Team PokerStars Pro Jose "Nacho" Barbero has played his fair share of SCOOP 2013 events. He was at it again in Event 29-M and made a respectably deep run, cashing for $573.43 by finishing in 100th place. He led Team Pros Jonathan Duhamel (400th, $213.73) and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospelier (645th, $177.24) to ITM finishes.

It was after 1am server time when the final table began with these nine players:

Seat 1: rounder3989 (4584432 in chips)
Seat 2: dyng247 (591453 in chips)
Seat 3: PutItAllYin (3512444 in chips)
Seat 4: gardze_wami (3119272 in chips)
Seat 5: dariepoker (3703514 in chips)
Seat 6: What0ver9000 (1563200 in chips)
Seat 7: holla@yoboy (1920518 in chips)
Seat 8: beed2 (4870103 in chips)
Seat 9: Passagero-LM (2200064 in chips)

Level 46: blinds 30k-60k, ante 7500
Average: 2.9 million (48 BBs)

The short stack, dyng247, was dying as the final table began, but tripled up, all in preflop, through rounder3989 and PutItAllYin by flopping a Broadway straight. Once that happened, everyone at the final table had at least 20 big blinds. They were going to play some poker.

It would be almost an hour before dyng247, despite that early triple-up, would go out as the 9th-place finisher. dyng247, sitting on the button with a pair of 10s, three-bet shoved for 1.3 million after Passagero-LM opened for the minimum 160k with a pair of 8s. dyng247 was in great shape when Passagero-LM called, but not even a set of 10s would have been enough after two more 8s hit the board, [qh][8c][7s][8s][ad].

From there it was the dariepoker show, as dariepoker would seemingly be the only player to accumulate chips for the next half hour. By the time holla@yoboy open-shoved for 868k from under the gun with [qc][td], dariepoker had about 7.4 million chips. dariepoker was also dealt two 7s that hand and re-shoved. 7s held up to send holla@yoboy crashing out in 8th place.

Two more players would hit the rail before the 3am break. gardze_wami lost a flip holding [as][ks] on what many would call an "action flop":

That hand didn't eliminate gardze_wami, but it did set up gardze_wami to be eliminated a few hands later. PutItAllYin finished the chop by making [kc][9s] stand up against gardze_wami's [5c][7h].

The other player to be eliminated was What0ver9000, who had a very quiet final table. What0ver9000's fateful final hand saw the chips go in on a classic flip, as What0ver9000 3-bet shoved for 1.86 million with [ad][kd] and was called by Passagero-LM, who had open-raised with [qd][qc]. What0ver9000 flopped two pair, [kc][9c][ac], but Passagero-LM caught a fourth club on the river to make a flush and knock What0ver9000 out.

The remaining five players played for five minutes after the 3am break before calling a halt to consider working out a deal. rounder3989, as the short stack, refused to consider a chip-chop deal, so the players requested ICM numbers and started working from there. The deal hit a sticking point when PutItAllYin, whose ICM number was $38,738, asked for $42,500.

That wasn't going to fly but the players started bartering to see what might. beed2 and dariepoker, as big stacks, each agreed to kick $800 towards PutItAllYin, with Passagero-LM contributing another $500. Everyone agreed to that deal.

All told it took 20 minutes to hammer out the deal, but when it was done only $6,000 remained to play for. The five players left didn't abandon all sanity and rationality and just fling the chips in, however. They continued to play patient poker, taking an hour to finish the rest of the tournament.

Things gave way first for rounder3989, who tried making a huge bluff in a pot that rounder3989 had three-bet pre-flop. Passagero-LM called that pre-flop three-bet, then called a 3-bet all-in shove on the [8s][7h][tc] flop as well. rounder3989's [ad][5s] was drawing nearly dead against Passagero-LM's flopped two pair, [td][8d]. A [9c] on the turn prolonged the sweat for everybody, but the river bricked out to end roudner3989's tournament.

That massive pot propelled Passagero-LM to a big chip lead, but beed2 made up some of the ground by eliminating dariepoker in 4th place. In the 80k-160k level, dariepoker tried three-bet shoving for 4.33 million with [qs][8s] after beed2 opened from first position for the minimum 320k. It didn't work out so well, as beed2 had two kings in the hole, which stood tall on a jack-high board.

Passagero-LM had a large chip lead with three players left. It seemed as though the other two players, beed2 and PutItAllYin, were battling between themselves for the honor of going up against Passagero-LM in heads-up play. PutItAllYin won that battle when beed2 opend shoved the small blind for 3.1 million and Passagero-LM called with pocket jacks. beed2's [7h][9h] mustered a heart flush draw by the turn, [tc][ah][4c][qh], but a [kc] closed the door on any comeback by beed2.

Passagero-LM started heads-up play with a chip lead that was almost 4-to-1. That lead remained largely intact (with minor fluctuations) for 24 hands. On the 25th hand, with blinds at 100k-200k, Passagero-LM opened the button to 400k. PutItAllYin three-bet to 875k, prompting Passagero-LM to make a massive four-bet all-in shove. PutItAllYin called off another 4.74 million with [ad][jh] and wound up in a coin flip situation against Passagero-LM's pocket deuces. Passagero-LM sealed the victory by flopping a third deuce.

All told, Passagero-LM's victory took three-and-a-half hours - and that was just the portion that took place at the final table. When you consider the 12 hours that took place yesterday, and the additional eight hours that Passagero-LM had to put in today before the final table began, you can see that Passagero-LM earned every bit of today's SCOOP title.

SCOOP 2013 Event 29-M $109 NLHE results

Players: 5213
Prizepool: $521,300
Places paid: 675
* denotes 5-way deal

1. Passagero-LM (Brazil) - $56,043.54*
2. PutItAllYin (Canada) - $40,838.72*
3. beed2 (Slovakia) - $48,418.71*
4. dariepoker (Romania) - $54,966.22*
5. rounder3989 (Germany) - $36,874.22*
6. What0ver9000 (Germany) - $16,942.25
7. gardze_wami (Poland) - $11,729.25
8. holla@yoboy (Canada) - $6,516,25
9. dyng247 (Sweden) - $4,170.40

Time's running out to join in on the fun of SCOOP 2013. Find out how you can get involved at the SCOOP home page.

Dave Behr is a freelance contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

The guarantee was left far behind when 18,102 players showed up, building a $181,020 prize pool and setting up a top prize of $19,534.41. By the time Day 1 came to a close there were only 217 players remaining, with the blinds and antes at 4K/8K/1K and these 10 players ahead of the rest:

Ansgar2000 2.43M
KING BAIT 1.87M
sakiss99 1.63M
guillemei 1.45M
caio_pimenta 1.41M
djalminha 1.38M
Igor Stipan 1.37M
z4muz 1.26M
superf1sh 1.12M
VinceVegaMFR 1.04M

Team PokerStars Pro's own ElkY sat in 23rd place as play resumed, with a stack of 833K. But as it turned out, neither the decorated pro nor most of the players in the top 10 to start Day 2 would still be playing by the time the final table arrived. ElkY bowed out in 66th place ($190.07). Cyprus' sakiss99 was the only one to make it through. The closest any of the others came was Germany's Ansgar2000, the incoming chip leader who busted in 27th ($325.83).

These eight players came from behind to join sakiss99 at the final table, which kicked off at 11:45 p.m. ET:

Seat 1: RONNALDO 9 (7,441,610 in chips)
Seat 2: kuuuukk (10,221,671 in chips)
Seat 3: Celfhtd (21,114,140 in chips)
Seat 4: MYspearGUN (8,187,550 in chips)
Seat 5: sakiss99 (7,148,485 in chips)
Seat 6: SHUR43 (7,014,445 in chips)
Seat 7: zeus-tseuji (17,273,468 in chips)
Seat 8: DDrunkson (2,025,913 in chips)
Seat 9: darkarchon-8 (10,082,718 in chips)

The action started right away and never really let up. Russia's SHUR43 came in with the second-shortest stack at 6.31M, worth just under 16 big blinds at the 200K/400K/50K level, and wasn't ready to wait around. The third hand saw SHUR43 move all-in from the button with [Kh] [Td], and Japan's zeus-tseuji re-raised to isolate with [8c] [8d]. The Russian looked likely to be the first player eliminated as the flop and turn came [7s] [Qh] [3s] [6d], but the [Ks] on the river kept SHUR43 alive with 13.37M chips.

Two hands later the Russian player picked up a few more chips after opening for 800K and having Portugal's DDrunkson move all-in for 1.17M total on the button. SHUR43 made the call with [Ah] [Kc], which had DDrunkson's [Ad] [9h] dominated. The [Jh] [9s] [Qh] [Td] [Qd] board gave SHUR43 a Broadway straight and the 3.4M-chip pot, and DDrunkson was eliminated in 9th place ($1,086.12).

Five hands after that Mexico's RONNALDO 9 flopped extremely well and played the hand for maximum value:

Two orbits later, on the 250K/500K/62.5K level, Bulgaria's darkarchon-8 caught a bit of good fortune. After moving all-in for 3.85M under the gun with [6c] [6h] and having Cyprus' MYspearGUN move in over the top from the cutoff with [Qc] [Qd], the [6d] on the flop kept the Bulgarian player alive. Despite being left with just 846K - less than two big blinds - MYspearGUN wasn't the next player out, thanks to a huge confrontation on the very next hand.

zeus-tseuji ascends

The betting opened with Norway's kuuuuuk moving all-in for 6.72M from early position and Russia's Celfhtd making the call from middle position. Once the action reached zeus-tseuji in the small blind, the Japanese player moved all-in for 14.2M. Celfhtd made the call with 8.5M left behind and the players showed these hands:

zeus-tseuji [9s] [9c]
kuuuuk [Kd] [Jd]
Celfhtd [Ac] [Ks]

The [3s] [Js] [9d] flop was a great one for zeus-tseuji, whose set of nines became a big favorite to win the pot. The [7c] turn and [Jc] river made that happen, shipping zeus-tseuji the 36.13M-chip pot and knocking out kuuuuk in 8th place ($1,629.18).

MYspearGUN was now the clear short stack. The Cypriot player actually managed to triple up a few hands later with [Ts] [5d] against [Kh] [Jc] thanks to the [5c] on the river, but at 1.88M that pot was worth less than four big blinds. Two hands later MYspearGUN moved all-in from the button for 1.5M with [9s] [7s] and ran into SHUR43's [Ts] [Tc] in the big blind. The [Jc] [9h] [Jd] flop brought a few outs, and the [7h] a few more, but the [2s] sent MYspearGUN to the rail in 7th place ($2,715.30).

Only two hands later darkarchon-8 ended up all-in before the flop, having three-bet to 7.29M in the big blind after SHUR43 opened for 1M on the button. The Russian player made the call with [4h] [4s], which held up on the [5c] [5h] [8d] [Tc] [Ah] board to knock darkarchon-8 out in 6th place ($4,525.50).

Stratification

There was now a clear separation in the chip counts, with zeus-tseuji (34.95M) 15 big blinds ahead ahead of SHUR43 (27.82M) and with more than triple the chips of RONNALDO 9 (10.69M), Cyprus' sakiss99 (9.59M), and Celfhtd (7.44M). The blinds and antes soon rose to 300K/600K/75K and the pace of play slowed. Only one of the next 15 hands went to a flop. Finally the action folded to Celfhtd in the small blind and the Russian player raised the minimum to 1.2M. Sakiss99 moved all-in for 6.91M from the big blind with [[Qh] [Tc] and Celfhtd made the call with [8d] [8s]. The board fell [Jh] [7s] [Jc] [As] [7h] and sakiss99 was gone in 5th place ($6,335.70).

The good times were short-lived for Celfhtd, though. Only four hands later a very similar hand came up: the action folded to the Russian player, who put in a small raise with a medium pocket pair (this time [7s] [7d]) and called an all-in from the player in the big blind with overcards (this time SHUR43 with [Ah] [Kc]). This time the flop wasn't so kind, falling [Kd] [9h] [2c]. The [6h] turn and [9c] sent the 29.08M-chip pot to SHUR43 for the chip lead and Celfhtd was out in 4th place ($8,145.90).

One more coin flip was needed to take the field down to the final matchup. It came 10 hands later when zeus-tseuji opened for 1.5M on the button with [Ks] [Th] and called the 7.09M-chip all-in from RONNALDO 9, who held [7c] [7d]. The [Qc] [Jc] [4h] flop brought a lot of outs to go with those overcards. The [5d] wasn't any help but the [Ac] on the river made a Broadway straight for zeus-tseuji, sending RONNALDO 9 out in 3rd place ($11,776.30).

A close contest

The chip counts were very close as heads-up play began:

Seat 6: SHUR43 (47,319,008 in chips)
Seat 7: zeus-tseuji (43,190,992 in chips)

The two traded small leads back and forth with each other until this pot gave zeus-tseuji a slightly bigger advantage:

Zeus-tseuji won most of the pots immediately after that one, but a run of seven out of eight pots after another 28 hands passed saw SHUR43 actually move back into the lead by a nose. Soon enough zeus-tseuji pulled back ahead by about 14M with the blinds and antes at 500K/1M/125K. The Japanese player managed to balance there for the next 25 hands. Then SHUR43 opened for 2M on the button, zeus-tseuji three-bet to 3.5M, SHUR43 four-bet to 7.05M, and zeus-tseuji called to see a flop of [3d] [5s] [Kh]. zeus-tseuji bet 6M into 14.36M and SHUR43 made the call, but the Russian declined to come along after zeus-tseuji led out for 20M on the [2h] turn.

That 26.36M-chip pot gave zeus-tseuji a 64.97M-to-25.53M lead. And though the match went on another 29 hands, SHUR43 never got any closer than that again. Finally SHUR43 opened all-in for 20.2M on the button, holding [Kh] [8h], and zeus-tseuji made the call with [Ah] [4c]. The [Qs] [5c] [Th] [Tc] [Qd] board did nothing for either player, giving zeus-tseuji the pot and the win.

