Some of the very biggest names in world poker feature heavily in today’s round-up of news from the Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP), with the streaming king also running hot…
TODAY’S HEADLINES
• O’Dwyer rules the Super High Roller, bags half a million
• Nemeth finishes first and second in two biggies
• Leonard among other top-ranked winners
• Veldhuis’ quads shoot streamer to High Roller big stack
• $75 million in prize pools; $10 million in first prizes
BEHIND THE HEADLINES
O’Dwyer outguns Nemeth for Super High Roller title: There are only a small handful of players in world poker for whom the words “Super High Roller” essentially mean “meal ticket”. One of them is the globetrotting Coloradan/Irishman Steve O’Dwyer, whose career earnings from live poker currently surpass $30 million, and who has won Super High Roller tournaments everywhere from the Bahamas to Monte Carlo, Macau and Melbourne. O’Dwyer can now add “the internet” to that list after he became the $25,000 SCOOP Super High Roller champion last night, picking up $521,597.77 and the first SCOOP title of his career. It was a staggeringly talented final table, featuring Fedor “CrownUpGuy” Holz (8th – $85,871), Ole “wizowizo” Schemion (7th – $111,115), Talal “raidalot” Shakerchi (5th – $186,049), Joao “Naza114” Vieira (4th – $240,743), Chun Lei “SamRostan” Zhou (3rd – $311,516) and Andras “probirs” Nemeth (2nd – $403,096). But O’Dwyer, who plays online as “Mr. Tim Caum“, has an enviable knack of getting over the line in the big ones, and he took the largest slice of the $2.18 million prize pool. It was the biggest tournament so far in SCOOP, and went to one of the biggest names in the game.
Steve “Mr. Tim Caum” O’Dwyer in familiar winner’s pose
Nemeth shoots back with $2K success: Don’t feel too sorry for Andras “probirs” Nemeth. Although he was beaten heads-up by O’Dwyer in the Super High Roller, Nemeth also went right to the very deepest stages in the $2,100 buy-in version of this event — and won it. There were 440 entries into this one, with an $880,000 first prize and $157,734 up top. And this one belonged to the brilliant Hungarian, who blasted through the field to snaffle the title. Nemeth is one of tournament poker’s most exceptional and committed talents, and this was his third SCOOP title among an extraordinary list of successes. The fact that he was heads-up in two major tournaments on the same day underlines his abilities, with the total haul for the night weighing in at $560,830 – even more than O’Dwyer’s.
Andras “probirs” Nemeth: A first and a second
Patrick “pads1161” Leonard: Another major
Leonard lands PLO8 success: On the subject of superstar winners from crowded final tables, the $2,100 PLO8 6-Max featured another: Patrick “pads1161” Leonard, who won his second SCOOP title by beating a 117-strong field. Leonard is known as one of the hardest working players in British poker, who also runs a stable of some of the best up and coming talent in the game. He leads from the front and beat Yuri “theNERDguy” Martins heads up for a $52,605.66 score. According to Pocket Fives, Leonard’s online tournament earnings now stand at $9.7 million, with two WCOOP titles alongside two from SCOOP. Joao “Naza114” Vieira was also at that final table, finishing in sixth.
Tobias “Senkel92” Leknes: Always a threat
One more for Leknes: Tobias “Senkel92” Leknes is another ‘COOP titan, who most famously won two WCOOP titles in a week in 2018, to bring his WCOOP tally to three, with one title already in SCOOP. He made that two last with victory in the $215 PLO for $25,648.09, defeating a field of 755 entries. Leknes occasionally appears on the live circuit, where his mixed games prowess has earned him a few titles, but he is a dominant force online and a regular on the ‘COOP leader boards. This latest victory will consolidate another charge at Player of the Series honours.
Goatcher denies Ruijs: Joris “BillLewinsky” Ruijs could have been a back-to-back double champion in this SCOOP, but instead became a back-to-back runner up after being defeated heads up last night by Tyler “wonderboy222” Goatcher, one day after being beaten heads up by Jonas “Tulkaz” Klausen. There’s no shame in either of the defeats (and both came with significant paydays) but it’s Goatcher celebrating a $107,503 success this morning. There were 609 entries and Goatcher, based in Brighton in the UK, sealed the deal for the biggest prize of his career. He was runner up in a WCOOP tournament last September, but this one sets a new mark for Goatcher — and he is also in the last 20 of the $5,200 High Roller, which gets under way again tonight.
