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Home / Uncategorized / SCOOP 2012: sonik4 is super, booms way through #37-L for win ($215 NLHE HU)

SCOOP logo.gifMight sound paradoxical… a “low” “high roller” tournament. But really, every event in this year’s Spring Championship of Online Poker, no matter the buy-in, has produced large enough prize pools to make even the least inexpensive events seem big, relatively speaking.

Event #37-L sported a $215 buy-in — the biggest price tag of all the “low” events in this year’s SCOOP series — with a whopping 1,414 accepting the challenge of trying to win 10 or 11 heads-up matches and capture the first prize and super-stylish SCOOP watch. That field together built a prize pool of $282.800. Those making it to the Round of 128 made the cash, with $42,768.04 ultimately awaiting Sunday’s winner.

The first day of play saw 64 players survive to today’s Day 2, with each guaranteed to earn at least $735.28 for their work on Saturday. That group fought their way to the Round of 32, which played out as follows, with the losers each taking away $1,295.22: qbgoose def. sofia_25, sonik4 def. jahve00, ndscott def. leopeluca, ZKostas def. psyhoagromor, zoro555 def. pargg, arek11 def. Dymonius, LFB TUBI def. hneves182, oxyzak def. Rory “Mafews” Mathews, dontdoitlol def. AG_allin91, harddecision def. bartleby666, _qupuni$her_ def. PumpernickR, MrJovelli def. fordycent13, Andrew “RunThisTable” Lichtenberger def. 6pokep, user223 def. rikkke, goxomago def. Jamie_KK, and Slottinho def. dachshundd.

Round of 16

Andrew “RunThisTable” Lichtenberger was the first one through to the quarterfinals. Lichtenberger grabbed an early lead versus user223, and soon the latter was all in on a 4♥ 3♦ 6♦ flop holding 5♣ 2â™  for a straight. RunThisTable had 6♥ 4♦ for two pair, and when another six fell on the turn, Lichtenberger had improved to a full house to oust user223.

ndscott was the next to make it through after defeating ZKostas. In their last hand, ZKostas was all in following a Q♣ 9♦ 6♦ flop with Aâ™  A♥ , but ndscott had 9♦ 9♥ for a set and it held. A little later dontdoitlol had harddecision down to a super short-stack, then won the last of the chips with K♦ Q♦ after flopping a queen versus harddecision’s Aâ™  8♥ .

sonik4 then defeated qbgoose, using A♦ 6â™  versus the latter’s Qâ™  Jâ™  in the final hand to move on. By then zoro555 had whittled arek11 down to less than 2,000 to zoro555’s 18,000-plus, then used pocket fours to beat arek11’s K♥ Qâ™  and earn a spot in the quarters.

Slottinho was then down to a short stack and pushing all-in with K♦ 4♦ against goxomago’s Kâ™  Q♣ , and the better hand held to earn goxomago a spot in the next round. MrIovelli was the next short-stack to shove, in this case with K♥ 5♣ versus _qpuni$her_’s Aâ™  10â™  . Again the best hand preflop stood up, and _qpuni$her_ moved on.

The last match in the Round of 16 to complete was between oxyzak and LFB TUBI. oxyzak had about a 2-to-1 chip lead when the pair got all of LFB TUBI’s chips in preflop with 4â™  4♣ against oxyzak’s K♥ K♣ . The kings held, and oxyzak grabbed the last quarterfinal spot.

Round of 16 losers each earned $4,077.97 for making it this far.

Quarterfinals

It would take about 20 minutes for the first of the quarterfinal matches to complete. goxomago had whittled down Andrew “RunThisTable” Lichtenberger to just over 3,500, then came a hand in which a series of raises before the flop ended with Lichtenberger all in with Q♥ Q♦ against goxomago’s K♣ Kâ™  . The flop was 8♥ 8♣ 5♥ , then the K♦ on the turn made the river no matter, and goxomago had grabbed the first semifinal spot.

sonik4 was the next player through after chipping ndscott down below 2,000, then winning an all-in confrontation in which sonik4 held A♣ 6â™  , ndscott K♣ 9â™  , and the board paired neither. Meanwhile, oxyzak had been way down in the match versus zoro555, but managed to come back to grab nearly a 3-to-1 lead, then get zoro555 to commit to a preflop all-in with Q♦ J♦ against oxyzak’s K♥ Kâ™  . The kings held, and ozyzak was in the final four.

