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SCOOP 2012: sonik4 is super, booms way through #37-L for win ($215 NLHE HU)

Mon, 21 May 2012 03:45:07 IDT

Might sound paradoxical... a "low" "high roller" tournament. But really, every event in this year's Spring Championships of Online Poker, no matter the buy-in, has produced large enough prize pools to make even the least inexpensive events seem big, relatively speaking.

Event #37-L sported a $215 buy-in -- the biggest price tag of all the "low" events in this year's SCOOP series -- with a whopping 1,414 signing up for challenging of winning 10 or 11 heads-up matches and capturing the first prize and super-stylish SCOOP watch. That field together built a prize pool of $282.800. Those making it to the Round of 128 made the cash, with $42,768.04 ultimately awaiting Sunday's winner.

The first day of play saw 64 players fight their way to Day 2, each guaranteed to earn at least $735.28 for the work managed the day before. That group fought their way to the Round of 32, which played out as follows, with the losers each taking away $1,295.22: qbgoose def. sofia_25, sonik4 def. jahve00, ndscott def. leopeluca, ZKostas def. psyhoagromor, zoro555 def. pargg, arek11 def. Dymonius, LFB TUBI def. hneves182, oxyzak def. Rory "Mafews" Mathews, harddecision def. bartleby666, _qupuni$her_ def. PumpernickR, MrJovelli def. fordycent13, Andrew "RunThisTable" Lichtenberger def. 6pokep, user223 def. rikkke, goxomago def. Jamie_KK, and Slottinho def. dachshundd.

Round of 16

Andrew "RunThisTable" Lichtenberger was the first one through to the quarterfinals. Lichtenberger grabbed an early lead versus user223, and soon the latter was all in on a [4h][3d][6d] flop holding [5c][2s] for a straight. RunThisTable had [6h][4d] for two pair, and when another six fell on the turn, Lichtenberger had improved to a full house to oust user223.

ndscott was the next to make it through after defeating ZKostas. In their last hand, ZKostas was all in following a [Qc][9d][6d] flop with [As][Ah], but ndscott had [9d][9h] for a set and it held. A little later dontdoitlol had harddecision down to a super short-stack, then won the last of the chips with [Kd][Qd] after flopping a queen versus harddecision's [As][8h].

sonik4 then defeated qbgoose, using [Ad][6s] versus the latter's [Qs][Js] in the final hand to move on. By then zoro555 had whittled arek11 down to less than 2,000 to zoro555's 18,000-plus, then used pocket fours to beat arek11's [Kh][Qs] and earn a spot in the quarters.

Slottinho was then down to a short stack and pushing all-in with [Kd][4d] against goxomago's [Ks][Qc], and the better hand held to earn goxomago a spot in the next round. MrIovelli was the next short-stack to shove, in this case with [Kh][5c] versus _qpuni$her_'s [As][Ts]. Again the better hand held, and _qpuni$her_ moved on.

The last match in the Round of 16 to complete was between oxyzak and LFB TUBI. oxyzak had about a 2-to-1 chip lead when the pair got all of LFB TUBI's chips in preflop with [4s][4c] against oxyzak's [Kh][Kc]. The kings held, and oxyzak grabbed the last quarterfinal spot.

Round of 16 losers each earned $4,077.97 for making it this far.

Quarterfinals

It would take about 20 minutes for the first of the quarterfinals matches to complete. goxomago had whittled down Andrew "RunThisTable" Lichtenberger to just over 3,500, then came a hand in which a series of raises before the flop ended with Lichtenberger all in with [Qh][Qd] against goxomago's [Kc][Ks]. The flop was [8h][8c][5h], then the [Kd] on the turn made the river no matter, and goxomago had grabbed the first semifinal spot.

sonik4 was the next player through after chipping ndscott down below 2,000, then winning an all-in confrontation in which sonik4 held [Ac][6s], ndscott [Kc][9s], and the board paired neither. Meanwhile, oxyzak had been way down in the match versus zoro555, but managed to come back to grab nearly a 3-to-1 lead, then get zoro555 to commit to a preflop all-in with [Qd][Jd] against oxyzak's [Kh][Ks]. The kings held, and ozyzak was in the final four.

