Friday, 29th March 2024 02:11
Home / Uncategorized / SCOOP: Nzame defeats human to win Event #7-Medium ($162 NLHE HU)
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Heads-up tournaments take on a different tone from the moment of registration. Players look through the list to see if they have notes on particular players, as it’s going to be a one-on-one battle from the start. There are also no late entries allowed in the event, and anyone has the possibility of receiving a bye in the first round if the total number of players is not the right number (32, 64, 128, etc.). Many variables are in play in a heads-up event.

That brought us to Event 7, the no-limit hold’em event scheduled as a heads-up match play tournament. The medium level – this one – required a buy-in of $150 + $12 and offered a $150K guarantee. A quick look through early registrants indicated that there would be some tough matches ahead, but the unknowns or lesser-known players could produce some surprises.

Action began at 11:00 ET, and the numbers were in immediately:

Players: 1,942
Guarantee: $150,000
Actual prize pool: $291,300
Paid players: 256

Round 1 got underway with numerous players receiving byes. Players involved in matches started with 5,000 chips.

There were a number of Team PokerStars players who didn’t make it through the first round of action: Team Pros Joep “Pappe_Ruk” Bijgaart, Nuno Coelho, Vicky Coren, Jonathan Duhamel, Pat Pezzin, Martin “AABenjaminAA” Hruby, and Bryan Huang; and Team Online’s Anders “Donald” Hoyer Berg, Fredy “sirfreddy83” Torres, Kristian “CharismA3” Martin, and Diego “vgree22” Brunelli.

Round 2 started approximately one hour and 45 minutes into the tournament, and players were off and running, many eliminated in the first few minutes of play.

Team PokerStars Pro Gualter Salles was one who failed to make it to the next round, and others who followed included Gualter Salles, Alexios “J0hnny_Dr@m@” Zervos, Arnaud “frenchkiss” Mattern, Jan Heitmann, and Toni Judet.

kicked off more than three hours into the event with 512 players. This was the round that would determine who made the money, as only the 256 winners of these matches were guaranteed the minimum payout of $291.30.

Three more players carrying the PokerStars logo next to their names exited the field without a cash: Georgios “gkap13” Kapalas of Greece, and Team PokerStars Pros Lex Veldhuis and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier.

Round 4 started with 256 players and thinned the field to only 128, and everyone who lost their match at that time cashed for $291.30, and one representing PokerStars in that group was Stavros “IDOLLS” Kalfas, pegged as the 202nd finisher.

Round 5 took the 128 players down to only 64, and that process left numerous players with a $582.60 payout. Team PokerStars Pro George Danzer was one of them, leaving in 122nd place.

Round 6 reduced the field from 64 to 32, and payouts for those eliminated during that round were at the $873.90 mark. Players like SirWatts, and joao bauer were among those unable to move on to the next phase of the event.

The last Team PokerStars Pro standing, Sebastian Ruthenberg, was eliminated in 48th place.

SCOOP - Sebastian Ruthenberg.jpg

Round 7 saw more tension, as the field of 32 was reduced to 16, and payouts for that level were $1,747.80. However, making it through would guarantee nearly another $1K, and pay jumps were set to exponentially grow from there. Well into Level 7 of that portion of the festivities, Edgaraz was eliminated in 17th place.

Round 8 was set up to thin the field from 16 to eight players, and casualties were to be paid $2,621.70 for their efforts. The matches played out with the following results:

drygo 1 defeated Skint Paddy
Nzame defeated AKSchwan
JSMDARKMOS defeated Lacertin
Koen911 defeated zegebe
2Maise4U defeated 0Human0
toddthedon defeated tnapoleao
human defeated dalix88
00oasis00 defeated Paulus_rus

Round 9 – Quarterfinals

Action started just past the 11-hour mark of the tournament and guaranteed finishers of that portion of the event $8,010.75. The four matches got underway with the usual 5,000 chips per player and blinds of 25/50 in Level 1.

The first match to complete was at Table 3, where the last hand saw drygo 1 risk a short stack with 7♦ 6♦ against the A♣ 10♦ of toddthedon. The board of 9♠ 5♠ 10♠ 9♦ 5♣ was interesting but changed nothing. Drygo 1 of Norway departed in eighth place with $8,010.75.

Next up was Table 2, where Koen911 pushed all-in with A♠ 8♣ , and Nzame showed Q♥ 4♥ . But the board of Q♦ 3♥ K♥ 5♦ 8♥ gave Nzame the upper hand, so to speak, and Koen911 was out in seventh place with $8,010.75.

