It’s one of the biggest events in the online poker world, with prizes so rich that it takes a full two days to dole them out. It’s the annual Spring Championship of Online Poker’s Main Event, and it’s made more than one player rich beyond their imagining.

With a total prize pool of just under $11.75 million, a crowd of 23,478 combined showed up to participate in the three levels of the biggest game of the spring. The two day event featured plenty of the game’s biggest faces, and included all of the great play you’ve come to expect from the folks at PokerStars. Here’s how the final tables wound up:

SCOOP Main Event – Low ($109, $1M Guaranteed)

As expected, more than half of the event’s total traffic came in the low running, with 19,188 players ponying up their $109 buy-in. The game nearly doubled its guarantee, reaching an astonishing $1,918,800. the top 3,150 places were paid, with a minimum reward of $134.31. Here’s how the final table went:

1: midjat ($191,892.59)

2: Quitti33 ($142,586.02)

3: B18GsrR ($95,940)

4: Grodindono ($76,752)

5: aakkari – Team PokerStars Player ($57,564)

6: pmahoney22 ($38,376)

7: MikeTBH ($26,959.14)

8: iFROST ($17,962.20)

9: Elpinto54 ($11,512.80)

The next highest Team PokerStars player was VARICO, who finished in 245^th place and earned $825.08.

SCOOP Main Event – Mid ($1,050, $3M Guaranteed)

A grand total of 3,675 players turned out for the mid-level SCOOP spot, each paying $1,050 to take their spot. With $3,675,000 on the line, players took their time in this event which took more more than 29 hours to wrap up. The top 459 places were paid, with the low end weighing in at $1,690.50. It appears as though a deal was made at the end of the final table, as the prize money will suggest. Here’s what the final table looked like:

1: Mr.M.M0ney ($443,137.50)

2: cooperz0311 ($448,500)

3: Athanosios 9 ($418,500)

4: 888_OCTV ($211,312.50)

5: NOREFUNDS42 ($156,187.50)

6: rage4order ($119,437.50)

7: hook2120 ($82,687.50)

8: cashclctor ($45,937.50)

9: KJulius10 ($29,400)

SCOOP Main Event – High ($10,300, $5M Guaranteed)

This was the big one – the heaviest hitter of them all. For an astounding $10,300 buy-in, players could belly up to their computers for a shot at a $5M guaranteed prize pool. And, most excitingly of all, the 615 entrants managed to beat the guarantee, cranking the total money up to $6.15 million. The lowest prize paid was 72^nd, which took home $20,295). They action went down like this:

1: toetagU ($1,162,350)

2: Sumpas ($851,775)

3: BradL ($627,300)

4: DuckU ($472,550)

5: cpfactor ($332,100)

6: BongBob ($261,375)

7: siola (199,875)

8: ipmetalman ($138,375)

9: delaney_kid ($94,095)

SCOOP Event 37-H [$2100-NLHE]

1.) Taknapotin ($234,333.65)*
2.) jcamby33 ($276,333.33)*
3.) tommyboy83 ($236,071.01)*
4.) niccc ($133,444.00)
5.) chtirly ($94.142.00)
6.) APerfectGent ($75,862.00)
7.) slammedfire ($57,582.00)
8.) e1mdopp ($40,398.80)
9.) BrynKenney ($23,398.40)

* A deal was made

In the medium event, almost 7000 runners formed a prizepool that exceeded $1,000,000. It took nearly 20 hrs, but shuriken555 came out on top. His $205,000 score must have been some kind of vindication for the time he finished sixth in the PokerStars Sunday Million. For second place finisher “Had to be”, it had to be a great feeling to pocket over $150,000. His biggest previous score was a measly $900.

SCOOP Event 37-M [$215-NLHE]

1.) shuriken555 ($205,000.00)*
2.) Had to be ($163,660.79)*
3.) nofingclue11 ($110,597.40)
4.) mikeyKay ($76,667.21)
5.) VanBabe ($57,346.80)
6.) Mpiyavv ($43,692.80)
7.) norcalsurf83 ($30,038.80)
8.) sanyakms ($17,067.50)
9.) tiki2431 ($10,650.12)

* A deal was made

SCOOP Event 37-L [$22-NLHE]

The SCOOP 37 low event attracted a massive field of nearly 25,000 players. Up for grabs was $46,000 for first place. In the end, d3pp was crowned champion. Tournament grinder Adam “ASPoker8″ Shuman finished in fourth place.

1.) d3pp ($46,406)
2.) titokopek ($33,87)
3.) djvbasebal ($21,975)
4.) ASPoker8 ($17,580)
5.) Respek66 ($13,185)
6.) sklu ($8,790)
7.) Clarkson7     ($6,104)
8.) Eke1988 ($4,150)
9.) aGuruZ ($2,441)

The Low portion of this No Limit Hold ‘em contest was a $250 + $20 affair, with $250,000 guaranteed by PokerStars. The popularity of heads-up tournaments was evidenced by the 2048 people who signed on to compete, obliterating the guarantee to build a prize pool of $380,500. Anyone who wanted to take home the largest chunk of that money would have to win a total of 11 heads-up contests. After two days of hard slog, the overall winner would be either drecster or roo_400. Following an hour of back and forth play, drecster moved all-in for the final time and roo_400 made the call. The cards were on their backs before the flop, decster showing Ks-9h against roo_400’s Ac-3d. The board ran out Td-7s-2s-4s-4h, meaning that Ace High was enough for roo_400 to take home the Event #35 Low title and $64,685 in prize money.