Finally dontdoitlol had _qpuni$her_ down under 3,000 and all in a [5s][6h][Js] flop holding [Ks][7s] against dontdoitlol's [Ac][Jd]. A spade came to save _qpuni$her_, prompting dontdoitlol to comment "I don't like where this is going." All worked out fine for dontdoitlol, however, as soon _qpuni$her_ was all in again with [Ad][6h] against dontdoitlol's [Ah][8c], and after the board came [5h][Jc][6d][Tc][8d] dontdoitlol had won.

Semifinals

oxyzak grabbed an early lead against sonik4 in their semifinal match, but the advantage soon swung sonik4's way, and after a half-hour of poker sonik4 had oxyzak chipped all of the way down to just 1,360. A preflop all-in ensued, with oxyzak holding [Qs][9s] and sonik4 [Ac][Kc], and when the board rolled out [5d][4s][Jd][Ks][7d], sonik4 had earned the first final spot.

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In the other semifinal dontdoitlol and goxomago were virtually even for the first 20 minutes or so, goxomago pulled out in front for the next few minutes, then dontdoitlol seized the advantage to push out to nearly a 3-to-1 advantage. goxomago battled back, however, and had drawn back even as they crossed the one-hour mark.

Then goxomago put a little space between the two after winning a decent-sized pot in a hand in which both flopped top pair of kings, but goxomago had the better kicker to claim the 3,200-chip pot. goxomago would win another, larger pot soon after that with a big river bet on a board with two aces that dontdoitlol couldn't call. Then, with goxomago up to 14,260 and dontdoitlol down to 5,760, the latter reraised shoved with [Ac][8c] and got a quick call from goxomago with [As][Js]. The board came [7c][Qs][Ad][9s][3d], and goxomago had made it through to the championship round.

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Finals

Just two players remained to battle for the bracelet, Ukraine's sonik4 and goxomago of Russia.

As it happened, the final match of would be a quick one, ending in less than 20 minutes. sonik4 seized the advantage early, quickly pushing out to close to a 3-to-1 advantage before they'd even made it out of the first 10-minute level.

Then in Level 2 sonik4 managed to add further to the lead in a hand in which sonik4 had [Ah][Qc], flopped a queen, and managed to get three streets of value with top pair to take still more of goxomago's chips.

Finally goxomago was down to 2,937 and opening with a min-raise to 120 from the button, and sonik4 called. The flop came [Jc][3s][4c], and sonik4 checked. goxomago bet 150, then sonik4 check-raised to 420. goxomago made it 840, sonik4 shoved, and goxomago called the 1,977 left behind.

goxomago had [Kc][Qc] for a flush draw and a couple of overs, while sonik4 had flopped a set with [4h][4c]. The turn was the [6h] and river the [9d], and it was all over!

RSS readers click through to see replay

Congratulations to sonik4 for surviving 11 rounds and taking down the "low" version of the heads-up "high roller" event to earn a not-low-at-all $42,768.04 payday!

2012 SCOOP Event 37-Low, $215 No-Limit Hold'em, Heads-Up:

Champion: sonik4 (Ukraine) -- $42,768.04

Runner-up: goxomago (Russia) -- $27,213.84

Semifinalist: dontdoitlol (Netherlands) -- $13,605.50

Semifinalist: oxyzak (Czech Republic) -- $13,605.50

Entrants: 1,414

Places paid: 128

Looking for more SCOOP reporting? Visit our special SCOOP 2012 coverage section.

Brazil: Holders Corinthians humbled in opener

Mon, 21 May 2012 03:42:50 IDT

Corinthians made a less than ideal start to their Campeonato Brasileiro title

defence as they were beaten 1-0 at home by Fluminense.

Robben too upset to take penalty

Mon, 21 May 2012 03:34:42 IDT

Arjen Robben was so distraught after his penalty miss in the UEFA Champions League final that he refused the chance to redeem himself in the shootout.

