Event #18: $500 NLHE [6-Max, High Roller], $35K Gtd
Day 1 Completed
2021 Michigan Championship of Online Poker (MICOOP)
Event #18: $500 NLHE [6-Max, High Roller], $35K Gtd
Day: 1
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
2021 Michigan Championship of Online Poker (MICOOP)
Buy-in
$500
Entries
131
The 2021 PokerStars Michigan Championship of Online Poker (MICOOP) played host to short-handed, high-stakes action Wednesday night with Event #18: $500 NLHE [6-Max, High Roller]. Of the 131 entries, "Surge_Ibaka" was the one to claim the title and the accompanying top prize of $12,988.
A two-hour-and-40-minute registration period generated a total prize pool of $61,570, a number that eclipsed its $35K guarantee in just the fourth level of play on the night. Just under three hours after registration closed, "Surge_Ibaka" eliminated "sexycaitlyn" (3rd place) and "HeyLookItsTez" (2nd place) on back-to-back hands to emerge victorious.
Event #18 Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Surge_Ibaka | $12,988.00 |
| 2 | HeyLookItsTez | $9,716.00 |
| 3 | sexycaitlyn | $7,268.00 |
| 4 | barry20sanders | $5,437.00 |
| 5 | Johnanthony55 | $4,067.00 |
| 6 | Matthew "ProfitablePloof" Ploof | $3,042.00 |
| 7 | PowerRanges | $2,485.00 |
Event Recap
There were 47 players already registered when the tournament began, a number that grew steadily to its total of 131 throughout the registration period. By the time registration ended, only around 35 players remained, and that number quickly dropped to 25 by the third break of the night. Twenty-five minutes later, the bubble burst when "freebrit" saw their pocket aces cracked by the pocket eights of MICOOP Event #1 champion "PowerRanges" after an eight appeared on the river, leaving the 19 remaining players all set to earn a payday of some sort.
"PowerRanges" was the chip leader through most of the tournament, but lost the majority of their chips to "sexycaitlyn" on the final table bubble after the latter spiked a set of nines on the river to crack the former's pocket jacks. They survived to the final table of seven, but were then eliminated on the first hand of play when they ran ace-ten suited into pocket aces.
Matthew "ProfitablePloof" Ploof was another short stack at the time, surviving a few all-in situations prior to the final table before his luck ran out moments later, taking sixth when his ace-six was unable to hold versus the queen-jack suited of "HeyLookItsTez".
Nearly four full levels of five-handed play then ensued before "Johnanthony55" lost with pocket nines to the ace-king of "sexycaitlyn" when a king came on the river, and they were followed by the exit of "barry20sanders" in fourth just a level later, also at the expense of "sexycaitlyn" who then took a commanding lead into three-handed play.
However, it was then time for "Surge_Ibaka" to shine. They found back-to-back doubles through "sexycaitlin" and eventually battled their way into the chip lead. "sexycaitlyn" then jammed king-five into the king-ten suited of "Surge_Ibaka" to bust in third, and one hand later, "Surge_Ibaka" open-jammed king-trey on the button and saw "HeyLookItsTez" call off their remaining chips with queen-jack. "HeyLookItsTez" failed to improve on the ten-high runout, and that was all she wrote.
In Level 30 with blinds of 25,000/50,000 and an ante of 6,000, "Surge_Ibaka" open-jammed on the button and "HeyLookItsTez" called all in for 859,941 in the big blind on the very first hand of heads-up play.
"HeyLookItsTez": 
"Surge_Ibaka": 
The board ran out 
, unnecessarily giving "Surge_Ibaka" bottom pair as "HeyLookItsTez" found their two Broadway cards unable to hit, bringing about their runner-up finish good for $9,716.
Meanwhile, "Surge_Ibaka" has won MICOOP Event #18 for $12,988. A recap of the tournament will be posted shortly.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
3,275,000
865,941
|
865,941 |
|
|
Busted |
In Level 30 with blinds of 25,000/50,000 and an ante of 6,000, "sexycaitlyn" jammed for their last 394,432 on the button and received a call from "Surge_Ibaka" in the big blind.
"sexycaitlyn": 
"Surge_Ibaka": 
"sexycaitlyn" saw their situation go from bad to worse on the flop 
and the turn 
left them only with the hopes of running jacks to chop. Unfortunately for them, the river 
did not comply and they hit the rail in third place as a result, earning a payday of $7,268 to go along with it.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
2,409,059
1,752,242
|
1,752,242 |
|
|
865,941
-102,000
|
-102,000 |
|
|
Busted |
In Level 29 with blinds of 20,000/40,000 and an ante of 5,000, "Surge_Ibaka" opened to 120,000 in the small blind and "sexycaitlyn" defended their big blind. "Surge_Ibaka" made a continuation-bet of 120,000 on the flop 
and "sexycaitlyn" called.
The turn came 
and "Surge_Ibaka" checked. "sexycaitlin" bet 185,555 and "Surge_Ibaka" called, bringing the river where action checked through to showdown.
