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Home / Uncategorized / SCOOP 2014: xxxSIBxxx sits back, then surges to win Event #21-L, $27 NLHE (Turbo, Zoom)

SCOOP offers PokerStars players the chance to make a lot of money in a very short amount of time. And for those who play in the low-tier tournaments, the sums on offer are many times equal to or, in some cases, far greater than many of the players have accumulated in years of playing small games. Taking down a SCOOP title can be a game-changer for a low-tier champion – and doing so in a Zoom Poker tournament can change that game so quickly that the winner might take a while to adjust to the new reality.

Such was the case in today’s Event #21-L, a $27 No-Limit Hold’em turbo tournament played in Zoom format that started at 5:00 p.m. ET. There were no re-buys but registration stayed open for 90 minutes, allowing a full field of 11,604 players to show up and build a $284,878.20 prize pool. The top 1,530 finishers cashed, with $39,634.22 scheduled for the winner – a sum only slightly greater than the total career earnings of eventual champion xxxSIBxxx.

The blinds and antes had progressed to 200K/400K//50K at 9:29 p.m. ET when the Zoom portion of the tournament ended and these nine players sat down to one last table together:

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Seat 1: dymoff (2,414,524 in chips)
Seat 2: klop0007 (3,272,798 in chips)
Seat 3: ParamoshaSPB (3,281,318 in chips)
Seat 4: Portica_Deh (7,842,152 in chips)
Seat 5: xxxSIBxxx (4,516,686 in chips)
Seat 6: 1KaTiLi (1,742,732 in chips)
Seat 7: magularo (22,246,167 in chips)
Seat 8: luke1403 (10,013,552 in chips)
Seat 9: shtrupy (2,690,071 in chips)

With no re-buys and five-minute levels throughout the tournament, it was no surprise that the entire final table lineup was relatively short-stacked. The chip leader, Austria’s magularo, had 55 big blinds but was by far the outlier. Nobody else had more than 25 big blinds to work with, so action was a guarantee.

Swings, misses, and outrageous fortune

The first five pots were won without a showdown but Hand #6 got the confrontations going. ParamoshaSPB opened with a minimum raise to 1M in middile position with 9♦ 7♦ and called a button re-raise to 1.65M by magularo. That left ParamoshaSPB with 1.1M, all of which went in the middle on the 5♥ 6♥ 6♠ flop. magularo called and was ahead with A♥ J♣ , but the pot went to ParamoshaSPB after the turn and river came 3♠ 9♠ .

Russia’s dymoff was the next shorty to double through the leader on Hand #9, getting in ahead of magularo’s A♥ 10â™  with 7♣ 7♥ and also drawing a call from ParamoshaSPB. The latter folded on the Q♦ Aâ™  4♦ flop, leaving dymoff in need of one of two outs in the deck – and after the blank Qâ™  on the turn, the 7♦ delivered the 5.38M-chip pot to the Russian.

Three hands later Albanian player 1KaTiLi, the shortest stack coming into the final, was down to 296K and called it off under the gun. The rest of the table folded, Brazil’s Portica_Deh called in the small blind, and xxxSIBxxx checked the option in the big blind. The latter two checked down the K♥ 4♣ 10♦ 3â™  3♣ board and xxxSIBxxx showed A♥ 8â™  for a pair of treys with A-K-T. Nobody else could beat that, giving xxxSIBxxx a much-needed boost to 4.73M and eliminating 1KaTiLi in 9th place ($1,794.73).

Another three hands passed before Romania’s shtrupy was in the big blind for 600K with 415K left behind. Those chips went in the middle backing 9♦ 8â™  after ParamoshaSPB raised in middle position with Aâ™  Kâ™  . The Q♣ A♦ 2♣ 5â™  6♣ board never came close to helping the underdog and shtrupy left in 8th place ($2,848.78).

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klop0007 from Belarus was the next to survive an all-in moment against magularo, whose K♦ Jâ™  came up short against Qâ™  10â™  on a 10♥ 10♦ 9♥ Aâ™  7♣ board on Hand #22. Then xxxSIBxxx did the same after shoving for 2.43M with A♦ 10♥ and running into magularo’s Aâ™  J♣ , thanks to a friendly river on a J♥ 2♥ 3♥ K♣ 9♥ board. That not only doubled xxxSIBxxx to 6.36M, it also dropped magularo into second place for the first time since the final table began.

The new boss

The new leader, ParamoshaSPB, had better luck initially against the short stacks. The Russian player had the good fortune to be dealt A♦ A♥ in the big blind on the same hand that saw dymoff move all-in on the button for 5.18M with A♣ 6♣ . The rockets were never in trouble on the 9♣ 2♥ 8♠ 9♠ J♦ board and dymoff exited in 7th place ($5,697.56).

But klop0007 kept that luck from becoming a trend on the next hand, moving in with J♦ 9â™  and outrunning ParamoshaSPB’s A♣ 7♥ on an A♦ Jâ™  9♥ 8â™  Q♦ board. Three hands after that, with the blinds and antes up to 600K/1.2M/150K, ParamoshaSPB pressed the advantage at an inopportune moment, opening for 5.1M with 9♦ 7â™  and getting a call for slightly less from Portica_Deh with A♦ J♣ . Both players paired on the 7♦ K♦ J♥ 8â™  8♥ board but Portica_Deh’s jacks took the 12.3M-chip pot, moving ParamoshaSPB out of the lead and into third place.

