Stanton "Stonniepokes" Tentnowski Claims Two USCOOP Titles on the Same Day!
The US Championship of Online Poker (USCOOP) has crowned another champion as Stanton "Stonniepokes" Tentnowski navigated a 139-entry field to take down Event #49: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em PKO High Roller for his fourth career COOP title over at PokerStarNJ.com!
For the win, Tentnowski padded his bankroll with the $11,664 first-place prize plus an additional $20,594 in bounties. It was no easy task to find himself in the winner's circle, though, as the buy-in level brought out the site's top talent. Couple that with the additional variance that bounty chasing can create and this becomes a title that is certainly one to be proud of!
The one day event saw action from the onset with players looking to build stacks early in an attempt to make themselves a danger to the looming bounties of the shorter stacked players. Many recognizable names took their seat to chase those bounties in what was the second highest buy-in of the series with "dankecomwieder", "loxonbagel", "Tank Artist", "iFoldNOT" and PokerStarsNJ Ambassador David "DavidKayePoker" Kaye all taking part in the event.
Action was fast from the start, but the pace of play picked up dramatically once the money bubble burst at 17 remaining players. From there, it only took two 12-minute levels to reach seven-handed play. The fast pace of bust outs leveled out the stacks a bit and the eliminations very briefly slowed, but that doesn't mean the remaining players drug it out as the entire final table of nine played down to a winner within about an hour of play time.
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Country | Bounties | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stanton "Stonniepokes" Tentnowski | United States | $20,594 | $11,664 |
| 2 | "Jaybangs" | United States | $2,250 | $11,664 |
| 3 | "T1111111111M" | United States | $6,781 | $7,922 |
| 4 | "supremetny" | United States | $5,281 | $6,154 |
| 5 | "mariopartypoker" | United States | $1,969 | $4,780 |
| 6 | "bbissick" | United States | $1,000 | $3,713 |
| 7 | "bananastand369" | United States | $2,000 | $2,884 |
| 8 | "JoeMcEwing" | United States | $875 | $2,240 |
| 9 | "lufy_boy" | United States | $1,188 | $1,846 |
Final Table Action
Once the final table of nine was reached, the first bust out came quick when "lufy_boy" got coolered to run kings into aces for all the money pre-flop. "JoeMcEwing" fell shortly thereafter in the same level in another pair over pair situation that sent him looking for the exit.
One level later, "bananastand369" was left disappointed when he lost a flip to the eventual champion to hit the showers in seventh place. "bbissick" was soon to follow in a button vs small blind spot that saw them get all their money in pre-flop with a dominated ace that found no improvement from the runout.
Five-handed play had the potential to go for a bit but was cut short when "mariopartypoker" found himself headed to a runout as a huge underdog when he got his eights in against the tens of "T1111111111M" only to see no help materialize, locking in a fifth-place finish. "supremetny" was the next to hit the rail one level later when they four-bet jammed but couldn't find the help they needed by the river.
One level after that, "T1111111111M" found the exit door after being tied for the chip lead just a few minutes before, but when the rest of their money went in pre-flop against the kings of Tentnowski, it spelled the end of their tournament just a couple spots shy of the title. When heads-up play began, Tentnowski had his opponent out-chipped 6:1 and it only took a few hands to close it out when "Jaybangs" three-bet jammed from the big blind, running their sevens into the tens of Tentnowski.
The final table was filled with players who boast impressive SharkScope graphs on the site, making this win that much sweeter for Tentnowski, whose in the green to the tune of $245,000 on PokerStarsNJ.com since 2016 and with performances like this one, that number shows no sign of heading in the wrong direction anytime soon.
Other COOP title winners on the day include "Rogggggy", who took down Event #45: $50 NLHE Marathon for $3,907; "RandyLahey SV", who topped the Event #46: $10 NLHE Sunday Starter field for $1,297; PokerStarsNJ Ambassador David "DavidKayePoker" Kaye, who found victory in Event #47: $200 NLHE Sunday Special Championship for $29,343; "phillychzsteak", who finished atop the field in Event #48: $30 NLHE Mini Sunday Special for $5,967; "Kingston511", who won Event #50: $100 PLO 5-Max for $2,971; and Stanton "Stonniepokes" Tentnowski, who also found the winner's circle in Event #51: $50 NLHE Bounty Builder Adrenaline 6-Max PKO, winning his third and fourth COOP titles on the same day!
That concludes the coverage of USCOOP Event #49, but stay tuned to PokerNews as you can find live updates and coverage for all remaining major events on the 2023 USCOOP schedule!