This wasn’t just any no-limit hold’em tournament. It was the last SCOOP NLHE tournament with the exception of the Main Event in the 2010 series. It gave players the chance at a $750K guarantee. And it brought some of the biggest names in the game of poker to the online tables.

Event 37-High offered players the high-buy-in version of this tournament with a $2,100 buy-in, though many players won their seats in satellites or qualifiers for a fraction of that cost. But others bought in directly as well, making the field one mixed with amateurs and pros alike. The event filled up with 914 players, and the prize pool more than doubled its guarantee as it landed at $1,828,000. Substantial, if we do say!

As the tournament played down and the money bubble approached, two Team PokerStars Pros just missed the cash in this one: Gavin Griffin, who finished in 114th place, and Hevan “RaiNKhAN” Khan, who left in 112th place. On the other side of the bubble, there were a few members of the team who took home a bit of a profit for their efforts: Leo Fernandez in 105th place, Jorge Arias in 78th place, Johannes Strassmann in 70th place, and Randy “nanonoko” Lew in 52nd place. And as the final table inched closer, only one Team Pro remained in the running: Chris “Money800” Moneymaker.

Ultimately, though, the short-stacked pro got his chips all-in with pocket jacks, but BrynKenney was right there with pocket aces, and the board couldn’t save Moneymaker’s tournament. He exited in 40th place with $6,763.60.

With two tables remaining into the 15th hour of play, Benny “toweliestar” Spindler exited in 18th place, Noah “fouruhaters” Schwartz in 17th, DaMadPotter in 16th, dibsy in 15th, jadedjason in 14th, toril274 in 13th, Mttjn in 12th, and Josh “nitbuster” Arieh in 11th place. That led to hand-for-hand play, which ended when mement_mori pushed all-in preflop from the big blind with J♥ J♠ . It just so happened that jcamby33 was able to call with Q♦ Q♣ . The board blanked with K♥ 4♣ 8♣ 5♦ 6♦ , and that was all we wrote for Mickey “mement_mori” Peterson, who left in tenth place with $19,742.40.

Jcamby33 took significant lead to final table

Right in the middle of Level 28, with blinds at 6,000/12,000 and a 1,500 ante, the final table of nine players was set. Their starting chip counts and seating assignments were as follows:

Seat 1: e1mdopp (339,110 in chips)
Seat 2: Taknapotin (2,004,236 in chips)
Seat 3: chtirly (848,779 in chips)
Seat 4: slammedfire (235,294 in chips)
Seat 5: tommyboy83 (336,208 in chips)
Seat 6: APerfectGent (183,900 in chips)
Seat 7: jcamby33 (3,032,226 in chips)
Seat 8: BrynKenney (884,820 in chips)
Seat 9: niccc (1,275,427 in chips)

It took only three hands to see big action from these players, as APerfectGent doubled through BrynKenney to stay alive.

Though BrynKenney was not exactly short-stacked, the very next hand saw him push all-in from the small blind. His 717,420 chips were at risk with A♥ Q♥ , and niccc called from the big blind with J♥ J♣ . The coin flip looked like it was going BrynKenney’s way when the A♠ 3♠ 2♠ flop came down, and the 7♥ turn card changed nothing. But a J♦ hit on the river, giving niccc the set of jacks and eliminating Bryn “BrynKenney” Kenney, winner of Event 8-H, in ninth place with $23,398.40.

A very short time later, one of the original short stacks at the table decided it was all or nothing. E1mdopp pushed all-in preflop with A♠ Q♦ , and chtirly made the easy call with K♦ K♣ . The board of 5♥ Q♣ 8♠ 2♣ 5♣ brought nothing of significance, and e1mdopp was let go in eighth place with $40,398.80.

Play slowed down a bit from that point, as Taknapotin tried to chip away at jcamby33, though the latter simply took it out on other players to remain solidly atop the leaderboard. Meanwhile, Taknapotin took some hits from other players. Slammedfire doubled through and chtirly took a 838K-pot from Taknapotin, relegating the latter to a third, then fourth place spot on the board.

But it was slammedfire who continued to have a tough time accumulating chips. Finally, after a raise from chtirly, slammedfire pushed his last 203,338 all-in with 10♦ 10♥ , and chtirly called with A♥ 2♣ . The flop of 9♥ 5♦ 4♠ gave chtirly the straight outs, and the 3♦ on the turn made it. A 4♦ on the river ended the hand, eliminating slammedfire in sixth place with $57,582.00 for the best finish of his 2010 SCOOP.

Gentlemen, please

APerfectGent had been whittled down to less than 100K in chips due to losing a few battles with players like niccc. Finally, the last 52,550 chips went all-in preflop, and niccc and chtirly called. They checked the 4♠ 4♦ J♣ flop and the Q♣ turn, but when the 5♣ fell on the river, niccc bet and chtirly folded. APerfectGent showed A♦ 4♥ for trip fours, but niccc turned over A♣ 9♣ for the rivered flush. justin “APerfectGent” Schwartz left in sixth place with $75,862.00.

