SCOOP 2012: ROSTBURK pummels field in Event
#13-High Knockout

The Knockout format is a cool concept that rewards players for their ruthless aggression and ability to bust opponents. But at the heart of it all, a Knockout event is still a MTT tournament, so the deeper you advance, the more bounties you accumulate.

Only the strongest shall survive two-day events like Event #13-H $2,600 NL Knock Out. This particular one included $500 bounties. This event attracted 501 runners, which boosted the prize pool to a shade over $1 million ($1,000,200 to be exact). The bounty prize pool was $250,500 and players earned a $500 bonus for every opponent they sent to the rail. The top 63 places were paid out of the total prize pool. The eventual winner would earn $190,380 for first place. That's a delicious slice of the pie any way you cut it.

Notables who cashed in this Knockout event included a trio of Team PokerStars Pros... Brazil's Andre Akkari (41st), Denmark's Theo Jorgensen (37th), and Russia's Max Lykox (26th).

TRAIN IN VAIN; K_0_S_T_Y_A eliminated in 10th place

The last ten players experienced an excruciating and tension-filled final table bubble. The final nine was finally set when K_0_S_T_Y_A had his [Ks][Kc] cracked by whereisdonny's [Q][Qh]. The board ran out [A][9h][Jh][Qd][9s], and the [Qd] on the turn sealed K_0_S_T_Y_A's fate. whereisdonny won the pot with a full house and also collected a $500 bounty. K_0_S_T_Y_A bubbled off the final table in tenth place, but won $12,024 as a departing prize.

Event #13-H Knockout - Final Table Chip Counts:
Seat 1: whereisdonny (572,460)
Seat 2: UhhMee (437,228)
Seat 3: JBT449 (458,968)
Seat 4: Fiskin1 (70,628)
Seat 5: ROSTBURK (302,314)
Seat 6: WushuTM (296,396)
Seat 7: Ansgar2000 (115,205)
Seat 8: zugzwang16 (99,594)
Seat 9: Mafews (152,207)

The final table began at Level 27 with blinds at 3000/6000. whereisdonny held the lead with 572,460.

SPANISH BOMBS: zugzwang16 eliminated in 9th place

Despite the prolonged bubble, it didn't take very long before someone bit the dust at the final table. An unforeseen cooler crippled zugzwang16 after he bombed it all-in preflop with [Jd][Js] against Ansgar2000's [Qs][Qd]. The board ran out [8h][2c][2h][Th][5h] and Ansgar2000's pocket Ladies held up. On the next hand, miniscule-stacked zugzwang16 was put out of his misery by UhhMee, who took him out with [Kh][Qc] against [4d][2c]. UhhMee collected $500 for the bounty, and zugzwang16 became the first player to bust at the final table, winning $16,633.20, for a ninth-place finish.

LOST IN THE SUPERMARKET: Fiskin1 eliminated in 8th place

Fiskin1 was short-stacked for the last two tables but managed to stay afloat long enough to advance to the final eight. Unfortunately, it was time for Fiskin1 to say goodbye. Fiskin1 open-shoved for 31,878 and Ansgar2000 called from the big blind. Fiskin1 made a valiant final stand with [Kc][Ts] against Ansgar2000's [Qs][Js]. However, Fiskin1 fate was doomed with two Jacks on the flop as the board ran out [Jc][Jd][9c][6d][2c]. Ansgar2000 won the pot and collected $500 for the bounty. Fiskin1 was knocked out in eighth place and took home $22,545.

GUNS OF BRIXTON: Mafews eliminated in 7th place and JBT449 eliminated in 6th place

ROSTBURK picked up two bounties in the same hand. A melee broke out when three players decided to get everything all-in before the flop. The fracas was kicked off by whereisdonny, who opened the betting to 16,560. JBT449 smooth called and ROSTBURK also called, but Mafews shoved over the top for 175,064. When action returned to whereisdonny, he bailed. JBT449 wanted rumble and re-raised all-in for 220,443. ROSTBURK snap-called. Three-way pot. Everyone held a pocket pair, bit ROSTBURK was ahead with Jacks.

ROSTBURK: [Jc][Js]
JBT449: [9c][9h]
Mafews: [6h][6s]

The board ran out [Ad][Qs][8c][2c][Ts] and ROSTBURK's Jacks held up. He picked off two bounties and netted $1,000. Meanwhile... JBT449 busted out in sixth place and won $42,585, and Mafews finished in seventh place with a $32,565 score.

Watch the multi-way bustout in the replayer:

With five players remaining, ROSTBURK took over the lead and became the first player to pass 1 million in chips. Ansgar2000 held the short stack with 181K.

KOKA KOLA: UhhMee eliminated in 5th place

UhhMee attempted to make a move, but he ran into a sizzling hot ROSTBURK. Both players got it all-in preflop with UhhMee's [Kd][Qs] trailing ROSTBURK's [Th][Ts]. ROSTBURK dodged a bullet and won the race when the board ran out [6d][2h][3c][7d][Ah]. ROSTBURK's pocket tens held up and he added another $500 bounty to a blossoming collection. UhhMee went busto in fifth place, but won $55,110.

With four to go, ROSTBURK improved his monsterstack to over 1.4 million. Sitting in second place was whereisdonny (671,329), followed by WushuTM (232,351) and Ansgar2000 (179,042).

FOUR HORSEMAN: Ansgar2000 eliminated in 4th place

Supernova player Ansgar2000 min-raised to 20,000 which ignited a firefight. ROSTBURK re-raised to 50,000, and Ansgar2000 retaliated with a four-bet shove for 216,412. ROSTBURK called and ahead once again, but this time he was racing with [7d][7h] against Ansgar2000's [Qs][Js]. The board ran out [Ah][5d][3h][3d][2d]. ROSTBURK's sevens held up and he won picked up another $500 bounty. Ansgar2000 won $78,156 for a fourth-place finish.

With three remaining, ROSTBURK held almost twice as many chips as whereisdonny and WushuTM combined.

DEATH OR GLORY

The pack caught up, but ROSTBURK still held almost 50% of the chips in play until whereisdonny struck a damaging blow. ROSTBURK and whereisdonny got into a pushing match. Everything went in before the flop, including donny's last 557,045. ROSTBURK found himself in a rare spot -- trailing in a hand -- with [8s][8d] against whereisdonny's [Qs][Qc]. The board ran out [As][Ks][9s][6s][Kc]. With four spades on the board, both players held a spade and made a flush. However, whereisdonny's [Qs] prevailed. whereisdonny shipped the pot and avoided elimination. ROSTBURK coughed up the lead and whereisdonny jumped into the top spot with 1.27 million. ROSTBURK and WushuTM held approximately 600K apiece.

ROSTBURK didn't wait long to regain his chips against his nemesis. Two hands later, on a board of [Qd][5d][5s], a raising war ensued and both players bombed it all-in. ROSTBURK was ahead with [Kh][5h] for trip fives, but whereisdonny held [Ad][7d] for a nut flush draw. ROSTBURK faded a diamond and his hand held up. He doubled up to 1.2 million, while whereisdonny slipped to 840K.

REVOLUTION ROCK: WushuTM eliminated in 3rd place

After playing three-handed for ninety minutes, someone finally bowed out. When ROSTBURK opened to 30,800, WushuTM shoved all-in for 269,478, and ROSTBURK called. Classic race. ROSTBURK led with [6h][6c] against WushuTM's [As][Kc]. The board ran out [7h][3c][Ts][2c][5s]. ROSTBURK dodged a King and/or an Ace to win the pot. He also won a $500 bounty as WushuTM was knocked out in third place. WushuTM won $102,705 for a third-place performance.

HEADS-UP: whereisdonny (Canada) vs. ROSTBURK (Sweden)
Seat 1: whereisdonny (805,706)
Seat 5: ROSTBURK (1,699,294)

ROSTBURK held a 2-1 advantage. After 40 minutes of mental chess, whereisdonny won eight hands in row and 10 out of 1 to get almost even. He took the lead after he pulled down a 240k preflop.

