Eight. Ocho. Huit. Acht. Otto. Oito. Osm. Otte. Opt. Kahdeksan. Åtta. Åtte. Ósemka. Восемь.

Doesn’t matter what language you speak, 8-Game is a universal format to determine the best all-around poker players. In case you just woke up from a coma and never heard of 8-Game mixed games, then let me give you a quick tutorial. 8-Game tests your acumen in varying limit, pot-limit, and no-limit formats. The eight games are: Limit 2-7 Triple Draw, LHE, Limit Omaha Hi/Lo, Limit Razz, Limit Stud, Limit Stud Hi/Lo, NL, and PLO. The 8-Game format forces you to confront your weaknesses because you can run, but can’t hide.

2,951 card enthusiasts from all over the globe bought a ticket for a chance to win a SCOOP title in Event #31-L $27 8-Game. The total prize pool was $73,775. The top 390 places paid with $11,621.43 set aside for the champion.

Notables who cashed in this 8-Game fiesta included Team PokerStars Online Shane “Shaniac” Schleger (25th) and Team PokerStars Online Bhasin “GodlikeRoy” Rohit (67th).

GodlikeRoy busted out in 67th place during a round of PLO. GodlikeRoy hit his flush draw with [9s][9h][3d][3s] on a board of [Ts][7s][5h][Qs][Ah]. However, Scarer won the pot holding [As][9d][5s][3h] for a nut flush.

“When you go your way and I go mine.”

With 90 remaining, Shaniac (pictured above) hovered in the top 10 in chips. With 64 remaining, Shaniac dipped to 25th overall. With 45 remaining, Shaniac took a hit during Omaha Hi/Lo and slid under 100K. Shaniac attempted a comeback during Razz, but unfortunately got run down when poosnack11′s 6-4-3-2-A low bested his 9-8-6-5-4 low. Shaniac hit the road in 43rd place, but cashed for $173.37.

UP ON CRIPPLE CREEK

With 40 to go, Scarer took command of the lead after becoming the first player to pass the 1 million chip mark. With 18 to go, berserk64 from Russia seized the top slot after passing 2 million. With 12 players left, berserk64 retained the lead and inched up to 2.6 million. With ten to go, berserk64 surged to 3.5 million during Triple Draw. But the pack finally caught up to the Russian, when bxlmaestro made a run for the top spot after winning a 1.1 million pot with a 7-6-5-3-2 low in Triple Draw.

Things went awry for berserk64 during LHE when he lost a 1.7 million pot to Scarer. The slide spilled over into Omaha Hi/Lo. Scarer finished off berserk64 in back-to-back pots, and berserk64 busted out in eighth place.

The final table bubble did not last very long. During a round of Omaha Hi/Lo, dr davy11 opened with a raise to 200,000 and woodbine ave defended the big blind. The flop was [Qs][Th][9s], which incited dr davy11 to bet 100,000, and woodbine ave called. When the [Qh] appeared on the turn, dr davy11 fired out 200,000 and woodbine ave called. The [3h] fell on the river and dr davy11 shoved all-in for 156,696, and woodbine ave called. dr davy11 showed [As][Ks][Kh][4d] for two pair, but woodbine ave won the pot holding [Qd][8h][6d][5h] for a flush. Alas, dr davy11 was eliminated in seventh place and missed the final table one spot.

Event #31-L 8-Game – Final Table Chip Counts:
Seat 1: Ghoyteep (787,969)
Seat 2: woodbine ave (1,576,082)
Seat 3: The Cooker (1,803,986)
Seat 4: Scarer (5,523,333)
Seat 5: danylaroo2 (900,156)
Seat 6: bxlmaestro (4,163,474)

Scarer began the final table as the lead, while Ghoyteep brought up the rear as the short stack. By the way, Scarer was seeking his second career SCOOP title. The Scottish player took down a heads-up SCOOP event in 2009 after he won 13 straight heads-up matches.

THE NIGHT THEY DROVE OLD DIXIE DOWN: danylaroo2 eliminated in 6th place

During Stud, we had the first bust out at the final table. Scarer was dealt the [2s] and brought it in for 36,000, but danylaroo2 was dealt (X-X)[Jh] and bumped it up to 120,000. Scarer called.

On 4th street… danylaroo2 bet 120,000 with (X-X)[Jh][Qd], and Scarer called with (X-X)[2s][6s].

On 5th street… danylaroo2 fired out 240,000 with (X-X)[Jh][Qd][5s], Scarer raised to 480,000 with (X-X)[2s][6s][3d], danylaroo2 shoved all-in for 654,312, and Scarer called.

After sixth and seventh streets were dealt, Scarer won the hand with two pair — tens and deuces — with [2d][Ts][2s][6s][3d][Td][Qh] against danylaroo2′s inferior two pair holding [9s][9h][Jh][Qd][5s][5h][8h]. danylaroo2 hit the road in sixth place, earning $1,318.35.

With five players remaining, Scarer chipped up to over 7.5 million.

RAG MAMA RAG: Ghoyteep eliminated in 5th place

During NL, the action perked up.

Short-stacked Ghoyteep open-shoved for 1,063,938 and woodbine ave re-raised all-in for 1,372,082. Everyone else bailed to let those two slug it out. Ghoyteep trailed with [Ah][8h] against woodbine ave’s [Tc][Td]. Although Ghoyteep picked up an open-ended straight draw on the turn, woodbine ave’s pocket tens held up when the board ran out [7c][6s][2s][9h][2h]. Ghoyteep was knocked out in fifth place, but took home $2,582.12.

With four remaining, Scarer was still out in front with 7.5 million. In second place sat bxlmaestro with 2.8 million. Third place was occupied by woodbine ave with 2.6 million. The Cooker was the short-stack by default with 1.8 million.

LOOK OUT CLEVELAND: bxlmaestro eliminated in 4th place

Although there were zero casualties during PLO or Triple Draw, when the game switched to LHE (with betting limits at 200K/400K), another player busted.

Scarer kicked off the action with a raise to 400,000, bxlmaestro three-bet, and Scarer called. On a flop of [Kh][Tc][9c], bxlmaestro fired out 200,000, Scarer raised to 400,000, and bxlmaestro called all-in for 77,824. bxlmaestro showed [Ad][Qh] for nothing but a Broadway gutshot draw. Scarer was ahead with a pair of Kings holding [Ks][3c]. The turn was the [8h] and the river was the [4c]. Neither card helped bxlmaestro. For a fourth-place finish, bxlmaestro collected $4,057.62.

With three to go… Scarer stacks almost topped 8 million, meanwhile woodbine ave had 3.9 million and The Cooker had 2.8 million.

During Omaha Hi/Lo, Scarer’s big stack came under assault. The Cooker took down a 3.5 million pot against Scarer, and then six hands later, woodbine ave shipped a pot worth 3 million against Scarer. Scarer slipped to 5.4 million, while woodbine ave seized the lead with 6 million. Despite the setback, Scarer dug in and regained the lead after scooping a pot with [Qh][Qc][7c][6h] for a full house and a 7-6-3-2-A low.

JEMIMA SURRENDER: woodbine ave eliminated in 3rd place

When the game switched to Razz, tragedy struck. The betting limits were 250K/500K.

Scarer picked up the [9s] and brought it in for 75,000. When woodbine ave called with (X-X)[4d], The Cooker bumped it up to 250,000 with (X-X)[7c]. Scarer called, but woodbine ave re-raised to 500,000. Both The Cooker and Scarer called.

On 4th street, The Cooker fired out 250,000 with (X-X)[7c][6c]. Scarer folded, but woodbine ave called with (X-X)[4d][Kh].

On 5th street, The Cooker bet 500,000 with (X-X)[7c][6c][Qd], woodbine ave raised to 1 million with (X-X)[4d][Kh][5d], and The Cooker called.

On 6th street, woodbine ave fired out 500,000 with (X-X)[4d][Kh][5d][Qc]. The Cooker raised to 1 million with (X-X)[7c][6c][Qd][Kd], woodbine ave raised all-in for 1,271,424, and The Cooker called.

After seventh street, the players turned up their cards. The Cooker won the pot with a 7-6-4-2-A low holding [Ac][2h][7c][6c][Qd][Kd][4s], meanwhile woodbine ave showed [3s][6h][4d][Kh][5d][Qc][Js] for a J-6-5-4-3 low. For a third place finish, woodbine ave took home $6,270.87.

HEADS-UP: The Cooker (Canada) vs. Scarer (U.K.)
Seat 3: The Cooker (9,266,500)
Seat 4: Scarer (5,488,500)

KING HARVEST: Scarer eliminated in 2nd place; The Cooker wins SCOOP title

The game was still Razz and although Scarer won a 3 million pot at the onset of heads-up, The Cooker counterattacked and won a 6.1 million pot with the nuts (5-4-3-2-A). The Cooker improved his lead 11.8 million to 2.9 million.

A few hands later, The Cooker won a 4.1 million pot with a 9-6-5-2-A and his stack grew to 13.1 million, meanwhile Scarer slipped to 1.5 million. Scarer hoped his luck would change when the game switched to Stud, but it only took three more hands before The Cooker finished him off.

During Stud… short-stacked Scarer got into a raising war and eventually bombed it all-in on third street with (X-X)[Qc] against The Cooker’s (X-X)[Kc]. The board ran out [Ts][Kh][Qc][Qh][Ah][2s][5h] for a pair of Queens, but The Cooker took down the pot with a pair of Kings holding [4h][8c][Kc][Qd][Kd][5s][3d]. Scarer was denied his second career SCOOP title, but earned $8,484.12 for a runner-up performance.

The Cooker shipped the tournament, won the SCOOP watch and took home $11,621.43 for first place.

