Vivacious. Thrilling. Tantalizing. Scintillating. Enthralling. Adventurous. Titillating. Provocative. Exhilarating.
None of those adjectives will be seen in the rest of this recap because I’d be bending reality if I used any of them to describe the tedium of fixed limit Omaha hi/lo. Instead, I’ll resort to cliches like… “watching paint dry” or “I get more excited picking out socks.”
I don’t mean to pick on fixed limit Omaha hi/lo, but aside from Razz, I can’t think of a more excruciating format of poker. Limit Omaha hi/lo is a game catered to sadists, masochists, and former recovering flogging addicts. Those frazzled denizens must really enjoy misery, because they wake up every day, fire up PokerStars and hit up the Omaha tables.
Why? Because it’s what they do.
Then again, one man’s misery is another man’s nirvana. For online grinders, Omaha hi/lo can offer up tremendous value — if you can endure the obvious downsides. But let’s not forget some people play Omaha for the pure love of the game.
Whether your burning passion in life is fixed Omaha Hi/Lo or you’re just a glutton for anguish, this year’s SCOOP Event #14-M $530 buy-in event attracted 220 runners. The prize pool was $110,000, of which 36 would get a piece of the pie with $22,495 was set aside to the eventual champion.
Although many PokerStars Team Pros played in the event, such as Alex Kravchenko, Jude “j.thaddeus” Ainsworth and Lex Veldhuis, none of them made the money. Team Online Anders “Donald” Berg and Team Pro George Danzer both busted early and focused their efforts on advancing to the final table of the “high roller” version of Event #14.
Bubble Boy honors went to TLD2008, who busted in 37th place when he got scooped by CallawayStar.
The Germans have been destroying the competition in 2011 SCOOP. At the start of the day, they had earned the most prize money out of any other country. The continued their dominance in Event #14-M when seven Germans cashed and three advanced to the final table.
Final Table – Event #14-M $530 FL Omaha Hi/Lo:
Seat 1: KorotkoV (23,680)
Seat 2: flucassen2 (99,746)
Seat 3: honeyz28 (139,038)
Seat 4: rdcrsn (173,406)
Seat 5: as1025 (46,208)
Seat 6: SixthSenSe19 (157,941)
Seat 7: crazy169 (25,6571)
Seat 8: Mikleler (17,234)
Seat 9: 2mark (186,176)
The chipleader, 2mark from Germany, held a slight lead over rdcrsn from Canada. Along with a trio of Germans, three Russians also made the final table, but they were the first three to bust out
Mikleler eliminated in 9th place
Mikleler squeezed into the final nine after clinging to a short stack during the last two tables. Within moments of the commencement of the final table, the Russian made a stand and got two callers, honeyz28 and flucassen2. They both checked it down to the river and fucassen2 won the high with a nine-high straight, while honeyz28 dragged the low. Mikleler mucked his hand. He won $2,090 for 9th place.
KorotkoV eliminated in 8th place
Another comrade hit the rail. KorotkoV was also short-stacked and found himself all-in preflop against rdcrsn and as1025. The board ran out 9♥ 8♥ 2♥ K♣ J♣ and without a qualifying low hand, rdcrsn won the pot with an Ace-high flush holding A♥ Q♣ J♥ 7♣ , which edged out KorotkoV’s King-high flush and K♥ 3♥ 3♦ 2â™ . KorotkoV won $2,750 for 8th place.
After that knock out, rdcrsn improved almost 240,000 and took over the chip lead.
as1025 eliminated in 7th place
With a stack under 50,000, as1025 was all-in with A♦ Q♥ 10♦ 2♠on the flop of 9♦ 5♦ 3♦ . He was looking good after flopping a nut-flush, but flucassen2 flopped top set with J♥ 9♥ 9♠6♠and had outs for a full house. The river paired the board and without a qualifying low, flucassen2 won the pot. As1025 busted in 7th place and won $3,850.
flucassen2 eliminated in 6th place
Short-stacked flucassen2 got it all-in on a flop of A♥ K♣ 10♥ . He held J♦ 3♥ 2♥ 2♦ for a flush draw, but crazy169 had flopped top pair. The turn and river were both sixes, but neither was a heart. Flucassen2 failed to make a flush to double up. Without a qualifying low, crazy169 dragged the pot with two pair. Alas, flucassen2 busted in 6th place and collected $4,950.
rdcrsn eliminated in 5th place
With five to go, action slowed down for a level, which would be the only lull at the final table. Honeyz28 had emerged as the overall lead with 346,100, while rdcrsn brought up the rear with a 112,110.