SCOOP 2012: Biggest online series in history

Mon, 21 May 2012 03:10:08 IDT

The 2012 PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker has just become the largest online series in history.

Chew on that for a second.

It's May 2012. I just looked at a calendar to be sure. It's May of the year 2012. The year after 2011, the PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker just became the biggest online poker tournament series in history.

The raw numbers tell the story better than almost any words can. The 120 tournaments that made up this year's SCOOP had 526,154 individual entries, the biggest number since the 461,936 in SCOOP of 2010. If that's not mind-boggling enough, this year's SCOOP awarded $65,332,179 in prize pool and bounty money. Until this year, of all the tournament series PokerStars has ever run, the most ever awarded in prize pool and bounties was $64,230,010.

This all happened in May of 2012.

As I type this, the final six tournaments of the year are playing out the first of their two days. The main event entries blew up the guarantees. In total, the main events drew the following fields:

$109 low buy in: 22,128

$1,050 medium buy-in: 3,567

$10,300 buy-in: 517

All of the champions will get one of these fancy watches to go along with their riches.

It's all simply astounding in a way that will take a couple of days to digest. Fortunately, that's just about how long it will take to find our main event champions.

Tonight, those huge fields will take a break and come back for Day 2 tomorrow. After that, SCOOP will crown its final champions of 2012 on Monday.

We'll have a full wrap up of the main event's first day later tonight, and full coverage of the championships tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone on the PokerStars tournament team and the thousands of players who made this such an amazing two weeks.

Now, how long is it until WCOOP?

Shaun Deeb Captures Fourth Spring Championship of Online Poker Title in 10 Days

Mon, 21 May 2012 03:04:05 IDT

On Saturday, Shaun Deeb won his fourth PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker title in just 10 days — defeating 85 in the $2,000 H.O.R.S.E. However, he doesn’t think his ...

Defending Champ Scott Seiver on Day 2 of World Poker Tour Championship

Mon, 21 May 2012 02:31:52 IDT

Card Player TV caught up with reigning WPT Champion Scott Seiver, who began play today on day 2 of the World Poker Tour Championship $25,000 main event to discuss his hopes of defending and his year since taking down this tournament.

Second Women's Sunday Title for Ukraine's Sisa4ok

Mon, 21 May 2012 02:15:09 IDT

It was a busy day on PokerStars as the 2012 Spring Championship of Online Poker began the last of its events. Players of all bankrolls and skill levels took to the tables to try to win a portion of the massive guarantees set aside for the three Main Events alone. There was a big chance for online poker fame and fortune on the line, and men and women alike were attempting to grab it.

Meanwhile, the Women's Sunday was in full swing, as usual. Other women's events were running as well, including the Women's Poker League, which will be awarding more monthly cash prizes and freeroll tickets at the end of the month in all three divisions. And who can forget about the newest addition to the women's lineup? The $11 Women's Tuesday will roll around again in a few days with 6-max NLHE action and a $1K guarantee.

Back to today's action, let's take a look at the final numbers:

Total players: 204

Prize pool: $10,200.00

Paid finishers: 36

Several members of Team PokerStars took part in the tournament, and the first one to exit was Team Pro Celina Lin. Fellow Team Pro Ana Marquez stuck around awhile longer but exited in 104th place, while Friend of PokerStars Charlotte "Sjlot" Van Brabander took off in 82nd place. Team Pro Vivian Im, the first of the pros to register, was the last to exit, leaving her $50 bounty in 59th place.

As players like xx23xx and Groupondeal exited the field, hand-for-hand play took them from 10 players on two tables to nine on the singular final table. That happened whenadina727 pushed her short stack all-in with [Ks][Qh] against the [Ad][5h] of rebecca06. The board of [5c][9h][9c][6d][5s] gave rebecca06 the full house, and adina727 had to leave in tenth place with $163.20.

