Thursday, 28th March 2024 20:02
Home / Uncategorized / SCOOP: SirWatts falls as Kirbynator wins Event #34 Medium
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It all seems so routine, doesn’t it? PokerStars throws a party and the whole world shows up, right? You’d think after two weeks of crushed guarantees and deep runs by Team PokerStars pros, it would all get boring, right? Well, not if you’re talking about SCOOP Event 34 – Pot Limit Omaha 6-Max with a $530 buy-in! With a field that included former World Champ Chris “Money800” Moneymaker, WSOP bracelet winner Katja Thater and SNG Madman Hevad “Rain” Khan, this event was anything but run-of-the-mill! Pros and amateurs alike battled it out for more than twelve hours in short-handed action junkie heaven before kirbynator finally topped SirWatts in an epic heads up battle.

The 774 entrants in Event #34-M created a whopping $387,000 prize pool, more than 50% over the guarantee. Among the PokerStars pros and friends taking home a piece of the prize pool were Gavin Griffin (97th, $890.10), Florian Langmann (83rd, $1,006.20), Anders Hoyer Berg (77th, $1044.20), Noah Boeken (75th, $1044.20), Alexey Makarov (48th, $1354.50) and Vadim Markushevski (20th, $2592.90). It was Hevad “RaiNKhAN” Khan who carried the torch for Team PokerStars deepest in the field, just missing the final table when his two pair lost out to a bigger two pair in 9th place. Khan picked up $7,546.00 for his finish, but missed out on the shot at a SCOOP victory this night.

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After a wild ride to get down to the final table bubble, hand-for-hand play ran for almost an hour before str8flushin5 busted in 7th place ($7,546.50). Another great showing for str8flushin5, who finished in 2nd place in Event #28 just last week. With str8flushin5 sent to the rail, the final table looked like this –

petteytheft – 1,064,262
gavz101 – 697,138
kirbynator – 654,116
DonkCommited – 653,125
SirWatts – 486,956
PokerVic – 314,403

If that looks like a rough lineup, it’s because it is. Several of the final table players had major online scores under their belts before this tournament, but they all had one thing in common – they wanted the SCOOP title for their very own.

It didn’t take long once the six survivors settled in around the final table for the fireworks to kick off. The first casualty fell before the first orbit was out, and it was DonkCommited heading to the rail in 6th place ($11,610.00). SirWatts opened for a raise from middle position preflop, and DinkCommited called from the big blind. The flop came down 4♥ 2♣ J♣ , and SirWatts led out. DonkCommitted called again, and the turn brought the 9♥ . DonkCommited checked, and SirWatts bet out again. This time DonkCommited pulled the trigger on the check-raise, and moved the rest of his stack into the middle with K♣ Q♣ 9♦ 5♣ . SirWatts quickly called with J♥ Jâ™  10♦ 10♥ . SirWatts held the lead with top set, but DonkCommited had a big flush draw and a gutshot. The river came down the 6♥ , and it was SirWatts who made the flush as DonkCommited headed to bed.

Omaha is nothing if not a game of swings, and sometimes those swings happen in the middle of a hand. That’s exactly what happened when gavz101 busted in 5th place at the hands of petteytheft, and if a picture is worth a thousand words, here’s a bad beat video worth $19,350, which is what gavz101 had to settle for after he busted in 5th place.

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PokerVic came into the final table the shortest stack, and managed to duck and weave until he ran into a big hand against SirWatts that left him running on fumes. After a preflop raise from petteytheft, PokerVic pushed the last of his stack into the middle from the big bling with 9♣ 6♣ 10♣ K♥ . Petteytheft was ahead preflop with K♦ 10♥ Aâ™  10â™  , and the flop of Q♥ 10♦ 9â™  put him firmly in the driver’s seat with middle set and a gutshot Broadway draw. The turn and river came running sevens to give petteytheft tens full of sevens, and PokerVic was done in 4th place ($27,090.00).

In the shortest deal discussion in history, one player asked if the others wanted to look at numbers, another responded, “Nah,” and the discussion was over. The three survivors then settled in to duke it out for the truly big cash, with over $150K of the prize pool left for the top three spots.

Three-handed play kicked off with all players fairly close in chip counts, but SirWatts quickly took a huge pot off petteytheft to claim the chip lead. Petteytheft battled back valiantly, but could never get everything back on track and was chipped away until he finally busted in a big hand against SirWatts. Petteytheft raised preflop from the button, and both opponents called to see the flop of Q♥ K♠ 8♦ . Action checked around to petteytheft, who led out. SirWatts called, kirbynator folded, and the A♦ hit the turn. SirWatts led out, petteytheft moved all in over the top, and SirWatts quickly called with 10♣ 8♣ 7♣ J♣ for the Broadway straight. Petteytheft tabled 8♠ J♠ 2♦ 8♥ for a flopped set, but when the board failed to pair on the river, he was headed home in 3rd place with a very respectable $38,700 payday.

SirWatts took a slightly better then 2:1 chip lead into the heads up match, but kirbynator was plenty deep-stacked and was not going to go quietly. And indeed, before the twelve-hour mark of the tournament, kirbynator had taken hold of the chip lead and had SirWatts at the disadvantage coming back from the final break of the night.

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SirWatts

The pendulum swung back and forth as the two remaining combatants fought for any advantage. The chip lead changed hands several times, but finally, in a flurry of raises and re-raises, all the chips were in the middle for the last time. That final confrontation looked something like this –

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When the dust settled, kirbynator had come from behind heads up to add $68,228.10 to his bankroll and a SCOOP title to his impressive resume as SirWatts came up second-best but still banked $50,310.00 for second place. Congrats to all our final table superstars, and everyone who cashed in SCOOP #34-M!

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