Doing well in an 8-Game Mix tournament requires a warehouse full of poker skills with flop, draw, and stud games in the rotation. The low version of the SCOOP 8-Game tournament brought a large crowd looking to show their chops to the world. 2,780 players registered for the tournament creating...more

David "WhooooKidd" Baker finally got it. Baker had come so close to his second SCOOP watch several times this series. Baker finished 2nd in the $2,100 NLHE near the beginning of the SCOOP and then finished 3rd in Event #28-H ($2,100 Stud Hi/Lo) just two days ago. He made another...more

The "high" SCOOP events always attract tough, competitive fields, and Event #31-H, a $2,100 buy-in no-limit hold'em "knockout" event, was no exception. Spread over two days, the tourney saw tough competition from start to finish as players grittily defended their knockout bounties, with highland of Canada ultimately being the only...more

Event 35-Low of SCOOP 2013 called for a little NLHE turbo rebuy action. Given the low price point and the chance for a second bullet if the first bullet blew up in a player's face, turnout was huge. Almost 12,000 players vied for the SCOOP title in Event 35-L. At...more

Turbo events are perfect for impatient people whom want instant gratification. Turbo events are tournaments specifically designed for people seeking extreme, high-pressure situations. This is not the type of tournament for someone with alligator blood pumping through their veins. Slow and steady does not win this particular race. Instead, of...more

It can be intimidating going up against players who have a history with SCOOP wins, as well as a proven Team PokerStars Pro. But meneerbeer stayed focused and persevered despite the odds. Even during heads-up and facing aDrENalin710, who just won a SCOOP two days prior and clearly had momentum,...more

If the 2012 SCOOP was the Year of Shaun Deeb, 2013 is shaping up to be the Year of the Repeat. With over 30 events still on the docket, six players have already won their second career SCOOP titles: George Danzer, David "Gunslinger3" Bach, Charlie "JIZOINT" Combes, Anders "Donald" Berg,...more

There are days in poker when you can't even win the blinds and days where it seems as if you can do no wrong. At the final table of SCOOP 2013 Event 31-M, $215 NLHE (Knockout), it looked as if Steve "Illini213" Barshak was going to have one of the...more

With the possible exception of poker players who have a constitutional bias to playing so tight they can safely fall asleep at the table, everybody loves a knockout tournament. Though it is possible to run deep in tournaments without knocking anyone out, it's never a preferred path. So knockout tourneys...more

I don't have too much to report regarding my own play of late. However, I have been delivering some seriously good vibes to my friends who keep going deep in big tourneys. In fact, it seems like recently everyone around me in our little entourage has been doing well, and...more

On May 23, 2003, I was a television news reporter. I played online poker on the side. I'd already fallen in love with the movie Rounders. I played local home games regularly. I'd been to Vegas the year before and cut my teeth at the Bellagio. Two weeks earlier, a...more

It's tough to be a live-plus-online pro in Asia. Unlike Europe, which has lots of live events fairly close together and friendly online tournament times, Asian live tournaments are far-flung and major online tournaments start in the middle of the night. Since the start of the year from Singapore to...more

Do you know George Jorj95' Lind III? You should. Not only is he the first player to have crossed the monumental 10,000,000 VPP barrier, but the member of Team PokerStars Online is also contesting for the SCOOP 2013 leader board. Lind has racked up 15 cashes in the series so...more

About a month before the EPT, I received an invitation to participate in the Million Euro Cash Game at Monte Carlo. One million euro buyin, no-limit hold'em, blinds of 1k/2k. It was to be, I believe, the biggest non-private cash game ever run in Europe, and definitely the biggest one...more

In the early part of my career in poker, Shane Schleger became one of the first people I identified as a real person with a fake name. That is, everyone called him "shaniac," and that was cool, because that's who he was. Over time, it became common to call real...more