Table 3 finished just after the 12-hour break, when 2Maise4U called all-in with Aâ™  7â™  against the K♥ 8♥ of JSMDARKMOS. The cards fell hard – A♥ 9â™  8♣ 8♦ 3♦ – to give JSMDARKMOS trip eights and leave 2Maise4U out in sixth place with $8,010.75.

And within moments, Table 4 found 00oasis00 all-in with Q♣ 10♣ and human covering with 5♣ 5♦ . The board came 8♠ 8♥ A♦ 5♠ 9♣ for the full house, and 00oasis00 was out in fifth place with $8,010.75.

Round 10 – Semifinals

The semifinals round was in action with only four players remaining, each guaranteed a minimum $16,021.50 payday for making it so far in the tournament. The matches were set up as follows:

Table 1: human (Austria) vs. toddthedon (Canada)
Table 2: Nzame (Germany) vs. JSMDARKMOS (Spain)

Very soon into the matches, all four players decided to pause the tournament to look at the chop numbers and discuss a deal. Players on both tables had to agree to any proposed numbers, and it was done with relative ease. All players decided to take $20,000 each, reserve an extra $9,781 for the second place finisher, and leave another $18,000 and the SCOOP watch for the winner.

With that done and dusted, the players resumed action.

The Table 1 match saw toddthedon dominating human through much of the play, though human did double once when A-K outplayed pocket nines. Human never regained the chip lead, though, and continued to lose ground.

The Table 2 battle remained even through most of the rounds, though JSMDARKMOS did jump out to a lead in Level 3. But Nzame took the following opportunity to double up and take complete control of the table:

RSS readers click through to see replay

A few hands later, JSMDARKMOS moved all-in for 240 chips with J♣ 7♣ , and Nzame called with Q♦ 4♥ . The board of K♥ 2♦ 5♠ J♠ Q♠ rivered the best hand for Nzame, and JSMDARKMOS was out in fourth place with $20,000.00.

Meanwhile, human worked the stacks back to even on Table 1 and moved slightly into the chip lead. After the 13-hour break, human broke away from toddthedon, but the latter got his footing and evened the stacks again. But human took the reins and didn’t look back in Level 6. The last hand finally came about when toddthedon pushed all-in for 3,610 chips with Aâ™  K♥ , but human made the easy call with A♣ A♦ . The flop of 2♦ 8â™  Kâ™  brought hope for the underdog, but the 3♥ and J♣ that finished the hand left toddthedon out in third place with $20,000.00.

Round 11 – Finals

The last match of the night started with the two finalists with 5,000 chips each:

human (Austria) vs. Nzame (Germany)

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Nzame took a pot worth 2,000 chips to quickly leap into the lead, but human began to experience some technical problems with a disconnection. That problem was fixed, and human began to narrow the difference in chip counts between the two. But Nzame again took the lead and didn’t look back.

Human struggled to gain ground, and this hand was part of the problem:

RSS readers click through to see replay

Eventually, human was down to only 855 chips and pushed all-in with K♠ 9♠ on a 7♠ 3♠ Q♠ board. Luckily, Nzame called with A♠ 7♦ , and the Q♥ and A♦ cards allowed the flush to give human a much-needed double-up.

In Level 3, the two tangled again. Nzame was the one who made the all-in move with 7â™  7♦ , and human called all-in with A♣ 8♣ . The board was an eye-catching 4♣ 4â™  4♦ Aâ™  7♣ that brought full house over full house, with Nzame’s sevens full of fours the best hand. Human had to accept second place and the $29,781.00 that went with it.

Nzame of Germany won the tournament, and along with it the SCOOP title, the winner’s watch, and $29,781.00 in cash. Congrats!

SCOOP Event #7-M Results (per four-way chop):

1st place: Nzame ($38,000.00)*
2nd place: human ($29,781.00)*
3rd place: toddthedon ($20,000.00)*
4th place: JSMDARKMOS ($20,000.00)*
5th place: 00oasis00 ($8,010.75)
6th place: 2Maise4U ($8,010.75)
7th place: Koen911 ($8,010.75)
8th place: drygo 1 ($8,010.75)

*players involved in four-way deal

Information about SCOOP is easy to find, especially if we provide the links! You can browse the tournament schedule, list of satellites, and the leaderboard, and you can check out the Inside SCOOP daily web show.

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