The final weekend of the 2014 Spring Championship of Online Poker brought more players to the tables than during the rest of the series. There was a very strong showing in all of the weekend events, which was no surprise considering the popularity of SCOOP since it began on May 4.

Event 42 offered a short-handed player’s dream – four-max tables for No Limit Hold’em in a two-day event. The medium-level buy-in had a $200 + $15 buy-in and $200K guarantee, and players lined up to get into the action. With no late registration available, the final numbers were available at the start of play on Saturday, May 17:

Players: 1,474
Guarantee: $200,000.00
Total prize pool: $294,800.00
Paid players: 192

The first day of play ran through 31 levels, diving into the money more than midway through it. One of the Team PokerStars Pros who played in the tournament did go deep but exited in 74th place. That person was none other than Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, who grabbed $905.03 on his way out.

Play stopped with only seven players remaining and tension high as exhaustion mixed with excitement due to the closeness of the final table. Those seven players ended their night with these chip counts:

1. jenbizzle (UK) 2,423,978
2. palenque88 (Argentina) 1,636,676
3. Big Huni (Costa Rica) 1,123,718
4. Gags30 (Canada) 787,051
5. royace1 (United Arab Emirates) 666,415
6. P0CK€TF@CE$ (UK) 379,491
7. Timonpoika (Finland) 352,671

Day 2

Those competitors returned on Sunday, May 18, at the start of Level 32, with 7K/14K blinds and a 1,750 ante.

Short-stacked Timonpoika was the first one to go, ousted at the hands of Timonpoika just a few hands into the day. Meanwhile, P0CK€TF@CE$ doubled through palenque88 but remained the shortest of the remaining six players until a much-needed double through Big Huni.

After more than 30 minutes of action, royace1 pushed all-in with K♣ Q♠ against the A♥ 9♠ of jenbizzle. The board came 6♠ 10♠ 3♥ 6♣ 9♥ , and the two pair eliminated royace1 in sixth place with $4,419.05.

JenBizzle leads with most chizzles

The final table began just moments before the start of Level 34, which offered 10K/20K blinds and a 2.5K ante. The players and their chip stacks were as follows:

Seat 1: palenque88 (1,274,005 in chips)
Seat 2: P0CK€TF@CE$ (567,884 in chips)
Seat 3: Big Huni (1,217,496 in chips)
Seat 4: jenbizzle (3,759,686 in chips)
Seat 5: Gags30 (550,929 in chips)

Just a few hands in, Gags30 scored a big double through P0CK€TF@CE$, putting the latter back on the short stack.

A few hands later, P0CK€TF@CE$ moved all-in for less than 300K chips holding A♣ 5♦ . Gags30 called from the big blind with K♣ Q♣ and caught a queen on the 3♥ Q♠ 4♠ flop. The 9♣ 9♥ turn and river eliminated P0CK€TF@CE$ in fifth place, which was worth $7,042.77.

Big Huni doubled through Gags30 and took some more big pots to garner a solid second place on the leaderboard. Jenbizzle still held a significant lead, however.

More than an hour after the action started, Gags30 was still unable to gain much momentum. When jenbizzle raised UTG and Gags30 responded with an all-in reraise. Palenque88 came over the top with an all-in move, prompting jenbizzle to fold. Gags30 was at risk with A♣ J♦ , and palenque88 showed 8♣ 8♦ . The board delivered 7♣ 9♣ 6♦ 2♠ 3♠ , which allowed the eights to stand and sent Gags30 out in fourth place with $11,037.31.

Big finish!

Though Big Huni had continued to hold on to second place, palenque88 changed that with a huge double-up:

That resulted in these chip stacks:

Seat 1: palenque88 (2,605,035 in chips)
Seat 3: Big Huni (582,322 in chips)
Seat 4: jenbizzle (4,182,643 in chips)

On the very next hand, Big Huni started with an all-in raise, and jenbizzle and palenque88 both called. The flop came 10♠ 6♠ 6♦ , and jenbizzle bet. Palenque88 called to see the 8♥ on the turn. Jenbizzle bet all-in, and palenque88 called all-in.

jenbizzle: J♦ J♣
palenque88: 9♦ 9♠
Big Huni: K♦ J♥

The river delivered 6♣ , and jenbizzle had the best full house. Big Huni was gone in third place with $18,118.40, and palenque88 followed in second place with $31,284.17.

Ben “jenbizzle” Jones won the SCOOP title and $51,296.24. Congrats!

SCOOP – 42M: $215 NLHE 4-Max
Entrants: 1,474
Prize pool: $294,800.00
Places paid: 192

1. Ben “jenbizzle” Jones (UK) $51,296.24
2. palenque88 (Argentina) $31,284.17
3. Chris “Big Huni” Hunichen (Costa Rica) $18,118.40
4. Michael “Gags30” Gagliano (Canada) $11,037.31
5. P0CK€TF@CE$ (UK) $7,042.77

Jennifer Newell is a PokerStars freelance contributor.

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