The importance of the bounties in knockout tournaments usually recedes once the final table rolls around and the big prizes are on the line. But if one player can dominate the late game, especially in a Progressive KO format like the one at play tonight, the extra prize money can sometimes rival what other players earn for being knocked out in fourth or fifth place. Lithuania’s Mantas “bagoch” Bagočius was that player tonight, running up a bounty that threatened to rival the scheduled third-place prize over the first four hours of Event #44-H’s final table. Then past Sunday Million finalist B1GL1P$$$ staged a late comeback, cut a heads-up deal, and outdueled bagoch over a two-hour heads-up match to bank a six-figure win in the last Thursday Thrill Special Edition of SCOOP 2017.
bagoch entered Day 2 of the tournament second in chips. He used that stack to more than double his bounty earnings and lay claim to the chip lead as the field shrank from 67 players down to just him and these other eight players:
Seat 1: FourSixFour (788,462 in chips, $22,781.25 bounty)
Seat 2: kurt23x (1,127,694 in chips, $17,218.75 bounty)
Seat 3: Yakiddinme (1,322,071 in chips, $16,750 bounty)
Seat 4: Paris Dedes (1,112,224 in chips, $16,398.43 bounty)
Seat 5: merla888 (1,356,043 in chips, $12,156.25 bounty)
Seat 6: Mantas “bagoch” Bagočius (1,437,227 in chips, $22,328.12 bounty)
Seat 7: citramon65 (200,923 in chips, $15,984.37 bounty)
Seat 8: B1GL1P$$$ (998,856 in chips, $11,437.50 bounty)
Seat 9: MakaRRRevich (266,500 in chips, $8,156.25 bounty)
Google Translate tells me that “ardymo kamuolys” is Lithuanian for “wrecking ball.” That may or may not be right – I can’t vouch personally because my Lithuanian skills are sorely lacking – but tonight you probably could’ve said “bagoch” and gotten your point across just fine. Already the winner of a TCOOP 2016 title, two Sunday Millions, and a Super Tuesday, his quest to add a SCOOP title to his lengthy resume saw him take over the role of executioner at the final table. From its start until just three players remained, he was the only player who collected a bounty.
The table’s two Russian players both lumped their short stacks into the middle on an early hand. bagoch, holding 8♦ 8♥ in the hijack seat, opened the action with a small raise to 25,200. citramon65 re-raised all-in to 98,173 with Q♠ 10♠ in the cutoff, and then MakaRRRevich re-raised all-in for 460,134 total with A♥ J♣ . Both bagoch and citramon65 improved on the 8♠ 3♠ 4♠ flop, bagoch to a set and citramon65 to a flush. MakaRRRevich was drawing dead by that point, though, and left in ninth while the other two split up the 1.04-million-chip pot.
bagoch earned MakaRRRevich’s $4,078.12 bounty for that knockout but missed citramon65’s when the turn and river couldn’t deliver a full house to beat the Russian’s spade flush on that hand. Seven hands later bagoch got a second try and made good on it. Past Sunday Warm-Up and Sunday Million finalist kurt23x opened the action for 25,440 in early position and bogach re-raised to 81,240 after opening with A♦ Q♥ in the cutoff seat. bogach was then the only caller when citramon65 moved all-in for 281,199 on the button with K♥ Q♠ . The Russian left in eighth as the board fell 10♦ 3♥ J♦ K♣ 2♠ and delivered a Broadway straight, the pot, and another $7,992.18 in bounty money to bagoch.
The United Kingdom’s FourSixFour had entered this final table looking for a second SCOOP 2017 title to follow up on a victory in Event #2-H. The deck and the other players didn’t cooperate in the least – before the first two knockouts FourSixFour had only won two relatively small pots, and afterward only two more similarly sized pots. After managing a dwindling stack for more than two hours of poker, FourSixFour picked up 8♣ 8♥ in the cutoff seat and moved all-in for 123,975 chips over the top of bagoch’s early position opener with A♣ Q♦ . bagoch called and bagged another $11,390.62 in bounty cash, making a Broadway straight by the turn of the K♦ 10♠ 5♣ J♦ 3♦ board to bust FourSixFour in seventh.
The configuration of the other stacks had shifted a few times since the final table began, but bagoch remained in the lead when a monster pot arose. Three other players vying for second place were within 10 big blinds of one another, including Event #14-H finalist merla888, who picked up Q♦ Q♠ on the button and saw SCOOP 2016 Sunday Warm-Up Special Edition finalist Yakiddinme open with a small raise in early position. merla888 re-raised to 157,500 and then five-bet-shoved for 1.68 million after bagoch made it four bets in the small blind and Yakiddinme wisely got out of the line of fire. bagoch called with A♦ K♦ and collected a fourth consecutive bounty ($6,078.13), pairing with the K♣ on the flop to topple merla888’s queens and bust the Belgian player in sixth.