Check out the final hand here:

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Event #31-L $27 8-Game – Final Table Results and Payouts:
Entrants: 2,951
Places Paid: 390

1. The Cooker (Canada) – $11,621.43
2. Scarer (U.K) – $8,484.12
3. woodbine ave (Canada) – $6,270.87
4. bxlmaestro (Belgium) – $4,057.62
5. Ghoyteep (Russia) – $2,582.12
6. danylaroo2 (U.K.) – $1,318.35

Looking for more SCOOP reporting? Visit our special SCOOP 2012 coverage section.

Tags: australia | festival | italian poker tour | latin-america | micromillions | SCOOP | Top 10 | videos

The 8-game format clearly tests poker players’ skills in a variety of ways. And in a multi-table tourney setting we might well add a ninth “game” to the mix, too — that of managing the increasing blinds/stakes and negotiating a path through a large field of opponents to the final table and eventual victory.

The “medium” version of the 8-game event in this year’s SCOOP, a $215 buy-in, attracted 577 entrants, thus creating a prize pool of $115,400. That more than doubled the event’s $50K guarantee. The top 78 finishers split that money, with $21,926 due the player able to succeed well enough in all eight of the games — plus the tourney game — to win all the chips.

It took nearly six hours for the field to be trimmed down to 78 and the money bubble to burst. At that point preppoker led all with nearly 145,000, with FABLISSE and javel the only others in six figures chip-wise.

Meanwhile several representatives of Team PokerStars were among those still alive, including Shane “shaniac” Schleger of Team Online (then in 9th position), George Danzer of Team PokerStars Germany (19th), George “Jorj95″ Lind of Team Online (54th), Marcin “Goral” Horecki of Team PokerStars Poland (56th), and Chad “ChadBrownPRO” Brown of Team PokerStars Canada barely hanging on in 78th place with a stack of less than 4,000 chips.

Brown would swiftly go out in 77th ($334.66), with Lind grabbing yet another SCOOP cash by following him shortly thereafter in 71st ($346.20). Horecki would then last a bit longer before running out of chips in an Omaha H/L hand versus Arttyomka to finish 45th ($461.60). A little while after that Danzer would fall in 33th ($600.08) in a stud hand against jay3400.

That left Schleger as the lone player with a red spade, and before long he’d find a no-limit hold’em hand with which to reraise shove his stack of just under 30,000 from the blinds over a Filthy999 open from the button. Filthy999 thought a bit, then called, showing [2d][2s] to Schleger’s [Ad][Kh]. A deuce flopped to give Filthy999 a set, and Schleger couldn’t catch up, hitting the rail in 29th ($692.40)

As they crossed the eight-and-a-half-hour mark the field had shrunk to 12 players, with FABLISSE well in front with more than 683,000 chips, about twice the stack of second-place jay3400. Then over the next hour, six more players fell, with jay3400 pushing way out in front while FABLISSE slid back to average and then short-stacked status.

Players coming up one table shy of the last one included txipy2005 (12th), LadyDoDo91 (11th), and Mitorun (10th), each of whom earned $1,557.90, and ColdBryan (9th), Senor JeeveS (8th), and Tunnelvisie (7th), who earned $2,411.86 apiece.

Just six remained.

Seat 1: FABLISSE (Netherlands) — 146,338
Seat 2: javel (Norway) — 600,399
Seat 3: bart3r (Australia) — 361,598
Seat 4: Jan2000 (Germany) — 135,996
Seat 5: wyatt_earp14 (Austria) — 96,556
Seat 6: jay3400 (Denmark) — 1,544,113

Of the final six bart3r had seen the most success thus far in the 2012 SCOOP series with a dozen cashes and one other final table, a sixth-place showing in Event #4-L ($27 Badugi). But all would be chasing jay3400 who carried a commanding lead to this final table.

It took about 10 minutes for the first to go. The game was seven-card stud, and after Jan2000 completed, wyatt_earp14 raised with the [As] showing, then FABLISSE three-bet showing the [4h]. It folded back to wyatt_earp14 who capped it (at 80,000), and FABLISSE called.

FABLISSE then led the betting through the next three streets, with wyatt_earp4 calling all the way, then wyatt_earp4 raised on the river, to which FABLISSE responded with an all-in call. FABLISSE had [Ks][Ks] / [4h][7s][Ts][Tc] / [7c] for kings and tens, but wyatt_earp14 ended with [Jh][Ad] / [As][5h][4d][Td] / [Jc] for aces and jacks and FABLISSE was out in sixth.

The game changed to stud hi/lo where soon back-and-forthing between Jan2000 and chip leader jay3400 resulted in Jan2000 being all in by third holding [Ts][Tc] / [2h] to jay3400′s [7c][3c] / [5h]. Jan2000 ended up drawing [7s][Jh][9d] / [Kd] on the last four streets, failing to improve that pair of tens and not making a low, either. Meanwhile jay3400 picked up [5d][4s][Ac] / [3s] to make two small pair and a 7-low to scoop the pot and knock Jan2000 out in fifth.

The remaining four played on, crossing the 10-and-a-half-hour mark and into another round of limit hold’em (stakes 30,000/60,000) when javel, down to just 35,920, called a preflop raise by wyatt_earp14 to leave just 5,920 behind. jay3400 called as well from the blinds, and when the flop came [8h][Ad][2c] jay3400 led with a bet, javel called all in, and wyatt_earp14 called as well.

The turn was the [Tc], and when jay3400 bet again wyatt_earp14 gave up. jay3400 showed [Td][8d] for two pair, while javel had but [5h][3h] and faint gutshot hopes. The river was the [5d], however, and javel was out in fourth.

The gap had closed, but jay3400 still led with three left, sitting with almost 1.15 million to the nearly 943,000 of wyatt_earp14 and bart3r’s stack of just under 795,000.

They moved into another round of Omaha hi/lo (stakes 40,000/80,000), by which point bart3r’s stack had slid under 200,000 while jay3400 had improved up over 1.8 million. Then, suddenly, within the space of four hands, the tournament was over.

First came a hand involving all three players in which the betting was capped before the flop with bart3r being all in for 146,447 total. The flop came [2c][8s][3s], jay3400 bet, and wyatt_earp14 called. wyatt_earp14 would call jay3400′s bets following the [Qh] turn and [4h] river as well, and when jay3400 then showed [5d][4d][2h][Ad] for a wheel, both wyatt_earp14 and bart3r mucked, the latter having been knocked out in third.

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That hand left jay3400 with 2,343,408 to wyatt_earp14′s 541,592 to start heads-up play. Three hands later it was still Omaha hi/lo when jay3400 raised from the button and wyatt_earp14 called. The flop came all big cards — [Kd][Th][9c] — and wyatt_earp14 checked. jay3400 bet, wyatt_earp14 check-raised, and jay3400 made the call. The turn was the [8s], and this time wyatt_earp14 bet out, jay3400 raised, and the pair kept going until wyatt_earp14 was all in. Cards on their backs…

jay3400: [Qh][Jc][8d][4d] — a king-high straight
wyatt_earp14: [Kc][Td][5s][4s] — two pair, kings and tens.

The river brought the [Jh], meaning jay3400′s straight had held and the tourney was over.

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Congratulations to jay3400 who came to the final table as the big leader and managed to carry that lead all of the way to a SCOOP title and nearly $22K score! A great performance in all the games, including the game of tournament poker.

2012 SCOOP Event 31-Medium, $215 8-Game:
1st: jay3400 (Denmark) — $21,926
2nd: wyatt_earp14 (Austria) — $16,156
3rd: bart3r (Australia) — $11,828
4th: javel (Norway) — $8,078
5th: Jan2000 (Germany) — $5,770
6th: FABLISSE (Netherlands) — $3,588.94

Entrants: 577
Places paid: 78

Looking for more SCOOP reporting? Visit our special SCOOP 2012 coverage section.

Tags: archives | Asia Pacific Poker Tour | france poker series | gambling | games | pokerstars | tournaments | wbcoop | wcoop | world cup of poker | world-series

Gribnogrib was no stranger to high stakes poker or stacked tables. A 2011 Sunday Warm-Up victory proved that the Russian had what it took to compete in prestigious online poker tournaments and win. Event 31 was another challenge, and stayed aggressive throughout Day 2, fighting for the chip lead and refusing to relinquish it late in the game. As names like Faraz Jaka and Steve Gross exited the table, Gribnogrib hung on and followed through with a win.

*****

A tournament like Event 29 is special, not just because it’s part of the SCOOP series. It offers players big antes, which means that the structure may consist of normal blind increases and 30-minute levels, but antes are introduced from the very beginning and increase rapidly. Besides, it was also a rebuy tournament, putting another level into the tournament entirely.

The high $1,050 buy-in version of this event nearly doubled the guarantee with its registration numbers, and here’s where it stood:

Players: 277
Rebuys: 249
Add-ons: 252
Guarantee: $400,000.00
Prize pool: $778,000.00
Paid players: 36

The first day of action took players through 20 levels and saw a number of Team PokerStars players out during that time. Team Online’s Mickey “mement_mori” Petersen exited in 217th place, followed by two-time SCOOP champion and fellow Team Online member Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom in 196th, as well as Randy “nanonoko” Lew in 180th. Team PokerStars Pro Jude “j.thaddeus” Ainsworth busted in 167th, and Team Online’s George “Jorj95″ Lind finished in 155th. Team Pro Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier ended his run in 135th place.

That took players to the money toward the end of the first night of play. While PearlJammer finished in 37th place on the money bubble, Team PokerStars Pro Jose “nachobarbero” Barbero cashed in 36th for $5,835.00.

When the night finally ended, there were 15 players remaining on two tables, and holdplz was the chip leader.