LONDON CALLING: whereisdonny eliminated in 2nd place

Once ROSTBURK lost the lead, he woke up and went to work. He regained the lead but a small margin and then fireworks happened. whereisdonny opened to 41,400, ROSTBURK raised to 102,500, and whereisdonny called. The flop was [Ad][7c][3s]. ROSTBURK bet out 81,500 and whereisdonny called. The turn was the [8s]. ROSTBURK check-called a 142,000 bet from whereisdonny. The river was the [6s]. ROSTBURK checked, whereisdonny shoved all-in for his last 880,830, and ROSTBURK called. whereisdonny was betting with air, holding [Qh][9s]. But, ROSTBURK tabled [As][5s]. He was ahead preflop and on the flop, but caught running spades to improve to an Ace-high flush.

ROSTBURK won the pot and collected a $500 bounty for busting whereisdonny in second place. For a runner-up performance, whereisdonny won $14,0280. ROSTBURK won $190,380 for shipping Event #13-H Knock Out and winning his first SCOOP title. Congrats!

Watch the final hand in the replayer:

Event #13-High NL KO - Final Table Results and Payouts:
1. ROSTBURK (Sweden) - $190,380
2. whereisdonny (Canada) - $140,280
3. WushuTM (Austria) - $102,705
4. Ansgar2000 (Germany) - $78,156
5. UhhMee (Canada) - $55,110
6. JBT449 (Canada) - $42,585
7. Mafews (U.K.) - $32,565
8. Fiskin1 (U.K.) - $22,545
9. zugzwang16 (Uruguay) - $16,633.20

Visit the SCOOP home page to view the remaining schedule of events, including satellite information Also, don't forget to check out the stats page and see who is sitting atop the leaderboard.

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SCOOP 2012: B00mslang blows up Event #16-H
($2,100 2x NLHE Turbo)

Momentum can go a long way. Sure, B00mslang was one of the chip leaders going into the final table, but it wasn't until the big elimination of Dajvey that B00mslang took a lead and became relatively unstoppable. The confidence was evident, especially in the failed deal talks, and B00mslang turned that into selective aggression that became the key to victory. Boom!

*****

Poker is known for its skill aspects, but any good player needs to possess a bit of gamble. And for some tournaments, players need to be able to trust their instincts, act quickly, and be prepared to fire another bullet should the first one miss. Those players signed up for Event 16, a second chance event that offered one chance to rebuy and a turbo structure to move things along at a rapid pace with five-minute levels.

The high buy-in of this event cost $2,100 but gave players a $750K guarantee, which was incidentally blown out of the poker water by a strong number of players and their rebuys. Here was the final tally:

Players: 474
Rebuys: 203
Guarantee: $750,000.00
Prize pool: $1,354,000.00
Paid players: 54

It only took 2.5 hours for the money bubble to burst, and most of the Team PokerStars Pros exited the field before that time. Team Online's Randy "nanonoko" Lew kept going until just before that bubble, exiting in 59th place. Also disappointed was Mattfrankland, who busted in 55th place on the exact bubble.

TAPSS17 was the first player to cash in this event, taking home $6,770.00 for the 54th place finish. Soon after, the last Team Pro standing, Jason Mercier, was eliminated in 44th place for $7,447.00.

Play moved very quickly toward the final table. Within 15 minutes to work the field down to two tables, and with the eliminations of paulgees81 and delaney_kid in short order, it was tough to even keep up with the action. Just past the three-hour mark, DrUPSWING left in 11th place, and hand-for-hand play led to another exit. Chojjasd pushed all-in from UTG, and Pass_72 reraised all-in right behind, which prompted folds all around. Chojjasd was at risk with [7d][7c], and Pass_72 showed [Ac][Tc]. That race ended with the first card on the [Td][9s][Jd][4h][4s], and Chojjasd left in tenth place with $17,602.00.

Chip lead up for grabs

Level 33 brought the final table, with blinds of 8,000/16,000 and a 2,000 ante, and these player chip counts:

Seat 1: Dimadu (633,766 in chips)
Seat 2: Altrum Altus (624,917 in chips)
Seat 3: dirty.brasil (201,244 in chips)
Seat 4: Fred_Brink (330,149 in chips)
Seat 5: Dajvey (188,969 in chips)
Seat 6: Ky3He4uKKK (193,387 in chips)
Seat 7: B00mslang (635,891 in chips)
Seat 8: Pass_72 (314,919 in chips)
Seat 9: WushuTM (261,758 in chips)

Dirty.brasil was one of the shorter stacks and pushed all-in with [Th][Ts] from early position. Dajvey reraised all-in to isolate, which worked, with [Ah][Qs]. Another race captured viewers but it took a turn when the [Kh][5s][As] flop gave Dajvey top pair. The [Qc] on the turn brought two pair, and the [Kc] crushed straight draw hopes for dirty.brasil, who exited in ninth place with $22,476.40.

Ky3He4uKKK was the next player to make the all-in push. The 133,012 stack went all-in with [As][5h], and Altrum Altus went along from the small blind with [4s][4c]. The board came [9h][Ks][3s][Tc][4h], and the river only solidified the win for Altrum Altus. Ky3He4uKKK departed the table in eighth place with $30,465.00.

WushuTM doubled through Pass_72, which prompted the latter to move all-in soon after with [Kc][9h]. Dimadu called with [Qd][Qh], and the board came [Ac][Jh][6c][6d][4c] to eliminate Pass_72, also known to his parents as Pascal LeFrancois, in seventh place with $44,005.00.

B00mslang explodes into first place

Dajvey decided to make a move from the small blind with [Ks][4c] when it folded around. The all-in move provoked B00mslang to call from the big blind with [Ac][Tc], and that hand only got better on the [5s][8h][Th][5d][Ts] board. Dajvey couldn't beat the full house and left in sixth place with $57,545.00.

WushuTM was the next at risk. When B00mslang raised all-in from the small blind, WushuTM called all-in from the big blind with [Ac][Th]. The hand had the [Kc][9s] of B00mslang beat, but only until the flop came [7d][6c][Kh]. The [9d] came on the turn to hurt a little further, and the [Jh] on the river simply sent WushuTM out in fifth place with $75,824.00.

When B00mslang made a preflop raise in a subsequent hand, Dimadu reraised all-in with [Ac][8s]. B00mslang called with [6c][6s], and that pair developed into two pair on the [Jc][2h][Jd] flop. The [2c] gave both players two pair but B00mslang remained ahead, and the [Ks] put an end to the hand. Dimadu departed in fourth place with $108,320.00.

Fred_Brink binks a double

This key hand put Fred_Brink in prime condition to get to heads-up action:

RSS readers click through to see replay

Three-handed play lasted a few rounds, but B00mslang again issued a challenge by raising all-in from the small blind. Altrum Altus called all-in from the big blind with [Ac][4s], but B00mslang had a dominating [As][9c]. The flop of [5d][9s][8s] paired B00mslang, and the [8h] and [Ah] finished the board and the hand, sending Altrum Altus, better known in real life as William Reynolds and winner of 2010 PCA High Roller, out in third place with $142,170.00.

Deal? Maybe. Well, no.

The final two players started their match with these chip counts:

Seat 4: Fred_Brink (861,047 in chips)
Seat 7: B00mslang (2,523,953 in chips)

They immediately paused the tournament to look at chip-chop numbers, but Fred_Brink was not pleased with the outcome. Some discussion ultimately led to a decision to play on, which they did.

It only took a total of five hands of heads-up play to decide it. B00mslang raised, Fred_Brink reraised all-in with [As][2h], and B00mslang called with [Ah][6s]. The board produced [Ac][8h][6c][3s][5s], and Fred_Brink, winner of a 2008 Sunday Million and this 2011 WCOOP event, had to accept second place in the tournament and the $192,945.00 that went with it.

B00mslang claimed SCOOP victory and $259,832.60 in cash, along with a Movado watch. Congrats!

2012 SCOOP Event #16-H ($2,100 2x NLHE Turbo) Results:

1st place: B00mslang ($259,832.60)
2nd place: Fred_Brink ($192,945.00)
3rd place: Altrum Altus ($142,170.00)
4th place: Dimadu ($108,320.00)
5th place: WushuTM ($75,824.00)
6th place: Dajvey ($57,545.00)
7th place: Pass_72 ($44,005.00)
8th place: Ky3He4uKKK ($30,465.00)
9th place: dirty.brasil ($22,476.40)

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.

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SCOOP: trujustrus wins, chrisdm 5th in Event 13-M
($265 NLHE Knockout)

Manny Pacquiao has done it 38 times during his boxing career. LL Cool J's mama apparently told him to do it often enough that he wrote and recorded a song about it. And anesthesiologists get paid to do it every day.