This was a big money contest, as demonstrated by the buy-in for the Mid section of Event #35, which stood at a total of $2000 + $100. Luckily, there was the small matter of a $500,000 guaranteed prize pool to attract potential players. Once again, the promise of big payouts and the popularity of heads up combined to push past the guaranteed limit, creating a total prize pool of $640,000. Among those who made the paid places was Jason Mercier – currently ranked No. 2 in the world by ESPN – who bowed out in 10th for $9,600. The final battle was between Jord4n and evanski, who tussled for the nearly $80k difference between first and second place. After some tense back and forth, Jord4n eventually took the lead. On the final hand he had his opponent all but crushed as the duo got themselves all-in on a flop of Q-K-5. Evanski showed a solid Q-8 second pair, but was completely dominated by the set of Kings Jord4n had flopped. The rest of the board brought no respite for evanski, leaving him to collect the $96,000 second place prize, while Jord4n acquired $172,800 for his title-winning performance.

In a heads-up contest, everyone gets their moment in the spotlight. In a mano-a-mano contest there’s no place to hide and your foibles and weaknesses will quickly be exposed by a stronger player. This is especially true in the High stakes section of Event #35, where the $25,000 + $500 buy-in meant that only the best would have the bankroll to compete. There were only 32 entrants for this one, but they still managed to bust through the $750,000 guarantee to build a total prize pool of $800,000. That huge sum would be shared between just four players. Among the big names who failed to make it to the semi-finals were Daniel Negreanu, Shawn Buchanan, Isaac Haxton, Timothy Adams, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Alex Keating, and Sussie Smith. One well known face who did make it into the money was gunning4you, otherwise known as Scott Seiver. Scott is one of the world’s top tournament players, and is currently ranked 7th in the world by ESPN. He recently took down the High Roller event at the WPT L.A. Poker Classic for $425,000, contributing to live tournament winnings of over $800,000 in 2010 alone. In the final contest he was up against Skämmes, better known as Swedish pro Michael Tureniec, who has over $1.7 million in live tournament earnings.

On a hot run of form, Seiver was the favorite going into the final. To begin with, he played like it, winning pot after pot as his opponent slowly bowed to his aggressive onslaught. Eventually Tureniec managed to find his feet and fought back successfully, taking a chip lead into the final hand. In the end it was a fairly simple dash of luck that decided the victor. On a board of 3-3-6-5, Scott Seiver must have been confident that his Q-Q was in good shape, but Tureniec’s pocket Kings told a different story. There was no miracle lady on the river for Seiver and he finished up in second place for $200,000. That left Michael Tureniec to be crowned the PokerStars SCOOP Event #35 High Stakes Champion, worth a grand total of $320,000.

The payouts (down to the quarter finals) were as follows:

Low:

1. roo_400 ($64,685)
2. drecster ($34,245)
3. C-J Rubin7 ($20,927)
4. Ojeee ($20,927)
5. GGAYCD ($10,463.75)
6. luckymax75 ($10,463.75)
7. Foldage ($10,463.75)
8. James “Andy McLEOD” Obst ($10,463.75)

Mid:

1. Jord4n ($172,800.00)
2. evanski ($96,000.00)
3. 3Kingme3 ($51,200.00)
4. ButchTimothy ($51,200.00)
5. gibralter11 ($22,400.00)
6. Timvd19 ($22,400.00)
7. Sasuke234 ($22,400.00)
lb6121 ($22,400.00)

High:

1. Skämmes ($320,000)
2. gunning4you ($200,000)
3. goatboy1 ($120,000)
4. SWEGIN ($120,000)

The event, a 1 Rebuy 1 Add-on No Limit Hold’em tournament, attracted dozens of the best players online. With 236 players, 155 rebuys and 167 add-ons for $2100 each, the high tier of the event boasted a bloated $1,116,000 prize pool. The winner, Kevin Saul, is a famous player best known for beating Mike Matusow heads-up to win the WPT Bellagio Cup III. The medium level tournament went to kuufer for $124K and fwilliams007 won the low tier for $66K – an excellent win for a $22 buy-in. Combined, the total prize pool was just under $2.35 million.

Other big name finishers for the high event included PokerStars Pro Vanessa “LadyMaverick” Rousso (20th), govshark2 (11th), EDWARDHOPPER (12th), KingKobeMVP (13th), shaundeeb (14th), AABenjaminAA (95th), and Jorj95 (105th).

Saul, playing as “BeL0WaB0Ve”, entered the late stages of the tournament at a big disadvantage because of his small stack. However, he skillfully raked in enough chips to bring himself to a competitive level by the final table. However, he faced very strong competition from these opponents:

cdbr3799: 144,050 chips
caio_pimenta: 358,954 chips
SexSeen: 123,499 chips
BrynKenney: 177,901 chips
sinergio: 62,595 chips
calamitas: 222,946 chips
bad_beat_bud: 98,695 chips
squee451: 357,795 chips
BeL0WaB0Ve: 127,565 chips

Everything was looking rosy for caio_pimenta. He had a history of big tournament wins, including the Sunday Million, and was the chip leader on the final table. He had also been the chip leader or close to it for most of the second half of the tournament. However, he faltered against the other chip leader, squee451, when he opened preflop and then check/called three streets, including a big river shove. The board was 6s 3h Td Js 3c. caio_pimenta showed Ts9c for two pair, Tens and Threes, while squee451 won with 6d6c for a full house. Pimenta finished 9th place.

