If you asked a group of big-name poker pros a few years ago where they saw the future of the game going, chances are that a lot of them would have said ‘PLO’. But while Pot Limit Omaha hasn’t quite overtaken NLHE as the world’s most popular variant, it’s certainly the preferred game of many poker players, regarded for the action it brings.

Well, PLO fans would have to wait until Event 10 of the Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) before they’d be able to get their first fix. The medium-tier tournament was a $109 6-Max tournament with rebuys, with $200,000 guaranteed in the prize pool. A total of 1,083 players bought their seats and there was no scared play to be seen – resulting in 1,596 rebuys, 879 add-ons, and some pretty large stacks in play.

When play ended on Day 1, after 28 levels and the blinds at 8,000/16,000, it was Canada’s ringosnuff who led the remaining field of 21 players with 1,425,326. No stranger to big SCOOP events, ringosnuff already has a SCOOP win under his belt after he took down a $2,100 NLHE event in 2013 for a whopping $358,920. Other notable names still in the field coming into Day 2 included live tournament beast Sam “tr1cky7” Trickett, two-time WCOOP champion Darreta – who won PLO 6-Max events in 2010 and 2012, another 2012 WCOOP champion in Steve “illini213” Barshak, and high-stakes online pro Liviu “0Human0” Ignat.

Sam “tr1cky7” TrickettRingosnuff remained chip leader for the majority of Day 2, and won a massive pot to knockout 0Human0 in 8th place. After opening to 120,000 from the button, 0Human0 three-bet to 390,000 out of the big blind, which was called. The flop fell 5♠ 10♦ ac] and 0Human0 continued for 461,700, only to be met by a shove for 1,819,401 from ringosnuff. With only 576,120 behind, 0Human0 made the call and the hands revealed A♥ 8♦ 7♠ 9♥ for ringosnuff and 6♠ Q♦ Q♠ J♦ for 0Human0. The 9♦ improved ringosnuff’s hand to two pair, but also gave 0Human0 an up and down straight flush draw. Any queen, king, eight or diamond would mean a double up, but it wasn’t to be and the talented pro was eliminated, sending the pot of more than 2,400,000 went ringosnuff’s way. Not long after that hand, tamiam122 exited in 7th place, and we had our final table.

Final table chip counts

Seat 1: Sam “tr1cky7” Trickett (United Kingdom) — 1,180,850
Seat 2: zaza38 (Finland) — 3,546,516
Seat 3: Darreta (Bulgaria) — 807,820
Seat 4: ringosnuff (Canada) — 3,277,221
Seat 5: Brandes01 (Germany) — 1,770,333
Seat 6: -#1Lottery- (Finland) — 1,759,260

Having just knocked out tamiam122, it was Finland’s zaza38 who came into the final six as chip leader. Not far behind was ringosnuff, whilst on the other end of the counts Sam “tr1cky7” Trickett and Darreta had to start making things happen.

Darreta eliminated in 6th ($10,674)

-#1Lottery- eliminated in 5th ($15,268.82)

The blinds were now 50,000/100,000 and Brandes01 limped on the button before -#1Lottery- bumped up the price of poker to 400,000. Sam Trickett got out of the way in the big blind, the limper called and it went heads up to the flop. The flop brought the 9♥ 7♠ 2♥ and -#1Lottery- wasted no time in leading out for a pot-size bet of 900,000. This time there was no calling from Brandes01 who moved all in, and -#1Lottery- called for his last 323,260 showing the J♠ Q♠ K♠ K♣ for a pair of kings and a back door flush draw and straight draw, whilst Brandes01 had 3♥ 5♥ 7♣ 4♦ for a pair of sevens and a flush draw. Well, that flush didn’t take too long to come in as the 6♥ dropped on the turn leaving -#1Lottery- drawing dead. An inconsequential J♥ landed on the river and there would be no winning ticket for -#1Lottery- this time around, just a great score of $15,268.82.

