SCOOP 2012: Andrew "southrnctowl" Badecker
dominates Event #17-H ($2,100 NLHE 10-Max Shootout)

Andrew Badecker knows a little something about shootouts. Not only did he survive one last summer, it ended up saving his career. After making a living as an online pro for four years, Badecker was left with an uncertain future when Black Friday struck. With only a few thousand dollars to his name, Badecker drove from his native Connecticut to Las Vegas last summer and promptly won his first WSOP bracelet in the $1,500 NLHE shootout along with $369,000. Now relocated to Mexico, Badecker's WSOP experience no doubt prepared him for today's online encore performance, where the man known as "southrnctowl" topped a stacked final table and won his first SCOOP title in event #17-H ($2,100 NLHE 10-Max Shootout).

Capped at 100 players, this event sold out days ago, the prize pool topping out at $200,000. Those hundred players were seated at ten tables, the winner of each sit-n-go not only making the money, but advancing to the final table. Among them were eleven Red Spades. Nacho Barbero, Anders "Donald" Berg, George "Jorj95" Lind III, Jason Mercier, George Danzer, Mickey "mement_mori" Petersen, Martin Staszko, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, and Humberto Brenes all missed the money, but Team Pros Eugene Katchalov and Jude Ainsworth advanced to the final table.

Round One (100 to 10)

Jonathan "MONSTER_DONG" Karamalikis was the first player to win his table, followed by Shaun "shaundeeb" Deeb, who defeated Altrum Altus heads-up to advance to his fourth final table of the 2012 SCOOP. Jude Ainsworth crushed joacowalter's plans for a third SCOOP final table when his [Ad][Qh] held against [As][Td] to punch his ticket through. High-stakes cash game player 0Human0 had his work cut out for him against three-time SCOOP champion cal42688, but saw his open-ended straight draw come in against two pair to send him through. The most dramatic first-round win, however, had to be Eugene Katchalov's. Get your "online poker is rigged" jokes ready, because Katchalov rivered a roval flush to crack Face333X's pocket aces:

Those weren't the only distinguished folks to land at the final table. Germany's wizowizo topped the PokerStars Yearly TLB in 2011 and MrKlout wasn't too far behind him in 12th place. Jason "jdtjpoker" Wheeler won a WCOOP bracelet last fall and Russia's as1025 made four 2011 SCOOP final tables-- in NLHE, Mixed Hold'em, Omaha Hi/Lo and Ante Up NLHE.

MrKlout was the last player to win his first-round table, hitting a lucky river card against oliva86d. The two got their money in on a [9c][8h][2h] flop, oliva86d holding pocket jacks against MrKlout's [Kh][6h]. Altough MrKlout blanked the turn, he hit the [3h] on the river to make his flush and move on to the final table while oliva86d bubbled in 11th place.

Ainsworth, Karamalikis early casualties

Stacks were reset to 5,000 apiece and the blinds dropped back to 25/50. An hour and forty-five minutes of small pots later, MrKlout opened for a min-raise to 200 frim UTG. Jude Ainsworth three-bet to 498 from third position and the action folded around to southrnctowl, who cold four-bet to 967 from the cutoff. Everyone folded to Ainsworth, who made it 2,200 to go. Southrnctowl shoved for 5,767 and Ainsworth called, his [As][Kd] up against [Qh][Qs]. The board came nine-high and the queens held, leaving Ainsworth on a mere 686 in chips. They went in the middle on the next deal, but Ainsworth's [Ac][9s] was no match for MrKlout's [As][Kc] and he departed in tenth place, earning $5,500.

Ten minutes passed before Jonathan "MONSTER_DONG" Karamalikis decided to make a move, four-bet shoving for 2,813. MrKlout called with pocket tens, MONSTER_DONG's [Ac][Kh] failing to improve on the [Qh][9c][6d][Jc][5c] board. The Aussie exited in ninth place with a $6,400 consolation prize.

Katchalov and Deeb's luck runs out

Eugene Katchalov's stack dipped as low as 1,800 before he won a coinflip to double through wizowizo, his pocket eights hitting a set against [Ah][Kh]. Back up to 3,157, Katchalov picked up [Ks][Th] in the big blind and called southrnctowl's 250-chip opening raise. The flop fell [Qd][Jd][4c] and Katchalov check-called 300 with his open-ended straight draw. He filled it on the turn with the [9s] and slyly checked again. Southrnctowl checked behind. The river was the [8d] and Katchalov checked a third time. Southrnctowl bet 3,000 into the 1,100-chip pot, effectively setting Katchalov all-in. Katchalov looked him up and put in his remaining 2,592 only to have southrnctowl turn over [Ad][3d], having made the nut flush on the river. Katchalov was out in eighth place, earning $7,500 for his finish.

Down to 1,776 with the blinds up to 80/160, shaundeeb three-bet shoved from the small blind with [Ad][Jh] and original raiser wizowizo called with [Ac][7d]. Wizowizo paired his kicker on the [Td][8d][7h] flop, then turned aces up when the [Ah] landed. Deeb needed a river jack or nine to survive but the [5c] fell instead, sending him to the rail in seventh place for $8,800.

Deeb also picked up 35 SCOOP leaderboard points for his finish. Last night, his fifth-place finish in event #16-L tied him for first place with two-time SCOOP champ Viktor "Isildur1" Blom; tonight Deeb has sole possession of the top spot, leading second-place joaocowalter by 40 points.

southrnctowl preys on the short stacks

Three hands passed before southrnctowl put MrKlout to the test, setting him all-in preflop with a five-bet shove. MrKlout called off his remaining 5,878, his [Ad][Kd] racing with [Jc][Jd]. Southrnctowl got his second KO of the night, the board running out [Qc][Tc][7d][8s][4s] to eliminate MrKlout in sixth place. Southrnctowl moved out to a dominant chip lead with 26,914, more than twice as much as second-in-chips wizowizo's 11,438.

At this point, 0Human0 was hanging on with eight big blinds. Although he doubled to 2,778 when his [Kc][Jh] topped wizowizo's [Jd][7d], he couldn't fade the hot-running southrnctowl. Dealt [8c][8s] , 0Human0 opened for a min-raise to 320. Southrnctowl shoved for more than 25,000 and 0Human0 called all-in, revealing [As][7s]. The [6c][3d][4c] flop kept the pocket eights in the lead, but southrnctowl still loomed with an overcard and a straight draw. 0Human0's run came to an end when southrnctowl spiked the [5h] on the turn to make a seven-high straight, his fifth-place finish earning him $14,000.

As1025 could have easily been out in fourth place after running his [5s][5c] into wizowizo's [Ac][Ah], but it was another heaven-sent five on the turn that turned the hand around for him. As1025 doubled to 9,200, leaving jdtjpoker as the short stack with 2,349. Four hands later, jdtjpoker shoved with [4d][4c] and wizowizo somehow woke up with another pair or aces. This time they flopped a set to avoid any surprises, the board running out [Ad][Qc][2s][Jd][Kd] to send jdtpoker home in fourth place with $19,800.

With three players remaining, southrnctowl held more than a 3 to 1 chip lead over both his remaining opponents. He won nine of the next 15 pots before as1025 four-bet shoved with [Kh][Qd] and southrnctowl called with pocket tens. The flop came seven-high and a ten hit the turn, southrnctowl's set taking out as1025 in third place for $27,000.

Heads-up chip counts:

Seat 2: southrnctowl (40,478 in chips)
Seat 3: wizowizo (9,522 in chips)

These two spent less than ten minutes heads-up before getting their chips in the middle on a cooler of a hand. Both players flopped top pair, but southrnctowl had another one to go with it:

Kudos to southrnctowl on his first SCOOP title and a $60,000 score. For his runner-up finish, wizowizo earned $40,000.

2012 SCOOP Event #17-H ($2,100 NLHE 10-Max Shootout) results:

1. Andrew "southrnctowl" Badecker (Mexico) $60,000
2. wizowizo (Germany) $40,000
3. as1025 (Russia) $27,000
4. Jason "jdtjpoker" Wheeler (Mexico) $19,800
5. 0Human0 (Romania) $14,000
6. MrKlout (Spain) $11,000
7. Shaun "shaundeeb" Deeb (Mexico) $8,800
8. Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov (Ukraine) $7,500
9. Jonathan "MONSTER_DONG" Karamalikis (Australia) $6,400
10. Team PokerStars Pro Jude Ainsworth (Ireland) $5,500

Shaun Deeb might be atop the SCOOP Player of the Series race right now, but he has the likes of ElkY, Anders "Donald" Berg, cal42688 and Isildur1 hot on his heels. Visit the SCOOP page to track your favorite players and browse all the stats you can handle.

