SCOOP 2012: Mr-G450 is A-Number-1 in Event 28-Low, $27 Razz
Down to one big bet on sixth street of the final table bubble in a limit poker tournament and facing a bet, what would you do if things seemed hopeless? Would you toss that bet into the pot and pray? Or would you fold your chance at a stack-redeeming pot and hope that something good would come your way?
That was the choice facing TheGame131 in 2012 SCOOP Event 28-Low, $27 Razz. And although TheGame131 would not go on to win the tournament – an honor that went to Mr-G450 – TheGame131 would parlay the more unorthodox option into a runner-up finish.
Yes, it was razz day for the 2012 SCOOP. If there were one tournament on the SCOOP calendar where the guarantee might not be met, you’d be forgiven for thinking it would be razz. But once again PokerStars players proved PokerStars wise. But don’t take it from me; take it from BLUFF Magazine editor-in-chief Lance Bradley:
@Lance_Bradley: Playing #SCOOP-28-L and can’t believe there are 2,184 people who know how to play Razz.
That’s right, 2,184 players registered for Event 28-low. 288 of them would make the money (though no word on Twitter whether Bradley was among them). Four members of the Red Spade Bridge counted themselves among the ranks of the 288. Team PokerStars Pros Marcin “Goral” Horecki (249th) and Liv Boeree (115th) had minor success. PokerStars Team Online players Roy “GodlikeRoy” Bhasin (35th) and Mickey “mement_mori” Petersen made it much deeper.
Petersen, in fact, was one of eight players at the final table.
Seat 1: Mr-G450 (3222610 in chips)
Seat 2: Ambullanz (2143155 in chips)
Seat 3: goldendevil1 (694200 in chips)
Seat 4: Mickey “mement_mori” Petersen (1144822 in chips)
Seat 5: baffana (1033236 in chips)
Seat 6: marodon (1358369 in chips)
Seat 7: TheGame131 (78458 in chips)
Seat 8: rolfgal (1245150 in chips)
Level 34: stakes 60k-120k, ante 12k
Average: 1,365,000
The chip average to start the final table was “standard” for a limit tournament, at 11 big bets. But one player had significantly fewer bets. TheGame131 came into the final table with 78k, less than a single big bet. But two quick double-ups on the first two hands pushed TheGame131 back up to 505k and a fighting chance.
When the stakes went up to 80k-160k, several players were one bricked hand from the precipice of ruin. roflgal suggested a straight 8-way chop that nobody seriously entertained – especially with baffana and Petersen on the short stacks. Petersen bricked out several hands in a row, finally making a stand with 8-2 / 3-Q against Mr-G450′s 5-3 / 6-J. Petersen finished with a 10-8, a hand barely pipped by Mr-G450′s 10-6. Petersen had entered the final table 5th in chips, but at late stages of a limit razz tournaments it doesn’t take much to find yourself on the rail.
baffana’s fortunes improved; goldendevil1′s did not. baffana threatened to climb back to an average stack even as goldendevil1 ended the tournament in 7th place. 470k was looking awfully small with stakes up to 100k-200k-20k. A few antes and bring-ins later it was even smaller. Down to 172k, goldendevil1 three-bet all in with 10-4 / A. Mr-G450 had opened with 5-4 / 8 and called. By the river, Mr-G450′s three-card eight turned into an 8-7; goldendevil1 only improved to a 9-4 and was eliminated in 7th place.
Limits went up again to 120k-240k as chips continued to fly around the table. TheGame131 wound up as the chip leader with more than 4 million chips. This, after folding a huge pot near the money bubble with just one big bet behind. That fold did not go unnoticed by rolfgal.
“61000 chips left in a big pot, on 30-60k and u folded, game, made u so far 1200$ more, WP!”
But TheGame131 wasn’t finished. After sitting on the sideline while baffana eliminated marodon by running down marodon’s three-card wheel, TheGame131 took care of Ambullanz the very next hand:
That hand pushed TheGame131 to more than 5 million in chips, double the nearest competitor. Quite a remarkable turnaround for a player down to a single big bet with 10 players to go. The question now: could TheGame131 complete a monumental comeback from a single big bet to become a SCOOP champion?
One thing quickly became clear: baffana could not. baffana suffered several second-best hands and wound up in the unenviable position of calling all in on fourth street holding 7-2 / K-J. Mr-G450 was baffana’s opponent and showed a better hand, 2-3 / 7-7. That three-card 7 turned into a 10-7 by the river, while baffana barely improved to a Q-J. It wasn’t enough to avoid a 4th-place finish.
As three-handed play began, rolfgal was the definite short stack, with about 1 million chips Mr-G450 and TheGame131 were both pushing 5 million. They played 3-handed for ten or fifteen minutes but rolfgal was unable to mount any serious challenge to the chip dominance of the other two players – especially after the limits climbed to 200k-400k. A three-card eight was too good to pass up at that point; rolfgal was all in by fifth street showing 8-5 / 3-10-6, a 10-8. TheGame131 had that beat with 9-6 / 7-A-4. Neither player improved by the river. rolfgal’s tournament ended in 3rd place.
The chip stacks were almost dead even at the start of heads-up play. TheGame131 had a slight chip lead over Mr-G450, but that lead was less than one big bet. There was no talk of a deal.
Heads-up play lasted exactly 11 minutes. The big blow came after Mr-G450 ground out an 8-to-3 chip lead. TheGame131 raised over Mr-G450′s bring-in, then put in a third raise after Mr-G450 raised back. Each player put 600k into the pot on third street. Fourth street saw Mr-G450 pair 6s, x-x / 6-6, while TheGame131 showed x-x / 5-9. Mr-G450 called all the way down from there, drawing into a board of 5-8 / 6-6-3-10 / 7 for and 8-7 low, while TheGame131′s board came 6-A / 5-9-A-7-9 for a 9-7.
Losing that pot left TheGame131 with only 843k, or two big bets. From there it was six hands to the end, and ending no less bitter for TheGame131. An 8-5 low wasn’t good enough to climb back into the match after Mr-G450 rivered a 7-6.
The ending had to be disappointing for TheGame131, but the $6,633.90 prize for finishing as the runner-up had to sit better than the $409.50 it seemed TheGame131 was destined to receive on the final table bubble.
And for Mr-G450, a self-professed razz regular? How about $9,377, a Movado watch, and the title of 2012 SCOOP Event 28-Low champion.
