SCOOP 2012: The Viktor "Isildur1" Blom chronicles

If Viktor "Isildur1" Blom were literally on fire, it wouldn't be as surprising as his 2012 Spring Championship of Online Poker performance. If he were running around with smoke pouring from his wonderfully messy Swedish hair, it wouldn't shock us as much as what's happened over the last couple of days. If he were to jump into the Thames to douse the flames shooting from his sleeves, we'd yawn and say, "Not nearly as awesome as how he performed in 2012. Now that was hot."

Blom may not be literally afire, but if he were, he'd have enough money to buy more fire extinguishers than he'd ever need.

In case you decided to ignore the poker corner of the internet for the past few days and missed it, Team PokerStars Pro Viktor Blom won his first-ever major online title in Event #2 of the Spring Championship of Online Poker. And then he won his second title a day later in Event #3-H. And let us not forget, this comes just a few months after he won his first major live title in the ?100,000 buy-in Super High Roller at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.

And while we're not forgetting things, let's remember this: Viktor Blom is a cash game player who not too long ago had no use for tournaments. He made his bones and his bucks crushing the nosebleed games as the king of swing. Now, he's done more in tournaments in the past five months than most good players will do in their lifetime.

One little spark, and that hair goes up in flames

Today, Blom sits atop the overall SCOOP Player of the Series leaderboard. The $411,257 he's won so far is more than anyone else who has played SCOOP this year. It's getting such that it's impossible to keep up with the Blom news as it happens. I tried to take a break yesterday to cook dinner for my family, but I couldn't pull away from Blom's second title attempt. I nearly cut off my finger mincing shallots when he won.

With that in mind (and to save your fingers from any injury) here are a few quick links to the Blom Chronicles from the 2012 SCOOP.

If you want to see how he did it, here's the highlights from his first win, courtesy of our friends at PokerStars.tv.

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

SCOOP 2012: Make it six final tables, two titles
for caprioli

When Rodrigo Caprioi graduated from university, he had degrees in statistics and history, which even he admits is sort of weird.

"That´s very unusual as those are two completely different areas," he said.

But that's what Caprioli is like. He likes it unusual.

"I don´t like normality and routine, I always need differente things to see and do," he said.

If you don't know Rodrigo Caprioli--the man they call Zidane in Brazil--you probably don't know much about the PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker.

As of this moment (and frankly, these stats could change at any time) Caprioli has made six SCOOP final tables (tied for third among all players). He's won two SCOOP championships. He's cashed 31 times for $249,588. He's one of eleven players worldwide with more than one SCOOP title. In short, the 31-year old man from São Paulo, Brazil is statistically and historically one of the best SCOOP players in the world.

All of that should help explain why, as much Caprioli likes to be surprised, the fact that he added a second SCOOP title to his resume this week isn't that big a shock. Caprioli won Event #4-H, $2,100 Badugi for $39,000.

"I'm very dedicated. I study and play a lot, so I know I´ll have much more results like this one," he said.

Rodrigo Caprioli, two-time SCOOP champion

After a 2011 that he considered fairly unremarkable, 2012 started badly. Very badly.

At one point, Caprioli co-owned a language school in São Paulo where he worked for five years before turning pro. Up until 2012, his life as a pro and PokerStars Supernova Elite was going swimmingly. Then came this year.

"I started this year running really cold in live cash games here in São Paulo. I always win playing online, but It´s always hard when things go wrong for a long time," he said.

That all became irrelevant when Caprioli showed up in Monaco a few weeks ago for the EPT Grand Final, made the final table, and won ?315,000 for his fifth place finish.

He followed that up with another SCOOP title this week. Now, he has his eyes set on bigger goals.

"I´m playing to be the Player of the Series in at least one of the levels or overall," he said. "I´m reaching Supernova Elite again this year, and I hope to get a final table in next WSOP and to win a bracelet in the WCOOP."

Those would be some impressive stats to rack up. Historic, even.

But, if there is a guy looking for historic statistics, Rodrigo Caprioli is probably him.

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

SCOOP 2012: $2K NL 6-Max, event # 1-H

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

SCOOP 2012: jotothejo goes toe-to-toe heads-up,
wins #7-M ($82 Heads-Up)

Do you remember the Australian kid Corey Worthington Delaney who became a YouTube sensation overnight after throwing a wild party that got out of hand? Despite being interviewed on national TV, Corey was unashamed, unabashed and bare-chested, a large pair of plastic sunglasses on throughout. He didn't care. Rules, regulations and expectations could go hang. A similar policy appears to have been adopted by fellow Aussie jotothejo who came out on top of a field of 3928 players to win $31,037.47 beating a trio of online crushers to take the title.

jotothejo took them all on; TigerMenino ($449,133 in PokerStars tournaments) in the quarters, Sunday Million winner Rens02 ($538,979) in the semi, and Sunday Warm-Up winner flexaccou ($274,849) in the final. jotothejo's previous PokerStars winnings? Zero. It's the beauty of the heads-up game.

jotothejo had to navigate a tough bracket

flexaccou had taken on Vzsolt800, a player with moderate previous tournament scores ($29,311), to reach the final and trampled him fairly quickly, as he had to his opponent in the bout before. The British player seemed to finishing things quickly but given that the tournament had been running 12 hours by this point the flailing hard and fast approach was somewhat understandable. jotothejo on the other hand played out his quarter and semi in a long drawn slugfest, slowly battering his opponent, occasionally letting them back up off the canvas, before finally landing the knockout blow. Which technique would play out in the final? The frantic flurry or the rope-a-dope? It was the former.

The stage is set

The pace was quickly set by flexaccou who on the third hand of the heads up four-bet jotothejo to 850 at the 25-50 blind level. The Australian passed by won the next two pots of significance; first raising the turn of a [6s][3s][kc][9s] board and then jamming the river of a flushed board (see below). There would only be one further pot that mattered.