I'm talking, of course, about knockouts, which were the order of the day in Event 13, a standard no-limit hold'em tournament with a competitive twist. Each $265 buy-in for today's event included a $50 bounty to give players a little extra incentive to knock each other out. Played properly, this can lead a game that already rewards aggression to become an all-out dogfight, especially before the tournament reaches the money and the short stacks are struggling to survive.

If the turnout for this event is any indicator, that's perfectly fine by today's online poker players. The $300,000 guarantee was surpassed easily as 3,329 players turned out to build a $665,800 prize pool, with an additional $166,450 up for grab in bounties. A total of 432 places paid out, with most of them going to players who busted before the end of Level 30 brought Day 1 to a close.

Team PokerStars Online had a strong showing in the event, with George "Jorj95" Lind (359th place, $379.50), João "jomane" Nunes (265th, $499.35), Diego "vgreen22" Brunelli (248th, $532.64), and Kevin "WizardOfAhhs" Thurman (127th, $832.25) all making the money. Team PokerStars Pro also fared well in this SCOOP event, with George Danzer (192nd, $632.51), Martin "AABenjamin" Hruby (144th, $798.96), and Jonathan Duhamel (90th, $998.70) all securing cashes. But none of them lasted as long as Christophe "chrisdm" de Muelder, who survived Day 1 with 405,135 chips, good for 15th place out of the 26 remaining players.

The Team Pro, seeking his first SCOOP title, was looking up at these five players as play resumed with blinds of 6K/12K and antes of 1.5K:

1. javiklet (Spain) 2,651,078 chips
2. allucan3at (Netherlands) 1,292,919 chips
3. spielverderb (Germany) 1,146,572 chips
4. Ifold2ndnuts (Netherlands) 1,040,299 chips
5. IceStream (Bulgaria) 1,006,667 chips

Rough starts, fine recoveries

De Muelder had a chance to climb into the top 10 in the early going, holding pocket nines against the all-in AmazingErvin's pocket fives, but a board of [Ad] [4s] [3d] [6s] [5d] shipped the 331K pot away from the team pro. Left with a workable stack of 334K, the Team Pro didn't panic. Instead, four hands later, he got another opponent all-in at a significant disadvantage - this time harif1988, whose [Ad] [Qs] was dominated by the Belgian pro's [Ac] [Ks]. But the [Js] [Th] [9h] [Kh] [4s] board made a straight for harif1988 and left De Muelder with 131K, making him the tournament short stack with 25 players left. Getting the rest of those chips in as a favorite worked out a little better for De Muelder a few orbits later when pocket nines held up against the pocket sevens of rnoord, good for a 249K-chip pot that kept him in the action.

After the tournament was narrowed to its final two tables, De Muelder would once again put his tournament life on the line with a pocket pair. This time, with blinds at 10K/20K, he moved all-in for 278K under the gun holding [7c] [7s]. The action folded all the way around to the big blind where all4emnuts made the call with [Ac] [Js] to put De Muelder at risk. The [7h] on the flop was all it took to double him up to 588K, and after seizing the next two pots uncontested he found himself up to 698K. That extra ammunition helped De Muelder climb even higher a few hands later when his [Ks] [Kh] held up in a preflop all-in confrontation against ydere's [Ad] [Qd], shipping him the 1.432M-chip pot.

But the key pot for De Muelder on his way to the final table was this one, which resulted in IceStream's exit from the tournament in 16th place:

RSS readers, please click through for replay

That gave De Muelder a stack of 2.18M chips. His total would drop a bit from there, but it was enough to carry him on to the final table for a chance at his first SCOOP title.

Running on almost-empty

De Muelder wasn't the only other former short stack to make a run for the final table. Brazil's soandre (196,281) and Israel's harif1988 (242,298) were 23rd and 24th in chips out of 26 players, respectively, when the day began, while the Netherlands' moord and Russia' dimetriospb were 20th and 21st. The latter two fell just short of the final table, finishing 12th and 11th, but both soandre and harif1988 managed to hang on and make the final nine.

With blinds at 20K/40K and antes at 5K, the final table began with this lineup:

Seat 1: trujustrus (1,731,787 in chips)
Seat 2: harif1988 (1,602,807 in chips)
Seat 3: soandre (1,198,177 in chips)
Seat 4: wasylekk (759,261 in chips)
Seat 5: javiklet (4,930,505 in chips)
Seat 6: allucan3at (2,049,164 in chips)
Seat 7: Mikaroc (1,483,190 in chips)
Seat 8: Christophe "chrisdm" De Muelder (1,725,169 in chips)
Seat 9: BOOOOMMMMMMM (1,164,940 in chips)

The chip leader, Spain's javiklet, had mostly maintained his field-leading 2.65M-chip stack from the start of Day 2 before two big pots in the final three hands at Table 296 - one worth 3.01M where his [Qc] [Qd] held up preflop against pocket nines, and another preflop confrontation worth 1.17M where his [Th] [Ts] held up against pocket sixes - boosted his chip stack significantly. At an intimidating 4.93 million, more than two and a half times that of the nearest competitor, it meant the Spaniard would determine his own destiny at the final table.

Two quick eliminations, two pocket pairs of aces

At the other end of the spectrum was Poland's wasylekk, whose stack at the start of the final table was actually less than it had been at the start of Day 2. For 25 hands he was unable to find a spot to get his chips in the middle, watching his stack dwindle to 424K by the time he was dealt [As] [7s]. With 131K already in the middle from the blinds and antes, that was good enough for an all-in move from early position; it was also nearly good enough to pick up the pot uncontested, until Spain's trujustrus called in the big blind with plenty of chips left behind, holding [Kd] [Qd]. The [Qh] [Ts] [5d] flop put the Spaniard ahead, and a [4s] turn and [Tc] river made wasylekk the 9th place finisher, earning $5,326.40.

Four hands later the field would shrink again. Brazil's soandre, now the short stack with 662K, was holding [Kh] [Tc] when the action folded around to him on the button. He moved all-in, hoping to pick up the 125K in blinds and antes, but allucan3at, a former runner-up in the Super Tuesday, woke up in the big blind with [Ks] [Kc] and called with a quickness. The [Qh] [7d] [5h] flop wasn't much help, but the [9c] did provide a glimmer of hope in the form of a gutshot draw. The [6s] was the end of the line, though, and soandre was out in 8th place ($8,655.40).

Just a few hands later it looked like harif1988 would be the next player out after he opened on the button with [Qh] [Jh] and then jammed for 1.16M following allucan3at's three-bet from the big blind with [Ad] [Ac]. But the deck bailed the underdog out, bringing a [7h] [5d] [8c] [9h] [Td] board for a straight and a 2.43M-chip pot. Another six hands later pocket aces would pop up again, this time helping trujustrus seize the chip lead from javiklet in the biggest pot of the tournament so far:

RSS readers, please click through for replay

Let's play knockout

From the next 30 hands or so the seven remaining players settled into an aggressive rhythm of taking pots down preflop with three- and four-bets, seeing only five flops during that span. With that much betting there always comes a tipping point, and it finally arrived with the blinds at 40K/80K and antes at 10K. Opening the betting from early position was trujustrus with a minimum raise to 160K, which was immediately followed by a three-bet to 340K by harif1988. Over on the button, allucan3at then made it four bets and 526K to go; trujustrus folded, but after dipping into the time bank harif1988 reraised all-in for 2.097M. It didn't take long for allucan3at to call with [Qs] [Qh], which was well ahead of harif1988's [Ac] [Jc], but the 4.544M-chip pot went to the underdog once again when the board came [Kd] [As] [7h] [2c] [5c].

Left with just 411K, allucan3at picked up pocket nines on the very next hand and wasted no time moving all-in. But the timing couldn't have been much worse, as Mikaroc was holding [Kd] [Ks] on the button and raised all-in to isolate. The [Jc] [Jh] [3d] [Td] [Qh] board held no help for allucan3at, who exited in 7th place ($15,313.40).

Ten hands later things the short stack would exit once more. This time the victim was Spain's BOOOOMMMMMMM, who, seeking to pick up the 180K already in the middle form the blinds and antes, moved all-in for 1.15M from early position with [Ac] [9c]. Sitting in the small blind with [As] [Ks], javiklet made the call, and this time suited Big Slick was a little kinder to the Spaniard as the board fell [Jd] [4s] [Th] [5h] [Jc]. That moved BOOOOMMMMMMM off the table and onto the payout list in 6th place ($21,971.40).