The next two kills went to Saul (BoLOWaBOVe), who had been steadily building up his stack. He busted BrynKenney by calling pocket fives against AQo, then shoved against SexSeen with pocket queens against pocket tens. After more action, sinergio busted out after shoving the remainder of his tiny stack. Five players remained, but not for long.

Squee451 gained a big lead when he went called an all-in pot between him, calamitas and bad_beat_bud. Squee451 held AsQd, bad_beat_bud was behind with AhJh, and calamitas had the worst hand with KdJc. The board fell 3c 7h 9c 4s As. Squee451 won the pot, and only three players remained.

At this point, the three finalists held an extremely long discussion and finally agreed on a deal. Squee451 (977K chips) won $198K, BeL0WaB0Ve (507K chips) won $175K, and cdbr3799 (189K chips) got away with $150K, leaving $21K left to play for.

Cdbr3799 soon lost with AJs against Kevin Saul’s pocket aces, giving BeL0WaB0Ve the chip lead. From there, squee451 retook the lead, but lost after two big pots. In the first, BeL0WaB0Ve bet/called the 7s 8c 5d flop, checked the Qs turn, and bet the 8s river to show Jc8d for a set. Squee451 mucked. On the second, BeL0WaB0Ve bet a 7c 4c 6d flop and bet again on the 9h river. Squee451 shoved, and he called to reveal a Kc9s for top pair against Qh4h for bottom pair. The river was Kd, giving Saul a clean victory.

Despite being near the top of the standings for most of the game, squee451 could not defeat the short stacked Kevin Saul. However, he actually won a larger prize than Saul, leaving with $198K instead of $191K.

SCOOP-23-H: $1050 NLHE+R ($500K Guaranteed)
1.) mistakooll – $245,165
2.) blanconegro – $183,715
3.) Altrum Altus – $139,370
4.) pitplaya420 – $104,528
5.) mement_mori – $72,219
6.) psuNYY51 – $55,748
7.) “Dumping”KGB – $43,078
8.) lftarii – $30,408
9.) zangbezan24 – $22,173

In the medium event over 1800 runners formed a prizepool of nearly $750,000. PokerStars Team Pro Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier made a deep run and bubbled the final table in 12th place. The eventual champion was bad_beat_bud who had been on a bit of a downswing before tasting victory. Long time grinder and prolific staker Eric “sheets” Haber finished in sevenht place. Runner-up bastet2004 won SCOOP-21-H earlier that same day! He earned almost $200,000 on his impressive tournament spree.

SCOOP-23-M: $11 NLHE+R ($300K Guaranteed)
1.) bad_beat_bud – $118,592
2.) bastet2004 – $88.944
3.) Skammes – $66,708
4.) fumbo420 – $47,548
5.) fishfinder22 – $33,354
6.) TherookieQQ9 – $25,942
7.) sheets – $18,539
8.) Supa4real – $12,971
9.) pool_shark_1 – $7,412

In the low event, over 8500 entrants formed a prize pool in excess of $350,000. In the end, the championship belonged to bg_atlanta. Previously, his biggest score was just under $2000. Second place finisher, MOOSE86CCHS, final tabled the low version of the SCOOP 2 Day Event earlier in the month.

SCOOP-23-L: $11 NLHE+R ($150K Guaranteed)
1.) bg_atlanta – $50,203
2.) MOOSE86CCHS – $36,571
3.) smotpoker23 – $25,815
4.) Daxquel – $17,927
5.) partyhair – $14,342
6.) PokinStaR – $10,756
7.) NotAble2Fold – $7,171
8.) HighNetWorth – $3,585
9.) KAYA634 – $2,438

It came as no surprise that the talent level at the final table of the $1,000 rebuy was exceptionally high. The original guarantee was $600k, and with 341 players showing up, the prize pool ended up an incredible $1,060,000. Two players that have already won SCOOP events this year just missed the final table: ags104 busted in 10th place for $15,900, and Villepn busted 13th for $13,250.

Pat Pezzin, a PokerStars pro, made the final table, and he had his work cut out for him as he had just 20 big blinds to work with when the final table formed. Joining him were many other talented players. Two players frequently seen at high stakes tournament final tables, DuckU and Jason “Taknapotin” Somerville, were both there, as were Steve “Muggylicious” Sung and Shaihulud. Shaihulud is better known as Jay “SEABEAST” Kinkade, and he is well respected as a very dangerous player.

The final table started off fast, and just two hands in blinchik’s flush draw and overcard couldn’t get there against str8flushin5’s top pair. He exited in 9th for $18,550.

Taknapotin and DuckU didn’t stay at the final table for too long, either, as they finished in 7th and 8th place for $36,040 and $25,440 respectively.