2012 SCOOP Event 28-Low, $27 Razz results:
Number of entrants: 2,184
Places paid: 288
1st: Mr-G450 (United Kingdom) ($9,377.42)
2nd: TheGame131 (Germany) ($6,633.90)
3rd: rolfgal (Norway) ($5,187.00)
4th: baffana (Russia) ($3,822.00)
5th: Ambullanz (Sweden) ($2,730.00)
6th: marodon (Moldova) ($1,638.00)
7th: goldendevil1 (Russia) ($1,092.00)
8th: Mickey “mement_mori” Petersen (Denmark) ($546.00)
Looking for more SCOOP reporting? Visit our special SCOOP 2012 coverage section.
SCOOP 2012: nebo_blizko blitzes way to Event 17-low ($27 quad shootout) win
Winning one shootout table is hard enough that, if you’re able to do so in a shootout tournament, you make the money. Winning two in a row is impressive. Winning four in a row? The stuff SCOOP champions are made of. Just ask nebo_blizko, the champion of 2012 SCOOP Event 17-low, $27 NLHE (10-max Quad Shootout).
6,952 players signed up for the 10-max quad shootout. All had dreams of winning four, 10-handed STTs in a row and claiming the top prize of $27,373.50. The first task, however, was to win their first table and make it into the money. Team PokerStars Pro George Danzer did just that, although he was unable to advance out of Round 2.
At around 9pm, 10 players assembled on Table 1, each having won three tables in a row.
_s_fischer_ got out of the blocks early, climbing to 7,400 by making pocket kings work against the ace-queen of Collusion888, who flopped top pair. That hand set up Collusion888 to be the first player eliminated a few hands later, still in Level 1 of the final table, on a wild three-way all in. After a flop of [7d][6c][2d], klimsamgin, DonkDeezNuts and Collusion888 all got the chips in. klimsamgin’s pocket jacks and Collusion888′s ace-high flush draw both came up short against DonkDeezNutz’s top two pair, [7h][6h]. Like that, DonkDeezNuts was the chip leader with 13,000, Collusion888 was eliminated in 10th place and kilmsamgin was left with just 50 chips. Those chips wound up in JacktShipper’s stack one hand later, when both players flopped two pair but JacktShipper had top two pair.
Play settled back down after that, with much of the action taking place pre-flop. Three-bet pots were common; most didn’t go to a flop. But in Level 3, Mike “goleafsgoeh” Leah was dealt the red jacks; DonkDeezNutz had [ac][ks]. The money got all in pre-flop after a series of raises and wound up in DonkDeezNutz’s stack after the board rolled out [4c][4s][as][6s][3h].
On the last hand before the 10pm break, _s_fischer_, who started the final table so promisingly, becaome the 7th place finisher after being eliminated by ruaa. Take a look:
Back from the break, JacktShipper lost a big pot to Vamo Fael when JacktShipper flopped a Broadway draw, turned a pair of jacks, and then bricked the river. Vamo Fael had pocket aces and took down the pot to drop JacktShipper’s count to less than 3,000. That count further dropped until JacktShipper open-shoved with [qc][jc]. Vamo Fael, sitting in the big blind, called with pocket 7s and won the race, [3h][ts]ks][6c][6d]. JacktShipper was eliminated in 6th place, leaving half the table to contend for the $27,000 top prize.
Vamo Fael had seemed in control at the final table – until flopping the second-nut flush against nebo_blizko, who flopped the nut flush. All the money went in on the turn with Vamo Fael drawing dead. nebo_blizko earned a huge double-up to more than 17,000. Vamo Fael was leaft with about 3,000.
DonkDeezNutz’s good fortune continued into Level 5, when DonkDeezNutz picked up pocket aces against MarcusVonRix’s pocket jacks. An 8-high flop ensured all the money went in. When the [ac] hit the turn to give DonkDeezNutz a set, MarcusVonRix was drawing dead and assured of being the 5th place finisher.
A few hands later nebo_blizko finished the job on Vamo Fael, who moved all in pre-flop for 2,700. DonkDeezNutz and nebo_blizko conspired to check down the pot, with nebo_blizko winning at showdown with unimproved pocket 7s on a board of [2d][8s][tc][5s][th]. Vamo Fael, who just a few hands before had been cruising through the final table, hit the rail in 4th place.
The remaining three players – chip leader nebo_blizko, DonkDeezNutz, and short stack ruaa – paused the tournament to consider a deal. They quickly agreed to the chop numbers presented by the host, leaving aside $1,500 to be claimed by the champion.
With a deal in place, the final three players played on without any major changes in the stacks. nebo_blizko finally eliminated DonkDeezNutz in the biggest hand of the final table to that point. It was DonkDeezNutz who bet and then 3-bet shoved a queen-high flop, [7c][qh][jh], holidng [qs][td]. nebo_blizko, holding top two pair with [qd][js], insta-called and held through the river to eliminate DonkDeezNutz in 3rd place.
To start heads-up play, nebo_blizko had about a two-and-a-half to one chip lead over ruaa. By the 11pm break, ruaa had leveled the stacks. The two players battled back and forth for another hour, with each taking turns holding the chip lead. Yet at the 12am break the stacks were again almost dead even.
With no end in sight, the two players finally seemed to decide just to gamble it up. ruaa opened a pot pre=flop to 1500 over the 500-chip big blind, then called all in for 16,201 after nebo_blizko shoved for double that. Neither had premium hand; nebo_blizko showed [ks][9c] while ruaa showed [9d][td]. ruaa flopped bottom two pair, [qc][9s][th], but nebo_blizko turned a straight with the [jh] and sealed the victory when the river blanked [4h].
Four straight shootout wins for nebo_blizko. The reward? More than $23,000, a Movado watch, and the title of SCOOP champion. Not a bad day at all.
2012 SCOOP Event 17-low, $27 NLHE (10-max, shootout) results (including 3-way deal):
1st: nebo_blizko ($23,591.56)*
3rd: ruaa ($18,304.01)*
3rd: DonkDeezNuts ($20,672.43)*
4th: Vamo Fael ($10,862.50)
5th: DonkDeezNutz ($6,952.00)
6th: JacktShipper ($5,214.00)
7th: _s_fischer_ ($3,997.40)
8th: Mike “goleafsgoeh” Leah ($2,867.70)
9th: kilmsamgin ($1,998.70)
10th: Collusion888 ($1,129.70)
There’s still plenty of SCOOP action to check out over the next nine days. Follow it all on the SCOOP home page.