RSS readers click through to see replay

Those two hands left flexaccou on the back foot down to 3,230. Twelve hands of minor skirmishes followed, in which no pot of more than 600 was won, and it was flexaccou who continued to move in the wrong direction, now down to 2,980 giving jotothejo close to a three-to-one lead. It took one more hand to wrap it up, just 25 in total for a short 12 minute finale.

Presumably trying to leverage his chip lead, jotothejo four-bet shoved into flexaccou with [9h][7h] and the Brit slowly made the call with pocket eights. The [jd][7c][4c] flop gave jotothejo a couple more outs but the nine which fell on the river would have given him the pot nonetheless. flexaccou adds $19,747 to his tournament stash while jotothejo kicks off his with a a huge ROI-bursting $31,037.

RSS readers click through to see replay

The quarter finals and beyond
1. jotothejo, $31,037
2. flexaccou, $19,747
3. Rens02, $9,878
4. Vzsolt800, $9,878
5. TigerMenino, $5,497
6. zdravko, $5,497
7. carlitos350, $5,497
8. damiii, $5,497

Other players of note that finished in the money included Faraz 'The-Toilet 0' Jaka (15th, $2,957.78), Andrey 'ThePateychuk' Pateychuk (57th, $936.82), Joao 'Jomane' Nunes (168th , $318.16), DocMick (187th, $318.16) and Bryan Huang (211th, $318.16), while Team Online's Randy 'nanonoko' Lew and George 'Jorj95' Lind, and Team PokerStars Pro Jan Heitmann all picked up min-cashes.

Click here to read more SCOOP reports.
Click here to see the SCOOP schedule.
Click here to go to the SCOOP website.

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

SCOOP 2012: shurgar stays connected to win SCOOP
Event #7-H $700 NL Heads-Up title

Some would say that heads-up is the purest form of poker. Mano-a-mano in a true test of poker skill, aggression and the ultimate in psychology. There's nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.

Heads-up poker is also fascinating as anything can, and probably will, happen. Anyone can beat anyone on any given day. It could be a drawn out marathon where the blinds eventually take hold, or it can all be over on the first hand of the match.

Today we saw just about all of that, and a little more, with an exciting and dramatic end to the SCOOP Event #7-H $700 Heads-Up No Limit Holdem event.

It started out with 793 players coming together to compete for a massive $531,310 prize pool which smashed the guarantee four times over.

Team PokerStars was well represented with pros Lex Veldhuis, Victor "Isildur1" Blom, Daniel Negreanu, Anders Berg, Bertrand Grospellier, Angel Guillen, George Danzer, Shane Schleger, Randy Lew and Eugene Katchalov amongst the starters.

The top 128 would finish in the money with the likes of Jonathan Duhamel (120th - $1,381.40), Paul Hockin (93rd - $1,381.40), Bryn Kenney (65th $1,381.40), James Obst (50th - $2,433.39) and Matt Wakeman (38th - $2,433.39) just a few of the notable players to reach the money.

The highest-placed Team PokerStars Pro was Victor Ramdin. He ran into Justin Bonomo in a tough Round of 16 match that had the attention of most of the railbirds. Ramdin got off to a slow start after being disconnected, but Bonomo waited patiently and gave Ramdin every opportunity to return without much damage. That good karma paid off when Bonomo grabbed the win when the two went to war on a flop of [2s][9c][7c]. Bonomo held [7h][5s] for just middle pair but it was in front of Ramdin's [6h][8s] straight draw. The [3d] turn and [kc] completed the board to see Bonomo progress and Ramdin out in 14th place for $7,661.49 in prize money.

Victor Ramdin representing the red spade with a deep SCOOP run

Chris Moorman was another popular pro to be bundled out in the Round of 16. His last stand came with [9c][9d] after Pappe_Ruk shoved with [ac][9h]. An ace found its way onto the flop to eliminate Moorman in 10th place for $7,661.49.

Justin Bonomo would make it no further than the quarter finals in an interesting elimination hand:

It was an interesting line by shurgar, and was enough to confuse Bonomo who went deep into the tank on the river before calling for his tournament life, but trips for shurgar sent Bonomo packing in 8th place for $14,239.10 in prize money.

Shurgar went on to face JRADF79 in one semi final as Scott 'gunning4you' Seiver took on TRiggA_miK3 in the other.

Seiver was first to progress through to the final, and it was a bit of a cooler that ended the match. The chips were in preflop with Seiver showing [as][qd] as TRiggA_miK3 held a monster [ks][kh]. An ace fell on the flop and TRiggA_miK3 was outed in 4th place for $25,561.32.

The other semi-final was also over rather quickly. The blinds were only 40/80 when shurgar had already gained the ascendency to leave JRADF79 with around fifteen big blinds. JRADF79 moved all in preflop with [ks][6c] but shurgar made the call with [6h][6s]. The board ran out [2c][qc][5h][qh][qd] to see JRADF79 eliminated in 3rd place for $25,561.32 as our final match was set.

Final: gunning4you vs shurgar

The final saw Seiver race out of the blocks, before shurgar took the lead with a rivered flush holding [2d][4d] that Seiver paid off with a river call.

It was only moments later that the tournament was thrown into a spin when Seiver disconnected. His entire timebank of around six or seven minutes drained before the moderator added an extra four minutes on top. Again there was no movement from Seiver as his time bank expired. Was this really how the SCOOP title was going to be decided?

Thankfully, no...

gunning4you is connected
gunning4you said, "what happened"
gunning4you said, "internet seems to have gone down in places throughout city"
shurgar said, "u didn't lose Any chips"

With Seiver back it would be game on, but incredibly the tournament would last exactly one more hand:

Seiver turned the flush and got his chips in good, but shurgar spiked a queen on the river to improve to a full house for the win. What a way to end it!