Poker Stars Pro Pat Pezzin would be the next out, busted by VerySexual in what can be summed up as a cooler:

Seat 1: CesarSPA (1046644 in chips)
Seat 3: Pat Pezzin (328219 in chips)
Seat 4: VerySexual (396179 in chips)
Seat 5: str8flushin5 (535219 in chips)
Seat 6: shaihulud (1179677 in chips)
Seat 9: muggylicious (304062 in chips)
CesarSPA: posts the ante 1000
Pat Pezzin: posts the ante 1000
VerySexual: posts the ante 1000
str8flushin5: posts the ante 1000
shaihulud: posts the ante 1000
muggylicious: posts the ante 1000
shaihulud: posts small blind 4000
muggylicious: posts big blind 8000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
CesarSPA: folds
Pat Pezzin: raises 10000 to 18000
VerySexual: raises 36440 to 54440
str8flushin5: folds
shaihulud: folds
muggylicious: folds
Pat Pezzin: raises 272779 to 327219 and is all-in
VerySexual: calls 272779
*** FLOP *** [Th 8s 8d]
*** TURN *** [Th 8s 8d] [6d]
*** RIVER *** [Th 8s 8d 6d] [Td]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Pat Pezzin: shows [Qd Qc] (two pair, Queens and Tens)
VerySexual: shows [Kh Ks] (two pair, Kings and Tens)
VerySexual collected 672438 from pot

The PokerStars pro collected $46,640 for his 6th place efforts. Despite these extra chips, VerySexual wasn’t able last much longer as he got into a big pot with str8flushin5 just a few hands later:

Seat 1: CesarSPA (1046644 in chips)
Seat 4: VerySexual (757398 in chips)
Seat 5: str8flushin5 (564897 in chips)
Seat 6: shaihulud (1100999 in chips)
Seat 9: muggylicious (320062 in chips)
CesarSPA: posts the ante 1000
VerySexual: posts the ante 1000
str8flushin5: posts the ante 1000
shaihulud: posts the ante 1000
muggylicious: posts the ante 1000
shaihulud: posts small blind 4000
muggylicious: posts big blind 8000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
CesarSPA: folds
VerySexual: raises 9210 to 17210
str8flushin5: raises 46790 to 64000
shaihulud: folds
muggylicious: folds
VerySexual: raises 102600 to 166600
str8flushin5: raises 397297 to 563897 and is all-in
VerySexual: calls 397297
*** FLOP *** [5s As Jd]
*** TURN *** [5s As Jd] [5h]
*** RIVER *** [5s As Jd 5h] [7c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
VerySexual: shows [Qc Qs] (two pair, Queens and Fives)
str8flushin5: shows [Ac Kc] (two pair, Aces and Fives)
str8flushin5 collected 1144794 from pot

VerySexual battled back and regained some of those chips for a short period of time, but he soon departed in 5th place after losing a coin flip to CesarSPA. CesarSPA couldn’t hold on to these chips either! He was the next one out as his KQ couldn’t beat muggylicious’s A8, and he received $87,450 for 4th.

The three remaining players traded chips back and forth for nearly an hour until muggylicious and Shaihulud played the biggest pot of the tournament:

Seat 5: str8flushin5 (1255841 in chips)
Seat 6: shaihulud (1372353 in chips)
Seat 9: muggylicious (1161806 in chips)
str8flushin5: posts the ante 1750
shaihulud: posts the ante 1750
muggylicious: posts the ante 1750
str8flushin5: posts small blind 7000
shaihulud: posts big blind 14000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
muggylicious: raises 20000 to 34000
str8flushin5: calls 27000
shaihulud: raises 109333 to 143333
muggylicious: raises 276667 to 420000
str8flushin5: folds
shaihulud: raises 950603 to 1370603 and is all-in
muggylicious: calls 740056 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (210547) returned to shaihulud
*** FLOP *** [2c Kd 3h]
*** TURN *** [2c Kd 3h] [6d]
*** RIVER *** [2c Kd 3h 6d] [8h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
shaihulud: shows [Td Th] (a pair of Tens)
muggylicious: shows [Ac Qd] (high card Ace)
shaihulud collected 2359362 from pot

Steve “muggylicious” Sung busted in 3rd place for a cool $116,600.

Shaihulud and str8flushin5 played heads-up for around twenty minutes before this hand occurred:

Seat 5: str8flushin5 (1312588 in chips)
Seat 6: shaihulud (2477412 in chips)
str8flushin5: posts the ante 2000
shaihulud: posts the ante 2000
shaihulud: posts small blind 8000
str8flushin5: posts big blind 16000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
shaihulud: raises 16000 to 32000
str8flushin5: calls 16000
*** FLOP *** [5s Jh 7d]
str8flushin5: bets 48000
shaihulud: calls 48000
*** TURN *** [5s Jh 7d] [4s]
str8flushin5: bets 144000
shaihulud: raises 255999 to 399999
str8flushin5: raises 830589 to 1230588 and is all-in
shaihulud: calls 830589
*** RIVER *** [5s Jh 7d 4s] [3d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
str8flushin5: shows [5h 5d] (three of a kind, Fives)
shaihulud: shows [8h 6h] (a straight, Four to Eight)
shaihulud collected 2625176 from pot

An unfortunate turn card busted str8flushin5 in 2nd place, and he received $153,700. Congratulations to Jay “shaihulud” Kinkade for taking down this prestigious final table and earning an impressive $205,110 for his 19 hours of work. Here were the entire final table payouts:

1. Shaihulud – $205,110
2. str8flushin5 – $153,700
3. muggylicious – $116,600
4. CesarSPA – $87,450
5. VerySexual – $60,420
6. Pat Pezzin – $46,640
7. Taknapotin – $36,040
8. DuckU – $25,440
9. blinchik – $18,550

