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Andrew Badecker knows a little something about shootouts. Not only did he survive one last summer, it ended up saving his career. After making a living as an online pro for four years, Badecker was left with an uncertain future when Black Friday struck. With only a few thousand dollars to his name, Badecker drove from his native Connecticut to Las Vegas last summer and promptly won his first WSOP bracelet in the $1,500 NLHE shootout along with $369,000. Now relocated to Mexico, Badecker’s WSOP experience no doubt prepared him for today’s online encore performance, where the man known as “southrnctowl” topped a stacked final table and won his first SCOOP title in event #17-H ($2,100 NLHE 10-Max Shootout).

Capped at 100 players, this event sold out days ago, the prize pool topping out at $200,000. Those hundred players were seated at ten tables, the winner of each sit-n-go not only making the money, but advancing to the final table. Among them were eleven Red Spades. Nacho Barbero, Anders “Donald” Berg, George “Jorj95″ Lind III, Jason Mercier, George Danzer, Mickey “mement_mori” Petersen, Martin Staszko, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, and Humberto Brenes all missed the money, but Team Pros Eugene Katchalov and Jude Ainsworth advanced to the final table.

Round One (100 to 10)

Jonathan “MONSTER_DONG” Karamalikis was the first player to win his table, followed by Shaun “shaundeeb” Deeb, who defeated Altrum Altus heads-up to advance to his fourth final table of the 2012 SCOOP. Jude Ainsworth crushed joacowalter’s plans for a third SCOOP final table when his [Ad][Qh] held against [As][Td] to punch his ticket through. High-stakes cash game player 0Human0 had his work cut out for him against three-time SCOOP champion cal42688, but saw his open-ended straight draw come in against two pair to send him through. The most dramatic first-round win, however, had to be Eugene Katchalov’s. Get your “online poker is rigged” jokes ready, because Katchalov rivered a roval flush to crack Face333X’s pocket aces:

Those weren’t the only distinguished folks to land at the final table. Germany’s wizowizo topped the PokerStars Yearly TLB in 2011 and MrKlout wasn’t too far behind him in 12th place. Jason “jdtjpoker” Wheeler won a WCOOP bracelet last fall and Russia’s as1025 made four 2011 SCOOP final tables– in NLHE, Mixed Hold’em, Omaha Hi/Lo and Ante Up NLHE.

MrKlout was the last player to win his first-round table, hitting a lucky river card against oliva86d. The two got their money in on a [9c][8h][2h] flop, oliva86d holding pocket jacks against MrKlout’s [Kh][6h]. Altough MrKlout blanked the turn, he hit the [3h] on the river to make his flush and move on to the final table while oliva86d bubbled in 11th place.

Ainsworth, Karamalikis early casualties

Stacks were reset to 5,000 apiece and the blinds dropped back to 25/50. An hour and forty-five minutes of small pots later, MrKlout opened for a min-raise to 200 frim UTG. Jude Ainsworth three-bet to 498 from third position and the action folded around to southrnctowl, who cold four-bet to 967 from the cutoff. Everyone folded to Ainsworth, who made it 2,200 to go. Southrnctowl shoved for 5,767 and Ainsworth called, his [As][Kd] up against [Qh][Qs]. The board came nine-high and the queens held, leaving Ainsworth on a mere 686 in chips. They went in the middle on the next deal, but Ainsworth’s [Ac][9s] was no match for MrKlout’s [As][Kc] and he departed in tenth place, earning $5,500.

Ten minutes passed before Jonathan “MONSTER_DONG” Karamalikis decided to make a move, four-bet shoving for 2,813. MrKlout called with pocket tens, MONSTER_DONG’s [Ac][Kh] failing to improve on the [Qh][9c][6d][Jc][5c] board. The Aussie exited in ninth place with a $6,400 consolation prize.

Katchalov and Deeb’s luck runs out

Eugene Katchalov’s stack dipped as low as 1,800 before he won a coinflip to double through wizowizo, his pocket eights hitting a set against [Ah][Kh]. Back up to 3,157, Katchalov picked up [Ks][Th] in the big blind and called southrnctowl’s 250-chip opening raise. The flop fell [Qd][Jd][4c] and Katchalov check-called 300 with his open-ended straight draw. He filled it on the turn with the [9s] and slyly checked again. Southrnctowl checked behind. The river was the [8d] and Katchalov checked a third time. Southrnctowl bet 3,000 into the 1,100-chip pot, effectively setting Katchalov all-in. Katchalov looked him up and put in his remaining 2,592 only to have southrnctowl turn over [Ad][3d], having made the nut flush on the river. Katchalov was out in eighth place, earning $7,500 for his finish.