Veldhuis streaming towards final: Prepare for Twitch viewing records to be broken when Lex Veldhuis logs on tonight and resumes play in SCOOP-57-H. Veldhuis currently sits in fourth place of 20 players coming back to play this $5,200 buy-in High Roller, with $1 million in the prize pool and $201,606 up top. Veldhuis, as ever, will stream from start to finish, and faces an incredible field. Charlie “Epiphany77” Carrel, “bencb789”, Jorry “TheCleaner11” van Hoof, Linus “LLinusLLove” Loeliger, Gianluca “Tankanza” Speranza, Jon “apestyles” Van Fleet and Ignat “silentm0de” Liviu are also all still involved. Former SCOOP champion “BOOGANDEHAH” leads the way. Day 2 begins at 1pm ET. Be there! Watch Lex Veldhuis on Twitch.
OFFICIAL SITE & SCHEDULE | RESULTS
LEADER BOARDS | ALL BLOG REPORTS
TODAY’S RESULTS
| Tournament | Entries | Prize pool | Winner | Country | Prize |
| 52-L: $215 NLHE, 8-Max | 4,041 | $808,200 | O”Pazzzo” | Netherlands | $115,533.11 |
| 52-M: $2,100 NLHE, 8-Max | 440 | $880,000 | probirs | Hungary | $157,734.78 |
| 52-H: $25,000 NLHE, Super High Roller | 89 | $2,182,725 | Mr. Tim Caum | Ireland | $521,597.77 |
| 53-L: $22 PLO8, 6-Max | 4,253 | $85,060 | Kashmir_uzi | UK | $12,143.70 |
| 53-M: $215 PLO8, 6-Max | 755 | $151,000 | Senkel92 | Norway | $25,648.09 |
| 53-H: $2,100 PLO8, 6-Max | 117 | $234,000 | pads1161 | UK | $52,605.66 |
| 54-L: $11 NLHE | 15,012 | $150,000 | dmgs81 | Brazil | $17,204.93 |
| 54-M: $109 NLHE | 3,777 | $377,700 | wonderboy222 | UK | $107,503.65 |
| 54-H: $1,050 NLHE | 609 | $609,000 | vivaodesemprego | Netherlands | $46,691.97* |
| Daily totals | 29,093 | $5,477,685 | $1,056,664 |
†inc. bounties
*denotes deal
STAT TRACKER
Two landmarks were reached during last night’s play: total prize pools for this series have now passed $75 million, while more than $10 million has been handed out in first prizes. We’re not quite half way yet!
Tournaments completed: 162
Tournaments ongoing: 12
Starting today: 15
Entries so far: 1,152,629
Prize pools so far: $75,825,507
First-place prizes awarded: $10,816,601.87
Totals refer to completed tournaments only
INTERVIEWS! INTERVIEWS! INTERVIEWS!
We’re catching up with a lot of SCOOP winners this year, all happy to share their experiences of winning big.
Adam “pruttzz12” Jonsson
Most recently, Swedish pro Adam “pruttzz12” Jonsson talked us through an incredible victory in Event #46-H, a $1,050 buy-in no-limit hold’em 8-max tournament, where the final table featured Dzmitry “Colisea” Urbanovich, Conor “1_conor_b_1” Beresford, and Igor “lechuckpoker” Kurganov. None could beat Jonsson, however. Meanwhile Vitor “vitoradiron” Adiron won Event #36-M for $96,848 but admitted he will “continue working on my failures”.
Click through to hear more from our long list of happy champions:
Previous winner interviews:
Guilherme “teruliro” Orrico: Two WCOOPs and now one SCOOP
“plens” targets bucket-list EPT appearance
Tapio “PikkuHUMPPA” Vihakas: “I am as lazy as a human can be”
Catalina “catam18” Marmureanu”: A result for all women in poker
Paul “pistolp999” Kroezen: A triumph of perseverence
Adam “adamyid” Owen: Defeating end-boss “veeea”
Matt “MUSTAFABET” Ashton: Tournaments are practice for cash games
Antanas “Nr1InEurope” Bakaitis: “I’m no good at Texas Hold’em!
“MarkBang”: First out to last man standing
“thegodfisher”: Busy broker finds time to win SCOOP title
Oleg “Fukuruku” Vasylchenko: Poor student becomes richer
Michael “Malicious20” Cottier: $9.5K from a $2.20 buy-in tournament!