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

SCOOP 2012: kleath ousts theczar19, wins Event
#14-H ($700 NLHE Ante Up)

Watch the final table of a typical NLHE event and you'll see players working average stacks anywhere between 25 and 45 big blinds. Watch a turbo final table and that number will drop to 10 or 15. Say what you want about sky-high blinds, "shove-monkey" poker and "standard" spots, but you're usually on your way in an hour or two.

This event was a whole other ballgame. Kiss the blinds goodbye and say hello to antes. The Ante Up format takes preflop play and turns it inside-out. Giant blinds aren't flying around the table every few hands, they remain at 5/5 for the duration with only the antes increasing. The slow structure and deep stacks led to a methodically played two-day tournament that finished with a five-hour final table-- something more akin to live play than online. In the end, however, it was a consummate online grinder who rose to the top of the field, Malta's kleath earning his first SCOOP title and more than $41,000.

372 players paid the $700 price tag on Event #14-H, creating a $249,240 prize pool. 45 places were paid, with first place set to earn $48.227.94. Eleven members of the Red Spade army were in the mix, among them Eugene Katchalov, Andre Akkari, Viktor "Isildur1" Blom, and Jason Mercier. The only one to make the money, however, was George Danzer.

As Day 1 play drew to a close, Danzer was at the back of the pack with 14 players remaining. Four players limped in an tRaMp$d0PrAy raised to 2,860. Lechuckpoker and Rens02 both called. Danzer looked down at [Kc][Th] and shoved for 43,432, no doubt hoping to take it down right there. Although tRaMp$d0PrAy got out of the way, lechuckpoker called with pocket eights. Danzer grabbed the lead when he hit top pair on the [Kh][9c][6h] flop and retained it when the [4c] hit the turn, but lechuckpoker spiked his two-outer on the river, the [8d] falling to make him a set and send Danzer to the rail in 14th place.

Hold me closer, George Danzer. Take my bad beat blues away.**

Play was suspended after 21 levels with 11 players remaining and resumed this morning at 11am EDT. It took an hour and 25 minutes to lose two more players. Ultimately it was RB79s who finished as the final table bubble boy, running [Qc][Qs] into Rens02's [Ad][Ac].

Final table chip counts:

Seat 1: Rens02 (338,651 in chips)
Seat 2: tRaMp$d0PrAy (139,654 in chips)
Seat 3: Face333X (160,600 in chips)
Seat 4: lechuckpoker (363,632 in chips)
Seat 5: joacowalter (318,353 in chips)
Seat 6: theczar19 (188,538 in chips)
Seat 7: kleath (167,353 in chips)
Seat 8: julianherold (100,878 in chips)
Seat 9: 1BigAceHole (82,341 in chips)

Lost races, cracked aces, and runner-runner straights

This marked the second final table appearance for joacowalter in the 2012 SCOOP; he won Event #5-H for more than $200,000 less than a week ago. He moved out to the chip lead in the first hour when his [Ah][5h] flopped the nut flush draw and filled it on the turn. Joacowalter got three streets of value from Rens02 and moved up to 517,000 while Rens02 fell to 130,500.

TRaMp$d0PrAy lost most of his stack early on when 1BigAceHole's [Kc][Jd] rivered a king against his [Ac][Qh]. Down to 29,000, and the ante up to 1,500, tRaMp$d0PrAy picked up [Ad][Ts] and three-bet shoved behind Rens02's 6,459 opening raise. Rens02 called with [9d][9h], the pocket pair holding up to eliminate tRaMp$d0PrAy in ninth place.

About ten minutes later, Rens02 snapped off pocket aces to claim the rest of Face333X's stack. Joacowalter opened the betting with a raise to 7,500, 1BigAceHole three-bet to 17,200 and Rens02 cold four-bet to 32,968. Face333X shoved for 86,656, joacowalter and 1BigAceHole ducked out of the way, and Rens02 called, turning over [7c][8c] to Face333X's [Ah][As]. Rens02 hit a miraculous [Qh][7h][7d] flop, his trip sevens sending Face333X to the rail in eighth place.

Moments later, theczar19 was looking down the barrel of a gun. His [Kh][Jh] was up against joacowalter's [Ks][Th] on a [Kc][Td][5h] flop and he was two cards away from a seventh-place finish. The [Qc] on the turn gave him a gutshot straight draw and the [Ac] on the river filled it, theczar19 hitting running cards to make a Broadway straight and double up to 311,000.

joacowalter and lechuckpoker jam into aces, kleath crushes 1BigAceHole

Two hours of final table play resulted in the completion of only 60 hands. Kleath suggested making a seven-way deal, but Rens02 but the kibosh on it, telling his opponents he was enjoying himself. Moments after the deal talk evaporated, joacowalter ran pocket kings into julianherold's pocket aces. Joacowalter fell to only 72,500 while julianherold took the chip lead with 385,000.

Although joacowalter doubled through kleath three hands later when his pocket nines held on against pocket fives, he was out by the end of the level. After three-bet shoving for his last 100,000 from UTG+1, joacowalter was in a pickle when Rens02 reshoved behind him and julianherold called.

Rens02 [Ad][Ah]
julianherold [Js][Jd]
joacowalter [Ac][Th].

Rens02's aces held up on the [Kd][Qs][9c][4c][9h] board and won the 613,000 pot. Julianherold was left with 174,000 and joacowalter was eliminated in seventh place, earning $8,474.16.

Lechuckpoker met a similar fate, losing over two-thirds of his stack when he four-bet shoved with pocket sevens, only to run headlong into kleath's pocket aces. Down to 55,500, he put the rest of his chips in the middle with [8c][8h] but they were no match for julianherold's [9c][9s]. Lechuckpoker departed in sixth place, banking $10,966.56.

The increased pace continued for at least a few more hands, 1BigAcehole three-betting to 12,800 with [Kc][Qh] only to be met with a shove from kleath. 1BigAceHole called off his remaining 119,000 and was no doubt delighted to see kleath's [Qc][Jc], but he flopped a jack and turned a queen, the board running out [Js][3c][2d][Qs][6s] to send him home in fifth. He picked up $14,206.68 for his efforts. Kleath had this to offer in the chat box:

kleath: gg chirps
kleath: u put me in the cage
kleath: but i snagged the key

The final four

Two and a half hours after the final table began, four players remained. None are strangers to a big-money final. Rens02 won the Sunday Million for $234,000 in March 2011. Julianherold final tabled the Super Tuesday last month. Kleath has made the Super Tuesday final table as well and took down the $109 rebuy twice. And Bryan "theczar19" Piccioli, a consummate grinder if there ever was one, has more online MTT wins than we can count. They slugged it out for another hour and forty-five minutes before kleath cracked julianherold's [Kc][Kh] with [Kd][9d] to eliminate him in fourth place.

Four hours and fifteen minutes of final table play behind them, and the antes still relatively low at 4,000, the final three agreed to pause the action and discuss a deal. After looking at both chip-count chop and ICM numbers, the trio agreed to the former, striking a deal that left $1,500 in play for the eventual winner.

Action resumed, and on the first hand back theczar19 opened for 7,645 on the button. Rens02 three-bet to 22,887 and they saw a [9c][4h][3c] flop. A raising war broke out and all the money went in, Rens02 five-bet shoving for 531,031 and theczar19 calling all-in for 220,078. Rens02 turned over [Ad][4c] for middle pair, while theczar19 held [Kc][Qc] for a flush draw. The [9d] on the turn was a blank for both players, but the [Kh] on the river made theczar19 top two pair, taking him up to 952,775 in chips while Rens02 was left with 83,500.

"Guess I made a deal at the right time lol," Rens02 quipped.

A few hands later, Rens02 committed the last of his chips with [As][5s] but could not improve against theczar19's [Ad][Kd]. Rens02 finished in third place, his share of the deal totaling $35,825.65.

Heads-up chip counts:

Seat 6: theczar19 (1,004,788 in chips)
Seat 7: kleath (855,212 in chips)

Even with only a tiny percentage of the prize pool left in play, heads-up play still took over thirty minutes. Kleath hacked away at theczar19's stack, moving up to more than a million in chips until theczar19 turned a Broadway straight and cut kleath's stack in half. Kleath doubled back when he turned two pair and got all his chips in against theczar19's straight and flush draws, moving back into the chip lead with 1.1 million. The lead swung back and forth dozens of times, neither player willing to let go.

