We’ve known about Mustapha Kanit — the Italian poker pro who goes by the mmmemorable mmmoniker “lasagnaaammm” — for a while now. Several years back he began collecting cashes on the Italian Poker Tour. Then we saw him on the European Poker Tour where he gradually started showing up at final tables again and again, and winning a few, too.
Last spring we watched him win his first SCOOP event, a $2,100 buy-in affair with a big $376,920 meatball on top for the winner. Then last month we found ourselves watching him at the EPT11 Grand Final in Monaco, his constant grin and amiable table talk making him hard not to notice even if it weren’t for all the chips he always seemed to be accumulating. It was there we saw him top another tough field in the €50,000 Super High Roller, a score worth €936,500.
Day 1: 694 to 68
There were 270 players in their seats and ready when the first hands were dealt, but with six full hours of late registration there would be many, many more joining the fun over the course of the afternoon and early evening.
A couple of last minute registrants just before the window closed brought the final total to 694 entrants. That meant a total prize pool of $6,940,000 — well over the tournament’s $4 million guarantee — as well as an increase over the 657 who played the SCOOP “High” Main Event year ago. First prize sported a guarantee of $1 million as well, though as mentioned the winner Kanit would take home more than $1.3 million when all was said and done.
At that moment 405 players were still with chips, with schulle1 having then collected the most of them to sit in first position. Then as day turned to night the field continued to winnow away. With less than 200 left Christian “eisenhower1” Jeppsson had been enjoying the lead for some time, then for a time three-time ‘COOP winner Terrence “Unassigned” Chan took over the top spot.
Near night’s end they reached the 81-player mark and the bursting of the bubble, by which point Terrence “Unassigned” Chan had slipped in the counts to fall shy of the cash in 95th, and cocoojones became the unfortunate 82nd-place finisher.
By the time play halted for the night just 68 players remained, with Event #36-H winner lissi stinkt (77th, $20,126), Vlad “dariepoker” Darie (73rd, $20,126), Kevin “KevBoyStar” Stani (72nd, $22,208), and John “dagunman” O’Shea (69th, $22,208) among the event’s first cashers.
Russia’s hello_totti was the overnight chip leader while Christian “eisenhower1” Jeppsson had maintained his big stack to remain near the top of the counts. Here’s how the top 10 looked at the end of one day of play:
1. hello_totti (Russia) — 519,483
2. DEX888 (Germany) — 445,224
3. chipcomehere (Hong Kong) — 411,153
4. mexican222 (Malta) — 371,671
5. Christian “eisenhower1” Jeppsson (Sweden) — 369,384
6. EndlessJ (Canada) — 333,739
7. TheHood (Australia) — 314,967
8. I am Bobbie (Belarus) — 301,806
9. Puropoker123 (Panama) — 277,310
10. KumariOy (Russia) — 275,745
Many other recognizables were left in the field, including several with stacks north of the 153,088-chip average including Gjergj “GSinishtaj” Sinishtaj (in 12th position), Grayson “gray31” Ramage (16th), Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (17th), and Ivan “Negriin” Luca (20th), to name just a few.
Day 2: 68 to 8
The first couple of hours of play on Monday saw the field carved down to less than 30 players, with hello_totti maintaining the top spot, becoming the first player to 1 million.
Meanwhile among those hitting the rail and cashing early on Day 2 were Rui “Sousinha23” Sousa (68th, $22,208), Andries “Pokerger1337” Swart (67th, $22,208), Gjergj “GSinishtaj” Sinishtaj (57th, $24,290), Andrey “ThePateychuck” Pateychuk (53rd, $26,025), Grayson “gray31” Ramage (49th, $26,025), Richard “nutsinho” Lyndaker (42nd, $27,760), Event #31-H winner Victor “Puropoker123” Lemos (41st, $27,760), Tom “jabracada” Hall (39th, $27,760), Jeremy “EndlessJ” Menard (38th, $27,760), Joao “jricardosc” Fernandes (35th, $31,230), Dan “w00ki3z.” Cates (33rd, $31,230), Elio “smokrokflock” Fox (32nd, $31,230), and David “dpeters17” Peters (30th, $31,230).
