There are a handful of players in the 2012 SCOOP series who are dominating the headlines. Viktor Blom is a Team PokerStars Pro and online poker legend, in some respects. Shaun Deeb is a skilled online player with many titles, including a previous SCOOP win, to go with the two from this year thus far. But let’s not leave joacowalter out of the mix. Tonight, the newcomer to the world of high stakes poker took a second SCOOP title and wrote an entry in the online poker history books.

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Limit Triple Draw 2-7 Lowball is a fun tournament option for those looking for a challenge that doesn’t include the usual suspects of No Limit Hold’em or Pot Limit Omaha. The usual lingo is replaced with phrases like “stand pat” and “discard,” and players must learn new strategies and tips for getting ahead in Triple Draw. And if poker players aren’t up for that kind of challenge, I’m not sure who is.

This high buy-in of Event 25 offered players the chance to put up $1,050 for a chance at a Triple Draw title against some of the most well-known poker players in the world. And there were just enough to more than double the guarantee. The final numbers were:

Players: 118
Guarantee: $50,000.00
Prize pool: $118,000.00
Paid players: 18

There were several members of Team PokerStars in action in this event, and the first one to bust from it was Team Pro Martin Staszko, who left in 73rd place. Fellow Team Pro Ville Wahlbeck was right behind in 72nd place, and Team Online’s George “Jorj95” Lind busted in 65th with fellow Online Pro Anders “Donald” Berg a few spots behind in 57th. Team Pro Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier exited in 52nd, George Danzer in 33rd, and the last Team Pro standing – Eugene Katchalov – in 16th place for a min-cash of $1,534.00.

The players cashing in the tournament were mostly familiar names, including Tim “TurnRiva” Marsters who won SCOOP 15-M last week.

Play was seven-handed for well over 30 minutes, which ultimately led to the perpetually short-stacked Kroko-dill moving all-in after the first draw against joacowalter. Each player discarded one card for the second draw, and Kroko-dill stood pat in the end with J♥ 4♠ 6♦ 3♥ 5♠ . But joacowalter took one more card and produced 5♦ 10♣ 6♠ 2♥ 4♣ for the win. Andrey “Kroko-dill” Zaichenko (pictured here) was eliminated in seventh place with $3,835.00.

Joacowalter goes for second title

The star-studded final table began in Level 21, with 1,600/3,200 blinds and these chip counts:

Seat 1: SirWatts (109,697 in chips)
Seat 2: vovtroy (113,395 in chips)
Seat 3: ImaLucSac (72,078 in chips)
Seat 4: merla888 (38,817 in chips)
Seat 5: joacowalter (137,335 in chips)
Seat 6: ZeeJustin (118,678 in chips)

During the first 30 minutes, joacowalter continued to dominate and increase the lead, while SirWatts solidified a second place spot. ZeeJustin lost ground, however, to sit in sixth place of the six players with a very short stack at the first break, and merla888 chipped up to sit in the middle of the pack as opposed to the starting stacks.

Bonomo bombs

ZeeJustin was soon down to fewer than 12K chips and got involved with original raiser SirWatts and caller joacowalter. Each of the three players discarded two cards, and when joacowalter bet and ZeeJustin raised, SirWatts folded. Joacowalter reraised, and ZeeJustin called all-in. Each player drew one card on the second draw and joacowalter stood pat while ZeeJustin took one more card on the last draw. ZeeJustin showed 7♥ 6♥ 8♠ K♥ 2♠ for his tournament life, but joacowalter had him beat with 3♣ 2♥ 4♠ 8♣ 10♦ . Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, who finished second in Event 22-H yesterday, took sixth place in this event for $5,310.00.

SirWatts powers off

SirWatts struggled during four-handed play and finally got involved in a capped pot with merla888. Both players then took one card, and a bet from SirWatts was called by merla888. SirWatts stood pat after that, while merla888 took one card on each of the next two draws. SirWatts felt comfortable showing 2♣ 7♦ 8♣ 3♣ 4♠ , but merla888 turned over 6♠ 5♠ 2♦ 7♠ 4♦ . After finishing second in Event 9H last week, Mike “SirWatts” Watson finished fifth tonight for $7,670.00.

Merla888 moves on

Merla888 struggled. Even after a double through vovtroy, merla888’s stack was again reduced to less than 20K. Merla888 tangled with vovtroy again, and after both took two cards, a bet and call prompted them to each draw one. Vovtroy bet again, and merla888 responded by moving all-in. Vovtroy called and stood pat. Merla888 took one more card and showed 7♣ 10♣ 6♦ 9♥ 3♦ , but vovtroy had 3♠ 7♥ 6♣ 8♦ 4♣ for the win. Merla888 left in fourth place with $10,030.00.

ImaLucSac out of luck

A long three-handed battle left ImaLucSac facing tough competition. Finally, the short-stacked ImaLucSac pushed all-in after capped betting and then drawing two cards. Vovtroy was willing to play along and ended up with 10♦ 8♥ 2♠ 6♥ 3♠ , which bested the 8♠ 7♥ 2♣ 10♥ 6♦ of ImaLucSac, who exited in third place with $15,340.00.

Joacowalter determined to win again

The heads-up match began with these chip counts:

Seat 2: vovtroy (179,337 in chips)
Seat 5: joacowalter (410,663 in chips)

Joacowalter saw the second bracelet like it was close enough to touch it, and that prompted a run of hands that gave joacowalter an enormous chip lead. Vovtroy was eventually relegated to a stack of less than 30K, though a double-up helped keep the action going. Finally, vovtroy pushed all-in for 5,174 chips, drew two cards, then another two, and finally one last card. Joacowalter took two, then one, and stood pat at the end with 9♣ 4♣ 3♠ 2♣ 7♦ . Vovtroy showed 7♥ 6♥ 9♦ 8♠ 3♣ and took second place and $20,650.00 in cash.

Joacowalter, on the other hand, claimed victory. And it was the second SCOOP title for joacowalter in the 2012 series, as the first came in Event 5-H last week. This title came with $30,680.00 and another Movado watch. Congrats!

2012 SCOOP Event #25-H ($1,050 Triple Draw 2-7) Results:

Total players: 118
Paid players: 18

1st place: joacowalter (Uruguay) $30,680.00
2nd place: vovtroy (Russia) $20,650.00
3rd place: ImaLucSac (Canada) $15,340.00
4th place: merla888 (Belgium) $10,030.00
5th place: SirWatts (Canada) $7,670.00
6th place: ZeeJustin (Canada) $5,310.00

Looking for more SCOOP reporting? Visit our special SCOOP 2012 coverage section.

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