I opened my PokerStars client to a message written in bold red letters across the screen.
“Today will be the biggest day in online poker history!”

Wowzer. With $28 million guaranteed in MTTs over the course of the day, it was certainly set to be a monumental day – and not just for NLHE events. Many mixed games were also on offer, including one of the larger buy-in events of the weekend – SCOOP Event #52-H: $1,050 NL 2-7 Single Draw.


With $50K guaranteed, it was going to be a big one. By the close of registration on Saturday, 73 had entered into the $1,050 buy-in tournament, with a further 84 re-entering to swell the prizepool to a whopping $157,000. Of those hoping to claim the title, just 21 would be paid, with $36,500 up top for the eventual winner.

And it was none other than Brian “tsarrast” Rast who took home the trophy after eliminating Scott “gunning4you” Seiver heads-up to claim his first SCOOP title. Rast’s victory came after an epic heads-up back-and-forth that saw the chip lead change 5 times before eventually swinging in his favor. 

Back at the close of play on Day 1, just 9 remained. Notable names to make it into the money included the likes of shaundeeb who busted in 21st, as well as online grinding legend bencb789 who made it to the final table on Day 2 but was eliminated in 7th. It was more than the likes of Igor Kurganov, Andre Aakkari, ElkY and Felipe ‘Mojave’ Ramos could muster – as the Team PokerStars contingent fell short of the cash.
It took just half an hour into Day 2 before we made it down to the final table:


SCOOP-52-H – Final table chip counts: 

Seat 1: Scott “gunning4you” Seiver (387,905 chips)

Seat 2: RunGodlike (68,196 chips) 

Seat 3: Adamyid (403,635 chips) 

Seat 4: Brian “tsarrast” Rast (317,676 chips)

Seat 5: ImluckNuts (74,551 chips) 

Seat 6: bigfox86 (151,413 chips)
Seat 7: bencb789 (166,624 chips)
It took another half an hour before we saw our first elimination. It fell on bencb789 (7th) who was sent to the rail when his 4â™ 7♦ 3â™ 4♦ 5♦ couldn’t trump Scott “gunning4you” Seiver’s 2♦ 7♥ 3♣ 4♣ 5â™ . And the bust-outs came quick, with Seiver eliminating bigfox86 (6th) and RunGodlike (5th) in short-succession to build a monster chip-lead. 


Four handed and it was the turn of ImluckNuts (4th) to hit the rail next. It came when he shoved his remaining 12 big-blinds in the middle with 5♣ 6♥ 9♥ 10♦ 2â™ . Unfortunately for him it proved second best against Adamyid’s 7♦ 4♣ 10♣ 5♥ 3♣ .
And then the tables really turned. With a three-to-one chip lead over Rast, Seiver looked set to steam straight to the title. But Rast had other ideas – making a remarkable comeback that saw him eliminate Adamyid (3rd) and swing into the chip-lead heads up. 


But there was even more to come. Seiver clawed his way back into the chip-lead once again – with it changing on at least 5 occasions over the near 2-hour heads-up battle, before the final hand came to pass.
The decisive hand came following an open from Rast and a 3-bet from Seiver before all the chips were in the middle. Both players stood pat before Seiver revealed J♦ 4â™ 8♦ 9♦ 7♣ , which was beaten by Rast’s 4♦ 10♦ 6♥ 2♣ 8â™ holding.
It propelled Rast into a giant chip lead before Scott “gunning4you” Seiver (2nd) was all-in again just a few hands later holding 4♦ 6♣ 3♥ 9♥ 7♣ which was dominated by Brian ‘tsarrast’ Rast’s (1st) 8♥ 5♣ 7♦ 3♦ 6â™ , to give him his first SCOOP victory and a $36,502.50 pay-day. Congratulations Brian!
SCOOP-52-H: $1,050 NL 2-7 Single Draw results
Entrants: 157 (73 unique, 84 re-entries)

Total prize pool: $157,000 

Places paid: 21 

1. Brian ‘tsarrast’ Rast (USA) $36,502.50

2. Scott ‘gunning4you’ Seiver (Canada) $25,120.00 

3. Adamyid (Mexico) $17,270.00
4. ImluckNuts (Russia) $12,560.00
5. RunGodlike (United Kingdom) $9,420.00

6. bigfox86 (United Kingdom) $7,065.00
7. bencb789 (Austria) $5,495.00