Strong lead for Stjerneskud

The final table began in Level 27, with blinds of 1,000/2,000 and a 200 ante, along with these player chip counts:

Seat 1: Stjerneskud (130,490 in chips)

Seat 2: Liza_plus_EV (40,660 in chips)

Seat 3: IwillOwnYouu (32,454 in chips)

Seat 4: nutbreakerLL (46,788 in chips)

Seat 5: Sisa4ok (100,288 in chips)

Seat 6: Hamburg2000 (102,715 in chips)

Seat 7: rebecca06 (52,299 in chips)

Seat 8: Sherpadidi (43,990 in chips)

Seat 9: t0beR1cH (62,316 in chips)

Action was fast and furious. The first hand saw IwillOwnYouu double through nutbreakerLL. Two hands later, IwillOwnYouu moved all-in again, but original raiser Sherpadidi called all-in and was covered. IwillOWnYouu showed [As][Ac], which obviously dominated the [7s][7h] of Sherpadidi, and no change came from the [8s][Qs][9h][Kh][6d] board. Sherpadidi exited in ninth place with $193.80.

NutbreakerLL was unable to make a comeback from the original double by IwillOwnYouu. The former pushed all-in from early position with [5h][5c], and Sisa4ok reraised all-in to isolate with [7c][7d], which worked. The board came [9s][2c][Ah][6h][Qh], and the sevens held up to eliminate nutbreakerL in eighth place with $255.00.

Rebecca06 had a tough time gathering momentum and made a strong push with 60,199 chips from the small blind with [Qc][Qs]. T0beR1cH reraised all-in from the big blind, and original raiser Sisa4ok folded. T0beR1cH shoewd [9d][9s] but caught the flop when it came [4h][9c][4c]. Even more, the turn came [9h] for quads, and the irrelevant [3h] on the river eliminated rebecca06 in seventh place with $357.00.

A short while later, Liza_plus_EV risked all of her chips with [Kc][Qs], only to find out that Sisa4ok had [AS][Ks]. The flop of [3s][2c][Jd] changed nothing, though the [Ad] on the turn gave Liza_plus_EV the hope of a straight. But the [Qd] on the river ended that hope and left Liza_plus_EV out in sixth place with $459.00.

Two hands after that, IwillOwnYouu got involved with Sisa4ok. After each raised, IwillOwnYouu came back with an all-in move holding [Ad][Qh]. Sisa4ok called with a dominating [Ah][Kh]. The board produced [Js][Tc][6s][4h][4s], and the ace and king kickers played to eliminate IwillOwnYouu in fifth place with $591.60.

Hamburg2000 then got involved with t0beR1cH, and the preflop raising war ended with Hamburg2000 at risk holding [Jh][Th]. T0beR1cH showed [Qc][Qs], and though the [5d][Ts][5c] flop gave Hamburg2000 hope for a double-up, the [8c] and [Js] cards weren't enough to get it done. Hamburg2000 ended her run in the tournament in fourth place with $867.00.

Stjerneskud had lost ground from her original starting position as the chip leader and was the shortest during three-handed play. When Sisa4ok raised, Stjerneskud reraised all-in with [Kh][6s], but Sisa4ok called with [Th][Tc]. Nothing about the [2s][8h][4c][Jc][2h] board changed the outcome, and Stjerneskud exited in third place with $1,152.60.

Sisa4ok goes for double win

The last two players standing started their battle with these counts:

Seat 5: Sisa4ok (467,408 in chips)

Seat 9: t0beR1cH (144,592 in chips)

It was a tough match for t0beR1cH, despite being aggressive and winning a number of small consecutive hands. Sisa4ok won the bigger hands and had t0beR1cH chipped down to less than 100K at one point. T0beR1cH did make this double-up comeback to stay alive:

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T0beR1cH had to try again and did it with [Ad][3s]. But Sisa4ok showed [Ac][4d] and stayed ahead as the board came [4h][3d][Qd][9h][7h]. T0beR1cH accepted second place and $1,530.00.

Ukraine's Sisa4ok, who won her first Women's Sunday in May of last year, claimed her second title nearly one year later. This win came with $2,085.90, and she becomes only the second woman to win more than one Women's Sunday. Congrats!

