Sixteen players returned to each level of SCOOP-12 today, a bulging ROI already locked up but with the chance of a whole lot more cash just a couple of heads-up victories away. For some the $831.56 would be the largest tournament score they’d had online, for others it was business as usual with a number of the last sixteen holding PokerStars online tournament winnings of $50,000 moving through into six figures, including Cr@cker717, dan3l666 and mandrake67BR.
Among those final tables one player stood out: Kurt23x. Not only because he’s raked in over $1,000,000 in PokerStars tournaments but because his quarter-final technique appeared to involve sitting out. Was he playing mind games,a suck up the punishment and then unleash in a frenzy like Muhammed Ali? No. Kurt23x, aka Kurt Fitzgerald, is currently resident in Costa Rica and must have fallen foul of a Latin American internet outage at just the wrong time. He could barely get a raise in before disconnecting and because this plays pot-limit you’ve can’t simply shove your chips across to protect yourself. Terrible timing. It was not to be his day.
Not only was it frustrating for Fitzgeralnd, whose connection occasionally flashed up as 18% long enough that he could put in a raise or bet before blinding out for the next ten minutes, but it gave idkPsPro a bye through to the semi-final where he faced tammaister. The Hungarian finally putting tammaister to the sword with 8â™ 7♥ 6♥ 2♦ against the Greek’s K♣ K♦ J♥ 2â™ on a 6♣ 5♣ 2♥ flop. A 7♦ hit the turn and a blank 3♥ the river to send idkPsPro through to the final.
Kmoh20 was there to be face him having faced stiffer resistance to get to the final, not only having to beat opponents who were actually able to click buttons back at him but also coming up against Ahhh Is It?, who proved early on that he was willing to make tough calls if he thought he was ahead; he called a river bet with a pair of eights.
Unfortunately for the Brit things didn’t end up going in his favour when it mattered most after getting it in with Qâ™ Jâ™ J♦ 2♦ on a 2♥ 8♦ 6♣ flop against a loose 5♦ 4♥ 4♣ 2♣ . A 6♦ hit the turn and a 7♣ binked the river for the straight. That was for three-quarters of the chips in play and sent Ahhh Is It? to the rail for $2,777.12, finally quieting his vocal rail.
The final as it took place was a relatively quick affair, just half an hour of back-and-forth, more than twice as quick as it had taken idkPsPro to raise-and-take the blinds of the disconnected Kurt23x. Having quickly agreed to a chop – bar the necessary $1,000 set aside for the winner – it took a little while for the action to get going. Small pots played but no real damage was done. In the second blind level, 15-30, kmoh20 trapped with a flopped jack-high flush to take a small lead which was lengthened the next hand when he gunned into a 7â™ J♦ 7♣ flop having three-bet pre-flop (see below).
idkPsPro managed to stay in, just about, but failed to get any real traction only raking in one pot of real significance with a backdoor top two-pair with A♦ K♣ 10♠8♦ on a 3♣ 3♠6♥ K♠A♠board. That pulled the Hungarian back to 4,000 versus 6,000 but that was his last glimpse of a comeback sending the extra $1,000, the SCOOP watch and the title to kmoh20.
The quarter finals and beyond
Winner
kmoh20, Canada, $7,639.80
Runner-up
idkPsPro, Hungary, $6,639.80
Semi-finalists
Ahhh Is It?, United Kingdom, $2,777.12
tammaister, Greece, $2,777.12
Quarter-finalists
Kurt23x, Costa Rica, $1,545.51
Bigtower11, Spain, $1,545.51
superslide, Slovenia, $1,545.51
relayerr, Russia, $1,545.51
Number of players: 3,313
Players paid: 512
Click here to read more SCOOP reports.
Click here to see the SCOOP schedule.
Click here to go to the SCOOP website.
