What better to do on a Wednesday in May than play some no-limit hold’em…with rebuys? So thought the 341 players who entered SCOOP Event 28-High, with its $1,050 buy-in and $600K guarantee. When all was said and done, the players accumulated 414 rebuys and 305 add-ons, which nearly doubled the guarantee when the prize pool landed at $1,060,000.00. Not too shabby, if we do say so ourselves.
It was a long tournament for many, as only 45 places were to be paid but it took nearly ten hours to arrive at that point. As the money bubble approached, several Team PokerStars Pros were shown the door before the cash appeared, such as Veronica “Princesa” Dabul who left in 83rd place, Alex “Allingomes” Gomes who was out in 74th, and Vanessa “LadyMaverick” Rousso who departed in 63rd. Only one member of the team remained – Pat Pezzin – and he was in the top 20 as the money neared.
In the 13th hour of the tournament, the final two tables played on, and several well-known players exited soon after, such as Amit “AMAK316” Makhija in 18th place, Russell “rdcrsn” Carson in 17th, and Joseph “bigegypt” Elpayaa in 16th. As the tournament progressed, villepn left in 13th place, missing the opportunity to grab a second 2010 SCOOP title – the first came in Event 14-H but did add points to possibly rise to the top of the SCOOP leaderboard.
The 14th hour saw the field thin further toward the final table, and after McMang left in 11th place, hand-for-hand play went into effect. It only took about ten minutes for short-stacked ags104 to push all-in preflop from the small blind with K♥ J♦ against the Q♥ 9♣ of shaihulud, but shaihulud improved on the board of 9♦ 4♦ 3♠7♦ Q♣ with two pair. Ags104, champion of the 2010 SCOOP 2-H event, exited this event in tenth place with $15,900.00.
Big names vying for a SCOOP title
It was in the midst of Level 25, with blinds at 3,000/6,000 and a 750-chip ante, when the final table began, and it did so with the following chip counts:
Seat 1: CesarSPA (535,327 in chips)
Seat 2: Taknapotin (797,851 in chips)
Seat 3: Pat Pezzin (129,585 in chips)
Seat 4: VerySexual (445,765 in chips)
Seat 5: str8flushin5 (250,710 in chips)
Seat 6: shaihulud (990,971 in chips)
Seat 7: DuckU (93,336 in chips)
Seat 8: blinchik (244,789 in chips)
Seat 9: muggylicious (301,666 in chips)
Blinchik was not one of the shortest stacks at the table but got involved with Taknapotin and str8flushin5 on the second hand of the action. The flop came 2♦ J♦ 3♣ , and Taknapotin bet out, prompting str8flushin5 to check-raise all-in. Blinchik called for his tournament life, while Taknapotin got out of the way, and blinchik turned over A♦ 10♦ for the flush draw, while str8flushin5 showed K♥ J♥ for top pair. The 3♠on the turn and J♣ on the river gave str8flushin5 the full house, and blinchik was let go, along with $18,550.00 for the ninth place finish.
CesarSPA charges to lead
It wasn’t long before CesarSPA made a move with pocket nines upon catching a nine on the flop against Taknapotin, which cracked the latter’s pocket kings. With the following hand, CesarSPA took over as the chip leader early in the final table action:
It was soon time for Pat Pezzin to make a move, and he did it with pocket eights against the A-9 of CesarSPA. The pair held up, and Pat Pezzin stayed alive to continue on.
The very next hand saw DuckU attempt the same feat. It happened in a battle of the blinds when shaihulud raised all-in from the small blind, and DuckU called all-in for his tournament life from the big blind. DuckU coincidentally showed the ducks – 2â™ 2♣ – and shaihulud turned over Jâ™ 6â™ , but the latter hand improved on the 3♥ 9♥ Q♥ 6♣ 9â™ board. Greg “DuckU” Hobson was gone in eighth place with $25,440.00 to show for it.
After Taknapotin’s hit from CesarSPA earlier, he seemed anxious to find a spot to begin his climb again. But with less than 200K chips, it was going to take a double-up, which he attempted with an all-in move preflop. Pat Pezzin called with K♣ J♣ , which was going to need to improve to beat the Jâ™ J♦ of Taknapotin. And it did on the K♦ Q♦ 10♣ flop. But Taknapotin had straight outs, and he found flush outs when the 7♦ appeared on the turn, but the 8â™ on the river wasn’t one of them, and Jason “Taknapotin” Somerville went from one of the early chip leaders to out in seventh place with $36,040.00.
