One hour and 47 minutes isn’t a lot of time. Only about half of tomorrow’s Super Bowl between Seattle and New England will be finished in that amount of time, and on the Eurostar train, you would only get about three-quarters of the way from Paris to London in that time. But during TCOOP, that’s exactly enough time to play through to the final table of a hyper-turbo tournament and triumph over a field that includes a past world champion.

Event #43, a hyper-turbo $109 No-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo tourney with 6-max tables, kicked off at 4:00 p.m. ET. With blinds and antes advancing every three minutes, the field shrank steadily until just under 400 players remained at the close of late registration. The total field came to 985, bringing the total prize pool to $105,247.25. The top 132 players made the money about 45 minutes in, and just 83 of them remained as the tournament reached what be its only break at 5:00 p.m. ET.

Jonathan Duhamel had a TCOOP title in his sights today

Among those players at the one-hour mark was Team PokerStars Pro Jonathan “johnduhamel” Duhamel. The 2010 WSOP Main Event champion stayed within striking distance of the chip lead after the break and eventually seized it with three tables remaining. Duhamel carried that lead through to 5:33 p.m. ET, when he and these five other players advanced to the final table:

Seat 1: zerochill (594,826 in chips)
Seat 2: Jonathan “johnduhamel” Duhamel (1,176,404 in chips)
Seat 3: Purple Tello (652,816 in chips)
Seat 4: Est-Ace (500,009 in chips)
Seat 5: Jerry “hummylun” Wong (1,043,516 in chips)
Seat 6: BlackOps02 (957,429 in chips)

Blinds and antes advanced to 40K/80K/16K, making the average stack worth just over 10 big blinds and Duhamel’s leading stack worth only 15 big blinds. Two players below the average clashed on the third hand, when zerochill opened the betting by moving all-in for 706K before the flop. Estonia’s Est-Ace, a past SCOOP final tablist, called for 452K in the big blinds with A♦ J♦ 10♦ 5♠ , making kings and tens on the 10♣ 3♣ K♣ 7♦ K♠ board. zerochill’s A♣ 2♠ 3♥ 5♦ made kings and threes and there was no low, giving Est-Ace the scoop and a double to 1.04M.

That left zerochill with 254K. The Canadian player took the low half of a pot against Iceland’s Purple Tello two hands later, but Hand #7 wouldn’t end as well. zerochill was in the small blind on that hand and called all-in for 218K when BlackOps02 moved all-in on the button with A♦ 7♦ 3♣ 2♣ . That was a 63.5-percent favorite against zerochill’s own K♥ 8♠ 4♣ 2♠ before the 6♠ 5♥ 2♦ flop, and a 77.1-percent favorite after it. The A♥ turn gave BlackOps02 two pair and a 6-5-3-2-A low, leaving zerochill in need of one of some help. But the river was the A♣ , and zerochill departed in 6th place ($3,157.41).

Jonathan Duhamel was on the button next hand as the blinds and antes advanced to 50K/100K/20K. Dealt A♠ Q♣ 9♥ 7♠ , he moved all-in when the action folded to him, and Purple Tello called all-in for 508K total in the big blind. The Icelandic player’s A♥ K♠ 10♣ 9♠ was a small underdog in the coin flip before the 10♥ 8♦ 7♣ flop and became a small favorite after it. The 10♦ on the turn made three of a kind for a significant lead, though, and the 8♥ on the river gave Purple Tello the double-up to 1.21M.

Four hands later Est-Ace got all-in before the flop with A♦ K♥ K♠ 7♠ against chip leader BlackOps02’s A♠ Q♠ 10♦ 2♠ , catching a set of kings on the flop and dodging a low to scoop the pot and double up to 1.66M. On Hand #16, Jonathan Duhamel was in the big blind for 120K and called all-in for 307K more, holding A♦ J♣ 7♦ 6♣ , after Purple Tello moved all-in under the gun with A♥ K♣ 7♣ 3♥ . The final representative of the Red Spade brigade was put in a terribly tough spot by the 10♥ 8♥ Q♥ flop, which gave Purple Tello an ace-high flush. Only running cards for a straight flush to split the pot could save Duhamel, so he was drawing dead after the 10♠ hit the turn. The 10♦ on the river was a formality, and Duhamel bowed out in 5th place ($4,736.12).