Seiver pockets $51,127.96 for his runner-up finish while shurgar wins the SCOOP title and $80,350.76.

Final Four Results
1st shurgar (United Kingdom) - $80,350.76
2nd Scott "gunning4you" Seiver (Canada) - $51,127.96
3rd JRADF79 (Belgium) - $25,561.32
4th TRiggA_miK3 (Canada) - $25,561.32

The 2012 SCOOP is just getting started with an amazing schedule of events still to come. For more details head to the official SCOOP website for the schedule, satellites, leaderboard, statistics and more.

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

SCOOP 2012: Maestro Shao masters the field in
Event #6-H ($1,050 NL 5-Card Draw)

Most people regret making a $1,170 mistake, but then again, most people aren't Daniel Negreanu.

At around 11:00am ET Daniel "KidPoker" Negreanu Tweeted: "Playing my first #SCOOP2012 2-7 Single Draw NL playing all three, the $11 $109 and $1050"

If that seemed a bit odd to you, it's because it should. There weren't any scheduled 2-7 Single Draw events today. In fact, there aren't going to be any 2-7 Single Draw events all SCOOP.

Negreanu realized his mistake and, a few minutes later, followed up with this Tweet: "Haha OMG I have been playing the wrong game this whole time! It's 5 card draw HIGH oops! Too funny"

Negreanu busted out of the Low and Medium events without a cash, but he managed to make it to the heads-up match here in Event #6-H.

Oops.

But KidPoker wasn't the only Team PokerStars Pro in the field today (although he might've been the only one there accidentally).

A total of six Team PokerStars Pros and two Team PokerStars Online players registered for Event #6-H. This meant almost 10 percent of today's 84 players had a red spade decorating their name. But the fancy red spade would end up representing 1/3 of the final table.

Victor Ramdin, George Danzer, Eugene Katchalov and Johnny Lodden all signed up for some 5-Card Draw action today, but none of them would make it to the money. Lodden was the closest, he managed to make it to the final three tables and was eliminated in 18th place.

Anders "Donald" Hoyers Berg and George "jorj95" Lind were representing Team PokerStars Online, but they weren't able to see a return on their $1,050 investment.

But our remaining Team PokerStars Pros would do more than cash; they'd go on to final table and finish second and third.

Daniel Negreanu grabbed the chip lead with 25 players left and he kept on winning pots:

Negreanu's lead would increase as we made our way down to the final two tables, but then another Team PokerStars Pro would burst into the lead.

ELKY'S RUN

ElkY might not be human. At times I suspect he's a replicant, a genetically-engineered robot that's superior to human beings in every way. He has an ability to master whatever game he sits down to play, whether it be StarCraft or poker.

Just last year, ElkY won his first WSOP bracelet in the 10K stud event. Yes, winning a bracelet is impressive, but several humans win bracelets. ElkY won his bracelet in an event he'd never played live before.

After winning the bracelet, ElkY admitted that that had been his first ever live Stud event.

Again, replicant.

Oh, he also already cashed for more than $1 million this year.

When we were down to our final six players, ElkY held the lead with 90,062.

The rest of the final table looked like this:

Seat 1 - Metalguru84 -- 77,846
Seat 2 - Gagarin007 -- 44,243
Seat 3 - KidPoker -- 57,942
Seat 4- Iftarii -- 58,213
Seat 5 - Maestro Shao -- 82,394
Seat 6 - ElkY -- 96,062

ElkY continued his ruthless run, even taking pots off of his fellow Team Pro. Negreanu raised to 2,400 and ElkY called. Both players drew one card and Negreanu led out for 4,800.

ElkY called and showed two pairs, sevens and deuces. Negreanu also had two pair, but his fives and threes weren't enough to win the pot.

This hand made ElkY the first player to make it past the 100,000 mark. The rest of the players stared at his stack with awe and hunger.

SORRY IFTARII

Metalguru84 raised to 2,400 and our table short stack, Gagarin007, made it 6,000 from the button. Iftarii 4-bet to 24,002 and Metalguru84 folded. Gagarin007 upped the ante and moved all in for 41,243.

Iftarii folded and was left with 34,211.

After that, Iftarii was chipped down to 21,000; he didn't see a single showdown in the process. With 700/1,400 blinds and a 350 ante, he was going to need to need to make a move.

And he did.

ElkY raised to 2,800 from UTG and Metalguru84 re-raised to 6,300. Action was folded around to Iftarii in the small blind, who moved all in for 21,861.

ElkY laid down his hand, but Metalguru84 made the call.

Iftarii drew two while Metalguru84 stood pat. Iftarii showed an [ah][ad][as][4c][6h] for three aces, but Metalguru84 showed a dealt straight, [7h][8h][9s][10h][Jh].

Iftarii became our first final table elimination and won $4,410 for his 6th place finish.

MT. ELKY

ElkY continued to amass chips.

Maestro Shao raised to 3,080 from the small blind and ElkY raised to 8,400. Both players drew three cards and Maestro Shao led out for 9,800. ElkY raised to 26,600 and Maestro Shao decided to fold.

This put ElkY at 133,000 and then the following hand happened:

ElkY managed to get up to 170,000 before other players started chipping away at him.

POKER MAESTRO PLEASE

Maestro Shao joined ElkY in the 100K club after the following hand.

ElkY raised to 3,200 from UTG and Maestro Shao called from the big blind. Maestro Shao drew three cards while ElkY took one.

Maestro Shao checked and ElkY led out for 6,400. Maestro Shao called and showed [kc][kd][2d][2h][3d], beating ElkY's [10c][10s][7s][7h][6d].