Theczar19 had a 1.1 million to 706,000 lead over kleath when they saw a [9d][5s][3h] flop. The czar19 check-raised kleath's 16,270 bet to 52,345 and kleath called. When the [Kh] hit the turn, theczar19 led out for 78,465, kleath raised to 212,212, and theczar19 looked him up. The river was the [Tc] and theczar19 checked over to kleath. Kleath moved all-in for 428,886 and theczar19 called, turning over [Ah][Kd] for top pair. Theczar19 could only show [Jc][Td] for a pair of tens and kleath picked up to 1.4 million pot.

It was all over on the next hand. Although theczar19 had the best of it preflop and on the flop, kleath hit a miracle ten on the river to make a Broadway straight and lock up the win:

Congratulations to kleath on a hard-fought battle and his first SCOOP title. He earned $41,391.90 while runner-up theczar19 banked $34,566.59.

2012 SCOOP Event #14-H ($700 NLHE Ante Up!) results:

1. kleath (Malta) $41,391.90*
2. theczar19 (Mexico) $34,566.59*
3. Rens02 (Netherlands) $35,825.65*
4. julianherold (Germany) $20,562.30
5. 1BigAceHole (Canada) $14,206.68
6. lechuckpoker (United Kingdom) $10,966.56
7. joacowalter (Uruguay) $8,474.16
8. Face333X (Germany) $5,981.76
9. tRaMp$d0PrAy (Cyprus) $4,361.70

*= reflects the results of a three-way deal that left $1,500 in play for the winner
**= with apologies to Joe Stapleton, Nick Wealthall, and Sir Elton John

There's still another week of SCOOP action on the books. Head over to the SCOOP page for a full schedule and satellite information.

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

SCOOP 2012: Zackattak13 buries opponents to claim
Event 14-Medium

How much time would you invest to win a SCOOP watch? A few hours? 2012 SCOOP Event 14-Medium winner Zackattak13 invested five hours into the final table along in order to win a marathon affair, the $82 NLHE Ante Up tournament.

Ante Up tournaments are not everyone's cup of tea, as the basic lack of blinds and the unusual ante structure fundamentally changes the game from its more traditional variant. Thus the PokerStars guarantee on Event 14-Medium was lower than some of the other medium SCOOP tournaments. It was $50,000. But when 1,997 player registered, the prize pool ticked almost all the way to $150,000, creating a 1st prize of almost $24,000, for which the 252 in-the-money players would battle.

Event 14-medium was particularly unsuccessful for members of Team PokerStars Pro and PokerStars Team Online. A combined 13 of them entered the event, but only Team Pro Martin Staszko made the money. He went about halfway through the 252 in-the-money places, finishing in 137th for $194.70.

By the time Day 1 ended, 30 levels had been completed and 22 players remained. The top three stacks were cathi18 (1,263,084), w00tLOL (1,123,223) and Zackattak13 (892,172). All three made it to the final table, along with these other six players:

Seat 1: w00tLOL (1979214 in chips)
Seat 2: Skobelev670 (750917 in chips)
Seat 3: Noiberman (2447850 in chips)
Seat 4: RaulFu (615970 in chips)
Seat 5: ujhcrbq (688542 in chips)
Seat 6: cathi18 (1232709 in chips)
Seat 7: hlamberg (941556 in chips)
Seat 8: Xading (211031 in chips)
Seat 9: Zackattak13 (1117211 in chips)

Level 35: blinds 5-5, ante 7000
Average stack: 1,109,444

First fortune

Fortunes started changing on the first hand of the final table. Zackattak13 doubled through w00tLOL, getting all in on the turn of an all-small board with pocket queens against w00tLOL's ace-ten. No ace hit the river.

Thirty minutes passed at the final table before the first elimination. Xading, who started as the short stack, was unable to avoid being the first eliminated when [ad][td] failed to improve against RaulFu's [ah][kd], with all the chips in pre-flop. Xading didn't even get much of a sweat on a [3s][7c][8h][4h][jd] board.

A few hands later w00tLOL followed Xading to the rail. Unable to recover from the early double-up of Zackattak13, w00tLOL pushed pocket 9s all in pre-flop. cathi18, the Day 1 chip leader, called with ace-king and paired kings on the flop. There was no further drama from there, as w00tLOL hit the rail in 8th place.

But cathi18 couldn't hold onto those chips. A cooler of a flop knocked cathi18 back to an average stack and allowed ujhcrbq to crest 2 million in chips. Take a look:

RSS readers click through to see replay

On the last hand before the 2pm break, it was Skobelev670's turn to get unlucky. Dealt [as][qc], Skobelev670 three bet to 68k after Zackattak13 opened to 34k. RaulFu, two seats behind, then four-bet to 125k. Only Skobelev670 called. When the flop came [8d][kh][qd], Skobelev670 checked to RaulFu, t hen called a shove for Skolbelev's last 292k. A pair of queens wasn't the best hand; RaulFu showed [ad][ks] for a pair of kings. The turn and river blanked out to send Skobelev670 packing in 7th place.

Marathon middle

Down to 6 players, hlamberg was the short stack with about 500k and the ante was up to 12,500. But hlamberg continued to double up even as Day 1 chip leader cathi18 continued to slide. Down to 603k, cathi18 three-bet shoved over an open-raise to 35k by Noiberman. Noiberman quickly called with pocket queens, leaving cathi18 with just one overcard, [kh][ts]. There was no help to be found on a board of [as][jd][3c][3d][8s]. cathi18's string of bad luck and bad cards ended with a 6th-place finish.

Of the remaining five players, three had between 1.9 million and 2.1 million. ujhcrbq was in the lead with 3.2 million, while hlamberg was short-stacked with 722k. The players played a long, long time without an elimination. RaulFu picked up a bunch of chips at the expense of Noiberman and Zackattak13, shooting all the way to 4.0 million in chips, before giving some of those chips back to Zackattak13, who reclaimed the chip lead.

Meanwhile, the ante increased all the way to 35k. That was bad news for hlamberg, whose stack dwindled to less than 350k. One double-up with [ac][tc] against Noiberman's [kc][qh] gave hlamberg a temporary reprieve. hlamberg eventually notched the kill of Noiberman, making [ac][tc] working againt Noiberman's pocket treys when a 10 flopped.

The remaining four players passed the chips around a long, long time. It seemed like everyone took a turn with the lead but ultimately it was Zackattak13 who started making the lead stick by climbing over 5.0 million in chips, even as the ante continued inexorably upwards, all the way to 60k.

Finishing sprint

After such long stretches without an elimination (only one elimination over hours of play), it was shocking to see RaulFu and hlamberg eliminated on back-to-back hands. First to go was RaulFu, who three-bet all in for 887k pre-flop with [kh][qh]. Zackattak13 called with [ad][7d], and even though RaulFu flopped a king, Zackattak13 turned an ace.

The following hand hlamberg flopped bottom two pair, while Zackattak13 flopped bottom pair with a straight-and-flush draw combination. The chips went in on the flop, with Zackattak13 immediately turning the flush. hlamberg bricked the river to bow out in 3rd place.

Those two hands gave Zackattak13 a massive 11-to-1 chip lead to start heads-up play against ujhcrbq. Although ujhcrbq doubled up once, Zackattak13 managed to put ujhcrbq to bed on the 22nd hand of heads-up play when both flopped two pair. ujhcrbq's [qs][3s] was second best to Zackattak13's [qh][js] on a flop of [qc][3c][jh] and never improved.

It was a marathon final table in Event 14-medium, taking more than 5 hours to play out. The SCOOP watch that Zackattak13 will receive for the victory should help remind that sometimes, a little extra time is what it takes to become a champion.

2012 SCOOP Event 14-Medium, $82 NLHE (Ante Up) results:

1st: Zackattak13 ($23,965.24)
2nd: ujhcrbq ($17,973.00)
3rd: hlamberg ($13,479.75)
4th: RaulFu ($9,847.70)
5th: Noiberman ($7,114.31)
6th: cathi18 ($5,541.67)
7th: Skobelev670 ($4,043.92)
8th: w00tLOL ($2,621.06)
9th: Xading ($1,497.75)

There's still plenty of SCOOP action to check out over the next nine days. Follow it all on the SCOOP home page.