The $100 rebuy event also featured a prize pool larger than its guarantee, guaranteeing $400k and ended up at $649,100. 2,066 players competed for an impressive $103.8k 1st place prize. Poker Stars Pro George Danzer just missed the final table, finishing in 10th place for $5,030.52. Tcblade, winner of the high buy-in tournament in Event 7, looked to add to his $192,000 winnings by making this final table as well. To help his cause, he won a key coin flip just before the final table, and it left him in a great position to make a run for the top prize. Joining him was Matt “All_in_at_420” Stout, the loser of the aforementioned coin flip, and he was expectedly very short stacked. In fact, Matt saw just two hands at the final table before he was gone in 9th place for $6,491. This final table moved faster than the $1,000 rebuy, and heads-up was reached in less than two hours. Tcblade ended up heads-up with bonzo9876, and at one point tcblade held more than 75% of the chips in play. bonzo9876 managed to work his way out of trouble, however, and he evened up the stacks before this hand took place:

Seat 2: bonzo9876 (13074754 in chips)
Seat 9: tcblade (9672246 in chips)
bonzo9876: posts the ante 25000
tcblade: posts the ante 25000
tcblade: posts small blind 100000
bonzo9876: posts big blind 200000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
tcblade: raises 300000 to 500000
bonzo9876: raises 801221 to 1301221
tcblade: raises 8346025 to 9647246 and is all-in
bonzo9876: calls 8346025
*** FLOP *** [5h Kc 6d]
*** TURN *** [5h Kc 6d] [Td]
tcblade said, “gg sir”
*** RIVER *** [5h Kc 6d Td] [6c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
bonzo9876: shows [Kh Ah] (two pair, Kings and Sixes)
tcblade: shows [3d 3h] (two pair, Sixes and Threes)
bonzo9876 collected 19344492 from pot

Tcblade couldn’t win one last key flip, and as a consequence he finished in 2nd place for $77,892. Bonzo9876 emerged victorious, taking down $103,856.80 and the medium tournament for Event 28. Here were the final table payouts:

1. bonzo9876 – $103,856.80
2. tcblade – $77,892
3. StuMan123 – $58,419
4. duff5013 – $41,639.76
5. SeeYouAnte18 – $29,209.50
6. FisFarFar – $22,718.50
7. riverrabid – $16,227.50
8. The Rounderr – $11,359.25
9. All_in_at420 – $6,491

A whopping 11,764 players showed up for the low version of this event, causing the $200k guaranteed prize pool to inflate to $382,760. It took a very long time to carve through such a large field, and over thirteen hours after the tournament started the final table was finally formed. The final table took less than a couple hours and left KJs257 in 1st place for $51,298.60. Not bad for a $10 rebuy!

Here were the final table payouts:

1. KJs257 – $51,298.60
2. arodss3 – $36,025.37
3. blackdds – $26,793.20
4. Bibirico – $19,138
5. darkhawk-200 – $15,310.40
6. weaselypro – $11,482.80
7. ddsuperii – $7,655.20
8. khanrava – $3,827.60
9. adler11 – $2,296.56

Congratulations to everyone who made money in Event 28! Be sure to stay tuned to FTR in the coming days for the conclusion of our coverage of this year’s SCOOP.

In what turned out be one of the best-attended events in this year’s Spring Championship of Online Poker, three players walked away with some major cash. All told, 21,526 players showed up for the trio of events, with nearly $1.5 million on the line. Check out the results for each below:

SCOOP-26-L: $11 NLHE ($100K Guaranteed)

After nearly 15 hours in front of the screen, it was *guerillaz* emerging victorious from the SCOOP 26 low event. A total of 16,498 players anted up their $11 for a shot at the win, with the prize pool totaling $164,980. The top 2,475 places were paid, with a minimum reward of $14.84. Here’s how the final table shook out:

1: *guerillaz* ($17,809.72)

2: fyssas ($14,023.30)

3: thew00sel ($10,723.70)

4: Pirrio7 ($7,424.10)

5: KaY_sLaY ($5,774.30)

6: CrazyB15 ($4,124.50)

7: tewksbury ($2,474.70)

8: ItWaSsUiTeD3 ($1,484.80)

9: Rhory25 ($989.68)

SCOOP-26-M: $109 NLHE ($200K Guaranteed)

With a prize pool of $420,400 on the line, 4,204 players were engaged in a fierce struggle for the green. Each ponied up $109, and the top 540 slots received a return on their investment. The final table went as follows:

1: Benda ($66,003.97)

2: FrenchKiss99 ($49,186.80)

3: PHHHSkid99 ($34,683)

4: T-MartPoker ($24,173.00)

5: matador009 ($17,867)

6: YaGotBurnt ($13,663)

7: kinabamula ($9,459)

8: basebal1b ($5,255)

9: pokrmike1005 ($3,363.20)

SCOOP-26-H: $1,050 NLHE ($500K Guaranteed)

The high roller version of SCOOP 26 featured some of the biggest pots and best play of the entire event. And really, what else would you expect for a tournament that costs $1,050 per seat? And, despite having only 824 entrants, this tournament was by far the longest, wrapping play after nearly 21 hours. 99 places were paid, with the minimum prize set at $1,895.20. A prize pool of $824K fanned the flames of competition. Here’s how they finished:

1: fkasbergen ($151,204)

2: Nackdawgg ($107.944)

3: nicelife ($81,576)

4: psuNYY51 ($61,388)

5: gboro780 ($42,848)

6: SexSeen ($34,608)

7: DaMurdera3 ($26,368)

8: BongBob ($18,128)

9: gantosholla ($10,712)

As we know, each SCOOP event is broken down into 3 tourneys, with each one catering to a different audience in terms of buy-in. Today’s events had the following buy-ins: $22 for the Low Buy-in tournament, $215 for the Medium Buy-in tournament, and $2,100 for the Highest Buy-n tournament. The games in question today were NLHE Freezeout 2-day events.

