Despite cashing for millions of dollars and winning numerous live and online tournaments, seven years of SCOOPs went by without Mike Leah winning a title.
Now he has two.
The SCOOP watches will match nicely with Leah’s pair of WCOOP bracelets. It’s tempting to say that players didn’t stand a chance against such a formidable opponent, but nearly every player in Event #48-H knew what they were doing.
There was also enough poker-won jewelery at the final table to damage retinas a mile away. There were four SCOOP titles, five WCOOP titles and at least two WSOP bracelets scattered among the final eight.
Leah had to battle Team PokerStars Online Naoya Kihara, Stephen Chidwick, Gleb Kovtunov and Jens Lakemeier just to get heads-up with Luke Schwartz.
Schwartz and Leah played for nearly two hours. Both players were chasing their second SCOOP title of the year, but only one of them could take it.
This time it was Leah.
The final table
Seat 1: TheMuppet — 56,356
Seat 2: Mike “goleafsgoeh” Leah — 66,760
Seat 3: krakukra — 38,112
Seat 4: Gleb “psyhoagromor” Kovtunov — 74,072
Seat 5: Luke “lb6121” Schwartz — 122,005
Seat 6: Naoya “nkeyno” Kihara — 118,828
Seat 7: Jens “Fresh_oO_D” Lakemeier — 36,525
Seat 8: Stephen “stevie444” Chidwick — 137,342
TheMuppet lost the first hand at the final table and couldn’t recover.
That first hand gave Leah about half of TheMuppet’s stack and then players took turns taking chunks out of TheMuppet. Then Naoya “nkeyno” Kihara finished TheMuppet off.
Jens “Fresh_oO_D” Lakemeier brought it with a 2♣ and TheMuppet –who had about one big bet– raised with a 2♥ . Gleb “psyhoagromor” Kovtunov raised with a K♥ and Kihara called with a 4♦ . Lakemeier folded, TheMuppet moved all-in and both remaining players called.
Kihara bet again on fourth street and Kovtunov folded.
TheMuppet: (2♠9♠/2♥ 5♥ K♣ 9♦ /(A♣ )
Kihara: (10♣ 10♦ )/4♦ 2♦ 4♣ 4♠/(5♦ )
TheMuppet improved to two-pair, but Kihara hit a full house.
The hand extended Kihara’s lead to 178,420 while TheMuppet finished 8th. TheMuppet won $5,200 for the finish, which was also the first cash of the tournament.
krakukra double, dips and busts to Leah
krakukra was down to around three big bets and got most of them in against Leah on third street.
Leah bet on fourth street and krakukra raised all-in for a little bit more. Leah called.
Leah: (J♦ J♠)/K♦ 6♥ 3♦ Q♠/(6♣ )
krakukra: (10♣ 10♦ )/6♦ 3♦ 2♣ 4♦ /(Q♦ )
Leah’s jacks got a pair of sixes to join them, but krakukra hit a queen-high flush on the river. krakukra doubled up but then gave nearly all those chips back to Leah a few minutes later.
Lakemeier brought it in with a 2♥ and Stephen “stevie444” Chidwick raised with a Kâ™ . Leah called with a 7♦ and krakukra did the same with a Q♥ . Lakemeier folded and Chidwick checked his (X X)/Kâ™ Aâ™ on fourth street. Leah bet with (X X)/7♦ 6♦ and krakukra called with (X X)/Q♥ 6♣ . Chidwick folded and players went heads up.
Leah: (X X)/7♦ 6♦ 2♠4♥ /(X)
krakukra: (X X)/Q♥ 6♣ 10♦ J♠/(X)
Both players checked fifth street and krakukra bet on sixth. Leah raised and krakukra called. krakukra check-called a bet on the river but mucked when Leah showed 4♣ 4♠8♠for three of a kind.
Leah chipped up to about ten big bets while krakukra was left half a small bet. Then Leah took that too.
krakukra brought it all-in with a 2♥ and Kovtunov called with a J♣ . Leah raised with an A♦ and Kovtunov called.
