When it comes to tournament formats, PokerStars never stops innovating. Static blinds and giant antes? Check. Variable level times? Been there. An entire tournament where the second-best hand wins? Did that in a side event at the EPT Grand Final, no less. One of the more popular and enduring tournament innovations, however, was on display in the second event of the 2015 SCOOP – the Progressive Super-Knockout. Turning MTT strategy and chip EV on its ear, the Progressive Super-Knockout uses half a player’s buy-in for the main prize pool and the other half as a bounty that grows progressively throughout the tournament. When you eliminate a player, you collect half that player’s bounty as cash and the other half is added to your own bounty, creating some confounding strategic situations. While bounties aren’t as valuable in the early stages of play, during the mid and end game, they have the potential to be far more valuable than a small cash finish out of the main prize pool.
This final table had the potential to crown a repeat SCOOP champion. Canada’s Yayoshow won a watch in 2013’s Event #14-M ($109+R NLHE Big Antes) and banked over $83,000 in the process. JeffBaas came close in the same year; he chopped Event #32-L ($27 PLO Turbo Zoom) but officially finished in second place. Tonight, JeffBaas at last stepped into the winner’s circle, two pairs of kings and one extraordinary river card propelling him through the final table to take down his first SCOOP title.
Event #2-M smashed the $600,000 guarantee as 5,511 players turned out, driving the prize pool up to $1,102,200.00. 720 places were paid, with first place set to earn $84,045.35. The first day of play saw 31 levels completed, with 48 players advancing to Day 2. JeffBaas of the Netherlands topped the overnight counts with 2,841,484 in chips and a $3,543.75 bounty on his head.
Day 2 action commenced after a 12 hour break and by the 70,000/140,000 level, seven players remained. With each player sporting a stack more than 30 big blinds deep, hand for hand play on the final table bubble took nearly an hour. Sunkin12 was a clear target on the four-handed table- he carried the largest bounty at $8,091.74 and was outchipped by two opponents. One of them, Yayoshow, led off the action with a min-raise to 400,000 before short stack djokocha moved in for 4.19 million on the button. Sukin12 reshoved for 5.1 million from the small blind, JeffBaas folded the big blind and Yayoshow released his hand. Sukin12 was in terrific shape, his A♥ K♥ dominating djokocha’s A♦ Jâ™ , and the flop fell a tantalizing J♥ 10♣ 9♥ . Sukin12 could squash djokocha’s top pair with a king, a queen, or a heart, but got the 9♦ and the 7♦ instead, leaving him on less than a million in chips.
Two hands later, sukin12 open-shoved from UTG and JeffBaas snap-reraised with Q♦ Q♥ to isolate. His pocket queens handily defeated 8♠9♥ and sukin12 hit the rail on the final table bubble. JeffBaas pocketed $4,045.87 in cash and added the same amount to his own bounty.
Final table chip counts
Seat 1: Chancew (10,800,548 in chips) $6,241.36 bounty
Seat 2: Yayoshow (8,948,504 in chips) $4,900.16 bounty
Seat 3: JeffBaas (9,136,653 in chips) $8,381.61 bounty
Seat 4: Bubble20 (4,851,502 in chips) $2,758.97 bounty
Seat 5: djokocha (9,881,406 in chips) $2,817.17 bounty
Seat 6: smurf0 (11,491,387 in chips) $6,419.23 bounty
Fifth in chips going into the final table, Yayoshow took some early hits that left him on the short stack. However, he got a huge boost when he doubled through JeffBaas with A♣ Q♥ vs. 9♥ 9â™ . Yayoshow made quad aces on the A♥ A♦ 7♥ 8♣ Aâ™ board and rocketed up to 11.65 million in chips, leaving JeffBaas on only 2.54 million. The Dutchman didn’t stay there for long, though, and doubled through djokocha on the very next deal, his pocket threes holding up against pocket deuces.
The next big move came fro smurf0 who three-bet to 1.45 million from the small blind behind JeffBaas’s 602,500 opening raise. Second-in-chips Chancew looked down at Aâ™ K♣ in the big blind and moved in for 11.96 million, swifty chasing away JeffBaas. Smurf0, however, called with Q♥ Q♦ and the ladies held up on the 10â™ 7♦ 5â™ Jâ™ 2♥ board. Suddenly smurf0 was in the chip lead with 24 million, while Chancew was left with only 367,000. On the next hand, Chancew put the rest of his chips in the middle, but his 3♦ 6♦ was no match for JeffBaas’s Qâ™ 10♥ . For sixth place, Chancew went home with $8,266.50, along with another $6,241.36 in bounties.