SHUR43 collected $15,386.70 for two days of work, a fine reward especially considering how short-stacked the Russian player was to begin the final table. As for zeus-tseuji, who appears to be the first player from Japan ever to win a SCOOP event, the win was worth $19,534.41 and comes with a champion's watch to boot.

SCOOP 2013 Event #29-L: $11 NL Hold'em
18,102 entrants
$181,020 prize pool
2,475 places paid

1st place: zeus-tseuji (Japan) $19,534.41
2nd place: SHUR43 (Russia) $15,386.70
3rd place: RONNALDO 9 (Mexico) $11,776.30
4th place: Celfhtd (Russia) $8,145.90
5th place: sakiss99 (Cyprus) $6,335.70
6th place: darkarchon-8 (Bulgaria) $4,525.50
7th place: MYspearGUN (Cyprus) $2,715.30
8th place: kuuuuuk (Norway) $1,629.18
9th place: DDrunkson (Portugal) $1,086.12

Jason Kirk is a freelance contributor to PokerStars Blog.

But if Brad ever gets tired of waxing eloquent about Shaun F. Deeb, he might turn his attention to Daniel "djk123" Kelly. Kelly, who leads the all-time WCOOP winners with 4 titles, captured his 2nd SCOOP title tonight in SCOOP 2013 Event 30-H, $2100 Razz.

One man. Six COOP titles. Not a Deebian level yet, but impressive all the same.

Razz isn't the most popular game out there. Only 97 players showed up to play this one. Deeb was one of them. He was also the first out the door (so maybe Kelly does have a little something on Mr. Deeb).

There was no shame in busting early though. Plenty of well-known players joined Deeb in the Losers Lounge. It was not a good day for Team Pokerstars. Between the Team Pros and the Team Online players, the Red Spade represented nearly 10% of the field, but none of them could break through to paydirt. Players like Eugene Katchalov, Alex Kravchenko, Bertrand Grospellier and Jose Barbero all came up well short of the top 12 "in the money" places that received prize money in Event 30-H.

Team Online player Adrienne "talonchick" Rowsome made the deepest run for Team PokerStars but found herself short as the money bubble approached with two tables left. On the other table, $kill Game was also short and began stalling. At the 8pm break, talonchick told $kill Game to knock it off.

taIonchick [Team Online]: I have way more time bank than you $kill game
taIonchick [Team Online]: play the hand or I can stall also
$kill Game: lol
$kill Game: you can do what you want my friend
$kill Game: idc

The rest of the table weighed in.

Betudontbet: u like value, rite?
Betudontbet: don't cost yourself value
gunning4you: he doesn't care about value.
gunning4you: have you seen his sports bets?
ZeeJustin: stalling in a two table tournament is just mutually assured destruction

$kill Game tripled up 10 minutes after the break with (improbably enough) a jack-six. Rowsome busted in 16th place.

Three eliminations later the money bubble burst when $kill Game busted, and four eliminations after that the final table began with these eight players:

Seat 1: SebbyGl (97030 in chips)
Seat 2: ShellyCalls (73438 in chips)
Seat 3: Daniel "djk123" Kelly (55801 in chips)
Seat 4: redeste (46614 in chips)
Seat 5: AceQuad (40452 in chips)
Seat 6: villepn (68016 in chips)
Seat 7: Justin "ZeeJustin" Bonomo (62802 in chips)
Seat 8: blanconegro (40847 in chips)

Level 19: stakes 2k-4k, ante 400
Average: 60,625 (15 big bets)

For a fixed-limit tournament, the final table was deep in chips. This was not one that was going to be decided by a few quick hands. The chips moved around the table in the first 30 minutes, with ShellyCalls and villepn getting the best of things while djk123 and blanconegro took the worst of things.

The end came for blanconegro first. Two big pots back-to-back went the wrong way. First, blanconegro was forced to fold x-x / 6-K-Q-T on 6th street after calling a bet on every street from SebbyGl, who showed x-x / T-2-9-8. Then blanconegro tangled with Bonomo, raising a 2 on 3rd street after Bonomo completed a 4. Bonomo called and caught a 7 on 4th street; blanconegro paired deuces.

From there Bonomo led the betting on every street, all the way to showdown, where his 9-5 / 4-7-6-J / A made a 7-6 to drag the pot. blanconegro mucked a board of x-x / 2-2-5-J / X and was left with only 197 chips. Those chips went into the pot for the ante of the next hand and did not come back out. blanconegro blanked out in 8th place.

Kelly reversed his fortunes over the next 40 minutes, climbing as high as 120k to take the chip lead. Bonomo remained strong as well, while villpen and AceQuad took the brunt of the damage. With the stakes up to 3k-6k, villepn completed a 4 and then called SebbyGl, who raised with an ace. It took only two more streets of calls for the short-stacked villepn to get all in with A-2 / 4-J-6. SebbyGl had the same draw and a better made hand, 6-4 / A-9-2. villepn caught a running two pair to be unceremoniously bounced from the tournament in 7th place.

That hand marked the rise of SebbyGl during the second hour of final table play. SebbyGl won showdown pots from Kelly and from Bonomo, first with a 9-6 against Kelly's 10-7 and then with a 6-5 in a hand that Bonomo mucked. The big pots, the five-figure pots, all seemed to be rolling SebbyGl's way.

For his part, Bonomo quickly found himself in deep trouble. His stack tumbled, and tumbled, and tumble some more. By the time the stakes increased to 4k-8k, he had only 12k left. He completed an 8 on 3rd street and was called by Kelly, who had his own 8. Bonomo bricked a king on 4th street. Kelly, who caught a 6, made a snap-bet. Bonomo paused, perhaps pondering what to do with only 8k left in his stack, before calling. The rest of the chips were in when both players caught 4s on 5th street. At that point Kelly opened a 10 and a 5 in the hole for a made 10-8; Bonomo showed an ace and a 7 for an 8-7 draw. Bonomo hit his draw on 6th by catching a 6, but Kelly caught running cards on 6th and 7th to finish with a 7-6 and finish Bonomo's day in 6th place.

AceQuad went in three hands later in what was, to that point, the biggest pot of the final table. It was once again claimed by SebbyGl, who seemed to make it a mission to drag every big pot. Catching strong hands certainly didn't hurt:

AceQuad's elimination left four contenders: SebbyGl, with more than half the chips in play; Kelly, with about a quarter of the chips; ShellyCalls in 3rd place; and redeste as the short stack.

redeste's short stack did not long survive the punishing antes and bring-ins, which became much more of a factor as the table grew more and more short-handed. Down to 20k, redeste started with 9-8 / 5 on 3rd street and went with it, improving to a 9-8 by the time the last chips went in on 5th street. redeste's opponent, Kelly, started 6-2 / A and improved to a 9-6 by 5th street. One of those 9s improved; one did not. redeste got the short end of that stick and hit the rail in 4th place.

The last three players played to a standstill for a short time, but ever so slowly Kelly began to get the better of ShellyCalls. When limits went up to 5k-10k, Kelly busted ShellyCalls in a hand in which Kelly started with a king door card. Kelly brought it in with that king, then called when ShellyCalls completed a 9. Both players caught a 4 on 4th street. ShellyCalls bet and Kelly called.

Both players caught a 7 on 5th street. This time ShellyCalls checked, then raised when Kelly bet. Kelly called that raise and called a bet on 6th street with a 9 to ShellyCalls' 6. Kelly called the river as well, a bet that put ShellyCalls all in. ShellyCalls had a great hand - 7-6-5-4-3 - but Kelly caught a river 5 to out-pip ShellyCalls, 7-6-5-4-2. It was a tough way for ShellyCalls to go out in 3rd place.

SebbyGl started heads-up play with a slight chip lead. Three times SebbyGl offered djk123 an even chop. Three times Kelly turned the deal down. The fourth time, after the two had been playing for twenty minutes with wild swings in the counts that ultimately put the two right back where they started, Kelly was the one to offer the even chop. SebbyGl quickly accepted, leaving only $2,000 up for grabs.

The end still took 25 minutes. Kelly dropped as long as 100k before climbing back up to level stacks, rivering a 7 against SebbyGl's 8 in one particularly sizable pot.

SebbyGl: it never ends
SebbyGl: nh

It did eventually end - and badly for SebbyGl. Kelly used his momentum to take a 3-to-1 chip lead. It would be a lead he'd never relinquish. The big blow came in a hand where both players caught multiple bricks:

From there it didn't take much. Five hands later SebbyGl was all in on 5th street with 4-4 / 5-Q-9. It could have been worse; Kelly could only muster up 6-4- / Q-T-2. Both players improved by the river, with Kelly's jack-ten being good enough for his 6th COOP title (second only to Shaun Deeb) after SebbyGl finished with a queen-nine.

I'll say it again. One man. Six COOP titles. SebbyGl is not the first player to be bested by Kelly in a heads-up COOP duel. And unless they pull the plug on that whole Internet thing, I'd wager to say he won't be the last, either.

SCOOP 2013 Event 30-H $2100 Razz results

Players: 97
Prizepool: $194,000
Places paid: 12
* denotes 2-way deal

1. Daniel "djk123" Kelly (Australia) - $45,377.50*
2. SebbyGl (Germany) - $43,377.50*
3. ShellyCalls (Australia) - $27,160.00
4. redeste (Russia) - $18,430.00
5. AceQuad (Mexico) - $13,580.00
6. Justin "ZeeJustin" Bonomo (Canada) - $10,185.00
7. villepn (Finland) - $8,245.00
8. blanconegro (Mexico) - $6,305.00

The race for Player of the Series - at the low, medium and high buy-ins as well as overall - is heating up as we head towards the home stretch of SCOOP 2013. Stay up to date on all the point leaders and make your plans to play in SCOOP 2013 events of your own at the SCOOP home page.

Dave Behr is a freelance contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

As players moved closer to the final table, much of the attention was on Randal "RandALLin" Flowers who was a chipleader for most of this tournament. Flowers was also having a very good day and looking for a unique outcome. Flowers battled down and won his first SCOOP title in the High version of the tournament earlier in the day and was looking to add the Medium tournament as well.

Flowers ran into trouble in the later stages of the tournament when it seemed to be a final table race between him and Jon "Pearljammer" Turner. After a long than expect final table bubble, Turner was forced to take a stand but was knocked out in 10th place. SWFAZ began the final table with a large chiplead and the structure would dictate a lot of gambling throughout.

Final table chip counts:

Seat 1: Contado (685,066 in chips)
Seat 2: SFisch4 (504,000 in chips)
Seat 3: SWFAZ (2,639,836 in chips)
Seat 4: Randal "RandALLin" Flowers (413,640 in chips)
Seat 5: Dan "APowers1968" Colpoys (587,275 in chips)
Seat 6: SP3WMONKEY (744,684 in chips)
Seat 7: JokerTilt (601,168 in chips)
Seat 8: julianherold (295,143 in chips)
Seat 9: sonajero (959,188 in chips)
Blinds: 50k/100k
Average: 825,555 (8.3 BBs)

RandALLin makes 2nd PLO Zoom Turbo final table, eliminated in 9th

Flowers may have outlasted Turner to make this final table but his appearance last exactly one hand. Final table chipleader SWFAZ raised pot in early position before Flowers moved all-in for 413,640 total and was only called by SWFAZ. Flowers was ahead with [Ks][Kd][Ts][Tc] against [Jh][Th][9d][7d]. SWFAX picked up a bunch of outs on the [Ad][Qh][2h] flop and had Flowers drawing dead with the completed flush draw on the [8h] turn. Randal "RandALLin" Flowers was eliminated in 9th place for $3,061.16.

JokerTilt finds Aces, eliminated in 8th place

It took just one more hand to produce the next knockout and play continued at a blistering pace. JokerTilt bet pot for most of the remaining stack and called all-in when Contado pushed all-in to isolate. JokerTilt was ahead with [Ah][Ad][Tc][7s] against [Kd][Qc][9c][8s] but was outflopped by Contado when [Kh][9s][3c] hit the board. Contado's Kings up improved with the [Qh] flop and filled up when [Qs] hit the river. JokerTilt was the next out in 8th place for $5,646.80.

SFisch4 goes fishing, eliminated in 7th place

SFisch4 began the final table near the bottom of the chipi counts but held on to move up a few spots on the pay table. With action folding around to the button, SFisch4 raised the pot and was called by chipleader SWFAZ in the small blind, who immediately bet enough to put SFisch4 all-in after the [Ks][Js][9c]. SFisch4 called the bet and the cards were tabled.

SFisch4: [Kh][Qh][9d][2s]
SWFAZ: [Ad][Qs][9h][8d]

SFisch4 was ahead with Kings up versus a pair of Nines for SWFAZ and stayed ahead with the [8c] on the turn. SWFAZ would add to the chiplead when the [Ac] hit the river for a bigger two pair. SFisch4 was ahead on the turn but had to walk away in 7th place for $8,618.80.

APowers1968 can't match WCOOP title, eliminated in 6th place

Dan "APowers1968" Colpoys began the final table looking for a SCOOP title to match his 2010 WCOOP title but ran into a series of hands which knocked his stack to the felt. Colpoys was playing for his tournament life when all his chips were in the big blind and it was folded around to chipleader SWFAZ in the small blind.

SWFAX: [Ah][Kh][Td][6s]
APowers1968: [Ad][Qd][Th][7c]

Both hit the [Kc][Qs][2c] but SWFAZ was ahead and improved to Kings up on the [6h] turn, leaving Colpoys drawing to just the two remaining Queens. [9c] on the river ended the run of Colpoys in 6th place for $11,590.80.

SP3WMONKEY gets involved in big hand, eliminated in 5th

There was some chat about making a deal once the tournament was 5-handed but overwhelming chipleader SWFAZ was unwilling to talk until one more player was eliminated. No sooner was that declaration made before a huge 3-way pot was built. Contado raised the pot and was called by SWFAZ before SP3WMONKEY move all-in for 744,684 total, an amount which was called by the other two players. Not content to check down the action, Contado moved all-in for 501,264 after the [Ts][8s][5h] flop.

