The first PLO event of the 2009 SCOOP series was Event 2, the one that drew in 7,622 players for an impressive start to the games. But two days later, PokerStars put another one on the schedule, this one with the added intrigue of one rebuy and one add-on, and the PLO antics ensued.
When the first hour of the tournament was in the books, the numbers were given. There were 4,344 players in the $20 + $2 buy-in event, and they managed 2,967 rebuys and 2,096 add-ons to make for a $188,140 prize pool, well beyond the $50,000 guarantee. With that tremendous prize pool for such a low buy-in, no wonder players are flocking to the SCOOP tournaments!
The action ran at a consistently fast pace, as can happen in a PLO tournament, and the bubble neared just past the three-hour mark of the event. It was close to the end of Level 13 when ATXeconomics was forced to accept the bubble position as the 841st place finisher, leaving 840th place and the first cash of the event to gutf5, who took away $50.79 for hanging on.
As play continued, several Team PokerStars Pros made their exits from the tournament. Though Victor Ramdin just missed the money in 936th place, Katja Thater took some home with a 663rd place finish. Marcin Horecki finished in 483rd place, but the last PokerStars representative standing was Maria “Maridu” Mayrinck, one of the most recently added members of the team and former Brazilian PokerStars blogger. Maridu finished in 124th place for a $150.52 cash in a grand showing for the team.
Nearing the 9.5 hour mark in the tournament, the action closed in on the seven players remaining, as hand-for-hand ensued at the two final tables. And the bubble finally burst when maxbroyer pushed all-in in response to an initial raise from I Am Benjami, who called the raise with Q♠J♣ 3♠A♣ . maxbroyer showed 9♦ A♠J♠K♦ , and the two watched the board run out 3♣ 4♣ 9♥ 3♦ 10♦ to give trips to I Am Benjami. That sent maxbroyer out in seventh place with $1,927.85 to soothe any woes.
With that, the final table was set as follows:
Seat 1: SDIMOPOULOS (1,531,778 in chips)
Seat 2: MrNyNe (6,515,750 in chips)
Seat 3: cnew27 (6,000,542 in chips)
Seat 4: LexLuthor85 (4,023,121 in chips)
Seat 5: Simon Sun (3,979,380 in chips)
Seat 6: I Am Benjami (3,562,929 in chips)
As the action amongst the six finalists got underway at the last table of the tournament, the chat ensued immediately, with several players calling to look at chip-chop numbers. During that chat-box conversation, cnew27 commented about his sixth place finish in the $2,100 high PLO event and his set over set elimination. He final tabled two tournaments in the same series at the high and low levels! Impressive. And even more so as he was in good shape to take down a title in this one and add a few more bucks to his PokerStars account.
Moments later, cnew27 put his tournament life on the line, and with the following hand, doubled up and took a massive chip lead over his competitors:
And cnew27 wasn’t going to settle down. A few hands later, a hand began with MrNyNe, cnew27, and LexLuthor85 going to see a 2♦ 7♣ 10♦ flop. That brought an immediate bet from cnew27 and a raise from LexLuthor85, which prompted MrNyNe to fold. cnew27 then reraised it, and LexLuthor85 called all-in with K♦ 2♣ 9♦ K♣ and the overpair. But cnew27 showed 8â™ 10♣ Aâ™ 10♥ for the set. The 3♣ on the turn and 4â™ on the river changed nothing and sent LuxLuthor85 out in sixth place with $2,822.11.
It was then that the five players decided to see the chip-chop numbers, but when players started asking cnew27 to give up some of the number that was given to him, he refused. With no deal to be made, play resumed.
On the first hand back, cnew27 was at it again. It started with a raise from SDIMOPOULOS, but cnew27 applied pressure with a reraise, which was called by SDIMOPOULOS. The flop came Q♠9♣ 6♣ , at which point, SDIMOPOULOS pushed all-in for his last 181,777 chips with K♣ J♥ 10♣ J♠. cnew27 called with 4♦ K♥ K♦ 3♥ . The 7♠came on the turn, and the Q♦ failed to give SDIMOPOULOS the flush and left him ousted in fifth place with $5,333.77.
Again, the players wanted to see some chip-chop numbers, and this time it got complicated. Conversations strayed into items in their refrigerators and video games before they were able to focus, come up with numbers they liked, and agree to the following, which included $1,000 to be set aside for the eventual winner:
Seat 2: MrNyNe (6,205,057 in chips) = $18,000.00
Seat 3: cnew27 (14,314,254 in chips) = $28,200.37
Seat 5: Simon Sun (2,366,259 in chips) = $12,233.57
Seat 6: I Am Benjami (2,727,930 in chips) = $13,000.00
Evidently ready to gamble after all of the chatter, the first hand back from the break turned into a big one. The preflop action resulted in Simon Sun and I Am Benjami all-in, and cnew27 covering them both. Their hands were:
cnew27: 5♦ 8♥ K♠K♥
I Am Benjami: K♣ A♥ Aâ™ 2â™
Simon Sun: 10♣ J♠10♠6♦
The board came 9♥ 10♥ Q♠3♣ K♦ to give Simon Sun the straight and the main pot, and cnew27 took the side pot with his set. That left I Am Benjami out in fourth place with $13,000.
Simon Sun soon became short stacked and was ready to put the chips into the pot, though only some went in preflop to MrNyNe’s raise. The two saw the 5♥ 6♥ 10♣ flop, and both checked to see the 3â™ on the turn. Another 800,000 went in from each player. The 4♦ river prompted an all-in bet from Simon Sun with 6♣ 9♦ Kâ™ 6♦ and his trips, but MrNyNe was quick to call with K♥ Jâ™ 8â™ 7♦ with the rivered straight. Suddenly, Simon Sun was set in third place with a $12,233.57 prize.
Heads-up action then began with the following chip counts:
Seat 2: MrNyNe (11,993,834 in chips)
Seat 3: cnew27 (13,619,666 in chips)
It seems that both players wanted the first place SCOOP title and champion’s watch, and both were ready to fight for it. MrNyNe consistently chipped up over the first few hands to take the chip lead, but cnew27 came back to double through him with a higher straight on a 2♥ 8â™ 3♦ 5â™ 6♣ board. With cnew27 then holding more than a 2-to-1 chip lead, the two got involved in the following game-changing hand:
With MrNyNe in the lead again, the next hand decided it all. MrNyNe raised to 480,000, cnew27 reraised to 1.44 million, MrNyNe popped it up to 4.32 million, and cnew27 pushed all-in. MrNyNe called with J♥ J♦ K♥ 8♦ , and cnew27 showed 8♥ A♥ A♦ 3♥ . The board ran out Jâ™ 6♦ 9♣ Q♣ K♣ , and the trip jacks took it. cnew27 had to settle for a second place finish – his second final table cash of the evening – and the previously agreed upon $28,200.37 for it.
MrNyNe won $19,000 for first place, but he took the SCOOP title and champion’s watch. Congratulations!
SCOOP Event 06-Low Results:
1st place: MrNyNe ($19,000.00)*
2nd place: cnew27 ($28,200.37)*
3rd place: Simon Sun ($12,233.57)*
4th place: I Am Benjami ($13,000.00)*
5th place: SDIMOPOULOS ($5,333.77)
6th place: LexLuthor85 ($2,822.11)
*based on four-way chop
Another SCOOP tournament is in the history books, but many remain on the schedule, all of which have satellite opportunities for those looking for entries at a fraction of the buy-in. Visit the SCOOP page for all of the details, the leaderboard page to track your favorite players, or the PokerStars.tv site for all of the event highlights.
Back to Top