Women's Sunday Results for 05/20/12:

1st place: Sisa4ok (Ukraine) - $2,085.90

2nd place: t0beR1cH (Russia) - $1,530.00

3rd place: Stjerneskud (Denmark) - $1,152.60

4th place: Hamburg2000 (Germany) - $867.00

5th place: IwillOwnYouu (UK) - $591.60

6th place: Liza_plus_EV (Russia) - $459.00

7th place: rebecca06 (Malta) - $357.00

8th place: nutbreakerLL (Canada) - $255.00

9th place: Sherpadidi (Canada) - $193.80

There are many ways to get in on the Women's Sunday action. Take a look at the home page for information on daily satellites. And join us on Facebook for news and monthly freerolls, and Twitter for the latest information. See you next week!

SCOOP 2012: Victory no laughing matter for w00tLOL in Event 37-Medium ($2100 NLHE Heads Up)

Mon, 21 May 2012 02:10:07 IDT

We're getting to the end of the 2012 SCOOP now, and with the end come the priciest and most prestigious events. Day 15 of SCOOP saw the conclusion of 2012 SCOOP Event 37-Medium, $2,100 No-Limit Hold'em (Heads-Up). w00tLOL, a previous 2012 SCOOP final tablist, won four heads-up matches to claim the Movado watch.

Event 37-Medium was a sell-out. There was space for exactly 256 players, and all spaces were filled by the time play began at 12:30pm on Saturday. Cashing in the event required players to advance to the Round of 32 by winning three heads-up matches in a row.

Four Team PokerStars Pros and two members of PokerStars Team Online put up the $2,100 required to play in Event 37-Medium. Three, Team Pros Vicky Coren and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier and Team Online player Randy "nanonoko" Lew, did not advance past the first round. Viktor "Isildur1" Blom was eliminated in the second round; Eugene Katchalov did Blom one better but came up short in the third round.

Only Team Online player George "jorj95" Lind found the money, advancing as far as the Round of 16 before being eliminated by Helio TYF. The remaining Round of 16 matches were not as speedy, but eventually all the quarterfinalists were in place.

The quarterfinals

The quarterfinals were an embarrassment of riches, in terms of poker talent. In the quarterfinals, the left side of the bracket pitted w00tLOL, final tablist in 2012 SCOOP Event 14-Medium, against C. Darwin2, winner of 2012 SCOOP Event 34-Medium, and 1BigAceHole, final tablist in 2012 SCOOP 14-High, against KRab42, a final tablist in 2011 WCOOP Event 5. The right side saw Chris "Moorman1" Moorman, a player well-known for online and live tournament success alike, square off against Helio TYF and Xereles battle Banderivets, the winner of 2011 SCOOP 28-High.

Xereles was first out, when a six-bet shove with [ad][5d] during the 30-60 level was snapped off by Banderivets, who tabled [as][ks]. Xereles never threatened for the pot on a board of [8s][ac][6c][qd][kh].

The other quarterfinal matches did not end as quickly, but they did eventually end. KRab42 opened a 2-to-1 chip lead before making [ad][qc] work against 1BigAceHole's pocket 8s, all in pre-flop. w00tLOL soon joined Krab42 in the semifinals, finishing off C. Darwin2 with [ac][kd] against C. Darwin2's [ad][9d], all in pre-flop. Neither player improved by the river.

That left just one quarterfinal match, the match between Helio TYF and Moorman. Moorman opened an early lead, but Helio TYF climbed back into contention by doubling with pocket aces. After an hour and a half of play, the stacks were dead even. They played another twenty minutes until Moorman was crippled after pushing a royal flush draw into Helio TYF's flopped straight. Moorman bricked his outs and was eliminated a few minutes later.

The semifinals

The semifinals pitted KRab42 against w00tLOL and Banderivets versus Helio TYF. KRab42 and w00tLOL played even in the early-going; Helio TYF used a flopped two pair, 7s and 6s, to take a big pot from Banderivets and open a 3-to-1 chip lead. The final hand occurred just 25 minutes after the match began and was all pre-flop. Banderivets' [ac][kc] never improved against Helio TYF's [ts][th], sending Banderivets to the rail and boosting Helio TYF into the finals.