Super Tuesday 3/20: Calvin7v goes from worst to first, wins $102,600
This week’s Super Tuesday drew a stunning 540 entrants for a prize pool of $540,000, meaning the winner could become the first to earn a six-figure score in the $1,000 buy-in tournament. Although there was talk of a deal, calvinv7 bested Bryn Kenney heads-up, going from 9th of 9 at the final table to winner of over $102,000.
Team PokerStars and notables
The large field meant several members of Team PokerStars Pro and Team PokerStars Online took their shot at the record prize pool. Only one player would cash as Ana Marquez (below) finished 37th, earning $2,700. Team PokerStars Pros who fell short: Andre “aakkari” Akkari, Pat Pezzin, Vanessa Selbst, Maxim Lykov, Liv Boeree, Jude “j.thaddeus” Ainsworth and Toni Judet. The highest placed member of Team PokerStars Online was Kevin “WizardofAhhs” Thurman. Team PokerStars Online players Javier “El_Cañonero” Dominguez, Shane “Shaniac” Schleger and Björn “Bjoerni89″ Schneider also participated.
Notables making the money, but falling short of the final table included Paul “padjes” Berende (19th), James “Andy MCLEOD” Obst (39th) and Casey “bigdogpckt5s” Jarzabek (49th),
Scott96dl 86′d on final table bubble ($6,480)
Marquez may have wanted to finish a bit higher, but she still had a reason to watch the action as her boyfriend Bryn Kenney was among the final ten players in the field as they played hand-for-hand. The final hand didn’t take place at Kenney’s table as Mr Brizza, a Sunday Million winner March 21, 2010 , would handle the honors. Blinds were at 3,600/7,200 with an ante of 900 as Mr Brizza opened the action with a raise to 17,280 with [ad][qd]. Scott96dl moved all in for their remaining 134,524 chips with [kh][ts] as Mr Brizza called. Scott96dl’s chances of making the final table were quickly dashed, left drawing dead on the flop of [ah][as][jc] as Mr Brizza flopped trips. For the record, the [td] and [5s] finished the hand, leaving nine players remaining.
Here’s how the final table stacked up when play resumed on table 24:
Seat 1: VicksMyDawg (503,960 in chips)
Seat 2: BrynKenney (196,594 in chips)
Seat 3: backtwoblack (123,528 in chips)
Seat 4: Yann “yadio” Dion (267,214 in chips)
Seat 5: Mr Brizza (587,408 in chips)
Seat 6: Mounty15 (111,133 in chips)
Seat 7: B2Bullets (292,158 in chips)
Seat 8: gmcrafter (508,503 in chips)
Seat 9: calvin7v (109,502 in chips)
B2Bullets runs out of ammo in 9th ($8,964)
B2Bullets started third in chips, an unfortunate river card meant doom for B2Bullets, the first player out at the final table. Blinds quickly moved to 4,000/8,000 with the ante at 1,000 as 2012 Aussie Millions final tablist Yann “yadio” Dion min-raised with [Ac][qh]. B2Bullets three-bet to 36,000 with the dominating [ah][kh]. Yadio four-bet shoved for 295,814, barely covering B2Bullets stack as they called. B2Bullets remained in front on the [Jh] [8s][5s] flop and [jc] turn. Yadio would only need to be in front on the final card, which obliged when the [qs] hit the river, leaving B2Bullets as the only player at the final table earning a four-figure score.
Mounty15 dismounted in 8th ($12,150)
Bryn Kenney would chip up into contention by winning a coinflip against a short-stacked Mounty15. Mr Brizza opened with a raise to 19,200 as Mounty15 shoved for 92,133 with [ts][th]. Bryn Kenney then re-raised all in for their stack with [ac][kh] as Mr Brizza gave up their hand. This time, the flop gave the player behind in the hand the lead: [Ah][Jk][Js], as Kenney held on when the turn and river came [5d][2d] leaving seven in contention.
Backtwoblack gets stacked in 7th ($17,550)
Bryn Kenney was really liking A-K as he doubled through Mr Brizza’s pocket tens to move into second place. Blinds were now 5,000/10,000 as each player anted 1,250 when Kenney min-raised with [ac][kc]. Backtwoblack put their tournament life on the line for 98,956 chips, holding [js][jh]. Kenney moved ahead once again on the [Kh][9h][7c] flop. Backtwoblack was down to two outs, which didn’t happen as the board runs out [Tc] [2h], sending backtwoblack packing.
Calvin7v makes his move
Calvin7v had doubled up early at the final table to move off the bottom, but fell back to last with six remaining as he started to make his charge towards the top. Bryn Kenney ruled the field as blinds jumped to 7,000/14,000 with an ante of 1,750 as Kenney attempted to win another flip and knock out Calvin7v:
to see replay
That river card kept calvin7v alive, but he would once again fall back to sixth place before doubling once again, this time with pocket sevens against gmcrafter’s pocket fives.
VicksMyDawg loses bite in 6th ($22,950)
The tournament progressed with another jump in the blinds to 8,000/16,000 with a 2,000 ante as VicksMyDawg now fell to sixth, attempting to follow in calvin7v’s footsteps and double up. Once again Bryn Kenney was involved in the hand as he opened from UTG with a min-raise as VicksMyDawg moved all in for 117,729 from the big blind with [ks][qd]. Kenney held the dominating hand again with [ad][qh] and was well ahead on the [Ah][9s][2h] flop. VicksMyDawg had some life when the [jh] hit the turn, but the three-outer wasn’t in the cards as the [7c] on the river takes the field down to five with Kenney in front.
Yadio turned off in 5th ($29,700)
Yann “yadio” Dion was second in chips, but in two hands he was without chips as calvin7v moved into the lead in the first seven-figure pot at the final table. Here’s how that hand played out with the blinds now 9,000/18,000 with an ante of 2,250:
On the next hand, Mr Brizza collected the rest of Yadio’s chips, calling with [kc][6c] against Yadio’s [ah][jh]. The board ran out [Qd][8s][2h][6h] [2s], sending the 7th place finisher in this year’s Aussie Millions Main Event to the rail.