Day 2

The second day began in Level 21, with blinds of 1,250/2,500 and a 500 ante. The average chip stack was 189,200, but all of the chip counts of the remaining players were as follows:

holdplz (Mexico) – 345,034
Gribnogrib (Russia) – 330,971
bigbluffzinc (Canada) – 292,020
Shhh00kem (Canada) – 290,643
Jymaster11 (Canada) – 263,658
The-Toilet 0 (Mexico) – 236,608
zugzwang16 (Uruguay) – 224,991
Face333X (Germany) – 185,123
JackOrsen72 (Germany) – 176,176
gboro280 (Canada) – 116,102
Team PokerStars Pro Theo Jorgensen (Denmark) – 115,018
Matfrankland (UK) – 99,992
ThePateychuk (Russia) – 90,458
Artem205 (Ukraine) – 38,079
TMoney0209 (Canada) – 33,127

Action started with the quick elimination of TMoney0209. A few hands later, Face333X and pocket kings took on Theo Jorgensen and A-3 of diamonds, but the Q-T-T-Q-9 board didn’t help. Team PokerStars Pro Theo “Theo J” Jorgensen exited in 14th place with $10,503.00.

EPT 2011 San Remo champion Andrey “ThePateychuk” Pateychuk exited in 13th place, followed by Jordan “Jymaster11″ Young” in 12th. The 11th place elimination of zugzwang16 brought on hand-for-hand play on the final table bubble, which lasted more than a few minutes. Finally, Jack Orsen72 on the button and bigbluffzinc from the small blind got into a preflop raising war that led to bigbluffzinc calling all-in with [As][Qd]. JackOrsen72 showed [Ad][Kh], and the board came [4d][5d][6d][3d][3c]. JackOrsen72 had the higher flush, and bigbluffzinc exited in tenth place with $12,448.00.

Face333X faces off to defend chip lead

The final table began in Level 22, with blinds of 1,500/3,000 and a 600 ante, along with these player chip counts:

Seat 1: Shhh00kem (548,061 in chips)
Seat 2: Matfrankland (62,713 in chips)
Seat 3: holdplz (222,772 in chips)
Seat 4: Artem205 (91,043 in chips)
Seat 5: Gribnogrib (496,579 in chips)
Seat 6: Face333X (595,049 in chips)
Seat 7: JackOrsen72 (448,966 in chips)
Seat 8: The-Toilet 0 (303,365 in chips)
Seat 9: gboro780 (69,452 in chips)

The first elimination came from a big hand that started with an UTG raise from JackOrsen72 and call from The-Toilet 0. Everyone else folded, and the flop came [9h][8c][Tc]. A bet and call led to the [5s] on the turn, and another bet and call brought the [2h] river card. JackOrsen72 bet again, and The-Toilet 0 raised. JackOrsen72 reraised, and The-Toilet 0 called all-in with [Th][Ts] for the set of tens. But Jack Orsen72 had [Qd][Jd] for the straight, and that left Faraz “The-Toilet 0″ Jaka out of the event in ninth place with $14,782.00.

On the very next hand, Artem205 challenged from middle position and found Gribnogrib as the caller from the button. The flop of [9h][Qh][7c] prompted a bet and call, as did the [Jc] on the turn. The [8d] on the river brought an all-in bet from Artem205 with [Qc][Tc], but Gribnogrib called with [Kc][Ts] and the better straight. Artem205 had to leave in eighth place with $19,450.00.

Gribnogrib grabs first and runs with it

Gribnogrib was close to the top of the leaderboard at the start, but sheer aggression put that player out in front of the rest in no time. A pot worth 383K chips from Face333X was only one of many examples of the chipping up process for Gribnogrib, the first player to climb over the million-chip mark.

Gboro780, on the other hand, struggled. A double-up through JackOrsen72 helped, but another move was niecessary. When Gribnogrib raised preflop UTG, gboro780 reraised from middle position, and Gribnogrib moved all-in. Gboro780 called the 96,172 remaining chips all-in with [Ah][Qd], which looked good against the [As][9h] of Gribnogrib. But the board came [3s][Jc][9c][Kc][6d], and the pair of nines eliminated gboro780 in seventh place with $27,230.00.

Before the second break of the day, Face333X was able to double through JackOrsen72, and Matfrankland doubled twice, once through Shhh00kem and then through Gribnogrib.

Holdplz was the first day’s chip leader, but everything changed on Day 2. Holdplz had a tough time gaining any traction and finally looked down at [Ah][Ac] for a solid double-up opportunity. An initial raise took that pocket pair into action against Matfrankland to see a [6h][Td][8h] flop. Holdplz bet, Matfrankland check-raised, and holdplz shoved. Matfrankland called with [9s][8s] for middle pair, and the [9h] came on the turn to make that two pair. The [Js] on the river ended the tournament for Anthony “holdplz” Spinella, who took home $35,010.00 for sixth place.

Shhh00kem shakes ‘em

When Shhh00kem doubled through Gribnogrib, as seen here, the distance from first place got ever shorter for Shhh00kem:

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Forever five-handed

After one hour of five-handed action, the chip counts were as follows:

Seat 1: Shhh00kem (558,751 in chips)
Seat 2: Matfrankland (449,025 in chips)
Seat 5: Gribnogrib (895,114 in chips)
Seat 6: Face333X (675,007 in chips)
Seat 7: JackOrsen72 (260,103 in chips)

Gribnograb had no intention of giving up the chip lead, though Face333X and Shhh00kem were pretty set on getting out of second place and into the top spot eventually.

Move it along, folks

Five-handed play lasted for nearly 1.5 hours. JackOrsen72 had the toughest time. Despite a double-up through Gribnogrib, Face333X doubled throguh JackOrsen72 to leave the latter in trouble again. JackOrsen moved all-in soon after for 138,047 chips with [As][3c], and original raiser Gribnogrib called with [Jh][Js]. The board came [5h][8d][Td][Qs][4c], and the jacks held to eliminate JackOrsen72 in fifth place with $45,124.00.

Shhh00kem doubled through Face333X, and but it was Matfrankland who was the next player to be at risk in this event. Face333X started the hand with an UTG raise, but Matfrankland reraised from the small blind. Gribnogrib reraised from the big blind, and Matfrankland pushed it up again. After one more raise (and obviously a fold from Face333X), Matfrankland moved all-in with [Jd][Js], but Gribnogrib showed the [Ah][Ad]. The flop of [9c][4d][3c] changed nothing, and the [Ac] on the turn only gave Gribnogrib trip aces. The [Qd] on the river sent Matt “Matfrankland” Frankland out in fourth place with $66,130.00.

Face333X started three-handed play with a reasonable stack of chips but lost momentum quickly. At the point that the stack dipped below 120K, Face333X risked it all with [Kh][7s]. Gribnogrib was along holding [As][6h], and the board only helped that hand when it came [3d][5s][Ah][9d][Jd]. Face333X received no help and exited in third place with $87,914.00.

Two tangle for the title

The final two players started heads-up play with these stacks:

Seat 1: Shhh00kem (847,350 in chips)
Seat 5: Gribnogrib (1,990,650 in chips)

It took less than 20 hands for Shhh00kem to make a move. The hand started with a raised flop of [Qs][Tc][Jc]. Gribnogrib led out with a bet, and Shhh00kem check-raised. Several more raises led to Gribnogrib pushing all-in with [Ks][9c] for the flopped straight, but Shhh00kem called all-in with [9d][8c] for the lesser straight. The [7s] on the turn and [3s] on the river ended the match and gave Shhh00kem second place and $116,700.00.

Gribnogrib won the SCOOP title, Movado watch, and $159,101.00 cash payout. Congrats!

2012 SCOOP Event #29-H ($1,050+R NLHE, Big Antes) Results:

Total players: 81
Paid players: 12

1st place: Gribnogrib (Russia) – $159,101.00)
2nd place: Shhh00kem (Canada) – $116,700.00
3rd place: Face333X (Germany) – $87,914.00
4th place: Matthew “Matfrankland” Frankland (UK) – $66,130.00
5th place: JackOrsen72 (Germany) – $45,124.00
6th place: Anthony “holdplz” Spinella (Mexico) – $35,010.00.
7th place: Steve “gboro780″ Gross (Canada) – $27,230.00
8th place: Artem205 (Ukraine) – $19,450.00
9th place: Faraz “The-Toilet 0″ Jaka (Mexico) – $14,782.00

Looking for more SCOOP reporting? Visit our special SCOOP 2012 coverage section.

Tags: archives | Battle of the Planets | European Poker Tour | facebook | gribnogrib | italian | italian poker tour | portugal | SCOOP

Perhaps someone should stop Dan “djk123″ Kelly before his collection of PokerStars bling has him impersonating Mr. T. The young pro would claim another piece of PokerStars jewelry today after taking down SCOOP 2012 Event #29-M ($109+Rebuys NLHE Big Antes) tournament. 1,659 players tried to stand in his way, pleading with Kelly that three titles is enough, not to mention the swollen prize pool thanks to 1,879 re-buys and 1,375 add-ons to destroy the $300,000 guarantee.

216 players would take a chunk of that prize pool including Team PokerStars pro Chad Brown who eeked into the cash 209th place ($540.54). The Medium Player of the Series race was open for all to gain as leader SebbyGl took the day off as did second place cyberkanguru.

Only 19 players would make it through 31 levels of play on day one as Dan “djk123″ Kelly nearly became the last out on the first day.

After falling to nearly the bottom of the chip count, a double up off kripap, and then in the very last hand before the overnight break, Kelly would take a rejuvenated stack and big slick all-in against Killer_ooooo’s queens. An ace on the flop and the three-time WCOOP winner would go into day two with 19 remaining and the third largest stack behind kripap and djalminha.