After a quick break, the five remaining players returned to their old habits of continually out-aggressing each other before the flop - and after not too long that led to the demise of Christophe De Muelder. After opening for the minimum bet of 160K and seeing trujustrus reraise in the cutoff, De Muelder moved all-in for 2.21M chips with [Js] [Jc]. With [Kd] [Kh], trujustrus' decision was an easy one, and the [3d] [Tc] [5h] [2h] [8s] gave him the 4.6M-chip pot. De Muelder, meanwhile, earned $28,629.40 for 5th place, a fine reward after overcoming a number of setbacks in the early going of Day 2.

A fine SCOOP performance nets Christophe De Muelder $28K

Four-way stop

With the last member of Team PokerStars Pro gone, these four players remained in the hunt for the latest SCOOP title:

Seat 1: trujustrus (6,651,597 in chips)
Seat 2: harif1988 (3,152,156 in chips)
Seat 5: javiklet (5,620,168 in chips)
Seat 7: Mikaroc (1,221,079 in chips)

trujustrus won six of the first ten pots at the final table and appeared intent on quickly expanding the lead, but that wasn't in the cards. The Spaniard had the short-stacked Mikaroc against the ropes with [8s] [8h] against [Qh] [Jc], but a queen on the river kept Mikaroc in the running with 2.14M chips. Then javiklet took a 1.98M-chip pot away from trujustrus on the turn of a hand where the board read [Qd] [6c] [9d] [2h], putting the two back to within 10K of each other at the top of the chip counts.

The taut tone that had been set early on at the final table continued as most pots were won without seeing a flop, often with a third or fourth bet so the lineup at the table didn't change as the blinds moved up to 50K/100K and then 60K/120K. Mikaroc got his stack in behind on that level, calling with [Td] [7d] in the big blind after javiklet shoved with [Qc] [2c] from the small blind, but a ten on the turn kept the Belgian player in the thick of things.

Deal with it

It was at that point that the players agreed to look at the numbers for a potential deal; moments later they had all agreed to split the remaining prize pool according to chip count, leaving $6,000 and the SCOOP champion's watch on the table for the winner.

What had already been an aggressive game became cutthroat as soon as the deal was in place. The first hand saw trujustrus open for a raise on the button, javiklet come in for a three-bet to 489K in the big blind, and trujustrus shove for 6.11M chips in response. javiklet folded but got all those chips back and then some two hands later after opening the betting for 240K with [Ks] [Js] and then calling after harif1988 shoved for 2.87M with [Ah] [Jc]. The [3d] [5h] [Kc] flop was all it took, but the board ran out [Qd]-[2c] to send harif1988 to the rail in 4th place ($62,054.69).

Ten hands later would come another confrontation between a short stack with a superior starting hand and a big stack with the freedom to take a gamble. This time around it was Mikaroc who exited the tournament, falling in 3rd place ($58,132.65) after [As] [Ts] couldn't outrun trujustrus' [Qd] [Jc] on a [Jd] [Kh] [2s] [5d] [Tc] board. With that the tournament was down to its last two players, both of them from Spain and both within two big blinds of each other.

javiklet held the lead at 8.398M chips to trujustrus' 8.246M, but within four hands trujustrus had grabbed the lead by taking away a 6.54M-chip pot on the turn. Seven hands later javiklet's stack had been whittled down to 3.63M, which was easy to call off with [Ad] [Jh] after trujustrus three-bet all-in with [Kd] [Qc]. Despite being a favorite to win the hand, javiklet became the 2nd-place finisher ($73,421.48) when the board fell [Ks] [7c] [8c] [Kh] [3d]. As for trujustrus, it was $82,379.28, a SCOOP champion's watch, and the satisfaction of having delivered plenty of knockouts but never having taken one throughout the tournament.

SCOOP Event 13-M: $265 NL Hold'em (Knockout)
$300,000 guaranteed prize pool
3,329 entrants, $665,800 prize pool, $166,450 bounty pool
432 places paid

1st place: trujustrus (Spain) $82,379.28*
2nd place: javiklet (Spain) $73,421.48*
3rd place: Mikaroc (Belgium) $58,132.65*
4th place: harif1988 (Israel) $62,054.69*
5th place: Christophe "chrisdm" De Muelder $28,629.40
6th place: BOOOOMMMMMMM (Spain) $21,971.40
7th place: allucan3at (Netherlands) $15,313.40
8th place: soandre (Brazil) $8,655.40
9th place: wasylekk (Poland) $5,326.40
* - denotes results of a four-way deal

With that another SCOOP event is in the books, and another country, Spain, has earned its first win of the series. There's still plenty of action to come before this series is over. Now is the time to plan you path to a SCOOP championship of your own.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/scoop/2012/scoop-trujustrus-wins-chrisdm-5th-in-eve
-094262.html

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SCOOP 2012: agahlol out races the pack winning
Event #13-L ($27 NLHE Knockout Two-Day)

Watching the Discovery Channel's Planet Earth or Frozen Planet there are scenes that 99% of humans would never get to experience firsthand. A threesome of wolves pacing along with a pack of musk oxen looking for a first-class meal for the evening, finally settle on the main course of a young ox that separated from the pack a bit. But quickly the group of oxen surround the calf as the predators try to nip at its heels and send a loud warning to the wolves that dinner may be delayed permanently. However, wolves are known for their endurance, with the ability to run near non-stop for almost one hundred miles, they could wear down the defenses of the oxen until collecting their prize.

Today 36 wolves, who feasted on a starting group of 17,806 yesterday, would continue their journey towards the final table in day two of the 2012 SCOOP Event #13-L $27 NLHE Knockout tourney. Much like every other tournament thus far in this year's series, the $200,000 guarantee was not required and summarily crushed like the ants trying to take over this author's kitchen. $356,120.00 in the prize pool, and $89,030.00 set aside for the $5.00 bounties on everyone's head.

2,250 players managed to get at least their buy-in back, and those with their eyes on a Player of the Series-Low only Chillolini of the top six was able to grab a decent cash (448th place, $113.95) as DeeKay8686, Blackbeaty, evanski, drkamikaze1, and HustlaStylez all struck out. On the Player of the Series-overall board Shaun Deeb (interviewed yesterday by Brad Willis) was tied for second and almost grab a few more points but busted short of the money in 4,739th place.

Team PokerStars Pros and Team Online managed to sneak a few into the cash as Team Online's Grzegorz "DaWarshaw" Mikielwicz ($71.22 1,024th place), Team Pro Marcin "Goral" Horecki ($89.03 732nd place), and Ana Marquez ($89.03 730th place) all cashed.

Brazilian Team Pro Andre "aakkari" Akkari was looking for his first SCOOP win but with the blinds at 6K/12K ante 1,500 he would run into a bit of a cooler. Holding 193,779 chips Andre would min-raise from the button getting a call from Tominator100 in the small blind. [5s][9d][Jh] and Akkari fired 29,000 as Tominator100 check-called. [3d] turn and again Tominator100 checked as Akkari upped the bet to 39,279. This time Tominator100 would check-raise enough to put the WSOP bracelet holder all-in. Holding top pair and a flush draw [Jd][Qd] he called. Akkari needed the flush draw as Tominator100 flopped a set of fives [5h][5d] making that top pair worth as much as a used concert ticket. [9h] was red, but spelled the end of the tournament for Andre in 205th place ($160.25).

Onto day two where 22 players would make the first break, ever closer to that huge ROI at the final table and a $41,661.49 first place prize along with the SCOOP champions watch. TRootwalla and floodgates1 leapt out in front of the pack with eight figures stacks as it only took another half hour to trim the field down to 13 after the hourly break. Among the first hour causalities was 2011 WCOOP Event #1 final tablist Dimka19881 who bagged $67,500 for a fourth place finish but earned a little less today in 17th place ($730.04).

Hour two of day two would leave 11 wolves still parading towards the final table as players would take a much needed five minute break as yvydendyvy used a 16 million chip stack to bully the table of five when GRneau with 4.7 million held the next closest chip stack.