Maestro Shao then took the chip lead away from ElkY for the first time at the final table:

FIVE TO FOUR

After losing the majority of his chips to Negreanu, Metalguru84 was left with only 13,000. This was a dangerously low stack with 800/1600 blinds and a 400 ante.

He managed to double back up to 24,000 when his two pair held up against ElkY's busted straight draw, but his two pairs couldn't hold up forever.

Maestro Shao raised to 4,400 from UTG and ElkY called. Metalguru84 moved all in for 20,000 and got one caller, Gagarin007.

Both players drew one card and both players showed two pair.

Metalguru84 showed [ad][ks][kc][10d][10c], but his two pair was slightly behind Gagarin007's [as][ac][10h][10s][6c].

Metalguru84 was eliminated in 5th place and took home $5,880 for his finish.

KIDPOKER PLAYS POKER

Daniel Negreanu was dangerously short-stacked for a portion of the final table, but he managed to play his way up to second in chips and knock out the fourth place finisher.

In one of his Tweets, Negreanu mentioned that were "lots of "moves" to be made" in 5-Card Draw. We have no idea when these moves were being made, but they're in there somewhere.

Negreanu raised to 4,000 from UTG and Gagarin007 moved all in for 24,948. Negreanu called and both players drew three cards.

Gagarin007 managed to hit ace-high while Negreanu got a pair of queens. Gagarin007 was eliminated in 4th place, earning $7,980.

THE THREE TO BEAT

Our three-way match ended up like this:

KidPoker -- 126,692
Maestro Shao --187,697
ElkY --105,611

Maestro Shao then took and early lead:

He then won another pot against ElkY. Maestro Shao raised to 4,400 and ElkY called. Maestro Shao drew one card while ElkY drew three.

Maestro Shao led out for 8,000 and ElkY made the call. Maestro Shao showed a pair of aces and sixes while ElkY mucked.

This brought Maestro Shao's stack up to 240,000, while ElkY was down to 77,000.

All three players seemed to maintain their stacks for a while until Negreanu won a big hand off of Maestro Shao.

Negreanu raised to 4,000 from the small blind and Maestro Shao re-raised to 8,000. Negreanu made it 22,000 and Maestro Shao called.

Negreanu drew two while Maestro Shao took three. Negreanu led out for a final 22,000 bet and Maestro Shao called.

Negreanu showed [7c][7h][7d][10c][ks] and Maestro Shao mucked. This brought Negreanu up to 143,000.

ElkY also managed to gain some ground, but he was soon shut down by Maestro Shao.

With 1,250/2,500 blinds and a 625 ante, Maestro Shao raised to 5,500. ElkY moved all-in for 110,561 and Maestro show made the call.

Maestro Shao drew two cards while ElkY drew one. At the showdown, ElkY showed [4c][4h][qd][8h][8d] for two pair, but Maestro Shao showed [5d][5h][5c][ah][10c] for the victory.

ElkY was eliminated in 3rd place and took home $11,760 for his finish.

He had this to say after his exit:

"Sick fished out to finish 3rd... oh well good luck to @realkidpoker . was lots of fun anyways. #SCOOP2012"

THE GRUESOME TWOSOME

Maestro Shao came into the heads-up match with the lead, 282,058, against Negreanu's 137,942. But that lead would change.

Several times.

A swingy, 90-minute heads-up battle followed ElkY's elimination.

Negreanu first closed in on Maestro Shao's lead after hitting three kings against Maestro Shao's busted flush draw:

Negreanu continued to win small pots and he built his stack up to 223,000 against Maestro Shao's 182,000.

Then Maestro Shao raised to 6,000 from the small blind and Negreanu called and drew three cards. Maestro Shao also drew three and led out for 9,000 when Negreanu checked.

Negreanu raised to 30,000 and Maestro Shao re-raised to 84,210. Negreanu made the call and mucked when Maestro Shao showed [qc][qs][qh][6h][3d].

This hand put Maestro Shao back up to 286,000.

Negreanu wouldn't see the lead again until about 20 minutes later when he raised to 8,000 from the small blind.

Maestro Shao called and drew three while Negreanu drew two. Action was checked to Negreanu who made it 12,000, Maestro Shao then raised to 51,450 and Negreanu moved all in for 163,532.

Maestro Shao folded and Negreanu was back on top with 232,000. Maestro Shao found himself down to 187,000, but not for long.

THE DOUBLE DOUBLE

With 2,000/4,000 blinds and a 1,000 ante, Maestro Shao raised to 8,000 from the small blind. Negreanu then re-raised to 20,000 and Maestro Shao moved all in.

Negreanu thought for a while before making the call, then both players drew three cards. Negreanu showed a pair of kings, but it wasn't good enough to beat Maestro Shao's two pair.

Negreanu was now in need of a double up, and he got it:

The two players started passing the chip lead back and forth, then Negreanu hogged it.

Maestro Shao raised to 8,000 and Negreanu called and drew two. Maestro Shao took three cards and bet 12,000 when Negreanu checked.

Negreanu made the call and showed a pair of sevens. It wasn't the best hand in 5-Card Draw, but it was better than a pair of fives, and that's what Maestro Shao had.

Maestro Shao was down to 180,000 and Negreanu was up to 240,000. Negreanu went on to win a few more pots before Maestro Shao got himself another double up.

Negreanu raised to 8,000 and then a raising war broke out. Maestro Shao made it 16,000 and Negreanu moved things up to 36,000.

Maestro Shao stopped fooling around and moved all in for 169,022.

Maestro Shao drew two cards and Negreanu took one after he made the call.

Negreanu showed [ad][as][10d][10c][3c], but it wasn't enough to beat Maestro Shao's [4h][4d][4s][8h][3h].

After all the ups and downs, the draw-twos and stand-pats, things eventually came to an end.

Negreanu teetered up and down a bit after doubling Maestro Shao up, and when he had about 100,000 left, he made his final move.

