Event #25 gave big-bet players the best of both worlds– the familiarity of no-limit hold’em and the relentless, stomach-churning action of pot-limit Omaha. The half-and-half format enticed 1,606 players to the felt in the $215 buy-in “medium” edition, the prize pool topping out at $160,600.00. 216 places were paid with first place set to earn $26,346,43. Ten Red Spades were in the mix in this event including Joe Cada, ElkY, Marcin Horecki, Alex Kravchenk and George Danzer. Two finished in the money– Team Online’s Tyler “frosty012” Frost and Team Pro Martin Hruby (40th).

Blinds were up to 15,000/30,000 on the final table bubble and the game was pot-limit Omaha. Gonti89 opened for a min-raise to 60,000 from the cutoff, URMYLeNoR called on the button and mastervp888 called from the big blind. Mastervp888 led out for 97,500 on the 10♣ 7♦ 3♣ flop, gonti89 raised to 300,000 and URMYLeNoR repotted to 1,192,500. Mastervp888 folded and gonti89 called off his remaining 223,236. Gonti89 turned over A♣ 5♠ 6♣ J♥ for a gutshot straight draw and the nut flush draw while URMYLeNoR revealed 3♦ 7♠ 8♣ 10♦ for two pair. URMYLeNoR’s tens and sevens held up, the turn and river falling the Q♥ and the 2♦ to send gonti89 to the rail in tenth place.

Final table chip counts

Seat 1: *PeeeeZ* (710,466 in chips)
Seat 2: Skilled G (1,267,313 in chips)
Seat 3: lasselaa (812,865 in chips)
Seat 4: dok78 (711,330 in chips)
Seat 5: mastervp888 (680,563 in chips)
Seat 6: file68 (730,024 in chips)
Seat 7: URMYLeNoR (2,045,619 in chips)
Seat 8: imcastleman (535,058 in chips)
Seat 9: GRPPA (536,762 in chips)

dok78 eliminated in aces vs. aces battle

URMYLeNoR arrived at the final table with the chip lead, but lost it in short order. First, URMYLeNoR doubled up lasselaa in a no-limit hold’em hand, his A♦ Q♠ rivering a queen to snap off URMYLeNoR’s pocket jacks. On the next deal the action folded to URMYLeNoR in the small blind and he open-shoved for 915,000 with K♦ Q♣ . Imcastleman called with A♦ 9♦ in the big blind and survived the 10♠ 10♣ 6♣ 5♠ 7♦ board, leaving URMYLeNoR on only 262,000.

With the blinds up to 25,000/50,000 and the game back to PLO, Skilled G opened for 100,000 and dok78 three-bet to 375,000. Skilled G shoved and dok78 called, both players turning up quite similar hands.

Skilled G A♣ A♦ 2♥ 4♥
dok78 A♠ A♥ 2♦ J♦

Skilled G flopped a flush draw and filled it on the turn, the board running out K♥ Q♦ 7♥ 3♥ 6♠ to eliminate dok78 in ninth place ($1,606.00).

mastervp888 exits in eighth

A short time later, mastervp888 opened for a 3x raise to 150,000 and GRPPA called from the big blind. GRPPA checked the 10♦ 9♥ 4♣ fop, mastervp888 bet 325,000 and GRPPA moved all-in for 666,330. Mastervp888 called off his remaining 113,626 and turned up A♦ A♥ 6♣ 9♠ while GRPPA showed K♦ K♠ J♣ 8♠ . The 9♦ turn made mastervp888 trip nines but GRPPA rivered the Q♣ to make a king-high straight. Mastervp888 was eliminated in eighth place, earning $2,810.50 for his efforts.

imcastleman slays URMYLeNoR, lasselaa lanced in sixth

The game switched to no-limit hold’em and imcastleman took the chip lead with 2.27 million when his A♥ K♦ flopped an ace against lasselaa’s pocket queens. Imcastleman furthered his lead even more when URMYLeNoR open-shoved for 289,640 from the cutoff and he three-bet shoved on the button to isolate. Although URMYLeNoR’s pocket eights held up through the turn on the 6♣ 4♦ 3♦ 6♠ board, imcastleman’s A♠ Q♠ hit top pair when the Q♥ rivered, sending URMYLeNoR to the rail in seventh place ($4,416.50).

Two hands later, file68 3x raised to 180,000 from UTG and lasselaa shoved for 421,435 from the big blind. File68 called, his A♦ J♠ dominating lasselaa’s A♥ 2♠ . Lasselaa got no help on the board and was eliminated in sixth place, good for $6,022.50.

