Shorthanded no-limit hold’em is a walk on the razor’s edge. It’s a game that’s not suited for weak-tight players or for the faint of heart. 6-max tournaments test your bravado, range-reading ability, and willingness to jump into the darkness of the abyss without even thinking twice.
Shorthanded NLHE is tons of fun to play, but difficult to master. With the exception of PLO, I can’t think of another game which caters to card-playing adventurists. SCOOP Event #1-Medium ($215 NLHE, 6-max) attracted 3,824 runners, thrill seekers, and adventurists. The top 480 places received a cut of the $764,800 prize pool. $118,544.94 was set aside for first place along with a sleek SCOOP champion’s watch courtesy of PokerStars.
Although a slew of Team PokerStars Pros entered this event like Maxim Lykov, Fatima DeMelo, Vicky Coren, Geroge Danzer, unfortunately none of them advanced to the money.
A trio of Team Pros cashed, including the U.K.’s J.P. Kelly (415th), Team Asia Pro Bryan Huang from Singapore (282nd), and Greece Team Pro Alexis “J0hnny_Dr@m@” Zervos (244th place). J0hnny_Dr@m@ made waves last year when he shipped WCOOP Event #5 NLHE 6-max Shootout.
Despite the massive field, over 3,800 players busted out on Day 1 including the tournament’s bubble boy, Pok_Joel from Mexico, who finished unceremoniously in 481st place.
When action was suspended at the end of Level 33, only 20 players remained with spielverderb from Germany leading the way with over 3.6 million in chips.
Day 2: A dawn of a new day
When action resumed on Day 2, the last 20 players were playing five-handed on four different tables. Spain’s ChuteBoxe972 jumped out to the lead when his A♣ A♦ held up against Picasso 2’s Q♥ Q♣ . Picasso entered his blue phase as he hit the road in 19th place.ChuteBoxe972 chipped up to 5.5 million with three tables to go, and increased his lead to 6.9 million with two tables left.
Fabrice “fabsoul” Soulier began Day 2 among the short stacks and despite his habitual chip deficiency, he still squeaked into the final table. He cracked Aces, which helped his cause. In fabsoul’s defense, he shoved with pocket tens and ran into spielverderb’s A♣ A♦ . The poker gods were kind to fabsoul (and on the flip side, utterly cruel to spielverderb) when the board ran out 8â™ 7♥ 3♣ 9♦ 6♦ .
Bigfaiber from Colombia busted in 10th. With his elimination, his vocal supporters on the rail also disappeared. They had kept Day 2 festive from the get-go with chants of “Vamooooooooos!” lighting up the chat box whenever bigfaiber dragged a pot.
Hour of bubbles
The final table bubble lasted for almost an hour as the final seven players danced around before one of them finally went home. During the initial ten minutes of hand-for-hand, spielverderb exploited his three-handed table with two short stacks (fabsoul and joemac17) and surged over the 10 million mark. But the short-stacks were tenacious and not about to give up. Over the next ten-minute period, the shorties fought back against the bully and spielverderb dropped a couple of million to slip into second place. Over at the other four-handed table, flysohigh87 chipped up to 8.8 million to secure the top spot.
After the first half hour of hand-for-hand on the final table bubble, spielverderb regained the lead and was closing in on 10 million, meanwhile, fabsoul clung to the short stack with 2.7 million.
Joemac17 avoided elimination with a timely double up. He made a stand with A♥ 2♣ but trailed spielverderb’s Q♣ Q♥ . Joemac17 flopped a Wheel draw and got there on the turn. He decimated spielverderb’s Queens and doubled up with a straight. All of a sudden, joemac17 went from 6th in chips to sitting on a stack worth almost 7.5 million.
Short-stacked fabsoul avoided elimination on the final table bubble when he doubled up with Big Slick against joemac17’s A♦ 5â™ .
After almost an hour of hand-for-hand play, Dachish open-shoved with K♥ J♦ for his last 2.25 million and flysohigh87 called with A♠Q♣ . A Queen on the flop sealed the win for flysohigh87, and Dachish bubbled off the final table in 7th place, collecting $8,412.80.
Flysohigh87 soaring with lead at the final table
The final table began with flysohigh87 in the top spot, sitting on a stack worth 12.6 million. Meanwhile, fabsoul brought up the rear as the short stack.
SCOOP Event #1-M – Final Table:
Seat 1: flysohigh87 (12,652,844)
Seat 2: StigR (4,923,038)
Seat 3: fabsoul (3,858,541)
Seat 4: ChuteBoxe972 (4,256,116)
Seat 5: joemac17 (4,666,799)
Seat 6: spielverderb (7,882,662)
Joemac17 won the first sizable pot of the final table when he doubled through ChuteBoxe972. joemac17’s A♥ 9♣ was ahead of ChuteBoxe972’s Q♦ 10♣ , and he improved with an Ace on the flop but ChuteBoxe97 turned a gutshot straight draw. The river was a blank and Joemac17’s pair of Aces held up. He won the 8.5 million pot and leaped into second overall.
Germany vs. Germany
The final table had a pair of Germans, spielverderb and flysohigh87, both of whom held the top spot for a bit on Day 2. They were among the two of the biggest stacks left in the tournament, yet that did not deter them from going to war with one another.
