Thursday, 28th March 2024 22:27
Home / Uncategorized / SCOOP 2014: Mustapha “lasagnaaammm” Kanit makes meal of #36-H field, wins $376K ($2,100 NLHE Turbo, Re-Entry)

As expected, Event #36-H — a $2,100 no-limit hold’em turbo event with an option to re-enter up to three times — was an action-filled affair, racing to a conclusion in just over four hours. Also unsurprising was the caliber of players the event attracted, with many familiar names up and down the counts and a star-studded final table. Indeed, in the end winner Mustapha “lasagnaaammm” Kanit, playing from Malta, had to outlast three SCOOP watch winners vying against him among the final four to win a watch himself, taking away a big first prize of $376,920 for doing so.

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Mustapha “lasagnaaammm” Kanit

GeoManousos (2nd), Mohsin “sms9231” Charania (3rd), and Goldshark (4th) were the last of Kanit’s challengers to fall in this one — SCOOP winners all — with Team PokerStars Pro Maxim Lykov also coming close to being there at the very end before falling in seventh. Here’s the story of Kanit’s win.

Finding a final table

There were 644 unique entrants in the event and with 403 re-entries total that made for a prize pool of $2,094,000 — more than twice the tournament’s $1 million guarantee — with the top 117 players dividing the cash.

The bubble burst not long after the tourney’s two-hour mark, with Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree managing to squeak into the cash with a 117th-place finish, good for $4,188 and about an even return after her having entered the event twice. Team Online member Andre “acoimbra” Coimbra had also made the cash, but soon after would be sent railward in 71st for a $5,653.80 cash and a better return after having only entered a single time.

That left just Team PokerStars Pro Maxim Lykov to sport a red spade as the tournament swiftly raced toward the final table with Dani “supernova9” Stern sitting atop the counts as the field shrunk below 50 players.

As they approached the three-hour mark, Dani “supernova9” Stern had slipped to fall in 19th place (cashing for $9,632.40 after having bought in four times), and with 18 left dhutt was leading and Lykov was still alive with an average stack.

shalzy13 (18th, entering once), LottoMartin (17th, four times), and two-time WCOOP winner Darren “darrenelias” Elias (16th, twice) next went out, each earning $13,611. zen_mec (15th, once), ismo<3seppo (14th, twice), and Elio "smokrokflock" Fox (13th, four times) followed, each picking up $17,799. Then tram-vai (12th, once), Amir "AmirSF" Lehavot (11th, three times), and römpsä (10th, twice) hit the rail, each getting $21,987 for not quite making the final table.

With Mustapha “lasagnaaammm” Kanit the new leader and Maxim Lykov having survived a few all-ins to still be in contention in the middle-of-the-pack, the final table had begun.

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Seat 1: David “MissOracle” Yan (New Zealand) — 464,804
Seat 2: Mohsin “sms9231” Charania (Canada) — 682,039
Seat 3: GeoManousos (Turkey) — 266,394
Seat 4: la_benjjjjjj (United Kingdom) — 391,646
Seat 5: Team PokerStars Pro Maxim Lykov (Russia) — 490,158
Seat 6: Goldshark (Norway) — 565,368
Seat 7: Mustapha “lasagnaaammm” Kanit (Malta) — 1,344,021
Seat 8: dhutt (Canada) — 578,100
Seat 9: 42ayay (Sweden) — 452,470

A few notes about this final table before sharing the rest of the story of Mustapha “lasagnaaammm” Kanit’s triumph. First off, only two of the final nine players had entered the tournament more than once, with David “MissOracle” Yan in for three buy-ins and Goldshark for two.

Meanwhile, besides the presence of Lykov, Kanit, and former SCOOP winner Mohsin “sms9231” Charania (making his ninth cash of the series here), two other players at this final table were aiming to earn a second SCOOP watch during this year’s series. Back on the first day of the series, GeoManousos had won Event #3-H ($1,050 NLHE Progressive Super-KO) while Goldshark took first in Event #20-M ($215 PLO 6-Max., Re-Entry).

A tough bunch, to be certain, although the skill of all was somewhat beholden to the rapidly-rising blinds and antes which would ensure a relatively quick finish as the final table only took about 40 minutes to complete.

la_benjjjjjj bounced in ninth

On the very first hand of the final table, the blinds were 175,00/35,000 when David “MissOracle” Yan raised to 70,000 from middle position, then la_benjjjjjj reraised all in for 387,271 from the cutoff seat. It folded back to Yan who quickly called, turning over Q♥ Q♦ while la_benjjjjjj had A♦ 9♦ .

The board rolled out 5♣ 6♥ 8♣ 6â™  3â™  , teasing la_benjjjjjj with a straight possibility but ultimately failing to improve la_benjjjjjj’s hand, and they were quickly down to eight.

MissOracle’s aces cracked, out in eighth

The remaining eight would battle back and forth for almost 15 minutes as the blinds increased to 30,000/60,000. Then David “MissOracle” Yan open-pushed from under the gun for 227,392 and watched as the table folded to chip leader Mustapha “lasagnaaammm” Kanit who reraised all in from the button, causing the blinds to skedaddle.

Yan turned over A♥ A♣ and appeared in excellent shape versus Kanit’s A♦ J♥ . But the flop fell 10♣ 9♣ 8â™  to give Kanit an open-ended straight draw and suddenly make things much more precarious for Yan.

The 8♦ turn card was okay for MissOracle, but the Q♦ fell on fifth street, completing the straight and knocking Yan out in eighth.