Down to 1,776 with the blinds up to 80/160, shaundeeb three-bet shoved from the small blind with [Ad][Jh] and original raiser wizowizo called with [Ac][7d]. Wizowizo paired his kicker on the [Td][8d][7h] flop, then turned aces up when the [Ah] landed. Deeb needed a river jack or nine to survive but the [5c] fell instead, sending him to the rail in seventh place for $8,800.

Deeb also picked up 35 SCOOP leaderboard points for his finish. Last night, his fifth-place finish in event #16-L tied him for first place with two-time SCOOP champ Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom; tonight Deeb has sole possession of the top spot, leading second-place joaocowalter by 40 points.

southrnctowl preys on the short stacks

Three hands passed before southrnctowl put MrKlout to the test, setting him all-in preflop with a five-bet shove. MrKlout called off his remaining 5,878, his [Ad][Kd] racing with [Jc][Jd]. Southrnctowl got his second KO of the night, the board running out [Qc][Tc][7d][8s][4s] to eliminate MrKlout in sixth place. Southrnctowl moved out to a dominant chip lead with 26,914, more than twice as much as second-in-chips wizowizo’s 11,438.

At this point, 0Human0 was hanging on with eight big blinds. Although he doubled to 2,778 when his [Kc][Jh] topped wizowizo’s [Jd][7d], he couldn’t fade the hot-running southrnctowl. Dealt [8c][8s] , 0Human0 opened for a min-raise to 320. Southrnctowl shoved for more than 25,000 and 0Human0 called all-in, revealing [As][7s]. The [6c][3d][4c] flop kept the pocket eights in the lead, but southrnctowl still loomed with an overcard and a straight draw. 0Human0′s run came to an end when southrnctowl spiked the [5h] on the turn to make a seven-high straight, his fifth-place finish earning him $14,000.

As1025 could have easily been out in fourth place after running his [5s][5c] into wizowizo’s [Ac][Ah], but it was another heaven-sent five on the turn that turned the hand around for him. As1025 doubled to 9,200, leaving jdtjpoker as the short stack with 2,349. Four hands later, jdtjpoker shoved with [4d][4c] and wizowizo somehow woke up with another pair or aces. This time they flopped a set to avoid any surprises, the board running out [Ad][Qc][2s][Jd][Kd] to send jdtpoker home in fourth place with $19,800.

With three players remaining, southrnctowl held more than a 3 to 1 chip lead over both his remaining opponents. He won nine of the next 15 pots before as1025 four-bet shoved with [Kh][Qd] and southrnctowl called with pocket tens. The flop came seven-high and a ten hit the turn, southrnctowl’s set taking out as1025 in third place for $27,000.

Heads-up chip counts:

Seat 2: southrnctowl (40,478 in chips)
Seat 3: wizowizo (9,522 in chips)

These two spent less than ten minutes heads-up before getting their chips in the middle on a cooler of a hand. Both players flopped top pair, but southrnctowl had another one to go with it:

Kudos to southrnctowl on his first SCOOP title and a $60,000 score. For his runner-up finish, wizowizo earned $40,000.

2012 SCOOP Event #17-H ($2,100 NLHE 10-Max Shootout) results:

1. Andrew “southrnctowl” Badecker (Mexico) $60,000
2. wizowizo (Germany) $40,000
3. as1025 (Russia) $27,000
4. Jason “jdtjpoker” Wheeler (Mexico) $19,800
5. 0Human0 (Romania) $14,000
6. MrKlout (Spain) $11,000
7. Shaun “shaundeeb” Deeb (Mexico) $8,800
8. Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov (Ukraine) $7,500
9. Jonathan “MONSTER_DONG” Karamalikis (Australia) $6,400
10. Team PokerStars Pro Jude Ainsworth (Ireland) $5,500

Shaun Deeb might be atop the SCOOP Player of the Series race right now, but he has the likes of ElkY, Anders “Donald” Berg, cal42688 and Isildur1 hot on his heels. Visit the SCOOP page to track your favorite players and browse all the stats you can handle.