GRPPA falls to imcastleman

Imcastelman was up to 3.3 million when the action folded to him in the small blind. He open-shoved and GRPPA called all-in for 546,000 from the big blind with K♣ 9♦ . Unfortunately for GRPPA, imcastleman had the real deal with A♣ J♥ . GRPPA took the lead when he made a pair of kings on the K♠ 10♦ 2♦ flop but imcastleman rivered the Q♦ to make a Broadway straight. For fifth place GRPPA took home $7,628.50.

imcastleman storms past file68

The game switched back to PLO and *PeeeeZ* got a boost when his 5♥ 6♣ 7♣ Q♣ made a seven-high straight against imcastleman’s flopped top pair. However, imcastleman could not be slowed. Moments later he took out file68 in fourth place when he turned trip jacks vs. top two pair.

*PeeeeZ* schools Skilled G

As play turned three-handed, imcastleman led with 3.08 million, *PeeeeZ* was close behind with 2.78 million and Skilled G was the short stack with 2.17 million.

Skilled G doubled to 3.6 million after getting his stack in preflop vs. imcastleman. His A♠ 9♠ held up against Q♥ 8♥ and he took the chip lead with 3.64 million. However, five hands later, *PeeeeZ* doubled through Skilled G, when his Q♠ J♦ hit running cards to make a flush on the 10♦ K♠ A♦ 7♦ Q♦ board. Skilled G fell to 1.4 million and *PeeeeZ* doubled to 3.73 million.

A few orbits later *PeeeeZ* shoved from the small blind and Skilled G called all-in from the big. *PeeeeZ*’s A♣ 9♣ made aces and fives against Skilled G’s K♠ 4♦ , the board running out 8♣ 5♣ 3♥ 5♦ A♦ . Skilled G was eliminated in third place, taking home $14,454.00 for his run.

Heads-up chip counts

Seat 1: *PeeeeZ* (5,198,192 in chips)
Seat 8: imcastleman (2,831,808 in chips)

Imcastleman and *PeeeeZ* immediately decided to pause the action and discuss a potential deal. Final table host Tyler “frosty012” Frost provided them with chip chop figures that awarded *PeeeeZ8 $22,628.01 and imcastleman $20,990.42 while leaving $2,000 in play for the winner. Imcastleman said he would take $21,500.00 or play on and *PeeeeZ* chose the latter. Without a deal in place, cards went back in the air.

With the blinds up to 60,000/120,000, the game was PLO and imcastleman evened the chip counts when his 4♥ 4♠ 7♥ 9♠ made tens full of fours. *Peeeez* came back and ground his stack up to 5.25 million, then turned trip queens against imcastleman’s aces and jacks to move up to 6.1 million. Imcastleman sank to only 1.2 million before he doubled up, turning kings up against *PeeeeZ*’s pair of tens. A few hands later, imcastleman doubled again to 4.55 million with a king-high straight over aces and fours.

*PeeeeZ* slipped to 3.48 million but retook the chip lead when he got imcastleman to fold the turn on a Q♦ 6♠ 4♠ 10♦ board. The game switched back to NLHE and *PeeeeZ* soon doubled to 6.6 million. Holding A♠ 6♥ , *PeeeeZ* bet every street on the K♣ 7♠ 2♦ A♦ 6♣ board and shoved the river. Imcastleman called with J♣ 7♦ and fell to only 1.4 million in chips.

Imcastleman doubled to 2.8 million on the next hand when his A♣ 2♠ made a flush against K♥ 10♠ . However, eight hands later *PeeeeZ* closed out the win, his Q♠ 6♠ turning trips against imcastleman’s A♠ 4♣ .

Congratulations to *PeeeeZ*, Hungary’s first SCOOP watch winner of 2014! He banked $26,346.43 for the win, while runner-up imcastleman earned $19,272.00.

We’re more than halfway through SCOOP– don’t miss out on your chance for a life-changing score. Head over to the SCOOP page for a complete schedule and satellite information.

SCOOP 25-M: $109 Mixed NLHE/PLO
Entrants: 1,606
Prizepool: $160,600.00
Places paid 216

1. *PeeeeZ* (Hungary) $26,346.43
2. imcastleman (Canada) $19,272.00
3. Skilled G (Argentina) $14,454.00
4. file68 (Hungary) $10,760.00
5. GRPPA (Brazil) $7,628.50
6. lasselaa (Finland) $6,022.50
7. URMYLeNoR (Germany) $4,416.50
8. mastervp888 (Russia) $2,810.50
9. dok78 (Austria) $1,606.00

Kristin Bihr is a freelance contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

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