Renato Akio Kaneoya took home the biggest win on the opening day of PokerStars’ Turbo Championship of Online Poker (BSOP/PokerStars photo)

Last May, Brazilian players made headlines by dominating the PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker and if the first two events of the 2017 PokerStars Turbo Championship of Online Poker are any indication, they just might do it again. Brazilian’s walked away with two of the five TCOOP titles won on Wednesday and added a third place finish in another event.

The opening event, a $214 NLHE event with a $500,000 guarantee, drew 2,774 players with Brazilian Renato Akio ’kaneoya’ Kaneoya emerging victorious after just 6.5 hours of play. Kaneoya and ‘PeroQmaloSoy’ agreed to a heads-up deal that left just over $11,000 and the title to play for. Kaneoya eliminated ‘PeroQmaloSoy’ after just a few minutes of heads-up play to walk away with $75,711.11.

Murilo ‘Muka82’ Figueiredo beat out 1,377 other players to win Event #2, $82 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo. He ended up with $10,577.03 in winnings including $2,553.91 from bounties. Figueiredo eliminated four players at the final table to boost his overall KO haul. Philip ‘Philip’ Jacobson finished us runner-up, but cashed for just $6,517.55 after collecting just $696.05 in bounties.

Poland’s ‘ratajpoker’ ended the Brazilian’s strong opening run with his win in Event #3, $80 No Limit Hold’em, but it almost became three straight for Brazil. When the final table began, ‘ratajpoker’ had over 31% of the chips in play but as the final table played out there was another player representing Brazil. After eliminating two other players at the final table, Luiz ‘AcesPheres’ Feres found himself still in contention three-handed. ‘ratajpoker’ held the chip lead, ‘pur3decided’ was third and ‘ Feres was in third when players finalized a deal that left $7,416 to play for. After getting $33,917.54 in the deal, Feres was quick to exit in third, thus ending the chances of 2017 TCOOP opening with three straight wins by Brazilian players. ‘ratajpoker’ eventually eliminated ‘pur3decided’ to win the first COOP title of his career and $45,797.35.

Event #4, the lowest buy-in event of the opening day – a $27 Six Max No Limit Hold’em event, attracted 10,940 players with Lithunian ‘PokerFan_lol’ getting the win and the $18,568.31 first place prize money. He also earned an additional $3,757.36 in bounties. Hungarian ‘NorBaggio’ finished second for $12,132.27 and $4,339.61 in bounties.

While Hungarian poker fans may have been disappointed to see ’NorBaggio’ fall short of winning their home country a COOP title, they didn’t have to wait too much longer to celebrate. ‘kZhh’ captured the final TCOOP event of the day after beating out 3,289 other players in Event #5, an $82 No Limit Hold’em Bubble Rush tournament. The win was worth $32,435.00 after the final three players agreed to a chop.

TCOOP action continues on Thursday with five more events, including a $320 buy-in Fat Thursday Special Edition event with a $400,000 guarantee.

Event #1 – $215 No Limit Hold’em (Ultra-Deep, Kickoff)

Entries: 2,774 (2,263 entries, 511 re-entries)

Prize pool: $554,800

  1. Renato Akio ‘kaneoya’ Kaneoya – $75,711.11*
  2. 
PeroQmaloSoy – $64,081.10*
  3. 
sim.sut – $41,879.91

  4. Anil Kumar ‘BigBlufferAY’ Yadav – $30,112.04

  5. Jansons55 (Latvia) $21,650.79

  6. Andrew ‘achen’ Chen – $15,567.13
  7. 
Nathaniel ‘natfalber11’ Falber – $11,192.86
  8. 
LEHMATLENTAA – $8,047.76
  9. 
king_one862 – $5,786.39

Event #2 – $82 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo (Eight Max, 50% Progressive KO)

Entries: 1,378

Prize pool: $103,350 ($51,675 + $51,675 in bounties)

  1. Murilo ‘Muka82’ Figueiredo – $8,023.12 + $2,553.91 in bounties 

  2. Philip ‘Philip’ Jacobson – $5,821.50 + $696.05 in bounties 

  3. SemmelNy – $4,224.66 + $3,095.29 in bounties
  4. 
kolios – $3,065.84 + $82.03 in bounties
  5. ThomiDaHomi – $2,224.87 + $501.54 in bounties
  6. 
Chamäleon1 – $1,613.59 + $1,081.77 in bounties
  7. 
Boby Boom – $1,171.70 + $1,324.99 in bounties
  8. NikkiWolf – $850.30 + $674.37 in bounties

Event#3 – $80 No Limit Hold’em

Entries: 4,944

Prize pool: $370,800

  1. ratajpoker – *$45,797.35

  2. Michael ‘pur3decided’ Humphrey – *$36,743.06

  3. Luiz ‘AcesPheres’ Feres – *33,917.54
  4. 
Jesper8 – $18,654.68
  5. 
gunnersfun – $13,190.83
  6. 
IAmSoSo – $9,327.32

  7. YerSoLucky – $6,595.41
  8. 
daskalos20 – $5,663.66

  9. petrios1980 – $3,297.67

*denotes three-way deal

Event #4 – $27 No Limit Hold’em (Six Max, Hyper-Turbo, 50% Progressive KO)

Entries: 10,940

Prize pool: $281,267.40 ($140,688.40 + $140,579 in bounties)

  1. PokerFan_lol – $18,568.31 + $3,757.36 in bounties

  2. NorBaggio – $12,132.27 + $4,339.61 in bounties

  3. Game-0ver901 – $7,930.50 + $875.78 in bounties

  4. swansfc_CJ – $5,183.93 + $779.97 in bounties
  5. 
Kairo90 – $3,388.57 + $1,413.37 in bounties

  6. sickhangover – $2,215.01 + $751.25 in bounties

Event #5 – $82 No Limit Hold’em (Eight Max, Bubble Rush)
Entries: 3,290
Prize pool: $246,750

  1. kZhh – $32,435.00*

  2. GriffGolf13 – $23,812.29*
  3. 
Pascal “Päffchen” Hartmann – $22,698.32*
  4. 
LeROYal 09 – $12,874.82
  5. 
csikken – $9,177.61
  6. 
LeviTheKing1 – $6,542.13
  7. 
SimbaUp – $4,663.47

  8. Pumpingpoker – $3,324.26

*denotes three-way deal