SCOOP Event #13: Ante Up No Limit Hold’em

Ante Up? Like, for Africa? No, not that Ante Up. This Ante Up is the new brain child of the PokerStars tournament staff and features fixed blinds of 5/5 at every level with gradually increasing antes. For example, Level 1 featured blinds of 5/5 with an ante of 10, while Level 2 had blinds of 5/5 with an ante of 20.

The nifty little twist on the structure resulted in a trio of tournaments with a ton of play and more limping in than we’ve seen in a while. Hey, you’d limp in for 5 into a pot of 16,000 chips too if you had the chance. Though the format is still pretty new, players still devised a specific strategy for the event which seems to include plenty of limping and quite a bit of limp, re-raising as well. Online phenom James mig.com Mackey seems to have figured out the format just fine. He won the High buy-in tournament of this event and pocketed over $90,000 in the process.

Low ($15 buy-in)
Prize Pool: $160,680
Entrants: 10,712

This tournament went a little faster than its higher buy-in counterparts, but still went well on into the night before pash123 emerged victorious with over $21,000 in his pocket.

1st: pash123 ($21,298.77)
2nd: Thishowedoit ($14,694.18)
3rd: lorenzo79 ($11,086.92)
4th: trompete ($7,873.32)
5th: AftyBubba ($6,266.52)
6th: Robie123 ($4,659.72)
7th: axe lavec ($3,052.92)
8th: BigMan1984 ($1,446.12)
9th: XBraumeister ($964.08)

Notable finishes: None

Medium ($150 buy-in)
Prize Pool: $301,050
Entrants: 2,007

Adrian900123 was the last player standing in this marathon event, which went on for almost 18 hours before he claimed his win and over $48,000 in prize money.

1st: Adrian900123 ($48,168.83)
2nd: jeffonx ($36,126.00)
3rd: Runnin Rich ($27,094.50)
4th: Rayan “rkruok” Nathan ($18,665.10)
5th: conslice ($13,547.25)
6th: kirbyi17 ($10,536.75)
7th: fuddebuf ($7,526.25)
8th: SlowRollJoe1 ($5,117.85)
9th: McBreed ($2,859.97)

Notable finishes: Zachary “HustlerGrune” Gruneberg (12th) and Aditya “intervention” Agarwal (15th)

High ($1,500 buy-in)
Prize Pool: $468,000
Entrants: 312

It was another elite field in the High buy-in event as 312 top players decided to test their skills at the new tournament format.  Players like Mike “SirWatts” Watson (16th), Jason Mercier (17th) and Jamie “TheCronic420” Rosen (18th) thrived but came up short of the final table, though, Mercier did make an appearance there in a different capacity–as the event’s host.

Those playing at the final table included James “mig.com” Mackey, Team PokerStars Pro JP Kelly and Rob “Vaga_Lion” Akery.  As we mentioned, mig.com bested the tough field thanks to some solid play and a keen ability to win crucial coin flips:

Seat 1: Hazarrr!! (87,465)
Seat 2: JP Kelly (193,604)
Seat 3: coxnator (293,132)
Seat 4: sakpoker (66,017)
Seat 5: Needleking (66,786)
Seat 6: Tha Giggy (203,175)
Seat 7: James “mig.com” Mackey (257,460)
Seat 8: soso9200 (139,371)
Seat 9: Rob “Vaga_Lion” Akery (252,990)

To give you an idea of just how much play this event offered, consider this: The final table was set at 3AM ET and did not wrap up until 7:22AM—nearly four and a half hours later. The antes began at a modest 1,000, which meant even the short stacks could last more than seven rounds at the table without chipping up.

Deep structure or not, when one player picks up AK and the other picks up pocket kings, they are often going to get their chips in the middle. That is just what happened with sakpoker and coxnator early on at the final table. Sakpoker couldn’t spike an ace and headed home in 9th place.

Antes would be up to 1,750 by the time Hazarr!! busted out in 8th place over an hour later. He moved all-in for 27,000 over the top of James “mig.com” Mackey’s raise with KJ and mig.com called with A4. The board ran out 3227Q and Hazarr!! was done.

Team PokerStars Pro JP Kelly made his exit just a few hands later. Mig.com raised the cutoff, Rob “Vaga_Lion” Akery reraised out of the small blind and JP Kelly shipped his remaining 58,000 in with AQ. Mig.com folded, while Vaga_Lion called with pocket kings. The kings held up and the Team Pro hit the rail in 7th place. Soso9200 followed Kelly to the door a short while later, running pocket nines into Tha Giggy’s pocket aces.