Right after the break 111malik111 would show a shortstacked Kenny Powers avatar "ENOSUS" to the door after the "Eastbound and Down" star tried to open shove from the small blind for 1.4 million with [3c][6d] and got looked up by 111malik111 holding a small ace [2s][Ac]. The two pair was not necessary [Kc] [Qh] [2d] [Ad] [5h] but awarded ENOSUS $1,424.48 in 11th place.

agahlol and TRootwalla would gather over 22 million into the pot with a flush draw versus top pair of a fives after the flop. Neither worried about the $40K difference between first and tenth place today, agahlol's fives faded the two overs plus the flush draw to take a commanding chip lead.

With the other four players at the table sucking up the chips for 18 hands in a row, iijohnj was left in the cold collected zero blinds or pots and being 5-handed with blinds at 200K/400K ante 50K a short stack would not last long. Holding [Ts][Qd] iijohnj would shove for under the big blind amount, 353,042 chips, as yvydendyvy called from the small blind and floodgates1 checked the option. A pair of sevens on the flop [Ks][7h][7s] got floodgates1 to bet 800,000 which yvydendyvy wanted nothing to do with and folded. Good fold too as floodgates1 opened up trip sevens [Jc][7c]. The runner-runner spades or straight never caught traction [Kc][6c] as iijohnj claimed $1,424.48 in tenth place starting up the final table below:

Seat 1: TRootwalla (6294762 in chips)
Seat 2: yvydendyvy (8555853 in chips)
Seat 3: black666 (5416284 in chips)
Seat 4: agahlol (28277914 in chips)
Seat 5: floodgates1 (7039416 in chips)
Seat 6: persii (7914987 in chips)
Seat 7: SwaggaBear (3498832 in chips)
Seat 8: GRneau (14976997 in chips)
Seat 9: 111malik111 (7054955 in chips)

Whoa there, we just got here!

26 hours and 30 minutes after starting this tournament yesterday the final table would commence. But, TRootwalla, possible still steaming from losing the tournament chip lead to agahlol, would find a very quick exit instead of vying for the SCOOP watch. Three hands after the final table lettering appeared on the virtual felt, and a raise in the blinds to 250K/500K ante 62,500, 111malik111 would min-raise form middle position as TRootwalla shoved over the top for 5.9 million total holding pocket tens [Th][Td]. Back around to 111malik111 looking down at jacks [Jd][Js] had the one-time chip leader covered and made the call. The board [4c] [4d] [Ac] [2s] [7d] did not save TRootwalla from the quick demise as the Brazilian took ninth place ($2,136.72).

Not Black Friday

black666 will be able to online poker again during the 2012 SCOOP, it just will not be during Event #13-L. As the blinds moved up to 300K/600K ante 75K black666 tried to take advantage of an open small blind by shoving from it for 4.7 million. However the chip leading agahlol was in the big blind with plenty of gamble and a medium-ace [Ac][8s] to make the call. The non-black [2d][Jd] never stood a chance as exactly zero diamonds, deuces, and jacks hit the [3c] [As] [3s] [8h] [9h] board to slide $3,205.08 to black666 in eighth place.

Opening the floodgates

Or perhaps closing them would be more apt to describe the video below:

RSS readers please click through to view video

agahlol tried to open from the small blind for 1.26 million as floodgates1 was not laying down in the big blind. Instead the Canadian shoved for 6.35 million and put the chip leader to a decision. Well covered by holding 22 million behind, agahlol made the call with a small ace [As][2d] and was a big dog to floodgates1's big slick [Kc][Ah]. The flop [5c] [Jh] [3s] increased the outs from three to seven. One of those seven hit the turn as the [2c] left floodgates1 hoping for a reversal on the river. [Qh] was not it as the chip leader ballooned up to over 30 million in chips and floodgates1 was left hanging dry in seventh place ($6,054.04).

After floodgates1's unlucky departure, Team Online's Kevin "WizardOfAhhs Thurman quipped "all remaining players are from a different country!". Indeed. As Norway, Russia, Poland, Canada, Sweden, and Belgium were still racing towards the $41K first prize and Canada hoping to add title number eight to its series leading total.

Just before the third hourly break agahlol and 111malik111, both holding sizable stacks, would play a game of chicken which ended with 111malik111 not swerving out of the way with pocket tens and collecting 16.9 million chips with the chip lead going into the break.

Blind versus blind strikes again

A lot of damage being done to the population of this table from the blinds today as immediately after our final six sat back down, yvydendyvy would open shove from the small blind for 3.1 million holding a medium-ish ace [Ah][6c]. agahlol, fresh off losing that big pot to 111malik111, but still held plenty of chips made the call with a couple of high clubs [Jc][Kc]. The clubs did not make it there, but the jack did [4s] [3d] [Js] [2d] [Qc] and yvydendyvy took all those y's off the table in sixth place ($8,903.00).

Back-to-back for the big stacks

On the very next hand, with the blinds still at 300K/600K ante 75K, SwaggaBear tried to bust a move with a three-bet shove for 5.5 million from the big blind over 111malik111's min-raise. [Qh][Ac] plus 33 million made the call an easy, and correct one as SwaggaBear flipped up the dominated [As][Jh]. The jack on the flop [2c] [Jc] [Ks] threatened to extended SwaggaBear's tourney. But, the [Qc] turn handed the chips back to the better hand as a [8s] safely landed on the river to ship the 11.7 million chip pot to 111malik111 and send SwaggaBear to tournament poker hibernation in fifth place ($12,464.20).

Pushy, shovey, gambOOOOOOl !

The blinds getting to the point where even 12.7 million does not seem like much, as agahlol and persii decided to put together a mega-pot of 27.4 million chip preflop. Check out the video below to see who stayed and who collected fourth place money.

RSS readers please click through to view video

Wow! Yet another trimming of the final table due to a blind versus blind battle as agahlol refusing to take the foot off the gas pedal open shoved from the small blind holding [Jc][Qc]. Despite just a small ace [5s][Ah] persii sniffed out agahlol's aggressiveness while making the correct call and was rewarded further with a flopped ace [Jh][Ac][Td]. However, the clubs would not stop placing themselves on the board as the [9c] turn and [Tc] gave agahlol a runner-runner flush to claim the huge 27.4 million chip pot and give persii fourth place ($16,025.40).

No time to chat

Barely a whisper graced the chat box except for Thurman's call of the bustouts and offers of assistance. The lack of typed words might be due to the speed of the exits as it took 27 hours to bust 17,800 players but seven minutes to name our sixth through third place finishers. With the blinds at 400K/800K ante 100K GRneau would shove from the button for 12.4 million with a couple of face cards [Kd][Qs] as 111malik111's pocket fives [5d][5s] gave a little pause to the Russian before making the call. A flop set [7h][5h][Jh] put 111malik111 way out in front. The [2h] however threatened to chop the pot if a fifth heart hit the board. It did not. [4s] on the river shipped the 26 million pot to 111malik111 as GRneau claimed $23,147.80 in third place.

Lone Wolf

Both of our heads-up players clashed today with anything and everything that came their way. No talks of chops, not afraid to push a flush draw despite the $11K difference between first and second, and not backing down after losing a huge pot.

The first big pot that threatened to end the tournament went to 111malik111. After starting heads-up play with a slight lead (46.5 million to 42.5 million) 111malik111 could not dodge the constant raising of agahlol as 10 minutes into heads-up play agahlol took the lead 53.9 million to 35.1 million. Then with the board showing [Kh][Js][Kd][9s] and 3.4 million in the middle, the two would trade bets until 70.2 million was in the middle as 111malik111 flipped up [8s][Ks] for the flopped trips and turned flush draw while agahlol showed the turned straight [Tc][Qd]. Instead of a SCOOP watch, agahlol watched the board double pair [Jh] to give 111malik111 as boat and the big pot.

Still holding 18.7 million chips agahlol would win the next two pots and double up on the third hand as 111malik111 tried to represent something too big and got called by agahlol's small ace for a 46 million chip pot evening up the chip stacks.

The two would trade pots for five minutes until the massive 86.7 million chip pot below decided the tournament:

Despite the sizable stacks of 43.3 million for 111malik111 and 45.6 million for agahlol the tournament would end on a flush draw. With the blinds at 500K/1MM ante 125,000 agahlol min-raised from the button and 111malik111 re-min-raised as agahlol called to see the coordinated [6s][3s][5c] flop. Just like the 70 million chip pot on the turn, this time the flop started the multiple raises until all 86.7 million chips sat in the middle. An overpair of tens for 111malik111 [Ts][Tc] as agahlol turned up a pair and a flush draw [5s][Js]. The turn was safe [Ad] but this time the river favored agahlol as the [4s] completed the flush giving agahlol the 2012 SCOOP Event #13-L title and $41,661.49!

