For a brief time two years ago, Allan “Yaba” Drake was a breath away from topping the TCOOP leaderboard. He won 2013’s second TCOOP event, a $55 NL Omaha Hi/Lo contest for $22k and granted an interview to our own Brad Willis, in which he claimed to have played $1/2 NLHE at the Excalibur Las Vegas over a decade ago with Phil Ivey and Jen Harman. Although that tale may seem dubious, Yaba was no one-trick pony and went on to finish runner-up in the 2014 WCOOP’s Event #62 ($700 NLHE 6-Max Progressive SuperKnockout) for over $100k.

Tonight, Yaba was poised to take down a second TCOOP title, but ran into a Costa Rican buzz saw going by the screen name QOTSAfan. QOTSAfan pecked at Yaba’s chip lead throughout the final table and dismantled him heads-up, earning more than enough cheddar to hop on tour with Josh Homme & Co., should he ever need a break from the online grind.

794 players entered the 2015 TCOOP’s lone fixed-limit Omaha Hi/Lo event, their $82 buy-ins combining to create a $59,550.00 prize pool. 108 places were paid with $10,778.71 set aside for first place. Newly minted Team PokerStars Pro Kosei Ichinose made a deep run, but busted out in 15th place in a three-way hand vs. Yaba (queen-high straight) and QOTSAfan (8-5 low).

After three and a half hours of action, the field was down to its final ten players and the betting limits were up to 80,000/160,000. Down to only 72,799 in chips, SWBregenz called all-in from the cutoff, his A♦ 5♦ 7♦ K♦ up against big blind QOTSAfan’s Q♦ 6♦ 6♠ 2♠ . QOTSAfan flopped a queen, turned trips, and rivered quads on the Q♣ J♠ 9♥ Q♠ Q♥ board and sent SWBregenz packing one spot shy of the final table.

Final table chip counts

Seat 1: QOTSAfan (619,069 in chips)
Seat 2: konway (292,740 in chips)
Seat 3: Artur90l (604,490 in chips)
Seat 4: Pekka3 (348,214 in chips)
Seat 5: Yaba (1,525,034 in chips)
Seat 6: biszibosz (22,866 in chips)
Seat 7: MarkBang (320,110 in chips)
Seat 8: Veemer (215,624 in chips)
Seat 9: shalomrum (21,853 in chips)

Two players, shalomrum and biszibosz, squeaked onto the final table with about 22,000 apiece, and both were all-in on the first hand of play. Biszibosz posted his remaining 22,866 in the small blind and shalomrum called off his 21,853 stack from UTG+1. QOTSAfan came in for a raise right behind him, making it a three-way race.

biszibosz K♦ 9♦ 5♠ 3♦
shalomrum A♦ J♣ 6♦ 6♥
QOTSAfan A♠ 2♥ 6♣ 10♠

Biszibosz made a wheel on the Q♦ 4♥ 2♣ A♥ 4♠ board and took down the main pot and the smaller of the two side pots, giving him new life. QOTSAfan’s aces and fours for high were enough to win the larger side pot, while shalomrum came up empty and was eliminated in ninth place.

Four hands later, another three-way pot spelled Artur90I’s end. Biszibosz raised all-in for 155,676 with 2♠ 3♣ 5♠ 6♣ , QOTSAfan made it a full raise to 200,000 from the cutoff, and Artur90I three-bet shoved for 236,276 from the big blind with Q♠ J♣ 6♦ 2♦ . QOTSA fan called with A♠ 2♣ 4♣ 9♦ and made an ace-high flush on the Q♣ 10♣ 6♠ J♦ A♣ board (using the 2♣ 4♣ from his hole cards), but it was just outpipped by biszibosz’s ace-high flush (using the 3♣ 6♣ from his hand). Biszibosz scooped the 517k pot and Artur90I hit the rail in eighth place.