Maestro Shao raised to 10,000 and Negreanu moved all in for 102,706. Maestro Shao made the call and Negreanu drew three while Maestro Shao drew two.

When they showed their cards, they revealed the last two hands of the tournament:

Negreanu: [9d][9c][jd][7d][3h]

Maestro Shao: [5h][5s][5d][ac][10c]

Negreanu became the 2nd place finisher, earning $15,530. This last hand gave Maestro Shao all 420,000 chips in play and the $22,890 first-place prize.

Aside from winning this event, Maestro Shao final tabled the Medium as well. His 6th place finish there added $1,900.21 to his total winnings today.

2012 SCOOP Event 6-H, $1,050 Five-Card Draw results:
1st: Maestro Shao ($22,890)
2nd: KidPoker ($15,330)
3rd: ElkY ($11,760)
4th: Gagarin007 ($7,980)
5th: Metalguru84 ($5,880)
6th: Iftarii ($4,410)

Congratulations to Maestro Shao and all the other Event #6-H cashers, it was a tough one. But as one tournament comes to a close, another is being scooped right up. Go check out the SCOOP homepage to see the schedule, leaderboard and everything about the 2012 SCOOP.

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

SCOOP 2012: HustlaStylez hustles way to Heads-Up
victory in Event #7-Low

Triskaidekaphobia is the fear of the number 13. In many circles, 13 is a superstitious digit synonymous with bad luck. Many architects are beholden to the hysteria associated with 13, which is why you may come across older buildings that don't have a 13th floor. The elevator rises from 12 to 14, skipping 13 along the way.

I doubt that HustlaStylez is not stricken with triskaidekaphobia. Otherwise, he never would have gotten out of the 13th round and advance to the finals. To win Event #7-L $7.50 NL Heads-Up, you had to survive a field of 16,384 runners and win 14 consecutive heads-up matches in a little more than 12 hours. HustlaStylez made winning look easy as he emerged victorious and locked up his first SCOOP title.

The prize pool for Event #7-Low was $114,688. The 16,384 entrants were vying for a spot in the money, which in this case was the top 2,048 places. A total of $8,383.70 was set aside for first place. That was the reward for dominating the field and crushing 14 straight opponents.

Notables who cashed in this event included: PokerStars Team Online Pro Anders "Donald" Berg (377th) and PokerStars Team Pro George Danzer (1,398th).

By the way, the tournament included five minutes levels with 5,000 starting stacks.

The Sweet 16 (Round 11) Results:
BizzZNessS (Russia) defeated nofkntilt (Ukraine)
jeremychia (Australia) defeated Demmukas (Estonia)
wislong (Russia) defeated Evgeny26577 (Russia)
HustlaStylez (Germany) defeated ttkkthx (Russia)
demax333 (Russia) defeated L4urynas (Lithuania)
Azupa (Finland) defeated jjac10 (Belgium)
gui11gui (Portugal) defeated Chip&Chap86 (Germany)
lider002 (Ukraine) defeated koobiel (Israel)

The first four matches were complete by the end of the third level. All matches were done in 8 levels. The winner advanced to the Elite 8. The losers in Round 11 were all guaranteed $797.08.

The Elite 8 (Round 12) Results:
lider002 (Ukraine) defeated wislong (Russia)
HustlaStylez (Germany) defeated jeremychia (Australia)
gui11gui (Portugal) defeated BizzZNessS (Russia)
Azupa (Finland) defeated demax333 (Russia)

Three Russians advanced to the Elite 8 and entered the ocotgon, but none of them got out alive.

DOWN WITH DISEASE: wislong eliminated in 9th

The distinction of being the first match to finish was lider002, who quickly advanced to Final Four. Here's the fateful hand... It was a classic raising war. Both players were all-in preflop. lider002 was ahead with [8h][8d] against wislong's [5s][5h]. lider002 even faded a open-ended straight draw to win. wislong was knocked out in 8th place and won $1,481.76.

SAMPLE IN A JAR: jeremychia eliminated in 7th place

Classic race. Both players moved all-in preflop. HustlaStylez was slightly trailing with [Ad][Kh] against jeremychia's [Tc][Ts]. The [Ac] spiked on the river and HustlaStylez won the pot. jeremychia busted out in 7th place, collecting $1,481.76.

SCENT OF A MULE: BizzZNessS eliminated in 6th place

Both players bombed it all-in preflop. gui11gui was ahead with [Td][Tc] versus BizzZNessS' [Kc][Th]. The [Ts] on the turn improved gui11gui's hand to a set of tens. He won the pot and advanced to the Final Four. BizzZNessS hit the road in sixth place and won $1,481.76.

WOLFMAN'S BROTHER: demax333 eliminated in 5th place

Short-stacked demax333 made a stand with [Jd][5s], but Azupa's [Kc][2h] prevailed when the board ran out [Ac][Tc][3h][Qd][9h]. demax333 busted out in fifth place and won $1,481.76. Azupa became the last player to advance to the Final Four.

The Final Four (Round 13):

Here's the match-ups:on the last two tables:
lider002 (Ukraine) vs. gui11gui (Portugal)
HustlaStylez (Germany) vs. Azupa (Finalnd)

LIFE BOY: Azupa eliminated in 4th place

HustlaStylez pulled off a timely bluff, which thrust him into a dominant position. On a board of [Kc][5d][2h][4s] [Ts], Azupa checked, HustlaStylez bet 2,880, and Azupa folded. HustlaStylez added insult to injury and showed his bluff with [9h][8c].