L
We begin with the low buy-in tournament. Today’s event had a guaranteed prize pool of $500,000, which is an extreme amount when you consider that the buy-in for this event was $20+2. Despite drawing 21,481 hopefuls into the mix, they did not exceed the prize pool, which meant that there was a fair bit of overlay in this particular tourney. And if there is something that tourney players love, that would be overlay. Besides heaping oodles of Red Bull, of course.

But don’t let the buy-in fool you, as it’s possible that this might have been one of the toughest tourneys that PokerStars has hosted this year. That will change with upcoming Sundays events though. The reason is that since there are so many entrants, the average player is going to be matched up against so many unknowns that it’s impossible to figure out how everyone pays in time. So, theoretically, you’d have to play close to the standard lines, and this may or may not result in early exits.

3,600 out of its 20,000+ entrants got something for their troubles. But all eyes were of course on the final table. Action on the final table was fast and furious, with heads rolling at a comparatively quick rate. As soon as the 4th place finisher, TRAANKKA, got knocked out, the remaining players discussed a deal (because TRAANKKA was the only one that would oppose this). The accepted deal was as follows:

Spoli4tor: $36,500.92
grandslamsal: $30,000.00
gamma21: $28,179.08

$10,000 was left on the table for the winner.

The action continued on a brisk pace. Just 4 hands after the 3rd place finisher got the bad news, HU was already over. This was the hand that ended it all:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 22 Tournament, 800000/1600000 Blinds 200000 Ante (2 handed) – Poker-Stars Replayer from Poker Hands Replayer

Spoli4tor (t178785740)

gamma21 (t36024260)

Preflop:

Spoli4tor bets t3200000, gamma21 raises to t35824260 (All-In), Spoli4tor calls t32624260

Flop: (t72048520) A, 5, 7 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t72048520) 4 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t72048520) 9 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t72048520

Results:

Spoli4tor had Q, Q (one pair, Queens).

gamma21 had 10, 10 (one pair, tens).

Outcome: Spoli4tor won t72048520

And just like that, Spoli4tor rode the heat wave of cards on the final table, and emerged as the last man standing out of a 5-figure field, with a 5-figure payday. Quite a feat in any case, so congrats to all who participated!

M
The medium buy-in event of 2010 SCOOP #20 was a $200+15, which is fairly standard for when it comes to large online tournaments. 8,266 hopefuls showed up for this one. With a prize pool that was guaranteed at $2,000,000, the generated buy-ins fell just short of covering it and therefore this tourney also had excellent overlay.

Among all the hopefuls that got into this tournament lurked many sharks, undoubtedly attracted by the rather large first prize worth $290,000. Among the many talented individuals that participated in this tournament were a host of usual suspects such as FTR’s own busto_soon and a whole array of PokerStars pro’s which included Grayson “Spacegravy” Physioc, Victor Ramdin, USCphildo, Dustin “Leatherass9″ Schmidt and Noah “Exclusive” Boeken. Each and every single one of these guys is an accomplished tourney vet, and they were literally a dime a dozen in this particular tourney, so despite the buy-in not being ultra high you could count on that it would have been a very tough tourney to win.

After VOZNI from Moscow got eliminated in 3rd place, gutshtallin and jakehekejnr discussed a potential deal. It was agreed upon then that gutshtallin would take home $238,884 and jakehekejnr $230,315, despite the stacks being desperately unequal at this point. They would duke it out for the remaining $40,000 from the prize pool.

Oh, and everyone’s favorite high stakes player Barry Greenstein made a cameo appearance in the tourney, and was the final table host. Talk about special!

The final hand went down as follows:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 215 Tournament, 300000/600000 Blinds 75000 Ante (2 handed) – Poker-Stars Replayer from Poker Hands Replayer

jakehekejnr (t70159116)

gutshtallin (t12500884)

Preflop:

jakehekejnr bets t1200000, gutshtallin raises to t12425884 (All-In), jakehekejnr calls t11225884

Flop: (t25001768) 9, A, 3 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t25001768) 5 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t25001768) 5 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t25001768

Results:

jakehekejnr had K, Q (one pair, fives).

gutshtallin had K, 7 (one pair, fives).

Outcome: jakehekejnr won t25001768

And jakethehekejnr took home the additional $40,000 with this beautiful hand. That’s an additional car for the rest of us, you know? Care to take us for a ride? Oh, and congrats!

H
The highest buy-in event of the 2010 SCOOP #20 clocked in at a hefty $2,100 per seat. Accordingly, fewer people showed up to duke it out for this bracelet. But you know exactly where this is going. If the low buy-in tourney had a tough field, and the medium buy-in tourney had a tougher field, this one had an OMG toughest field the likes of which you just don’t see often. This particular event only drew 1,088 participants, but it should be regarded as a gathering of the who is who in poker today. To get an idea of what we are rambling about, here are 5 names taken from the pool at random: t soprano; zangbezan24; IV. Geoffrey; djk123; and finally, gp333. These are all guys who are widely considered to be at the top of the game, and they were all together, duking it out for this specific bracelet.

Once at the final table, the action was slow and deliberate. It did not help that the blinds were very shallow compared to the stacks, meaning that everyone was playing very deepstacked poker.

These players knew each other and played each other well. All in all, it took upwards of 4 hours for play to conclude at the final table, with close to half of that going to the HU battle alone.