Four hands later, the action folded to djokocha on the button. He min-raised to 500,000 and smurf0 three-bet to 1.25 million from the small blind. Yayoshow folded his big blind and djokocha came back over the top for all 6.5 million of his chips. Smurf0 called, his 7♦ 7♣ in dire shape against djokocha’s Qâ™ Q♣ . Djokocha’s queens stayed safe on the J♣ 5♦ 2â™ flop as well as the 8♥ turn, but smurf0 struck gold on the river with the 7â™ and send djokocha to the rail in fifth place.
With four players remaining, smurf0 had a commanding chip lead of 31.4 million, Yayoshow was second with 12.1 million, and Bubble20 and JeffBaas were the short stacks with 6.4 million and 5.15 million respectively. JeffBaas, however, got quite a gift from smurf0 three hands later. Smurf0 shoved from the big blind with K♦ J♣ and JeffBaas was happy to call off the rest of his stack with K♣ K♥ . The pocket kings held up and JeffBaas became a contender again with 10.5 million in chips.
A short time later, the final four agreed to pause the action and discuss a potential deal. Here’s how they stacked up:
smurf0 26,060,383 ($7,827.81 bounty)
Yayoshow 14,164,290 ($4,900.16 bounty)
JeffBaas 8,411,376 ($11,502.29 bounty)
Bubble20 6,473,951 ($2,758.97 bounty)
Final table host Lex Veldhuis faciliated the deal, presenting the players with ICM figures per their request. Although Bubble20 was reluctant at first, all four eventually agreed to an ICM chop that left their bounties intact and $12,000 on the table for first place.
Soon after action resumed, Yayoshow opened for 800,000, JeffBaas flat-called and Bubble20 moved all-in for 10.3 million from the small blind. Yayoshow got out of the way, but JeffBaas called, his K♣ K♥ up against A♥ Kâ™ . Although he turned a gutshot straight draw, Bubble20 didn’t catch up on the 10♦ 7♥ 2♦ J♣ 10â™ board and ended his run in fourth place.
Now comfortably in the lead (and carrying by far the largest bounty), JeffBaas set about closing out this tournament. With the blinds up to 200,000/400,000, he opened for 872,000 on the button and Yayoshow shoved for 7 million from the big blind. JeffBaas called, his J♦ 8♣ trailing Yayoshow’s A♥ 7♥ . Yayoshow’s future grew brighter as he made trips on the 10â™ 7♣ 7♦ flop. The turn was a blank, the 3♦ , but disaster struck when the 9â™ rivered, making JeffBaas a jack-high straight. Yayoshow had to settle for third place, while JeffBaas entered heads-up play at a significant advantage.
Heads-up chip counts
Seat 3: JeffBaas (40,267,127 in chips)
Seat 6: smurf0 (14,842,873 in chips)
It only took eight hands for JeffBaas to finish off smurf0. It all came down to one final coinflip as smurf0 three-bet shoved for 13.6 million with K♦ Q♥ and JeffBaas called with 5♥ 5♦ . JeffBaas flopped a set and turned quads on the 10♥ 5♣ 2♥ 5♠10♠board, at long last locking up his first SCOOP title.
Congratulations to JeffBaas on his SCOOP victory! Including bounties, he took home $76,390.14, while runner-up smurf0 banked $68,693.99.
SCOOP 02-M: $215 NLHE 6-Max Progressive Super Knockout (Sunday Warm-Up Special Edition)
Entrants: 5,511
Prizepool: $1,102,200.00
Places paid 720
1. JeffBaas (Netherlands) $57,144.39 + $19,245.75 in bounties = $76,390.14
2. smurf0 (United Kingdom) $60,866.18* + $7,827.81 in bounties = $68,693.99
3. Yayoshow (Canada) $52,759.94* + $4,900.16 in bounties = $57,660.10
4. Bubble20 (Denmark) $41,405.59* + $2,758.97 in bounties = $44,164.56
5. djokocha (Sweden) $15,623,68 + $2,817.17 in bounties = $18,440.85
6. Chance “Chancew” Wagstaff (Mexico) $8,266.50 + $6,241.36 in bounties = $14,507.86
*= reflects the results of a four-way deal that left $12,000 in play for the winner
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