If you host it they will come.
PokerStars players flocked to Event #17 $22 No-Limit Hold'em with one rebuy and one add-on Friday afternoon. The event drew 9,657 entries, who rebought 6,546 times and made 6,776 add-ons to create a whopping prize pool of $459,580. A total of 1,620 players got paid, but they all had their eyes on the $62,732.68 first-place prize. Not too shabby for a tournament with a $22 initial buy-in.
After about 12 and a half hours we were finally down to our final nine.
The final table consisted of these players and their stack sizes:
Seat 1 - gwaag 11,437,007
Seat 2 - -kingkcaz- 9,567,292
Seat 3 - JC 2808 2,362,432
Seat 4 - LATRUITE07 13,416,387
Seat 5 - DazzleO 3,862,251
Seat 6 - roul69 2,698,587
Seat 7 - TheChosenWun 6,986,837
Seat 8 - Progambler 78 4,794,468
Seat 9 - BrandonPL 9,098,239
One of the short stacks was the first to go. Playing 100K/200K blinds with a 25K ante, gwaag raised it to 470,000 from middle position and roul69 re-raised all-in for 2.68 million from the small blind. Gwaag made the call with T♣ T♠ while roul69 showed A♦ Q♥ for a race. Roul69's engine sputtered, however, when the board came 5♥ 3♥ J♦ 7♣ K♣ to knock him out in ninth for $2,872.38 in prize money.
Another short stack suffered fatal stack erosion minutes later. Gwaag raised to 570,000 from the cutoff. JC 2808 pushed all-in for 2.22 million from the small blind, LATRUITE07 called in the big blind and gwaag folded. The hands were shown as:
JC 2808 J♣ J♠
LATRUITE07 A♣ A♠
The board ran out 2♣ 8♣ 5♥ Q♣ A♦ and JC 2808 earned $4,595.81 for his time at the table.
BrandonPL took a big chip lead on this hand when gwaag's relentless aggression got the best of him:
BrandonPL soon added to that stack after he raised to 678K from under the gun plus one and LATRUITE07 pushed over the top all-in for 4.94 million from the button. BrandonPL called with A♦ Q♠ and was more than a two-to-one dog against the K♦ K♠ of LATRUITE07, but the flop came 8♣ 3♥ A♣ and the turn 6♥ and river A♠ were no help to LATRUITE07, who finished in seventh for $9,191.61.
On the very next hand, playing 150K/300K blinds with a 37,500 ante, DazzleO pushed all-in for 2.93 million from the button and Progambler 78 called for 1.39 million all-in in the big blind. Progambler 78 held J♦ 8♠ and was dominated against the J♠ Q♥ held by DazzleO. The board ran out J♣ 7♦ 3♦ 4♠ K♠ to end Progambler 78's day in sixth place. This player earned $13,787.41.
With five players left the tournament was paused to discuss a deal. BrandonPL held about 65 percent of the chips in play and a chop by chip count was unfeasible as it would have given him about $75,000, or more than $12,000 more than first place money. BrandonPL said he would take $59,000 to allow fatter payouts to the four short stacks, but not all of the players agreed to the numbers and play continued.
DazzleO pushed 6 million in from the button with K♣ Q♣ and ran into the A♦ Q♦ of TheChosenWun, but then doubled with pocket kings. Finally while playing 200K/400K blinds with a 50K ante, DazzleO pushed all-in for 1.12 million from the button and BrandonPL called from the small blind. The hands were A♥ 4♦ for BrandonPL and 5♥ 5♣ for DazzleO. The board ran out 3♠ 9♠ K♠ 7♥ A♦, resulting in a heartbreak river for the dazzler. DazzleO got $18,383.21 for the fifth-place finish.
On the very next hand gwaag pushed all-in from the small blind to cover the 1.68 million stack of -kingkcaz-, who made the call with 7♣ 8♣. Gwaag held Q♠ 6♣ and the hand held on a board of A♣ 9♥ 9♦ 4♣ K♦. -kingkcaz- earned $22,979.01 for fourth.
The remaining three players again discussed a deal, but could not agree to the numbers. Immediately afterwards, TheChosenWun pushed an 8 million stack with A♦ 2♣ into the 9♦ 9♠ held by BrandonPL and spiked an ace on the flop to double. A few hands later gwaag doubled through BrandonPL with A♦ K♦ versus A♣ 9♠. After the two opponents chipped away at BrandonPL's once monstrous stack the tournament was paused yet again to discuss a chop of the remaining prize money. BrandonPL would have now gotten $50K by chip count, with the other players receiving around $40 million. TheChosenWun, who had held out for more in earlier discussions, would not agree to a deal unless the chop was even so play continued.
That holdout looked fortuitous for TheChosenWun when he doubled through gwaag with A♣ Q♣ against A♠ T♦ to take a slight chip lead over BrandonPL with a stack of almost 31 million. TheChosenWun then busted gwaag after gwaag limped in the small blind for 500K and called for his remaining 15.8 million chips after TheChosenWun pushed all-in. TheChosenWun held 5♦ 5♣ versus the A♣ 3♣ of gwaag. The board ran out T♥ Q♦ T♦ J♥ 3♠ to send gwaag to the rail $32,170 richer in third place.
A few hands later BrandonPL was able to square up the match when he got all-in holding A♦ K♦ against the 9♦ 9♥ of TheChosenWun and spiked a king on the flop. Finally, a deal was agreed upon after the chips were even -- $52,045 for BrandonPL and $52,037.16 for TheChosenWun with the two remaining competitors playing for $3,000 left over and the SCOOP Champion's watch.
TheChosenWun took control in this hand:
TheChosenWun finished BrandonPL off when he raised to 1.44 million from the button and called a 7.8 million all-in push from BrandonPL. BrandonPL was ahead with K♠ 6♦ against the Q♥ J♣ of TheChosenWun, but the community cards ran out 9♦ 4♥ J♥ T♠ 3♦ to give TheChosenWun the pot and the win. The champion earned the additional $3,000 and the watch.
The final table finishes and payouts were (first two spots reflect the deal):
First - TheChosenWun ($55,037.16)
Second - BrandonPL ($52,045)
Third - gwaag ($32,170.61)
Fourth - -kingkcaz- ($22,979.01)
Fifth - DazzleO ($18,383.21)
Sixth - Progambler 78 ($13,787.41)
Seventh - LATRUITE07 ($9,191.61)
Eighth - JC 2808 ($4,595.81)
Ninth - roul69 ($2,872.38)