Contado: [Th][Kh][Jd][Td][Th]
SWFAZ: [Ad][Ks][Qc][7s]
SP3MONKEY: [Ah][Ac][9s][4c]

Contado began the hand with at a significant disadvantage but flopped a set of Tens to take a big lead going into the [2h] turn. The [8h] river filled Contado boat, taking over the chiplead, and SP3MONKEY was sent to the rail in 5th place for $14,562.80.

You can review this big hand in the replayer below:

julianherold makes a deal, eliminated in 4th place

Deal discussions began as soon as they were 4-handed and there was a change in the chiplead. After extended negotiations, where julianherold managed to pull an extra $400 from Contado, an ICM deal was met and play was back underway. Contado raised pot from the button with [Ts][9c][7h][6d] and was call all-in by julianherold holding [Td][6s][6h][5d]. Contado's chiplead was extended by hitting an overcard on the [Qh][9h][5c] and dodged any drama with [Kd] on the turn and [3c] on the river. julianherold was eliminated in 4th place for $25,476.90 but did well to pick up extra money in the deal.

Contado loses chiplead, eliminated in 3rd place

Contado was able to wrestle the chiplead away from SWFAZ with the big 3-way pot but it did not last long. Big swings can be expected with this fast structure and Contado lost most of those chips back before potting half of those remaining chips from UTG. Both players put the chips in the middle, with Contado at risk, after the [9d][8s][4c] flop.

SWFAZ: [Ad][Td][9c][7s]
Contado: [Qc][Jd][8c][5c]

SWFAZ was ahead with a pair of Nines versus Contado's pair of Eights and things only got worse with the [7c] and [9h] river for the another full house. Contado was eliminated in 3rd place for near first place money of $38,785.63.

SWFAZ finishes strong at the final table to capture SCOOP Event #32-M title

sonajero began heads up play with at a big chip deficit but battle back to make things interesting. The last hand of play was one of the few at the final table where both players were holding more than 10 big blinds. SWFAZ was holding just a one big blind chip lead before raising from the button to 625,000 which sonajero called. The [Ks][Tc][9h] flop brought a rare less than pot sized bet by SWFAZ which sonajero raised all in for all the chips.

SWFAZ: [Ac][As][Jh][Td]
sonajero: [Kc][8s][6d][4d]

Two big hands were just two cards from deciding the champ but the tension did not last long when SWFAZ completed Broadway on the [Qs] turn. sonajero was unable to river a full house and was eliminated in 2nd place for $29,035.64. SWFAZ played aggressively during this fast and crazy final table to capture a first SCOOP title for $40,590.43.

PokerStars 2013 SCOOP Event #32-M ($215 PL Omaha Zoom Turbo) results:

Players: 1,486
Prizepool: $297,200
Place paid: 198

1. SWFAZ (United Kingdom) $40,590.43*
2. sonajero (Uruguay) $29,035.64*
3. Contado (Norway) $38,785.63*
4. julianherold (Germany) $25,476.90*
5. SP3WMONKEY (Netherlands) $14,562.80
6. Dan "APowers1968" Colpoys (Canada) $11,590.80
7. SFisch4 (Canada) $8,618.80
8. JokerTilt (Bulgaria) $5,646.80
9. Randal "RandALLin" Flowers (Mexico) $3,061.16
* - reflects four-way deal

Check out the SCOOP homepage for all of the upcoming tournaments and satellites, as well as the leaderboard and SCOOP statistics.

lowballeric was one of 461 entrants in this one, with the $92,200 prize pool built by that group coming close to doubling the event's $50K guarantee. In addition to the SCOOP watch, lowballeric earned $17,518 of that prize pool after successfully making enough lowball hands to outlast the field.

It took nearly six hours for that field to shrink down to 100 players, led at that point by Bodhisattva6 (60,973), wadzon (59,967), and Chiesaraise (54,982). Also still alive and with an above average stack then was Team Online member Naoya "nkeyno" Kihara sitting just outside the top 20.

Alas for Kihara, he wouldn't quite make it to the cash after being ousted in 67th, just three spots shy of the money. Soon after the bubble burst, at which point eventual champ lowballeric had pushed past all into first position as the only player with more than 100,000 chips.

Eventually just 16 were left as they crossed the nine-hour mark, with Bryan "Brryann" Ruiter (50th, $345.75), Rens "Rens02" Feenstra (49th, $345.75), Shaun "shaundeeb" Deeb (46th, $291.85), Mike "Tîmex" McDonald (45th, $391.85), Steve "Illini23" Barshak (36th, $485.05), Paul "paulgees81" Volpe (26th, $599.30), Mayu "marroca5" Roca Uribe (23rd, $806.75), and Toby "810ofclubs" Lewis (19th, $806.75) among the eliminated.

It would take another half-hour to play down to eight, with Gigaloff building a big stack of more than 700,000 to assume the lead with krec23 the nearest foe with more than 500,000. zzzFFFzzz (16th), nilsef (15th), F3nix35 (14th), and RuudGullit (13th) each earned $1,060.30 for their finishes, while mapocalyps (12th), valera3000 (11th), mendozoQ (10th), and Bodhisattva6 (9th) made $1,383 apiece.

The final table was underway.

Seat 1: krec23 (Russia) -- 565,930
Seat 2: capeta333 (Brazil) -- 165,200
Seat 3: Paul "padjes" Berende (Netherlands) -- 171,182
Seat 4: Thayer "THAY3R" Rasmussen (Mexico) -- 112,264
Seat 5: Gigaloff (Russia) -- 789,779
Seat 6: Desslock (Canada) -- 78,400
Seat 7: shrek7771 (Russia) -- 143,784
Seat 8: lowballeric (United Kingdom) -- 278,461

THAY3R thwarted in eighth

The stakes were 12,000/24,000 to start the final table, and on just the second hand Thayer "THAY3R" Rasmussen was eliminated in eighth after losing the last of his short stack.

That hand started with a THAY3R raise over a bring-in from Paul "padjes" Berende. Desslock then three-bet and got two callers in shrek7771 and lowballeric, and when it folded back around to Rasmussen he typed "gg" and "gl all in" before reraising with the last of his chips to 27,864.

All three of his opponents called, then shrek7771 led with bets on the next three streets with Desslock folding on fourth and lowballeric calling all of the way. When checked to on seventh lowballeric then bet and Desslock called. lowballeric showed [3][5] / [6][Q][6][2] / [T] for a ten-low while shrek7771 had [5][6] / [3][9][9][5] / [4] for a 9-6-5-4-3.

shrek7771's hand was better than whatever THAY3R had as he mucked, and they were down to seven.

Desslock done in seventh

About an orbit later Desslock was down to just 8,936 and was open-raising all in with a [3] showing. shrek7771 reraised with an [A] up and everyone else folded, and the pair drew out their hands thusly:

Desslock: [J][A] / [3][A][4][2] / [Q] (J-4-3-2-A)
shrek7771: [6][T] / [A][4][5][9] / [Q] (9-6-5-4-A)

It was a disappointing card on seventh street for Desslock whose tourney run ended in seventh.

padjes put down in sixth

krec23 and Gigaloff continued to add chips while Paul "padjes" Berende's stack started to slide. Then with the stakes up to 16,000/32,000, it was krec23 raising with an [8] showing, then Berende called all in for a total of 14,782 with a [K] up.

padjes ended up drawing a second king yet made a ten-low -- [6][8] / [K][K][T][4] / [9] -- but krec23 started and ended even better, making a 7-6 after drawing out [6][4] / [8][7][A][7] / [5], and Berende was out in sixth.

capeta333 captured in fifth

Soon after that hand it was capeta333 first to act and opening with a raise with a [7] showing, then watching as lowballeric called also with a [7], then krec23 raised with an [8] up. capeta33 called all in for 10,800 more while lowballeric called.

lowballeric led with bets on fourth and fifth, with krec23 calling both times. On sixth krec23 check-called a bet, then on seventh krec23 check-folded. lowballeric turned over [4][2] / [7][5][A][7] / [T] for a 7-5-4-2-A, better than capeta333's [2][5] / [7][7][J][T] / [J] for J-T-7-5-2 and they were down to four.

shrek7771 sunk in fourth

Play continued as the stakes increased to 20,000/40,000, and soon chip leader krec23 was raising on third with a [3] up and getting one caller in shrek7771 who had a [9] showing. krec23 would bet again on fourth and shrek7771 called, then when krec23 bet fifth street, shrek7771 raised, krec23 reraised, and shrek7771 called all in, having committed 125,515 total on the hand. The pair's hole cards were flipped over...

krec23: [T][7] / [3][A][8]
shrek7771: [4][3] / [9][8][7]

shrek7771 had the edge momentarily, and would draw a [7] and a [J] to finish with a 9-8-7-4-3. But krec23 picked up a [2] on sixth street then a meaningless [T] on seventh, thereby making a 8-7-3-2-A and ousting shrek7771 in fourth.

Gigaloff gg'd in third

The remaining trio battled onward as the tourney approached the 11-hour mark and the stakes moved up again to 25,000/50,000. Both krec23 and lowballeric had edged up over 1 million chips while Gigaloff had slipped to less than 100,000. Then a hand arose in which krec23 and Gigaloff traded raises back and forth until the latter was all in with a [Q] showing while krec23 had a [6] up.

It was [A][5] / [6] for krec23 and [A][8] / [Q] for Gigaloff, meaning the latter needed major help on the remaining streets to survive. Ultimately Gigaloff would make a J-low, the board running out a not-very-cooperative [A][8] / [Q][9][5][Q] / [J]. Meanwhile krec23 made a 6-5 -- [A][5] / [6][T][4][2] / [8] -- and Gigaloff was done in third.

Epic heads-up ends with lowballeric outlasting krec23

Heads-up play started with krec23 enjoying a lead of about four big bets' worth with 1,248,406 to lowballeric's 1,056,594. The first half-hour of play saw lowballeric grab the lead away briefly, but then krec23 took it back and edged out to a better than 2-to-1 lead.

Over the next couple of dozen hands krec23 chipped away further to build a stack of 1,763,406 at one point versus lowballeric's 541,594. But lowballeric battled back to even the match, then pushed out in front once again. Then suddenly two big pots in succession saw lowballeric up over 2.2 million and krec23 down below 100,000.

krec23 survived the next hand after getting all in by fifth street, then drawing out a 9-6 as lowballeric could only make a Q-low. krec23 then took a couple more big pots to close the gap back, and by the time the tourney's 12-hour break arrived krec23 was ahead again with 1,284,812 to lowballeric's 1,020,188.

They continued on for another half-hour, the heads-up portion of the tournament extending to more than 90 minutes. The lead changed hands once again in a hand that saw lowballeric perform the difficult trick of drawing a 7-low while also picking up two kings, both appearing among the up cards. From there lowballeric increased the lead, and as the stakes moved up to 60,000/120,000 lowballeric chipped up over 1.8 million to krec23's stack of just under 430,000.

That's when lowballeric raised with a [2] showing, krec23 raised back with an [8] up, and lowballeric called. lowballeric led on both fourth and fifth streets, with krec23 first calling, then raising all in and getting a call from lowballeric.

krec23: [2][7] / [8][Q][6]
lowballeric: [4][9] / [2][3][A]

lowballeric had the best hand and best potential drawing-wise going forward, and after picking up a [5] on sixth street could improve no further upon the made wheel. Meanwhile, krec23 picked up a [9] and [J] -- and after 298 hands of heads-up play (!) -- lowballeric had won.

Congratulations to lowballeric for winning a lowball SCOOP watch in Event #30-M, putting a punctuation mark on the tournament by making the lowest of all low hands. And special acknowledgement as well to krec23 for that gritty almost-300-hand heads-up battle resulting in a runner-up finish but a nice five-figure score as well.

PokerStars 2013 SCOOP Event #30-M ($215 Razz) results

Players: 461
Total prize pool: $92,200.00
Places paid: 64

1. lowballeric (United Kingdom) $17,518.00
2. krec23 (Russia) $12,908.00
3. Gigaloff (Russia) $9,459.72
4. shrek7771 (Russia) $6,915.00
5. capeta333 (Brazil) $4,610.00
6. Paul "padjes" Berende (Netherlands) $3,227.00
7. Desslock (Canada) $2,305.00
8. Thayer "THAY3R" Rasmussen (Mexico) $1,844.00

The excitement continues in the Spring Championship of Online Poker. Check out the SCOOP site for results of what's happened and information about what's still to come.

Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

The pain never seems to stop players from showing up to play, though, and today was no exception. By the time late registration closed the field was up to 2,192 players, building a prize pool worth $53,813.60 and setting up a top prize of $9,243.37. After 10 and a half hours of play the final table finally arrived with the limits at 80K/160K and these eight players still in the running:

Seat 1: scroosko (1,568,065 in chips)
Seat 2: TomaszRa (611,552 in chips)
Seat 3: Kazerog (900,084 in chips)
Seat 4: Jomppeli_32 (871,384 in chips)
Seat 5: margenov (391,408 in chips)
Seat 6: erot1 (3,662,726 in chips)
Seat 7: Jesseb888 (2,292,277 in chips)
Seat 8: ViTaMin_F22 (662,504 in chips)

The early stages of the final table saw Finland's Jomppeli_32 surge to a stack of 1.97M chips, thanks to two pots worth 472K each and two more worth 312K each. The United Kingdom's TomaszRa, who had been second-lowest on chips coming into the final table, also managed to stack up. First TomaszRa doubled through Canada's Jesseb888 for a 696K-chip pot; both players had made hands by fifth street, but Jesseb888's 7-6 was beaten by TomaszRa's 6-5.

