The first ever Poker Stars Spring Championships of Online Poker is drawing close to its triumphant conclusion. The series has been very well attended so far, and that continued to be true of Event #17, which concluded early this morning. It was a No Limit Hold ‘em tournament which allowed for one rebuy and one add-on. As with all SCOOP events, it was composed of low, mid, and high buy-in tiers.
The low stakes event cost its entrants a very accessible $20 + $2, a bargain price that attracted 9,657 players. Frantic play was abound, with 6,456 rebuys and 6,776 add-ons boosting the prize pool in the early stages. When all the numbers had been totted up the final total came to $459,580, helped considerably by the $150,000 laid on by PokerStars for this event.
After 16 hours of combat it all came down to a heads up battle between TheChosenWun and BrandonPL. The two came to an amicable arrangement and split the prize money, playing off for the title and a small cash bonus. In the end it would be TheChosenWun who took home the title, along with $55,037.16. His worthy opponent captured $52,036, with third place finisher gwaag netting $32,170.61.
The mid stakes version saw both the buy-in and guaranteed cash increase dramatically, to $200 + $15 and $500,000 respectively. Amid the 1809 entrants in this event were a number of Team PokerStars pros. Flying the flag for the experts was William Thorson, who just missed out on the final table in 11th position. He would, however, take home his share of the $873,000 prize pool.
This event would see yet more prize money sharing between the final two competitors. As the tournament neared its end thewh00sel and RandALLin agreed on a deal to split the cash. The eventual victor was thewh00sel who received $128,476.91 to RandALLin’s $115,972.09. Just missing out on the deal was lipster99, who will still be pleased with his $78,750 reward for third place.
The most sought after title of the day was inevitably the high-stakes Event #17 crown. 268 players battled it out for over 15 hours to take home a slice of the $1 million guaranteed prize money. When the $2,000 buy-ins, rebuys, and add-ons had been totted up the total prize pool stood at $1,408,000. This event saw the biggest Event #17 success for a Team PoketStars member, Hevad Khan finishing in 4th for $123,200. Just ahead of him was gator93, receiving $165,400 for his third place finish.
Once again the top two places would split the cash and play off for glory alone. $teveyMoney fought valiantly but would eventually succumb to jakoon198, the pair receiving $254,078.87 and $266,881.13 respectively. Only four SCOOP events now remain before the series culminates in a two day No Limit Hold ‘em $100/$1,000/$10,000 freezeout.