(Tournament) life after Jonathan

The blinds and antes were still 60K/120K/24K as the remaining four players got down to business:

Seat 3: Purple Tello (1,465,220 in chips)
Seat 4: Est-Ace (1,688,036 in chips)
Seat 5: Jerry “hummylun” Wong (651,516 in chips)
Seat 6: BlackOps02 (1,120,228 in chips)

Last year’s WCOOP Badugi champion Jerry “hummylun” Wong was the last of three Canada-based final tablists remaining now, and he had an uphill climb ahead as the short stack. Hand #21 provided a start when he moved all-in under the gun with A♠ A♣ 9♦ 2♣ and was called by Purple Tello, with A♦ K♥ K♠ 7♦ . The aces held up for a double to 959K, but a fold in the big blind on the next hand left Wong with 767K.

When the action folded to him in the small blind on the next hand, Wong moved all those chips in the middle on a steal with 10♥ 8♠ 4♣ 3♣ , only to be called by BlackOps02 with A♥ K♣ 8♦ 7♣ . The board ran out 5♠ 3♠ K♠ 6♠ J♣ , giving both players a pair and a low. But neither Wong’s pair of threes nor 8-6 low were good against BlackOps02’s pair of kings and 7-6 low, and the past WCOOP champ was denied a TCOOP title in 4th place ($6,841.07).

Est-Ace and BlackOps02 were now within one big blind of one another at the top of the leaderboard, just under 2M chips apiece, while Purple Tello held 1.07M and needed to find an opening soon. The Icelandic player was fortunate enough to pick up A♠ A♣ 7♦ 2♥ in the big blind three hands later and called after BlackOps02 moved all-in from the small blind with K♥ 10♥ 10♣ 2♠ . No tens or Broadway cards came on the 6♣ 4♦ 3♠ 7♥ 8♣ , giving Purple Tello the 1.89M-chip scoop with a 6-4 low and those aces in the hole.

That left BlackOps02 with 701K, and the Dutch player moved it all-in before the flop on the next hand with A♥ K♣ 9♥ 4♣ . Purple Tello called in the small blind with Q♣ J♠ 10♥ 8♣ and caught a Broadway straight draw and a pair of jacks when the flop came 3♣ K♦ J♥ . BlackOps02’s pair of kings and backdoor low draw were good for the momentary lead both there and on the 5♥ turn, but the J♣ on the river gave Purple Tello three of a kind and dashed BlackOps02’s hopes of making a low. The pair of kings was no good, and BlackOps02 left in 3rd place ($9,998.48).

Things were close as heads-up play began with 80K/160K/32K blinds and antes, with Purple Tello enjoying a small lead at 2.79M to Est-Ace’s 2.13M. The first 11 hands saw the two players trade the chip lead back and forth with small pots. Then came Hand #39, which Est-Ace opened with a minimum raise to 400K on the button. Purple Tello called and then checked the 8♥ 10♣ J♣ flop, prompting Est-Ace to bet half the 880K-chip pot. The Estonian player folded when Purple Tello check-raised all-in, though, giving the Icelandic player the pot for a 3.6M-to-1.32M lead.

Purple Tello opened the next hand by moving all-in on the button, holding A♣ 10♥ 10♠ 2♠ , and Est-Ace called with Q♣ J♠ 10♣ 3♦ . The 2.64M-chip pot would have moved Est-Ace back into the chip lead again with a win, and the possibility was there with a Broadway wrap draw on the same K♣ 2♦ A♠ flop that made aces and deuces for Purple Tello. The 10♦ on the turn made the Broadway straight for Est-Ace and put the Estonian in position to get back into the game, but the 2♥ on the river gave Purple Tello the pot with tens full of deuces.

With that, the tournament came to an end at 5:47 p.m. ET, a brief one hour and 47 minutes after it began. Est-Ace won $13,155.90 as the runner-up in a second career COOP final table. Meanwhile Purple Tello earned a first career TCOOP title and $17,629.37, an average of more than $160 per minute in this lightning-fast tournament. Congratulations to both players for their big finishes on the penultimate day of TCOOP 2015!

TCOOP 2015: Event #43, $109 No-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo (6-max, Hyper-Turbo)
985 entrants
$105,247.25 prize pool
132 places paid

1st place: Purple Tello (Iceland) $17,629.37
2nd place: Est-Ace (Estonia) $13,155.90
3rd place: BlackOps02 (Netherlands) $9,998.48
4th place: Jerry “hummylun” Wong (Canada) $6,841.07
5th place: Team PokerStars Pro Jonathan “johnduhamel” Duhamel (Canada) $4,736.12
6th place: zerochill (Canada) $3,157.41

Jason Kirk is a freelance contributor to PokerStars Blog.

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