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David “MissOracle” Yan

Lykov leaves in seventh

A couple of minutes later lasagnaaammm was raising again from early position and it folded around to Maxim Lykov in the big blind. Having posted the 60,000 required, Lykov had but 44,533 left but wasn’t liking the hand he’d been dealt.

Maxim Lykov: wowowowow
lasagnaaammm: let’s go :
lasagnaaammm: 🙂
lasagnaaammm: i feel good this hand
Maxim Lykov: next hand aa for me
lasagnaaammm: i hope 🙂

Lykov found a fold, then on the next hand was nearly all in after posting the small blind. That one saw the table fold around to GeoManousos on the button who pushed all in, and this time Lykov called before Goldshark folded in the big blind.

GeoManousos had but 4♦ 3â™  while Lykov had picked up a good hand for his situation with K♥ Q♥ . But the board came 9♣ A♥ 10â™  4♥ 2â™  to give GeoManousos a pair of fours and end the Team PokerStars Pro’s run in seventh.

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Team PokerStars Pro Maxim Lykov

dhutt done in sixth

On the very next hand, it folded around to Kanit in the small blind who open-shoved his big stack, then dhutt called all in with the 342,475 left after having paid the big blind.

lasagnaaammm had 10♥ 8♠ and dhutt A♠ 4♥ . The community cards then came 6♠ Q♥ J♣ A♥ 9♦ , meaning Kanit had drawn another straight to score one more knockout, sending dhutt railward in sixth.

42ayay felted in fifth

Up over 2 million now and still leading, lasagnaaammm continued to pressure others with another all-in opening shove from the button. This time 42ayay called all in from the small blind for 274,345, about four-and-a-half big blinds.

42ayay: A♠ 7♦
lasagnaaammm: Q♣ 3♥

The all-in player again had the advantage before the flop, but a 3♦ 10♥ 10â™  2♦ 4♥ runout hit Kanit’s hand and ended 42ayay’s Event #36-H run in fifth.

Goldshark gone in fourth

The blinds bumped up again to 50,000/100,000, and soon after a short-stacked Goldshark was shoving from the small blind for 132,243 with K♥ 9♣ and lasagnaaammm was calling from the big blind with A♦ 10♠ .

The board came 7♦ 10♣ A♥ 7♣ 8♠ to give Kanit two pair, stopping Goldshark a few spots short of a second 2014 SCOOP win to finish in fourth.

sms9231 sunk in third

Speaking of SCOOP winners, Mohsin “sms9231” Charania had won his SCOOP title back in 2010 in another “high” buy-in event, a $2,100 NLHE contest from which Charania walked away with a nifty $380,364.80 first prize. His run for another would come up short tonight, albeit with a nice consolation prize of a $200K-plus cash for finishing third.

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Mohsin “sms9231” Charania

Charania’s final hand saw Mustapha “lasagnaaammm” Kanit open-raising all in from the small blind with 7♥ 7♣ and sms9231 calling for his last 660,080 from the big blind with Kâ™  9â™  . The 3♦ 8â™  5♣ 4♥ 5♦ board didn’t hit Charania, and they were down to two.

GeoManousos gets close, but cannot top Kanit

Heads-up play began with Mustapha “lasagnaaammm” Kanit leading with 3,749,891 versus GeoManousos’s 1,485,109. The pair played a couple of hands without much change to their stacks, then stopped the tournament to talk about a possible deal.

Kanit requested “chip chop” numbers which suggested about $330K for him, just over $299K for GeoManousos, with $20K left for which to play. Chat box discussion ensued.

lasagnaaammm: 334 for me it’s ok
GeoManousos: 2 mins plz
lasagnaaammm: 295 for u and play 20k
GeoManousos: hahahaha nice one 😀
GeoManousos: lets play! gl!
lasagnaaammm: if u want play ok 🙂
GeoManousos: continue plz!

They continued and shortly after the four-hour break the end arrived.

It was the eighth hand of heads-up play, with the blinds still 50,000/100,000. GeoManousos limped in from the button, Kanit raised to 261,000, GeoManousos pushed all in for 1,374,109, and Kanit called.

GeoManousos had 10♠ 10♦ while lasagnaaammm turned over A♦ 10♥ . The 3♠ A♥ J♥ flop paired Kanit, and the A♠ turn card did again. GeoManousos was drawing dead, in fact, making the 8♣ river inconsequential and stopping GeoManousos one spot shy of a second 2014 SCOOP watch.

After knocking out three straight SCOOP winners, Mustapha “lasagnaaammm” Kanit had secured a SCOOP watch of his own.

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Congratulations to Mustapha “lasagnaaammm” Kanit for needing just over four hours and a single $2,100 buy-in to win Event #36-H and a huge $376,920 first prize!

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Mustapha “lasagnaaammm” Kanit

SCOOP 36-H: $2,100 NL Hold’em (Turbo, Re-Entry)
Total entries: 1,047 (644 entries, 403 re-entries)
Prize pool: $2,094,000.00
Places paid: 117

1. Mustapha “lasagnaaammm” Kanit (Malta) $376,920.00
2. GeoManousos (Turkey) $272,220.00
3. Mohsin “sms9231” Charania (Canada) $203,118.00
4. Goldshark (Norway) $151.815.00
5. 42ayay (Sweden) $105,437.60
6. dhutt (Canada) $84,597.60
7. Team PokerStars Pro Maxim Lykov (Russia) $63,657.60
8. David “MissOracle” Yan (New Zealand) $42,927.00
9. la_benjjjjjj (United Kingdom) $26,175.00

There’s still lots of SCOOP action left. See the 2014 SCOOP homepage for the schedule of events remaining this week.

Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

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