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

SCOOP 2012: J_Marcos knows the way to victory in
Event #14-L ($7.50 Ante-Up)

After that 20 year old car finally broke down once last time after being pieced together by duct tape and twine it was time to take a brave trip down to the car dealership for a new set of wheels. "Have I got a deal for YOU!" exclaimed the man in the ratty tweed jacket that was popular around the time electricity was discovered. "See this lovely brand new BMW X-wing series, it is yours for just five dollars!". Quite the deal you think, such a beautiful new car for five bucks? So you ask what is the catch? "Well... it does not run on regular gasoline, diesel, or electricity, you have to purchase these fuel chips that cost $1,000.00 to make it run after every trip around the block".

Today's 2012 SCOOP Event #14-L $7.50 Ante Up tournament had a similar feel to the hidden costs of the not-completely-honest automobile salesman. Blinds remain the same from Level 1 all the way until the championship watch is awarded. $5 small blind, $5 big blind. The catch is the antes increase to make it very lucrative to steal them, and also to force players to remain active at all times or face being anted out (versus the normal "blinded out"). 13,223 players made their way into this tournament yesterday for this two-day affair. And thanks to the large crowd, once again the PokerStars guarantee ($25,000.00) was an afterthought with $92,561.00 in the prize pool.

Team PokerStars Pros and Team Online would be shut out at the cashier's window as Anders "Donald" Berg, Bryan Huang, Liv Boeree, George "Jorj95" Lind, Andre Akkari, Marcin "Goral" Horecki, and Sigge "ClarkKent89" Reichard all climbed in for a short ride but did not save enough chips for the antes to make the top 1,710 paid places.

Switzerland's DeeKay8686, still holding a 10 point lead for the SCOOP Player of the Series-Low, was unable to pick up any points finishing in 6,846th place. Same for second place Chillolini (2,527th place), and third place Blackbeaty took the tournament off. Anders "Donald" Berg is threatening for another title tied for fourth place (but as mentioned did not make the money), but fellow players in fourth place evanski (6,282nd place) and naurits (DNP) also did not gain on the leaderboard for that PCA 2013 prize package and Player of the Series trophy.

The end of day one would end with 49 players remaining as the top ten below being led by OutschOo:

OutschOo 5,791,406
KeryaFadeev 3,406,623
manue 3,171,942
J_Marcos 3,139.344
mumble200 2,913,452
Se7enTr3y 2,534,771
Chocoyote 2,120,669
elfeggg 2,033,354
Gederts 1,931,814
grajzel 1,779,158

After two hours of the re-start only two tables remained in play as maximum123 led the way with the first eight figure chip stack followed closely by Chocoyote and redKameleon. Day one chip leader OutschOo would not remain after falling in 14th place ($277.68).

Se7enTr3y would take a nasty bad beat near the bubble. With the ante up to 90K, Se7enTr3y would shove from 1.65 million preflop and was called by Chocoyote's [As][5s]. 3.8 million in the middle would get the British player right back into this tournament as Se7enTr3y flipped up the dominating [Jh][Ad]. The flop had a difference in opinion and laid out a wheel from Chocoyote [2h] [4d] [3d]. Despite the flush scare on the turned [9d] Se7enTr3y blanked on the river [Qs] finishing in 11th place. Showing that high stakes players are trying to grab every Player of the Series point and dollar from this tournament series, Se7enTr3y has long history of big final tables, most recently gracing the Super Tuesday final table in February and chopping it up for $58,467.48

After a 30 minute hand-for-hand wait, it would take a minor cooler before our final table was set. With the antes up to 125,000 chip leader CarltonRulz would raise it up to 233,333 getting called by cacha112 in the small blind. [9s][2s][Jh] on the flop got cacha112 to check as CarltonRulz set out 300,000 as cacha112 was not giving up this large pot and moved all-in for 2.19 million holding top pair [Ks][Jd] with a decent kicker. The decent kicker did not phase CarltonRulz's flopped set of nines [9c][9h] making the call. [Kd] on the turn did open up four outs, but the [Th] on the river closed out the penultimate table and cacha112's tournament in tenth place ($370.24) starting up the final table below:

Seat 1: elfeggg (10667727 in chips)
Seat 2: KeryaFadeev (5619968 in chips)
Seat 3: maximum123 (12914377 in chips)
Seat 4: redKameleon (3058297 in chips)
Seat 5: CarltonRulz (12604781 in chips)
Seat 6: PoLoTeN41kXX (3294300 in chips)
Seat 7: J_Marcos (3250255 in chips)
Seat 8: neonasl (9299808 in chips)
Seat 9: Chocoyote (5405487 in chips)

27 hours 30 minutes to get here... one minute to leave

On the final table's third hand and antes still at 125,000 chips, Chocoyote with over five million tried to snag the 1.125 million sitting in the middle with a shove. However, two seats down was KeryaFadeev with a little bit bigger stack and pocket tens [Tc][Th]. The Russian would make the call as Chocoyote's pocket eights [8c][8h] would melt quickly on the [Js] [Ts] [5d] [4s] [7c] board becoming the final table's first casualty in ninth place ($555.36).

Plenty for the blinds, not so much for the antes

PoLoTeN41kXX would be UTG with the antes up to 150,000. Sitting on a stack of 1.34 million the Russian could afford over 2,000 orbits around the eight handed table. Ante up was about to let this tourney run until my daughter is ready to drive in 10 years and with the antes PoLoTeN41kXX could only afford to see nine more hands. [As][6d] seemed good enough to go with as PoLoTeN41kXX shoved. maximum123 in the small blind with pocket jacks [Jh][Jd] making the call. The [7c] [7s] [9h] [Qd] [2h] board gave no reason for alarm as the pocket jacks would take down PoLoTeN41kXX's ace leaving the Russian in eighth place ($925.61).

Taking the chip lead back

KeryaFadeev would lose the chip to maximum123. But only briefly thanks to the 17.4 million pot in the video below:

RSS readers please click through to view video

It would be race situation as the antes remained at 150,000 and neonasl would lead off with a raise to 335,800 and KeryaFadeev three-bet to 1.52 million. Back around to neonasl holding pocket sevens [7s][7c] and a lot of confidence, he would shove for 8.1 million. KeryaFadeev could cover the bet, making the call with [Ah][Qh]. The nut-flush draw [3h] [8d] [Jh] would show itself on the flop but a different dagger came out on the turn. [Qs] paired up KeryaFadeev as the one-outer on the river [5s] would not hit and neonsal was down for good in seventh place ($1,851.22).

Unable to change numbers

Chameleons may be able to change colors, maybe even suits on a card, but redKameleon was not able to change a board to match his hand. With the antes up to 175,000 redKameleon would call a 196,700 raise by maximum123 as J_Marcos shoved for 5.45 million from the button. maximum123 quickly folded but redKameleon with a little less than two million pondered a call. Pocket treys [3c][3s] were left hoping for a race to claim the 5.5 million chip pot as redKameleon made the call. Pocket eights [8h][8d] was the exactly the type of hand redKameleon was trying to avoid as the flop quickly ended any hope of a miracle giving J_Marcos a set of eights and finishing with the boat [Tc] [8s] [Qd] [2c] [Qs] to give redKameleon some green in the form of sixth place money ($2,776.83).

Cracked egg

As the antes moved up to 200,000 there was a very brief pause for chop discussions but the remaining five felt there was plenty of play left with a 13.1 million chip average so play continued. While four players enjoyed stacked over 10 million, elfeggg held on to just 4.1 million while calling a button raise from J_Marcos from the small blind. Both players checked the [Th][3c][As] flop. [9d] on the turn got both players excited as J_Marcos led out for 845,555 and elfeggg came back with a shove to 3.4 million. Top two [Ad][Td] made the call an easy one for J_Marcos as elfeggg's tournament hopes leaned on an open ended straight draw [8d][Jd]. The [4s] river would ship the 8.8 million chips to J_Marcos as elfeggg received $3,702.44 in fifth place.

MAXMIUS!

The gladiator maximum123 would go to war against KeryaFadeev just three hand after elfeggg wobbled off the table. Watch below as the two build up a 25.3 million chip pot:

After a 732,105 preflop raise by KeryaFadeev and a call by maximum123 the players would both check the [3h][2c][Qh] flop. [Jc] on the turn got KeryaFadeev to push out 1.37 million as maximum123 made the call. [Qd] river and KeryaFadeev tried again with a 2.5 million chip bet, but this time maximum123 pushed the max which was enough to put KeryaFadeev all-in. Thinking bluff, KeryaFadeev made the call with a pair of threes [Ks][3s], but maximum123 was doing anything but bluffing flipped up trip ladies, top kicker [Qs][Ac] for the 25.3 million chip pot and sending KeryaFadeev to the rail in fourth place ($4,628.05).

Over? Over. Done? Done.