Mig.com trimmed the field to four when he won a big flip holding pocket queens to Vaga_Lion’s AK to win a 450,000 chip pot and amass a substantial chip lead. Mig.com wasn’t done there though. Needleking limped for 5 at the ante 2,500 level, Tha Giggy raised on the button, mig.com called out of the small blind and Needleking repopped it to 27,000, leaving 162,000 behind. Tha Giggy folded and mig.com moved all-in with KQ. Needleking showed TT, which looked good as the board ran out 872J, but the 6 on the river made a flush for mig.com and busted Needleking out in 4th place.

Mig.com relinquished the chip lead thanks to a big hand against coxnator in which mig.com called a bet on a flop of A98 and turned a straight with his J7 when the T fell. The river A paired the board and the rest of the money went in the pot. Coxnator showed A9 for a full house and doubled to over 700,000. Mig.com rallied back though, doubling through Tha Giggy holding pocket tens to Tha Giggy’s AK. Coxnator would finish Tha Giggy off a short while later, winning a flip for the last of Tha Giggy’s chips holding AJ to ThaGiggy’s 77.

When heads-up play began at the ante 3,500 level, the two players moentarily mulled over a deal, but that thought lasted a good eight seconds before they decided to just play it out. The two were relatively even-stacked with mig.com holding the slight edge. Mig.com crossed the 1 million chip threshold when he rivered the wheel holding 35 on an AKQ24 board. With 1.1 million chips to coxnator’s 425,000, the momentum was clearly swinging in mig.com’s favor.

Mig.com kept coxnator at bay for a while and finished things off by winning one more crucial coinflip holding JJ to coxnator’s AQ. The board ran out K752T to give mig.com the pot and the outright victory worth just over $90,000.

1st: James “mig.com” Mackey ($90,558.00)
2nd: coxnator ($67,860.00)
3rd: Tha Giggy ($51,480.00)
4th: Needleking ($38,610.00)
5th: Rob “Vaga_Lion” Akery ($26,676.00)
6th: soso9200 ($20,592.00)
7th: JP Kelly ($15,912.00)
8th: Hazarr!! ($11,232.00)
9th: sakpoker ($8,190.00)

SCOOP Event #14: Limit Omaha H/L

The fields in the Omaha H/L event may have been smaller, but thanks to one of the larger buy-ins on the SCOOP schedule so far, the payouts proved to be quite nice. The biggest story out of this event had to be the victory of villepn, who has got to be the favorite to take down SCOOP Player of the Series honors. Thanks to his win tonight, he now has a 40 point lead over previous frontrunner Joe “floes” Serock.

Low ($50 buy-in)
Prize Pool: $113,950
Entrants: 2,279

There was no chopping in any of the Event #14 tournaments, so 7PRS took home the entirety of the almost $18,000 first place prize for winning the Low buy-in event.

1st: 7PRS ($17,948.53)
2nd: sjvan ($13,389.12)
3rd: whoflungpooh ($9,571.80)
4th: Fredd DeKatt ($6,552.12)
5th: iamrizz ($4,956.82)
6th: Tech-3 ($3,817.32)
7th: jfc43 ($2,677.82)
8th: Schukie ($1,540.60)
9th: chrisdanny ($968.57)

Notable finishes: Noah “Exclusive” Boeken (39th)

Medium ($500 buy-in)
Prize Pool: $214,500
Entrants: 429

Known primarily for his No Limit Hold’em skills, Keith “DaMurdera3” Ferrera proved his talents extended to the other games as well. He bested a final table that boasted two Team Poker Stars Pros, Johannes Steindl, who finished in 2nd place, and 8th place finisher Katja Thater.

1st: Keith “DaMurdera3” Ferrera ($40,755.00)
2nd: Johannes Steindl ($30,030.00)
3rd: Elie “what is 7×6” Doft ($21,986.25)
4th: culibrk1 ($16,731.00)
5th: kjust ($11,797.50)
6th: deannadd ($9,116.25)
7th: plplaya ($6,971.25)
8th: Katja Thater ($4,826.25)
9th: DA55555 ($3,560.70)

Notable finishes: Eric “AceQuad” Brux (18th), Nick “GripDsNutz” Grippo (20th) and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier

High ($5,000 buy-in)
Prize Pool: $335,000
Entrants: 67

We’ve already mentioned the dominant performance of villepn, so we’ll avoid repeating ourselves here other than summarizing the other facts of this small but tough tournament. With only 67 runners, the final tablist would be the only players getting paid. As such, we had to feel a little bad for 11th place finisher Chad Brown, who bubble the money in his second high buy-in event, previously serving as the official bubble boy when he busted out in 7th place of the Seven Card Stud tournament.

While Brown missed out on a top nine showing, villepn was joined at the final table by several other big names, including Daniel “amichaiKK” Makowsky, James “Andy McLEOD” Obst, Robert “who’s bad” Mizrachi and Eugene “MyRabbiFoo” Katchalov.