Day two would start off with 8K/16K binds 3,200 antes and quickly stacking the tables from three to two as ButchTimothy would take just three hands to find a spot to shove a shortstack of 162,792. Right behind ButchTimothy was jtizzo222 with [As][Jh] and plenty of chips to make the call as ButchTimothy watched [Ks][Jd] slowly die across the [4s] [3h] [Td] [Ac] [3d] board for the first casualty of the second day. No stranger to deep runs at SCOOP, ButchTimothy scored $27,840.00 placing seventh in last year’s Event #31-H

The overnight rest did not quell the player’s aggressiveness on the restart. Maybe they ran out of Lucky Charms, donuts with sprinkles, hugs, or milk, because the angry style of play would lead to four more eliminations in the first 15 minutes. That group included pmahoney22 who was denied a second SCOOP final table in back-to-back days after finishing runner-up to bleu329 in yesterday’s Event #30-H banking $85,817.71 in the process. Also in that group was another player with several titles to his name. EPT, WCOOP, and now a 2012 SCOOP title in Event #24-M, Nicolas “niccc” Chouity was deep here as well looking for a second title and maybe push wunderkind Shaun Deeb a bit for the Player of the Series title. Low on chips Chouity would flip pocket nines [9h][9d] against Killer_ooooo’s [Qh][Ad] just five minutes into the restart and a lady on the door [Qc] [6h] [7d] [3h] [7s] would show Nicolas out in 18th place ($2,211.30).

At the first five minute break only 12 remained as jtizzo222 (14th place, $3,046.68) and despite knocking out Nicolas Chouity, Killer_ooooo would join jtizzo222 on the rail in 13th place ($3,046.68) as djalminha retained the chip lead for the first hour with kripap continuing to trail closely behind.

15 minutes after the break Costa Rica’s My Brim Low would take a seat with Chouity in 12th place after a pay bump ($3,882.06) and montjeu8 (11th place, $3882.06) ran a pair of ducks [2c][2d] into Blackbeaty’s pocket eights [8h][8s] as hand-for-hand play lined to be a long wait for the final table as the players enjoyed an average of nearly two million chips and blinds at 15K/30K ante 6K.

They enjoyed it for a whole four minutes as Dan Kelly would lead off the betting with min-raise from the cutoff as matt20 three-bet to 155,678. bluesky30 in the small blind ended the re-raising with a shove for 803,092 as Kelly quickly folded but matt20 did not, making the call with big slick [Ac][Kd]. bluesky30 was in deep trouble holding only one live card [As][7s] needing spades or a seven to prevent becoming the bubble boy. A king and one spade on the [2d] [Kc] [9s] [9d] [9c] nine-heavy board gave the 1.7 million chip pot to matt20 as bluesky30 was dropped from the active roster in 10th place ($3,882.06) starting up the final table below:

Seat 1: kripap (2185977 in chips)
Seat 2: djalminha (1584365 in chips)
Seat 3: djk123 (1541978 in chips)
Seat 4: raare01 (980747 in chips)
Seat 5: YugiohPro (1415532 in chips)
Seat 6: matt20 (2229507 in chips)
Seat 7: pistons87 (3246032 in chips)
Seat 8: ro_Man777 (1825161 in chips)
Seat 9: Blackbeaty (2482701 in chips)

Supernova Elite pistons87 would take the chip lead from djalminha just before the final table as the 2011 WCOOP Event #41 High-Roller Heads-up champ and 2012 SCOOP champ in Event #23-H was stacked for run at SCOOP title number two this year.

Also looking for SCOOP 2012 title number two is Blackbeaty would started off the series with a bang taking down Event #1-L for $74,008.00. YugiohPro took down the Sunday Warm-up in August 2010 for $104,060.64 and raare01 with WCOOP and a Sunday Warm-up final table credited, were both viewing that SCOOP championship watch to add to impressive tournament resumes here at PokerStars.

Everyone wanting to stay

One hour and 15 minutes it would take to finally boot someone off this final table. Like your best friend who had to retell the story about the time you went into the wrong bathroom at Wal-Mart for the 15th time, it was getting a little too friendly at this final table. With the blinds up to 25K/50K ante 10K pistons87 would lead off with a min-raise as YugiohPro called from the small blind to see a [As][7d][4h] ace-high flop. YugiohPro checked as pistons87 pushed out 110,000 and YugiohPro check-raised to 299,999 as pistons87 called. [9h] on the turn and the same action happened as YugiohPro check-raised all-in for 1.36 million total as pistons87 made the call holding the turned top two [Ac][9d]. Bad luck for YugiohPro who dominated with [Jc][Ah] and now was left to watch the three-outer miss on the river [3d] claiming $4,914.00 in ninth place.

69 used in the right position

The video below is rated G for general audiences and safe for work, however the words coming out of raare01′s mouth after the hand probably were not:

You do not win tournaments sitting around for aces to appear, Dan “djk123″ Kelly refuse to let raare01 walk in the blinds and shoved from the small blind holding [6s][9s]. However, raare01 sitting on only 495,247 chips, found a medium ace [As][8c] more than enough to make the call. The aggression was rewarded with two pair on the flop [7h][6h][9h] but also gave raare01 a straight draw. The [Ac] on the turn also opened up more outs, but a dainty [6c] on the river finished off raare01 in eighth place ($8,599.50).

ACTION!!

One hand after Blackbeaty lured Kelly into shoving with a flush draw and gutshot, while having top set hold for a 4.1 million chip pot, pistons87 and day one chip leader djalminha would tangle for a 2.6 million chip pot preflop. With the blinds moving up to 30K/60K ante 12K pistons87 min-raised from UTG as djalminha was tired from a dying stack and decided to shove for 1.22 million. Back to the current chip leader, pistons87 holding [Ah][Qs] the Supernova Elite decided to make the call. All the action was front-loaded as an ace came out on the flop [2c] [Ad] [6d] [Ks] [Th] to bolster pistons87′s chip lead and end djalminha’s tournament in seventh place ($13,513.50).

Jacks win for once?

pistons87 and Blackbeaty held over 11 million chips while the remainder of the table scrapped for five million. This led to matt20 and ro_Man777 deciding to combine their stacks preflop. With the blinds still at 30K/60K ante 12K and just a few minutes before a blind jump, ro_Man777 would raise from the first position to 240,000 as matt20 wasted no time in shoving 1.37 million with usually fatal jacks [Jc][Jh] as ro_Man777 called with [As][Qc]. This time the jacks did not attract an ace nor queen to the [9d] [3h] [Kd] [2c] [3c] board and since matt20 covered ro_Man777 by a little more than 100K in chips, the German took home sixth place cash ($18,427.50).

Right before the third hourly break of day two, the two chip hogs Blackbeaty and pistons87 tangled in a power struggle for the chip lead. After a series of raises the largest pot of the tournament sat in the middle as Blackbeaty’s [Ac][Qs] faced off against pistons87′s jacks [Jd][Js]. Maybe some left over polarity from matt20′s jacks not attracting any aces, the other three aces in the deck would appear on the [As] [4d] [Ad] [Qh] [Ah] board for quads shipping the 7.4 million chip pot to Blackbeaty as pistons87 slipped to 3.1 million chips.

Jacks? Jacks. Jacks!!!

Pocket jacks seem to be the make-it or break-it hand on this final table as you can watch below to see who wins the nearly five million chip flip between Dan “djk123″ Kelly and kripap:

Kelly’s jacks [Jd][Jh] were up against the [Qh][Ac] of kripap as the two overcards would not pair up on the [7s] [2c] [Tc] [Kh] [3h] board and kripap took leave in fifth place ($23,341.50). The very next hand Kelly would call matt20′s push holding [Ah][9c] and flop an ace [7d][As][5c] against matt20′s pocket tens [Th][Tc]. A [5h] on the turn helped no one but the WOW! moment came on the [Td] river handing 3.2 million freshly minted tournament chips to matt20 as Kelly still held 3.8 million as the blinds moved up to 40K/80K ante 16K.

Well. Yeah. Um. There are no words.

After that two-outer on the river by matt20, Dan “djk123″ Kelly went Defcon 1 on the table trying to nuke his three remaining opponents off the table as quickly as possible. After ratcheting up his stack to over 10 million chips while pistons87 and Blackbeaty held around three million and matt20 just over one million, the below three-way all-in would chop the table population in half. Watch below:

djk123: [4s] [As]
matt20: [Qd] [Jd]
Blackbeaty: [Jh] [Js]

Jacks once again made it into a tournament changing pot. However pocket jacks’ record would slip to 2-2 as Kelly flopped two pair [Ad] [4h] [3s] [Ts] [9c] and collect both matt20′s chips (fourth place, $32,923.80) and Blackbeaty’s chips (third place $44,226.00) for a 6.87 million chip pot and take a huge chip advantage into heads-up play against pistons87.

Deal as pistons87 snags a huge pot

Just as the blinds moved up to 50K/100K ante 20K, pistons87 would win a battle of kickers as djk123 pushed top pair [Ts][3s] into pistons87′s top pair – king kicker [Ks][Th] on the [8s] [2c] [5h] [Tc] [6c] board to nearly even up the chips as Kelly only led nine million to 8.4 million (a stark contrast from the 14.5 million to 2.9 million chip lead at the beginning of heads-up play) at the point which they agreed to chop the money quickly leaving $6,000 to our champ:

Dan “djk123″ Kelly: $67,040.06
pistons87: $66,542.11

Both players have WCOOP titles, pistons87 has a SCOOP title, and while Kelly is looking for his first, Dan chatted that he needed to play it out due to a bet. This author is figuring the wagered amount is worth a little more than $6,000 and the SCOOP watch.