Then, on Hand #15, with limits now up to 100K/200K, TomaszRa opened the betting with the [4d] showing. Russia's Kazerog raised to 200K, leaving just 192K behind and showing the [Ah]. All the rest of the chips went in the middle to build a 974K-chip pot with Kazerog holding ([5s] [2d]) / [Ah] [Qs] against TomaszRa's ([8s] [2h]) / [4d] [4s]. But Kazerog caught the [Qs], [Jh], and [6c] before pairing with the [5c] for a J-6 low. TomaszRa showed down and 8-6 for the pot and Kazerog was out in 8th place ($538.13).

The very next hand saw another elimination. China's ViTaMin_F22 started off with ([4c] [Ac]) / [2c] and called an opening raise to 100K by Jomppeli_32, who showed the [5d]. Jomppeli_32 caught the [8h] on fourth and bet again; ViTaMin_F22 called after catching the [Jh] and then got the last 430K in on fifth street with ([4c] [Ac]) / [2c] [Jh] [3h] showing against Jomppeli_32's ([As] [6h]) / [5h] [8h] [9h]. Jomppeli_32 didn't improve on that 9-8, but ViTaMin_F22 caught the [Qh] and paired with the [3h] for a J-4 low to leave the tournament 7th place ($1076.27).

Only three more hands would pass before the next player was eliminated. Bulgaria's margenov, who had come to the table with the shortest stack, started with ([2c] [6d]) / [7d] and raised to 100K after Jomppeli_32 called the bring-in; the Finn called that raise to make a 350K-chip pot and then called down the rest of the way as margenov's last 326K went in the middle on fourth, fifth, and sixth streets. The board ran out [2d]-[Jd]-[Th]-[Ad] to make a T-7 low for margenov, but Jomppeli_32's([3d] [5s]) / [9h] [2h] [Kc] [4d] / ([Qs]) was good for a 9-5 and the pot. That bounced margenov in 6th place ($1,614.40).

The fall of erot1

That left these five players still in contention with limits at 100K/200K:

Seat 1: scroosko (1,248,065 in chips)
Seat 2: TomaszRa (1,590,660 in chips)
Seat 4: Jomppeli_32 (3,048,560 in chips)
Seat 6: erot1 (3,608,726 in chips)
Seat 7: Jesseb888 (1,463,989 in chips)

Jomppeli remained the most active player at the table and chipped up over 3M. But it was Jesseb888 who won the biggest pot of the tournament so far against the incoming chip leader, Norway's erot1, after the limits had gone up to 120K/240K:

Two hands later erot1 would suffer another blow, this time losing a 2.55M-chip pot to Jesseb888 after starting off with ([Ah] [3c]) / [2c] and finishing with an 8-7 low to Jesseb888's 7-6. That left the Norwegian player with 2.64M, down from a peak of 4.01M - but the bleeding didn't stop there. TomaszRa took two of the next four pots at erot1's expense, the first worth 1.59 with a 7-6 low and the second worth 2.29M with a 6-5 low. And that left erot1 with just 688K.

The hand just before TomaszRa's bigger win against erot1 saw the United Kingdom's scroosko get all-in for 342K on third street with ([3s] [8s]) / [7d]. Everything went south from there, with scroosko's board running out [7h] [Qs] [7s] / ([5c]) for a Q-8 low. That didn't come close to beating Jomppeli_32's 9-7 with ([7c] [2c]) / [2d] [5d] [9c] [5s] / ([Qc]), sending scroosko out in 5th place ($2,690.68).

The pace of play slowed dramatically four-handed with erot1 down to less than four big bets. The Norwegian player held on valiantly for the next 20 hands before getting all-in for 252K on third street with ([6d] [2h]) / [9h] against Jesseb888's ([6c] [7d]) / [Ac]. The Canadian player made an 8-7 low by fifth street; that beat erot1's 9-8 with ([6d] [2h]) / [9h] [Td] [5h] [Qh] / ([8h]) and sent the Norwegian player home in 4th place ($3,766.95).

From three to one - slowly

With the limits now up to 160K/320K, the last three players were stacked like so:

Seat 2: TomaszRa (2,068,660 in chips)
Seat 4: Jomppeli_32 (4,048,625 in chips)
Seat 7: Jesseb888 (4,842,715 in chips)

Over the next 65 hands Jomppeli_32 and Jesseb888 would take turns with the chip lead, but the constant was that TomaszRa's stack consistently hovered between two and four big bets. By the time TomaszRa finally ended up all-in it for the last time it was on third street for just a bit more than one big bet. With both of the other players involved TomaszRa had a chance at a decent little pot, but it wasn't to be:

With that TomaszRa was out in 3rd place ($5,112.29) and the game was heads-up. Jomppeli_32 held 7.78M chips to Jesseb888's 3.17M but the match was far from over. The Finnish player kept Jesseb888 pinned for the first 18 hands before losing a pot that brought the two players to within less than one 40K ante of each other. The limits soon went up to 250K/500K and the swings began to become more pronounced. First Jomppeli_32 jumped back out front; then Jesseb888 took a turn with the lead.

The Finn retook the lead and moved the stacks back to where they'd been when the heads-up match first started. Jesseb888 dropped as low as 1.14M before going on yet another run to retake the lead. But the last 50 hands of the 124-hand match belonged to Jomppeli_32 - in particular the last five on the 300K/600K level, when Jesseb888's board paired too often. The turning point came on Hand #120 of the heads-up match:

Two hands later Jesseb888 was left with 113K after losing out to a T-9 low with [5d] [5h] [2c] [Js] showing. Jomppeli_32 hit an 8-7 low on Hand #124 to best Jesseb888's J-T and the tournament was complete.

For second place Jesseb888 earned $6,538.35, the third-best score of the Canadian player's career on PokerStars and the best in any non-hold'em game by more than $6,000. Meanwhile Jomppeli_32 won $9,243.37 and the SCOOP champion's watch - not bad for half a day's work.

SCOOP 2013 Event #30-L: $27 Razz
2,192 entrants
$53,183.60 prize pool
288 places paid

1st place: Jomppeli_32 (Finland) $9,243.37
2nd place: Jesseb888 (Canada) $6,538.35
3rd place: TomaszRa (United Kingdom) $5,112.29
4th place: erot1 (Norway) $3,766.95
5th place: scroosko (United Kingdom) $2,690.68
6th place: margenov (Bulgaria) $1,614.40
7th place: ViTaMin_F22 (China) $1,076.27
8th place: Kazerog (Russia) $538.13

Jason Kirk is a freelance contributor to PokerStars Blog.

The turbo Zoom format drew 312 high-stakes PLO junkies to the felt, the prize pool topping out at $624,000. 36 spots were paid with $127,608 set aside for first. Team Pros David Williams, Theo Jorgensen, Nacho Barbero, ElkY, Johnny Lodden, George Danzer and Liv Boeree were among the Red Spade Army's representatives, but only Team Online's Isaac Haxton made the money, finishing in 34th place.

Zoom play ceased when the field was down to 27, but the action didn't slow for a moment. With the blinds up to 10,000/20,000, the average stack was only seven big blinds. Play went hand-for-hand with ten remaining and despite sitting fourth in chips, Noah "Exclusive" Boeken met his tournament end on the final table bubble. Holding [Ad][Qs][Jc][7d], Boeken four-bet shoved preflop and zwacke called, revealing [As][Ah][Qd][3s]. Zwacke made aces up on the [Ks][8c][5h][5d][Qc] board and raked in the 436,000 pot, sending us to the final table.

Final table chip counts

Seat 1: kartt (32,536 in chips)
Seat 2: vindog03 (77,747 in chips)
Seat 3: greeno99 (27,509 in chips)
Seat 4: jama-dharma (152,557 in chips)
Seat 5: vegaspolotsk (93,652 in chips)
Seat 6: Bandano (65,358 in chips)
Seat 7: mahtipeluri (275,738 in chips)
Seat 8: zwacke (505,471 in chips)
Seat 9: RandALLin (329,432 in chips)

Start to finish, it took 15 hands and less than ten minutes to go from nine players to one. On the first hand of the final table, greeno99 open-shoved for 27,509 with [As][8s][8h][2d] and RandALLin made an isolation raise to 40,000 from the small blind. RandALLin's [Kh][Jc][9h][7c] flopped a pair of nines and rivered nines and sixes, the board running out [Ts][9h][4c][6h][6c] to end greeno99's run in ninth place.

On the very next deal, the blinds rose to 12,500/25,000 and vegaspolotsk opened for 87,500. Kartt called all-in from the small blind, his [Js][9s][7s][3d] up against [Kd][9h][8h][8d]. Both players made middle pair on the [Jh][9d][6c] flop, but vegaspolotsk hit running diamonds to make an ace-high flush and eliminated kartt in eighth.

Two hands later, vegaspolosk picked up [Ac][Ad][6c][2s] and three-bet shoved for 106,188 from the small blind. Initial raiser RandALLin called with [9s][Tc][Jd][Qh] and hit the nut straight when the flop fell [Jh][9h][8s]. Vegaspolosk couldn't catch him and exited in seventh place.

RandALLin scored another KO two hands after that, calling vindog3's UTG shove for 52,747. Although vindog03 led preflop with [As][Qs][Qd][3h], RandALLin's [As][2s][2d][6d] made a set of deuces on the [Kc][2h][6c] flop. Vindog3 didn't improve and went out in sixth place, earning $28,080.00 for his run.

The next deal saw RandALLin take a short breather while Bandano moved in preflop for his last 78,000 and jama-dharma called from the big blind with [Jh][7h][7s][8h]. Bandano's [Ac][Ah][Kh][4s] made aces up on the flop, the board finishing [Qh][Qs][4s][Jd][6d] to double his stack to 168,000.

RandALLin's break was over on the next hand and he opened for 87,500 on the button. Jama-dharma called off his remaining 49,699 from the small blind and Bandano came along from the big. Bandano moved in for his last 80,716 on the [Ts][9c][7d] flop and RandALLin called.

jama-dharma [Jc][8s][7h][3h]
Bandano [Th][9h][7c][6c]
RandALLin [Kh][Qh][9s][6h]

Jama-dharma led on the flop with a jack-high straight but RandALLin spiked the [Jh] to turn a king-high straight. Both opponents had a three-outer going to the river to improve from two pair to a boat, but the [8d] fell instead, delivering a one-two punch to jama-dharma, who busted in fifth ($36,192) and Bandano, finishing fourth ($53,040).

Three hands later the blinds were up to 15,000/30,000 and mahtipelui opened for 105,000. Zwacke repotted to 345,000 and mahtipeluri called, his [Js][Jc][8h][6c] up against [Ah][Ks][6s][4d]. An ace hit the flop and another came on the river, zwacke making trips to send mahtipeluri to the rail in third place.

Heads-up chip counts

Seat 8: zwacke (843,709 in chips)
Seat 9: RandALLin (716,291 in chips)

Apropos with the pace of this final table, heads-up play lasted only three hands. After an exchange of the blinds, RandALLin opened for a min-raise to 60,000 and zwacke called from the big blind. The rest of RandALLin's chips went in on the [As][Td][2d] flop and zwacke called. RandALLin turned over [Ah][Kd][Qc][9d] for top pair, a straight draw and a king-high flush draw. Zwacke shoved [Ks][Qh][Jh][7h] for the same straight draw. The turn was the [5s], but RandALLin binked his flush on the river with the [3d] and left zwacke on only 187,000 in chips.

Zwacke moved in on the next hand, but RandALLin flopped top pair and claimed the rest of zwacke's stack.

Congratulations to RandALLin on his first SCOOP title! He banked $127,608 for the win while runner-up zwacke earned $93,600.

PokerStars 2013 SCOOP Event #32-H ($2,100 PLO [Turbo, Zoom]) results

Players: 312
Prizepool: $624,000
Places paid: 36

1. Randal "RandALLin" Flowers (Mexico) $127,608.00
2. zwacke (Germany) $93,600.00
3. mahripeluri (Finland) $70,512.00
4. Bandano (Netherlands) $53,040.00
5. jama-dharma (Russia) $36,192.00
6. vindog03 (United Kingdom) $28,080.00
7. vegaspolotsk (Belarus) $21,840.00
8. kartt (Brazil) $15,600.00
9. greeno99 (United Kingdom) $11,856.00

Kristin Bihr is a freelance contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

Stevie Chidwick didn't have a SCOOP title?

That simply couldn't be true. When I was introduced to the shy Chidwick years ago, he was the guy who was literally winning a dozen WSOP seats just so he had some extra cash. Somehow he's gone this long without winning a SCOP watch?

Apparently so. But, as you will see in the results below, Chidwick rectified that last night.

Meanwhile David Bach, a longtime rounder, managed to snag his second SCOOP title last night and made himself the 25th person to win more than one SCOOP watch.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story indicated David Bach had won his first title last night. As it happens, it was his second. I regret both the error, and being old and stupid. --BW

We've collected the results from overnight and posted them below. You can read any of our wrap-ups by clicking on the headlines.

zxz_ takes 1st with number 1 in Event #27-L ($27 FL Triple Draw 2-7)

Entrants: 1,668
Prize pool: $40,949.40
Places paid: 216

1. zxz_ (Ukraine) *$6,043.45
2. Ceegee87 (Mexico) *5,587.40
3. VEVAT (Russia) $3,685.44
4. crack2 (United Kingdom) $2,456.96
5. dexmorgan77 (Germany) $1,637.97
6. Megaheiner (Germany) $1,023.73
*Denotes a two-way deal.

