Event #8 of the 2012 Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) has concluded after many hours of play. This event was the “SuperKnockout” event, which featured a very large bounty on each player’s head. Most bounty/knockout tournaments put a small, token bounty on each player of approximately 20% of the prize pool. But in a SuperKnockout tournament, a staggering half of the prize pool is made up of player bounty prizes.

As with all SCOOP events, there were three concurrent tournaments played for this event, one at each buyin level. The Low tournament was a $27 buy in ($13+$13 bounty+$1 fee), the Medium tournament was a $215 buy in ($103+$103 bounty+$9 fee) and the High tournament was a $2,100  buy in($1,025+$1,025 bounty+$50 fee).

The guaranteed prize pool amounts for each of the tournaments were easily surpassed. The low buy in had a guaranteed prize pool of $100k, but brought in nearly five times that amount ($488,000) from the 18,757 entrants. The medium buy in had a guarantee of $200k and achieved double that amount ($403k) from the 3,913 entrants, while the high buy in ($400k guaranteed) reached $580k thanks to its 566 participants.

The action was fast and furious, with plenty of gambling early on in attempts to knock out the smaller stacks and earn half of a buy in for each casualty caused. Building a large stack early in a tournament is always a goal, but with the huge size of the bounties, it was even more important in this event.

The Low stakes buy in tournament was the first to reach the final table. Players dropped like flies as the table soon became shorthanded. Delaney_kid ended up finishing in fourth place (good for just shy of $11,000) when his AJ fell the the pocket queens of carnic777. Three handed play began with fairly even chip counts:

Seat 8: carnic777 (36002552 in chips)
Seat 3: SilverSurfR1 (32053867 in chips)
Seat 6: mgog358 (25728581 in chips)

With just 3 players remaining and a $26k first place prize hanging in the balance, players fought hard to build their stacks, none of them wanting to give an inch. In the 8th hand since starting 3 handed play, we witnessed a confrontation between SilverSurfR1 and mgog358, with the pocket 3’s of SilverSurfR1 holding up all in preflop against the A9o of mgog358.

Seat 3: SilverSurfR1 (37903867 in chips)
Seat 6: mgog358 (12478581 in chips)
Seat 8: carnic777 (43402552 in chips)
SilverSurfR1: posts the ante 100000
mgog358: posts the ante 100000
carnic777: posts the ante 100000
mgog358: posts small blind 400000
carnic777: posts big blind 800000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
SilverSurfR1: raises 800000 to 1600000
mgog358: raises 10778581 to 12378581 and is all-in
carnic777: folds
SilverSurfR1: calls 10778581
*** FLOP *** [Jc 4s 8h]
*** TURN *** [Jc 4s 8h] [Ts]
*** RIVER *** [Jc 4s 8h Ts] [Js]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
mgog358: shows [9d Ah] (a pair of Jacks)
SilverSurfR1: shows [3d 3c] (two pair, Jacks and Threes)

We began heads up play with SilverSurfeR1 holding a very slight lead over his opponent, carnic777:

Seat 3: SilverSurfR1 (51282448 in chips)
Seat 8: carnic777 (42502552 in chips)

The players traded tiny and small pots back and forth for a dozen hands before a break at the 15th hour of play. During the break we witnessed the following chat:

carnic777: silver wanna split it?
SilverSurfR1: nah
carnic777: im to tired man
SilverSurfR1: sry
SilverSurfR1: gl

Play continued with carnic taking down half a dozen pots in a row, uncontested. SilverSurfeR1, having folded so many hands in a row, then reraised all in and won his first pot since the break. The hand after that we saw fireworks, with SilverSurfeR1 min raising to 2 million chips, carnic777 shoving all in, and SilverSurfeR1 making the call for his tournament life for 21.5M more. SilverSurfeR1 flipped over the preflop nuts, aces, and carnic777’s 66 received no help from the board.

Seat 3: SilverSurfR1 (23582448 in chips)
Seat 8: carnic777 (70202552 in chips)
SilverSurfR1: posts the ante 125000
carnic777: posts the ante 125000
SilverSurfR1: posts small blind 500000
carnic777: posts big blind 1000000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
SilverSurfR1: raises 1000000 to 2000000
carnic777: raises 68077552 to 70077552 and is all-in
SilverSurfR1: calls 21457448 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (46620104) returned to carnic777
*** FLOP *** [Th 4c 4d]
*** TURN *** [Th 4c 4d] [Jh]
*** RIVER *** [Th 4c 4d Jh] [Ks]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
carnic777: shows [6c 6d] (two pair, Sixes and Fours)
SilverSurfR1: shows [As Ah] (two pair, Aces and Fours)
SilverSurfR1 collected 47164896 from pot

With that huge pot, the stacks became dead even, with SilverSurfeR1 holding a tiny lead of 47.2M chips vs his opponent’s 46.6M. SilverSurfeR1 extended his lead with a well timed all in move, to which carnic777 folded.

Seat 3: SilverSurfR1 (50039896 in chips)
Seat 8: carnic777 (43745104 in chips)
SilverSurfR1: posts the ante 125000
carnic777: posts the ante 125000
SilverSurfR1: posts small blind 500000
carnic777: posts big blind 1000000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
SilverSurfR1: raises 1000000 to 2000000
carnic777: calls 1000000
*** FLOP *** [2s 3s 2d]
carnic777: checks
SilverSurfR1: bets 1600000
carnic777: raises 4400000 to 6000000
SilverSurfR1: calls 4400000
*** TURN *** [2s 3s 2d] [Ad]
carnic777: checks
SilverSurfR1: bets 7000000
carnic777: calls 7000000
*** RIVER *** [2s 3s 2d Ad] [Jh]
carnic777: checks
SilverSurfR1: bets 34914896 and is all-in
carnic777: folds
Uncalled bet (34914896) returned to SilverSurfR1
SilverSurfR1 collected 30250000 from pot
SilverSurfR1: doesn’t show hand

A few hands later, carnic777 shoved over SilverSurfeR1’s preflop raise with A3 of diamonds. SilverSurfeR1 made the call with AJo. The flop was an excellent one for carnic777, bringing a pair on the board along with two diamonds. He had a good chance to hit his flush or for a split pot, but the turn and river both bricked out. We had our first Event #8 winner, SilverSurfeR1 of Sweden with a win of $26,312, plus his bounty winnings.