Table talk that had been building some not-so-cordial feelings finally ended with APerfectGent commenting on his way out:

“DIE”

And exit left.

Civility got the better of the last five players, as the continued in silence for awhile.

Tommyboy83 doubled through chtirly to stay alive, and niccc, still with an eye on first place but a distance from it, took a 1.1 million-chip pot from jcamby33 to edge a bit closer.

Then it was chtirly’s turn to move. After a raise from Taknapotin and reraise from jcamby33, Taknapotin got out of the way when chtirly reraised again. Jcamby33 pushed all-in, and chtirly called for the remainder of his chips holding J♣ J♠ . Jcamby33 showed 5♣ 5♥ , but the board came 7♠ A♠ A♥ 4♠ 5♠ , and a rivered full house beat chtirly’s flush. Chtirly finished the tournament in fifth place with $94,142.00.

Niccc made another run at jcamby33’s chip stack, but this was the result:

RSS readers click through to see replay

Tommyboy83 was far from giving up, doubling up again through jcamby33 and doing the same through the already-suffering niccc.

A few hands later, niccc pushed all-in for his last 455,239 chips from the small blind holding A♣ 5♠ , and Taknapotin called from the big blind with 10♠ 10♥ . The board was an unventful Q♣ 6♥ 2♦ 6♣ K♦ , and Nicolas “niccc” Chouity was eliminated in fourth place with $133,444.00.

Let’s make a deal

Almost as soon as three-handed play began, the players decided to pause the tournament to discuss a possible deal. And discuss they did. It took more than 40 minutes to come to an agreement on the numbers, but eventually they figured something out that worked for all. With $15,000 extra set aside for the ultimate victor, the payouts would be set as follows:

Seat 2: Taknapotin (1,363,972 in chips) = $219,333.65
Seat 5: tommyboy83 (2,443,528 in chips) = $236,071.01
Seat 7: jcamby33 (5,332,500 in chips) = $276,333.33

Play resumed with somewhat cautious play, but it wasn’t long before tommyboy83 tangled with the chip leader.

Tommyboy83 started it off with a raise, and jcamby33 reraised. Tommyboy83 bumped it up again, and jcamby33 called to see a 8♦ 10♣ 4♣ flop. Tommyboy83 bet, but jcamby33 check-raised all-in. Tommyboy83 called for his tournament life with 9♦ 9♥ , but jcamby33 showed K♥ K♠ , which found a K♦ on the turn to make the set. The A♦ on the river ended the hand and sent Tom “tommyboy83” Koral packing in third place with $236,071.01.

Campbell and Somerville battle it out

Midway through the 18th hour of the tournament, two players remained with chip counts as follows:

Seat 2: Taknapotin (1,373,972 in chips)
Seat 7: jcamby33 (7,766,028 in chips)

Taknapotin took his time, making no rush all-in moves to jeopardize his tournament. But when he did make a move, he doubled up in style, quad-like style to be exact.

RSS readers click through to see replay

A few more subsequent pots shipped to Taknapotin prompted jcamby33 to write:

“u got too many chips now”

The two continued their friendly banter as Taknapotin soon evened up the stacks and eventually took the lead. Though jcamby33 took it back, a big hand erupted, and on a 2♥ 4♣ 5♥ flop, Taknapotin moved all-in with A♥ 7♥ for the straight and flush draws, and jcamby33 called with J♥ J♠ and the operpair. The 3♣ hit on the turn to make Taknapotin’s straight, and the 4♠ on the river shipped the chips to Taknapotin.

Jcamby33 was left barely standing. He was able to double-up once, but he moved all-in again, this time with 7♦ 4♦ against the J♠ 7♠ of Taknapotin. The board brought J♦ 6♣ A♠ 10♥ A♥ to give Taknapotin two pair, and James “jcamby33” Campbell, winner of a 2007 Sunday Million, came up just short of winning a 2010 SCOOP event. He walked away with $276,333.33 for second place.

After having finished in fifth place in Event 1-H and seventh place in 28-H, James “Taknapotin” Somerville finally took down his first SCOOP event, for which he was awarded a watch and $234,333.65.

SCOOP Event 37-High (NLHE) Results for 05/16/10:

1st place: Jason “Taknapotin” Somerville ($234,333.65)*
2nd place: jcamby33 ($276,333.33)*
3rd place: tommyboy83 ($236,071.01)*
4th place: niccc ($133,444.00)
5th place: chtirly ($94.142.00)
6th place: APerfectGent ($75,862.00)
7th place: slammedfire ($57,582.00)
8th place: e1mdopp ($40,398.80)
9th place: BrynKenney ($23,398.40)

*denotes a three-way chop agreement

Check out the Spring Championship of Online Poker website for details of the SCOOP series and PokerStars.TV for highlights.

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