Seat 1: alexandra5 (34,128)
Seat 2: TheHood (68,569)
Seat 3: Daniel “amichaiKK” Makowsky (54,022)
Seat 4: James “Andy McLEOD” Obst (47,563)
Seat 5: Robert “who’s bad” Mizrachi (12,820)
Seat 6: Eugene “MyRabbiFoo” Katchalov (34,644)
Seat 7: villepn (72,146)
Seat 8: crazyjanie (3,428)
Seat 9: George “Jorj95” Lind (7,680)

With betting limits at 1,000/2,000, there were a number of players at the final table in desperation mode, most notably crazyjanie, but it was Robert “who’s bad” Mizrachi who made the first exit. After getting quartered in a big pot, who’s bad was down to 3,000 chips himself and subsequently got most of it in preflop against George “Jorj95” Lind and Daniel “amichaiKK” Makowsky holding A678. AmichaiKK bet Jorj95 off the TTT flop and showed K8KJ for a full house. Who’s bad was drawing dead and out in 9th place.

Crazyjanie kept splitting pots to stay alive and dipped as low as 700 chips before rallying to get up to over 8,000. The effort would be all for naught though, as crazyjanie soon found himself all-in on a flop of KJ9 holding ATJ4 for middle pair and a straight draw against Jorj95’s AQ22 for straight and flush possibilities. The A on the turn left crazyjanie drawing dead and out in 8th.

James “ANDY McLEOD” Obst was the next to go when his overpair of aces couldn’t draw out on villepn’s flopped two pair. Jorj95 exited soon after, getting it all-in wih A244 against villedpn’s AKJT. The QJT left Jorj95 drawing dead and out in 6th place.

Eugene “MyRabbiFoo” Katchalov saw his tournament come to an end after getting half of his short stack in preflop at the 2,000/4,000 level and committing the rest after the flop fell AQ4. He got a caller in the form of amichaiKK, who held KT32 for two different straight draws and the nut low draw. MyRabbiFoo held 245T for a straight and low draw of his own, but the 5 on the turn left him drawing to a chop and the A sent the pot to amichaiKK and MyRabbiFoo to the rail in 5th place.

Alexandra5 was the short stack at the table after that and desperately needed to double up after dropping to under 10,000 chips. Alexandra5 took his stand, getting it all-in preflop holding A2[3cd]5 to villeopn’s 3TT9. The T52 flop gave villepn top set, but had promising low possibilities for alexandra5. The T on the turn ensured villepn half the pot and the K on the river meant alexandra5’s run had come to a close.

With the combined powers of villepn and amichaiKK, the two were able to get the last of TheHood’s chips. AmicahiKK’s A38T claimed the low on the QJ548 board, while villepn’sAQ86 for two pair took the high. TheHood mucked and we were down to heads-up play, with villepn holding a more than 7-1 chip lead. It took only ten hands for villepn to finish the job. First, he chipped amichaiKK down to less than 5,000 chips. AmichaiKK found a way to double up once, but would not be so fortunate the second time around.

The last of amichaiKK’s chips went in after a flop of 862. AmichaiKK held J943 for a low, but villepn held A568 for top two pair and a better low. The 3 on the turn left amichaiKK with soe hope, but a K on the river ended his run, giving the pot and the match to one of the hottest players of the series so far, villepn.

1st: villepn ($100,500.00)
2nd: Daniel “amichaiKK” Makowsky ($67,000.00)
3rd: TheHood ($50,250.00)
4th: alexandra5 ($33,500.00)
5th: Eugene “MyRabbiFoo” Katchalov ($25,125.00)
6th: George “Jorj95” Lind ($18,425.00)
7th: James “Andy McLEOD” Obst ($15,075.00)
8th: crazyjanie ($13,400.00)
9th: Robert “who’s bad” Mizrachi ($11,725.00)

SCOOP Event #15: No Limit Hold’em 2X Chance Turbo

If you like your poker action fast, loose and full of variance, you came to the right place. Event #15 provided the typical action of a No Limit Hold’em Turbo and even gave players a second chance at glory by allowing them a single rebuy. In a matter of hours we went from a full house to a single winner in each of the three events and one of those winners is a player many might be familiar with, World Series of Poker bracelet winner Peter “Belabacsi” Traply.

Low ($15 buy-in)
Prize Pool: $257,490
Entrants: 11,206 entrants, 5,960 rebuys

With a large field and lots of rebuys, the Low buy-in event stirred up a tidy prize pool of a quarter of a million dollars. The top payout of over $32,000 went to ricardo4473, who won the tournament outright.

1st: ricardo4473 ($32,196.45)
2nd: Stenbek ($22,478.87)
3rd: caniwin12 ($17,251.83)
4th: pocketcrape ($12,102.03)
5th: Glorfindel ($9,527.13)
6th: bigace223 ($6,952.23)
7th: kriegs ($4,506.07)
8th: Cujon ($2317.41)
9th: SlappyJay74 ($1,544.94)

Notable finishes: Aditya “intervention” Agarwal (15th)

Medium ($150 buy-in)
Prize Pool: $563,700
Entrants: 2,513 entrants, 1,245 rebuys

It was another outright win in the Medium event as AMBlues19 took down the title along with just over $89,000.