A very quick chop chat between the remaining three and Team Online's Andre "acoimbra" Coimbra hammered out the chip chop below leaving $500 and the champion's SCOOP watch left to play for.

maximum123: $9,639.73
J_Marcos: $8,923.38
CarltonRulz: $8,539.82

Maximum value

Three handed play would last 40 minutes and threatened to go all-day. It was not for lack of aggression or any passive checkdowns, but rather no one making the kill shot to knock someone out. Until the antes moved up to 300,000 and maximum123 made a preflop raise to 350,777 and CarltonRulz made it 1.2 million. maximum123 made the call to see a [6h][9d][9c] flop as CarltonRulz led out for 1.13 million getting another call from maximum123. [8s] on the turn and CarltonRulz checked as maximum123 bet 1.63 million. Like a cougar waiting for prey, CarltonRulz lept out with a check-raise to 5.5 million as maximum123 again calmly made the call. [Th] river and CarltonRulz shoved for 12.7 million as maximum123 serenely called again, this time with more confidence flipping up the rivered straight [Jd][7d]. CarltonRulz tried hard to deter that straight from getting there by the flopped trips [9h][Qc] went into the muck ending the tournament in third place.

Reversal of fortune

The phrase "reversal of fortune" as a slightly different meaning in the world of competitive eating (we suggest not looking up "reversal of fortune and eating" on YouTube with a full stomach). But, while heads-up in a poker tournament it means overcoming your larger stacked opponent as J_Marcos would start with a 22.3 million to 43.7 disadvantage against maximum123 for the Event #14-L title.

Then over the course of a 10 minute heads-up battle J_Marcos would nip away at that lead. A 15 million chip pot, then four hands later an 8.5 million chip pot, then a 7.6 million chips pot thus grabbing a 37.3 million to 28.7 million chip lead going into the decisive hand.

With the antes up to 350,000 J_Marcos made a raise to 310,000 as maximum123 called to see the [2c][9s][7c] flop. maximum123 checked as J_Marcos followed through with a 875,000 chip bet. maximum123 mini-check raised, as J_Marcos ended all silliness with a shove that covered maximum123's stack. Holding top pair [Jc][9d] maximum123 made the call and saw immediately the kicker problems that would end the tournament. J_Marcos showed [9h][Kh] for the same pair, higher kicker and successfully dodged the three-outer on the turn [3h] and river [4h] to claim the Event #14-L title!

$25,000 guarantee SCOOP 2012 Event #14-L $7.50 Ante Up results (05-12-12)
(* denotes part of three-way deal)
1. J_Marcos (Brazil) *$9,423.38
2. maximum123 (Norway) *$9,639.73
3. CarltonRulz (Australia) *$8,539.82
4. KeryaFadeev (Russia) $4,628.05
5. elfeggg (Russia) $3,702.44
6. redKameleon (Denmark) $2,776.83
7. neonasl (Lithuania) $1,851.22
8. PoLoTeN41kXX (Russia) $925.61
9. Chocoyote (Germany) $555.36

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

SCOOP 2012: Deeb catches Blom in Player of Series
race

If Viktor "Isildur1" Blom thought he was going to run away with the overall SCOOP 2012 Player of the Series title, he probably should've consulted Shaun Deeb first. As of the most recent update, Deeb had jumped up to tie Blom for the overall lead.

As has been widely and exhaustively reported, Blom won two back-to-back SCOOP titles in the first week of this year's online festival. The two first place finishes combined with a quarterfinal finish in the $2,100 PLO Heads-Up event and top 100 finish (okay, he finished 100th) in SCOOP-02-H: $2,100 NL Hold'em rocketed Blom to the very top of the overall leaderboard.

Blom: Who is that creeping up on me?

Deeb (profiled here yesterday) seems to have decided to make a run for the title, too. He's cashed seven times already, including a win in the $2,100 Stud event and a final table in the $27 NLHE turbo last night. If there was any question about whether his move to Play del Carmen, Mexico was a good one, put those concerns to rest. Deeb is on his game this year and prepared to give the King of Swing a run for his money.

Deeb: See these people? I beat them all. Blom is next.

The two leaders are joined in the hunt by (the only) three-time SCOOP winner, cal42688; Team PokerStars Pros ElkY and Martin Staszko; Team Online's Anders "Donald" Berg; as well as a lot of other immeditely recognizable names. With nearly half of this year's events in the can, this race is shaping up to be one worth watching.

Here's what the overall leaderboard looks like at this hour.

SCOOP 2012 Player of the Series Leaderboard

As you might be aware, this year, in addition to the overall race, PokerStars is awarding Player of the Series prizes across all buy-in levels. As it stands today, Switzerland's DeeKay8686 leads the low buy-in race, Germany's cyberkanguru is on top of the medium buy-in battle, and Canada's paulgees81 is on top of the high buy-in leaderboard.

While that's how it stands now, there are still nine more days of action before the finish line. It's literally still anyone's game.

To keep an eye on the leaderboard over the weekend and into next week, check out the SCOOP Player of the Series page.

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

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

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

Only the strongest shall survive two-day tournaments, like Event #13-H $2,600 NL Knockout. 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 the 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 consolation prize.

Event #13-H NL 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, earning $16,633.20 for a ninth-place finish.

LOST IN THE SUPERMARKET: Fiskin1 eliminated in 8th place

Fiskin1 was short-stacked during 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 bid farewell 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 seized 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 fell short when he ran into a sizzling ROSTBURK. Both players shoved 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 players left in the mix, ROSTBURK improved his monsterstack to over 1.4 million. He had twice as many chips as whereisdonny (671,329) in second place. Rounding out the rest of the bunch were WushuTM (232,351) and shorty 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 found himself ahead once again, 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 picked up another $500 bounty. Ansgar2000 earned $78,156 for a fourth-place finish.

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

DEATH OR GLORY

Even though pack caught up after a couple levels, ROSTBURK still maintained a healthy lead with 50% of the chips in play. That's when whereisdonny connected with a damaging blow. ROSTBURK and whereisdonny went at each other, and everything went in before the flop, including donny's last 557,045. ROSTBURK found himself in a rare spot and trailing 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 and whereisdonny shipped the pot to avoided an elimination. ROSTBURK coughed up the lead and whereisdonny momentarily jumped into the top spot with 1.27 million. ROSTBURK and WushuTM were almost even in chips with 600K apiece.

ROSTBURK waited only two hands before he retaliate against his nemesis. 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 on the turn and river, so 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 with ROSTBURK's [6h][6c] pitted against WushuTM's [As][Kc]. The board ran out [7h][3c][Ts][2c][5s]. ROSTBURK's sixes held up after he dodged a King and/or an Ace to win the pot. He also won a $500 bounty for knocking out WushuTM. 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)

At the start of heads-up, ROSTBURK held a 2-1 advantage. After 40 minutes of mental chess, whereisdonny won eight hands in row and 10 out of 11 to draw almost even. When whereisdonny pulled down a 240k pot, he finally held the lead.

LONDON CALLING: whereisdonny eliminated in 2nd place

Once ROSTBURK lost the lead, he snapped out of his funk and quickly regained the lead, albeit by a small margin.

And then it happened... whereisdonny opened to 41,400, ROSTBURK raised to 102,500, and whereisdonny called. On the flop of [Ad][7c][3s]. ROSTBURK bet out 81,500 and whereisdonny called. The [8s] fell on the turn and 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 insta-called. Unfortunately, whereisdonny was betting with air and only held [Qh][9s]. ROSTBURK tabled [As][5s]. He was ahead preflop, then paired his Ace on the flop, and 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 earned $140,280. ROSTBURK won $190,380 for shipping Event #13-H Knockout and winning his first SCOOP title.

Watch the final hand in the replayer:

Event #13-H $2,600 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.

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

SCOOP 2012: naurits notches a win in Event $15-L
($27 FL Omaha Hi/Lo)

"This is takes forever," said naurits, typing into the chat box in broken English.

Truer words were never spoken in a split-pot tournament. Omaha hi/lo isn't a game of body blows and knockout punches, it's all little kicks and jabs that build on each other and leave you stumbling around half-blind, wondering how you got there. Although naurits was a little punch-drunk when he arrived at the final table, his stack the second-shortest of the nine remaining players, he found the sweet spot at the right time and came back to win a SCOOP title and over $10,000.

2,972 players bought in for $27 a pop, bringing the prize pool up to $74,300. 378 places were paid with first place set to earn $11,740.31. Team Pros Martin Staszko, George Danzer, Eugene Katchalov, Marcin Horecki, and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier were in the fray along with Team Online's Mickey "mement_mori" Petersen, George "Jorj95" Lind III, and Anders "Donald" Berg. Unfortunately none of our red spade bearers finished in the money in this one.