What a rush! aDrENalin710 goes worst to 1st in Event 27-M ($215 FL Triple Draw 2-7)

Players: 376
Prizepool: $75,200
Places paid: 48

1. aDrENalin710 (Russia) - $12,434.45*
2. CandyJohnson (Norway) - $11,566.62*
3. Ig123456789 (Ukraine) - $11,154.93*
4. Tamsusis (Lithuania) - $5,828.00
5. kingkai (Norway) - $4,324.00
6. Zackary "Thrash370" Koerper (Costa Rica) - $2,820.00
* denotes 3-way deal

Stephen "stevie444" Chidwick champ of Event #27-H ($2,100 FL Triple Draw 2-7)

Players: 96
Total prize pool: $192,000
Places paid: 12

1. Stephen "stevie444" Chidwick (United Kingdom) $52,320
2. Bryan "Brryann" Ruiter (Netherlands) $35,040
3. Calvin "cal42688" Anderson (Mexico) $26,880
4. 7Be/\eC7 (Belarus) $18,240
5. Unkn0wn123 (Uruguay) $13,440
6. Rory "Mafews" Mathews (United Kingdom) $10,080

2jokerSpb has the last laugh in Event #28-L ($27 Stud Hi/Lo)

Players: 2,148
Prizepool: $52,684.30
Places paid: 272

1. 2jokerSpb (Russia) $8,189.80*
2. A_Sh4dy_0ne (Netherlands) $6,573.93*
3. bigslikluck3 (Israel) $5,822.34*
4. Mario "Pokerccini" Puccini (Germany) $3,687.90
5. Leon_Javur (Estonia) $2,634.21
6. late_entry (Mexico) $1,580.52
7. ACforKP (Australia) $1,053.68
8. ironOne (Norway) $526.84
*= reflects the results of a three-way deal that left $500 in play for the winner

gnat777 flies wire-to-wire in Event #28-M, $215 Stud Hi/Lo

Entries: 463
Prize pool: $92,600
Places paid: 64

1st place: gnat777 (Ukraine) $13,717.81*
2nd place: Wallyayay (United Kingdom) $12,850.65*
3rd place: Jordan "iMsoLucky0" Morgan (Mexico) $13,490.30*
4th place: cyberkanguru (Germany) $6,945
5th place: ilushan (Russia) $4,630
6th place: culibrk1 (Vzech Republic) $3,241
7th place: Irish Jack (Ireland) $2,315
8th place: Lyndon360 (New Zealand) $1,852
* - denotes results of a three-handed deal

David "Gunslinger3" Bach takes second SCOOP in Event #28-H ($2,100 Stud Hi/Lo)

Entrants: 95
Prize pool: $190,000.00
Places paid: 12

1. Gunslinger3 (Panama) $51,775.00
2. gunning4you (Canada) $35,150.00
3. WhooooKidd (Mexico) $26,600.00
4. buzzard1881 (Canada) $18,050.00
5. BUMM73 (Russia) $13,300.00
6. RZA4444 (Canada) $9,975.00
7. Osten (Norway) $8,075.00
8. jakz101 (Canada) $6,175.00

Brad Willis is the PokerStars Head of Blogging

Not only is this Bach's second SCOOP victory, it's his second SCOOP victory in the same event. Back in 2010, Bach won the $2,100 Stud Hi/Lo and now he decided it was time for another SCOOP.

While the field only had 95 players, it was as tough as you could get. There were several stud specialists including Team PokerStars Pro Nacho Barbero, George Danzer, ElkY -- who won the WSOP Stud Championship in 2011 -- Jonathan Duhamel, Eugene Katchalov, Sebastian Ruthenberg and Alexander Kravchenko. Team PokerStars Online Adrienne "talonchick" Rowsome and George "jorj95" Lind III were also in the field.

While these players didn't make it to the final table, there was a whole other batch of Stud pros who made...

The final table

Seat 1: gunning4you -- 85,577
Seat 2: RZA4444 -- 10,848
Seat 3: BUMM73 -- 22,664
Seat 4: osten -- 58,571
Seat 5: jakz101 -- 80,288
Seat 6: buzzard1881 -- 96,336
Seat 7: Gunslinger -- 40,026
Seat 8: WhooooKidd -- 78,690

Players were cooped up a bit at the final table. Half of the players had previously won a PokerStars COOP event with two winning a SCOOP and another two winning a WCOOP.

Whooookidd and Gunslinger3 both won SCOOPs before while osten and jakz101 were the WCOOP champions. Like Bach, Thor "osten" Hansen's victory came in a stud event, the $320 7-card stud.

One down

RZA4444 had been the short stack during the money bubble and the final table but managed to hang on. RZA4444 would also avoid being the first player out of the final table.

Limits were 2.5K/5K with a 500 ante and jakz101 was chipped down to under 20,000. On jakz101's final hand, WhooooKidd brought it in with a [5d] and jakz101 raised. WhooooKidd called.

Whooookidd: ([6d])([9d])[5d][9h][kd][4d]([6h])
jakz101: ([4s])([8c])[ad][8s][7s][qc]([4h])

jakz101 bet on fourth street and WhooooKidd called. jakz101 fired again on fifth street and WhooooKidd raised. jakz101 moved all-in for 12,637 and WhooooKidd called.

jakz101 had a pair of eights and WhooooKidd had a flush draw. WhooooKidd hit the flush on 6th street and there was no low hand.

jakz101 was our first final table elimination and took home $6,175.00 for 8th place.

No double COOP

Then our remaining WCOOP champion was eliminated. Thor "osten" Hansen was down to 13,382 by the time of jakz101's elimination and went all-in the following hand. It was a split plot so osten only chipped up to 16,632.

Then he went all-in again.

buzzard1881 brought it in with a [4d] and Gunslinger3 raised with a [7h]. BUMM73 and osten called showing a [6c] and [5c] respectively while buzzard1881 re-raised. Everyone called and we had a large pot.

Gunslinger3: (X)(X)[7h][qs][6s]
osten: (X)(X)[5c][10d][jh][ks](X)
BUMM73: ([4h])([7s])[6c][ad][8s][js]([5h])
buzzard1881: ([2c])([7d]) [4d][kh][5d][3s]([kd])

BUMM73 bet fourth street and everyone called. BUMM73 fired again on fifth street and osten raised all-in for 9,132. buzzard1881 and BUMM73 called while Gunslinger3 folded.

BUMM73 check-called a bet on sixth street and took the initiative on the river. buzzard1881 raised and BUMM73 called.

Both players had straights but BUMM73's was higher. buzzard1881 took the low with [7d][5d][4d][3s][2c]

osten was out in 7th, earning $8,075.00.

Hanging on

As we mentioned before, RZA4444 was the tournament short stack during a few key moments. RZA4444 had managed to stay alive each time and even managed to chip up some. Then the Canadian player lost a chunk.

WhooooKidd brought it in with a [3d] and RZA4444 raised with a [3s]. Gunslinger3 re-raised with an [as] and RZA4444 called.

RZA4444: (X)(X)[3s][5s][9d][jc](X)
Gunslinger3: (X)(X)[as][qh][6d][ah](X)

Gunslinger3 check-called on fourth street and then bet on fifth. RZA4444 called Gunslinger3's bet on fifth and sixth, but folded to the eventual champ's bet on the river. RZA444's stack was nearly halved to 21,692.

RZA4444 lost a bit, doubled-up and lost some more before being eliminated. BUMM73 brought it in with a [4d] and buzzard1881 raised with a [5d]. RZA4444 three-bet and BUMM73 and buzzard1881 called.

RZA4444: (X)(X)[7h][10s][8c][5h](X)
BUMM73: ([2h])([6h])[4d][as][ah][10c]([jc])
buzzard1881: (X)(X)[5d][8h][8s][10h](X)

BUMM73 bet on fourth street, buzzard1881 called and RZA4444 raised. Both players called and BUMM73 led out again on fifth street. buzzard1881 called and RZA4444 called all-in with about 1,500 behind.

BUMM73 bet on sixth street and both players checked on the river after buzzard1881 called.

BUMM73 showed aces and both players mucked. There was no low hand and RZA4444 was out in 6th, earning $9,975.

Take and give

RZA4444's elimination put BUMM73 second in chips, but BUMM73 would be the next to go. First, BUMM73 lost a few big pots to Gunslinger3:

Then BUMM73 was eliminated when the limits raised to 4K/8K with an 800 ante.

BUMM73 brought it in for 1,200 with a [3h]. buzzard1881 called with a [qc] and gunning4you did the same with a [9d].

gunning4you: ([ad])([10s])[9d][10h][10d][9h]([5s])
BUMM73: ([5h])([6s])[3h][7d][qh][7h]([7c])
buzzard1881: (X)(X) [qc][4h][kh]

Action checked to BUMM73 on fourth street and BUMM73 bet. Both players called and gunning4you bet on fifth. BUMM73 called and buzzard1881 folded. gunning4you bet again on sixth and BUMM73 called.

gunning4you then check-raised on the river and BUMM73 called all-in.

gunning4you showed a full house with tens full of nines and there was no low hand. BUMM73 earned $13,300 and was eliminated in 5th place.

buzzard1881 was left with only 15,000 after the elimination and doubled-up the following hand. buzzard1881 went all-in two more times but split the pot both times.

He wouldn't be so lucky the third time.

gunning4you brought it in with a [3h] and buzzard1881 raised with a [4h]. gunning4you raised and buzzard1881 called.

buzzard1881: ([5d])([ad])[4h][9s][5s][2d]([8s])
gunning4you: ([7h])([7d])[3h][2s][4s][2c]([5h])

buzzard1881 check-called on fourth street and check-raised on fifth. gunning4you re-raised and buzzard1881 called all-in.

gunning4you hit two-pair and a 7-5-4-3-2 low while buzzard1881 had a pair of fives and an 8-5-4-2-A.

buzzard1881 was out in 4th and earned $18,050.00.

Down to two

WhooooKidd had also been shortened by this point. WhooooKidd started three-handed with only 22,252 while gunning4you was up to 250,000 and Gunslinger3 held 202,000.

WhooooKidd was in need of a double up that never came.

Limits were still 4K/8K and WhooooKidd was quickly down to less than 5,000. It all went in a few hands after buzzard1881's elimination.

Gunslinger3 brought it in with a [6c] and WhooooKidd moved all-in with a [qh]. gunning4you raised and Gunslinger3 called.

WhooooKidd: (X)(X)[qh][2c][4c][2h](X)
gunning4you: ([5c])([6h])[8c][9d][as][5h]([9h])
Gunslinger3: ([4h])([ks])[6c][ad][6s][2d]([8s])

Both players checked until the river where gunning4you bet and Gunslinger3 called. Gunslinger3 took the low with 8-6-4-2-A and gunning4you won the high with nines and fives.

WhooooKidd mucked and was out in 3rd, earning $35,150.00.

Gun battle

There was a lengthy heads-up match between Gunslinger3 and gunning4you. Gunslinger3 started with the lead and had gunning4you on the ropes, chipping him all the way down to 15,000. gunning4you then had a comeback and even took the lead.

There was a complete reversal of roles as gunning4you chipped all the way up to 440,000, leaving Gunslinger3 with just 35,000.

Then it was Gunslinger3's time to come back.

Pot by pot, Gunslinger3 took the lead back and then players passed it around for a bit. Gunslinger3 then took the lead for the last time when:

Gunslinger3 then took a few more large pots off gunning4you before ending the tournament. Gunslinger3 brought it in with a [5d] and gunning4you raised with a [kh]. Gunslinger3 re-raised and gunning4you called.

gunning4you: ([7d])([3d])[kh][2h][ad][qc]([3h])
Gunslinger3: ([4d])([as])[5d][10s][5s][kc]([qs])

gunning4you bet on fourth street and Gunslinger3 took the initiative on fifth. Gunslinger3 bet again on sixth street and gunning4you called all-in. There was no low hand and Gunslinger3 won with a pair of fives to gunning4you's threes.

gunning4you finished 2nd and won $35,150.00 while Gunslinger3 took down another SCOOP and $51,775.00.

PokerStars 2013 SCOOP Event 28-H ($2,100 Stud Hi/Lo) results:

Entrants: 95
Prize pool: $190,000.00
Places paid: 12

1. Gunslinger3 (Panama) $51,775.00
2. gunning4you (Canada) $35,150.00
3. WhooooKidd (Mexico) $26,600.00
4. buzzard1881 (Canada) $18,050.00
5. BUMM73 (Russia) $13,300.00
6. RZA4444 (Canada) $9,975.00
7. Osten (Norway) $8,075.00
8. jakz101 (Canada) $6,175.00

And another event comes to a close. The studly split-pot madness of Event #28 has come to an end but there's still plenty of SCOOP action left. Check out the SCOOP homepage for a list of the remaining events and the leader board of this year's SCOOP.

Alexander Villegas is a freelance contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

Event #28-M, a $215 Stud Hi/Lo tournament, gave players the chance to pile up an unassailable advantage. Action kicked off at 2:00 p.m. ET and after 120 minutes of late registration the total starting field came to 463 players. That built a $92,600 prize pool, with $17,594 set aside for the eventual winner.

Plenty of well-known players showed up to play, and several of them went deep. Team Online's Mickey "mement_mori" Petersen finished in 30th place ($601.90), earning the same prize as last year's SCOOP Player of the Series, Shaun Deeb, who finished 26th. (Deeb's performance was good enough to keep him in second place in the race for this year's Player of the Series award.) Team Pro's Jonathan Duhamel made it one pay jump further, finishing in 20th place ($810.25).

The final table finally arrived with limits at 12K/24K and antes of 2.4K. These eight players were looking to scoop their way to victory:

Seat 1: Wallyayay (404,067 in chips)
Seat 2: ilushan (38,576 in chips)
Seat 3: gnat777 (779,642 in chips)
Seat 4: Jordan "iMsoLucky0" Morgan (352,943 in chips)
Seat 5: culibrk1 (217,169 in chips)
Seat 6: cyberkanguru (249,037 in chips)
Seat 7: Irish Jack (163,696 in chips)
Seat 8: Lyndon360 (109,870 in chips)

The short stacks make their way to the rail

The pace and order of play was mostly set by the chip stacks in play. Only the Ukraine's gnat777 was in a comfortable situation, sporting a stack worth just over 32 big bets. Nobody else had more than 17 big bets; Ireland's Irish Jack and New Zealand's Lyndon360 had four and seven, respectively, and short-stacked Russian player ilushan had just one and a half. Irish Jack managed to hold steady and ilushan managed to double up a few times in the first orbit. Lyndon360 was the first to suffer a major hit when the United Kingdom's Wallyayay hit a queen-high flush; Lyndon360 mucked with a pair of aces up and was left with just 5.4K. Six hands later the New Zealander was eliminated in 8th place ($1,852).