Six hands later it was klop0007 who became the new chip leader with some help from the board. Holding Qâ™  Q♥ , the Belarussian player opened with an all-in bet of 8.7M under the gun and was called only by Canada’s luke1403, who held Aâ™  A♥ and had 1.1M chips less than the bet. Neither player had diamonds in hand so the K♦ 4♦ 7♦ flop wasn’t a threat, but the Q♦ on the turn gave klop0007 the lead. Any diamond would have split the pot, and the A♣ would have won it for luke1403, but the K♥ came instead and luke1403 left in 6th place ($8,546.34).

Five players, five minutes

With five players left and the blinds about to go up to 700K/1.4M/175K, the chips were distributed like so:

Seat 2: klop0007 (17,817,799 in chips)
Seat 3: ParamoshaSPB (8,626,507 in chips)
Seat 4: Portica_Deh (9,694,304 in chips)
Seat 5: xxxSIBxxx (5,943,836 in chips)
Seat 7: magularo (15,937,554 in chips)

There was talk of a deal but magularo stayed silent, nixing that possibility. The Austrian instead chose to go on the attack, and that led directly to the next confrontation. Holding A♦ 5♠ , magularo opened the hand all-in for 13.7M on the button and was called by ParamoshaSPB with 6♣ 6♦ . The favorite stayed safe on the K♦ 3♦ 8♠ flop, but the A♥ was a dagger on the turn. In need of another six, ParamoshaSPB got the Q♥ instead and left in 5th place ($11,395.12).

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Now back in the lead, magularo took another stab at knocking out a short stack, calling with Qâ™  7♦ in the big blind after xxxSIBxxx moved in for 3.8M in the small blind. The Canadian’s A♣ K♥ hit the 8♥ K♦ 2â™  2♥ Aâ™  pretty hard, though, and xxxSIBxxx chipped up to 8.4M, just ahead of last-place Portica_Deh. Two hands later the Brazilian would call all-in from the big blind with 7â™  6♦ after a raise from xxxSIBxxx, only to run into A♦ A♥ . The 5♥ 3♥ K♣ flop did hold out some hope in the form of a gutshot straight draw, but the 10♥ turn and Aâ™  river were no help and Portica_Deh departed in 4th place ($14,243.91).

magularo got back to the aggressive gameplan and won five of the next seven pots without showdown, climbing to 27.1M chips. Meanwhile klop0007 had 21.2M and xxxSIBxxx was looking for a lifeline with 9.5M. But the balance of power shifted for good when magularo’s strategy resulted in another poorly timed confrontation:


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magularo was left with just 5.6M and managed to double that on the next hand, but two hands after that the Austrian ended up all-in from the small blind with K♥ 6♣ and called by klop0007’s J♦ J♣ . The board came 7♦ Q♦ 10♥ 4♦ 8♣ and magularo’s final table run ended in 3rd place ($19,941.47).

Game-changing time

The blinds and antes were now 1M/2M/250K and klop0007 had the advantage as heads-up play began:

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Seat 2: klop0007 (51,663,024 in chips)
Seat 5: xxxSIBxxx (6,356,976 in chips)

xxxSIBxxx’s first hand of heads-up was a must-win. Luckily for the Canadian player Q♣ 9â™  held up against klop0007’s J♥ 2â™  for a 13.7M-chip pot. Two hands later Aâ™  3♣ was good against klop0007’s K♣ 10♥ , and suddenly the difference between the two players’ stacks was just six big blinds. They agreed to look at numbers and it didn’t take long to hammer out an arrangement that left $3,000 and the champion’s watch on the table.

With the deal complete, xxxSIBxxx picked up A♥ 10♦ and moved in for 18.5M. klop0007 called with Q♦ 10♠ and lost out on a A♣ 2♠ 4♦ 5♥ 5♦ board, dropping to 20.2M. The two split the next eight pots evenly before klop0007 opened the betting with an all-raise, holding K♥ 10♣ . xxxSIBxxx called with Q♣ J♦ and was only behind until the flop came 2♥ Q♦ 4♣ . A king or running cards would have kept the match going, but the turn and river fell 3♣ 10♦ , bringing the tournament to its conclusion.

It was another runner-up finish in a PokerStars major tournament for klop0007, who finished second in Event #13 of MicroMillions 4. For having the lead at the time, klop0007’s share of the deal was worth $33,235.56 – 13 times larger than that MicroMillions cash and a new career best. As for xxxSIBxxx, the extra $3,000 on the table made for a total cash of $34,886.48. That’s more than 19 times as much as the Canadian’s previous best score and actually a few dollars more than xxxSIBxxx had earned in all previous tournaments at PokerStars, making this event the site of the latest SCOOP-Low success story.

SCOOP Event #21-L, $27 NLHE (Turbo, Zoom)
Entrants: 11,604
Prize pool: $284,878.20
Places paid: 1,530

1. xxxSIBxxx (Canada) $34,886.48*
2. klop0007 (Belarus) $33,235.56*
3. magularo (Austria) $19,941.47
4. Portica_Deh (Brazil) $14,243.91
5. ParamoshaSPB (Russia) $11,395.12
6. luke1403 (Canada) $8,546.34
7. dymoff (Russia) $5,697.56
8. shtrupy (Romania) $2,848.78
9. 1KaTiLi (Albania) $1,794.73
*denotes results of a heads-up deal

SCOOP 2014 isn’t yet halfway through. There’s still plenty of time to get in on the action. Have a look at the SCOOP schedule and find a tournament that fits your bankroll today!

Jason Kirk is a freelance contributor to PokerStars Blog.

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