Gmcrafter dismantled in 4th ($42,120)
Mr Brizza disposed with gmcrafter a few hands later to leave three players standing. Mr Brizza min-raised as gmcrafter shoved 341,190 chips with [kc][8d] as Mr Brizza quickly called with [ad][9c]. Mr Brizza then crushed the flop, making two pair as it came down [Ac][9d][2s]. The [7h] on the turn left gmcrafter drawing dead, as the [8c] on the river had the remaining players talking deal figures.
Kenney negotiates as deal falls apart
Play was paused to get a host, with initial discussion by the chip leader to make it winner-take-all for over $233,000. Bryn Kenney commented “I like ur style” before the real discussion began on doing a deal via chip chop. Here’s how the deal would have worked, with $6,000 set aside for the eventual winner:
calvin7v:- 1,164,147 – $81,866.68
BrynKenney: 813,859 – $73,887.90
Mr Brizza: 721,994 – $71,795.42
Mr Brizza liked this deal, but Kenney decided to ask for $2,000 more from calvin7v, who declined the deal and play continued.
Mr Brizza bluff backfired, bounced in 3rd ($55,350)
As the tournament was now officially taking place on March 21, two years after winning the Sunday Million, Mr Brizza hoped for some magic as he attempted to move calvinv7 off the best hand on the river. The blinds were now at 10,000/20,000 with the ante 2,500 as the hand played out below:
to see replay
A great call from calvin7v means he’ll start heads up play against Bryn Kenney with an over 3-1 chip lead.
Calvin7v collects victory ($102,600)
The heads-up battle between calvin7v and Bryn Kenney wasn’t really much of one, as Kenney held less than 500,000 chips when the final hand played out. Kenney min-raised from the small blind as calvin7v re-raised to 92,000. Kenney four-bet shoves with [ac][5d], which puts calvin7v in the tank for well over a minute before eventually calling with [qs][9c]. That decision would turn out well for calvin7v as the flop gave him trip nines: [9h][9d][3h]. Kenney still had a chance when the [2d] came on the turn to give him a gutshot straight draw, but it was calvin7v who would improve, making a full house when the [qc[ came on the river, giving him the victory. Bryn Kenney settles for 2nd place, good for $75,600. All in all, not that bad a tournament in the Kenney/Marquez home.
March 20,2012 Super Tuesday final table results:
1st: calvin7v – $102,600
2nd: Bryn Kenney – $75,600
3rd: Mr Brizza – $55,350
4th: gmcrafter – $42,120
5th: Yann “yadio” Dion – $29,700
6th: VickysMyDawg – $22,950
7th: backtwoblack – $17,550
8th: Mounty15 – $12,150
9th: B2Bullets – $8,964
The MicroMillions series is still going strong with over 40 tournaments remaining with the $22, $1,000,000 Main Event this Sunday. Plenty of other great prizes available for the best all-around player, visit the MicroMillions site for the latest updates.
MicroMillions: JDRBaptista takes down a turbo in Event #6, $4.40 NLHE turbo
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Quick. Speedy. Fast.
Turbo.
Today’s MicroMillions Event #6: $4.40 NLHE Turbo, sure lived up to its name. Players registered quickly, made the money in a flash, reached the final table swiftly and played down to a winner at once.
That winner was JDRBaptista, and for his victory, he’ll take home $7,983.31 and a MicroMillions winner’s hat.
Despite winning it quickly, JDRBatista faced a difficult field.
When the tournament kicked off, around 9,900 players had registered for their shot at MicroMillions glory.
But late registration remained open for 60 minutes, and in that time, the floodgates opened. When the dust of early eliminations and late registration settled, the number of players nearly doubled to 18,474.
Much to JDRBaptista’s – and everyone else who cashed – delight, the near-doubling of the field also drastically increased the prize pool to $73,896.
This, according to science, was more than three and a half times the initial guarantee of $20,000. This followed today’s craze of micro-stakes players shattering every guarantee thus far, a trend that seems likely to keep up throughout the whole series.
Star-Studded Field
Micro-stakes players weren’t the only ones battling it out in Even #6 today. Several GoldStar, PlatinumStar and some Supernovas couldn’t pass on the value of the MicroMillions tournaments were offering today.
Even two PokerStars Team Pro players decided to take a shot at the $73,896 prize pool.
Victor Ramdin and Martin Hruby both registered and faced elimination early on today. Ramdin survived for about 30 minutes before he was eliminated in a very un-Ramdin way.
Early on, tokes77 raised from the cutoff and Ramdin decided to go all-in for 3,300. tokes77 made the call and showed [As][Kc], it was safe to say he was ahead of Ramdin’s [3d][4d].
The flop came [ad][2d][8s], making things fairly interesting for Ramdin, but the turn was a [6h], and a [10c] on the river ruined Ramdin’s hope of a MicroMillions championship.
Hruby managed to hold on around 10 minutes longer. When Hruby went all-in, his chances at a double-up seemed good until…well… you might as well see for yourself.
to see replay
The Ever-Dwindling Field
As the turbo-charged blinds continued to increase, players continued to fall faster than any human – or low-quality computer – could count.
Only 2,475 out of the 18,474 players would make the money, and it took 2 hours and 7 minutes to make it to 2,476. The bubble lasted a total of three minutes while hands across the hundreds of tables wrapped up.
The unlucky bubble boy for this tournament was Chiro1982, a Croatian who missed out on a mincash of $6.65.
Players then continued to fall at a staggering rate, and within 4 hours, we were down to our last 100 players.
Soon after that, we found ourselves with 50 players and a few tournament millionaires. Our eventual champion, JDRBaptista, and a few other of our soon-to-be final table-ists also found themselves in the top 10 chip counts at this point.
When we got down to our final two tables, a few players began to win hand after hand and pulled away from the rest of the field.
Big Shots
One of these players was jason jiang. With 18 players left, jason jiang already found himself above average with 6 million chips, but a well-timed pair of kings against an opponent’s [Ad][Qh] pushed him past the 12 million mark.
After winning a few more hands, jason jiang then called an opponent’s 5.5 million chip all in with [10d][10h]. jason jiang’s pocket 10s were up against [ad][kd], and a coin flip ensued, a flip that jason jiang would win. With more than 20 million chips, jason jiang held a comfortable chip lead.
He continued to dominate his table until the final table bubble hit. jason jiang tried to keep his aggression going by continuously pushing all in, but one opponent was not intimidated.