Watch the final table of a typical NLHE event and you’ll see players working average stacks anywhere between 25 and 45 big blinds. Watch a turbo final table and that number will drop to 10 or 15. Say what you want about sky-high blinds, “shove-monkey” poker and “standard” spots, but you’re usually on your way in an hour or two.

This event was a whole other ballgame. Kiss the blinds goodbye and say hello to antes. The Ante Up format takes preflop play and turns it inside-out. Giant blinds aren’t flying around the table every few hands, they remain at 5/5 for the duration with only the antes increasing. The slow structure and deep stacks led to a methodically played two-day tournament that finished with a five-hour final table– something more akin to live play than online. In the end, however, it was a consummate online grinder who rose to the top of the field, Malta’s kleath earning his first SCOOP title and more than $41,000.

372 players paid the $700 price tag on Event #14-H, creating a $249,240 prize pool. 45 places were paid, with first place set to earn $48.227.94. Eleven members of the Red Spade army were in the mix, among them Eugene Katchalov, Andre Akkari, Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom, and Jason Mercier. The only one to make the money, however, was George Danzer.

As Day 1 play drew to a close, Danzer was at the back of the pack with 14 players remaining. Four players limped in an tRaMp$d0PrAy raised to 2,860. Lechuckpoker and Rens02 both called. Danzer looked down at [Kc][Th] and shoved for 43,432, no doubt hoping to take it down right there. Although tRaMp$d0PrAy got out of the way, lechuckpoker called with pocket eights. Danzer grabbed the lead when he hit top pair on the [Kh][9c][6h] flop and retained it when the [4c] hit the turn, but lechuckpoker spiked his two-outer on the river, the [8d] falling to make him a set and send Danzer to the rail in 14th place.

Hold me closer, George Danzer. Take my bad beat blues away.**

Play was suspended after 21 levels with 11 players remaining and resumed this morning at 11am EDT. It took an hour and 25 minutes to lose two more players. Ultimately it was RB79s who finished as the final table bubble boy, running [Qc][Qs] into Rens02′s [Ad][Ac].

Final table chip counts:

Seat 1: Rens02 (338,651 in chips)
Seat 2: tRaMp$d0PrAy (139,654 in chips)
Seat 3: Face333X (160,600 in chips)
Seat 4: lechuckpoker (363,632 in chips)
Seat 5: joacowalter (318,353 in chips)
Seat 6: theczar19 (188,538 in chips)
Seat 7: kleath (167,353 in chips)
Seat 8: julianherold (100,878 in chips)
Seat 9: 1BigAceHole (82,341 in chips)

Lost races, cracked aces, and runner-runner straights

This marked the second final table appearance for joacowalter in the 2012 SCOOP; he won Event #5-H for more than $200,000 less than a week ago. He moved out to the chip lead in the first hour when his [Ah][5h] flopped the nut flush draw and filled it on the turn. Joacowalter got three streets of value from Rens02 and moved up to 517,000 while Rens02 fell to 130,500.

TRaMp$d0PrAy lost most of his stack early on when 1BigAceHole’s [Kc][Jd] rivered a king against his [Ac][Qh]. Down to 29,000, and the ante up to 1,500, tRaMp$d0PrAy picked up [Ad][Ts] and three-bet shoved behind Rens02′s 6,459 opening raise. Rens02 called with [9d][9h], the pocket pair holding up to eliminate tRaMp$d0PrAy in ninth place.

About ten minutes later, Rens02 snapped off pocket aces to claim the rest of Face333X’s stack. Joacowalter opened the betting with a raise to 7,500, 1BigAceHole three-bet to 17,200 and Rens02 cold four-bet to 32,968. Face333X shoved for 86,656, joacowalter and 1BigAceHole ducked out of the way, and Rens02 called, turning over [7c][8c] to Face333X’s [Ah][As]. Rens02 hit a miraculous [Qh][7h][7d] flop, his trip sevens sending Face333X to the rail in eighth place.