The final table bubble dragged on for the better part of four levels, the betting limits rising to 80,000/160,000. Left with 175,000, Meximus007 put the last of his chips in before the flop with[4d][6d][6s][Th] and MondSpieler called with [As][2h][8s][Tc]. MondSpieler flopped trip deuces, the board running out [Jh][2s][2c][7d][7s] to send Meximus007 home in tenth place.

Final table chip counts:

Seat 1: kuhns89 (1,399,252 in chips)
Seat 2: naurits (570,167 in chips)
Seat 3: MondSpieler (1,214,430 in chips)
Seat 4: Mitorun (743,911 in chips)
Seat 5: Winnetou (2,376,721 in chips)
Seat 6: andodo2526 (860,210 in chips)
Seat 7: nordan (479,803 in chips)
Seat 8: GlassOfBeer (3,101,155 in chips)
Seat 9: Kid_Poker47 (4,114,351 in chips)

Rockets, missed draws, and counterfeits

Naurits scooped a huge pot right off the bat by rivering a six-high straight against Kid_Poker47 and nordan to move up to 2.4 million in chips. The last of nordan's chips went in the middle a few minutes later, his [Ad][Kd][6s][3c] up against Kid_Poker47's [Ac][Ah][2d][6h] Although nordan flopped a pair of kings, he didn't improve further and Kid_Poker47's aces held up to scoop the pot. Nordan exited in ninth place, earning $631.55.

Less than an orbit later, Mitorun called all-in on a [Jd][2s][6c] flop. His [Ad][3c][4s][5h] had straight and low draws but he missed both, the turn and river falling the [6d] and the [Kh]. MondSpieler's [Ac][Jc][5d][2d] scooped with jacks and sixes and Mitorun was out in eighth for $1,077.35.

The next deal of the cards saw another elimination, kuhns89 betting the last of his chips on a [As][Jd][8c][Qc] board. Naurits called. Kuhns89 turned over [Ah][3h][4h][8h] for aces up while naurits' [Ac][2s][6d][Tc] trailed with only one pair. The river, however, was the [Js], pairing the board and counterfeiting kuhns89's aces and eights. Naurits' ten kicker played and kuhns89 was bounced in seventh place.

MondSpieler shanks Andodo2526, GlassOfBeer whacks Winnetou

Andodo2526 decided that [As][Jh][8h][2d] was the one to go on and cold four-bet to 400,000 pre-flop behind MondSpieler and Winnetou. Both players called and they saw a [Ks][Qh][3d] flop. The rest of andodo2526's chips went in the middle, MondSpieler and Winnetou calling and checking down the [9c] on the turn and the [8d] on the river. Shockingly, MondSpieler's [Ah][Ac][Qs][5c] held up and he scooped the 1.8 million pot, eliminating andodo2526 in sixth place.

Winnetou met his tounament end when he got the rest of his chips in pre-flop against naurits and GlassOfBeer. GlassOfBeer's [As][Jh][7s][3c] rivered two pair on the [Ah][4c][Ks][Td][Js] board, good to scoop the pot and send Winnetou packing in fifth place. He took home $3,232.05 for his efforts.

Kid_Poker47 trips MondSpieler, GlassofBeer drained

Four players remained and naurits broached the subject of a deal, but the idea was quickly shot down by both GlassOfBeer and Kid_Poker47. Play went on, MondSplieler doubling through naurits only to lose a 2.6 million pot to Kid_Poker47 when he rivered a king-high flush. MondSpieler was left with 1.1 million and two small pots later, was on only 259,000 with the betting limits up to 160,000/320,000. The last of MondSpieler's chips went in from the big blind against naurits and Kid_Poker47. The two active players checked down the [Kc][9h][4c] flop and the [3h] on the turn, but when the [4d] hit the river, Kid_Poker47 bet 320,000. Naurits folded and Kid_Poker47 revealed [Ad][4s][6d][8s] for trip fours. MondSpieler's [Ac][5d][7h][9s] was second-best with nines and fours and MondSpieler hit the rail in fourth place, earning $4,345.80.

With the field down to three, naurits held 6.6 million, Kid_Poker47 had 4.7 million and GlassOfBeer was on 3.5 million. The latter, however, quickly fell below 1 million in chips after dropping two large pots to Kid_Poker47. With 828,000 left, naurits got his money in against naurits on a [Ts][7d][3d] flop, his [Ad][2h][5h][9s] looking to hit an ace or a low against naurits' top pair and straight draw with [4h][6c][Th][Js]. GlassOfBeer didn't get what he was looking for, paint cards landing on the turn and river to give naurits the scoop. GlassOfBeer departed in third place, earning $6,241.20 for his finish.

Heads-up chip counts:

Seat 2: naurits (8,432,848 in chips)
Seat 9: Kid_Poker47 (6,427,152 in chips)

Naurits pulled out to a 9.1 million to 5.7 million lead before deciding to once again bring up the subject of a deal. This time, Kid_Poker47 was not only willing to listen, but had an idea of his own:

naurits: why you dont like deal?
Kid_Poker47: il do 10k a piece play for 500?
naurits: ok
Kid_Poker47: ok do tht
naurits: nice :)

Team Online's Grayson "spacegravy" Physioc quickly facilitated the deal. However, when cards went back in the air, they slugged it out for another half an hour for that last $500. The chip lead changed constantly and the counts evened back up before naurits scooped 9 out of 12 pots to move out to 10.7 million.

Naurits solidified his chip lead further in this 3.5 million pot after rivering a straight:

With Kid_Poker47's stack whittled down to only 2.35 million, naurits hit the nut straight and a 6-low with [5s][6d][7d][Qs] on [4d][3h][2s] flop. Naurits led every street and Kid_Poker47 called him down, the turn and river falling the [Jc] and the [Ah]. Kid_Poker47 couldn't beat a six-high straight and a 6-5-3-2-A low and fell to only 104,000.

Kid_Poker47 was all-in from the blinds on the next five hands, but managed to scoop or split his way out of elimination every time. On the sixth hand, though, he met his end, naurits scooping with a pair of deuces and a 7-6 low:

Congratulations to naurits for winning his first SCOOP title. He earned $10,503.86 for the win while Kid_Poker47 banked $10,003.85 for his runner-up finish.

2012 SCOOP Event #15-L ($27 FL Omaha Hi/Lo) results:

1. naurits (Estonia) $10,503.86*
2. Kid_Poker47 (United Kingdom) $10,003.85*
3. GlassOfBeer (Finland) $6,241.20
4. MondSpieler (Netherlands) $4,345.80
5. Winnetou (Poland) $3,232.05
6. andodo2526 (Canada) $2,489.05
7. kuhns89 (Germany) $1,746.05
8. Mitorun (Russia) $1,077.35
9. nordan (Sweden) $631.55

*= reflects the result of a two-way deal that left $500 in play for the winner

Busto or robusto, there's a SCOOP event for you. Head over to the SCOOP page for a full schedule of events and satellite information.

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

Other places for great content

With the LasVegasVegas project winding down, here are a few excellent resources for poker and vegas related content.

Poker:

Poker Player Newspaper - Lots of poker news and strategy.

Pokerati - Excellent Poker Blog.

Bill Rini - A poker industry insider with great insights.

Vegas:

2 Way Hard 3: A great and fun Vegas Blog from the fine folks at Rate Vegas.

The Die Is Cast (David G. Schwatz): Blog of the UNLV Director of the Center for Gaming Research.

What happened to LasVegasVegas?

read more

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

SCOOP 2012: PetjeXL topples Team Pro Nacho
Barbero in Event #16-L ($27 NLHE 2x-Chance Turbo)

Four months ago, PetjeXL missed out on a TCOOP title by one spot, his runner-up finish in Event #17 ($109 NLHE 1R1A) earning him nearly $75,000. It was his largest-ever tournament score on PokerStars, outdoing the $70k he won for third place in the Sunday Warm-Up, but was still a bittersweet finish he was no doubt looking to improve upon. As PetjeXL hit the final table of Event #16-L, he had already bobbed and weaved his way through 12,572 players-- a miracle in and of itself-- but still faced one extremely powerful adversary.