$200,000 guarantee 2012 SCOOP Event #13-L $27 NLHE Knockout Two-Day tournament results (05-11-12):
(*figures do not include the $5 bounties won by the players)
1. agahlol (Norway) $41,661.49
2. 111malik111 (Russia) $30,270.20
3. GRneau (Canada) $23,147.80
4. persii (Poland) $16,025.40
5. SwaggaBear (Sweden) $12,464.20
6. yvydendyvy (Belgium) $8,903.00
7. floodgates1 (Canada) $6,054.04
8. black666 (Austria) $3,205.08
9. TRootwalla (Brazil) $2,136.72

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SCOOP 2012: Canadian kmoh20 cruises to victory in
SCOOP-12-L ($27 PL Omaha Heads-Up)

Sixteen players returned to each level of SCOOP-12 today, a bulging ROI already locked up but with the chance of a whole lot more cash just a couple of heads-up victories away. For some the $831.56 would be the largest tournament score they'd had online, for others it was business as usual with a number of the last sixteen holding PokerStars online tournament winnings of $50,000 moving through into six figures, including Cr@cker717, dan3l666 and mandrake67BR.

Among those final tables one player stood out: Kurt23x. Not only because he's raked in over $1,000,000 in PokerStars tournaments but because his quarter-final technique appeared to involve sitting out. Was he playing mind games,a suck up the punishment and then unleash in a frenzy like Muhammed Ali? No. Kurt23x, aka Kurt Fitzgerald, is currently resident in Costa Rica and must have fallen foul of a Latin American internet outage at just the wrong time. He could barely get a raise in before disconnecting and because this plays pot-limit you've can't simply shove your chips across to protect yourself. Terrible timing. It was not to be his day.

The last 16 bracket

Not only was it frustrating for Fitzgeralnd, whose connection occasionally flashed up as 18% long enough that he could put in a raise or bet before blinding out for the next ten minutes, but it gave idkPsPro a bye through to the semi-final where he faced tammaister. The Hungarian finally putting tammaister to the sword with [8s] [7h][6h] [2d] against the Greek's [kc][kd][jh][2s] on a [6c][5c][2h] flop. A [7d] hit the turn and a blank [3h] the river to send idkPsPro through to the final.

Kmoh20 was there to be face him having faced stiffer resistance to get to the final, not only having to beat opponents who were actually able to click buttons back at him but also coming up against Ahhh Is It?, who proved early on that he was willing to make tough calls if he thought he was ahead; he called a river bet with a pair of eights.

RSS readers click through to see replay

Unfortunately for the Brit things didn't end up going in his favour when it mattered most after getting it in with [qs][js][jd][2d] on a [2h][8d][6c] flop against a loose [5d][4h][4c][2c]. A [6d] hit the turn and a [7c] binked the river for the straight. That was for three-quarters of the chips in play and sent Ahhh Is It? to the rail for $2,777.12, finally quieting his vocal rail.

The final as it took place was a relatively quick affair, just half an hour of back-and-forth, more than twice as quick as it had taken idkPsPro to raise-and-take the blinds of the disconnected Kurt23x. Having quickly agreed to a chop - bar the necessary $1,000 set aside for the winner - it took a little while for the action to get going. Small pots played but no real damage was done. In the second blind level, 15-30, kmoh20 trapped with a flopped jack-high flush to take a small lead which was lengthened the next hand when he gunned into a [7s][jd][7c] flop having three-bet pre-flop (see below).

RSS readers click through to see replay

idkPsPro managed to stay in, just about, but failed to get any real traction only raking in one pot of real significance with a backdoor top two-pair with [ad][kc][ts][8d] on a [3c][3s][6h][ks][as] board. That pulled the Hungarian back to 4,000 versus 6,000 but that was his last glimpse of a comeback sending the extra $1,000, the SCOOP watch and the title to kmoh20.

RSS readers click through to see replay

The quarter finals and beyond
Winner
kmoh20, $7,639.80

Runner-up
idkPsPro, $6,639.80

Semi-finalists
Ahhh Is It?, $2,777.12
tammaister, $ 2,777.12

Quarter-finalists
Kurt23x, $1,545.51
Bigtoer11, $1,545.51
superslide, $1,545.51
relayerr, $1,545.51

Another winning flop for kmoh20, winner of SCOOP-12-L

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

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SCOOP 2012: Shizzleness wins this, Event #12-H
$2,100 PLO HU

Two things happened in today's $2,100 PLO Heads-Up tournament.

The first thing involved Shizzleness, he won. It was a two-day process where he managed to survive eight heads-up matches, become the SCOOP Event #12-H champion and win $103,840.

The second thing involved Isildur1.

Again.

Viktor "Isildur1" Blom, winning makes him happy

Isildur1 has been making headlines before we knew his real name. He started by anonymously crushing high-stakes cash games; then he revealed himself as Viktor Blom and proved he could play live tournaments by winning the ?100,000 Super High Roller at this year's PCA.

Now, a few months later, he's dominating online tournaments at the 2012 SCOOP. Isildur1 has won two SCOOP events, cashed in several others and taken pole position on the 2012 SCOOP Leader Board with 250 points.

As of yesterday, Isildur1 had also won more than any other player this SCOOP with $411,257.20. The closest contender in this department is Allingomes, with $287,263.20.

But Viktor "Isildur1" Blom wouldn't step off the gas. We don't think he knows how to.

Blom managed to outlast all his fellow Team PokerStars Pros in Event #12-H and finish as a quarterfinalist for $18,408.

Isildur1 now heads the overall leader board with 250 points and the money he's won this SCOOP now totals $429,665.20.

So far, that's $142,402 more than anyone else this year.

Isildur1 cashed when he reached Round 4 -- he was the only Team PokerStars Pro to do so. His opponent, ISILDRoon, sounded like an evil cyborg sent from the future to crush Isildur1's dominance of the poker world.

But, just like in the original Terminator, humans prevailed.

In Round 5, Isildur1 worked quickly. He was the first person to win his match, eliminating his opponent, saphire1, in only nine hands.

After fighting alleged cyborgs and a swift Round 5 win, Isildur1 met his doom in the elite eight:

RSS readers click through to see replay

THE SEMIS

After six rounds of heads-up matches yesterday, only four players came back today to fight for the championship.

Round 1

Paulgees81 vs. Shizzleness

Round 2

BriDge2Pain vs. kmpk90

ROUND 1, FIGHT!

Both matches lasted almost the same amount of time. Shizzleness won his semifinal bout two minutes before kmpk90 would take out the BriDge2Pain.

All players would have 5,000 at the beginning of each match and blinds would start at 10/20.

The first big exchange of chips in Round 1 started when Paulgees81 raised to 60 from the small blind. Shizzleness called and a [kd][7d][as] came on the flop. Paulgees81 led out for 80 and Shizzleness raised to 200.

Paulgees81 responded with a 480 reraise and Shizzleness called. The [3d] on the turn brought a check from Shizzleness and a 700 bet from paulgees81. Shizzleness called, a [2d] came on the river, and Shizzleness checked again.

This time paulgees81 bet the pot, 2,480. Shizzleness thought for about a minute before making the call.

When he did, paulgees81 showed [ad][6d][ks][2h] for the nut flush and Shizzleness mucked.

This hand left Shizzleness with 2,181 while paulgees81 enjoyed the rest of the 7,819 chips.

But Shizzleness would soon double up with a set of nines and work his way back up to the starting stack.

There chip lead would change hands a few more times before Shizzleness took hold of the match.

With 25/50 blinds, Shizzleness raised to 100 from the small blind. paulgees81 re-raised to 300 and Shizzleness made the call.

paulgees81 checked the [7d][jd][8s] flop and Shizzleness bet 360. paulgees81 called and both players checked the [9d] on the turn. When the [10s] came on the river, paulgees81 bet 800 and Shizzleness called.

paulgees81 showed [as][8c][4s][5h] for a pair of eights while Shizzleness showed [kd][10h][qs][7h] for the king-high straight.

Shizzleness would gain the lead with 6,500 and finish paulgees81 off soon after:

RSS readers click through to see replay

ROUND 2, FIGHT!