Moments later, theczar19 was looking down the barrel of a gun. His [Kh][Jh] was up against joacowalter’s [Ks][Th] on a [Kc][Td][5h] flop and he was two cards away from a seventh-place finish. The [Qc] on the turn gave him a gutshot straight draw and the [Ac] on the river filled it, theczar19 hitting running cards to make a Broadway straight and double up to 311,000.

joacowalter and lechuckpoker jam into aces, kleath crushes 1BigAceHole

Two hours of final table play resulted in the completion of only 60 hands. Kleath suggested making a seven-way deal, but Rens02 but the kibosh on it, telling his opponents he was enjoying himself. Moments after the deal talk evaporated, joacowalter ran pocket kings into julianherold’s pocket aces. Joacowalter fell to only 72,500 while julianherold took the chip lead with 385,000.

Although joacowalter doubled through kleath three hands later when his pocket nines held on against pocket fives, he was out by the end of the level. After three-bet shoving for his last 100,000 from UTG+1, joacowalter was in a pickle when Rens02 reshoved behind him and julianherold called.

Rens02 [Ad][Ah]
julianherold [Js][Jd]
joacowalter [Ac][Th].

Rens02′s aces held up on the [Kd][Qs][9c][4c][9h] board and won the 613,000 pot. Julianherold was left with 174,000 and joacowalter was eliminated in seventh place, earning $8,474.16.

Lechuckpoker met a similar fate, losing over two-thirds of his stack when he four-bet shoved with pocket sevens, only to run headlong into kleath’s pocket aces. Down to 55,500, he put the rest of his chips in the middle with [8c][8h] but they were no match for julianherold’s [9c][9s]. Lechuckpoker departed in sixth place, banking $10,966.56.

The increased pace continued for at least a few more hands, 1BigAcehole three-betting to 12,800 with [Kc][Qh] only to be met with a shove from kleath. 1BigAceHole called off his remaining 119,000 and was no doubt delighted to see kleath’s [Qc][Jc], but he flopped a jack and turned a queen, the board running out [Js][3c][2d][Qs][6s] to send him home in fifth. He picked up $14,206.68 for his efforts. Kleath had this to offer in the chat box:

kleath: gg chirps
kleath: u put me in the cage
kleath: but i snagged the key

The final four

Two and a half hours after the final table began, four players remained. None are strangers to a big-money final. Rens02 won the Sunday Million for $234,000 in March 2011. Julianherold final tabled the Super Tuesday last month. Kleath has made the Super Tuesday final table as well and took down the $109 rebuy twice. And Bryan “theczar19″ Piccioli, a consummate grinder if there ever was one, has more online MTT wins than we can count. They slugged it out for another hour and forty-five minutes before kleath cracked julianherold’s [Kc][Kh] with [Kd][9d] to eliminate him in fourth place.

Four hours and fifteen minutes of final table play behind them, and the antes still relatively low at 4,000, the final three agreed to pause the action and discuss a deal. After looking at both chip-count chop and ICM numbers, the trio agreed to the former, striking a deal that left $1,500 in play for the eventual winner.

Action resumed, and on the first hand back theczar19 opened for 7,645 on the button. Rens02 three-bet to 22,887 and they saw a [9c][4h][3c] flop. A raising war broke out and all the money went in, Rens02 five-bet shoving for 531,031 and theczar19 calling all-in for 220,078. Rens02 turned over [Ad][4c] for middle pair, while theczar19 held [Kc][Qc] for a flush draw. The [9d] on the turn was a blank for both players, but the [Kh] on the river made theczar19 top two pair, taking him up to 952,775 in chips while Rens02 was left with 83,500.

“Guess I made a deal at the right time lol,” Rens02 quipped.

A few hands later, Rens02 committed the last of his chips with [As][5s] but could not improve against theczar19′s [Ad][Kd]. Rens02 finished in third place, his share of the deal totaling $35,825.65.

Heads-up chip counts:

Seat 6: theczar19 (1,004,788 in chips)
Seat 7: kleath (855,212 in chips)

Even with only a tiny percentage of the prize pool left in play, heads-up play still took over thirty minutes. Kleath hacked away at theczar19′s stack, moving up to more than a million in chips until theczar19 turned a Broadway straight and cut kleath’s stack in half. Kleath doubled back when he turned two pair and got all his chips in against theczar19′s straight and flush draws, moving back into the chip lead with 1.1 million. The lead swung back and forth dozens of times, neither player willing to let go.