PlatinumStar player Kubera007 called one of jason jiang’s all ins with a pair of sevens and won a flip against his [ks][qh].
Kubera007 doubled his average stack to an above-average 10M. Then, the very next hand jason jiang pushed all in again…
to see replay
At the other table, sutely seemed to be dominating while a short-stacked JDRBaptista was struggling to stay in the game.
With 400,000/800,000 blinds and a 100,000 ante, sutely, with 11 million in chips, moved all in from the small blind. The only player left to act was JDRBaptista in the big blind, he decided to make the call.
sutely showed [4s][8d] and JDRBaptista showed a fairly stronger hand, [ad][qd]. The board came [10h][6d][6s][3c][3d] and JDRBaptista doubled to 11.8M.
JDRBaptista would then go on to knock out two players in a row, bringing his stack past the 20 million mark.
While JDRBaptista was busy making millions in order to win thousands, Kubera007 burst the bubble on the other table.
bloodlust07, who was near the top of the leader board for a while, found himself slowly getting chipped down by the massive blinds. At one point, he decided to move all in from under-the-gun with a pair of 8s. Kubera007 called from the big blind and showed a pair of aces.
There was no luck for bloodlust07 and he became the final table bubble, a finish worth $277.11.
The Final Table
With bloodlust07 out of the picture and only nine players remaining, the tournament was down to its final table. It looked something like this:

Seat 1: Kubera007 – 29,603,618
Seat 2: eeeemmmmm – 1,849,454
Seat 3: jason jiang – 6,160,472
Seat 4: Darenex – 5,750,728
Seat 5: sutely – 2,273,593
Seat 6: JDRBaptista – 24,600,416
Seat 7: Bastlgaan – 9,523,247
Seat 8: Tomstra – 5,964,656
Seat 9: brhhr – 3,493,826
Lightning Round
These players weren’t shy to put all their chips in the middle when they reached the final table. In the first 10 hands of play, there were five eliminations.
The first to go was the once-chipleader, sutely. In hand #2, the table shortstack, eeeemmmmm, moved all in from early position for about 1.7 million. sutely then re-shoved for 2.1 million and Tomstra called from the big blind.
The showdown looked a little something (read: exactly) like this:
eeeemmmmm: [qd][10d]
sutely: [ad][qs]
Tomstra: [10h][9c]
The board came [8h][js][6h][jd][9h] and eeeemmmmm was awarded the main pot while Tomstra took whatever was left of sutely’s chips.
sutely became our first final table elimination and took home $443.37 for his 9th place finish.
Two hands later, Tomstra would be the one to find his tournament life at risk.
Bastlgaan raised to 2,550,000 from the cutoff and Tomstra move all in for his remaining 3,639,341. When Tomstra made his move, Bastlgaan immediately said, “thank you good luck all.”
When action folded back around to him, Bastlgaan made the call and showed [kh][qh].
Tomstra seemed to be in good shape with [ah][jc], but the flop fell [10h][9c][jd] and Bastlgaan won with a straight.
Tomstra was eliminated in 8th place and won $665.06.
Just like clockwork, another player was eliminated two hands later. Again, it was eeeemmmmm who moved all in, but this time he did it from the small blind. jason jiang called from the big blind and showed [ah][8c], dominating eeeemmmmm’s [ad][3c].
The board was tame, devoid of any excitement or surprises and eeeemmmmm was knocked out in 7th place for $1,108.44.
If you guessed that the next elimination came two hand’s after eeeemmmmm’s, then you’re absolutely correct. Congratulations, you win the instant replay:
to see replay
brhhr was out in 6th place and won $1,847.40 to prove it. JDRBaptista, on the other hand, edged closer to Kubera007′s chip lead.
With so many players gone, Darenex found himself as the table short stack with only 3,725,718. Not wanting to wait any longer, he moved all in from under the gun only two hands after brhhr’s knockout.
Kubera007 called his all in with [ac][3d] and Darenenx’s [jd][9d] found no help on the [5d][6c][4s][2c][10s] board.
Darenex’s 5th place finish was worth $2,586.36 and a fair amount of bragging rights.
Slowing it Down
The next elimination took forever. A full FIVE hands passed until someone finally kicked the bucket in 4th place. You read that correctly, FIVE HANDS, it’s crazy, I know.
In those five hands, Kubera007 took a bite out of both Bastlgaan and jason jiang’s stack, putting him past the 40 million mark.
But while Kubera007 was nibbling away, JDRBaptista dealt jason jiang the finishing blow.
jason jiang moved all in from the small blind for 8.2M and JDRBaptista made the call.
jason jiang showed [5h][2h] and was dominated by JDRBaptista’s [ac][5s]. Things looked bleak for jason jiang until…
to see replay
But then they went back to being bleak as jason jiang was eliminated in 4th place, earning $3,325.32.
After jason jiang’s elimination, JDRBaptista and Kubera007 traded a few blows. JDRBaptista managed to chip Kubera007 down to around 20M while his own stack grew close to 60M.
This made Bastlgaan the short stack with around 13M, but he wouldn’t be the one to shove.
Kubera007 moved all in from the button for 20,655,748 and Bastlgaan called from the big blind with his remaining 12M. Kubera007 showed [ad][jd] and seemed to be in good shape against Bastlgaan’s [qh][8c].
But the flop would change all that.
The [7d][qd][9s] gave Bastlgaan top pair, but Kubera007 now had the flush draw. The turn and the river brought spades and Kubera007 missed his flush.
Kubera007 was now the short stack and needed to make a move. He decided to wait three hands to make it.
The next time he had the button, Kubera007 moved all in yet again, this time he showed [qh][7d]. It wasn’t as good as his ace-jack, but it was still ahead of JDRBaptista, who called with [js][10c].
The flop fell [9d][kh][6s], giving JDRBaptista the straight draw. The turn was a humble [3d], while the river was a taunting [qd].
Kubera007 made his pair but JDRBaptista hit his straight.
Kubera007 would leave the table in 3rd, adding $4,803.24 to the PlatinumStar Player’s already impressive online resume.
Ten for Five, Six for One
In the spirit of turbo-ness, JDRBaptista and Bastlgaan played a very quick heads-up match.
Six hands.
That’s all it took for JDRBaptista to knock out Bastlgaan and win the MicroMillions Event #6.
The first three hands only involved the passing around of blinds, but then Bastlgaan got frisky.