The next nine out — each taking away $38,517 — were madsamot (27th), The_Reynold (26th), Jason “TheHood” Gray (25th), Ivan “Negriin” Luca (24th), Evan “PURPLE”K”99” Parkes (23rd), michal1h (22nd), Samanta81 (21st), PokerLoans1 (20th), and corenkas (19th).
With 21 players left Shaun “shaundeeb” Deeb had been sitting in 21st place as the shortest stack, but by the time they got down to two tables he’d rushed all of the way into first position, having built way up over 1.2 million.
george67762 (18th), Alexandros “mexican222” Kolonias (17th), Billy “b8chatz” Chattaway (16th) were the next to fall, earning $52,050 apiece.
On one table it was Imraan Ladak open-raising a stack of just under six BBs with 9♦ 7♦ and getting called by Mustapha “lasagnaaammm” Kanit who held A♦ Q♥ . The board ran out 5â™ Aâ™ 8â™ J♣ 5♦ and Imraan Ladak was eliminated.
Meanwhile hello_totti reraise-shoved a slightly bigger stack (just over 6 BBs) after a Christian “eisenhower1” Jeppsson raise, and Jeppsson called showing Aâ™ Qâ™ versus hello_totti’s A♣ 9♥ . Five cards later — 6♥ 4♥ 8♦ 3♥ 10â™ — they were down to eight.
Having fewer chips to start that sequence, Imraan Ladak picked up 10th-place money ($79,810) while hello_totti made it into six figures for taking ninth. With one seat empty already, the final table was underway.
Seat 1: abeainy (Lebanon) — 333,203
Seat 2: empty
Seat 3: KumariOy (Russia) — 2,338,668
Seat 4: I am Bobbie (Belarus) — 2,044,190
Seat 5: Christian “eisenhower1” Jeppsson (Sweden) — 1,022,204
Seat 6: Shaun “shaundeeb” Deeb (Mexico) — 1,592,007
Seat 7: Mustapha “lasagnaaammm” Kanit (United Kingdom) — 944,189
Seat 8: prrrak4783 (Austria) — 822,308
Seat 9: Emil “Maroonlime” Patel (Finland) — 1,313,231
abeainy ambles off in eighth
On just the fifth hand of the final table, the blinds were 12,500/25,000 when prrrak4783 opened for 52,500 from the button and abeainy defended the big blind with a call. The flop came single-suited — 9♥ 6♥ J♥ — and after abeainy checked prrrak4783 fired 54,500. abeainy responded with an all-in push for 268,203, and prrrak4783 called.
abeainy had flopped two pair with Jâ™ 9â™ , but needed to improve further to beat prrrrak4783’s flush with K♥ 4♥ . The turn was the 10♣ and river the A♥ , and abeainy was out in eighth.
Deeb done in seventh
It was shortly after that hand seven-time ‘COOP winner Shaun “shaundeeb” Deeb offered the other players some chatbox advice, alluding to the final table replay (with hole cards) that will become available later for those curious to watch:
shaundeeb: hey guys remember everyone going to watch replay
shaundeeb: so dont do anything crazy
shaundeeb: youll never live it down
They’d play on and were approaching the day’s six-hour mark when Deeb min-raised to 60,000 from the button. Mustapha “lasagnaaammm” Kanit then three-bet to 143,470 from the small blind, and when the action got back to Deeb he made it 302,444 to go. Kanit responded with an all-in shove for more than 1.5 million, and Deeb called with the almost 1.2 million he had behind.
lasagnaaammm: A♣ Q♣
shaundeeb: 9♣ 9â™
It was a race, and after the 8♥ A♦ 10â™ flop Kanit had taken a big lead. The turn was the 2â™ and river the Q♦ , and Deeb’s run ended abruptly in seventh.
About a half-hour later Emil “Maroonlime” Patel min-raised to 70,000 from the cutoff seat, then a short-stacked Christian “eisenhower1” Jeppsson reraised all in for 138,718 total from the big blind and Patel called.
It was K♠J♥ for Jeppsson and 2♦ 2♠for Patel. The board came 7♣ 4♥ 10♥ 3♦ A♥ , and Jeppsson was done in sixth.