Three-time WCOOP champ is now a SCOOP champ

Our final two would battle until the blinds moved up to 60K/120K ante 24K as fives (not jacks) would determine our champion. Kelly would call a min-raise from pistons87 in the big blind to see a [8h][5h][5s] flop. djk123 checked as pistons87 bet 240,000 as Kelly check-raised to 566,666. Three-bet to 1.08 million from pistons87 and Kelly came right back with another six-heavy bet to 1,666,666. pistons87 sticking with even numbers five-bet to 2.4 million as Kelly shoved 11.1 million and covered pistons87.

Holding 3.4 million behind and trip fives [3d][5d] pistons87 made the call and immediately saw the bad news as Kelly flipped up the case five with an ace kicker [5c][Ah]. The treys would miss on the [Ts] turn and [Ks] river as Dan “djk123″ Kelly claimed the 2012 SCOOP Event #29-M title and $73,040.06!

Number of entries: 1,660
Number of rebuys: 1,879
Number of add-ons: 1,375
Prize Pool: $491,400.00
Places paid: 216

$300,000 guarantee SCOOP 2012 Event #29-M $109+Rebuys NLHE (Big Antes) results (05-17-12):
( * denotes part of two-way deal )
1. Dan “djk123″ Kelly (Australia) *$73,040.06
2. pistons87 (Canada) *$66,542.11
3. Blackbeaty (Germany) $44,226.00
4. matt20 (United Kingdom) $32,923.80
5. kripap (Hungary) $23,341.50
6. ro_Man777 (Germany) $18,427.50
7. djalminha (Portugal) $13,513.50
8. raare01 (Netherlands) $8,599.50
9. YugiohPro (South Korea) $4,914.00

Looking for more SCOOP reporting? Visit our special SCOOP 2012 coverage section.

Tags: Battle of the Planets | delicious | italian poker tour | lapt | portugal | team pokerstars pro | tournaments | twitter | World Series of Poker

By now, if you read the PokerStarsBlog at all, you’ve probably read about how Shaun Deeb is absolutely dominating the Player of the Series race. He’s made a joke out of it, really, by crushing souls in the stud events. There are still 10 low, medium and high events to go, but it looks like Deeb will run away with the Player of the Series title.

But poker isn’t always about domination. Ask tua133 about that. You see, tua133 is a new SCOOP champion, having taken down 2012 SCOOP Event 29-Low, $11+$ NLHE (Big Antes). But tua133 didn’t dominate the final table. tua133 used skillful survival and opportunism to grab the Movado watch.

Poker is very much a game of numbers, so try these numbers on for size: 9,995 entries. 11,891 re-buys. 7,032 add-ons. A total of $289,180 into the prize pool, smashing yet another SCOOP guarantee. Of those 9,995 entries, 1,260 would see monetary reward before Day 1 of the two-day event was done.

Day 1 lasted 40 levels. By the time those 40 levels expired, the field of 9,995 had been compressed to just 22 survivors. Gone were Team PokerStars Pros Marcin “Goral “Horecki (315th, $112.78) and Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom (763rd, $72.29) and Jose “nachobarbero” Barbero (1046th, $57.83). PokerStars Team Online player Mickey “mement_mori” Petersen made a final table in Event 28-low yesterday, but in this event he barely squeaked into the money (1232nd, $52.05).

Team Online player George “jorj95″ Lind survived to Day 2, however. He started the day 4th in chips, just trailing three players who were all within one big blind of each other: tollefishy (7,961,590), MrWeesy (7,861,943) and JBzzzr (7,821,817). Tollefishy and JBzzr made the final table; MrWeesy (13th) and Lind (14th) did not.

Seat 1: tua133 (7071955 in chips)
Seat 2: tucaluc (4718510 in chips)
Seat 3: gmanrom (25066745 in chips)
Seat 4: DrUPSWING (3701550 in chips)
Seat 5: allinnchic (6834815 in chips)
Seat 6: JBzzzr (36446294 in chips)
Seat 7: bliblablupbp (5795079 in chips)
Seat 8: Aik2k (3077720 in chips)
Seat 9: tollefishy (8105332 in chips)

Level 45: blinds 125k-250k, ante 50k
Average: 11,202,000

The chip average to start the final table was 11.2 million, or 45 big blinds, but only two players were above that average: gmanrom and chip leader JBzzzr. The medium and short stacks would have to do quite a bit of jockeying if they hoped to put themselves in position to mount a serious run at the SCOOP title.

The first consolidation of the shorter stacks occurred about fifteen minutes into the final table. Blinds were up to 150k-300k with a 60k ante, and bliblablupbp open-shoved the small blind for almost 6 million. Aik2k, sitting in the small blind with 2.4 million and [ac][ts], called all in. That ace-ten was a better hand than bliblablupbp’s [kh][9c], and even flopped better by making a pair of 10s, [8d][td][7d]. The [qh] turn card changed nothing, but a [js] on the river give bliblablupbp a king-high straight to knock out Aik2k in 9th place.

tucaluc was the next player bound for the rail. tucaluc’s 2.3 million chips weren’t many at the 200k-400k level. They went in pre-flop from second position with [as][7s]. Big stack gmanrom called with pocket 10s and never had to sweat on a jack-high, no-spade board. Two hands later it was DrUPSWING’s turn to downswing all the way to zero. The basic story was the same: a short stack of 1.5 million chips that went into the middle pre-flop with [tc][8c] and couldn’t best tollefishy’s [as][9h] on a board of [5h][4c][qs][3s][2c].

With six players remaining, JBzzzr remained the dominant chip leader and gmanrom was comfortably in second. The other four players, despite some consolidation amongst themselves, all had 20 big blinds or fewer to their names. Two of them, tollefishy and tua133, clashed in the 250k-500k level:

RSS readers click through to see replay

That loss left tollefishy with just 800k in chips, which went into the middle the next hand with another unsuited king. allinnchic, in the big blind, was dealt an unsuited ace and called. tollefishy did not improve, exiting the tournament in 6th place.

The chip disparity between JBzzzr and the rest of the table persisted, even moreso after JBzzzr took a big pot off of 2nd-place player gmanrom. JBzzzr had almost 60% of the chips in play, with each of the other four players having roughly 10% (10 million) each.

tua133 was the player to break the four-way deadlock and build a head of steam. First pocket queens held against gmanrom’s pocket 10s for a double-up to 20 million that crippled gmanrom to about 2 million in chips. Then bliblablupbp opened all in for 6.9 million from the button with [ad][2d] and ran right into tua133′s [ac][qs]. tua133 flopped a queen, then hung on as the board developed a flush draw, [qc][5h][kd][9d]. The river was a harmless [9c], knocking bliblablupbp out in 5th place. tua133 finished off gmanrom a few hands later.

The three-handed battle saw tua133 continue to build chips, mainly at JBzzzr’s expense, while short stack allinnchic looked for good spots. Shoving all in for 21 million on a [ts][4d][8d] flop with [tc][9s], over the top of a continuation bet of 1.7 million from tua133, must have looked like one of those good spots to allinnchic. Turns out, it wasn’t – tua133 snap-called with [4s][4c], a set of fours. The turn [7s] was a hopeful card for allinnchic, giving allinnchic an up-and-down straight draw, but improving to two pair with the [9c] on the river wasn’t enough. allinnchic’s tournament ended in 3rd place.

That huge pot gave tua133 the chip lead starting heads-up play by about a 5-to-4 margin. tua133 inquired about the possibility of a deal, but JBzzzr politely responded, “no ty. gl.”

So they played. And not for very long. tua133 increased the the chip lead to about 5-to-3 through a series of very small pots. On the final hand of the tournament, in the 400k-800k level, JBzzzr opened to 1.6 million, tua133 three-bet to 4.1 million, JBzzzr four-bet to 7.9 million and then tua133 five-bet shoved for 62.9 million. JBzzzr elected to call off 29.6 million more with [ac][9h]. tua133 showed [4h][4s] and the two were off to the races. Fours won this particular race, [ks][8s][qs][7h][jh].

Was it the most dominating final table performance ever? No, it was not. But poker isn’t always about dominance. Just as often it’s about skillful survival and opportunism. tua133 demonstrated both skills at the final table of Event 29-Low and for that reason tua133 is a new SCOOP champion.

2012 SCOOP Event 29-Low, $11+R NLHE (Big Antes) results:

Number of entrants: 9,995
Places paid: 1260

1st: tua133 ($42,544.38)
2nd: JBzzzr ($31,086.85)
3rd: allinnchic ($21,688.50)
4th: gmanrom ($14,459.00)
5th: bliblablupbp ($11,567.20)
6th: tollefishy ($8,675.40)
7th: DrUPSWING ($5,783.60)
8th: tucaluc ($3,180.98)
9th: Aik2k ($2,241.14)

Looking for more SCOOP reporting? Visit our special SCOOP 2012 coverage section.

Tags: 2011 | ept | event | festival | isildur1 | latin-america | series | Super Tuesday | tcoop | TOC | videos

It’s not quite an aptronym, where your name suits your job*, but it’s not far off. William Champion leads the Day 1A field with 129,700. The fast talking 46-year-old father of four got chipped up in a big pot where he turned top set against Barny Boatman and got paid on all three streets. That set him up for a rollicking performance which rolled the beaming Northern Irishman up the chip counts into the lead. Those chasing him are Paul McCaffrey (112,000), Marc McDonnell (106,600), Michael Farrelly (90,400) and Graeme Crozier (86,900).

Champion, a data storage engineer by day, classes himself as a poker enthusiast who has thrown himself into the game, partly in thanks to working in Paris where he plays live tournaments four or five nights a week. Between that and all the strategy reading something seems to be paying off: he is well above the 32,802 chip average of the 91 players that made through Day 1A. A total of 199 entered today, we should see that many and more tomorrow.

