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Home / Uncategorized / SCOOP 2014: Stroynowski draws to win in Event #5-H ($2,100 FL Badugi)

The second day of the SCOOP 2013 schedule sandwiched a nice set of Badugi tournaments between two large No Limit Hold’em events. The high-priced version had players dropping $2,100 for a chance at the title and the top prize of $38,500 in the popular four-card draw game.

The field size was never going to blow away the numbers seen in similarly priced NLH tournaments, requiring just 25 players to make the $50,000 guarantee, but those who bought in created an all-star event. There were very few soft spots among the 55 players putting up the buy-in as there were former SCOOP, WCOOP, and WSOP champions all around.

The limit betting and 50 big bet starting stacks meant slow action during the opening parts of the tournament. A player has to run pretty bad to be knocked out early and 2012 SCOOP Highroller Heads-Up champion Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky was that guy. The high-stakes monster was down early and went out shortly after the first break at the hands of 2012 WCOOP HORSE champion Marco “NoraFlum” Johnson.

The smaller field also meant making the final table was just another step towards the money as only seven of those eight players would be paid. As you would expect, the quality of play was high as the field shrank but several top names came up short including nosebleed grinder Phil “MrSweets28” Galfond, former WCOOP/SCCOP/Sunday Millions winner Andrey “Kroko-dill” Zaichenko, and Team PokerStars Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier.

The final table was put together with the elimination of H1TMANSH in 10th place but there was still some work to be done. Paul “paulgees81” Volpe had a chance to make history as the defending champion in this event and Stroynowski was looking to improve on a 3rd place finish in the same tournament.

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Final Table chip counts:

Seat 1: OPTIMUS9RIME (44,380 in chips)
Seat 2: Colisea (87,057 in chips)
Seat 3: NoraFlum (22,253 in chips)
Seat 4: paulgees81 (17,685 in chips)
Seat 5: Mati312 (32,780 in chips)
Seat 6: Stroynowski (54,845 in chips)
Seat 7: ekziter (8,685 in chips)
Seat 8: chopi7 (7,315 in chips)

Limits: 700/1,400

chopi7 makes final table, bubbles in 8th

chopi7 came to the final table with the smallest stack and longest road to the title. The Russian was able to survive a few orbits but took a shot in a three-way pot against Colisea and PokerStars Team Online Matthias “Mati312” Brander. chopi7 was all-in early and was against two opponents drawing one each time.

chopi7 kept drawing but three-card 6♥ 4♣ 2♦ could not survive Colisea’s three-card 5♦ 4â™  2♣ to go out in 8th place and leave the remaining seven in the money. A rough end after playing more than seven hours with nothing to show for it.

ekziter gambles, eliminated in 7th

Paul “paulgees81” Volpe is a well-rounded player with huge results both online and live but a repeat in this tournament wasn’t meant to be. He began with a workable stack at the final table but soon found himself with just 185 in front after a big hand against Colisea. Volpe ducked a few hands and moved up a spot on the payout ladder when ekziter went for a double.

ekziter, with a Super Tuesday win to his credit, slid to another final table but was sporting the second shortest stack. ekziter raised under the gun and called all-in after NoraFlum raised it up, Mati312 came along for the ride and discarded one while ekziter stood pat and NoraFlum drew two.

It was the same action on the second draw before Mati312 and NoraFlum put three big bets in the middle. Either that betting sequence scared ekziter or it was some fifth level thinking because the Belarus grinder changed from standing pat to drawing three. Mati312 stood pat with a Badugi 7♠ 3♣ 2♥ A♦ that was good enough to produce mucks from the others to send ekziter out of the big tournament in 7th place for $4,950.

Volpe can’t defend, eliminated in 6th

Volpe did well to move up a spot but those 185 chips didn’t last long and were in the middle from the big blind while NoraFlum and Stroynowski capped the betting before the first draw. NoraFlum and Volpe both discarded one card on each draw while Stroynowski stood pat all three times.

Stroynowski was dealt a Badugi Qâ™  10♣ 9♥ 6♦ which was good enough to beat whatever the other two players were able to draw and the defending champion Paul “paulgees81” Volpe was sent out in 6th place for $6,050.

Mati312 hits a Badugi, eliminated in 5th

PokerStars Team Online’s Matthias “Mati312” Brandner had a great chance to win his first major on the site but ran into a big problem at the hands of OPTIMUS9RIME. It began when the Transformer fan opened under the gun, Colisea bumped it with a third bet, and Brandner capped the betting.