Leah: (X X)/A♦ 5♦ 5♣ Q♠/(X)
krakukra: (X X)/2♥ 5♠A♣ 5♥ /(X)
Kovtunov: (X X)/J♣ 6♣ 10♦ 6♠/(X)
Leah bet every street and Kovtunov called all the way to the river. Then Leah showed A♥ 3♥ K♥ for aces and fives and the other players mucked. krakukra won $5,850 for finishing 7th while Leah chipped up to 119,992.
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Top to bottom for Kihara
Kihara had been near or at the lead throughout the final table, but his stack took a nosedive with six players left.
First, Kihara lost the lead.
Leah brought it in with a 2♠and Kovtunov raised with a Q♣ . Kihara called with a 4♦ and Lakemeier called with a 10♣ . Leah folded and Kihara bet when he got a 4♠on fourth street. Lakemeier called with a Q♥ and Kovtunov folded.
Kihara bet again on fifth street and then called bets on sixth and seventh street.
Lakemeier showed (J♥ 10♠/10♣ Q♥ 2♥ 10♥ /(9♦ ) for three tens and Kihara mucked his (X X)/4♦ 4♠9♦ J♦ /(X).
The hand put Kihara at about 12 big bets and then he dipped a bit more before losing another big pot to Luke “lb6121” Schwartz.
Schwartz brought it in with a 6♥ and Kihara raised with a Qâ™ . Kovtunov called with a Q♣ and Schwartz called as well. Kihara bet his K♣ on fourth street and Kovtunov –who got a 6♦ — folded. Schwartz called with a 5♥ and both players checked fifth street.
Kihara: (X X)/Q♠K♣ 10♥ 7♣ /(X)
Schwartz: (X X)/6♥ 5♥ A♥ 4♠/(X)
Schwartz check-raised on sixth street and Kihara called. Schwartz bet on the river and Kihara called and mucked after Schwartz showed 8♣ 8♥ J♥ for a flush.
Kihara was down to about two big bets and lost them to Lakemeier two hands later. Kihara and Lakemeier got it all-in on third street and tabled their hands.
Kihara: (4♥ 9♣ )/4♦ 3♥ 10♦ 2♣ /(A♣ )
Lakemeier: (7♣ 7♠)J♥ 6♦ J♠K♥ /(4♠)
Kihara’s pair of fours didn’t improve while Lakemeier hit jacks and sevens. Lakemeier chipped up to 144,925 while Kihara won $7,150.00 for finishing 6th.
Then Schwartz took out Chidwick in two big hands.
Chidwick brought it in with a 3♦ , Leah raised with a 7♦ and Lakemeier re-raised with a K♣ . Chidwick threw in another raise, Leah folded and Lakemeier called.
Chidwick: (X X)/3♦ A♠7♣ Q♥ /(X)
Lakemeier: (X X)/K♣ J♦ 10♦ 2♥ /(X)
Chidwick bet on fourth street and called a bet on fifth. Chidwick called again on sixth and then raised on the river. Lakemeier called and showed 10♣ 10♠Q♣  for three tens while Chidwick showed two-pair with 9♠9♣ A♦ .
Schwartz brought it in with a 4♦ two hands later and Lakemeier raised with a 5♥ . Chidwick re-raised with a J♦ and only Lakemeier called.
Chidwick got it all-in on the river with (10♥ Q♦ )/J♦ 9♥ A♥ 4♥ /(6♥ ). Chidwick had an Ace-high flush, but Lakemeier had a better Ace-high flush with (10♦ 10♣ )/5♥ K♦ 8♦ 2♦ /(A♦ ).
Lakemeier’s lead grew to 270,807 and Chidwick won $9,750.00 for finishing 5th.
Kuvtonov was the four-handed shortstack with just a handful of big bets. Kuvtonov doubled up a few times, but kept dipping in between each one.
Kuvtonov then tried to get another double up from Leah, but wouldn’t make it out intact. Kuvtonov got most of his stack in with (X X)/Qâ™ and Leah called with (X X)/A♣ .
Leah: (4♣ K♣ )/A♣ 2♣ 8♦ 8♠/(A♥ )
Kuvtonov: (Q♥ 3♥ )/Q♠7♠A♦ K♠/(9♦ )
The rest of the chips went in on fourth street and while Leah didn’t hit a flush, he got two-pair to best Kuvtonov’s queens.