Round 2 didn't happen after Round 1 -- they were going on simultaneously actually -- but calling them that makes things more organized and lets me make a Mortal Kombat allusion.

While Shizzleness and paulgees81 were battling on one table, kmpk90 and BriDge2PaiN were fighting for a spot in the final at the other.

BriDge2PaiN managed to get an early lead on kmpk90 after winning a few small hands, followed by a big one.

kmpk90 raised to 60 from the small blind and BriDge2PaiN called, bringing a [8h][10c][6d] flop. BriDge2PaiN checked and kmpk90 bet 74, BriDge2PaiN called.

BriDge2PaiN checked again when the [3h] came on the turn and kmpk90 led out for 210. Another call from BriDge2PaiN brought another card, the river, a [qc].

kmpk90 bet 540 after BriDge2PaiN checked and BriDge2PaiN raised to 1,455. kmpk90 folded and was left with 2,854, while BriDge2PaiN took the lead with 7,146.

kmpk90 would stay short-stacked until he managed to double up back to starting stack:

RSS readers click through to see replay

The players then lobbed a small lead back and forth over the virtual felt, as is tradition. This went on until kmpk90 took a commanding lead.

BriDge2PaiN raised to 100 and kmpk90 re-raised to 300. BriDge2PaiN called and the flop came [7h][5s][2c]. kmpk90 led out for 372 and BriDge2PaiN called, bringing a [7s] on the turn. kmpk90 bet 700 and BriDge2PaiN called.

A [jd] came on the river and kmpk90 checked, this brought a 1,000 bet from BriDge2PaiN. A bet that kmpk90 called quickly.

BriDge2PaiN showed [ks][6s][10h][8c] and was playing the board's pair of sevens. kmpk90 showed [ad][qd][jh][10s] for a pair of jacks and sevens.

This hand brought kmpk90 up to 7,199.

kmpk90 would use that lead to end the battle two minutes after Shizzleness won bout.

BriDge2PaiN raised to 120 and kmpk90 made the call. A [kh][7d][4h] came on the flop and kmpk90 checked, bringing a 120 chip bet from BriDge2PaiN.

kmpk90 raised to 417 and BriDge2PaiN re-raised to 1,491. kmpki90 put the stakes at 4,713 and BriDge2PaiN called, putting himself all in.

kmpk90 showed [2c][3c][5h][6h] for inside and outside straight draws as well as a flush draw. BriDge2PaiN showed [ad][kc][8h][2h] for a pair of kings and a higher flush draw.

The [6c] on the turn gave kmpk90 a straight and an [8d] on the river gave him an even higher straight.

With that, we had our final round.

FINISH HIM!

The players discussed a deal when they met. kmpk90 proposed $80,000 to each player and the rest -- including the Movado watch -- to the winner.

Shizzleness proposed a counter-offer, $90,000 for himself and $70,000 for kmpk90.

"I play heads up for a living," added Shizzleness.

kmpk90 didn't like the deal so Shizzleness offered $95,000 and $75,000. kmpk90 refused, but even if he hadn't, that deal couldn't have been made. The $170,000 deal Shizzleness proposed exceeded the remaining prize pool of $169,920 and didn't leave at least $4,000 for the champion.

With no deal, play continued.

kmpk90 would take the first major lead of the final match.

Shizzleness raised to 60 and kmpk90 called, bringing a [5h][10h][js] flop. kmpk90 checked and Shizzleness led out for 84. kmpk90 raised to 262 and Shizzleness called, bringing a [4d] on the turn. kmpk90 led again, this time for 480, Shizzleness called and a [6h] came on the river.

Both players checked and kmpk90 showed [as][ks][3h][2h] for a 10-high flush. Shizzleness mucked and saw his stack shrink to 3,914.

kmpk90 was up to 6,086 and managed to increase his lead up to 7,400 before Shizzleness started chipping away at him.

After bringing kmpk90 down to 6,000, Shizzleness doubled up.

With 20/40 blinds, Shizzleness raised to 120 and kmpk90 called. kmpk90 checked the [qd][5s][3s] flop and Shizzleness bet 144. kmpk90 raised to 471 and Shizzleness called, bringing a [7h] on the turn.

Shizzleness called kmpk90's 732 bet and a [4c] came on the river. kmpk90 checked and Shizzleness moved all in for his remaining 2,503.

kmpk90 called and showed [ad][5d][8h][5h] for a set of fives. Shizzleness turned over [3c][4h][5c][6h] for a seven-high straight.

Now it was Shizzleness with the commanding lead. He used it to chip down kmpk90 even more before he dealt the finishing blow:

2012 SCOOP Event 12-H, $2,100 PLO (Heads-Up) results:

1st: Shizzleness ($103,840)
2nd: kmpk90 ($66,080)

Semifinalists:
BriDge2PaiN ($33,040)
paulgees81 ($33,040)

Quarterfinalists:
Isildur1 ($18,408)
fcaler185 ($18,408)
L0ve2playU ($18,408)
cal42688 ($18,408)

Here's a look at the final bracket of Event #12-H, was it what you expected? There were a few upsets, but that's what heads-up PLO is all about. For more SCOOP information, including the schedule and the leader board, check out the SCOOP homepage.

See you next time.

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SCOOP 2012: Alex Gomes and the elephant in the
room

Alex Gomes, the Brazilian poker rock star, is now a Spring Championship of Online Poker champion. He won $282,240 in Event 1-High a $2,100 NLHE 6-max contest that pitted him against some of the best players in the world. It was his first SCOOP title and another important box ticked on his resume. He's a man who has a WPT title and WSOP bracelet. One of his biggest goals is to win an EPT and pick up his Triple Crown.

That's the way a mini-profile of the Brazilian should read. He puts it another way.

"I'm just a normal guy trying to make some money on the poker scene," he said with a smile. "I used to be a lawyer here in Brazil, but now I just play poker."

That phrase, "used to be" is one Gomes could emphasize more than a couple times, because...well, there is an elephant in the room, isn't there? A big, noisy elephant with a Brazilian flag draped over is shoulder.

See, Gomes also used to be a Team PokerStars Pro, and on any normal day a couple of years ago, that first paragraph would've started with "Team PokerStars Pro Alex Gomes..." For people who have followed this blog for any length of time, that missing prefix on Gomes' name may seem a little off-putting. I'm here to tell you, it shouldn't be.

The business of poker sponsorship and Team PokerStars Pro is something that happens for more reasons that we can list here. Similarly, relationships end for as many reasons as they begin. As it happened, Gomes was an admirable dude before he joined Team Pro, he represented himself well while in the stable, and he's still an admirable guy since he left the Team. The point is this: while we have an admitted bias toward the people who fly the flag of the Big Red Spade, we don't lose sight of the people who have been good to the game. Gomes is one of those people.

What you should know about Gomes today is that he barely had time to play poker over the past year. His wife was pregnant with their son, Bruno. It was an anxious time in the Gomes' home, one that distracted the Brazilian from the game in ways he had never been distracted before.

In recent weeks, he's been able to focus a little bit more. Nonetheless, he didn't even intend on playing the first event of SCOOP. It was a last minute decision that end with him more than a quarter-million dollars richer.

"All high SCOOP events are really tough, especially this one, in my opinion, as it's a six-max no-limit hold'em event with a great structure," Gomes said. "So I can compare it maybe with the toughest win of my career. That was the WPT Bellagio."

Gomes is, indeed, a champion's kind of champion. A ready smile, a winner's stare, and enough major titles to put him among the elite in the game. It's not enough yet, however. The man from Brazil is going to be getting a lot of European ink on his passport.

"I'm now back in business and looking forward to my Triple Crown," he said. "And that's the main reason that I'll be focusing for now mostly on EPTs."

It's not an easy road, this poker game. It's made even tougher when you have a new baby in the house. Gomes intends to make it all work. If his performance in SCOOP so far is any indication, it looks like he is well on his way, and walking a lot faster than that elephant ever could.

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SCOOP 2012: The real Shaun Deeb, SCOOP champion

If you don't know Shaun Deeb, you don't know online poker. For nearly as long as I've known the online game, I've known Deeb's name. Long before I ever met him, I knew who he was. He had a reputation as a sometimes brash, always confident marksman at the table. He crushed online. He has nearly $800,000 in live tournament winnings. This week, he won his second SCOOP title. There's not much more that people can write about the guy. But, as he won a second SCOOP, it seemed like a good time to check in.

