Dinesh "NastyMinder" Alt Wins the TCOOP Main Event for a Record-Breaking $396,691
The 2016 Turbo Championship of Online Poker (TCOOP) wrapped up its 50-event schedule over the weekend on PokerStars. Many players had their dreams come true by winning huge prizes in the matter of just hours, but none was more prominent than Switzerland's Dinesh "NastyMinder" Alt, who was this year's TCOOP Main Event champion after beating Sweden's Oscar "KungKroon" Kroon in heads-up play to win $396,691.
This year's TCOOP Main Event generated a huge $2,711,205 in prize money, very much shattering the posted $2,000,000 guarantee. The event attracted 4,077 players to pony up the $700 buy-in.
Alt hauled in nearly $400,000 as part of a heads-up deal agreed upon with Kroon. The two chopped up the pot and left a mandatory $40,000 to play for.
Just eight hands after the deal was agreed upon, Alt secured the title when in an all-in affair when his A♥J♥ held up against Kroon's Q♠5♠ after neither player improved on a board of K♦2♦4♠8♦6♥.
Kroon also had good reason to celebrate, as he banked a whopping $346,181 for his runner-up performance in a tournament which took just five hours and 39 minutes to play.
Alt's first-place prize set a new TCOOP Main Event record for the biggest first-place prize, but only by $175 over the $396,516 won last year by Russia's "Nikki_Hefner".
Both Alt and Kroon are both well known poker players. According to PocketFives, Alt now has over $1.3 million in online tournaments to go along with over $400,000 in live tournaments, with the latter according to The Hendon Mob. Kroon's online tournament résumé is even more impressive, with now over $3.8 million in prizes to go along with over $200,000 won during live tournaments.
In total, seven different countries were represented on the final table with players from Switzerland, Norway, Brazil, Netherlands, Czech Republic and two each from Finland and the United Kingdom. Here is a look at the TCOOP Main Event final table results:
TCOOP-49: $700 NL Hold'em Main Event
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $665+35 | 4,169 | $2,772,385 |
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dinesh "NastyMinder" Alt | Switzerland | $396,691.43* |
| 2 | Oscar "KungKroon" Kroon | Sweden | $346,181.46* |
| 3 | gringenkov | Brazil | $223,674.41 |
| 4 | marcasa | Netherlands | $155,894.28 |
| 5 | Niko "Makuherra" Pakalen | Finland | $115,226.21 |
| 6 | anthonyff | United Kingdom | $88,114.16 |
| 7 | Henri "IMFICKLE" Ojala | Finland | $61,002.11 |
| 8 | RSRMCA | United Kingdom | $33,890.06 |
| 9 | Petr "Hurloon" Jaros | Czech Republic | $21,689.64 |
*Reflects heads-up deal
TCOOP Player of the Year
PokerStars hosted a TCOOP Player of the Year Leaderboard, where the top 100 performing players during the series were rewarded with a variety of tickets and prizes.
United Kingdom's "ouchbadbeat" finished on top of the leaderboard with 340 points and 16 TCOOP in-the-money finishes, which represents three more than any other player achieved. In addition to the coveted Champion's Trophy, the British poker player also was awarded a ticket to the 2015 Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) High Main Event.
Tied for second were Australia's "ugritaly" and Czech Republic's "Zagalo87" with 310 points. Alt finished in sixth place on the leaderboard mostly due to his TCOOP Main Event win and a second-place performance in the TCOOP-11: $215 NL Hold'em [Turbo, Heads-Up], $150K Gtd earlier in the series.
Rui "RuiNF" Ferreira Wins a Triple COOP
Before the TCOOP began, just two players won a Triple COOP (wins in the TCOOP, SCOOP, and WCOOP) in James "Andy McLEOD" Obst and Shawn "buck21" Buchanan.
Joining the duo this TCOOP was Portugal's Rui "RuiNF" Ferreira after winning TCOOP Event #37 on Friday night. Ferreira previously won a SCOOP event in 2014 followed by a WCOOP victory in 2015.
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