"Surge_Ibaka" showed 
for jacks and sixes with an ace kicker and received a muck from "sexycaitlyn" to earn them both the pot and the chip lead.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
967,941
345,000
|
345,000 |
|
|
784,132
-840,555
|
-840,555 |
|
|
656,817
-370,555
|
-370,555 |
In Level 29 with blinds of 20,000/40,000 and an ante of 5,000, "Surge_Ibaka" opened to 120,000 in the small blind and "sexycaitlyn" defended their big blind. "Surge_Ibaka" made a continuation-bet of 120,000 on the flop and "sexycaitlyn" called.
The turn came and "Surge_Ibaka" checked. "sexycaitlin" bet 185,555 and "Surge_Ibaka" called, bringing the river where action checked through to showdown.
"Surge_Ibaka" showed for jacks and sixes with an ace kicker and received a muck from "sexycaitlyn" to earn them both the pot and the chip lead.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
967,941
345,000
|
345,000 |
|
|
784,132
-840,555
|
-840,555 |
|
|
656,817
-370,555
|
-370,555 |
Hand #1: In Level 29 with blinds of 20,000/40,000, "sexycaitlyn" opened to 80,000 on the button and "Surge_Ibaka" defended their big blind, leaving behind 123,093 that they jammed on the flop 
. "sexycaitlyn" called.
"Surge_Ibaka":
"sexycaitlyn": 
The turn 
left "Surge_Ibaka" in need of fading just a queen to chop on the river, which they successfully did as completed the runout for their double.
Hand #2: Two hands later, "Surge_Ibaka" open-shoved on the button for 486,186 and "sexycaitlyn" called in the small blind.
"Surge_Ibaka": 
"sexycaitlyn": 
"Surge_Ibaka" found the three outer they needed on the flop 
and stayed ahead as 
rolled onto the felt to complete the runout and score them the come-from-behind double.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
1,624,687
-744,279
|
-744,279 |
|
|
1,027,372
819,279
|
819,279 |
|
|
622,941
-75,000
|
-75,000 |
In Level 29 with blinds of 20,000/40,000, "barry20sanders" found themselves folding for several orbits and were down to just 66,522. They shoved in the small blind and "sexycaitlyn" called in the big blind.
"barry20sanders": 
"sexycaitlyn":
"barry20sanders" found no true help as the board ran out 
and they were eliminated from the tournament in fourth place, earning a payday of $5,437 for their finish.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
2,368,966
645,967
|
645,967 |
|
|
697,941
-145,695
|
-145,695 |
|
|
208,093
-145,000
|
-145,000 |
|
|
Busted |
In Level 28 with blinds of 15,000/30,000 and an ante of 3,750, "Johnanthony55" opened to 60,000 in the hijack and "sexycaitlyn" three-bet to 155,555 in the cutoff. Action folded back to "Johnanthony55" and they four-bet jammed for 738,664. "sexycaitlyn" called.
"Johnanthony55": 
"sexycaitlyn":
The biggest pot of the tournament thus far had just transpired with "Johnanthony55" slightly ahead in a coin-flip situation for their tournament life. They remained ahead through the flop 
and turn , but were unable to dodge the river 
and fell in fifth place as a result, earning $4,067 for their performance on the evening.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
1,722,999
806,164
|
806,164 |
|
|
Busted |
Jennie "InkedOne" Allison, 40, recently spent seven years living in Oregon but moved back to Michigan back in October, which was just in time to participate in this MICOOP.
"I��ve been playing poker for just over two years," she told PokerNews. "I taught myself on an app that had poker on it. I got fed up with imaginary money and people shoving all in every hand. One day I went to a poker house in Oregon and played a tournament. In my first tournament, I took 11th place out of 40 or so people."
In her second tournament, she improved to seventh place and followed that up by taking second in her third-ever tournament.
"Over these two years, I have played both cash and tournaments but my favorite is tournament play. I play NLH, Omaha, and other variations such as Crazy Pineapple and Courchevel. I moved back to Michigan in October and it was hard not playing tournaments every week."
She added: "I have noticed that men play women differently. I learned early on I had to play fearlessly. I was not letting people bully me out of hands. While playing poker online, I even did an experiment where I changed my avatar and name to a man, played identical to my play and the men played me differently. I ended up first within 24 hours of changing that."
While that experiment didn't take place on PokerStars, she is enjoying grinding the virtual felt of Michigan's first regulated online site.
"On PokerStars, I have an ambiguous screen name and do not reveal my gender when playing. However, oddly enough, many people refer to me as 'bro' and 'buddy.' So, not sure if that��s a compliment that they can��t imagine I��m a woman, or if it means they just assume fewer women play."
She continued: "My experience with online poker is so-so. I pride myself on my reads. When dealing with online, sure I can figure out how people play, but I can��t see tells, eye contact, etc. I��ve been first in two tournaments on PokerStars and have cashed out at least a dozen times."
Allison tends to play tournaments with buy-ins $15 or lower and can be found battling at the micro stakes where she attempts to enhance her skill and learn from her hands.
"My favorite tournaments on PokerStars are the bounty hunters and the knockout ones," she said. "One of my first-place wins had more cash won in knockouts than the actual top prize."
Allison concluded: "I really love poker. I may have only been playing two years but I learn and grow every time I play."