Kuvtonov –who finished 6th in the medium version of this event– won $13,000.00 for his 4th place finish.
Losing Lakemeier
Lakemeier and Leah were a few big bets apart until Leah took a big pot off of Lakemeier.
Schwartz brought it in with a 2♦ , Lakemeier raised with an 8♥ and Leah re-raised with a J♥ . Schwartz folded and Lakemeier called.
Leah: (A♥ Q♥ )/J♥ A♣ 3♥ 10♦ /(2♣ )
Lakemeier: (K♠A♥ )/8♥ 6♣ 5♠4♣ /(4♠)
Leah bet on fourth and fifth street and called a bet on sixth. Lakemeier bet again on the river but his rivered pair of fours wasn’t enough to beat Leah’s aces. Lakemeier dropped to about six big bets.
Lakemeier hung on for a few more hands but then Schwartz finished him off. Schwartz brought it in with an 8♦ and Lakemeier raised with a J♣ . Both Leah and Schwartz called and Schwartz bet on fourth. Lakemeier raised and Leah folded.
Sixth and seventh street didn’t improve either player’s hand and Lakemeier hit the rail. Lakemeier won $19,500.00 for finishing 3rd and the tournament went heads up.
Heads up
Luke “lb6121” Schwartz — 481,229
Mike “goleafsgoeh” Leah — 168,771
Both players were fighting for their second SCOOP of the year.
Players battled for more than an hour and while Schwartz held on to the lead for most of that time, Leah took it over a few times. Very few hands made it to a showdown and play dragged on to the point where players started thinking about other tournaments.
“is there anything we are close to missing,” Schwartz said. “tourneys i mean”
Leah said there was the $109 multiday but nothing else until the break. Â Schwartz’s internet even got tired after a while and play stalled for a bit while Schwartz restarted his router.
At one point Schwartz had a 7-to-1 lead, but Leah scored a pair of double ups.
On the second, Schwartz brought it in with a 4♠and Leah raised with an A♥ . Players bet and called all the way to sixth street and then Leah moved all-in with (3♦ Q♠)/A♥ Q♥ 3♠J♦ . Schwartz called with (6♠2♠)/4♠2♦ 6♥ Q♣ .
Schwartz hit a 10â™ on the river while Leah got a K♣ . Leah doubled to 235,484 while Schwartz’s lead shrunk to 414,516.
Schwartz brought it in with a 3♥ and Leah raised while showing an 8♠. Schwartz re-raised and Leah called.
Leah: (8♦ 3♣ )/8♠2♣ 8♣ 10♦ /(4♣ )
Schwartz: (J♥ J♦ )/3♥ Q♣ 8♥ Q♥ /(A♠)
There was a bet and a call on every street and Leah took down the 220,800 chip pot with three 8s.
The hand put Leah up to 589,084 while Schwartz was left with just 60,916.
Then Schwartz lost those chips five hands later.
Action was capped on third street and then Schwartz got his remaining 4,516 in on fourth.
Leah: (Q♦ 5♦ )/7♦ 7♠A♦ 9♦ /(3♥ )
Schwartz: (4♥ 7♥ )/9♥ 10♦ 9♣ K♥ /(2♦ )
Schwartz won $27,300.00 for the runner-up finish while Leah won $42,250.00 and his second SCOOP title of the year.
SCOOP-48-H ($2,100 Stud) results
Entrants: 65
Total prize pool: $130,000.00
Places paid: 8
1. Mike “goleafsgoeh” Leah (Canada) $42,250.00
2. Luke “lb6121” Schwartz (United Kingdom) $27,300.00
3. Jens “Fresh_oO_D” Lakemeier (Germany) $19,500.00
4. Gleb “psyhoagromor” Kovtunov (Ukraine) $13,000.00
5. Stephen “stevie444” Chidwick (Mexico) $9,750.00
6. Naoya “nkeyno” Kihara (Japan) $7,150.00
7. krakukra (Russia) $5,850.00
8. TheMuppet (United Kingdom) $5,200.00
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