*Think Bill Hammer for a blacksmith or Angela Spam for a marketing executive.

William Champion, Day 1A chip leader

The big stacks at the top may not be names that you’d recognise but that’s certainly not to say that plenty of known faces didn’t turn up to play today. Notable players that made it through include Sam Razavi (20,800), Robert Csire (12,700), Richard Haile (20,400), David O’Connor (10,500), Max Silver (21,100), Jason Tompkins (34,100) and Dara O’Kearney (20,700). To see all the players that made it through click through to our chip count page.

UKIPT Season 2 leader board winner Sam Razavi

Plenty of others bust including two-time UKIPT winner Nick Abou Risk who was the second player out, much to the relief of the rest of the field, after running kings into aces, while plenty of the old guard ultimately met the same fate. Surinder Sunar ($4,588,736 in live winnings) and the Boatman brothers (a combined $3,994,819) both failed to make Day 2 but as Barny said: “You don’t win anything for making Day 2.” But neither do you make anything for busting Day 1.

Ross Boatman, brother of Barny

Rob Yong, owner of the Dusk Till Dawn poker club, fell in the penultimate level of the day five-bet jamming close to 20,000 into Bruce Jones who made the call with pocket queens. Yong held five-nine offsuit. His club’s poker director, Simon Trumper, will not be in Day 2′s chip counts either. Jones finished the day with 73,000.

Team PokerStars Pro Jude Ainsworth had an up and down day, some of the former but unfortunately ending on the latter thanks to the last season’s leader board champion Sam Razavi. It wasn’t the most straightforward of days for Razavi either who seemed to bemoan suck out after suck out before turning the corner and finishing the day a little below average. Ainsworth will have to console himself with the thought of winning his second SCOOP $10,300 main event this weekend. We caught up with Ainsworth which you could read about by clicking on this link and scrolling to 3.05pm: Catching up with Ainsworth.

Day 1B starts at 12 noon tomorrow and we expect to see a larger field than today. Join us for all the fun and frolics.

To catch up with today’s action click through the links below:
Levels 1-4
Levels 5-8

All images are copyright of Mickey May and must credited as such. She’ll force feed you with Danish liquorice until you lose your mind in a sugar-induced psychosis if you don’t.

Tags: entertainment | ept | facebook | gambling | micromillions | pokerstars macau | portugal poker series | SCOOP | tcoop | TOC | wbcoop

It’s no secret that I’ve become a little obsessed with Shaun Deeb over the past week or two. It’s nothing scandalous, I assure you. I liken it more to a nightwatchman who sees the same person pass by his station every night at the same time. Eventually, he begins to wonder, “Who is that man? What’s it like to walk in his shoes? Did I remember to pack a sandwich tonight?”

It seems like Shaun Deeb passes by my watch station once a day. Each time he goes by, he’s wearing a new SCOOP watch and notches another nick in SCOOP’s headboard. He’s winning the SCOOP overall Player of the Series. He’s in the lead for the high buy-in Player of the Series, award, too. He’s the only person in SCOOP history to win four titles.

And so, I’m obsessed.

Every time he does something, my instant messenger, Twitter feed, and email box fill up with people asking, “Are you watching Shaun?” Which, if I’m being honest, is a lot like asking, “Brad, are you breathing presently?”

My first thought when this (almost assuredly temporary) obsession began was to beg PokerStars for an emergency plane ticket to Playa del Carmen so I could see all this happen in person. You know, as a real journalist would. But, I knew that wasn’t going to happen. First, those last-minute tickets are pricey. And even if I could get the people in the travel office to okay a last-minute ticket, I’d have to explain to my wife why I was so hot on jumping a flight to the beach to probe the life of a 26-year-old man. The only way it would be a harder sell would be if Liv Boeree were winning Player of the Series right now and she were wearing a black latex superhero suit.

Where was I?

Yes, Deeb. Deeb.

Deeb.

So, instead of risking the wrath of the PokerStars travel office or my wife imagining Shaun Deeb in a latex superhero suit, I asked the expected SCOOP Player of the Series winner to take me through the last week or two of his life.

He doesn’t sleep much.

“I only need 4 hours of sleep a day and thats what I’ve been keeping up with,” Deeb said.

He wakes every day and makes a choice. It’s Corn Pops, bagels, or sandwiches. He eats and grabs his laptop. He works without a mouse on the one screen. Or, he did until his laptop went down.

“My computer seems to have stopped working,” Deeb said. “So, I’m using a borrowed laptop and monitor and hate it.”

That could go a long way toward explaining why Deeb hasn’t won a title in a SCOOP couple of days. It’s surely not an overabundance of celebration. Though he’s added three titles to his resume in the past two weeks, he’s been celebrating other friends’ birthdays or grabbing an occasional beer. Even when it’s over, Deeb says his plans don’t involve anything that would be considered baller…balla…ballar…or whatever the kids are saying these days.

“Just some paintball and then heading home to see family before the WSOP,” he said.

In short, his day isn’t much different than most SCOOP players. He’s just winning a lot more.

Obviously, I had more questions.

What kind of response are you getting from friends and enemies?

Deeb: I think there is some jealousy, but most people are happy a friend is
winning. I don’t think I have as many enemies as I had years ago.

I’m getting the impression this is about more to you than the EPT Grand Final seat you will win for Player of the Series.

Deeb: Yeah, I’m a title whore, so that’s important to me. The added value is pretty sweet.

The range of the games you’re winning at speaks to what you talked about in our last interview about players learning new games. Does this validate what you were saying?

Deeb: I mean, I’m not the best player in the field in these stud (events), but combining my no-limit tourney skills understanding, ICM, and stack-sizes, I can do
a lot of things people aren’t doing when short-stacked.

***

I could go on like this for the rest of the day, but the first SCOOP events of the day are underway. I have to go take the watch.

Tags: archives | Baltic Poker Festival | Battle of the Planets | delicious | ept | friends | lapt | latin-america | news | pokerstars macau | russian poker series | SCOOP

The recent win by Kami Chisholm (drkamikaze1) in the SCOOP Event 4-L Badugi tournament was a first for women in the event and Chisholm’s first SCOOP win. But Chisholm is no newcomer to poker as her second place finish in the 2009 WCOOP PLO8 event for $47,000 and her live event win at the PCA attests (see interview below). But she is thrilled to be doing extraordinarily well overall in SCOOP this year with two final table finishes and an impressive slot on the SCOOP leaderboard.

Her win in the badugi event ($9,003) along with a fourth place finish ($5,900) in the SCOOP Event 10-M Stud tournament gives her an overall ranking of 31-35 on the SCOOP leaderboard. A huge “congratulations” to her, with wishes for even more success to come. And there’s still time to make it an even bigger and better year for women.

That’s exactly what PokerStars was thinking when they decided to offer a $5.50/$0.50 satellite to this Sunday’s Low $109 Main Event with a buy-in that affords even players on a limited budget a chance to get into the action. So there’s still time for you to make your mark in this year’s SCOOP and possibly bring home a championship. You can find the satellite under the tournament number #552603719.

With that in mind, PokerStars Women spoke with Kami shortly after she won the tournament, and posed a few questions about her approach. Reading about her success is sure to fire you up for this Sunday’s tournament, so register now, and start planning your assault.

PokerStars Women: You’ve won a live event at the PCA in Limit Hold ‘Em (2010 PCA Event #26, Limit Hold’em Six Handed), finished second in the 2009 WCOOP PLO8 for $47,000, won the Venetian Deep Stack Horse Event, placed fifth in the WSOP Ladies Event, and now this. You’re a very versatile and dangerous player it seems! Have you made an effort to master a lot of different games, or is that just how it worked out?

Kami: Most people have a hard time with being strong at a lot of games, which is why HORSE tournaments are my favorite, and why I have had the most success in them. I tend to get bored pretty easily, so being able to play a lot of different games keeps me interested and fresh, so I don’t get into a rut. It’s also really fun when a series like SCOOP or WCOOP comes around, because I know I can have a shot at the tournament series leaderboards. It’s much easier for a skilled mixed-game player to cash in a lot of tournaments than for a NLHE specialist (except maybe Isildur!) as the fields are smaller, and with the slow structures of SCOOP and WCOOP, the edge is higher for a versatile player.

PSW: Can you tell us how you decide which events to play?

Kami: My plan has always been to play as many SCOOP events as possible, as I’m a tournament specialist who focuses on the limit games and PLO8. So I am playing all of the medium and low limit events, and as many of the high events as I can as well.

PSW: So why badugi?

Kami: Badugi is not my favorite game, but I do enjoy playing it. I’d like to play it more, but there are very few badugi MTTs that are above micro limits, which I rarely play anymore.

PSW: It’s a difficult game to master and not that well-known. How did you get started in it?

Kami: The same way I learned all the limit games, by just jumping in and starting to play. I wouldn’t say I’ve mastered the game; I don’t even think I’m particularly strong at it. Rather, I think I’m just good at limit MTTs in general.

PSW: What was it like when you realized you had won the tournament?

Kami: Well, I was expecting to win the hand, so it wasn’t a shock. But we were playing heads-up for a long time, and I had been playing for almost 14 hours straight at that point, so I was very happy for it to be over and to have won!

When I’m deep in a tournament, I never look at the prize payouts, as it’s not really about the money to me. Not that I mind the cash of course, but I don’t look because I want to keep the focus on winning, no matter what. Thinking about the prize pool is just a big distraction from that.

PSW: You played in Monte Carlo recently as a PokerStars Women Live satellite winner. What was that like, and what did you think of Monte Carlo?

Kami: I love playing the women’s events, so I was thrilled to win a package. Women are always so much fun to play with, and Monte Carlo itself is a trip. I feel like I definitely got to see how the “other 1%” live! I’m happy to be back home in the real world now though.