Dimitrios “papadatos69” Papadatos: Making most of downturn in tourism
William “Williaml666” Barbosa: Best feeling ever!
Last hand double-KO gives ‘PufuMiu’ win in Event #11-L
Poker News also caught up with Benny “RunGodlike” Glaser, who is doing his thing in SCOOP.
TWITCH WATCH
Lex Veldhuis is having a tremendous SCOOP and yesterday was the best day yet. Veldhuis is super deep in the $5K buy-in NLHE High Roller, and is in the kind of form where this happens:
As for Spraggy, well, perhaps this dedicated no limit hold’em player might have found a new vocation. He was involved in the $11 HORSE last night and it was highly entertaining:
Ready to sign up for PokerStars and play SCOOP? Click here to get an account.
TOP TWEETS
If at first you don’t succeed… Good luck today, Justin!
Finally made a Day 2 in this year’s #SCOOP#poker pic.twitter.com/mvCxF7NFoV
— justin! (@justkp) May 14, 2020
And good luck to you too OP-Poker Nick, who will be playing the $1,050 SCOOP Main Event, courtesy of PokerStars:
Woop woop @PokerStars making me blush with da #SCOOP ticket love // https://t.co/M8i0UUQoyS ??????
— Nicholas Walsh (@OP_Poker_Nick) May 13, 2020
Poker News on the case
FOLLOW THE ACTION LIVE!
Our friends at Poker News are offering live coverage of a ton of SCOOP events and last night it was all about the $25,000 Super High Roller. Look back on the blow-by-blow account of how Steve “Mr. Tim Caum” O’Dwyer closed this one out.
There’s also some brilliant heads-up poker to watch tonight, where the last eight in the High buy-in version features Connor “blanconegro” Drinan, seeking his fourth title of the series, as well as Francisco “Tomatee” Benitez, Joris “BillLewinsky” Ruijs, Dominik “Bounatirou” Nitsche and Phillip “Grindation” McAllister. And if you want to watch action from across the $5K High Roller — that is, not only via Lex Veldhuis’s stream — then Poker News have that covered too.
COUNTRIES LEADER BOARD
Only nine tournaments completed last night, and players from the UK won three of them. With Russia drawing another blank, the Brits have extended the lead at the top of the countries leader board and are going to take some hauling in.
Latest standings:
25: UK
19: Russia
16: Brazil
12: Netherlands
11: Germany
Seven: Canada
Five: Austria, Ukraine, Sweden, Norway
Four: Greece, Belarus, Mexico, Hungary, Ireland
Three: Poland, Finland, China
Two: Romania, Argentina, Peru, Malta, Lithuania, Denmark, Belgium
One: Japan, Kazakhstan, Slovakia, Uruguay, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, South Korea, Czech Republic
STARTING TODAY
Day 15: Thursday, May 14
The flagship event on today’s calendar is the Thursday Thrill Special Edition, whose medium and high tournaments boast a $1 million guarantee. It can’t be a coincidence that the very next event on the schedule is Razz, which is the polar opposite of a thrill. Worst hand is the best hand, in a nutshell (although see GET SCHOOLED section to up your Razz game). There’s also a fixed-limit Omaha hi/lo tournament going on, on what is a day of highs and lows.
10.30am ET – Event 60: NLHE
Buy-ins: $11, $109, $1,050
Guarantees: $125,000, $250,000, $300,000
12.05pm ET – Event 61: FLO8 8-Max
Buy-ins: $11, $109, $1,050
Guarantees: $35,000, $60,000, $100,000
1pm ET – Event 62: NLHE Thursday Thrill
Buy-ins: $55, $530, $5,200
Guarantees: $750,000, $1 million, $1 million
2.15pm ET – Event 63: Razz
Buy-ins: $11, $109, $1,050
Guarantees: $30,000, $50,000, $100,000
3.30pm ET – Event 64: NLHE
Buy-ins: $22, $215, $2,100
Guarantees: $200,000, $500,000, $500,000
GET SCHOOLED
Razz makes its first appearance on the SCOOP schedule today, and if that’s something you haven’t yet tried, then the $11 tournament might be fun — but only after learning all you need to know from PokerStars School’s Razz articles and videos. It’s full of key concepts and solid examples of advisable strategy.
With tons of NLHE events also still on the schedule, there’s always something valuable to be found in PokerStars School’s MTT course and the bulging Strategy section.
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