1st: AMBlues19 ($89,065.50)
2nd: NutsErryTime ($66,894.27)
3rd: RIP(URL ($47,914.50)
4th: freezeplay ($32,976.45)
5th: WoopShoopi ($25,084.55)
6th: fingaz ($19,447.65)
7th: Numb Nutzzzz ($13,810.65)
8th: Marlowe ($8,173.65)
9th: biggy999 ($4,791.45)

Notable finishes: Chris “cdbr3799” Dombrowski (11th) and Jude “j.thaddeus” Ainsworth (28th)

High ($1,500 buy-in)
Prize Pool: $1,032,000
Entrants: 455 entrants, 233 rebuys

Peter “Belabacsi” Traply has had a couple of close calls over the course of this SCOOP. He’s made deep runs and final tables, but just missed out on the win every time. He remedied that today thanks to a 5-way chop at the final table and a little run good. While players like Tyler “brainwash” Cornell (17th), Eric “sheets” Haber (21st), Stewart “Stuman123” Yancik and David “dpeters17” Peters (23rd) lasted quite a while but missed out on the final table, Traply, Danny “cpfactor” Smith and Phil “takechip” D’Auteuil were three of the players aiming for the big prize money:

Seat 1: szusza84 (192908 in chips)
Seat 2: Al K. Holick (459111 in chips)
Seat 3: Phantom0082 (245768 in chips)
Seat 4: Phil “takechip” D’Auteuil (301812 in chips)
Seat 5: Peter “Belabacsi” Traply (460658 in chips)
Seat 6: smokrokflock (487630 in chips)
Seat 7: Danny “cpfactor” Smith (260943 in chips)
Seat 8: mrvogt (579099 in chips)
Seat 9: The Rounderr (452071 in chips)

Being a turbo, blinds were up to 12,500/25,000 ante 3,125 when the final table was set. So, it took about four minutes before the all-ins commenced. A blind versus blind confrontation saw Phil “takechip” D’Auteuil shove the small blind with QJ, Peter “Belabacsi” Traply called in the big with A9 and Belabacsi made a straight as the board ran out KT876. Takechip hit the rail and others followed suit.

Next to fall was Phantom0082 whose pocket sevens were no match for The Rounderr’s QJ and szusza894 exited soon after when his all-in shove with Q9 was picked off by Danny “cpfactor” Smith, who held AQ. The board brought no nine and the field was down to six.

After TheRounderr’s pair of sevens failed to outflip Rasmus “mrvogt” Vogt’s AK, the final five players stopped the clock and brokered a deal that meant six figure paydays for everyone with an additional $15,000 to whoever could win enough coinflips to claim the victory.

Al K. Holick lost the bulk of his chips to smokrokflock when Big Slick once again trumped the pocket pair to double smokrokflock up. Belabacsi would deal the fatal blow to Al K Holick a few hands later. Belabacsi picked up pocket kings in a massive 3-way all-in with Al K Holick, who held 24 and cpfactor, who held 77. The kings held to eliminate Al K Holick in 5th and give Belabacsi a big double up.

Next to go was mrvogt, whose middle ace couldn’t catch up with Belabacsi’s Big Slick. His elimination in 4th was followed by smokrokflock’s exit in 3rd place when his A5 ran into cpfactor’s pocket queens.

When heads up play began, cpfactor held a 10-1 chip advantage over Belabacsi, but as tends to be the case in turbos, a series of big flips changed matters greatly. First, Belabacsi’s K2 spiked a lucky card to best cpfactors pocket eights, then Belabacsi’s Q6 rivered two pair against cpfactor’s A3. Belabacsi’s third double came when his 88 ran out a flush on a KJ3TK board to best cpfactor’s A5 and take the chip lead.

Fourth time was the charm for Belabacsi. On the final hand of play the duo got it all-in with Belabacsi holding 9T to cpfactor’s pocket fours. The KTT flop left cpfactor drawing slim and when no four came on the turn or river, Traply claimed the top prize and a $128,000 payday.

1st: Peter “Belabacsi” Traply ($128,216.00)
2nd: Danny “cpfactor” Smith ($116,534.00)
3rd: smokrokflock ($104,169.00)
4th: Rasmus “mrvogt” Vogt ($123,371.00)
5th: Al K. Holick ($111,306.00)
6th: TheRounderr ($43,860.00)
7th: szusza84 ($33,540.00)
8th: Phantom0082 ($23,220.00)
9th: Phil “takechip” D’Auteuil ($17,131.20)

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