Team PokerStars Pro Nacho Barbero's accomplishments on the live circuit have been well-documented here on the PokerStars Blog and often served with a heaping dose of puns on his name. He won back-to-back titles during Season 3 of the Latin American Poker Tour and picked up a high roller title at the EPT London only a few months later. What you might not know is that Barbero is also an accomplished online MTT player as well. Case in point-- he's already a SCOOP titleholder, having won the $2,100 limit hold'em event in 2010. Barbero was poised to take down his second SCOOP title tonight, but it was PetjeXL's turn to shine as he came from behind during heads-up play to take the top spot and the $62,255.69 first-place prize.

Team PokerStars Pro Nacho Barbero

Event #16-L had a double-chance format. Should a player lose all their chips, they were permitted to buy back in one more time. The 12,572 entrants ended up making 5,669 rebuys, pushing the prize pool up to $456,025. Nearly two dozen members of Team Pro and Team Online were in the field and eight of them cashed including Anders "Donald" Berg (1,526th), Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier (1,264th), George Danzer (783rd), Jude Ainsworth (723rd), Mickey "mement_mori" Petersen (532nd), Matthias De Muelder (368th), and Martin Staszko (54th).

Barbero was the dominant chip leader with two tables remaining, but lost it to emoe119 when the field was down to 11. Emoe119 widened his lead when mick davy three-bet shoved [Ad][4d] right into his pocket kings on the final table bubble, the cowboys holding up on a ten-high board.

Final table chip counts

Seat 1: emoe119 (24,338,704 in chips)
Seat 2: nachobarbero (13,446,249 in chips)
Seat 3: PetjeXL (12,019,886 in chips)
Seat 4: R0BtheT0P (4,422,404 in chips)
Seat 5: shaundeeb (6,761,016 in chips)
Seat 6: Darryn83 (4,426,848 in chips)
Seat 7: -Homer_Jay-t (12,837,500 in chips)
Seat 8: vandir4rek (3,308,176 in chips)
Seat 9: Highmach (9,644,217 in chips)

Short-stack shenanigans

With the blinds up to 400,000/800,000, even the chip leaders were playing 20 big blind poker and the short stacks were eaten away with every ante posted. Vandir4rek had two-thirds of his remaining 1.2 million committed in the big blind when he put the rest of his chips in the middle, Nacho Barbero having opened for a min-raise. Barbero's [Ah][Js] flopped a jack against vandir4rek's [Kd][7s], sending him home with $2,850.15 for ninth place.

Down to only three big blinds, Darryn83 could have quite easily gone out next, but managed instead to double up twice; his [Kd][Tc] held against PetjeXL's [Kc][4c] and his [Ac][Jd] flopped an ace to snap off emoe119's [Qs][Qc]. Rather, it was R0BtheT0P who landed in trouble when he shoved from the small blind with [Qc][3h] and ran into shaundeeb's [Kd][Jh]. Left with little more than half of the 1M big blind, R0BtheT0P called all-in against emoe119, his [9s][3c] falling to [Ad][Tc] when an ace hit the flop. R0BtheT0P departed in eighth place, banking $4,560.25 for his troubles.

Nacho KOs five in a row

Although Barbero had regained the chip lead by this point, emoe119 was still in third position with 15.7 million to Nacho's 20.1 million. Dealt [As][9s] under-the-gun with two smaller stacks in the blinds, emoe119 open-shoved, only to have Barbero snap-reshove behind him and reveal [Js][Jh]. Emoe119 did not improve and found himself suddenly on the rail in seventh place.

In addition to Barbero, there was one more famous face among the final six-- Shaun "shaundeeb" Deeb, who less than 48 hours ago won his second SCOOP title in Event #10-H ($2,100 Stud). Deeb took the time to affirm his support for Barbero in this chat box exchange:

shaundeeb: rooting for you nacho
nachobarbero: me too
shaundeeb: lol
nachobarbero: ty bro
nachobarbero: i am rooting for u after me
shaundeeb: i can beat that
nachobarbero: stick it in good
nachobarbero: lol
shaundeeb: Im so tight

Amidst this conversation, Deeb doubled through Barbero, his pocket jacks easily trouncing [Jd][7s] when they flopped a set. However, despite the double-up and picking up [As][Ah], he wasn't long for this final table. In a double elimination hand, Barbero snapped off Deeb's aces and -Homer_Jay-t's [Ac][9d] when his [8c][Td] turned a queen-high straight. -Homer_Jay-t started the hand with fewer chips and took sixth place ($13,680.75) while Deeb finished fifth ($18,241.00).

Once again, Barbero held a dominant chip lead, his 59.7 million three times as much as second-place PetjeXL's 19.7 million. Darryn83 was back down to 2.6 million, and although his [2s][4c] flushed away Barbero's [3h][3d] when four spades hit the board, he couldn't hang on for much longer. Darryn83 shoved his remaining 4.86 million with [Ks][Jh] and Barbero called from the big bilnd with [2d][5d]. Although the [Ac][Qs][4h] flop was good for Darryn83, Barbero hit running fives to make trips and sent him to the rail in fourth place.

The next deal of the cards saw PetjeXL call Barbero's shove and double up to 34.5 million, his [Ad][7d] holding against [3c][7c]. With only 6.6 million and the blinds up to 700,000/1,400,000 Highmach was caught between two giants and went out a few hands later after shoving with [Kc][3h] from the small blind, only to have Barbero wake up with pocket queens in the big. Highmach's third-place finish earned him $31,921.75, by far his largest-ever tournament score on PokerStars.

Heads-up chip counts:

Seat 2: nachobarbero (56,782,358 in chips)
Seat 3: PetjeXL (34,422,642 in chips)

Heads-up could have been over in all of three hands, Barbero calling PetjeXL's shove with [Kd][6c] on a [Ks][Tc][7s] flop. PetjeXL turned over [Kh][3s], but they split the pot when the turn and river came the [5h] and the [Qs]. PetjeXL gained traction on Barbero, picking up a 21 million pot when he four-bet shoved a [Th][9s][2d] flop and got a fold. Barbero, however, pulled back out when his [6s][8s] turned a flush and got two streets of value.

PetjeXL had 22.4 million to Barbero's 68.7 million when one hand turned it all around for the Dutchman. He limped in from the small blind and Barbero made it 4.8 million to go. PetjeXL shoved for 22.2 million and Barbero called. PetjeXL's [7h][8h] was in dismal shape against Barbero's [Js][Jh], but they were instantly snapped off when the flop fell [Tc][8s][7s]. Barbero couldn't hit a nine or a jack and PetjeXL raked in the 45 million pot to pull their chip counts even.

From there, PetjeXL steadily chipped away at Barbero, moving up to 57 million when he flopped top pair against Barbero's middle pair. It finally came down to two ace-high hands getting it in pre-flop, PetjeXL's [Ac][9d] dominating Barbero's [Ad][4d]. Both turned top pair, but PetjeXL's kicker played when the board paired eights on the river:

Congratulations to PetjeXL on his first SCOOP title. He took home $62,255.69 for the win while runner-up Nacho Barbero earned $44,006.41.

2012 SCOOP Event #16-L ($27 NLHE (2x Chance Turbo) results:

1. PetjeXL (Netherlands) $62,255.69
2. Team PokerStars Pro Nacho Barbero (Argentina) $44,006.41
3. Highmach (Unted Kingdom) $31,921.75
4. Darryn83 (Canada) $22,801.25
5. shaundeeb (Mexico) $18,241.00
6. -Homer_Jay-t (Brazil) $13,680.75
7. emoe119 (Russia) $9,120.50
8. R0BtheT0P (Switzerland) $4,560.25
9. vandir4rek (Russia) $2,850.15

Shaun Deeb's fifth-place finish tonight moved him up to tie Viktor "Isildur1" Blom for the top spot on the SCOOP leaderboard. Check it out on the SCOOP page, where you can also find a complete schedule of events and satellites.

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

SCOOP 2012: Borys313 wins Event #15-H ($2,100 FL
Omaha Hi/Lo)

While most cash game players tend to stick to the cash games and leave the tournaments for those chasing the dream they will periodically venture over and take a shot. Bory313 ventured over to the tournament felt in the 2012 Spring Championship of Online Poker Event 15-H where he joined a who's who of poker.

After 10 hours of trying to scoop the entire pot rather than only half as is the case with most split-pot game hands he stood at the top looking down at all the carnage slipping on his first SCOOP bracelet and counting the $57,000 plus that he won.

**********************************

The high version of the 2012 SCOOP Event 15 brought in 105 players to generate a $210,000 prize pool, just over four times the guarantee. Only 12 of those 105 would get their buy-in back and then some with the eventual winner getting $57,750.

