The “low” version of Event #15 — the “Ante Up” no-limit hold’em event — represented a great opportunity for players to turn a little into a lot. Many did just that, with no less than seven players turning the $7.50 buy-in into five-figure paydays and JAMIEHUNT83 of the U.K. ultimately coming away as the victor following a five-way chop.

JAMIEHUNT83 earned $7,465.80 for the win, just a little less than the $7,583.34 that szadali of Hungary picked up for finishing third as both players ended up making roughly 1000 times their buy-in (!).

The event drew a huge field of 12,914, which made the prize pool $88,073.48 exceed yet another SCOOP guarantee (in this case for $50K). The top 1,620 finishers made the money in the two-day event. Here’s the story of those two days and how JAMIEHUNT83 managed to claim the victory.

Day 1: 12,914 to 46

It took a little under five hours for the cash bubble to burst, and with 1,620 players left BruceLee880 had fought gamely enough to land the top spot in the counts. Three hours after that the field had been trimmed to just 285 players, with Super*Catch sitting in first and approaching the 1 million-chip mark.

The evening wore on and eventually they were down to 100, with eventual winner JAMIEHUNT83 having moved into first position, with BennyZhang and szadali the only other players north of the 2 million-chip mark.

Finally after almost 11-and-a-half hours they’d reach the end of Level 40 and the scheduled stopping point for Day 1, with 46 players left and BOOMAX1964 of Slovenia the only one of them with more than 4 million. Here’s a look at the overnight top 10:

1. BOOMAX1964 (Slovenia) — 4,323,641
2. UBS2927 (Germany) — 3,828,735
3. JAMIEHUNT83 (United Kingdom) — 3,029,951
4. BennyZhang (China) — 2,814,499
5. riskysoldier (Canada) — 2,540,904
6. Raabise (Estonia) — 2,468,682
7. Kes237 (Belarus) — 2,406,891
8. bapc_3 (Russia) — 2,297,553
9. aue1966 (Canada) — 2,227,063
10. szadali (Hungary) — 2,165,373

Day 2: 46 to 1

When play resumed on Saturday the blinds remained 5/5 as always — just as they did throughout the entire tournament — while the antes to start Level 41 had increased to 17,500.

That meant players were having to contribute more than 157,000 per orbit to start the day, with that cost scheduled to increase every 15 minutes when the levels changed. And with the average stack just over 1.4 million to start the second day, that also meant little time for waiting around for a lot of players, most particularly the short stacks.

The first hour saw the field swiftly trimmed down to 24 players, with BOOMAX1964 slipping from the top spot to be replaced by sw_iceman who had risen up the counts to build a stack of just over 6.8 million by the first break.

It only took about 20 minutes more to play down to 18, with GuiAvilaa having pushed past all into the top spot with more than 7 million.

A little over an hour after that they were down to nine, with D_tek (18th), Raabise (17th), and aue1966 (16th) each earning $184.95; ZesLucky (15th), Hupenmann (14th), and Kes237 (13th) taking away $264.22 apiece; and riskysoldier (12th), casinoberlin (11th), and start-of-Day-2 leader BOOMAX1964 (10th) each seeing $352.29 added to their PokerStars accounts.

During the playing down GaiAvilaa continued to keep the top spot, adding chips to have more than 15 million to start the final table.

Seat 1: jiZYo (Russia) — 4,909,572
Seat 2: GuiAvilaa (Brazil) — 15,434,481
Seat 3: szadali (Hungary) — 10,256,856
Seat 4: BennyZhang (China) — 2,726,670
Seat 5: bapc_3 (Russia) — 1,731,142
Seat 6: JAMIEHUNT83 (United Kingdom) — 5,445,459
Seat 7: Gorleone (Netherlands) — 3,765,766
Seat 8: UBS2927 (Germany) — 9,052,667
Seat 9: sw_iceman (Russia) — 11,247,387

About 10 minutes after the final table began, the antes were up to 90,000 when bapc_3 pushed all in from middle position for 611,112 and got a single caller in JAMIEHUNT83 sitting one seat over. bapc_3 had A♦ 6♥ and needed help versus JAMIEHUNT83’s Q♦ Q♥ . But the board brought no improvement for bapc_3, coming 3♠ 7♦ 9♥ 5♦ 7♥ , who was eliminated in ninth.

They were approaching the three-hour mark for Day 2 when leader GuiAvilaa raised to 300,000 from the cutoff — the antes still being 90k — szadali called from the button, then BennyZhang shoved for 916,630 from the small blind. It folded back and both GuiAvilaa and szadali called the reraise.

Those two then checked down the board as it came 2♦ 5♣ 5♥ , then 3♣ , then K♠ , then BennyZhang showed J♠ J♣ for jacks and fives. That hand had been best until the river as GuiAvilaa had K♣ 8♣ for a better two pair, and szadali mucked. BennyZhang was out in eighth.

Twenty more minutes passed, then with the antes up to 100,000 it was jiZYo open-shoving from early position for 2,904,921 and watching only szadali call from two spots over. jiZYo had A♠ J♠ and szadali 9♣ 9♦ . The flop was good for jiZYo, coming A♦ 5♦ J♣ to make two pair, but the 9♠ was disastrous as it gave szadali a set. The river was the 8♥ , and jiZYo was eliminated in seventh.