The final hand was as follows:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 2100 Tournament, 40000/80000 Blinds 10000 Ante (2 handed) – Poker-Stars Replayer from Poker Hands Replayer

sms9231 (t9141513)

JotaGran49 (t1738487)

Preflop:

sms9231 bets t160000, JotaGran49 calls t80000

Flop: (t340000) J, 6, 10 (2 players)

JotaGran49 checks, sms9231 checks

Turn: (t340000) K (2 players)

JotaGran49 checks, sms9231 bets t200000, JotaGran49 raises to t1568487 (All-In), sms9231 calls t1368487

River: (t3476974) 5 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t3476974

Results:

sms9231 had 5, K (two pair, Kings and fives).

JotaGran49 had K, 7 (one pair, Kings).

Outcome: sms9231 won t3476974

Like true gladiators they fought leaving it all on the field. It’s almost saddening that someone had to lose, but alas, that is the way it goes. sms9231 knew how to exploit the opposition, and took down one of the most prestigious tournaments that will run during this whole year in the process despite not being the chipleader during the whole HU match. Congrats!

A big round of applause to everybody who participated, and keep this in mind: if you did not win, or even cash, today, there is always tomorrow and the day after that. Keep trying, because one of these days Victory will be yours to savor!

Final Tables Cash List, SCOOP 2010 Event #20

NL Hold’em Freeze Out (2-Day)

$20 + $2 buy-in L

1st) Spoli4tor $46,500.92*
2nd) grandslamsal $30,000.00*
3rd) gamma21 $28,179.08*
4th) TRAANKKA $18,000
5th) PLZDUNCALL $13,500
6th) mr.dex $9,000
7th) PRODIGYNEEBR $6,250
8th) 88diamond88 $4,250
9th) Chapalette $2,500
*= after deal
$200 + $15 buy-in M
1st) jakehekejnr $270,315*
2nd) gutshtallin $238,884
3rd) VOZNI $150,000
4th) joaobarb $100,000
5th) brianm15 $80,000
6th) roypappie $60,000
7th) pokerjones66 $40,000
8th) m4ttyd $22,000
9th) Tehp $15,500
*= after deal
$2,000 + $100 H
1st) sms9231 $380,354.80
2nd) JotaGran49 $276,352
3rd) jackellwood $206,720
4th) poker1O1 $154,496
5th) Noctus $108,800
6th) Danneville $87,040
7th) Tagir $65,280
8th) IAmSoSo $43,520
9th) wowspaceaex $25,024

A total of 6,695 players entered the low buy-in event to create a prize pool over $200,000. The final four came down to robot_werter, khanrava, ThoboyJPG, and orange6 with 7,976,739, 17,328,775, 3,537,013, and 4,632,473 chips, respectively. The first elimination came as ThoboyJPG shoved for 1.6 million chips from the small blind with As3s. orange6 made the easy call with pocket queens and ThoboyJPG was out of the tournament. The next knockout came a mere six hands later and was, again, at the hands of orange6. Robot_werter raised to 300,000 with pocket queens and orange6 called out of position with As3h. The 9h3d3s flop was just what orange6 wished for and spelled trouble for robot_werter. Orange6 check-called the flop for 445,000, then check-raised robot_werter’s 1,000,000 chip turn bet to 7.4 million chips, putting robot_werter all-in. Robot_werter called, saw the bad news, the river bricked, and the tournament saw one more knockout. During the second break of heads-up play, khanrava and orange6 agreed on a chop that would guarantee khanrava $22,096.10 and orange6 $19,096.09. The players proceeded to play for $3,000, a SCOOP watch, and the Event 22 title. The knockout blow was dealt by orange6, again, as his AdQh beat khanrava’s AsTh as the chips went all-in preflop.

The medium buy-in event drew 1,440 four-max players and its prize pool reached $432,000. Top poker professionals took a shot at the tournament including Vanessa Rousso, ElkY, and Barry Greenstein. The final four was composed of djdecide, Roxx Box, leguito, and Jan Heitmann. The first to go was djdecide as he cold four-bet shoved Jan Heitmann’s three-bet. The original raiser (Roxx Box) folded but Jan Heitmann called with KsKd. Djdecide and his AcQd needed an ace to continue his tournament run. Unfortunately, the 5h4h2d5c9s board was aceless and djdecide left in fourth place, $20,520 richer. However, Heitmann was the next to go as his AdJs succumbed to Roxx Box’s pocket kings. He received $29,160 for his third place finish. Roxx Box continued his domination and won the tournament when his AhQd beat leguito’s As5c all-in preflop. Leguito won $42,120 while Roxx Box took the SCOOP title and $68,040.

The high buy-in tournament of any SCOOP event is usually considered the main event. Event 22 is no different. With a buy-in of $3,150, only 280 players entered the tournament looking to be the best of the best four-max players. The prize pool reached $840,000 and the top 36 players would win cash. First place would win a huge $210,000 payday. Some poker professionals made the money as Victor Ramdin and Vanessa Rousso placed 15th and 14th, respectively. Squee451, 4rebmun, lb6121, and gboro780 took to the final table after thirteen and a half hours of play. Only forty minutes into the final table, the first player would be knocked out. 4rebmun raised on the button to 9,000 and lb6121 reraised all-in for 110,537. 4rebmun called and showed ace-king against lb6121’s pocket nines. Lb6121 seemed to be in good hands as the flop came Qd3s3c. Unfortunately, the turn was a Ah and the river was a 8h. Lb6121 was gone in fourth place. Steve “gboro780” Gross was the next to go as pocket nines lost another race, this time to squee451’s KhQd. Squee451 won the heads-up contest by winning the tournament’s final five hands. The final hand of the tournament was a bad beat as 4rebmun’s AdQd lost to squee451’s Ah6h. The board came out 9h2s9s5hQh and squee451 rivered his nut-flush. The $210,000 prize was his and 4rebmun had to settle for $134,000.