Konway was next to fall, managing only sevens and threes for high after QOTSAfan flopped kings full of sevens. Then, on the next deal, MarkBang opened for a raise and called Yaba’s big blind three-bet. MarkBang got the rest of his chips in with 3♣ 5♥ 6♣ 9♦ on a A♦ 2♣ 2♥ flop and Yaba called with A♥ 2♠ 5♦ K♦ . MarkBang missed his draws while Yaba turned quad deuces and sent him home in sixth place.

Yaba took the chip lead with 2.3 million, but gave up a chunk of his stack to QOTSAfan, doubling him to 1.33 million when his aces and tens fell to aces and kings. Then, with the betting limits up to 120,000/240,000, Veemer got the rest of his chips in the middle on a 7♥ 5♦ 4♠ flop vs. biszibosz.

Veemer Q♥ Q♦ 9♥ 6♣
biszibosz 2♦ 5♥ 7♠ 10♥

Biszibosz’s sevens and fives held up for high and the 3♠ turn made him a 7-5-4-3-2 low, ending Veemer’s run in fifth place.

At this juncture, the final four agreed to pause the action and discuss a potential deal. Here’s how they stacked up at the time:

Yaba 1,665,452
QOTSAfan 1,144,072
biszibosz 814,672
Pekka3 345,804

All four quickly agreed to an ICM chop and with $1,000 still in play for the winner, cards went back on the screen.

Moments later, QOTSAfan delivered a double blow that sent us to heads-up play. Pekka3 raised all-in from UTG for 275,804, biszibosz made it a full raise to 280,000 and QOTSAfan three-bet to 420,000. Biszibosz called, and bet the rest of his stack on the J♦ 5♥ 5♣ flop.

biszibosz A♥ 2♦ 7♥ 10♥
Pekka3 A♦ K♦ K♣ Q♦
QOTSAfan A♠ 4♠ 5♠ Jc]

QOTSAfan flopped jacks full and no low materialized when the 9♣ turned and the 6♠ rivered. Pekka3, the shorter of the two all-in stacks, went out in fourth place while biszibosz took third — an outstanding accomplishment given the 1/8 of a big bet he brought to the final table.

Heads-up chip counts

Seat 1: QOTSAfan (1,954,548 in chips)
Seat 5: Yaba (2,015,452 in chips)

QOTSAfan perfectly played the role of massive conquistador, scooping the first two heads-up pots to move up to 2.93 million. Then, on the third hand, he quartered Yaba, making a jack-high flush vs. his kings and sevens while both held identical 8-7 lows. Yaba fell to 518,000 in chips, but staged a comeback, retaking the chip lead when he turned sixes full of fours against QOTSAfan’s pair of tens.

But that was not the end for QOTSAfan. “Gimme some more,” he declared, and scooped up four pots in a row to get back up to 3.18 million in chips, leaving Yaba on 951,000.

With the betting limits up to 160,000/320,000, QOTSAfan called Yaba’s button raise and led out on the 9♥ 3♣ 2♠ flop. Yaba raised, QOTSAfan three-bet, and Yaba called. The turn came the A♠ and QOTSAfan bet another 320,000. Yaba called all-in and revealed K♦ 2♣ 3♥ 5♦ for two pair, deuces and treys, while QOTSAfan turned up A♣ 4♦ 8♥ 9♦ — aces and nines with an 8-4-3-2-A low. The river K♠ improved Yaba to kings and treys, but it wasn’t enough and QOTSAfan locked up his first TCOOP title.

Congratulations to QOTSAfan, our Event #22 champion. He banked $8,365.45 for the win, while runner-up Yaba earned $7,993.88.

TCOOP-22: $82 FL Omaha Hi/Lo
Entrants: 794
Prizepool:$59,550.00
Places paid: 108

1. QOTSAfan (Costa Rica) $8,365,45*
2. Allan “Yaba” Drake (Canada) $7,993.88*
3. biszibosz (Poland) $6,793.40*
4. Pekka3 (Sweden) $5,520.75*
5. Veemer (Canada) $3,066.82
6. Mark “MarkBang” Bango (Hungary) $2,471.32
7. konway (Peru) $1,875.82
8. Artur90I (Poland) $1,316.05
9. shalomrum (Israel) $762.24

Kristin Bihr is a freelance contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

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