The other semifinal match stayed mostly even until a daring all-in river call by w00tLOL swung the tide in w00tLOL's favor:

RSS readers click through to see replay

KRab42 made a show of hanging on for a few minutes, and even got KRab42's last 1800 chips in to the good with Big Slick against w00tLOL's ace-deuce. Yet it was for naught; a river deuce paired w00tLOL and set up the finals.

The 6pm break came just a few hands into the finals. During the break w00tLOL offered to make the prizes "a bit more smooth". He suggested playing for "10-20k" and chopping the remainder, about 174k-184k.

"I don't think I will take a deal unless I am a slight favorite. Sorry," said Helio TYF.

"ok lets go then," w00tLOL replied. "dude wants to play sng for 40k." The difference between the scheduled 2nd prize, $71,680, and scheduled first prize, $112,640, was almost $41,000.

I'm a sng pro," Helio TYF protested. "I have a big edge in allins."

"I don't need any deal," said w00tLOL. "I just wanted to make 1st prize 100k, second 84k."

Helio TYF relented. "hmm yeah fine we can play for 20k." w00tLOL agreed to that suggestion. The deal was struck. 2nd place would be worth $82,160; the winner would still get six figures at $102,160.

w00tLOL drew first blood once play resumed. A three-bet pre-flop to 400 took the betting lead away from Helio TYF. Helio TYF called the three-bet, then called another 528 on the jack-high [3c][th][jh] flop and 1,392 on the [7d] turn. When the river fell [9h], w00tLOL made a large bet of 3,062 that finally folded Helio TYF.

It would be a long battle, however. Helio TYF responded with a flopped set of kings, resetting the stacks and re-starting the match from all-square.

Again, w00tLOL opened a lead of a few thousand chips, this time through a series of smaller pots. That lead extended to a 3-to-1 chip lead when w00tLOL put Helio TYF to the test with a large river bet in this pot:

RSS readers click through to see replay

Helio TYF got all those chips back by flopping quad sevens and playing them slow until w00tLOL rivered top pair. The stacks were level yet again.

The blinds were up to 40-80; each player had about 10,000 in chips. The tournament rated to last many more levels - so of course it ended in one fell swoop. Pre-flop, Helio TYF min-raised the button and w00tLOL called. Helio TYF continued for 160 on a [3c][6d][jd] flop, then called w00tLOL's check-raise to 582. The turn was the [6s]. w00tLOL, first to act, bet 979. Helio TYF raised to 2,528. It was w00tLOL's turn to call.

The river came [tc]. w00tLOL checked - a perfect, cunning check as Helio TYF responded by moving all in for 6,677. w00tLOL snap-called with [3h][3s], a full house, treys full of sixes. Helio TYF showed down [qd][6c], trip sixes, a hand not strong enough to claim the pot or to stave off elimination as the runner-up.

This was the second final table of the 2012 SCOOP for w00tLOL - and w00tLOL's first SCOOP title and Movado watch.

2012 SCOOP Event 37-Medium, $2,100 No-Limit Hold'em results (including two-way deal):

Number of entrants: 256

Places paid: 32

1st: w00tLOL (Russia) ($102,160.00)*

2nd: Helio TYF (Canada) ($82,160.00)*

Semifinalists:

KRab42 (Canada) ($35,840.00)

Banderivets (Ukraine) $35,840.00)

Quarterfinalists:

Chris "Moorman1" Moorman (United Kingdom) ($19,968.00)

C. Darwin2 (Sweden) ($19,968.00)

1BigAceHole (Canada) ($19,968.00)

Xereles (Norway) ($19,968.00)

Looking for more SCOOP reporting? Visit our special SCOOP 2012 coverage section.

I have to leave Man U: Berbatov

Mon, 21 May 2012 01:40:00 IDT

Dimitar Berbatov admits he has no choice but to quit Manchester United as he no longer feels valued at Old Trafford.

Ligue 1: Utaka double seals title amid trouble

Mon, 21 May 2012 01:33:25 IDT

A double strike from John Utaka amid crazy scenes in Auxerre was enough to seal the French title for Montpellier as they picked up a deserved 2-1 win.