The other incoming short stacks wouldn't stave off their own departures for too long. After the limits had gone up to 16K/32K with 3.2K antes, Irish Jack called Jordan "iMsoLucky0" Morgan's opening raise on Hand #35 while showing the [5h]. Morgan showed the [As] and continued to bet every street as his board fell [As]-[9c]-[Ts]-[4s]. Irish Jack called all-in on the river and showed down ([3h] [2s]) / [5h] [8s] [3c] [Ks] / ([Qh]) for a pair of treys, but that couldn't beat Morgan's pair of aces with ([2c] [Ad]) / [As] [9c] [Ts] [4s] / ([Kh]). Neither player had a low, sending Irish Jack to the rail in 7th place ($2,315).

Four hands later the Czech Republic's culibrk1, who had come to the table sixth in chips, would be crippled in a pot against Germany's cyberkanguru. The German player ended up all-in after fifth street with a pair of kings to culibrk1's two pair, but a king on the river gave cyberkanguru three of a kind. With no low on either player's board, cyberkanguru scooped the 260K-chip pot and culibrk1 was left with just 49K. On Hand #44, culbrk1's last big bet went in the middle on third street with a split pair of eights, but gnat777 called with a split pair of kings. The Ukrainian player picked up another king for trips on sixth street and culibrk1 left in 6th place ($3,241).

With almost all the other incoming short stacks gone, the shortest of them finally came to the end of the road on Hand #51. Holding less than one big blind, ilushan got those chips in the middle holding ([3d] [7h]) / [Ts]; chip leader gnat777 called with ([Td] [4c]) / [4d] for a split pair of fours. Neither player hit a low by seventh street and those fours held up to send ilushan out in 5th place ($4,630).

gnat777 turns up the heat

Though gnat777 still held a significant lead with four players remaining, the others had their chips distributed a bit more evenly:

Seat 1: Wallyayay (376,002 in chips)
Seat 3: gnat777 (1,134,237 in chips)
Seat 4: Jordan "iMsoLucky0" Morgan (483,039 in chips)
Seat 6: cyberkanguru (321,722 in chips)

Wallyayay and iMsoLucky0 both began to chip up pretty quickly, with Wallyayay winning two different pots worth at least 246K to move over 500K and iMsoLucky0 climbing to 628K. Then gnat777 snapped back, winning 11 out of the next 14 pots just as the limits rose to 20K/40K with 4K antes. That gave the Ukrainian player 1.61M chips when nobody else had more than 312K. Finally, on Hand #77, cyberkanguru picked up a starting hand too good not to go all the way:

Catching all the wrong cards at the wrong times spelled cyberkanguru's doom, and the German player left in 4th place ($6,945).

A deal, and a Mexican/Ukrainian/British standoff

Wallyayay moved up to 437K with that pot; gnat777 was still in the lead with 1.56M, and iMsoLucky0 held 308K. The three traded scoops back and forth in 26 of the next 28 hands, with gnat777 trending downward and the other two trending toward the Ukrainian player. The impending jump in limits and the fact that there was just two big bets' difference between all three players led them to strike a deal after Hand #105. They quickly agreed to distribute the remaining prize pool based on ICM and leave $1,000 and the SCOOP champion's watch on the table for the winner.

Even with the deal in place and the limits up to 25K/50K, play continued along at a slow pace thanks to plenty of split pots that just hadn't been occurring leading up to the deal. Most of them went in favor of gnat777 and Wallyayay, while Jordan Morgan slid closer and closer to the edge. Most of the damage was done on Hand #123 against Wallyayay:

Morgan actually managed to double-up with a 347K-chip scoop, holding two pair and a 7-6 low against Wallyayay's lower two pair and no low. But by Hand #131 he was down to less than two big bets, all of which went in on third street with ([5d] [8d]) / [Kd]. Wallyayay was along for the ride with ([2c] [8c]) / [4c] and by seventh street had improved to both a nine-high flush and an 8-7 low. That beat Morgan's trip fives and no low, eliminating him in 3rd place with his $13,409.30 share of the deal.

Epic duel

That left gnat777 and Wallyayay heads-up and within less than two big bets of each other:

Seat 1: Wallyayay (1,196,235 in chips)
Seat 3: gnat777 (1,118,765 in chips)

The bulk of the early hands were either split pots or small ones distributed evenly between the two players. Then Wallyayay hit a full house, eights full of threes, for a 510K-chip scoop that gave the player from the U.K. a 2-to-1 chip lead. But gnat777 recovered almost all of those chips 10 hands later, bringing the match back close to even. By Hand #184 gnat777 finally pulled ahead for winning a 372K-chip pot on the river without a fight with a board reading (X-X) / [[3d] [Ac] [4d] [4h] / (X). From there the Ukrainian player won 10 of the next 11 pots, including one worth 732K with a three-to-seven straight and this one worth 972K:

On Hand #191, the 64th of heads-up play, gnat777 started with a buried pair of jacks. The Ukrainian player gladly capped the betting on third street against Wallyayay's [Td] up-card and got the rest of the chips in the middle on fourth street. Wallyayay's board ran out ([7d] [4s]) / [Td] [5s] [4d] [Ah] / ([9s]) for a pair of fours and no low. gnat777's ([Jh] [Jd]) / [Qd] [6s] [6d] [9c] / ([8c]) was good for jacks and sixes, which finally brought the tournament to a close.

Wallyayay, a former WCOOP 8-Game event final tablist, earned $12,850.65 from the three-way deal, the U.K. player's third-largest score ever on PokerStars. As for the winner, the $13,717.81 just cracked gnat777's top 10 scores at PokerStars, coming in at the tenth spot overall. But it beat the Ukrainian player's previous best SCOOP finish of 20th place by a couple of tables - and came with a nifty watch to boot.

SCOOP 2013 Event #28-M: $215 Stud Hi/Lo
463 entrants
$92,600 prize pool
64 places paid

1st place: gnat777 (Ukraine) $13,717.81*
2nd place: Wallyayay (United Kingdom) $12,850.65*
3rd place: Jordan "iMsoLucky0" Morgan (Mexico) $13,490.30*
4th place: cyberkanguru (Germany) $6,945
5th place: ilushan (Russia) $4,630
6th place: culibrk1 (Vzech Republic) $3,241
7th place: Irish Jack (Ireland) $2,315
8th place: Lyndon360 (New Zealand) $1,852
* - denotes results of a three-handed deal

Jason Kirk is a freelance contributor to PokerStars Blog.

A baker's dozen of Red Spades joined this field including Chris Moneymaker, ElkY, two-time SCOOP champ George Danzer, Shane "shaniac" Schleger and Sebastian Ruthenberg. Jonathan Duhamel was the only one to make the money, busting out in 125th place.

Betting limits were 60,000/120,000 on the final table bubble and PROTENTIALmn was the shortest stack remaining with 438,000. With the [Ac] showing, PROTENTIALmn completed on third street and Leon_Javur called with the [7c] up.

PROTENTIALmn ([Js][5c]) [Ac][Jh][2h][Ks] ([9h])
Leon_Javur ([4h][Ah]) [7c][6s][5h][7s] ([6h])

PROTENTIALmn led out on fourth street, Leon_Javur raised to 120,000 and PROTENTIALmn called. PROTENTIALmn check-called another 120,000 on fifth street and raised all-in on sixth, revealing a pair of jacks and no low draw. Leon_Javur turned over a pair of sevens and a 7-6-5-4-A low, but caught a six on the river to make two pair for high. PROTENTIALmn was eliminated in ninth place, setting the final table.

Final table chip counts

Seat 1: ACforKP (1,267,554 in chips)
Seat 2: Pokerccini (1,876,303 in chips)
Seat 3: 2jokerSpb (1,001,288 in chips)
Seat 4: bigslikluck3 (1,507,740 in chips)
Seat 5: late_entry (1,012,036 in chips)
Seat 6: ironOne (640,138 in chips)
Seat 7: Leon_Javur (1,149,430 in chips)
Seat 8: A_Sh4dy_0ne (2,275,511 in chips)

ironOne flattened

IronOne arrived at the final table with only five big bets and didn't wait long to make a move. With the betting limits up to 80,000/160,000, ironOne completed on third street showing the [4h] and A_Sh4dy_0ne raised with the [2h] up. ACforKP called two bets cold and ironOne called as well.

ACforKP (X-X) [Ah][Kh][9s]
ironOne ([4c][8c]) [4h][6h][Ts][9c] ([Qd])
A_Sh4dy_0ne ([Jd][Js]) [2h][7s][9h][Ad] ([3h])

ACforKP made the high board on fourth street and checked to ironOne. He bet 80,000 and both opponents called. ACforKP checked again on fifth, ironOne bet, and A_Sh4dy_0ne raised to 320,000. ACforKP folded and ironOne called all-in, revealing a pair of fours and three to an eight low. A_Sha4dy_0ne turned up jacks in the hole and they held up at showdown to scoop, ending ironOne's run in eighth place.

Pokerccini rolls over ACforKP

IronOne's departure left ACforKP as the short stack. With 614,000 remaining and the [4h] up, ACforKP raised A_Sh4dy_0ne's third street completion to 160,000. Both Pokerccini and A_Sh4dy_0ne called. ACforKP bet fourth street then checked fifth, leaving Pokerccini to bet 160,000. A_Sha4dy_0ne folded, ACforKP raised, Pokerccini three-bet and ACforKP called all-in.

ACforKP ([Ah][3s]) [4h][6d][Jd][3h] ([7s])
Pokerccini ([As][4c]) [3c][2h][5s][Qs] ([4s])

ACforKP turned up four to a six low and a pair of threes while Pokerccini had already made a wheel on fifth. ACforKP did not improve and went out in seventh place, earning $1,053.68.

2jokerSpb seizes the chip lead

The limits rose to 100,000/200,000 and with the [Ad] up, 2jokerSpb completed. Late_entry raised to 200,000 with the [7d] and 2jokerSpb fired back with a three-bet. Late_entry called and they went to fourth street. 2jokerSpb led on fourth and fifth streets, late_entry calling him down. Late_entry bet the last of his chips on sixth and 2jokerSpb called.

2jokerSpb ([Ac][Jc]) [Ad][2h][5h][Jh] ([Ah])
late_entry ([6d][4s]) [7d][Jd][As][4c] ([4d])

Late_entry had a pair of fours and a 7-6 low draw while 2jokerSpb had made aces and jacks on the turn. Although late_entry improved to trip fours on the river, 2jokerSpd hit another ace to make a full house. Late_entry hit the rail in sixth place, earning $1,580.52.

With that pot, 2jokerSpb moved up to 2.35 million. Two hands later, he scooped this three-way pot to take the chip lead with 4.14 million.

Live by the river, die by the river

While 2jokerSpb's chip count continued to climb, Leon_Javur's fell to 373,000. Leon_Javur lived to play another orbit when he put the last of his chips in on third street, making threes full of fives on the river to double to 837,000. However, a short time later, A_Sh4dy_0ne put the hurt on him. With the [Ad] up, Leon_Javur completed on third street, then called A_Sh4dy_0ne's raise. Leon_Javur led out on fourth, A_Sh4dy_0ne raised, and they capped the betting. Leon_Javur led again on fifth, A_Sh4dy_0ne raised all-in, and Leon_Javur called.

A_Sh4dy_0ne ([6c][6d]) [6h][Qh][3s][3d] ([6s])
Leon_Javur ([9c][Ah]) [Ad][5c][Ts][8d] ([Td])

A_Sh4dy _0ne revealed rolled-up sixes and binked quads on the river, leaving Leon_Javur on only 217,000. Two hands later, Leon_Javur put the last of his chips in on third street and Pokerccini looked him up. While Leon_Javur made fours and deuces for high, Pokerccini rivered aces and queens, sending Leon_Javur to the rail in fifth place.

Pokerccini moved up to 2.32 million in chips, but quickly lost half his stack to 2jokerSpb, the aces up he made on fifth street falling to 2jokerSpb's rivered trip threes. Pokerccini was left with less than a million in chips and fell to 583,000 when he folded to bigslikluck3's fifth street bet. Two orbits later, Pokerccini completed to 120,000 with the [Ks] on board and 2jokerSpb called with the [2h]. Pokerccini led out on every street, the last of his chips going in on sixth.

Pokerccini ([5s][5c]) [Ks][Tc][2s][6h] ([4d])
2jokerSpb ([Td][7c]) [2h][3d][2c][As] ([3c])

Pokerccini's pair of fives led when the money went in, but 2jokerSpb spiked two pair, deuces and threes on seventh street to eliminate him in fourth place.

Three-way deal

As soon as the action turned three-handed, everyone agreed to pause the action and discuss a potential deal. Here's a look at their chip counts when they ran the numbers:

2jokerSpb 6,681,122
A_Sh4dy_0ne 2,702,138
bigslikluck3 1,346,740

Final table host Grayson "spacegravy" Physioc provided the final three with ICM numbers and they quickly agreed to them. With $500 still in play for the winner, cards went back in the air.

Short stack bigslikluck3 was left on half a million in chips when 2jokerSpb made trip eights on sixth street to take down a 2.7 million pot. Although bigslikluck3 managed to double up, 2jokerSpd struck again, rivering quad sixes to leave bigslikluck3 on only 189,000.

On the next hand, bigslikluck3 put the last of his chips in on third street and A_Sh4dy_0ne called. Although bigslikluck3 made a pair of aces on seventh street, A_Sh4dy0ne's river card improved his hand to jacks and deuces. Bigslikluck3 was out in third place, earning $5,822.34 thanks to the deal.