With 1M/2M blinds and a 250,000 ante, Bastlgaan called from the small blind. The flop fell [4c][7h][9s] and JDRBaptista checked. Bastlgaan bet 2M and JDRBaptista made the call, bringing a [Qc] on the turn.
Both players checked that street and a [5d] came floating on the river. JDRBaptista decided to lead out for 4.675M and Bastlgaan made the call, showing [6s][7s].
While not much, Bastlgaan’s middle pair was good enough to beat JDRBaptista’s [6h][2s].
This hand pushed Bastlgaan up to 33M, while JDRBaptista dropped just under 60M.
Bastlgaan would continue to gain ground on JDRBaptista the very next hand, but this time, without a showdown.
From the button, JDRBaptista raised to 4.48M and Bastlgaan made the call. When the flop came [5s][as][6c], JDRBaptista decided to bet again, this time for 5.203M. But Bastlgaan wasn’t about to call again, this time he moved all in.
Faced with a 23M raise, JDRBaptista opted to fold.
The players now seemed set for a good heads-up battle. JDRBaptista held 49,290,352 and Bastlgaan worked his way up to 43,290,352.
But after folding from the small blind the next hand, Bastlgaan would find himself losing the last hand of the tournament.
This is it
JDRBaptista raised to 4.48M and Bastlgaan decided to raise to 12M. JDRBaptista had no problem sending a re-raise straight back and moved all in for 50,079,648.
Bastlgaan made the call and showed [As][Kh], a great starting hand that’s even greater heads up. But JDRBaptista also had a decent set of cards, he had a pair of jacks.
The [4d][10c][7d][2d][10d] board was devoid of any aces or kings and Bastlgaan was eliminated in 2nd place, earning $6,281.16.
This made JDRBaptista the MicroMillions Event #6 Champion, a title worth $7,983.31, a MicroMillions winner’s hat and a few player of the series points.
Six events are done, but there’s still 94 to go.
Check out the MicroMillions page for more information and see if there’s an event that fits your bankroll and schedule.
It might be your screen name decorating our next tournament headline.
PCA 2012: Martin Jacobson closing in on another final table
Martin Jacobson sits at one of the outer tables, chin resting on a water bottle, arms lightly resting on the rail, hands covering his cards, a stack of blue 5,000 chips out in front. He looks relaxed. His opponent, Marc Tschirch, looks less so. The German had led 31,000 into a [6s][2d][8s] flop and didn’t seem to like the raise he was facing. He passed leaving the Swede to rake in the pot and chip back towards average with 550,000. Some 20 minutes later at the end of the second level of the day (level 21, 6,000-12,000, ante 1,000) he was up to 725,000.
Jacobson has a tendency to do well in tournaments, particularly on the EPT where he has made four final tables; third at EPT Budapest in 2008, second to Toby Lewis in Vilamoura, second to Lucien Cohen in Deauville and fourth at EPT Berlin when Ben Wilinofsky won. He was without doubt one of the form players of last year, during which he won a similar amount as Jake Cody, just to put things into context, and picked up the EPT Best Online Qualifier award along the way (finishing second in the overall Player of the Year rankings too). This year it could be much of the same.

The Swede is a very real threat here. Of his 22 live tournament finishes 13 of them have seen him reach the final table. It’s an impressive record that has won him $2,646,739 from the live grind. However Jacobson, who has shown his class time and time again, keeps falling at the last hurdle, he’s yet to score a first place finish in recorded live tournaments but has seven final table finishes of more than $100,000.
So what would it mean to win this event, I asked Jacobson.
“Or take second?” said Jacobson, grinning broadly, knowing his nearly-man reputation precedes him.
Indeed, or to come second.
“It would be pretty amazing but it’s still a long way off,” he said showing a flash of the Nordic realism that has served him so well in these late stages.
Last I heard Jacobson had plans to move to Newcastle to enjoy the friendly tax laws but it turns out that he wisely* opted to move to the capital instead, buying a flat in Islington, North London where he now lives with girlfriend. Should he make another final table he’ll be able to add at least another $156,000 to his takings, but this tournament here in the Bahamas would be a mighty fine time to finally break that first-place duck.
*I am a Londoner and unashamedly biased.
2011 WSOP Day 9 – Cockblocking the Brits
By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV
Some days it’s impossible to keep up with all of the action at the WSOP. Take Day 9 for instance with six tournaments on the docket. Six. Out of that six, two were new tournaments and three were trying to play down to a champion. It’s days like this I wish I had a clone, or rather, an army of monkeys with iPads to help me cover more than one tournament at a time. As is, I can’t be in more than one place at a time (and even then, my physical body might be there, but often, my mind is wandering around elsewhere).
On Tuesday, I jokingly told Seattle pro Carl Olson, “I’ll only cover you if you make it to the Amazon Room.”
Ever since the WSOP expanded to include the massive, football field-sized Pavilion last year, it became the hub for Day 1s. Meanwhile, the Amazon Ballroom became the centralized area for re-starts, final tables, and spillover tables for the donkament — if necessary. Day 1s kicked off in the Pavilion and if you were fortunate enough to bag up chips at the end of the night and advanced to Day 2, then you’d return to the Rio the next day to slug it out in the Amazon Ballroom.
In 2011, the WSOP added the 10-level rule which meant action was suspended after 10 levels of play — no matter what. The rule was instituted to give players and staff proper rest — along with a specific hard stop time. As you know, poker tournaments are not timed affairs and an end when one player is left with all the chips and that’s it. When I started covering the WSOP in 2005, the procedure was much different because tournaments were scheduled as two-day affairs. On Day 1 you played down to the final table — no matter how long it took — and the second day was specifically reserved for the final table. As the WSOP gained in popularity, events were expanded to three days. But even then, the WSOP experienced a few situations when Day 2′s ran super long spilling into the next morning. As a result, the hard stop times were introduced.
My only issue with the hard stop times is that some final tables are starting late in the evening and not finishing up before play is suspended. The best example is the final table of the Donkament, which halted play with three to go. It’s in those situations where someone has to step in and say — play it out. Or in that case, perhaps play should have been suspended when a final table was set, that way all nine players could come back and play it out.
Then again, the counter-argument against eliminating hard stop times is never-ending heads-up battles, like the four-hour slugfest I witnessed during Day 9 between Sean Getzwiller and Sadan Turker for the final table of the Donkament. But just when I thought those two couldn’t play a longer heads-up match, they were outdone by the five-plus-hour affair between Geffrey Klein and Eddie Blumenthal, to determine the 6-handed champion.