The remaining six began talking about a possible chop, but no attempt at deal-making followed and play continued. GuiAvilaa began suffering a few setbacks, then after losing a huge preflop all-in for a 15 million-plus chip pot with A♦ K♥ versus UBS2927’s 4♣ 4♦ had suddenly slipped down to less than 400,000.

A couple of hands later GuiAvilaa was down to 242,520, with more than half of that going in the middle as the 125,000 ante. GuiAvilaa then shoved the rest in and got three callers, with all three checking down as the community cards came 8♣ 7♣ A♥ 5♥ 8♥ . In the end only sw_iceman had hit the board with Q♠ 7♥ , and everyone else mucked, including GuiAvilaa who had been bounced in sixth.

The final five players played a few more hands, then did stop the tourney to discuss a possible chop. At that point szadali led with more than 18.1 million, sw_iceman and UBS2927 each had about 14 million, JAMIEHUNT83 had just over 11.2 million, and Gorleone was fifth with almost 7.2 million.

Both “chip chop” and “ICM” figures were presented, and with some further tinkering a deal was made leaving $1,000 and the SCOOP watch for which to play.

Play subsequently resumed, with the lengthy discussion having carried them past the four-hour mark for Day 2.

Soon the antes were up to 150,000 and UBS2927 was open-raising all in for 11,455,088 from UTG. Only Gorleone called from the big blind.

UBS2927: 5♠ 3♥
Gorleone: 9♠ 9♦

The flop was pretty good for UBS2927, coming 5♥ 2♦ 4♣ to make a pair and provide a straight draw. But the turn brought the J♥ and the river the 4♥ , and UBS2927 was knocked out in fifth.

Then just two hands later it was Gorleone raising to 300,000 from the button, sw_iceman reraising to 600,000 from the small blind, Gorleone four-betting to 1,522,365, and sw_iceman calling.

The flop came 5♣ 7♦ 3♠ and after sw_iceman checked, Gorleone bet 1,090,320, sw_iceman raised to 3 million, Gorleone shoved, and sw_iceman called with the 8,822,770 left.

sw_iceman had 10♣ 10♥ and the advantage as Gorleone had but A♦ 3♣ . But the turn brought the A♥ to improve Gorleone to two pair, and after the Q♠ river they were down to three.

Six more hands elapsed, then it was szadali open-raising all in for 6,798,095 from the small blind and JAMIEHUNT83 calling from the next seat. szadali had Q♦ 9♠ and JAMIEHUNT83 K♣ 10♥ , and after the board brought no pairs for either — coming A♥ J♥ 8♥ 5♠ 8♦ — szadali was done in third.

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By knocking out szadali, JAMIEHUNT83 no longer had to look at that picture of Marlon Brando’s Don Corleone (szadali’s avatar). But with Corleone out of the way, there was still Gorleone with whom to contend.

Despite having claimed szadali’s stack, JAMIEHUNT83 began heads-up play at a significant disadvantage with 17,047,463 to the big stack of 47,522,537 of Gorleone. Both had to feel good about how the last stretch had gone, however, having been the two short stacks when the five-way chop had taken place.

JAMIEHUNT83 picked up a few chips during the first 15 minutes of the pair’s duel, then won two relatively big pots in succession to grab the lead. Gorleone closed the gap again for a short period, but JAMIEHUNT83 pushed out further once again and by the time they reached the day’s five-hour break had a 2-to-1 lead with 42,593,399 to Gorleone’s 21,976,601.

Following that respite they’d play just two hands more, as soon it was Gorleone raising to 285,000 from the button (with the antes up to 250,000), then JAMIEHUNT83 shoved all in and Gorleone called.

Both players had been dealt pocket pairs, with JAMIEHUNT83’s 9♣ 9♥ ahead of Gorleone’s 4♦ 4♠ . The 5♠ 6♦ 7♠ flop hit neither player, but did give Gorleone some extra outs in the form of the four treys left in the deck. But the turn was the A♦ and river the 7♥ , and JAMIEHUNT83 had won!

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Congratulations to JAMIEHUNT83 for topping that huge field of 12,914 to win the SCOOP watch, including completing an impressive comeback following the five-way chop and during heads-up play. And speaking of the chop, kudos as well to the other four players who made it that far to assure themselves especially nice paydays for their small investments.

PokerStars 2013 SCOOP Event #15-L ($7.50 No-Limit Hold’em, Ante Up) results (*reflects five-way deal)

Players: 12,914
Prize pool: $88,073.48
Places paid: 1,620

1. JAMIEHUNT83 (United Kingdom) $7,465.80*
2. Gorleone (Netherlands) $7,465.80*
3. szadali (Hungary) $7,583.34*
4. sw_iceman (Russia) $6,899.77*
5. UBS2927 (Germany) $6,179.22*
6. GuiAvilaa (Brazil) $2,642.20
7. JiZYo (Russia) $1,761.46
8. BennyZhang (China) $880.73
9. bapc_3 (Russia) $550.45

There’s still more than week’s worth of SCOOPaments left to go, as detailed in full over on the SCOOP site.

Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

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