Friday, 29th March 2024 09:13
Home / Uncategorized / SCOOP 2017: Mr. Badugi Matthias “Mati312” Brandner wins Badugi SCOOP ($1,050 FL Badugi)

Badugi is a twist on the game a lot of people played around their kitchen table with family members. A draw game but for a little more money than the nickel/dime games with grandma. The SCOOP high buy-in $2,100 Badugi event drew a small but talented field including Matthias “Mati312” Brandner who has been called Mr. Badugi by those who follow the game. With that nickname, it should come as no surprise that the Austrian locked up his second SCOOP title in this particular variant. Brandner eanred $22,900 for the win and he defeated Andrey “Gigaloff” Zhigalov heads-up for the title, another lowball specialist who picked up a Razz SCOOP title a few days ago.

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Matthias “Mati312” Brandner

Event #21-H drew 56 entries with 40 re-entry options exercised to nearly double the $50,000 guaranteed prize pool. The last 12 players earned some of the $96,000 prize pool and the money bubble rolled around late in the day. gregor7878 was one of 18 players in position for the legendary Triple COOP, already owning WCOOP and TCOOP titles, but lost this shot when he went out in 13th place as the bubble “boy”.

They hit the final table before reaching the end of Day 1 and dropped down to the last eight players when 2014 SCOOP $2,100 Badugi champ Stroynowski dropped out in ninth place late in the evening.

The last eight players joined as one and each had some past success including Mr. Badugi Brandner who earned the SCOOP 2016 $215 Badugi title. Brandner finished third in the WCOOP 2016 Badugi event and Abit9144 was there with him for a runner-up result.


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villepn owns a SCOOP 2010 Omaha/8 and WCOOP 2015 Razz Championship title, Mr.Scisso won the Super Tuesday less than a month ago, LOL_U_91 holds a Sunday Million from 2014 along with a WCOOP 2011 $216 6-Max victory, lulDocuments won a Sunday Grand earlier this year, and Zhigalov won his first SCOOP title last week in the medium Razz event.

And while Eric “thechips55” Wasserson doesn’t have a major online win, his big cash came in the live arena when he finished third last summer in the WSOP $50,000 Poker Players Championship for $545,000.

There were no scrubs.

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Seat 1: villepn (76,250 in chips)
Seat 2: Matthias “Mati312” Brandner (247,810 in chips)
Seat 3: Eric “thechips55” Wasserson (111,190 in chips)
Seat 4: Mr.Scisso (91,880 in chips)
Seat 5: Abit9144 (28,440 in chips)
Seat 6: LOL_U_91 (146,600 in chips)
Seat 7: lulDocuments (106,980 in chips)
Seat 8: Andrey “Gigaloff” Zhigalov (150,850 in chips)

Limits: 3,200/6,400

lulDocuments and Abit9144 out early

With the limit betting structure and deep stacks, early is all relative but they lost the first two players in the first hour of play.

lulDocuments called an open from Brandner, continued to draw cards, and fire bets until he was all in after the final draw. He had a great chance to double up but could not improve his 3-card Badugi 7♣ 6♦ 3♠ and Brandner caught a nice Badugi 6♠ 5♣ 2♦ A♥ to ship lulDocuments out in eighth place.

Abit9144 was the tiny stack at the start of the final table, laddered up with lulDocuments expulsion, and was all in after the second draw with a big draw. Zhigalov came along the entire way and drew one card each time to get there with a Badugi 6♦ 5♣ 4♥ 3♠ while Abit9144 was never able to get better than his 3-card 6♠ 3♦ A♣ to exit in seventh.

Mr.Scisso stands pat to sixth place

Mr.Scisso needed to make a move to improve his stack and began his comeback attempt by capping the bets with LOL_U_91 before the first draw. Both players stood pat, Mr.Scisso put the rest of his chips in play and took one card on the second draw.

LUL_U_91 stood pat the entire time and Mr.Scisso stood pat, from the button, on the last draw with a 3-card 9♦ 9♠ 5♦ A♣ . LOL_U_91 was dealt a Badugi J♣ 7♥ 5♠ 2♦ and it was good enough for the knockout.

villepn run down by Mr. Badugi

When you’re the next on the short stack and get dealt a Badugi, it’s usually a pretty good feeling. That’s what happened to double COOPer villepn two hands after Mr.Scisso hit the exit, they capped the betting before the first draw, and the chips went in before the second.

villepn stood pat on all three draws with J♦ 6♣ 4♥ 2♠ and Brandner drew one each time to make a better 10♦ 4♣ 3♠ 2♥ by the end.

Brandner keeps flexing his muscles

Wasserson and LOL_U_91 seemed to be the odd ones out as Brandner and Zhigalov began to separate themselves. Wasserson took a shot and both big stacks came along to put him at risk but also in line for a triple up.

Brandner and Zhigalov stood pat on the last two draws as Wasserson pulled two, one, and one. He tabled a 3-card 8♦ 3♠ A♣ while Brandner made a Badugi 9♠ 6♣ 5♥ 3♦ on the first draw to send Wasserson out.

A few hands later, LOL_U_91 had his entire stack in play before the first draw and Brandner was at the center once again. LOL_U_91 took two cards on the first draw and one on the two subsequent draws while Brandner stood pat on the last. Both players made a Badugi but Brandner’s 8â™  7♦ 6♥ 3♣ was a good deal better than LOL_U_91’s Q♦ 8♣ 5♥ 2â™  to get the tournament heads-up for the title.

Seat 2: Andrey “Gigaloff” Zhigalov (189,840 in chips)
Seat 7: Matthias “Mati312” Brandner (770,160 in chips)

Let’s make a deal

Brandner began heads-up play with a nice lead but Zhigalov evened things up in two big 96,000 chip pots. They paused the clock to discuss a deal and Brandner immediately asked for an extra $1,000 from Zhigalov. That proposal was shot down as Zhigalov wanted to lock up $21,000 with $21,900 to Brandner with $1,000 left behind for the winner. That would allow Zhigalov to earn more than Brandner if he won and they agreed to terms.

Matthias “Mati312” Brandner – $21,900
Andrey “Gigaloff” Zhigalov – $21,000
Left behind for winner – $1,000

Even after the deal, the two went back and forth for nearly 90 minutes with lead changes until Brandner took control.

Zhigalov was down to a very short stack and took a chance. He was all in after the second draw and both players continue to draw the entire way down. Neither made a Badugi but Zhigalov’s 3-card 7♦ 4♣ 2♥ did not do well against Brandner’s 3-card 4♥ 3♣ 2â™  to lock up the tournament, the Badugi player out dueling the Razz player for the SCOOP win.

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Andrey “Gigaloff” Zhigalov

SCOOP-21-H ($1,050 FL Badugi) results
Entrants: 96 (56 entries, 40 re-entries)
Total prize pool: $96,000
Places paid: 12

1. Matthias “Mati312” Brandner (Austria) $22,900 *
2. Andrey “Gigaloff” Zhigalov (Russia) $21,000 *
3. LOL_U_91 (Mexico) $13,440
4. Eric “thechips55” Wasserson (Canada) $9,120
5. villepn (Finland) $6,720
6. Mr.Scisso (Austria) $5,040
7. Abit9144 (Germany) $4,080
8. lulDocuments (Colombia) $3,120
* – Denotes heads-up deal with $1,000 set aside for winner


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