zaza38 eliminated in 4th place ($23,127)

The shortest stack left at the table belonged to Finland’s zaza38, and with the blinds now 80,000/160,000 the 1,278,657 he had left wouldn’t last too long. Zaza38 made it three-times the big blind, 480,000, out of the small, before chip leader ringosnuff moved all in and got a quick call. With the cards revealed it was 4♠ 6♣ 10♥ A♠ for zaza38 and 2♠ 9♠ A♣ A♦ for the table boss. It would take something special on the flop for the short stack to take the lead over the aces, but no help came – in fact, the aces were cancelled out for now by the 4♦ 9♣ 9♦ flop, giving ringosnuff trips. The 7♠ and 7♦ on the turn and river changed nothing and ringosnuff extended his chip lead, whilst zaza38 hit the rail in 4th place.

Sam “tr1cky7” Trickett eliminated in 3rd place ($33,801)

Sam Trickett had endured more ups and downs in this tournament than a roller coaster, but his ride eventually came to end after just two hands of three-handed play. He made it 480,000 to go from the small blind and ringosnuff called in the big blind. The first three community cards were 9♠ 5♦ 2♥ and with the pot at 960,000 and just 945,916 behind, Trickett shoved and ringosnuff made the call.

Sam “tr1cky7” Trickett: 9♦ 10♦ K♣ J♦
ringosnuff: 7♣ 4♦ 3♥ 10♣

Trickett was ahead with his pair of nines, but ringosnuff had an up and down straight draw. The 3♦ made Trickett’s hand even stronger after he picked up a flush draw, whilst ringosnuff paired his three. But despite being a 67.5% favourite on the turn, the 4♠ improved ringosnuff to two pair and the man who currently sits 6th on the all-time live tournament poker money list was out the door in 3rd.

Heads up play begins

Seat 4: ringosnuff (Canada) — 9,765,259
Seat 5: Brandes01 (Germany) — 2,986,743

When we got down to two, the chop discussions were short and sweet. “Deal?” asked Brandes01 in the chat. “No thanks” replied ringosnuff; the players wished each other good luck and we down to business. Brandes01 staged quite a comeback, at one point almost evening the stacks, but 16 hands later there only be one stack remaining.

Ringosnuff limped for 200,000 and Brandes01 made it 600,000 to see a flop, which was called. It would be a 7♣ J♦ 6♥ board, and the pre-flop raiser continued the aggression with a bet of 1,200,000, but instead of a call it was met with an all-in raise. Brandes01 called for the rest of his chips and the hands were unveiled:

Brandes01: 9♦ 10♠ Q♦ Q♠
ringosnuff: 9♥ 9♣ 8♠ J♣

The queens of Brandes01 were winning, but there were plenty of cards he’d have to dodge. The 6♣ turn was a safe card, but also created even more outs for ringosnuff. Ending the tournament was the 10♥ giving ringosnuff a straight, seven to jack. Brandes01 took home $44,475 for the 2nd place finish, whilst Canada’s ringosnuff took down his 2nd SCOOP title and a very nice $59,596. Congratulations!

SCOOP-10-M: $109+R PL OMAHA [6-MAX], $200K Gtd
Entrants: 1,083 (1,596 Re-buys, 879 Add-ons)
Prize Pool: $355,800
Places Paid: 144

1. ringosnuff (Canada) — $59,596
2. Brandes01 (Germany) — $44,475
3. Sam “tr1cky7” Trickett (United Kingdom) — $33,801
4. zaza38 (Finland) — $23,127
5. -#1Lottery- (Finland) — $15,263.82
6. Darreta (Bulgaria) — $10,674

For all your SCOOP needs, visit the SCOOP homepage. Check out the schedule for a list of remaining SCOOP events, satellite info, and find out who is in contention for player of the series.

Jack Stanton is a journalist and freelance contributor to PokerStars.

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