A few hands later, HustlaStylez still held a 9-1 advantage in chips. On a board of [7d ][7c][8d] [Th], a raising war broke out and both players got it all-in. Azupa's held [7s][5h] for trip treys, but HustlaStylez was ahead with [9s][6s] and a Ten-high straight. The river was the [9c]. HustlaStylez dodged a bullet (and a boat draw) and won the pot, thereby becoming the first player to advance to the final round. Finland's Azupa was knocked out in fourth place and won $2,689.43.

DOG FACED BOY: lider002 eliminated in 3rd place

It was still the early stages of the match, when both players were ambushed by one heck of a cooler. Both players were all-in pre-flop, and gui11gui was ahead with [Ah][Ac] against lider002's [Ad][Kh]. Alas, the worst possible scenario happened for gui11gui when lider002 caught running Kings to snapp off Aces. More importantly, lider002 avoided an elimination.

Check out the brutal beat with the snazzy reaplyer:

lider002 made a final stand with [As][Jc], but he ran into gui11gui's [Kh][Kc]. The pocket cowboys held up and gui11gui advanced to the final round. lider002 finished in third place and won $2,689.43.

The Heads-Up Finals (Round 14): gui11gui (Portugal) vs. HustlaStylez (Germany):

Both players started with 5,000 in chips. Before play kicked off, gui11gui inquired about a deal, but HustlaStylez shot down his offer to chop it and responded, "Let's play it out."

Play commenced without a deal.

After two plus levels, HustlaStylez built up a 3-1 advantage in chips. During Level III, both players got it all-in for the first time.

HustlaStylez min-raised to 160, gui11gui shoved all-in for 2,370 and HustlaStylez called. gui11gui led with [9d][9h] versus HustlaStylez's [As][5c]. The board ran out [Td][8s][2h][5s][8d] and gui11gui's pocket nines held up. gui11gui avoided elimination and doubled up. Both players were almost even in chips.

In Level IV... On a board of [8h][7c][5d][8d][2s], HustlaStylez checked, gui11gui bet 1,650, and HustlaStylez called. HustlaStylez won the hand with [Jh][5c] and gui11gui dug himself a deep hole. HustlaStylez improved to a 4-1 chip lead. It would only take him fewer than 25 more hands to become a SCOOP champion.

IF I COULD: gui11gui eliminated in 2nd place; HustlaStylez Wins SCOOP Title

On the final hand... HustlaStylez limped from the small blind, gui11gui shoved all-in for his final 1,640, and HustlaStylez called. gui11gui was ahead with [9s][9h] against HustlaStylez's[Kc][Qc]. But HustlaStylez took the lead on the flop of [Qh][8s][5d]. The rest of the board didn't help gui11gui and he was knocked out in second place. He collected $5,324.96 for a runner-up performance.

After twelve grueling hours, HustlaStylez defeated 13 other players and won 13 consecutive heads-up matches in order to bink his first SCOOP title. Oh, he's also $8,383.70 richer. Not too bad for a mere $7.50 investment.

Check out the final hand on the replayer:

Event #7-Low $7.50 NL Heads-Up - Final Four Payouts and Results:
1. HustlaStylez (Germany) - $8,383.70
2. gui11gui (Portual) - $5,324.96
3. lider002 (Ukraine) - $2,689.43
4. Azupa (Finland) - $1,481.76

For a complete schedule and satellite information, visit the SCOOP home page. While you are there, don't forget to check out the statistic page and the leaderboard.

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

SCOOP 2012: Trinec takes title in Event #6-M
($109 NL Draw)

Determination in poker is often referred to as the "chip and chair" mentality, but it boils down to playing your best game no matter the size of your stack. Trinec did just that after a frustrating deal conversation and a chip deficit heading into heads-up play. But trinec stayed lighthearted in the midst of some tilt-worthy chat comments and continued to climb until trinec was the only player left at the table. A comeback of that nature makes any win even sweeter.

*****

Harkening back to poker basics, Event 6 offered players the chance for some Draw poker action. Some would argue that draw games remind them of the way poker was meant to be played. But this event in the 2012 SCOOP series offered a modern take on the classic game with No Limit betting. Ready, aim, draw!

The medium level buy-in was set with a $109 price tag and a $25K guarantee, but registration went far beyond expectations by more than doubling that amount for the prize pool. Draw poker was a bigger draw than anticipated. (The play on words was just too easy.) So, let's take a gander at the final tournament numbers for Event 6-M:

Players: 611
Guarantee: $25,000.00
Prize pool: $61,100.00
Paid players: 78

It was a tough tournament by anyone's standards. Just to make it to the money, one had to fade quite a few hours of draw poker. In fact, none of the Team PokerStars Pros in the field made it that far, as Bryan Huang was the last one standing before he hit the rail in 112th place.

Julianherold was the unfortunate bubble player in this event, while Betudontbet became the first to cash, taking home $177.19 for 78th place. As tables disappeared, so did players like EpicEpicEpic and BrynKenney. Two tables remained with nine hours and 45 minutes on the clock, and it took about another 45 minutes to reduce the field to seven players with the 8th place elimination of Spraggs.

Hot Blonde lost a big pot to trinec, and Hot Blonde moved 15,408 chips all-in soon after. Trinec and Zampado313 played the hand, but when trinec showed [9h][4c][Td][4h][9s] for two pair, Zampado313 mucked, as did Hot Blonde. The seventh place finish was worth $1,276.99.

Zampado313's chip lead threatened early

With blinds of 4,000/8,000 and a 2,000 ante in Level 29, the final table started with these chip counts:

Seat 1: Maestro Shao (204,105 in chips)
Seat 2: willmichigan (555,955 in chips)
Seat 3: molodnyak (767,828 in chips)
Seat 4: Zampado313 (814,005 in chips)
Seat 5: trinec (366,697 in chips)
Seat 6: jakoon1985 (346,410 in chips)

The third hand of the table saw molodnyak push all-in after drawing one card, and trinec finally folded to concede the 316K pot to molodnyak, who became the new chip leader. Molodnyak followed that with a 280K pot at the expense of jakoon1985 to climb over one million chips. Trinec then doubled through Zampado313.

