

TCOOP-49: $700 NL Hold'em Main Event

_{*Reflects heads-up deal}

_{Special thanks to the PokerStars blog for providing some of the information used in this article.}

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