PokerStars SCOOP Event #8-Low $100k Guaranteed (does not include bounty winnings)

1. SilverSurfeR1 $26,312
2. carnic777 $20,726
3. mgog358 $15,849
4. delaney_kid $10,972
5. acamrash $8,534
6. bayernconny $6,096
7. Mondayafter $3,657
8. ChrisTheDonk $2,194
9. RastyCZE $1,463

In the medium buy in event, the last two players came to a deal of $55,000 for the chip leader (SenoiPomidor) and $51,435 for blujays888, along with $4,000 and the SCOOP champion title left for the winner.

After a drawn-out battle, blujays888 ended up taking down the tournament when his A2 knocked off SenoiPomidor’s J4 of spades.

PokerStars SCOOP Event #8-Med $200k Guaranteed (does not include bounty winnings)

* deal made

1. blujays888 *$55,435
2. SenoiPomidor *$55,000
3. skrilla602 $33,250
4. Bigstar666 $23,174
5. 00psiedaisy $17,129
6. Cieve $13,098
7. thehempy $9,068
8. Eetu100 $5,037
9. die linken $3,224

Meanwhile, 6 handed in the high buy in tournament, a huge pot was brewing. Mr. Tim Caum and Betudontbet had both been very active at the table, with Betudontbet winning four of the previous five pots. The hand in question began with blinds of 3500/7000 and an ante of 875,  Mr. Tim Caum raised from middle position to 15.6k. Betudontbet continued his aggression with a 3bet to 25,678. The big blind (upstrick77), likely having had enough of the aggression from these two, then cold 4-bet to just over 40k chips. Mr. Tim Caum bowed out, but then Betudontbet made a tiny 5-bet to a total of 70k chips. Upstrick77 made the call.

The flop brought K, 6, 6 rainbow. Upstrick77 checked, Betudontbet bet just under 60k into the already large 164k pot. Upstrick77 made the call. The turn was a 7, completing the rainbow. Both players checked. The river came an interesting Ace. With 284k in the pot, Upstruck77 then shoved all in. Betudontbet snap called the rest of his stack. Upstrick77 showed an unlikely trips with 65 of clubs, but he was bested on the river by the AA which boated up on the river. Betudontbet dragged in the largest pot so far of the tournament, just under 800k, and along with it, the chiplead.

After this it was spirox21 who went on a tear, winning a number of pots without a showdown to regain the chip lead. He then knocked out YrrsiNN in 6th place when his 99 held up against YrrsiNN’s AK. The very next hand spirox21 won yet another large pot, this time on the river when he shoved all in over top of a bet from upstrick77. Spirox21 was sitting comfortably with the lead at just over 1 million in chips a little ways ahead of the player in second place, SirWatts, who had 746k.

Spirox21 then extended his lead a couple hands later when his pocket tens knocked off upstrick77’s A4o after they got all in preflop. Now 4 handed, Spirox21 held a commanding lead of 1.36M chips, nearly half of the total chips in play.

Seat 2: Betudontbet (563097 in chips)
Seat 4: SirWatts (744439 in chips)
Seat 8: Mr. Tim Caum (165699 in chips)
Seat 9: spirox21 (1356765 in chips)

On the hand just before the 16th hour break, play was 4 handed with blinds of 4k/8k and a 1k ante. Mr. Tim Caum was on the short stack with 167k and he brought it in under the gun for 16.8k. SirWatts re-raised, and Mr. Tim Caum called all in for the rest of his chips. SirWatts was in a dominating position with KQ vs Mr. Tim Caum’s KJ, and his hand held up after the board ran out 8T882. Mr. Tim Caum finished in 4th place for $45,251. Spirox21 still held the lead with nearly 1.27 million in chips, vs SirWatts’ 875k and Betudontbet’s 687k.

Betudontbet was the next casualty when his AK couldn’t outrace the pocket tens of SirWatts. Betudontbet finished 3rd and received $59,465, plus his accumulated bounties, for his efforts. Going into heads up the chipcount was virtually even.

Seat 4: SirWatts (1506935 in chips)
Seat 9: spirox21 (1323065 in chips)

spirox21 slowly accumulated more chips and had a good lead over SirWatts. Then in a huge 2.3 million chip pot, SirWatts got all in with AQ against spirox21’s QJ on a QJ88 board. He hit a miracle ace on the river to double up and take a commanding lead.

Not long after, SirWatts went for the knockout blow, but his AQ fell to spirox21’s pocket sixes, giving spirox21 a much needed double up. SirWatts’ lead still remained, with him holding about twice as many chips as his opponent.

After a very long heads up battle spirox21 of Isreal emerged the victor, taking down the first place prize of $110,228 and SCOOP Champion title! SirWatts’s second place finish earned him $81,221.

PokerStars SCOOP Event #8-High $400k Guaranteed (does not include bounty winnings)

1. spirox21 $110,228
2. SirWatts $81,221
3. Betudontbet $59,465
4. Mr. Tim Caum $45,251
5. upstrick77 $31,908
6. YrrsiNN $24,656
7. rogI_MS $18,854
8. Big Huni $13,053
9. sh4rk1e $9,630