Heads-up chip counts

Seat 3: 2jokerSpb (7,498,382 in chips)
Seat 8: A_Sh4dy_0ne (3,231,618 in chips)

2jokerSpb and A_Sh4dy_0ne traded pots, their chip counts essentially staying the same until 2jokerSpb forced a fold on fifth street with [8c][Td][2s] showing vs. A_Sh4dy_0ne's [7s][3h][Kc]. 2jokerSpb moved up to 8 million in chips and crippled A-Sh4dy_0ne when he was dealt rolled-up aces and improved to a full house on sixth street while A_Sh4dy_0ne hit a queen-high flush.

A_Sh4dy_0ne was left with 79,618 in chips and moved them in on the next hand. He could only muster a pair of fours by the river while 2jokerSpb made jacks and sixes to lock up the win.

A_Sh4dy_0ne ([2s][4s]) [Qd][Td][7c][4h] ([3s])
2jpokerSpb ([Kd][9d]) [Jc][6h][Ts][Jh] ([6d])

Congratulations to 2jpokerSpb on his first SCOOP title! He banked $8,189.80 for the win while runner-up A_Sh4dy_0ne earned $6,573.93.

PokerStars 2013 SCOOP Event #28-L ($27 Stud Hi/Lo) results

Players: 2,148
Prizepool: $52,684.30
Places paid: 272

1. 2jokerSpb (Russia) $8,189.80*
2. A_Sh4dy_0ne (Netherlands) $6,573.93*
3. bigslikluck3 (Israel) $5,822.34*
4. Mario "Pokerccini" Puccini (Germany) $3,687.90
5. Leon_Javur (Estonia) $2,634.21
6. late_entry (Mexico) $1,580.52
7. ACforKP (Australia) $1,053.68
8. ironOne (Norway) $526.84

*= reflects the results of a three-way deal that left $500 in play for the winner

Kristin Bihr is a freelance contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

There were only about 20 players in their seats when the first hands were dealt on Tuesday afternoon, but by the time the two hours of late registration concluded a total of 96 players signed up. That added up to a $192,000 prize pool, nearly double the tourney's $100K guarantee, with only the top dozen finishers making the cash.

By the five-hour mark the field had been whittled down to 32 players, with Team PokerStars Pro Jonathan Duhamel having just been sent railward in 33rd while GlassOfBeer, Femmeonfelt, and blanconegro occupied the top three spots on the leaderboard.

A couple of Duhamel's teammates soon followed him to the exit in Eugene Katchalov (out in 30th) and Alex Kravchenko (in 28th), leaving just George Danzer with below average chips to sport the red spade as the tourney played down to five tables.

It would take a couple more hours plus 15 minutes more to play down to 12 and the money, with Danzer continuing to nurse a short stack just about the entire way while Bryan "Brryann" Ruiter pushed to the top of the counts by building a stack of more than 80,000.

Soon Danzer's run would come to an end in 12th place after losing the last of his chips in a hand versus Unkn0wn123. That equaled a $4,800 cash for Danzer as he came up short in an attempt to earn a second lowball title in this year's series after having won Event #12-H ($2,100 NL 2-7 Draw).

GlassOfBeer (11th) and Mike "SirWatts" Watson (10th) followed Danzer to the rail, both also earning $4,800 for their finishes. Then by the nine-hour break Brian "$tinger 88" Hastings (9th), enrico.ita77 (8th), and Phil "Jackal69" Shaw (7th) were eliminated, each taking away $7,200 for their efforts.

Just six remained, with Bryan "Brryann" Ruiter still leading the way, having moved up over the 160,000-chip mark.

Seat 1: Rory "Mafews" Mathews (United Kingdom) -- 37,760
Seat 2: Unkn0wn123 (Uruguay) -- 29,606
Seat 3: Stephen "stevie444" Chidwick (United Kingdom) -- 125,205
Seat 4: Calvin "cal42688" Anderson (Mexico) -- 29,760
Seat 5: Bryan "Brryann" Ruiter (Netherlands) -- 167,636
Seat 6: 7Be/\eC7 (Belarus) -- 90,033

During the break the chip leader offered some advice to the rest of the table, with his nearest challenger, Stephen "stevie444" Chidwick, asking for further insight.

Brryann: Ace is high guys
stevie444: so nuts is 23456?
Brryann: damn right
stevie444: gotcha

Final table funnies aside, these six represented a formidable bunch, all tourney regulars with numerous significant scores under their belts, and all clearly well aware of the rules for fixed-limit 2-7 triple draw.

Mafews meets end in sixth

One of those tough competitors was Rory "Mafews" Mathews who already had 10 cashes in this year's SCOOP before the start of this event, including one other final table in Event #14-H ($1,050 NLHE Big Antes) where he finished ninth.

Mathews had a rocky start to this final table, however, and was down to 8,360 with the stakes at 1,400/2,800 when Calvin "cal42688" Anderson opened by raising from UTG. Mathews three-bet from the button, and when it folded back to Anderson he capped it and Mathews called.

Both drew a single card on the first round and checked, then both drew one card again. This time when cal42688 checked, Mafews bet all in for 2,760, and Anderson called. cal42688 took one card one more time on the last draw while Mafews stood pat.

Mafews turned over a 9-7 with [9][7][5][4][2], but Anderson had drawn better as he showed an 8-7 -- [8][7][6][4][3] -- and Mathews was out in sixth.

Unk0wn123 upended in fifth

Another player with significant accomplishments at this final table was Unk0wn123 who after winning the Super Tuesday last month had 14 cashes coming into Event #27-H, including making the semifinals in the $215 PLO Heads-Up (Event #13-H) and finishing sixth in the $1,050 NLHE Big Antes (Event #14-H).

Unk0wn123 started this final table as the short stack, and not long after Mafews's exit watched as 7Be/\eC7 raised from under the gun, then Unk0wn123 three-bet from a seat over. It folded back to 7Be/\eC7 who capped the betting, and Unk0wn123 called leaving but 906 chips behind.

Both players then took two cards, and when 7Be/\eC7 led with a bet, Unk0wn123 called all in. Both players drew one card on the second round, then 7Be/\eC7 stood pat as Unk0wn123 tried to improve one last time by drawing one.

7Be/\eC7 turned over [8][7][4][3][2] while Unkn0wn123 could only make a Q-low with [Q][7][6][5][2]. Unkn0wn123 was out in fifth, although the finish nonetheless helped solidify Unk0wn123's spot inside the top 10 in the SCOOP Player of the Series race.

7Be/\eC7 sunk in fourth

Play continued on through the 11th hour with lots of chip movement as the lead got passed back and forth among the remaining players. Finally with the blinds up to 2,500/5,000, 7Be/\eC7 opened by raising from under the gun, Stephen "stevie444" Chidwick three-bet from the button, the blinds folded, and 7Be/\eC7 called.

Both players discarded two on the first draw, and when 7Be/\eC7 checked, Chidwick bet. 7Be/\eC7 check-raised, Chidwick raised back once more, and 7Be/\eC7 called. Both players then drew a single card and checked following the second draw.

The third draw saw 7Be/\eC7 standing pat and stevie444 taking one. This time 7Be/\eC7 led with a bet, Chidwick raised, 7Be/\eC7 three-bet, stevie444 capped, and 7Be/\eC7 called with the 2,939 left.

7Be/\eC7 turned over [7][6][5][3][2] for a number three, but had to be dismayed by the sight of stevie444's hand -- [7][5][4][3][2] for a doesn't-get-any-better-than-that number one. 7Be/\eC7 was out in fourth.

cal42688's quest for watch #5 cut short in third

The 11-hour break arrived, at which point Bryan "Brryann" Ruiter led with 204,596, Stephen "stevie444" Chidwick was next with 145,644, and Calvin "cal42688" Anderson third with 129,760.

Shortly after play resumed, Anderson suffered a swift setback after losing a couple of big hands to find himself down under 30,000, then after losing another hand to Ruiter was down to just 7,760 with the stakes 3,000/6,000.

That's when Chidwick raised from UTG from the button, then Anderson reraised all in from the small blind. Both Brryann and stevie444 called, then Anderson and Ruiter drew three cards apiece while Chidwick took two. Ruiter check-called Chidwick's bet, then on the second draw Anderson stood pat, Ruiter took two, and Chidwick one. Ruiter checked again, Chidwick bet, Ruiter check-raised, and Chidwick called.

The third draw saw all three players stand pat, and when Ruiter bet Chidwick called. Ruiter turned over an 8-7 -- [8][7][4][3][2] -- but Chidwick had him barely beat with an 8-6 -- [8][6][4][3][2]. Meanwhile Anderson mucked his hand, his Event #27-H run -- and quest for a fifth career SCOOP watch after last night's win in Event #25-M ($215 LHE) -- having ended in third.

stevie444 sinks Brryann, wins watch

The two players who had begun the final table joking about how to make lowball hands had each made enough good ones to make it to heads-up against one another, with Bryan "Brryann" Ruiter in front with 261,586 to Stephen "stevie444" Chidwick's 218,414.

But heads-up play immediately saw the momentum swing in Chidwick's direction, and after several pots went stevie444's way Ruiter was down to less than 10,000. They pair again took to the chat box:

Brryann: not meant to be this
Brryann: only bottem range
Brryann: wtf
stevie444: i lose with these kinds of leads hu all the time
Brryann: lets get it started

Soon after that Brryann won an all-in hand to double his stack, noting that it was the first time all tourney he'd been all in. He'd win another right after that to climb back up over 45,000, then lost almost all of it in a hand that Ruiter mucked after seeing Chidwick had made an 8-low.

Down to just 344 chips, Ruiter was all in prior to the first draw on the next hand, and he took two cards, then one, then stood pat. Meanwhile Chidwick drew four, then one, and stood pat, turning over [9][6][5][3][2] as Ruiter showed [T][8][5][4][3]. Just over 11-and-a-half hours after the tournament had begun, Ruiter -- who has a couple of WCOOP titles to his credit -- had come up one spot shy of adding a SCOOP watch.

Meanwhile, Stephen "stevie444" Chidwick had won, thereby continuing a stellar SCOOP series. Congratulations to Chidwick who records his 12th cash of the series, including a runner-up finish in Event #11-M ($215 Stud) and a seventh-place in tonight's Event #27-M as well ($215 Triple Draw 2-7)!

PokerStars 2013 SCOOP Event #27-H ($2,100 FL Triple Draw 2-7) results

Players: 96
Total prize pool: $192,000
Places paid: 12

1. Stephen "stevie444" Chidwick (United Kingdom) $52,320
2. Bryan "Brryann" Ruiter (Netherlands) $35,040
3. Calvin "cal42688" Anderson (Mexico) $26,880
4. 7Be/\eC7 (Belarus) $18,240
5. Unkn0wn123 (Uruguay) $13,440
6. Rory "Mafews" Mathews (United Kingdom) $10,080

Be sure to check that SCOOP site to see how Chidwick, Anderson, Mathews, Unkn0wn123, and others are faring in their efforts to prevent Shaun Deeb from capturing a second straight SCOOP Player of the Series.

Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

zxz_ overcame a field of 1,668 players, several former SCOOP champions and a number of Team PokerStars Pro and Online players to achieve victory. zxz_'s first hurdle was making the money with the final 216 players. All cashers were guaranteed $42.99, but zxz_ ended up taking home $6,043.45.

After that bubble, zxz_ reached another one.

We got down to the final table bubble in about nine hours and quickly burst it. Limits were up to 35K/70K and mMagic_cards was battling with Megaheiner for the title of short stack. Both players were at different tables, trying to make the final one.

mMagic_cards raised to 70,000 at his three-handed table and crack2 re-raised. mMagic_cards called all-in and patted the whole way. crack2 drew two, then one on the second and third draw.

mMagic_cards was patting with [10c][9d][8s][5d][3c] and crack2 hit a [9s][7s][6h][4c][2c] to eliminate mMagic in 7th for $612.24. This brought us down to our...

Final table

Seat 1: VEVAT -- 1,004,112
Seat 2: crack2 -- 828,419
Seat 3: dexmorgan77 -- 751,936
Seat 4: Megaheiner -- 98,096
Seat 5: Ceegee87 -- 2,909,685
Seat 6: zxz_ -- 2,747,752

Your stack is so short...

Megaheiner's stack was so short that he was still the final table short stack after winning a pot and then doubling up. VEVAT raised from under-the-gun and Megaheiner re-raised from the cutoff. Ceegee87 four-bet from the button, VEVAT folded and Megaheiner re-raised to 140,000.

Ceegee87 called and both players drew two cards. Megaheiner moved all-in for 10,596 and Ceegee87 called.

Megaheiner drew one, then stood pat while Ceegee87 drew one card both draws. Megaheiner showed [9s][5c][4c][3c][2s] to beat Ceegee87's pair of eights.

Megaheiner then lost most of the new stack to zxz_.

zxz_ raised from under-the-gun and crack2 re-raised from the cutoff. Megaheiner four-bet from the small blind and Ceegee87, zxz_ and crack2 called.

crack2 and Megaheiner drew one card while Ceegee87 and zxz_ took two. Megaheiner bet and all three players called.

Megaheiner stood pat, crack2 took one and Ceegee87 and zxz_ took two again. Megaheiner bet and everyone called. Megaheiner patted again and the remaining players drew one. Megaheiner bet after the final draw and only zxz_ called.

Megaheiner turned over [8c][6s][5d][3d][2h] but zxz_ managed to hit a [7c][6c][5c][3s][2c]. zxz_ took the lead with 3.6 million while Megaheiner was down to 38,692.

Megaheiner moved all-in on the button for 38,692 the following hand. Ceegee87 and zxz_ called from the blinds.

zxz_ and Megaheiner drew three cards while Ceegee87 took one. Players checked and Ceegee87 took another card while zxz_ took three and Megaheiner discarded two. Ceegee87 patted, zxz_ took three again and Megaheiner took one.

zxz_ and Megaheiner mucked when Ceegee87 showed [9d][7s][6h][5c][2h]. Megaheiner finished 6th for $1,023.73 and his countryman followed him soon after.

Countryman

dexmorgan77 and Megaheiner both hailed from the land of German engineering, Germany. dexmorgan77 was down to 500,000 after Megaheiner's elimination and wouldn't last long.