On the board of K♠7♣ 5♣ 6♥ , rdcrsn got the rest of his stack all-in holding K♣ K♦ J♦ 6♠for top set. However, when the Q♣ spiked on the river, crazy169 scooped the pot with a Ace-high flush and the nut low holding A♦ 7♥ 3♣ 2♣ . Rdcrsn won $6,380 for a 5th place finish.
With four to go, crazy169 held the lead with approximately 420,000.
SixthSenSe19 eliminated in 4th place
Super short SixthSenSe19 hit the road in 4th when he busted in a three-way pot against crazy169 and honeyz28. The board ran out J♠9♣ 4♠Q♣ 8♥ and both players chopped the pot with a Queen-high straight. SixthSenSe19 won $9,350 for a fourth place finish.
With three to fo, crazy169 expanded his lead to over 544,420 with honeyz28 in second holding 370,070 and 2mark the”shorty” with 185,176 in chips. Action was paused while the three discussed a fair money deal. With $1,500 set aside for the winner, they agreed on a chop with three to go.
2mark eliminated in 3rd place
On a flop of Q♥ 6♣ 2♠, betting was capped on the flop. When the 5♣ fell on the turn, 2mark was all-in with A♠K♦ 10♣ 5♥ . The river was the 8♥ . Although 2mark rivered a low, crazy169 showed A♦ Q♠10♦ 7♦ for a pair of Queens and a 7-6-5-2-A low. Crazy169 scooped and 2mark got knocked out in third place. The German won $15,000.
Heads-Up: Honey vs. Crazy
Crazy always beats Honey, right?
Heads-Up Chip Counts:
Seat 3: honeyz28 (379,070)
Seat 7: crazy169 (720,930)
Crazy169 from Bolivia held almost a 2-1 advantage over honeyz28. During the first half of heads-up play, honeyz28 picked up ground after scooping a pot with a full house and a 6-5-4-2-A low. Honeyz28 eventually took the lead after scooping another pot with a flush and a 7-4-3-2-A. The lead had flip-flopped 624,000 to 476,000 in honeyz28’s favor.
Over the next few minutes, the lead swung back and forth and back and forth. Just when one player would string off three small pots in a row, their opponent would win a medium-sized pot to pull back to even.
And then it happened. Call it a frenzied rush. Over a period of 15 hands, crazy169 unleashed a counterattack to thwart honeyz28’s blitzkrieg. He improved his stack from almost 600,000 to over 1 million by sheer aggression.
On the final hand, honeyz28 got the last of his chips in on the river. The board read 7♦ 7♥ 5♣ 5♠10♥ . Without a qualifying low, honeyz28 held J♠10♠8♦ 6♣ for two pair. Crazy169 flipped over 10♣ 9♣ 6♦ 5♦ for a full boat.
This year’s SCOOP has been a favorable series for German players, although honeyz28 came up short with a runner-up performance. He won $16482.24 for his efforts as the Germans once again proved that they’re a “force to be reckoned with.” Meanwhile, crazy169 won the tournament, the coveted watch, and collected a cool $19,942.76 for first place. Congrats!
Event #14-M $530 FL Omaha Hi/Lo – Final Table Results and Payouts:
1st – crazy169 (Bolivia) – $19,942.76 ***
2nd – honeyz28 (Germany) – $16,482.24 ***
3rd – 2mark (Germany) – $15,000 ***
4th – SixthSenSe19 (Uruguay) – $9,350
5th – rdcrsn (Canada) – $6,380
6th – flucassen2 (Germany) – $4,950
7th – as1025 (Russia) – $3,850
8th – KorotkoV (Russia) – $2,750
9th – Mikleler (Russia) – $2,090
*** The final three players agreed on a chop
For complete SCOOP coverage, visit our SCOOP page. Don’t forget to tune in to PokerStars daily highlight show, Inside SCOOP.
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