Once the field shrunk to the final 18 all the players could be found on two tables. Found near the bottom of the leader board at that point was Jason "JasonMercier" Mercier. Mercier managed to scoop a few pots to get some much needed double ups but it was only good enough to keep him alive for a 15th place finish three away from making it to the money. It was joiso who finished in 13th becoming the bubble boy guaranteeing the final 12 $5,250 each.

After a lengthy final table bubble it was Kroko-dill who started the final table with the chip lead. PokerStars Team Online member Kristian "CharismA3" Martin trailed by just over 40,000. Also joining the pair on the final table were Team Online member Anders "Donald" Berg and Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier.

Seat 1: Vingtcent (42,647 in chips)
Seat 2: ElkY (44,689 in chips)
Seat 3: CharismA3 (75,601 in chips)
Seat 4: rdmr (17,863 in chips)
Seat 5: paulgees81 (53,102 in chips)
Seat 6: Lyndon360 (65,183 in chips)
Seat 7: Kroko-dill (117,731 in chips)
Seat 8: Donald (53,342 in chips)
Seat 9: Borys313 (54,842 in chips)

First one to go:

The first elimination came on the 22nd hand after numerous all-ins that saw split pots. It was a battle of the short stacks with Vingtcent having a smaller stack than rdmr. Vingtcent was the first to put a raise in pre flop making it 5,000 form middle position. He was re-raised by rdmr on the button which he called. The pair saw the [Th][7c][6s] flop. Vingtcent checked, rdmr bet 2,500, Vigtcent raised to 5,000, rdmr three-bet to 7,500, and Vingtcent four-bet shoved all-in to 8,272, rdmr called. The pairs hands were revealed with Vingtcent holding an inside straight draw and seven/six/three-high low draw with [Jd][8d][3s][2s] while rdmr had top pair top kicker and seven/six/five-high low draw. The [3c] turn brought a smaller pair for Vingtcent but also gave rdmr a qualifying low. The [7s] river gave each player two pair, but it was rdmr's tens and sevens along with seven-high low that scooped the pot to eliminated Vingtcent in ninth place where he collects $6,300.

Chop chop, finally an elimination:

Just like the final table bubble it took quite a few hands before the next player was eliminated. After surviving a few all-in moments where he caught at least a quarter of the pot Kroko-dill moved all-in under-the-gun after initially raising to 6,000 and getting re-raised to 9,000 by paulgees81 from the small blind. Lyndon360 called the re-raise only to see Kroko-dill move all-in for 10,296 total. Both players called and the three saw a [Kd][9s][2d] flop. First to act paulgees81 bet 3,000, Lyndon360 called. They then saw a [Ks] turn which brought a check from paulgees81 and a bet to 3,000 from Lyondon360, paulgees81 folded and the cards were revealed. Lyondon360 held [Kh][Kc][4h][4d] for quad kings while Kroko-dill held [Ah][Qc][6h][2s]. The [7d] river determined nothing as Kroko-dill was drawing dead and eliminated in eighth place collecting $7,350.

Next two go quickly:

Unlike the last three eliminations the next two came quickly. It all got started with ElkY mixing things up with Borys313. Borys313 started the hand by raising to 6,000, he got called by ElkY and paulgees81. The three saw a [Qh][Jd][7s] flop, paulgees81 checked, Borys313 bet 3,000, ElkY raised to 6,000, paulgees81 folded, Borys313 three-bet to 9,000, and ElkY called. The [2d] brought much of the same as Borys313 opened to 6,000, ElkY raised to 12,000, Borys313 three-bet to 18,000 and then ElkY four-bet shoved to 23,814 to go all-in. Borys313 called and showed [Ah][Kd][Js][7d] for two pair jacks and sevens, inside straight draw, and king-high flush draw while ElkY held [Ad][Qd][7h][3d] for two pair queens and sevens, and the ace-high flush draw. The [Jh] gave Borys313 a full house along to win the hand and eliminated ElkY in seventh place.

After being involved in the last two hands that saw an elimination but not being the one to do the elimination paulgees81 finally got his hands dirty. It all started with rdmr opening from under-the-gun to 6,000, paulgees81 made it 9,000, rdmr bumped it to 12,000, and paulgees81 called. The pair saw a [9d][4s][4h] flop, rdmr opened to 3,000, paulgees81 made it 6,000, rdmr moved all-in for 5,623 total, paulgees called. The [As][Ks][7h][4c] that paulgees81 held was better than rdmr's [Ah][Ac][Js][6s]. The [Jc] turn gave rdmr some outs but they did not come on the river, [Td]. Getting eliminated in sixth place netter rdmr $11,025.

Eliminator becomes the eliminated:

Things went down hill for paulgees81 after eliminating rdmr. After losing more than half his stack without a showdown he took a stand against Lyndon360 in a blind versus blind battle that also included Borys313 before the flop. Borys313 started the action by raising to 8,000, paulgees81 re-raised to 12,000, Lyndon80 called as did Borys313. The [Ts][6d][5c] flop brought an open from paulgees81 to 4,000. Lyndon80 called and Borys313 folded. The turn was a [Jh], paulgees81 once again opened this time to 8,000, Lyndon313 called. The rest of paulgees81 stack, 3,496, went into the middle on the [4s] river, Lyndon313 called and showed [Ad][3h][2h][2d] for the six-high straight and six-high low to scoop the pot against paulgees81's [Ks][Kh][5d][3c]. Going out in fifth place meant paulgees81 collects $14,700.

Can we get a fourth?

The quick eliminations was just too good to last as the players started to move the chips around. After staging a come back a couple of times CharismA3 finally ran out of lives. Facing a raise from Donald, and re-raise from Borys313, CharismA3 made it 20,000 leaving only 2,288. Both Donald and Borys313 called and the three saw a [Jh][6s][3c] flop. CharismA3 put that remaining 2,288 into the middle, Donald called, Borys313 made it 5,000 and Donald called. The [8h] turn brought a check form Donald and a 10,000 bet from Borys313, Donald once again called and they saw a [Td] come on the river. Donald once again check-called the 10,000 chip bet of Borys313. The cards were revealed with Boys313 holding [Ac][Ah][4s][2h] to take the low and Donald holding [As][Js][Jc][6c] to take the high. CharismA3's hand was mucked and he was eliminated in fourth place collecting $19,950.

Down to two:

After getting crippled a few hands before where his cards were mucked and he couldn't beat a pair of tens Donald found himself with less than one big bet. Two hands later he was all-in and hoping to survive. All three players saw a [9s][9h][2d]. Borys313 opened to 5,000 and Lyndon360 got out of the way. Borys313 held [As][Qd][9c][5h] while Donald held [Ac][Jh][4c][4h]. The [8d] turn and [Qc] river only improved Borys313's hand sending Donald out in third place collecting $29,400.

Heads-up play:

When heads-up play began Lyndon360 held a slight chip lead over Borys313. The pair played a few hands before play was paused for the pair to discuss a deal but they decided to just play it out before even seeing the numbers. Here is how the two stood at the beginning of heads-up play:

Seat 6: Lyndon360 (298,634 in chips)
Seat 9: Borys313 (226,366 in chips)

A few hands after the pair resumed play Borys313 took over the lead and never looked back. Over the 107 hands that the two played against each other Borys313 struggled to finish Lyndon360 off.

It was the 103rd hand that started the end for Lyndon360 when Bory313 rivered a flush to win a 108,000 chip pot. Three hands later it was a pair of threes along with a six-high low that helped Bory313 scoop the 96,000 chip pot that left Lyndon360 with just over 16,000 to play with.

The final hand saw all the chips get into the middle pre-flop. Lyndon360 showed [Jd][6s][5s][2h] while Borys313 held [Qc][Jh][7h][2d]. The [Qs][Th][8d] flop brought a pair of queens for Borys313. That pair of queens was all that he would need as the [7c] turn and [Td] river did not improve Lyndon360's hand sending him out in second collecting $38,850.

Congrats to Borys313 on capturing your first SCOOP title along with the $57,750.

SCOOP Event #15-H ($2,100 Limit Omaha H/L) Results:

1st place: Borys313 - $57,750
2nd place: Lyndon360 - $38,850
3rd place: Donald - $29,400
4th place: CharismA3 - $19,950
5th place: paulgees81 - $14,700
6th place: rdmr - $11,025
7th place: ElkY - $8,925
8th place: Kroko-dill - $7,350
9th place: Vingtcent - $6,500

With the 2012 Spring Championship of Online Poker just now getting started you still have a chance at getting in on the action. Check out the home page where you can find the schedule along with the leader board.

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!