With KumariOy pushing out into the lead with more than 5 million — more than twice nearest challenger Emil “Maroonlime” Patel with five left — a hand arose in which former WCOOP winner prrrak4783 open-raised all in from the button for a little under 560,000 (about 14 BBs) and KumariOy called from the big blind.
prrrak4783 had 9♦ 9♣ and hopes the pair would hold up against KumariOy’s Aâ™ 4♥ . But the flop fell 6♦ 4♦ 4♣ to give the latter trips, and after the 8♣ turn and J♦ river prrrak4783’s tourney run had been halted in fifth.
I am Bobbie bounced in fourth
They were nearing the end of the day’s seventh hour when I am Bobbie open-raised all in from the button for 537,774 (about 13.5 BBs) and got a single caller in Mustapha “lasagnaaammm” Kanit from the small blind.
I am Bobbie had 10â™ 8â™ and needed help against Kanit’s A♣ Jâ™ . The flop came 5♥ 5â™ J♣ , however, and after the 5♦ turn I am Bobbie was drawing dead to finish fourth.
KumariOy cut down in third
KumariOy remained well in front, but after winning multiple all-ins versus the leader Emil “Maroonlime” Patel took over the top spot.
Intense battling would ensue, with all three players spending time both in the lead and third of three. They made it to the break that came at the day’s seven-and-a-half-hour mark, at which point Kanit led with about 4.62 million, KumariOy was next with about 3.46 million, and Emil “Maroonlime” Patel third with just under 2.33 million.
Play continued, with the lead changing hands again with nearly every pot being fought for gamely postflop. Deeb mentioned earlier how the final table replay will be available in the PokerStars client later, though even without hole cards the action was compelling, with the fact that nearly $3 million worth of the prize pool was still up for grabs only making it that much more nail-biting. Just ask Scott Seiver:
for anyone not watching, this scoop 10k FT is the most entertaining final table I have ever watched.
— Scott Seiver (@scott_seiver) May 26, 2015
Kanit found himself the short stack again, but won a double-up with through Patel when his Aâ™ 10♣ held against Patel’s A♥ 9♥ . Before long Kanit was back on top again, eventually moving up over 6.2 million while Patel slipped back to just over 3 million and KumariOy fell to about 1 million.
Finally it was KumariOy min-raising to 120,000 from the button, Kanit three-betting to 330,000 from the small blind, KumariOy pushing for 1,332,229, and Kanit calling. KumariOy had A♣ 10♥ and a couple of live cards against Kanit’s 4♦ 4♥ , but the 6♣ Q♦ 6♥ 7♣ K♣ board brought no help to the Russian and they were down to two.
With quads Kanit KOs Patel, wins watch
Mustapha “lasagnaaammm” Kanit carried a big chip lead into heads-up with 7,684,281 versus Emil “Maroonlime” Patel’s 2,725,719. Both players were seeking second career SCOOP titles as Patel likewise collected one in Event #29-H ($2,100 PLO 6-Max) less than a week ago.
The river brought the 10â™ and a bet of 947,210 from Kanit. Patel responded with an all-in raise totaling 2,565,739, and Kanit didn’t hesitate before calling.
Maroonlime turned over Jâ™ 10♥ for queens and jacks, but lasagnaaammm was holding a monster — Q♣ Q♦ ! Quads for Kanit, earning him the pot, the watch, the title, and the huge $1.3 mlllion-plus first prize.
SCOOP 45-H: $10,300 NL Hold’em Main Event
Entrants: 694
Prize pool: $6,940,000.00
Places paid: 81
1. Mustapha “lasagnaaammm” Kanit (United Kingdom) $1,304,720.00
2. Emil “Maroonlime” Patel (Finland) $950,780.00
3. KumariOy (Russia) $700,940.00
4. I am Bobbie (Belarus) $527,440.00
5. prrrak4783 (Sweden) $370,596.00
6. Christian “eisenhower1” Jeppsson (Sweden) $294,950.00
7. Shaun “shaundeeb” Deeb (Mexico) $225,550.00
8. albeainy (Lebanon) $156,150.00
9. hello_totti (Russia) $104,100.00
This year’s SCOOP is done, but you can still check all the results as well as final tallies for Player of the Series over on the 2015 SCOOP homepage. And thanks for following our coverage of all 138 events here on the PokerStars Blog.
Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.
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