Spielverderb opened from the cutoff to 423,999. Flysohigh87 reraised to 919,999 from the button. Both blinds folded and spielverderb smooth-called. The flop was Q♦ J♣ 10♦ . Spielverderb checked, flysohigh87 fired out 1,299,999, and spielverderb check-raised all-in for over 5.5 million. Flysohigh87 had him covered and called. Flysohigh87 had flopped a set of Jacks, but spielverderb flopped the joint holding Kâ™ 9♣ . The turn was the K♥ and the river was the 8♦ . Flysohigh87 failed to improve to a full house and he was crippled to 2.75 million. Spielverderb dragged the largest pot in the tournament at that time — 13,303,102 in all.
Flysohigh87 eliminated in 6th place
Short-stacked flysohigh87 open-shoved with Aâ™ Q♥ for 2.7 million. Joemac17 called from the big blind when he woke up with pocket jacks. Although flysohigh87 flopped a Broadway straight draw, he failed to get there and busted out in 6th place. The German won $13,384 and became the first player eliminated from the final table. At that juncture, spielverderb held the lead with 13.7 million to joemac17’s 11 million.
ChuteBoxe972 eliminated in 5th place
It didn’t take more than seven minutes before a second player would meet his fate. ChuteBoxe972 open-shoved for 2.35 million and joemac17 called again from the big blind. ChuteBoxe972 was behind with A♥ 9♣ against joemac17’s A♣ J♦ . The jack of spades on the flop sealed ChuteBoxe972’s fate with a 5th place finish. The Spaniard collected $24,534.78.
With four players to go, joemac17 seized the lead with almost 12.9 million. Spielverderb was not far behind in second with 12 million. A relatively quiet StigR had stayed out of the fray and avoided playing big pots, but banged away at small ones to hover around 10 million. Fabsoul trailed everyone with 3.2 million.
Fabrice “fabsoul” Soulier eliminated in 4th place
A couple minutes later, we had a third elimination. Spielverderb min-raised to 500,000 and fabsoul shoved for his last 3.7 million. Fabsoul’s 7♦ 7â™ were ahead of spielverderb’s 2♣ 2♦ , but the deuces prevailed. Fabsoul rivered a four-flush, but with two nines on the flop and the 2â™ on the turn, spielverderb improved to a full house. Despite nursing a gaunt stack for all of Day 2, fabsoul remarkably clawed and scratched his way to an impressive fourth-place finish. The French pro living in the United Kingdom won $40,534.40 for his efforts.
With three to go, spielverderb was out front with 16 million, joemac17 held 13.1 million, and StigR was the short stack by default with 9 million. A potential deal was briefly mentioned, but quickly shot down by joemac17 when he proclaimed, “I am def not chopping.”
Flopping boats
Poker is an easy game when you flop a full house. Just ask joemac17. He held A♣ 9♠and hit a monster with a fortuitous flop of A♥ A♠9♥ . He bet 600,000 and spielverderb called. The 5♦ fell on the turn and spielverderb check-called a 1.25 million bet. The river was the K♦ . Spielverderb check-called a 3.55 million bet from joemac17. Spielverderb mucked his hand as joemac17 won a pot in excess of 12.2 million. That hand propelled joemac17 over 21.5 million, as spielverderb slipped into the basement with 6.3 million, and StigR hung out in the middle with 10.4 million.
Spielverderb eliminated in 3rd place
It didn’t take long before spielverderb made a final stand. Joemac17 opened, and spielverderb shoved with K♣ Q♥ . A priced-in Joemac17 called with 8♣ 7♦ . He flopped an eight and that was good enough to win the pot. Spielverderb busted out in third place for a $63,478.40 score.
Heads-up: joemac17’s 2.7-1 advantage
When heads-up began, joemac17’s was way ahead of StigR…
Heads-up chip counts:
Seat 2: StigR (10,343,075)
Seat 5: joemac17 (27,896,925)
Their match barely lasted five minutes and totaled a mere 14 hands before joemac17 emerged victorious. The first big chip movement occurred on the 12th hand of heads-up play when joemac17 won a 6.9 million pot after flopping a pair of queens holding Q♥ 3♦ .
StigR eliminated in 2nd place; joemac17 ships the watch!
With almost a 3-1 lead, it appeared that joemac17 could just sit back and slowly chip away at StigR’s stack. But, that didn’t happen. On the 14th hand of heads-up, StigR opened with a min-raise to 500,000. Joemac17 popped him to 1.4 million. StigR four-bet shoved for his entire 9.3 million stack and joemac17 called.
joemac17: 9♣ 9â™
StigR: 3♥ 3♣
The board ran out J♣ 7â™ 4â™ Kâ™ 10♥ and StigR’s run had come to an end.
The Norwegian, StigR, won $86,422.40 for a valiant runner-up performance. Meanwhile, joemac17 won the entire tournament for a $118,544.94 score. He also gets to show off his snazzy new SCOOP watch.
SCOOP Event #1-M: $215 NL Hold’em (6-Max) Final Table Results:
1st: joemac17 – $118.544.94
2nd: StigR – $86,422.40
3rd: spielverderb – $63,478.40
4th: fabsoul – $40,534.40
5th: ChuteBoxe972 – $24,534.78
6th: flysohigh87 – $13,384
Congrats to joemac17 for his SCOOP victory.
For more SCOOP highlights, take a peak at “Inside SCOOP,” the daily web show where you can get all your daily SCOOP fix.
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