Theczar19 had a 1.1 million to 706,000 lead over kleath when they saw a [9d][5s][3h] flop. The czar19 check-raised kleath’s 16,270 bet to 52,345 and kleath called. When the [Kh] hit the turn, theczar19 led out for 78,465, kleath raised to 212,212, and theczar19 looked him up. The river was the [Tc] and theczar19 checked over to kleath. Kleath moved all-in for 428,886 and theczar19 called, turning over [Ah][Kd] for top pair. Theczar19 could only show [Jc][Td] for a pair of tens and kleath picked up to 1.4 million pot.

It was all over on the next hand. Although theczar19 had the best of it preflop and on the flop, kleath hit a miracle ten on the river to make a Broadway straight and lock up the win:

Congratulations to kleath on a hard-fought battle and his first SCOOP title. He earned $41,391.90 while runner-up theczar19 banked $34,566.59.

2012 SCOOP Event #14-H ($700 NLHE Ante Up!) results:

1. kleath (Malta) $41,391.90*
2. theczar19 (Mexico) $34,566.59*
3. Rens02 (Netherlands) $35,825.65*
4. julianherold (Germany) $20,562.30
5. 1BigAceHole (Canada) $14,206.68
6. lechuckpoker (United Kingdom) $10,966.56
7. joacowalter (Uruguay) $8,474.16
8. Face333X (Germany) $5,981.76
9. tRaMp$d0PrAy (Cyprus) $4,361.70

*= reflects the results of a three-way deal that left $1,500 in play for the winner
**= with apologies to Joe Stapleton, Nick Wealthall, and Sir Elton John

There’s still another week of SCOOP action on the books. Head over to the SCOOP page for a full schedule and satellite information.

After that 20 year old car finally broke down once last time after being pieced together by duct tape and twine it was time to take a brave trip down to the car dealership for a new set of wheels. “Have I got a deal for YOU!” exclaimed the man in the ratty tweed jacket that was popular around the time electricity was discovered. “See this lovely brand new BMW X-wing series, it is yours for just five dollars!”. Quite the deal you think, such a beautiful new car for five bucks? So you ask what is the catch? “Well… it does not run on regular gasoline, diesel, or electricity, you have to purchase these fuel chips that cost $1,000.00 to make it run after every trip around the block”.

Today’s 2012 SCOOP Event #14-L $7.50 Ante Up tournament had a similar feel to the hidden costs of the not-completely-honest automobile salesman. Blinds remain the same from Level 1 all the way until the championship watch is awarded. $5 small blind, $5 big blind. The catch is the antes increase to make it very lucrative to steal them, and also to force players to remain active at all times or face being anted out (versus the normal “blinded out”). 13,223 players made their way into this tournament yesterday for this two-day affair. And thanks to the large crowd, once again the PokerStars guarantee ($25,000.00) was an afterthought with $92,561.00 in the prize pool.

Team PokerStars Pros and Team Online would be shut out at the cashier’s window as Anders “Donald” Berg, Bryan Huang, Liv Boeree, George “Jorj95″ Lind, Andre Akkari, Marcin “Goral” Horecki, and Sigge “ClarkKent89″ Reichard all climbed in for a short ride but did not save enough chips for the antes to make the top 1,710 paid places.

Switzerland’s DeeKay8686, still holding a 10 point lead for the SCOOP Player of the Series-Low, was unable to pick up any points finishing in 6,846th place. Same for second place Chillolini (2,527th place), and third place Blackbeaty took the tournament off. Anders “Donald” Berg is threatening for another title tied for fourth place (but as mentioned did not make the money), but fellow players in fourth place evanski (6,282nd place) and naurits (DNP) also did not gain on the leaderboard for that PCA 2013 prize package and Player of the Series trophy.

The end of day one would end with 49 players remaining as the top ten below being led by OutschOo:

OutschOo 5,791,406
KeryaFadeev 3,406,623
manue 3,171,942
J_Marcos 3,139.344
mumble200 2,913,452
Se7enTr3y 2,534,771
Chocoyote 2,120,669
elfeggg 2,033,354
Gederts 1,931,814
grajzel 1,779,158

After two hours of the re-start only two tables remained in play as maximum123 led the way with the first eight figure chip stack followed closely by Chocoyote and redKameleon. Day one chip leader OutschOo would not remain after falling in 14th place ($277.68).