Finally dontdoitlol had _qpuni$her_ down under 3,000 and all in a 5â™  6♥ Jâ™  flop holding Kâ™  7â™  against dontdoitlol’s A♣ J♦ . A spade came to save _qpuni$her_, prompting dontdoitlol to comment “I don’t like where this is going.” All worked out fine for dontdoitlol, however, as soon _qpuni$her_ was all in again with A♦ 6♥ against dontdoitlol’s A♥ 8♣ , and after the board came 5♥ J♣ 6♦ 10♣ 8♦ dontdoitlol had won.

Semifinals

oxyzak grabbed an early lead against sonik4 in their semifinal match, but the advantage soon swung sonik4’s way, and after a half-hour of poker sonik4 had oxyzak chipped all of the way down to just 1,360. A preflop all-in ensued, with oxyzak holding Qâ™  9â™  and sonik4 A♣ K♣ , and when the board rolled out 5♦ 4â™  J♦ Kâ™  7♦ , sonik4 had earned the first final spot.

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In the other semifinal dontdoitlol and goxomago were virtually even for the first 20 minutes or so, goxomago pulled out in front for the next few minutes, then dontdoitlol seized the advantage to push out to nearly a 3-to-1 advantage. goxomago battled back, however, and had drawn back even as they crossed the one-hour mark.

Then goxomago put a little space between the two after winning a decent-sized pot in a hand in which both flopped top pair of kings, but goxomago had the better kicker to claim the 3,200-chip pot. goxomago would win another, larger pot soon after that with a big river bet on a board with two aces that dontdoitlol couldn’t call.

Then, with goxomago up to 14,260 and dontdoitlol down to 5,760, the latter reraised shoved with A♣ 8♣ and got a quick call from goxomago with A♠ J♠ . The board came 7♣ Q♠ A♦ 9♠ 3♦ , and goxomago had made it through to the championship round.

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Finals

Just two players remained to battle for the bracelet, Ukraine’s sonik4 and goxomago of Russia.

SCOOP37-L-finaltable.jpg

As it happened, the final match of would be a quick one, ending in less than 20 minutes. sonik4 seized the advantage early, quickly pushing out to close to a 3-to-1 chip lead before they’d even made it out of the first 10-minute level.

Then in Level 2 sonik4 managed to add further to the lead in a hand in which sonik4 had A♥ Q♣ , flopped a queen, and managed to get three streets of value with top pair to take still more of goxomago’s chips.

Finally goxomago was down to 2,937 and opening with a min-raise to 120 from the button, and sonik4 called. The flop came J♣ 3♠ 4♣ , and sonik4 checked. goxomago bet 150, then sonik4 check-raised to 420. goxomago made it 840, sonik4 shoved, and goxomago called the 1,977 left behind.

goxomago had K♣ Q♣ for a flush draw and a couple of overs, while sonik4 had flopped a set with 4♥ 4♣ . The turn was the 6♥ and river the 9♦ , and it was all over!

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Congratulations to sonik4 for surviving 11 rounds and taking down the “low” version of the heads-up “high roller” event to earn a not-low-at-all $42,768.04 payday!

2012 SCOOP Event 37-Low, $215 No-Limit Hold’em, Heads-Up:
Champion: sonik4 (Ukraine) — $42,768.04
Runner-up: goxomago (Russia) — $27,213.84
Semifinalist: dontdoitlol (Netherlands) — $13,605.50
Semifinalist: oxyzak (Czech Republic) — $13,605.50

Entrants: 1,414
Places paid: 128

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

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