Make sure you keep up with FlopTurnRiver and the PokerStars SCOOP Events. Good luck to all players looking to enter the tournaments!

The most affordable version was a $20 + $2 tournament with 10-max tables and a $150,000 guarantee. A massive 10,000 people turned up to take a stab at the cash, building a prize pool of just over $170,000. The number of entrants meant that anyone who wanted to capture the title would have to win 4 separate 10-player tables. In the end it took over 14 hours for a winner to be crowned, with the climactic pair concluding their battle at 04:47 ET.

The final table began with a confrontation between lostrom and bil667766. Holding only Q-T against bil’s A-K, lostrom needed some help which never came. Despite dragging that pot, bil667766 didn’t last much longer, running face first into pocket aces. He was joined on the rail by Saa29, who, holding QQ – could do nothing when faced with the pocket kings of Rockfish_UK.

1JC1 fell at the wayside thanks to delysid, before two fishes collided to decide 7th place. Jarfish’s held A-Q, up against the 9-9 of Rockfish_UK. It looked like the pocket pair had one it until a devastating Ace fell on the river to deny Rockfish_UK his shot at the Event #16 title. Jarfish celebrated his victory by knocking out majscht in 5th, with mcf1sh also on his way out at the hands of kalixalven. This set up a three way encounter with delysid and Jarfish, which progressed to heads up when Jarfish moved all in with A-3 against kalixalven’s 5-5. The board contained nothing of interest and that was all she wrote for Jarfish.

Up to this point, delysid had enjoyed a fairly quiet final table, but he stepped up to plate during heads up to topple his aggressive opponent. kalixalven began the contest with a 4-1 chip lead, but found himself ground down close to even before too long. In the penultimate hand, delysid needed a lifeline with A-Q against his opponent’s A-K. Luckily for him the board fell 7-J-10-3-K to deliver a dramatic gutshot straight on the river. Final hand formalities concluded, delysid was confirmed as the SCOOP Event #16 champion, picking up $26,794 for his efforts.

On the second rung of Event #16, players needed to find $200 + $15 for this $150,000 guaranteed tournament. Exactly 1000 entrants built the prize pool to a neat $200,000, meaning that it would take two single table victories to reach the final table. Canadian pro Jean-Philippe Piquette featured heavily, but could not advance beyond 6th place. As the final trio began to fight through the dying hours of the tournament, it looked as though Beldar C. would be the one to walk away with all the glory. He quickly dispatched Lovetoslam in 3rd ($18,900) and set up a one-on-one battle with shinerrr – otherwise known as 23 year old Cathal Shine from Kerry, Ireland. In the end, the contest lasted only a few hands, with the duo both all-in on a board of A-9-3-Q. With the cards flipped, Beldar C. was drawing extremely thin, with A-8 top pair against the A-9 two-pair of shinerrrr. A blank King on the river was no help, crowning Cathal as the 2010 Event #16 SCOOP Champion.

Unlike its two smaller brothers, the high stakes version of this No Limit Shootout failed to breach its $200,000 guarantee. Still, it was no less hotly contested, the elite 100 entrants putting up $2000 + $100 each for the privilege. Each player needed to win only one 10-max table to advance to the final set and make the money. Despite the relatively small numbers, it still took ten hours to crown a winner, with the top players in the game constantly trading chips back and forth.

Half of that time was spent at the final table, where players like E1mdopp and Kleath fell by the wayside early on. In the end, it was two relative unknowns to win the right to contest the title: “Dumping”KGB and Fil Gordon squared off for the big-money contest in Event #16. In the final hand, a series of bets flew back and fourth before the flop, until Fil Gordon found himself all-in. Amazingly, it was revealed that he had been raising with just 8-7 suited, way behind the 9-9 of “Dumping”KGB. The board ran out K-T-5-2-8 and “Dumping”KGB ended the tournament $60,000 richer.

The final table payouts from each event were as follows:

Low:

1st place: delysid ($26,794.80)
2nd place: kalixalven ($19,559.20)
3rd place: Jarfish ($14,882.00)
4th place: mcf1sh ($10,630.00)
5th place: majscht ($6,803.20)
6th place: Rockfish_UK ($5,102.40)
7th place: 1JC1 ($3,911.84)
8th place: Saa29 ($2,806.32)
9th place: bil667766 ($1,955.92)
10th place: lostrom ($1105.52)

Mid:

1. shinerrr ($36,500)
2. Beldar C. ($25,400)
3. Lovetoslam ($18,900)
4. designet ($14,100)
5. Tipsy ($9,900)
6. Jean-Pierre “Piquette” Piquette ($8,000)
7. Scott “icallseat3″ Sitron ($6,300)
8. wmmcl ($5,000)
9. StuMan123 ($3,800)
Husky007 ($2,800)

High:

1. “Dumping”KGB – $60,000
2. Fil Gordon – $40,000
3. yurabond – $27,000
4. Godfatti – $19,800
5. takechip – $14,000
6. AaronBeen – $11,000
7. inissint – $8,800
8. slammedfire – $7,500
9. kleath – $6,400
10. e1mdopp – $5,500