Each player discarded one before Colisea and OPTIMUS9RIME had Brandner all-in after the first draw. OPTIMUS9RIME and Brandner seemed to have hit their hands and stood pat the rest of the way while Colisea drew one each time. Brandner had a chance for the treble showing a Badugi J♠ 7♦ 6♥ 3♣ and looked good until OPTIMUS9RIME tabled the nearly unbeatable 5♣ 3♦ 2♠ A♥ to win the hand. Brandner picked up a nice payday but was gone in 5th place for $8,250.

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Matthias “Mati312” Brandner

NoraFlum flummoxed, eliminated in 4th

The quality of play and structure conspired to slow down the action whle the four remaining players went nearly an hour without an elimination. Colisea and Stroynowski spent that time gradually moving up while OPTIMUS9RIME and Marco “NoraFlum” Johnson were swapping stacks.

It took two hands but Colisea finally broke through to three-handed play. The penultimate hand for Johnson saw him losing a 25k pot to Colisea’s 8-high Badugi and was left with just 206. The non-typo stack was all-in from the small blind on the next hand with Colisea and Stroynowski coming along.

Johnson and Stroynowski each discarded two and Colisea followed up by drawing just one. Stroynowski called a bet and discarded another two while Colisea stood pat. Stroynowski let his hand go after Colisea bet out and there were just two remaining in the hand.

Both players stood pat on the third draw with Colisea showing a Badugi 8â™  4♥ 2♦ A♣ which was good enough to beat Johnson’s 10♣ 9♥ 6♦ 3â™  . Johnson had a good chance to add a SCOOP title to his 2012 WCOOP championship but came up short in 4th place for $11,000.

OPTIMUS9RIME not a bot, eliminated in 3rd

The tournament continued to play at a leisurely pace with little pressure from the blinds and limits. The three remaining players pushed chips around the table with each taking their turn atop the leaderboard but things changed after OPTIMUS9RIME lost a big pot again Colisea.

Just one hand later and OPTIMUS9RIME was looking for help after another hour of play. The Austrian raised it up and Stroynowski called in the big blind. They both drew two cards and OPTIMUS9RIME called a bet before Stroynowski discarded one. OPTIMUS9RIME drew two more cards and then raised all-in after Stroynowski bet out.

Stroynowski was happy with his hand and stood pat on the third draw while OPTIMUS9RIME discarded one last card. OPTIMUS9RIME was only able to make a three-card 7♥ 2♣ A♠ while Stroynowski drew well to a Badugi 10♣ 9♥ 3♠ A♦ . OPTIMUS9RIME finished 4th last year in SCOOP Event #25-H and improved to a 3rd place finish here for $16,500.

Stroynowski draws well to win Event #5-H

Seat 2: Colisea (152,616 in chips)
Seat 6: Stroynowski (122,384 in chips)

Heads-up play began with the opponents holding relatively similar stacks but Stroynowski took a quick lead by grabbing the majority of the big pots over the first 30 minutes. Colisea did well to battle back after getting down to 30k several times. The two went on break and it didn’t last long with only 10 hands played after the returned.

Colisea was sitting on more than 60k but lost half of that in one hand and then took a gamble with the rest. He opened from the button and Stroynowski called before they both drew two cards. Stroynowski took the lead with a bet and Colisea simply called before drawing two cards versus Stroynowski’s one.

Colisea saw enough to get the rest of his chips all-in after Stroynowski opened and they both drew one final card. Stroynowski’s final card was enough to send him to the title when he showed a Badugi 8♣ 6♦ 4♥ 2â™  which bested the three-card 7♥ 6♣ 4♦ of Colisea to send him out in 2nd for $24,750.

Stroynowski finished 3rd in this same event in 2013 so he didn’t have much room for improvement. The Polish grinder played a patient game and picked up big pots in key situations. Hitting nice draws along the way also didn’t hurt as Stroynowski became the latest SCOOP champion for $38,500.

SCOOP-05-H: $2,100 FL Badugi
Entrants: 55
Prize pool: $110,000
Places paid: 7

1. Stroynowski (Poland) $38,500
2. Colisea (Poland) $24,750
3. OPTIMUS9RIME (Austria) $16,500
4. Marco “NoraFlum” Johnson (Mexico) $11,000
5. Mati312 (Austria) $8,250
6. Paul “paulgees81” Volpe (Canada) $6,050
7. ekziter (Belarus) $4,950

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