Maestro Shao made a preflop raise from the small blind, and willmichigan responded with an all-in move. Maestro Shao called all-in. Both players took three cards, and Maestro Shao ended up with [3s][2d][Ah][Ac][Qh]. The pair of aces was decent, but willmichigan had [9s][7h][Ad][As][Qd] with the better kickers. Maestro Shao exited in sixth place with $1,900.21, but continued to plow ahead at the Event 6-H final table against opponents like Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier and Daniel "KidPoker" Negreanu. (Update: Maestro Shao won Event 6-H.)

No second SCOOP title for jakoon1985

Jakoon1985 was on the losing end of several significant pots, but a double through Zampado313 staved off elimination. When jakoon1985 doubled through willmichigan, the former was back in contention for the title. But a number of rounds later, jakoon1985 took some hits from trinec, and the two tangled again when jakoon1985 moved all-in preflop. Trinec called and took one card for [6d][9c][Qh][Qd][9h], and jakoon1985 took three cards and showed [Jh][4d][8s][Jc][8h]. Trinec's two pair won the pot, leaving jakoon1985 - 2009 SCOOP title holder and 2010 Super Tuesday champion - out tonight in fifth place with $3,055.00.

From chip leader to fourth place

Molodnyak had troubles from the beginning of the final table, and the big hand finally took place with Zampado313. A series of preflop raises between the two led to each player taking one card. Molodnyak then bet, Zampado313 raised all-in, and molodnyak called all-in with [Qs][As][Ad][Jc][Qh] for two pair. But Zampado313 showed [2c][6c][6h][2s][6d] for the full house, and that was enough to send molodnyak out in fourth place with $4,277.00.

Deal? No deal...wait, deal!

The final three players paused the tournament to discuss the possibility of a deal, and it took more than 30 minutes to come to a decision. In the end, they agreed to the following numbers, along with $500 and the Movado watch set aside for the winner:

Seat 2: willmichigan (1,052,938 in chips) = $8,972.76
Seat 4: Zampado313 (845,807 in chips) = $7,988.84
Seat 5: trinec (1,156,255 in chips) = $8,964.15

Play resumed and big pots moved chips around the table, but nothing changed the essential makeup of the stacks. Willmichigan did move into the lead, and that lead was extended over time as willmichigan climbed well over the two million-chip mark.

Finally, Zampado313 made a move after draving one card against willmichigan. Zampado313 risked the rest of his chips with [2h][2c][9s][2d][Qd], but those three deuces couldn't beat the flush that was [7s][2s][Js][Qs][8s] for willmichigan. Zampado313 left in third place with $7,988.84.

Heads-up draws tournament to a close

Willmichigan started with a significant lead, as shown here:

Seat 2: willmichigan (2,646,470 in chips)
Seat 5: trinec (408,530 in chips)

It didn't take long for trinec to double up with full house over full house. Trinec nearly evened the chip stacks at one point, but willmichigan moved ahead again. About 30 minutes into the match, trinec climbed back over the million chip-mark to regain some lost ground, and trinec then took over the lead for the first time in the heads-up battle.

Fifty minutes in, trinec took a substantial lead. The last hand came when the two battled with several raises, and willmichigan took two cards before moving all-in. Trinec took one card and called with [Qs][7c][Qh][9h][Qc]. The three queens easily beat the [5d][3c][Kh][Ac][3h] of willmichigan, who took second place and $8,972.76.

Trinec of Poland made a stellar comeback to take the SCOOP title, Movado watch, and $9,464.15 in cash. Congrats!

2012 SCOOP Event #6-M ($109 NL Draw) Results (reflects deal):

1st place: trinec ($9,464.15)*
2nd place: willmichigan ($8,972.76)*
3rd place: Zampado313 ($7,988.84)*
4th place: molodnyak ($4,277.00)
5th place: jakoon1985 ($3,055.00)
6th place: Maestro Shao ($1,900.21)

*Based on a three-way chop with $500 added to winner's money

The Spring Championship of Online Poker home page contains all of the tournament results, schedule of upcoming events and their satellites, and a leaderboard for the 2012 Series.

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

SCOOP 2012: Born2Ca$h realizes destiny, wins #6-L
($11 NL 5-Card Draw)

It's the game that was played by Civil War soldiers, Wild Bill Hickok, and painted dogs on a 1903 calendar. The original poker game -- five-card draw -- here finding a place in the 21st-century virtual card rooms at PokerStars as part of the wildly popular SCOOP series. And despite the attractions of no-limit hold'em and other more popular, modern variants, draw can still draw, as evidenced by the turnouts for Event #6.

The "low" version of the no-limit five-card draw event cost $11 to play, and 4,883 players took up the invitation, thereby creating a $48,830 prize pool -- nearly twice the $25K guarantee. The top 660 finishers would come away from their five-card draw experience with a profit, with $7,449.46 due the winner.

Once the money bubble burst there were still three representatives of Team PokerStars in the hunt, although one -- Marcin "Goral" Horecki -- would soon be gone in 652nd for a $17.09 min-cash. Henrique "Henrique.P" Pinho made it much deeper before finally falling in 127th ($43.94).

That left just one player with the red spade to battle onward, the WCOOP/SCOOP superhero Anders "Donald" Berg of Team Online. Berg battled with an average stack as the field shrunk below 100, then began to move upwards, establishing himself on the first page of the counts as the tourney wore on.

Anders "Donald" Berg, Team Online

With 50 left, "Donald" was in the top 20, and once the field was whittled to 35 Berg had already been in the top 10 for a while. By then it was Born2Ca$h leading all as the only player with more than 2 million chips, with serzhinho the nearest challenger with a little under 1.6 million.