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bagoch’s chance at a fifth straight bounty came 15 minutes later in the big blind with 7♣ 7♦ . He raised to 81,450 when Paris Dedes, a five-time Super Tuesday finalist with SCOOP and WCOOP final table appearances in 2012, limped from the small blind, and then called when the Greek check-raised all-in for 788,931 total with A♠ K♣ . The A♣ on the turn there gave Paris Dedes a double to 1.59 million chips, but bagoch still grabbed the next bounty a half-hour later.
kurt23x opened the hand in question with a small raise to 50,880 chips in the cutoff. Yakiddinme called on the button but folded after bagoch three-bet to 201,474 and kurt23x shoved for 700,054 total. bagoch thought it over for a bit and finally made the call with A♥ 10♥ for 31.2-percent equity against kurt23x’s Q♥ Q♠ . Then the board came A♠ 2♥ 9♦ 4♠ 2♣ , eliminating kurt23x in fifth and giving bagoch another $8,609.38 in guaranteed cash.
bagoch could be forgiven for expecting to collect a sixth consecutive bounty a few hands later after flopping the nut straight in the small blind with 8♥ 7♠ . B1GL1P$$$’s 10♠ 10♦ had made top set and turned a full house, though, and calling bets on every street earned the player from Malta a 3.45-million chip pot and the lead. But half an hour later, bagoch was dealt J♣ J♥ on the button when Yakiddinme got 4♦ 4♥ in the big blind. The action went raise-shove-call, the 2♠ 10♣ 7♦ 8♣ K♦ board changed nothing, and bagoch collected another $8,375 in bounty cash as Yakiddinme left in fourth.
Paris Dedes trailed the two leaders at this point and played solid, aggressive poker over the next half-hour in an attempt to mount a comeback. But with both opponents holding more than 120 big blinds apiece and Paris Dedes holding just over 30, that aggressive gameplan left very little room for error or poor timing. It was the latter that bit when Paris Dedes re-raised all-in from the big blind for 1.03 million chips with 9♦ 8♦ over the top of B1GL1P$$$’s 83,434-chi opener. B1GL1P$$$ snap-called with Q♣ Q♥ and became just the second player at the final table to claim a bounty (this one of $8,199.22) when the board came 7♣ 4♠ 5♠ K♠ 5♦ and Paris Dedes left in third.
It took just five minutes for the last two players to hammer out a deal that left $10,000 for the winner and get back to playing poker. They wanted to speed up the blind structure, too, but that’s not possible during SCOOP tourneys, so played continued with blinds and antes at 18,000/36,000/4,500 – and then again on each consecutive level for the next two hours.
B1GL1P$$$ took the chip lead for the first time just 15 minutes into the heads-up match. After raising on the button and then calling bagoch’s out-of-position check-raise on the 5♥ J♦ 3♣ flop, B1GL1P$$$ called another bet on the 6♣ turn and then moved all-in over the top of bagoch’s 982,612-chip bet on the 7♠ river. bagoch folded, and B1GL1P$$$ mucked and took down the 3.18-million-chip pot.
Both players still had close to 100 big blinds apiece, which kept the game going at a dleiberate pace. bagoch retook the lead 20 minutes after losing it. Then he surrendered it again 30 minute after that. It seemed like the result was destined to hinge on a cooler or a coin flip, and then B1GL1P$$$ took a stand in the big blind, re-raising to 2.53 million with 6♦ 6♥ over bagoch’s 113,400-chip button opener. He made the call with A♥ K♠ and 3.53 million chips behind and actually gained a few points of equity on the 10♣ Q♣ 10♦ flop, but the 9♠ turn and 3♦ river kept B1GL1P$$$ in the tournament with a 5.07-million-chip win.
Six hands later B1GL1P$$$ would claim the biggest bounty of the tournament after defending the big blind with A♠ 4♣ and seeing a 4♦ 5♦ 5♠ flop. B1GL1P$$$ check-raised and then called when bagoch shoved for 1.69 million with K♠ 4♥ , a big underdog with just two cards left to come. They were the 6♣ on the turn and the 10♠ on the river, delivering a $34,425.77 bounty – as much as three other players at the table combined – and the tournament title to B1GL1P$$$.
Congratulations are due to B1GL1P$$$ for demonstrating extreme patience while bagoch did all the heavy lifting at the final table and then making some strong plays late in the game. And congratulations, too, to Mantas “bagoch” Bagočius for swinging a heavy hammer to collect those six final-table bounties and the largest combined prize of any player in the tournament.
SCOOP-44-H ($2,100 NL Hold’em, Progressive KO, Thursday Thrill Special Edition) results
Entrants: 861
Total prize pool: $1,722,000 ($861,000 regular, $861,000 bounty)
Places paid: 108
1. B1GL1P$$$ (Malta) $137,092.49* + $54,062.47 in bounties
2. Mantas “bagoch” Bagočius (Lithuania) $130,678.51* + $68,851.53 in bounties
3. Paris Dedes (Greece) $83,947.50 + $16,398.43 in bounties
4. Yakiddinme (Australia) $62,853 + $16,750 in bounties
5. kurt23x (Costa Rica) $44,341.50 + $17,218.75 in bounties
6. merla888 (Belgium) $35,731.50 + $12,156.25 in bounties
7. FourSixFour (United Kingdom) $27,121.50 + $22,781.25 in bounties
8. citramon65 (Russia) $19,028.10 + $15,984.37 in bounties
9. MakaRRRevich (Russia) $11,020.80 + $8,156.25 in bounties
* – reflects results of a heads-up deal that left $10,000 for the winner
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Jason Kirk is a Freelance Contributor to PokerStars Blog.
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