Friday, 29th March 2024 00:23
Home / Uncategorized / SCOOP: Hitthehole targets chip lead & takes it to Day 2 of Event #20-High
SCOOP logo 2010.gif

A two-day tournament is a welcome option for many players. It removes some of the stress of knowing that playing well could result in a 20-hour day of staring at the computer screen. The two-day event allows players running deep to break after about 12 hours of action, get some rest, and return fresh the following day to go for the win. Add a $2 million guarantee to the tournament, and players have themselves a fine option on the SCOOP schedule.

Event 20 (High) offered players that $2 million guarantee for a buy-in of $2,100 for no-limit hold’em action, though many of the competitors were able to win their seats for a fraction of that price through the numerous satellites and qualifiers offered prior to the event. Ultimately, there were 1,088 players entered in the tournament, which made for a prize pool of $2,176,000.

As the tournament proceeded throughout the first day, only 144 players were guaranteed to be paid from the gathered monies, and as that money bubble approached, Team PokerStars Pro Chris “Money800” Moneymaker busted just short of that point in 152nd place. But moving forward for the team were several pros – Martin “AABenjaminAA” Hruby who finished in 109th place, Victor Ramdin who left the party in 88th place, and Joe Hachem who exited in 80th place; though they cashed, the SCOOP title remained out of reach for another day.

Two Team PokerStars Pros remained in contention. George “Jorj95” Lind III and Thierry van den “BOKPOWER” Berg took the reins and pushed forward for the rest of the evening, though the former had a particularly tough table during the latter levels. At one point, as displayed in the following screen shot, Jorj95 was seated with Brock “t sporano” Parker, Phil “USCphildo” Collins, Adam “akat11” Katz, and Tom “hitthehole” Middleton.

2010 SCOOP - Event 20-H-Day1 Pic.JPG

Jorj95 then changed tables for the last level of the night. And BOKPOWER faced tough competition throughout the last few levels as well but was able to jump a few notches just before play ended for the night with some small hands.

One more level and much more action

Heading into Level 22, there were some big names near the top of the leaderboard, including Jeff “kobieshomie” Madsen and Sorel “zangbezan24” Mizzi. Player gwaag seemed to be holding steady in first place, but it was the sheer aggression of Tom “hitthehole” Middleton that allowed him to take over the top spot and push gwaag out of the way.



RSS readers click through to see replay

In fact, gwaag took the tough road out of the chip lead during that last level. When SobrapBoY doubled through gwaag, it wasn’t long before the latter tumbled right out of the tournament, finishing in 52nd place before the end of the level.



RSS readers click through to see replay

Only 49 remain…

When play stopped for the night, it was at the 12 hour and 40 minute mark of the tournament. Hitthehole was in the chip lead, but the other 48 players had their eyes on that position as well. Among the night’s finishers were Jorj95, who made the final table of Event 4-H only days before, and BOKPOWER, who finished at the final table in Event 2-M already in this series, representing PokerStars and looking to do the team proud during Day 2 of the event.

With 11 hours and 19 minutes to rest and regroup, the final 49 players left the tables as they were for the night. They will return at 2:00pm ET to play for the win, and action will begin at the top of Level 23, with blinds at 2,500/5,000 and a 625-chip ante. The 30-minute levels will continue until only one player is left standing.

SCOOP Event 20-High (NLHE) Top Chip Counts for 05/09/10 (Day 1 of 2):

1st place: hitthehole – 650,707 chips
2nd place: GAKingChaser – 590,098 chips
3rd place: Noctus – 542,754 chips
4th place: zangbezan24 – 482,808 chips
5th place: Ib6121 – 383,258 chips
6th place: kobeshomie – 358,632 chips
7th place: nepovezlovam – 349,534 chips
8th place: jackellwood – 345,927 chips
9th place: JotaGran49 – 331,235 chips
10th place: RugDoctor – 328,224 chips

21st place: Team PokerStars Pro George “Jorj95” Lind III
28th place: Team PokerStars Pro Thierry van den “BOKPOWER” Berg

The Spring Championship of Online Poker is far from over, with numerous events still on the schedule and corresponding qualifiers to offer seats at a fraction of the price. Check out the SCOOP website for details and PokerStars.TV for series highlights.

Study Poker with Pokerstars Learn, practice with the PokerStars app