Limits were up to 40K/80K and dexmorgan77 raised from under-the-gun. Ceegee87 called and the other players got out of the way. dexmorgan77 took one card and Ceegee87 discarded two. dexmorgan77 bet and stood pat on the second draw. Ceegee87 called and took one.

dexmorgan77 bet again and Ceegee87 raised, prompting a re-raise from dexmorgan77 and a four-bet by Ceegee87. dexmorgan77 only had 9,436 behind and called all-in.

Both players patted and dexmorgan77 turned over [8c][6h][5d][4c][3d], only to be beaten by Ceegee87's [7s][6c][5s][4h][2s].

dexmorgan77 earned $1,637.97 for finishing 5th and the tournament was Germanless.

Straight crack

zxz_ held 2.8 million and Ceegee87 had 3.7 million while both VEVAT and crack2 were around 800,000.

With 10 big bets apiece, crack2 and VEVAT didn't have much space to maneuver. VEVAT was chipped down first, but managed a double-up.

zxz_ raised to 80,000 and VEVAT three-bet. zxz_ called and drew two while VEVAT discarded one. zxz_ check-called VEVAT's bet and both players discarded one on the second draw.

zxz_ check-called again and players took one card. VEVAT moved all-in for 41,612 after the last draw and zxz_ called. VEVAT showed [8s][7d][6s][3c][2s] while zxz_ hit a pair with [7c][5h][4h][2d][2c].

VEVAT doubled up to 623,000 but crack2 wouldn't be so lucky.

zxz_ raised to 80,000 from the button and crack2 called from the big blind. Both players discarded two cards and crack2 check-raised zxz_. zxz_ re-raised and crack2 called.

zxz_ patted while crack2 took one card. crack2 check-called and discarded another card on the final draw. crack2 check-called a final bet and then mucked when zxz_ showed [8h][5s][4h][3h][2c].

crack2 was down to about 100,000 and was out a few hands later. VEVAT raised from the small blind and crack2 moved all-in for 108,419 from the big blind. VEVAT called and took one card while crack2 took three.

Both players then took one card the second and third draw and crack2 hit a straight with [6c][5c][4s][3s][2c]. VEVAT had a [kc][9c][8d][7s][3c] and crack2 was out in 4th, earning $4,685.44.

Bold attempt

Despite eliminating crack2, VEVAT was still at 791,000. But the Russian was a fierce fighter and doubled up several times before bowing out. VEVAT was down to 151,000 just five hands after crack2's elimination.

Then VEVAT got a double-up.

VEVAT raised to 80,000 from the small blind and Ceegee87 called from the big. VEVAT took one card and Ceegee87 took two. VEVAT bet, Ceegee87 called and both players took one card.

VEVAT moved all-in for 31,643 and Ceegee called. Players took one card apiece on the final draw and both hit pairs. VEVAT hit fours while Ceegee87 had nines.

VEVAT doubled to 303,000 and doubled that a few hands later. Limits went up to 50K/100K and zxz_ raised to 100,000 from the button. VEVAT three-bet and everyone called.

All three players drew two cards and VEVAT bet. Both players called and VEVAT took one while zxz_ and Ceegee87 discarded two.

VEVAT moved all-in for 53,286, Ceegee87 called and zxz_ folded. VEVAT drew one card and Ceegee87 patted. VEVAT hit a [8h][7s][4d][3d][2d] and beat Ceegee87's [jd][8s][7h][6h][2c]. VEVAT was up to 700,000, then lost a couple hundred thousand and doubled up to nearly 1 million:

VEVAT then lost a few large pots and was out in a few minutes. VEVAT raised from the button and Ceegee87 three-bet from the small blind. VEVAT re-raised and Ceegee87 called. Both players drew one card and VEVAT bet. Ceegee87 called and both players drew one card again.

Ceegee87 led with the bet after the second draw and VEVAT called. Ceegee87 stood pat on the last draw and VEVAT took one.

Ceegee87 bet and VEVAT called and mucked when Ceegee87 turned over [8h][6c][5d][4c][3d]. VEVAT was down to 613,000 and lost half that to Ceegee87 a few hands later.

Then zxz_ finished VEVAT off.

zxz_ raised to 100,000 and VEVAT three-bet from the big blind. zxz_ called and both players drew two cards. zxz_ check-raised and VEVAT called. zxz_ patted and VEVAT took another two. zxz_ bet and VEVAT called all-in for 63,144.

zxz_ continued to pat and VEVAT took one more card. zxz_ was standing pat with a [8h][5s][4d][3s][2d] and VEVAT missed with a [10c][8s][5d][4h][3c].

VEVAT was out in 3rd and won $3,685.44.

Heads-up

Heads-up lasted a while. zxz_ started with 4,623,092 to Ceegee87's 3,716,908.

We got down to our final two players in 34 minutes and then heads-up took nearly two hours. Ceegee87 was struggling with a small stack for the first half hour of the tournament but then managed to gain some ground. Ceegee87 even managed to take the lead and build it up to 5 million.

There were several all-ins, multiple coolers and last-minute saves. After 90 minutes of heads-up play, players decided it was time for a deal.

Ceegee87 was in the lead with 4,325,264 and zxz_ held 4,014,736. It was a nearly even split with Ceegee87 taking $5,587.40 and zxz_ taking $5,543.45.

There was $500 left for our eventual champion, a title that felt like it would never be awarded.

The end

But all things must come to an end and the heads-up match ended shortly after the deal was made. Limits were up to 140K/280K and zxz_ finally started to pull away:

Limits went up to 160K/320K a few hands later and zxz_ raised from the small blind. Ceegee87 called and both players discarded two cards. Ceegee87 bet, zxz_ called and drew two cards while Ceegee87 took one.

Ceegee87 bet again and zxz_ called. Both players took one card and Ceegee87 fired another barrel. zxz_ raised and Ceegee87 called and mucked when zxz_ turned over the nuts, [7s][5c][4c][3c][2s].

zxz_ was up to 7 million and Ceegee87 dropped to 1.2 million. Ceegee87 managed to get one last double-up but was out a few hands later.

Ceegee87 raised, zxz_ three-bet to 480,000 and Ceegee87 called. zxz_ drew two while Ceegee87 took three.

zxz_ check-called Ceegee87's bet and drew two while Ceegee87 stood pat. zxz_ check-raised Ceege87 and and Ceegee87 moved all-in for 950,528.

zxz_ patted and Ceegee87 broke and took one.

zxz_ showed the nuts again with [7c][5c][4s][3h][2h] and Ceegee87 hit a pair of eights. Ceegee87 finished second for $5,587.40 while zxz_ became the champion of Event #27-L, winning the SCOOP watch and $6,043.45.

PokerStars 2013 SCOOP Event #27-L ($27 2-7 Triple draw) results:

Entrants: 1,668
Prize pool: $40,949.40
Places paid: 216

1. zxz_ (Ukraine) *$6,043.45
2. Ceegee87 (Mexico) *5,587.40
3. VEVAT (Russia) $3,685.44
4. crack2 (United Kingdom) $2,456.96
5. dexmorgan77 (Germany) $1,637.97
6. Megaheiner (Germany) $1,023.73

*Denotes a two-way deal.

For more results, a leader board and a schedule of the remaining events for this year's SCOOP, check out the SCOOP homepage.

Alexander Villegas is a freelance contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

48 players made the money in Event 27-M. None of them were Team PokerStars Pros or PokerStars Team Online players, although the ITM players did include some other notable faces. BrynKenney checked out at 43rd place; Ami "UhhMee" Barer put in yet another good SCOOP performance with a 26th-place finish; and James Obst did a bit better than Barer by coming in 23rd.

Stephen "stevie444" Chidwick outshone them all. Chidwick faced a tough decision to break or pat on the bubble of the final table against Ig123456789, who patted the last draw. After dipping into his time bank for about 90 seconds, Chidwick opted to break his hand and draw one. It was the correct move against Ig123456789's 8-7-6-4-2, but Chidwick paired on the draw to be bounced in 7th place.

Don't cry too much for stevie444; he was busy on the final table of Event 27-H (where he was still alive with three players remaining at the time of publishing this post) while the other six players collapsed to the Event 27-M final table.

Seat 1: Ig123456789 (361414 in chips)
Seat 2: Zackary "Thrash370" Koerper (384556 in chips)
Seat 3: aDrENalin710 (77372 in chips)
Seat 4: CandyJohnson (541250 in chips)
Seat 5: Tamsusis (94248 in chips)
Seat 6: kingkai (421160 in chips)

Level 25: stakes 7k-14k
Average: 313,333 (22.5 big bets)

The final table started with an odd distribution of chips. Four players had stacks that were above the table average, while two players - Tamsusis and aDrENalin710 - were quite short. Things only got worse for the short stacks as, four minutes into the final table, the stakes rolled up to 8k-16k.

CandyJohnson started as chip leader but soon relinquished that title to Ig123456789, a Ukrainian player who won a PL 5-Card Draw event during WCOOP 2010. With four streets of fixed-limit betting, the final table promised plenty of stomach-churning swings. Both short stacks proved that with numerous double-ups in the early stages of the final table. aDrENalin710, in fact, rose all the way up to the table average, mainly at Koerper's expense.

The chips kept working their way around the table, never staying long in any one player's stack. Koerper was crippled in a hand against Tamsusis that Koerper had three-bet pre-draw. Koerper drew one to Tamsusis' two on the first draw and bet, then one to Tamsusis' two on the second draw as well. Tamsusis raised Koerper's bet on that street; Koerper called, drew one on the third draw ahead of Tamsusis' pat, then check-folded, preserving a stack of only 10k.

Koerper doubled once to get back up to 25k, then doubled a second time with a 9 against Ig123456789's queen to climb up to 45k. That's where it ended. The third time Koerper's tried to double up aDrENalin710 made an inspired pat on the third draw after Koerper himself patted what turned out to be a 9-8. aDrENalin710 dragged the pot with a 9-7 and sent Koerper to the rail in 6th place.

For the most part, Ig123456789, aDrENalin710 and CandyJohnson were the beneficiaries of the chip movement; kingkai and Tamsusis were victimized by it. kingkai caught a bad piece of luck against aDrENalin710 to hit the rail in 5th place:

The other short stack, Tamsusis, wasn't far behind kingkai in reporting to the rail. aDrENalin710 did the honors once again. The pot was three-bet by Tamsusis pre-draw and called by both Ig123456789 (who opened with a raise) and aDrENalin710. On the first draw, Tamsusis drew 2, Ig123456789 drew 1, and aDrENalin710 drew 2. Ig123456789 led with a bet that both other plaeyrs called. The action was the same after the second draw, at which point Tamsusis was all in. Tamsusis patted the last draw; each other player drew one card. The action on the river was checked. Tamsusis' 10-8 couldn't beat aDrENalin710's 9-8.

Only three players remained: CandyJohnson (665,502), aDrENalin710 (637,188) and Ig123456789 (577,310). They agreed to chip-chop the remaining prize pool, with each player claiming more than $11,000 in the deal. Only $1,000 was left to be awarded to the champion.

As soon as the deal was set, CandyJohnson went on a heater that pushed CandyJohnson's stack north of 1.4 million. Neither Ig123456789 nor aDrENalin710 seemed to have an answer for CandyJohnson. Each player fell to about 200k in chips as the stakes increased to 14k-28k.

Naturally, they turned on each other.

aDrENalin710 got the best of those encounters. Down to 107k, Ig123456789 raised and then called a 3-bet from aDrENalin710 before the first draw. After aDrENalin710 drew one, Ig123456789 went for the home run by drawing three. Another bet from aDrENalin710 drew another call from Ig123456789. This time Ig123456789 drew only two to aDrENalin710's one. The last chips went in right there. aDrENalin710 was pat on the last draw with a 10-6; Ig123456789 drew one and paired to bounce out of the tournament in 3rd place.

aDrENalin710's task at the start of heads-up play was tall. CandyJohnson had a 3.5-to-1 chip advantage. But in fixed-limit poker, anything can - and usually does - happen. aDrENalin710 went on a heater to match CandyJohnson's three-handed heater. aDrENalin710 didn't stop until the chip lead was 3.5-to-1 the other way. A key hand saw aDrENalin710 get a chance to cap the betting after the second draw with an 8-6. CandyJohnson drew one card on the last draw but could only improve to an 8-7.

aDrENalin710: Godmod

aDrENalin710 wasn't kidding. It seemed that every time a pot went to showdown, aDrENalin710 showed up with a 7, 8 or 9 - and it wasn't just a few pots that were going to showdown. CandyJohnson was winning small pots here and there but they couldn't make up for the medium and large pots that aDrENalin710 kept dragging.

It finally got to a point where CandyJohnson was all in before the first draw. CandyJohnson drew 1 card each time; aDrENalin710 drew 2, then 1, then 1. At the showdown, aDrENalin710 produced yet another 9, a 9-7. CandyJohnson was paired up, out of chips and out of time.

After so many hands, it's easy to forget that aDrENalin710 started the final table as the short stack with just 5.5 big bets. Even after the tournament went heads-up, nobody would have faulted aDrENalin710 for folding up the tent and taking an $11,000 payday. But aDrENalin710 was a grinder start to finish. That's what SCOOP champions are made of.

SCOOP 2013 Event 27-M $215 Limit Triple Draw 2-7 results

Players: 376
Prizepool: $75,200
Places paid: 48
* denotes 3-way deal

1. aDrENalin710 (Russia) - $12,434.45*
2. CandyJohnson (Norway) - $11,566.62*
3. Ig123456789 (Ukraine) - $11,154.93*
4. Tamsusis (Lithuania) - $5,828.00
5. kingkai (Norway) - $4,324.00
6. Zackary "Thrash370" Koerper (Costa Rica) - $2,820.00

The SCOOP 2013 truck rolls on through Sunday. Check out the schedule of remaining events and ways to qualify for those events at the SCOOP home page.

Dave Behr is a freelance contributor to the PokerStars Blog.