As they crossed the 11-hour mark of the tourney just a dozen remained, with Berg still there with an average stack and SLAH 97 having pushed ahead of Born2Ca$h to sit in the top spot with more than 6 million.

Over the next half-hour five more fell -- valetudo22 (12th, $402.84), comeback17 (11th, $402.84), Zach Loh (10th, $402,84), pesho_lulin7 (9th, $512.17), and bustos14 (8th, $512.17), with SLAH 97 staying in front while Berg slipped to short-stacked status.

Finally with blinds at 50,000/100,000, "Donald" shoved his last 215,434 and got one caller in Mazinho1977. Both players took two cards, and in the end Mazinho1977's pair of sevens bested Berg's pair of fours, sending the latter out in 7th ($512.17).

The final table was set.

Seat 1: carabinatos -- 80,524
Seat 2: PUCIPUCO -- 3,040,763
Seat 3: Mazinho1977 -- 2,707,177
Seat 4: SLAH 97 -- 7,535,520
Seat 5: Born2Ca$h -- 4,584,692
Seat 6: serzhinho -- 6,466,324

On the very first hand of the final table, carabinatos called all in for his total stack of just over 80,000 from UTG, and Mazinho1977 reraised to 400,000 a couple of seats over to force folds all around.

carabinatos took three cards while Mazinho1977 took two, and they tabled their cards. Both had made a pair of aces, but Mazinho1977's [Ah][Ac][Kc][Td][6d] meant he had a better second kicker than carabinatos with [Ad][As][Kh][9s][7s], sending the latter out in sixth.

A little while later the blinds were 70k/140k when PUCIPUCO open-shoved for 840,319 from UTG, getting a single caller in serzhinho in the big blind. Both players took three, then serzinho turned over [Qs][Qh][Qd][9c][7d] for trip queens, better than PUCIPUCO's [As][Ac][4s][4h][6c] to eliminate him in fifth.

After a while the remaining four found themselves all hovering above or below the 6 million-chip mark, inspiring Mazinho1977 to remark on the fact and to suggest they perhaps consider looking at the numbers for a chop. Not everyone was on board, though, and play continued.

A half-hour later Born2Ca$h had tipped things back in his favor, pushing up over 11 million while SLAH 97 and Mazinho1977 slipped back to below average stacks. Then with the blinds at 100,000/200,000, serzhinho raised to 400,000 from UTG, then SLAH 97 shoved from the small blind for 2,907,945. It folded back to serzhinho who called, and SLAH 97 discarded two cards while serzhinho threw away one.

At showdown SLAH 97 turned over [Kd][Ks][Ad][4h][3h] for kings, but serzhinho had [Kh][Kc][5c][5s][Qs] for two pair and SLAH 97 was gone in fourth.

A while after that a hand arose in which Born2Ca$h called a big post-draw bet by Mazinho1977 holding two pair while the latter had but king-high. That left Mazinho1977 with only 575,177 -- just over two big blinds. On the next hand, Born2Ca$h min-raised from the button, serzhinho called from the small blind, Mazinho1977 pushed all in for a little more and both of his opponents called.

serzhinho and Born2Ca$h each took three cards while Mazinho1977 took two, and when serzhinho showed [6c][6c][4d][4h][2d] the others mucked and Mazinho1977 was out in third.

RSS readers click through to see replay

Heads-up play began with Born2Ca$h leading with 15,394,950 to serzhinho's 9,020,050. After just a few hands serzhinho pulled even, but Born2Ca$h pushed back out in front, chipping up over 19.7 million to serzhinho's 4.7 million. Then, just over 13 hours after the tourney began, the final hand was dealt.

Born2Ca$h started it with a 2x raise to 500,000 and serzhinho called, taking two cards to Born2Ca$h's three. Born2Ca$h led for 750,000, serzhinho made it 2,193,750, Born2Ca$h pushed all in, and serzhinho called.

serzhinho turned over [As][Ac][2h][2c][9h] for aces up, but Born2Ca$h had [6d][6h][6c][5d][2c] for trips to take the pot, the title, and the SCOOP watch.

RSS readers click through to see replay

With such a name, it just had to be, didn't it? Congratulations to Born2Ca$h, a SCOOP champion in five-card draw -- the version of the game played when poker was born.

2012 SCOOP Event 6-Low, $11 Five-Card Draw results:
1st: Born2Ca$h ($7,449.46)
2nd: serzhinho ($5,371.30)
3rd: Mazinho1977 ($3,906.40)
4th: serzhinho ($2,473.23)
5th: PUCIPUCO ($1,464.90)
6th: carabinatos ($781.28)

As more events complete, the SCOOP leaderboard is starting to take shape. Take a look to see who is on top here in the early going.

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

Estrellas Poker Tour set for Ibiza

Stop everything you're doing. Seriously. You're going to need sunblock, and if you don't have any within reaching distance, you need to get yourself to the store. Right now.

Okay. If you're still reading, I'll assume your sunblock supply is in good shape. With that in mind, know this: the full schedule of tournaments and activities for the upcoming Estrellas Poker Tour event in Ibiza are now ready. That's a good thing, because the event kicks off in four days.

Assuming you have already booked your hotel (and if you haven't, read this ESPT hotels piece carefully), you are set for a poker week unlike any you've ever experience. Ibiza is one of the world's most exciting party islands. If you somehow manage to pull yourself away from the non-stop club excitement, there is also a huge slate of tournaments from which to choose.

This weekend in Ibiza, the Estrellas will put on ten different poker tournaments, including the ?1,100 main event. Alongside that, there will be two big parties and a Poli Rincon-signed football jersey giveaway.

For full details on this weekend's events, visit the Estrellas Ibiza schedule page.

Have fun (and wear sunscreen)!

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!