This is how it normally works. More often than not, Spring Championship of Online Poker winners are unknown, or if not unknown, at least anonymous. To help everyone have a better idea of who the winners are, I like to reach out to the winners with a few questions that might shed some light on their life, personality, and poker philosophy. Many people prefer to remain anonymous, but there are several who concede to outing themselves.

In Deeb's case, there isn't a great deal more to reveal. That said, I shot him a few questions anyway, and he was kind enough to respond.

Deeb is now 26 years old and living in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, a home away from home he found after leaving the USA post-Black Friday.

What is the most interesting thing that's happened to you in the last year?

Deeb: Moving out of the United States to continue to play online poker. The best part of Black Friday was getting me to move to Playa del Carman. I will be living here for a long time.

What's the hardest thing you've had to deal with in the last six months?

Deeb: Deciding between spending time with family or spending time to grind online.

Shaun Deeb with his grandmother

How does your win compare to your other poker success?

Deeb: Oddly it felt a lot better then my other major titles. The prize money was less, but I have felt out of the game a bit in online MTTs with all my mixed game hands in the past few years. It was nice for it to pay off in a such a tough, albeit small, field.

What do you want everyone to know about you?

Deeb: I maybe not the nicest guy on the tables, but away from it we are all different people. So, don't hold grudges, especially if it was something that was done years prior. People change a lot during that time. Always giving second chances helps a lot more than it hurts.

Did anything particularly interesting happen in your SCOOP event (other than you winning it, of course...)?

Deeb: I was offered a bet by a fellow highstakes guy who wanted to make the event bigger so we crossbooked which means we paid out the amount if either cashed in the event. I got lucky to get an early chip lead, and he was bust, so it was a quick freeroll going for me.

Anything else on your mind?

Deeb: To everyone who is just a no-limit hold'em or pot-limit Omaha player, it's time to become a professional poker player. If you want to make the most money long term, you need to be adaptive. Learning new poker variants can only help you in the future.

Fish like other games they know. Everyone is good at no-limit hold'em, plus the older they are, the more likely they grew up playing games besides Omaha and hold'em. Plus, I personally really enjoyed the rejuvenation of motivation in poker when I got into them. It's like you're taking baby steps, and every stride for improvement you feel more rewarded than just grinding out hands in a game you aren't getting significantly better at every session you put in.

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SCOOP 2012: Krumpir is best of the best in Event
12-Medium, $215 PLO HU

When Day 2 of 2012 SCOOP Event 12-Medium, $215 Pot-Limit Omaha (Heads-Up) began, I knew it promised to be an entertaining series of matches. Day 1 had ended after 7 rounds of heads-up PLO action with just eight players remaining, four of them very well-known quantities, and one of them a walking carnival in his own right. At the end of the day it was the carnival against the player seeking redemption for 2011 SCOOP, and redemption held the day.

But that's putting the turn before the flop, so to speak. Day 1 came first, with 939 players registering and creating a prize pool of almost $188,000. In order to get a piece of that money, an individual player would have to win his or her first three matches of the day. Among the players that did so were PokerStars Team Online players George "jorj95" Lind (eliminated in Round 4, $488.28) and Anders "Donald" Berg (Round 5, $860.12) and Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier (Round 6, $1,417.89).

Nobody wearing the Red Spade made it to Day 2 - but that didn't mean the quarterfinalists were stocked with talent. These are the eight players who returned at 11am today:

Carter "devinr12" Gill - an elite online tournament grinder, Carter's PokerStars tournament profits are roughly $850,000 over the last five years. He recently turned up at APPT Cebu, where he finished in 13th place.

hartwith - a former Sunday Million runner-up.

JOKERrrr28 - one of two quarterfinalists without much in the way of previous major tournament success.

Thomas "Kallllle" Pedersen - the 2011 WCOOP Main Event winner, to the tune of $1.2 million.

Krumpir - a player who seems to excel in heads-up PLO. Krumpir made the semifinals in the high ($2,100) version of this event during the 2011 SCOOP.

Chris "Moorman1" Moorman - another elite online tournament grinder. Chris has profited more than twice as much as Carter ($1.8 million) playing PokerStars tournaments over the last five years. He also added another $1 million by finishing as the runner-up in the 2011 WSOP Europe Main Event.

Christopher "NigDawG" Brammer - a regular face making deep runs in the Sunday majors, on the EPT and on the UKIPT.

rSMig - the second of the two wild cards to make the quarterfinals.

The quarterfinals

hartwith was the first player through to the semifinals. 3 minutes into their match, hartwith eliminated rSMig by turning a set of jacks against rSMig's flopped set of 9s. All the money went in on the turn, with rSMig failing to improve on the river.

Gill soon followed hartwith, knocking off Brammer in nine minutes. First Gill picked off a bluff with a queen-high flush, then he flopped top pair and rivered trips, calling down every street to knock Brammer out.

Christopher Brammer - eliminated in quarterfinals

The other two matches took a bit longer, but before the first hour of play was over, Moorman and Krumpir advanced from their matches against JOKERrrr28 and Pedersen.

The semifinals

As in the quarterfinals, Moorman seemed to slowly lean on his opponent Krumpir, gradually building a chip lead. 20 minutes in, moorman was up 2-1 in chips. But Krumpir stormed back, soon opening a 4-1 chip lead the other way. Despite scoring one double-up with a flopped full house, Moorman never recovered. Krumpir kept the pressure on, continuing to wear Moorman down until Moorman went with a draw on the turn that bricked out.

Chris Moorman - eliminated in semifinals

In the other match, hartwith got the early chip lead against Gill but surrendered it by calling Gill's turn shove. Gill had flopped top two pair; hartwith turned over an overpair of kings that didn't improve on the river. Twenty minutes into the match, Gill enjoyed a 3-1 chip advantage. Then, in a match in which all the play was post-flop, the two players got it in pre-flop for 3100 each. Carter opened to 120; hartwith three-bet to 360. Carter pushed it to 1,080 and then snap-called hartwith's shove 3,135.

Gill: [ks][kd][jd][4h}
hartwith: [as][kc][jc][ts]

Gill was a slight EV favorite and destroyed the flop by finding the case king for top set, [7s][5h][kh]. hartwith was drawing dead after the turn blanked [6d] and hit the rail, eliminated in the semifinals.

The finals

Near the start of their match, Gill and Krumpir agreed to a "reduction in prize difference," as Krumpir called it. They decided to split $41,600 basically in half (Gill had a small chip lead at the time) and play for the remainder, about $5,000.

Krumpir opened up the first significant lead by taking down this pot:

RSS readers click through to see replay

Eight hands later, with the stacks virtually unchanged, Krumpir opene pre-flop to 90. Gill re-raised to 240, then called a four-bet from Krumpir to 720. Gill was out of position and check-shoved a queen-high flop, [qd][3s][4h], after Krumpir bet 1440. The all in was only 1,030 more; Krumpir called.

Krumpir: [Kh][3h][5c][Ks], a pair of kings
Gill: [5s][4s][2c][kc], a pair of 4s and a straight draw

The turn and river came running 7s, no help for Gill. He was eliminated in 2nd place.

Carter Gill - runner-up

Krumpir, denied last year in the high version of this event with a semifinal elimination, made good in the medium version this year and can now boast $25,000, a SCOOP title, and a Movado watch.

2012 SCOOP Event 12-Medium, $215 PLO (Heads-Up) results:

1st: Krumpir ($25,573.18)
2nd: Carter "devinr12" Gill ($20,900.00)

Semifinalists:
Chris "Moorman1" Moorman ($9,035.05)
hartwith ($9,035.05)

Quarterfinalists:
Thomas "Kallllle" Pedersen ($5,033.04)
JOKERrrr28 ($5,033.04)
Christopher "NigDawG" Brammer ($5,033.04)
rSMig ($5,033.04)

Stay up to date with everything SCOOP-related at the SCOOP homepage.

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South Korea Rocked After Buddhist Monks Caught
Playing High Stakes Poker

We all knew poker was big in Asia, but I think nobody knew how big: six leaders from South Korea's largest Buddhist order have resigned in a poker scandal that rocked the country. Secret video footage showed the monks playing high-staked games, droning and smoking, something that definitely goes against their vows of conduct and discipline.

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