PSW: Have you had a specific type of training program in poker?

Kami: I’m pretty much self-taught in the limit games, where I learn mostly through playing and book study. I have had some great NL coaches, and I have watched a lot of videos and done other training for NL. It’s amazing how much I always feel I still have to learn though.

I don’t know that I would say I’m one of the top players at any specific game, but I think I’m above average, which is enough to be a winning player. Remember, you don’t have to be the best player in the world to win, you just have to be better (or luckier) than the folks at your table on a particular day!

For more on Kami’s success this year, see Brad Willis’ earlier PokerStars blog report. And for more on upcoming events, see PokerStars Women.

Tags: action | entertainment | ept | facebook | france poker series | italian | italian poker tour | SCOOP | UKIPT | wcoop | World Series of Poker

8.40pm: Tussles at the top
As play winds down for the day, there’s 15 minutes left the inevitable ‘last three hands’, klaxon can’t be far off, it appears that only two players have broken the six figure mark. It’s still William Champion out in front, he has around 110,000 but Marc McDonnell, who has 102,000 is hot on his heels. — NW

8.30pm: More head to the rail
There’s no easy way to say this but if you’re looking for any of the following; Surinder Sunar, Mark Coyne, Patrick Rooney, Wei Li, Adrian Tracey, Robert Elkin, Chris Dowling, David Path or Ashfaaq Taus, then you’re better trying the bar or the cash tables. Don’t head to the main event tables, they’re not there. — RD

Surinder Sunar and Liam Flood: there, there, it’s going to be all right…

8.25pm: Minimal damage
Such was the gravitas of this hand for UKIPT Cork champion Sam Razavi that he devoted two tweets to it! “WOW! I call c/o 3x raise out of BB w/A-10; flop A83 he fires flop I call; turn Q chk chk riv total brick I bet half pot he flats A8… ..I feel like I won the hand!!! Can’t believe I lost the absolute minimum.”

Razavi is definitely in a happy mood, he was overheard saying: “Not long to jagerbomb time, I feel like a kid on Christmas eve.” — NW

8.15pm: A few small skirmishes
There hasn’t been much in the way of ‘double up or go home’ fireworks that you usually associate with the last level of the night, but nonetheless there have been a few small skirmishes to report.

Three players including Timothy Boyle and Ann Tran Dinh paid 1,200 each to see a flop of [8d][Ad][9d], it checked to Boyle who bet 3,250, call from Dinh. The [Kh] fell on the turn and Dinh wasted no time in moving all-in for around 12,000, Boyle insta-mucked.

Elsewhere Andrew Laurie got two streets of value with [Ah][9s] on a [9d][Qs][3s][Ad][3d] board by betting 2,200 on the turn and 3,000 on the river.

There’s 30 minutes left in the day and 104 players remain. — NW

8.05pm: Exits
There’s no easy way to say this but: Patrick Murray, Nuno Ascensão, Charles Fabian, Milorad Dobrijevic, Rob Yong, Janos Jeszek, Dean Hutchinson, Peter Andrasi, Mark Cullumbine, Shawn Kelly, Simon Brooks, Fergal Nealon, Martin McGeough, Simon Trumper, Devron Hasselnook, Gerard Hall and Antonio Gagliano are all amongst the 44% of the field who’ve been eliminated so far today. — NW

7.55pm: Yong five-bets light?
The @PokerStarsBlog just received a tweet that we felt deserved to be aired, Yong is out after all and we did not see his elimination.

“Shout out for Bruce Jones playing the UKIPT? He says he just knocked out Rob Yong with QQ when Yong 5-bet shipped 95off” tweeted @RobLloyd91.

We hunted Jones down and indeed that had happened. Jones had opened with queens in the hijack, Yong had three-bet out of the big blind and had then tried to make Jones pass his 6,200 four-bet with an all-in of nearly 20,000. It did not work. Easy pot for Jones. — RD

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 300-600 ante 75

7.50pm: Two pots for O’Flynn
Ian O’Flynn has chipped up to 30,000 after winning back-to-back pots, both of which had been opened by a resurgent Sam Razavi. He first flatted a 2,700 three-bet from Joseph Lalor only stabbing at the pot on the river of the [kh][3h][2d][8c][8d] board. Lalor passed. The next hand he jammed the river of a [kd][5s][3s][5d][ad] board after being led into for three streets. He took the pot without showdown. – RD

7.45pm: Chip counts
News of those still alive as we head into level eight. Max Silver was covering his stack and didn’t want me to see it, 24,000 he proffered eventually which is less than the 38,000 we previously clocked him at.

He was chatting to Jason Tompkins about a hand, “I don’t want to check-raise the turn, I think you’ve got a made hand,” was all I caught, Tompkins is up to 37,000 he may well have taken some of Silver’s chips. Chipleader William Champion has increased his stack to 120,000, Fergal Nealon is at the other end of the scale as he’s hanging on with 5,700. Dara O’Kearney (14,300) and David O’Connor (14,250) seem to be stuck in neutral, whilst Richard Haile (25,000) will be hoping to increase their stack in the last level of the day.

7.35pm: Ainsworth’s boat sunk
Team PokerStars Pro Jude Ainsworth is out having just busted in what he described as: “A cooler, my usual UKIPT really.”

The heavy action occurred on the river, with a full board of [9][9][5][J][9] on the felt Leonard White led for 3,500, Ainsworth moved all-in for 7,000 and White called. Ainsworth showed a jack for nines full of jacks but White had [Kd][9d] for quads.

“I could’ve just called on the river and left myself 10 big blinds,” said Ainsworth. “But I didn’t think he had the nine, I put him on a smaller pair than me. Back home to play SCOOP’s it is.” — NW

Ainsworth’s day is done

7.25pm: Numbers on the board
The board currently shows that 120 players remain from the 199 that started the day, giving an average stack of 24,875. If you’re anywhere near that then you’re doing okay. Ross Jarvis certainly seems to think so, “I’m singing M-People,” he said, doing an embarrassing little dance in his chair.

We think he’s alluding to the ‘Moving on up’? — RD

7.15pm: Razavi doubles through Ainsworth
No sooner had he doubled up, Team PokerStars pro Jude Ainsworth was knocked back down again.

I was alerted to a big pot by Sam Razavi’s booming baritone: “Don’t do it to me,” he said in the general direction of the dealer. The situation when I arrived was this: Razavi was all-in on the turn of a [9s][8s][Ah][Jd] board with [Ad][9c] up against Ainsworth who held [8h][7s].

The river card was the [6c] and Razavi said, half stupefied: “I didn’t lose, I didn’t lose, the way I’ve been running I thought it was coming.”

“You’ll have to repay the favour and double me up now,” said Ainsworth who is down to 8,000, Razavi meanwhile doubled to around 29,000. — NW
7.10pm: Zero sum game
There’s no easy way to say this but if: Paul Portelli, Kyle Johnston, Michael Kane, James Waldron, Martin Dench, Alex Scullion, Daragh Davey, Mark Buckley, Chistopher Czilinsky, Paul Romain, Frank Stevens, Nicky Power, Andrew Kelly or Kevin Killeen offered to swap a percentage with you durin the break then you’ve been had as they’re all out of this tournament. — NW

7pm: Ainsworth double
Jude Ainsworth has doubled through Chistopher Czilinsky in a battle of the blinds. Ainsworth made it 1,000 from the small blind and Czilinsky jammed from the big setting Ainsworth’s 11,500 stack all-in. Ainsworth made the call.

Ainsworth: [ad][jh]
Czilinsky: [9c][9d]

Ainsworth flopped it as the board ran out [as][6s][kh][7c][7s] to double up to 23,000. Czilinsky bust shortly afterwards. — RD

6.50pm: Chip leaders
The players are back in their seats for the final two levels of the day, these fellas are the chip leaders with 120 minutes or folds, calls and raises to go:

William Champion - 101,000
José Esteban – 66,000
Ross Hall – 64,000
Neil Raine - 56,000
Con Collins – 54,000

Ross Hall

6.35pm: Break! That calls for a montage
The players have just gone on the last break of the day so in the meantime we’ll post up a hat-based montage of some of the Day 1A players. ‘Why?’ you may ask. ‘Why not?’ we reply.

Joseph Lalor: hat, curious

Fintan Hand: hat, Kermit

Sur-in-der hat Sunar

Sur-out-the hat Sunar

6.25pm: Chip counts
We’re busy updating the chip count page as often as we can and have just done another batch. We can tell you that Thomas Hall (42,000) is among those doing well. On the next break (eight minutes) we’ll be doing a sweep of the tables to unearth the big stacks. — NW

6.18pm: Last year’s final table
UKIPT Cork runner-up David O’Connor is getting it quietly with 28,000 while UKIPT Dublin, Season 1 winner Max Silver is not, he’s gassing away at Jason Tompins who also made the final table here last season. Silver is up to 38,000, Tompkins also performing well on 30,000.

Last year’s runner-up Chuck Fabian looks like he’s got a tough couple of hours of grinding ahead of him though, he’s down to 13,000. — RD

Jason Tompkins is setting himself up for another run

6.05pm: Boatman bites the dust
A short while ago Ross Boatman was knocked out and his brother Barny has now joined him on the rail. “I had about 12,000 to start the hand and I’m in the big blind with [7][5] off-suit. It folded to the button (Ross Hall) he’s min raised and I’ve called,” explained the elder Boatman sibling.

“The flop was [9][5][4] with two diamonds, I’ve checked, he’s bet half the pot, I trebled his bet and he set me all-in. I put him on the flush draw, I knew exactly where I was and at that point it was too late to do anything apart from put the chips in and hope to hold up. He had [Ad][3d] and hit an ace on the turn.”