Shaihulud not shy about taking the lead
The next several levels saw shaihulud grab the lead, partially due to a 533K pot he took from muggylicious, leaving the latter with little more than 200K. Muggylicious did double through str8flushin5 , though, and str8flushin5 doubled through shaihulud.
But it was Pat Pezzin who needed some chip help, and a preflop raising war with VerySexual resulted in Pat Pezzin moving all-in with Q♦ Q♣ and Very Sexual calling with K♥ K♠. The board brought nothing in the way of assistance when it produced 10♥ 8♠8♦ 6♦ 10♦ , and the last Team Pro standing, Pat Pezzin, was eliminated in sixth place with $46,640.00.
Str8flushin5 straight to the top
When str8flushin5 doubled through VerySexual in a very big pot, it was on to the chip lead and no looking back. Meanwhile, VerySexual doubled through shaihulud to stay in the game. Str8flushin5 was back at it again with the winning of a 733K pot from CesarSPA, though the latter took down a 551K pot from VerySexual soon after.
That led to VerySexual moving all-in preflop with A♥ Q♣ , and original raiser CesarSPA made the call holding J♥ J♠. The board came 6♠10♣ 10♦ 8♦ K♥ , and no help for VerySexual left him out of the tournament in fifth place with $60,420.00.
Muggylicious took a bit hit at the hands of str8flushin5, and with the loss of the 307K pot, muggylicious was relegated to a stack of less than 200K but came back a bit later to double through CesarSPA.
The rise of and fall muggylicious
The aforementioned double-up prompted more aggression from muggylicious, taking small pots here and there. But when CesarSPA challenged him with an all-in play preflop, muggylicious called with A♣ 8♥ . CesarSPA showed the K♦ Q♦ . But the board of 8♣ 6♣ A♠A♥ Q♥ only improved muggylicious to the full house, and CesarSPA was gone in fourth place with $87,450.00.
Then muggylicious tangled with str8flushin5, and the former’s pocket sevens beat the latter’s pocket queens when a seven flopped, and that was all it took for muggylicious to jump into the chip lead.
Muggylicious then began pushing opponents around, taking quite a few chips from shaihulud, but the battles culminated in a big hand that saw shaihulud double back up and pull muggylicious back down to nearly even stacks with his opponents:
By the 17-hour break, muggylicious was still in the chip lead with nearly 1.5 million chips, and str8flushin5 was in close pursuit with almost 1.4 million. Shaihulud brought up the third spot with a bit more than 900K. After play resumed, however, shaihulud took a pot worth 847K from muggylicious and jumped into the lead.
It was soon after that a monster pot developed. Muggylicious and shaihulud got into a heated preflop raising war that led to shaihulud moving all-in. Muggylicious called all-in for his tournament life with A♣ Q♦ , and shaihulud showed 10♦ 10♥ . The board blanked with 2♣ K♦ 3♥ 6♦ 8♥ , which left Steve “muggylicious” Sung out in third place with $116,600.00.
Heads-up in the 17th hour
After the final table had been running for nearly three hours, the last two players left standing were listed with the following chip counts:
Seat 5: str8flushin5 (1,220,091 in chips)
Seat 6: shaihulud (2,569,909 in chips)
As time went on, the stacks remained nearly even, but str8flushin5 was never able to gain any ground. Finally, the two went to see a flop of 5♠J♥ 7♦ , which induced a bet and call. The 4♠turn brought another bet from str8flushin5, but when shaihulud raised, str8flushin5 pushed all-in with 5♥ 5♦ for the flopped set. Shaihulud called with 8♥ 6♥ for the turned straight. The 3♦ on the river ended the match, and str8flushin5 finished in second place with $153,700.00.
And that left shaihulud as the player in the winner’s circle, complete with SCOOP title and $205,110.00 in prize money.
SCOOP Event 28-High (NLHE) Results for 05/12/10:
1st place: shaihulud ($205,110.00)
2nd place: str8flushin5 ($153,700.00)
3rd place: muggylicious ($116,600.00)
4th place: CesarSPA ($87,450.00)
5th place: VerySexual ($60,420.00)
6th place: Team PokerStars Pro Pat Pezzin ($46,640.00)
7th place: Taknapotin ($36,040.00)
8th place: DuckU ($25,440.00)
9th place: blinchik ($18,550.00)
The Spring Championship of Online Poker has less than a week left on the schedule, but numerous events remain with corresponding qualifiers to offer seats at a fraction of the price. Check out the SCOOP website for details and PokerStars.TV for series highlights.
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