Thursday, 28th March 2024 09:17
Home / Uncategorized / SCOOP 2017: At second final, mikki696 earns first win in Event #42-H ($530 NLO, 8-Max, Win The Button)

mikki696 got this year’s SCOOP series off to a great start, sharing in a four-way deal at the end of Event #5-H ($2,100 PLO) last week. Now, as the series prepares to enter its final weekend, another Omaha tournament has given the Austrian player a first career COOP title.

Seven cashes after making the deal that netted all four players in that first tournament a six-figure score, mikki696 managed to survive the first day of Event #42-H, a No-Limit Omaha in a Win The Button tourney, with a middle-of-the-pack stack. Things only improved as Day 2 progressed and mikki696 piled up more chips, culminating with a bubble knockout of former November Niner Jason “PBJaxx” Senti. The owner of the second-largest stack as the final table began, mikki696 withstood multiple downswings over three and a half hours of poker – most of it at a short-handed table – to walk away with the title.

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Seat 1: Connor “blanconegro” Drinan (512,156 in chips)
Seat 2: Venividi1993 (399,442 in chips)
Seat 3: Sick Pastorr (999,720 in chips)
Seat 4: Mike “SirWatts” Watson (238,025 in chips)
Seat 5: Shtopol’ (235,327 in chips)
Seat 6: flong78 (293,148 in chips)
Seat 7: mikki696 (764,727 in chips)
Seat 8: aDrENalin710 (587,455 in chips)

The fifth hand provided a preview of the head-whipping action that was in store. TCOOP 2016 6-max PLO winner Shtopol’ limped in early position and WCOOP 2016 NLO8 champ Connor “blanconegro” Drinan called, seeing a flop with TCOOP 2016 Ultra-Deep NLHE winner Sick Pastorr, who checked in the big blind. Sick Pastorr check-folded after Shtopol’ bet 35,675 chips on the 7♦ 6â™  A♣ flop and blanconegro called. He called again, showing 7♥ 7â™  4â™  4♦ for a flopped set of sevens when Shtopol’ jammed for 150,052 on the Kâ™  turn. Shtopol’ had Q♣ J♥ 9â™  8♥ and needed a ten to stay alive – and the 10♣ river fit the bill.

blanconegro was left with 380,096 chips after that. He didn’t lose any ground over the next half-hour but essentially held even, picking up two big blinds before stealing the blinds to win the button and then being dealt Q♣ Jâ™  10♥ 8♥ . Event #18-H champion flong78 limped in but folded after blanconegro opened the betting all-in for 399,036 and Sick Pastorr called with Aâ™  A♥ 6♥ 5♣ in the big blind. blanconegro’s hand stayed live with outs to two pair after the 5â™  2♣ 8â™  flop but missed the K♦ turn and 3♣ river, busting him in eighth.

Another big starting hand earned Sick Pastorr the next knockout nine minutes later. The player from Poland opened for 25,000 chips under the gun and was the only caller when Venividi1993 jammed for 291,715 in the big blind with A♦ Q♣ 7♦ 2♣ . Two of Sick Pastorr’s hole cards blocked potential pairs for Venividi1993, and the other two made pairs of their own on the 10â™  J♥ 9♥ flop. Nothing changed on the 7♥ turn or 9♦ flop, and Venividi1993 was victus in seventh.


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mikki696’s involvement had been relatively limited so far, but shrinking the table by two players seemed to give the Austrian a boost. mikki696 took two of the last three pots before the 8:55 p.m. ET break, then came back and won the button twice after the break as well. That set up the hand where mikki696 limped on the button to see a Qâ™  9♦ 2♦ flop with six-time COOP winner aDrENalin710 in the small blind and Sick Pastorr in the big. aDrENalin710 had flopped middle set with J♣ 9♥ 9â™  5â™  and check-raised mikki696 to 88,360 before calling all-in for another 380,534 after mikki696 re-raised all-in. Sick Pastorr got out of the way, leaving mikki696’s A♦ 8♦ 8♥ 2♥ the underdog with just 27.7-percent equity, but the 7♦ river, sinking aDrENalin710 in sixth.

The five-handed table became The Sick Pastorr Show. The Polish player won the button on the first hand after aDrENalin710’s departure and used that advantage to steal the blinds on the next hand – and then repeated that 15 more times in the 19 hands that followed. PCA 2016 Main Event winner and three-time COOP winner Mike “SirWatts” Watson broke that streak up, then became one of two short stacks (the other being Shtopol’) to double up in the next three hands. Two hands later Watts opened all-in for 360,930 chips, holding Q♦ Q♥ 7â™  4♥ , and mikki696 called with A♦ A♣ 8â™  7♣ . The best hope for SirWatts was to have some hearts show up on the board, but nothing remotely helpful came along and he left the tournament in fifth.

flong78’s quest for a second SCOOP 2017 title was in desperation mode at this point. The player from the U.K. managed to turn 10 big blinds into 20 three hands after SirWatts’s departure, calling all-in with J♣ 10♥ 8♥ 6♣ in the big blind and catching a jack on the turn to beat Shtopol”s pair of treys with 10â™  7â™  3♥ 3♦ . The two split another pot when both had pocket aces six hands after that, and then clashed one final time in the blinds. Sick Pastorr open-folded on the button, Shtopol’ shoved for 225,512 in the small blind with 6♥ 6â™  5♦ 3♦ ., and flong78 called in the big with A♦ Kâ™  7♥ 3â™  . It was a virtual coin flip before the 8♦ 7♦ 10♦ flop, but flong78 needed running cards for quads or a full house after it. One of those came with the A♣ on the turn, but the J♦ sent flong78 packing in fourth.

