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Home / Uncategorized / SCOOP 2016: gortsos mounts comeback to win Event #45-H ($2,100 NLHE 3-Max, Turbo, Zoom, Progressive KO)

Earlier on this SCOOP series I covered an event that was a No Limit Holdem, Turbo, Progressive Knockout, Zoom tournament. I didn’t think there was anything else that PokerStars could add to a tournament to make it more exciting. I was wrong.

Today’s offering was Event #45-H on the 2016 SCOOP schedule and it was all of the above, and just to make it a little more crazy, this event was 3-Max. Yep, it was turbo zooming knockout three-handed madness! One for the degenerates!

In the end it was gortsos, hailing from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, who overcame two failed deal negotiations as the short stack to turn things around and grab the full top prize of over $120,000!

A field of 409 entrants came together for the $2,100 buy-in event to form a prize pool of $818,000. Naoya Kihara, Liv Boeree, George Danzer, Randy Lew, Jason Mercier, Andre Akkari, Jason Somerville, Bertrand Grospeller, Johnny Lodden and George Lind represented Team PokerStars but none of the red spades would make it to the money for the top 44 players.

There were plenty of notables making a deep run in this one with Jason “jakoon1985” Koon (43rd – $4,799.89), Elio “smokrokflock” Fox (33rd – $4,799.89), Stephen “woody1234321” Woodhead (28th – $6,237.28), Adrian “Knightsgee” Attenborough (27th – $6,237.28), Philipp “philbort” Gruissem (15th – $10,593.16) and Mike “SirWatts” Watson (12th – $13,844.87) just some of those to finish in the money.

After around three-and-a-half hours of play, it would be Alex “bigfox86” Foxen who bubbled the official final table. bigfox86 moved all in preflop with J♣ Q♥ and €urop€an made the call with A♥ 9♥ . The board ran out 9♦ 4♣ 6â™  9♣ 4♦ to give €urop€an trip nines to collect the bounty and see our final table of three set as follows:

scoop-2016-ev45-H-ft.jpg

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Final Table Line Up
Seat 1: dynoalot (605,244 in chips)
Seat 2: €urop€an (2,811,365 in chips)
Seat 3: gortsos (673,391 in chips)

It was a big chip lead for €urop€an as the final table kicked off with the blinds at 14k/28k/3.5k. However it didn’t take long for the three players to agree to take a look at the numbers for a potential deal. As it was announced that the clock would be paused following the hand in progress, dynoalot three-bet jammed Q♥ Jâ™  and looked like missing out on the deal discussion when €urop€an called with a dominant Aâ™  Q♦ , but a life-saving jack appeared on the flop for a well-timed double up.

With that, the clock was paused and the numbers were presented for both ICM and chip count. As the big stack, and a former SCOOP Heads-Up champion, €urop€an tried to extract a little more value, asking for almost $5,000 more than ICM provided. However his opponents wouldn’t budge and play would continue with no deal struck.

As so often happens when you’re the one asking for more at the deal negotiations, things started to go backwards for our chip leader. The two shorties chipped away to close the gap before dynoalot won a nice pot at showdown with ace-three for fourth pair on board as €urop€an mucked.

Two hands later dynoalot opened with a raise from the button and €urop€an three-bet jammed from the small blind. dynoalot made the call with A♥ 7♥ but was dominated by €urop€an’s A♣ 9â™  . However the poker Gods delivered a board of K♥ 8♣ 7â™  5♣ 4♦ to pair up dynoalot’s kicker for the knockout blow. €urop€an is probably regretting the hardball negotiation tactics which shaved over $50,000 from his final winnings, but he still takes home $41,173.99 plus bounties for third place.

Heads-up Chip Counts
Seat 1: dynoalot (3,025,017 in chips)
Seat 3: gortsos (1,064,983 in chips)

Once again the clock was paused and the two players would look at a potential deal. However it was almost an instant replay of the earlier negotiations, this time with dynoalot playing the role of the big stack bully. After numbers were presented dynoalot wanted close to another $5,000 on his figure. gortsos was willing to give up about $1,700, but again neither player would budge, so play resumed once more without a deal.

Following the break, it was a case of the short stack fighting back again with gortsos landing a crucial double up with ace-nine holding against dynoalot’s ace-four.

gortsos was winning more than a fair share of pots, and briefly edged into the chip lead for the first time, but dynoalot was quick to steady the ship and snatch back control.

dynoalot had a chance to win it all with a coinflip holding A♥ 10â™  with all the chips in preflop against gortsos’ 2♦ 2♥ . The board bricked out 9♥ Kâ™  7♦ K♦ 6♦ to give gortsos a huge double up and leave dynoalot in trouble.

With dynoalot slipping down to under ten big blinds, gortsos put on maximum pressure and moved all in preflop with Q♦ 8♠ . dynoalot made a good call with K♥ 6♠ for the best hand but the board of 5♥ 3♦ 3♣ 8♥ 6♥ would give gortsos a pair of eights to grab the bounty and the title!

scoop-2016-ev45-H-final-ko.jpg

dynoalot would have to be content with $71,315.39 plus bounties for second place while gortsos survived this crazy format and two failed deal negotiations to scoop the title and a massive prize of $123,522.15 plus another $10,302.34 in bounties! Congratulations!

2016 SCOOP-45-H: 2,100 NL Holdem [3-Max, Turbo, Progressive KO, Zoom] – $500K Guaranteed
Entrants: 409
Prize Pool: $818,000
Places Paid: 44

1.  gortsos (F.Y.R.O.M) $123,522.15 (+$10,302.34 in bounties)
2.  dynoalot (Canada) $71,315.39 (+$8,667.18 in bounties)
3.  €urop€an (Finland) $41,173.99 (+$14,334.37 in bounties)

The Spring Championship of Online Poker is the biggest and richest tournament festival of the year, with millions in prize money to be won, a packed schedule, and separate buy-in levels designed to suit all bankrolls.

A total prize pool of $40 million is guaranteed with the series running right through until May 22nd. Head to the SCOOP home page for more details.

Heath “TassieDevil” Chick is a freelance contributor to PokerStars Blog.

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