People are hard-wired to look for patterns. Sometimes, though, there really isn’t one when it looks like there is. Just ask Argentina’s tinchoarce, who made a SCOOP final table 2014 and again 2015 without winning a title. After becoming one of the first finalists of SCOOP 2016 in Event #02-M and cashing seven more times during the series without returning to a final, some might have said there was a “one SCOOP final per year, no champion’s watch” pattern developing. Not so much, it turns out. A quick run through the first 5800+ players in Event #55-M – and surviving a close call during heads-up play – allowed tinchoarce to close out SCOOP 2016 with a victory.
The Medium version of the last event on this year’s SCOOP schedule was a $109 no-limit hold’em tournament with ultra-deep stacks and a progressive super-knockout payscale. And to keep things from spilling over into Monday, the turbo structure made every blind level five minutes long. That attracted 5,838 players, the top 765 of whom shared in half of the prize pool. The other $291,900 went to bounties, starting at $25 and progressing upward for the rest of the tournament.
The tournament started at 5pm ET and only took five hours and 17 minutes to reach this final table:
Seat 1: grbalazs (25,763,700 in chips)
Seat 2: Zoukki (19,765,438 in chips)
Seat 3: ZAR84 (51,584,704 in chips)
Seat 4: tinchoarce (85,706,659 in chips)
Seat 5: Dzmitry “Colisea” Urbanovich (29,949,357 in chips)
Seat 6: Nacho “PokerLoans1” Barbero (20,868,440 in chips)
Seat 7: mackkim (32,488,113 in chips)
Seat 8: Trem-FCK-Ftp (17,876,196 in chips)
Seat 9: dankol2 (7,897,393 in chips)
It was never going to be a long stay for anybody with the blinds going up every five minutes, but Zoukki’s stay would be the shortest. The FInnish player’s second final table of SCOOP 2016 (after Event #15-M) ended on the first hand after calling all-in with A♣ J♣ . Hungary’s grbalazs had moved in from the hijack seat with Q♦ 10♦ and paired on the flop of the Q♣ 5â™ 8♣ 8♦ 7♣ board to take the 44M-chip pot, ending Zoukki’s day in 9th place ($2,335.20 + $1,860.50 in bounties).
Dzmitry “Colisea” Urbanovich entered the final day of SCOOP 2016 in ninth place on the Player of the Series leaderboard. A finalist in three events already, his quest for a champion’s watch to round it all off would be denied. Sitting on the button with K♥ Q♣ , he effectively moved all-in over the top of tinchoarce’s opening raise, leaving less than a small blind behind. tinchoarce called with Aâ™ 6♦ , neither player improved on the 4♦ 10â™ 9♥ 5♦ 7♦ board, and Colisea’s tournament ended in 8th place ($3,648.75 + $4,121.79 in bounties).
That gave tinchoarce 149M chips and all the initiative against dankol2 survived a desperate all-in against the three players hovering between 43M and 49M. dankol2 was in there, too, hanging on by a thread with 2M chips – less than a big blind now at 1.6M/3.2M/400K blinds and antes. Even doubling up twice left the player from Ukraine in desperate straits, and after a shove with K♥ 6♣ was met by tinchoarce’s call with K♣ 10â™ , the board came 7♥ K♦ 4♥ 3♥ 2♣ to eliminate dankol2 in 5th place ($12,405.75 + $1,726.72 in bounties).
tinchoarce stayed the course on the next hand, calling on the button with K♠J♠after MicroMillions 6 Main Event finalist ZAR84 moved in for 21M with 7♥ 5♥ under the gun. Making three kings on the K♣ 2♣ 9♣ 4♥ K♦ board won the pot for tinchoarce, and ZAR84 left in 4th place ($16,492.35 + $1,454.26 in bounties).
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Three hands later grbalazs picked up 7♣ 7♥ and moved all-in from the big blind after tinchoarce had raised on the button. tinchoarce called with 10♣ 10♠, made an unnecessary set on the river of the 4♥ 6♦ Q♥ 9♣ 10♦ board, and eliminated grbalazs in 3rd place ($24,081.75 + $2,876.29 in bounties).
In just 17 minutes, tinchoarce had claimed bounties on six players to reach heads-up play with 226M chips. mackkim had doubled through tinchoarce once during that time, with Q♣ J♠against 7♣ 7♠, to avoid the fate that the others had met. Over the next 19 minutes mackkim would not only dodge elimination, but put tinchoarce on the brink of it more than once.
After catching a deuce on the river to survive with Kâ™ 2♦ against tinchoarce’s A♥ 9â™ , mackkim would play defense long enough to pick up A♣ Q♣ and double up again, this time to 155M, after getting all-in against tinchoarce’s Q♦ 6♦ . Then tinchoarce reclaimed a slim lead and three-bet all-in with Aâ™ Q♥ over mackkim’s button opener with K♣ J♣ . It was the river that delivered once again, with the 7♦ 8♣ 10â™ 4♥ Kâ™ board making a pair of jacks to put mackkim in what looked an insurmountable position.
Holding 274M chips to tinchoarce’s 17M, mackkim would now feel the other side of variance, losing four potentially decisive pots in a row with tinchoarce up against the ropes. The Argentinian player finally reclaimed the lead in a limped pot when the same 8♥ turn card that made a flush for 10♥ 3♥ made a straight for mackkim’s 5♥ 2â™ . mackkim managed one more double-up with J♣ J♦ a few hands later, but calling all-in on the final hand with K♦ 2â™ left the player from Canada dominated by tinchoarce’s Kâ™ Jâ™ . The board fell 7♣ 8â™ K♥ A♥ 6♥ and tinchoarce claimed the win.
Finishing in second place was worth $34,006.35 for mackkim, who took down another $2,636.67 in bounties. And the ninth cash of SCOOP 2016 was the charm for tinchoarce, paying off with a first career COOP title and $45,665.40 plus another $12,957.03 in bounties, including seven of the eight bounties available at the final table. Congratulations on wrapping up this series in style!
SCOOP-55-M ($109 NL Hold’em Wrap-Up, Turbo, Ultra-Deep, Progressive Super KO) results
Entrants:Â 5,838
Total prize pool:Â $583,800 ($291,900 regular prize pool, $291,900 bounty prize pool)
Places paid:Â 765
1. tinchoarce (Argentina) $45,665.40 + $12,957.03 in bounties
2. mackkim (Canada) $34,006.35 + $2,636.67 in bounties
3. grbalazs (Hungary) $24,081.75 + $2,876.29 in bounties
4. ZAR84 (Germany) $16,492.35 + $1,454.26 in bounties
5. dankol2 (Ukraine) $12,405.75 + $1,726.72 in bounties
6. Trem-FCK-Ftp (Czech Republic) $9,486.75 + $2,566.93 in bounties
7. Nacho “PokerLoans1” Barbero (Argentina) $6,567.75 + $1,961.87 in bounties
8. Dzmitry “Colisea” Urbanovich (Poland) $3,648.75 + $4,121.79 in bounties
9. Zoukki (Finland) $2,335.20 + $1,860.50 in bounties
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