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Sick Pastorr was far and away the leader at 2.49 million chips with the table three-handed. mikki696 was in second with 1.13 million but fell even further behind after missing a diamond flush draw with A♦ J♥ 5♦ 3♥ and failing to crack Shtopol”s A♣ A♥ K♦ 4♥ . Talk of a deal came up but Sick Pastorr was disinclined with such a large lead. Things would have to change dramatically for a deal to be struck.

For the next hour there were changes, but none dramatic enough to either bring the table heads-up or encourage a deal. Shtopol’ made up some ground, pulling even with Sick Pastorr before sliding about 20 big blinds back. mikki696 was able to make up some ground as well but still remained behind an hour later when a key pot developed.

mikki696 opened the action with a 3X raise to 48,000 on the button, then called Sick Pastorr’s re-raise to 184,000 to see a 9♥ 7♦ 5♦ flop. SickPastorr open-shoved with A♦ A♥ 8♥ 4♣ for a pair of aces with a gutshot straight draw, and mikki696 called with A♣ Q♦ 9♣ 7♥ for two pair, nines and sevens. That hand held up through the turn and river to give mikki696 the win.

Suddenly, the chip leader and short stack found their roles reversed. That new normal held for about 15 minutes before Sick Pastorr opened on the button with Qâ™  Q♦ 8♦ 3♣ and made a full house on the 3♦ 3♥ 8â™  flop. mikki696 called an all-in bet on the river with 7♦ 5♦ 4♦ 3â™  for just three treys, giving Sick Pastorr the win that brought all three players’ stacks to within seven big blinds of each other. That was all the encouragement necessary for them to strike a deal.

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Within 10 minutes they had agreed to a chip chop and the game was back on – and within another two they would lose Shtopol’. The Ukrainian player called in the big blind with Aâ™  K♣ Jâ™  5â™  when mikki696 raised to 240,000 on the button, bringing a 9♦ 3♣ 2♥ flop. Shtopol’ led for 287,965 chips and then called all-in for another 614,026 when mikki696 raised all-in. mikki696’s J♥ 10♣ 9♥ 2â™  had made two pair, nines and deuces, which held up the rest of the way to knock out Shtopol’ in third.

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After a brief break at 10:55 p.m. ET, mikki696 came into heads-up play with better than a 2-to-1 advantage in chips. Sick Pastorr made up some of that ground as they played at a high pace, then flopped a wheel straight with A♥ Q♥ 5♦ 2♠ 10 minutes in to retake the chip lead. But that was as good as things would get for Sick Pastorr.

mikki696 stole the blinds on the next hand to win the button and then did the same thing four more times in a row. Another five wins in the next six pots kept mikki696 in the lead and the pressure on Sick Pastorr before the two finally met in their ultimate clash. mikki696 started with a 3X raise to 72,000 on the button and called Sick Pastorr’s re-raise to 298,000, then called with less than 10 big blinds behind when Sick Pastorr open-shoved for 1.59 million chips on the 9â™  10♣ 4â™  flop. mikki696 had two pair once again with 10â™  8♦ 6♥ 4♥ , while Sick Pastorr was a slim favorite while drawing to a flush and a straight. The 3♣ turn added to the straight outs, but the 5♦ river left Sick Pastorr with a worse two pair and brought the tournament to its end.

Though the cash in this tournament was smaller than the one mikki696 earned in Event #5-H by a factor of three, it came with a SCOOP title. And the cash was still enough to bump over $160,000 in earnings for SCOOP 2017 – not bad for two final table appearances with a full weekend of poker still remaining. Congratulations to mikki696 on the big win!

SCOOP-42-H ($530 NL Omaha, 8-Max, Win the Button) results
Entrants: 403 (219 entries, 184 re-entries)
Total prize pool: $201,500
Places paid: 56

1. mikki696 (Austria) $31,206.96*
2. Sick Pastorr (Poland) $28,493.86*
3. Shtopol’ (Ukraine) $27,951.84*
4. flong78 (United Kingdom) $15,112.50
5. Mike “SirWatts” Watson (Canada) $10,075
6. aDrENalin710 (Russia) $7,052.50
7. Venividi1993 (Malta) $5,037.50
8. Connor “blanconegro” Drinan (Mexico) $4,030
* – reflects results of a three-way deal that left $2,000 for the winner


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Jason Kirk is a Freelance Contributor to PokerStars Blog.

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