It a perfect world, the final table would begin and end on the same day, and I kinda missed those “perfect” days.
WSOP Required Reading Links
Jesse May and Brandon Adams are among today’s must read pieces. Start with Brandon’s article The Center Cannot Hold. Here’s a bit…
My fear is simply that, if Full Tilt can’t hold it together, poker will enter a dark phase. It’s notable that since Moneymaker’s win in 2003 and the launch of the golden age of poker, there have been relatively few instances of violence in the poker world. Arguably, this has a lot to do with the legitimacy brought to the poker world by the major sites, and with the flood of money that the sites channeled from the outskirts of the poker world to the center.
And then read Jesse’s open letter to Brandon. Here’s a bit…
The biggest thing, and I’d be surprised if you’re not a little miffed, is the general lack of leadership from the “Full Tilt guys” that you speak of, whose names you don’t even mention. I won’t mention their names either. But that’s the main problem, isn’t it. For the last eight years, we’ve all been assured about who owns and runs Full Tilt without their names being mentioned. We all know about shell companies and secret percentages. We’ve all been quite happy to think we know who’s in charge of Full Tilt without mentioning their names, because they didn’t want their names mentioned.
Bouncin’ Round the Room on Day 9…

- With a trio of final tables, I actually spent a significant amount of time lurking on the rail of the Donkament, the Short-handed NL, and the O8 championship. Okay, I was lying about the O8 championship. I don’t jive on split pot games, so I split and watched NL instead — which was just a bad of a nightmare with a pair of heads-up battles lasting in excess of nine hours.
- Event #10 NL Short-handed final table was played out on one of the secondary tables. Jeffrey Papola (pictured above) was trying to win back-to-back (short-handed) bracelets in consecutive years — but his quest fell short with a third place finish. Geffrey Klein would emerge victorious after a five-hour siege.
- The Brits had two attempts at winning a third bracelet since last Friday. Richard Ashbu came up short in Omaha 8 with a 4th place finish, while Sadan Turker could only muster up a runner-up performance after Sean Getzwiller thwarted another British Victory.
- Douche of the Day: The tool screaming “Gimme that shit! Gimme that shit!” after he sucked out
- Eskimo Watch: He’s been around the Rio the last couple of days, where as heavyweights like Phil Ivey, Jesus, and Howard Lederer are nowhere to be found.
Support indie writers by buying Pauly’s book Lost Vegas.
MPC Red Dragon Main Event Day 3: Level 21 (blinds 10,000-20,000, ante 2,000)
5:40pm: Ten-minute break
5:25pm: Yue Xu eliminated in 8th place
Yue Xu opened to 60,000 and action folded around to Jessica Ngu in the blinds who three-bet an additional 110,000. Xu made the call and they saw a flop of [ah][kc][7c].
Ngu checked to Xu who moved all in, but Ngu snap-called!
It wasn’t jack-high this time as Ngu had trapped on the flop with [ad][kh] for top two pair to leave Xu in trouble with his [ac][ts].
The [jc] turn was the ultimate sweat card as Xu picked up straight and flush draws but they all missed on the [9s] river. Xu departs in 8th place for HK$116,200 in prize money as Ngu is now back on track with 1.1 million chips.
5:10pm: Yong Kin eliminated in 9th place
Kwan Mah opened with a raise to 60,000 which was called by Yue Xu before Yong Kin put on the squeeze by moving all in for an additional 300,000 on the button. It wasn’t enough to deter Mah, who gave some thought before moving all in to force a fold from Xu.
Mah: [7c][7d]
Kin: [qh][ts]
Kin was making a move but he was probably happy enough to find himself in a race situation. Needing a queen or ten to stay alive the flop was a dry [4s][8c][2s] before it was all over on the [7h] turn. Mah made a set of sevens to leave Kin drawing dead before the [jh] river card.
Kin takes home HK$91,600 for 9th place as Mah, who had lost some chips to Haifeng Xue, moves back up to 1.35 million.
5:00pm: What the….?
After taking down the first pot of the final table, Jessica Ngu’s confidence was up, but she quickly came down to Earth with a thud in a bizarre situation against Kwan Mah.
Four players paid 48,000 to see a [5c][9h][2c] flop and everyone checked to see the [5d] hit the turn. Again action checked to Mah on the button who bet 120,000. Ngu snap-called from the small blind as the two other players got out of the way.
The river was the [7s] and Ngu checked to Mah who fumbled with his chips, knocking them over as he struggled with a cup of tea in his other hand. He decided instead to verbalize a bet of 200,000, which Ngu again insta-called.
Mah sighed and opened [as][qc] for just ace-high as Ngu slammed [jh][td] down on table proudly. Wait…jack-high? What had just happened here?
“I thought he mucked!” defended Ngu. Hmmm. Our best guess is that it was a cover for a misread hand and Ngu actually thought she held jack-nine for top pair rather than jack-ten. That’s just our guess, and it’s happened to the best of them, but whatever the reason, the massive pot was sent to Mah in one of the strangest pots we’ve seen at a final table.
Mah is up to 1.3 million with Ngu back down to 550,000.
4:40pm: Final Table Lineup
Here’s the final table lineup for the Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon Main Event and their approximate chip counts:
Seat 1: Yue Xu – 660,000
Seat 2: Yong Kin – 700,000
Seat 3: Justin Chan – 385,000
Seat 4: Conrad Coetzer – 825,000
Seat 5: Tim Luk – 400,000
Seat 6: Kwan Mah – 860,000
Seat 7: Jessica Ngu – 600,000
Seat 8: Matthew Chan – 890,000
Seat 9: Haifeng Xue – 1,274,000
The clock has been wound back to the start of Level 21, with the blinds at 10,000-20,000 with a 2,000 ante to satisfy the 35BB average stack requirement.
After posing for a few photos the players have taken their seats and the cards are back in the air.
4:20pm: Mamoru Takahashi eliminated in 10th place
Haifeng Xue had turned up the pressure since the break, displaying a lot of aggression with several all-in bets. It allowed him to move into the chip lead, before he once again shoved all in following the opening 62,000-chip raise from Mamoru Takahashi.
