The return of PokerStars’ Spring Championship of Online Poker means awesome online tournament action to take part in and follow. As always, each PokerStars SCOOP event is divided into three separate tournaments: a low buy-in, a medium buy-in, and a high buy-in.
PokerStars SCOOP Event #3 boasted a short-handed table, turbo format, and allowed rebuys/add-ons. This created the perfect synergy for action and attracted players looking for a loose and aggressive tournament. With the event being so popular, PokerStars decided to divide it and make it a two-day event.
PokerStars SCOOP Event #3 – Low ($5.50 buy-in) – $150,000 guaranteed
The SCOOP Event #3 low buy-in tournament only cost $5.50 to enter with $5 buy-ins. A total of 20,244 poker players registered looking for a piece of the huge prize pool. There were 38,211 re-buys and 10,526 add-ons creating a prize pool of $344,905 which crushed the $150,000 guarantee set by PokerStars. Only 2,700 players would make the money with the winner taking home $42,954.69.
The final table looked as follows:
Seat 1 – leopeluca – 31,596,932
Seat 2 – Suodi – 22,747,081
Seat 3 – /7aXaH-777 – 45,475,517
Seat 4 – Pr0fiteer – 17,616,181
Seat 5 – morten85 – 33,284,008
Seat 6 – Respect4life – 77,275,281
The first knockout came when Respect4life min-raised to 2 million chips in the cutoff and called a 5 million chip three-bet from Suodi in the small blind. Suodi bet 8 million into the TcKs5s flop and got a call. Suodi shoved on the 3h turn to 14,322,081 and Respect4life called showing KcQc for top-pair. Suodi’s AhQd couldn’t suck out and Suodi was out in sixth place.
Play eventually winded down to a heads-up battle between Respect4life and /7aXaH-777. With 164 million chips, Respect4life had a 100 million chip lead on /7aXaH-777. In the final hand, /7aXaH-777 min-opened to 3.6 million and called a 8.1 million three-bet. The flop came 8h8cKs and Respect4life bet 7.2 million. /7aXaH-777 called and the turn was a Js which was checked through. On the 5c river, Respectforlife bet 21,457,858 and was met with a shove by /7aXaH-777. Respect4life called with his AcKh (for two-pair) and beat /7aXaH-777’s bluff with AsTs. Respect4life collected $40,292.83 for his efforts while /7aXaH-777 won $33,555.
PokerStars SCOOP Event #3 – Medium ($55 buy-in) – $300,000 guaranteed
The medium tournament of the SCOOP Event #3 cost players $55 to buy-in. A number of big name poker professionals joined in on the fun such as Ana Marquez and ElkY. ElkY made it to Day 2 and was eliminated in 53rd place for $1,095.10.
The tournament, like all SCOOP Event #3 tournaments, took two days to finish. In the last hand, FlashYy raised to 550,000 in the small blind with Mihay28 shoving all of his 6,600,000 chips into the pot. FlashYy called and showed AdKh while Mihay28 held pocket fours. The KdTd5d flop spelled out bad news for Mihay28 and he was unable to hit a four on the turn or river. Mihay28 took home $58,575.25 for his second-place effort while FlashYy won a huge $80,224.05 payday.
PokerStars SCOOP Event #3 – High ($530 buy-in) – $150,000 guaranteed
The PokerStars SCOOP Event #3 high tournament has been the talk of the online poker community for good reason. The famous Viktor “Isildur1” Blom pulled the nearly impossible and won back-to-back SCOOP events. This was his second SCOOP title in two days and this particular one boosted his bankroll by $160,000.
A total of 486 players entered the event with 740 rebuys and 374 add-ons taking place in the first hour. This shattered the $400,000 guarantee and created an $800,000 prize pool that was to be shared by 54 players. PokerStars professional Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier was knocked out in 56th place, just missing the money.
The final hand started with Blom raising to 44,000 in the small blind and calling a 132,000 three-bet by Ruxandescu. The Js9c7c flop eventually brought Ruxandescu all-in and Blom called. Blom had a 9d8s for middle-pair while Ruxandescu’s 6c5c was drawing to an inside straight flush. The 9s turn and 8d river gave Blom a full house, a second SCOOP title this year, and $160,000. Ruxandescu collected $118,400 for his runner-up placement. The rest of the final table finished as follows:
1st – Isildur1 – $160,000
2nd – Ruxandescu – $118,400
3rd – BiatchPeople – $88,000
4th – Sussie Smith – $60,800
5th – B4d3m3!st3r – $44,400
6th – snake8484 – $28,400