After claiming the scalp of the Hendon Mobster, Hall is up to 46,000. — NW

5.58pm: Fallen, busted, done and dusted
There’s no easy way to say this but if you’d had a premonition that Cormac O’Dea, John Hughes, Graham Pound, Martin Nathorst-Westfelt, John Hanaphy or Anthony Keogh would win UKIPT Dublin you are not a psychic. They are all out and, let’s face it, evidence for ESP abilities is pretty slim. — RD

5.50pm: Whiteside on the right side this time
Earlier (see post at 3.52pm) Dicky Whiteside lost a three-way all-in against Ross Boatman and Stephen McGrath which left him with around 2,000.

Well he’d spun that up to 6,000 and has just got some much-needed chips back from McGrath. It was all-in pre-flop with Whiteside holding [As][Kh] whilst McGrath had [Ah][Jh]. The board ran out [Kc][2s][10d][7d][Ks] and Whiteside is close to getting back to starting stack. — NW

5.40pm: The rollercoaster ride of Razavi
It’s been an up and down level for Sam Razavi who was down to 10,000, doubled up, then got up to 30,000 only to slide back down to 17,000. He told me about his latest hiccup. ” I raised with A-10 the flop has come [10][8] rag and I’ve bet 1,100 he (Aidan Connolly) raised to 3,100, I’ve made it 8,800 and he calls with just 14,000 back.

“The turn was a jack, the river a brick and both got checked through, he showed [J][9] meaning he’d called off a lot of his stack on a draw, if the turn is a blank I’m all-in. — NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 150-300 ante 25

5.35pm: Yong doubles with aces
Rob Yong, now on what seems like a steady stream of cigarette breaks, has doubled up with aces to around 12,000. Thomas Ward was the player that he doubled through looking more sullen than ever when he tabled pocket tens and was told by the player opposite him, Darren Kearney, that he’d passed two tens. Not exactly the news that he wanted hear. Ward mucked his hand on the turn of the [4s][5h][js][kc][6s] board. Kearney apologized shortly after.

To see the chip count page you can click here – or in the widget on the right of the page. — RD

Thomas Ward (left) and Rob Yong

5.30pm: Done in Dublin
There’s no easy way to say this but if you were relying on: Dario Festa, Owen Robinson, Ondrej Drozd, Priit Brikker, Conor O’Driscoll, Graham Parkin, Ross Boatman, Patrick Mulcaire, Chris Barclay, Barry Carson or Mateusz Warowiec to buy you a pint of Guinness with their UKIPT Dublin winnings then you’re going to be waiting a lot longer than the 119.5 seconds it takes to pour a pint of the black stuff, as they’re all out. — NW

5.20pm: Haile fail
Richard Haile has enjoyed a string of results on the UKIPT making five cashes since UKIPT Manchester in March of last year. That puts him joint third alongside Jamie Burland for number of cashes and just behind Sam Razavi (six) and Rupinder Bedi (seven). Four of those were relatively small cashes but the last one, UKIPT Galway this season, was a final table finish for €10,900. The boy is making progress.

Haile appears to have got off to a solid enough start but just lost a small chunk to John Keown after calling 675 and 1,675 on the turn and river of a [7h][3h][js][4d][4c] board. Haile looked unsure on the river but made the call. Keown’s [jc][8h] was good enough to take the pot. A small setback but Haile is still likely to have his name in the counts come the end of the day. — RD

Richard Haile

5.10pm: Razavi doubles with diamonds
UKIPT Cork winner Sam Razavi is up to 21,000 after doubling up with a flush. He tweeted: “Doubled to 21k! Call 79d from bb, flop 7 hi 2diamonds (mbn)…chk/raise/snap guys shove. He has the mighty ak off. Kd instant delivery turn.”

Meanwhile Max Silver, who has never failed to final his local UKIPT tweeted: “Swingy day so far but up to 24k from 15 and a low point of 5k.”
– NW

5pm: Chip counts
Nicky Power is one of the most consistent players on the Irish poker scene having racked up earnings of $386,005 since 2005. He’s always a danger when he gets chips and has nearly trebled his starting stack here as he’s up to 40,000.

One of the real up and coming stars of Irish Poker is Jason Tompkins, he’s been consistently cashing since 2009 and had a breakout year in 2011 including a fifth place finish at UKIPT Dublin in September 2011. He’s going the right way about repeating that success as he’s chugging along on 33,000.

Meanwhile Barny Boatman (18,000) and Dara O’Kearney (16,000) are just above starting stack whilst Fergal Nealon (13,050) and Devron Hasslenook (13,800) have slipped the wrong side of the break even line. — NW

UK legend Barny Boatman

4.50pm: Esteban eliminates two
José Esteban is the early chip leader as he’s up to 70,000 after eliminating two players, in two separate hands at two different tables. I’ll explain.

In the first he had raised to 700 from middle position, Barny Boatman flat called from the small blind before Maximilian Bassil moved all-in for 3,000 total from the big blind. Back on Esteban he made the call and Boatman got out the way.

Bassil: [Kd][Qs]
Esteban: [Qh][Js]

“Here comes the suckout,” said Bassil and he was proved right as the board ran [2d][6h][Jc][6d][Jd], that hand took him to around 50,000.

That table then broke but he soon found himself involved at his new table. I joined the action to see a board of [Ah][3c][6d][Ks] on the felt and the pot size was around 12,000. Action was on Esteban who fired out a bet of 5,550, call from Paul Doyle. The [9s] completed the board, Esteban set Doyle all-in for his last 9,000, and Doyle announced call, Esteban showed [Ad][Kc] whislt Doyle mucked his hand. — NW

4.40pm: Halfway through the day
The players have returned to their seats, the 160 of the 199 which remain anyway. This is the last level without antes, the point at which the men separate themselves from the boys and the grinders just annihilate everyone. Stay with us as the big stacks start to emerge.

Cash games and side events are also running throughout. — RD

Starting stacks are fast becoming short stacks

PokerStars Blog reporting team in Galway (in order of Danish liquorice eaten today): Rick Dacey (too much) and Nick Wright (not enough, still going). Photos by Mickey May (she supplied the stuff).

Tags: boys | dealer | festival | france poker series | lapt | micromillions | news | pokerstars | SCOOP | wcoop

In the fog of poker war, hours evaporate. At the beginning of a session, the first fifteen minutes can take two hours. The rest of the 13-hour session is over in the blink of an eye. A big poker festival is no different. When the Spring Championship of Online Poker began, it seemed like its two-week schedule would last forever. Now, it’s almost at its end.

Almost.

There are four more days of SCOOP events. Four more days left to get your first, second, third, fourth, or, Shaun Deeb, your fifth SCOOP watch. As we wake up to the waning moments of what has been a most amazing festival, let’s get a feel for the state of play as things stand in the fourth quarter.

So far, the 2012 SCOOP as seen 438,228 entries. That’s 34% more than this time last year. As you might expect, the prize pools have seen an impressive jump as well. As of right now, SCOOP has racked up $41,360,449 in prizes. Last year at this time, that number was $27,812,180.

The star of the series so far is impossible to question: Shaun Deeb, who already had one SCOOP title coming in to today, put together three more championship runs to essentially lock up the overall Player of the Series title. He is also leading the high buy-in leaderboard. Here are all the Player of the Series leaders as of right now:

Overall: Shaun Deeb

High: Shaun Deeb

Medium: SebbyGl

Low Drew M Scott tied with Team Online’s George “Jorj95″ Lind III

By the way, keep your eye on Lind, as he’s in the top ten of Event #29-L that re-restarts today. More on that below.

George Lind III looking good for second SCOOP title today

If that’s not enough to satisfy the stats junkie in you, here are some 2012 numbers to make your head spin.

Overall money leader: Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom ($438,597.29)

Most cashes Shaun Deeb (21)

Most final tables Shaun Deeb (7)

Most winnings by country: Canada ($6,634,905)

Most cashes by country: Germany (6,513)

Most final tables by country: Canada (95)

Events won by country Canada tied with UK (13)

In just a few hours, Day 2 of SCOOP Event #29, a big ante no-limit hold’em event, will kick off. The high buy-in competition features a ton of rock stars, including Faraz “The-Toilet 0″ Jaka, Steve “gboro780″ Gross, Andrey “ThePateychuk” Pateychuk and Team PokerStars Pro Theo Jorgensen.

Here are the top ten players from each of those tourneys in advance of their 2pm ET re-start.

SCOOP Event #29-H Day 2 Top Ten
First prize: $159,101

1. holdplz 345034
2. Gribnogrib 330971
3. bigbluffzinc 292020
4. Shhh00kem 290643
5. Jymaster11 263658
6. The-Toilet 0 236608
7. zugzwang16 224991
8. Face333X 185123
9. JackOrsen72 176176
10. gboro780 116102

Theo Jorgensen, also in the hunt in 11th place

SCOOP Event #29-M Day 2 Top Ten
First prize: $80,614

1. djalminha 2359508
2. kripap 1482543
3. djk123 1413416
4. ro_Man777 1283273
5. pistons87 1273102
6. matt20 1246945
7. montjeu8 997495
8. jtizzo222 928679
9. Blackbeaty 830090
10. SvZff 795361

SCOOP Event #29-L Day 2 Top Ten
First prize: $42,544

1.. tollefishy 7961590
2. MrWeesy 7861943
3. JBzzzr 7821817
4. Jorj95 6803705
5. bliblablupbp 6368678
6. DrUPSWING 6255553
7. LTUkaunas 6103375
8. allinnchic 5994230
9. gmanrom 5398773
10. brains-wave 4754773

Good luck to everyone still in action today and as we head toward Sunday’s main events.

Tags: 2011 | ept | European Poker Tour | events | harrah's | lapt | russian | team pokerstars pro | twitter