Takahashi thought for a moment and called off his last 235,000 chips with [ad][qd] as Xue tabled [jc][jh]. The board ran out [4c][7h][6s][th][5h] to leave the jacks in front and eliminate the last Japanese hope in 10th place for HK$76,000 in prize money.
The clock will be paused as the players redraw for the final table.
4:00pm: Play resumes
The final ten are back on two tables of five, with one more elimination required until we reach our official final table.
The chips are relatively evenly spread with Conrad Coetzer, Haifeng Xue and Kwan Mah our chip leaders.
MPC Red Dragon Main Event Day 2: Level 18 (blinds 5,000-10,000, ante 500)
7:40pm: Day 2 brought to an abrupt end – 23 survive!
With 24:38 showing on the tournament clock, Danny McDonagh announced for each table to finish the hand they were on and that’s it! The 23 remaining players looked around at each other in confusion, but yes, it’s true. They are all safely through to Day 3 of the Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon Main Event.
It was announced that the players will be returning in the same seats that they finished the day, with a redraw once we reach the final two tables tomorrow.
Leading the way will be Justin Chan, who had a day out, despite a late hit, to bag up close to 800,000 for our end-of-day chip lead.
We’ll have confirmation of the chip counts and a complete wrap of the day’s action for you shortly. Meanwhile for those in the Macau region, get yourself down to the Grand Lisboa Casino for tonight’s High Rollers event which kicks off at 8:10pm local time. Already there are over 30 confirmed registrations with hopes for a field close to 50 players.
7:35pm: Tan out
Ivan Tan has been sent crashing to the rail in unfortunate fashion as Gabor Peteri caught a two-outer to stay alive. Peteri had shoved with pocket fives and Tan made the call in the big blind with pocket tens, only to see a five find its way onto the flop. Tan was crippled and eliminated moments later.
7:20pm: Chan drowns slowly on the river
Justin Chan and Haifeng Xue are two players who like to take their time, so when the two tangled in a big pot it took a long time to reach a conclusion, but it was worth the wait.
Chan started things off with a raise to 23,000 which was matched by Xue on the button. They saw a flop of [ad][8h][4c] and Chan’s continuation bet of 35,000 was called by Xue. The turn brought the [td] and Chan checked to Xue who slid out 40,000. Chan took his time before making the call as the [2d] was the river card.
Chan checked again to Xue who broke three stacks of 20k away from his stack and slid them one by one into the middle. Unfortunately with no verbal announcement, his actions were ruled as a string bet, and the bet stood at 20,000. It was back on Chan now who thought for a long time. Facing such a small bet, it appeared his only decisions were raise or call, as there was too much in the middle to fold pretty much anything.
Eventually Chan came out raising as he made it 50,000 to go. Chan has showed down strong cards all day, and a river check-raise is supreme strength but Xue quickly called.
Chan showed [ac][kh] for top pair, top kicker, but he’d been rivered as Xue tabled [ah][2h]. Chan drops to 780,000 with Xue up to 420,000.
7:00pm: Play resumes
26 players are still in contention for the Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon Main Event title with Justin Chan a red-hot favourite after that ridiculously big pot at the end of the last level. He has 1,000,000 chips which is more than double his nearest rival.
The whisper is that we might only be playing for another level or so before we wrap things up for the day. By that stage we should be down to two tables and getting close to the final table.
MPC Red Dragon Main Event Day 2: Level 18 (blinds 5,000-10,000, ante 500)
7:40pm: Day 2 brought to an abrupt end – 23 survive!
With 24:38 showing on the tournament clock, Danny McDonagh announced for each table to finish the hand they were on and that’s it! The 23 remaining players looked around at each other in confusion, but yes, it’s true. They are all safely through to Day 3 of the Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon Main Event.
It was announced that the players will be returning in the same seats that they finished the day, with a redraw once we reach the final two tables tomorrow.
Leading the way will be Justin Chan, who had a day out, despite a late hit, to bag up close to 800,000 for our end-of-day chip lead.
We’ll have confirmation of the chip counts and a complete wrap of the day’s action for you shortly. Meanwhile for those in the Macau region, get yourself down to the Grand Lisboa Casino for tonight’s High Rollers event which kicks off at 8:10pm local time. Already there are over 30 confirmed registrations with hopes for a field close to 50 players.
7:35pm: Tan out
Ivan Tan has been sent crashing to the rail in unfortunate fashion as Gabor Peteri caught a two-outer to stay alive. Peteri had shoved with pocket fives and Tan made the call in the big blind with pocket tens, only to see a five find its way onto the flop. Tan was crippled and eliminated moments later.
7:20pm: Chan drowns slowly on the river
Justin Chan and Haifeng Xue are two players who like to take their time, so when the two tangled in a big pot it took a long time to reach a conclusion, but it was worth the wait.
Chan started things off with a raise to 23,000 which was matched by Xue on the button. They saw a flop of [ad][8h][4c] and Chan’s continuation bet of 35,000 was called by Xue. The turn brought the [td] and Chan checked to Xue who slid out 40,000. Chan took his time before making the call as the [2d] was the river card.
Chan checked again to Xue who broke three stacks of 20k away from his stack and slid them one by one into the middle. Unfortunately with no verbal announcement, his actions were ruled as a string bet, and the bet stood at 20,000. It was back on Chan now who thought for a long time. Facing such a small bet, it appeared his only decisions were raise or call, as there was too much in the middle to fold pretty much anything.
Eventually Chan came out raising as he made it 50,000 to go. Chan has showed down strong cards all day, and a river check-raise is supreme strength but Xue quickly called.
Chan showed [ac][kh] for top pair, top kicker, but he’d been rivered as Xue tabled [ah][2h]. Chan drops to 780,000 with Xue up to 420,000.
7:00pm: Play resumes
26 players are still in contention for the Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon Main Event title with Justin Chan a red-hot favourite after that ridiculously big pot at the end of the last level. He has 1,000,000 chips which is more than double his nearest rival.
The whisper is that we might only be playing for another level or so before we wrap things up for the day. By that stage we should be down to two tables and getting close to the final table.
ANZPT Gold Coast Day 3: Level 19 (blinds 5,000-10,000, ante 1,000)
6:40pm: Toy summarys
Our decisive 18 thespians are ago on the felt plus hopefully the schism has freshened them up so we comprehend a slight drill else behavior on the style to our extreme appendix of nine.
Anthony Grange, Julian Cohen further Savvas Zenonos are our ongoing scrap guides.