Se7enTr3y would take a nasty bad beat near the bubble. With the ante up to 90K, Se7enTr3y would shove from 1.65 million preflop and was called by Chocoyote’s [As][5s]. 3.8 million in the middle would get the British player right back into this tournament as Se7enTr3y flipped up the dominating [Jh][Ad]. The flop had a difference in opinion and laid out a wheel from Chocoyote [2h] [4d] [3d]. Despite the flush scare on the turned [9d] Se7enTr3y blanked on the river [Qs] finishing in 11th place. Showing that high stakes players are trying to grab every Player of the Series point and dollar from this tournament series, Se7enTr3y has long history of big final tables, most recently gracing the Super Tuesday final table in February and chopping it up for $58,467.48

After a 30 minute hand-for-hand wait, it would take a minor cooler before our final table was set. With the antes up to 125,000 chip leader CarltonRulz would raise it up to 233,333 getting called by cacha112 in the small blind. [9s][2s][Jh] on the flop got cacha112 to check as CarltonRulz set out 300,000 as cacha112 was not giving up this large pot and moved all-in for 2.19 million holding top pair [Ks][Jd] with a decent kicker. The decent kicker did not phase CarltonRulz’s flopped set of nines [9c][9h] making the call. [Kd] on the turn did open up four outs, but the [Th] on the river closed out the penultimate table and cacha112′s tournament in tenth place ($370.24) starting up the final table below:

Seat 1: elfeggg (10667727 in chips)
Seat 2: KeryaFadeev (5619968 in chips)
Seat 3: maximum123 (12914377 in chips)
Seat 4: redKameleon (3058297 in chips)
Seat 5: CarltonRulz (12604781 in chips)
Seat 6: PoLoTeN41kXX (3294300 in chips)
Seat 7: J_Marcos (3250255 in chips)
Seat 8: neonasl (9299808 in chips)
Seat 9: Chocoyote (5405487 in chips)

27 hours 30 minutes to get here… one minute to leave

On the final table’s third hand and antes still at 125,000 chips, Chocoyote with over five million tried to snag the 1.125 million sitting in the middle with a shove. However, two seats down was KeryaFadeev with a little bit bigger stack and pocket tens [Tc][Th]. The Russian would make the call as Chocoyote’s pocket eights [8c][8h] would melt quickly on the [Js] [Ts] [5d] [4s] [7c] board becoming the final table’s first casualty in ninth place ($555.36).

Plenty for the blinds, not so much for the antes

PoLoTeN41kXX would be UTG with the antes up to 150,000. Sitting on a stack of 1.34 million the Russian could afford over 2,000 orbits around the eight handed table. Ante up was about to let this tourney run until my daughter is ready to drive in 10 years and with the antes PoLoTeN41kXX could only afford to see nine more hands. [As][6d] seemed good enough to go with as PoLoTeN41kXX shoved. maximum123 in the small blind with pocket jacks [Jh][Jd] making the call. The [7c] [7s] [9h] [Qd] [2h] board gave no reason for alarm as the pocket jacks would take down PoLoTeN41kXX’s ace leaving the Russian in eighth place ($925.61).

Taking the chip lead back

KeryaFadeev would lose the chip to maximum123. But only briefly thanks to the 17.4 million pot in the video below:

It would be race situation as the antes remained at 150,000 and neonasl would lead off with a raise to 335,800 and KeryaFadeev three-bet to 1.52 million. Back around to neonasl holding pocket sevens [7s][7c] and a lot of confidence, he would shove for 8.1 million. KeryaFadeev could cover the bet, making the call with [Ah][Qh]. The nut-flush draw [3h] [8d] [Jh] would show itself on the flop but a different dagger came out on the turn. [Qs] paired up KeryaFadeev as the one-outer on the river [5s] would not hit and neonsal was down for good in seventh place ($1,851.22).

Unable to change numbers

Chameleons may be able to change colors, maybe even suits on a card, but redKameleon was not able to change a board to match his hand. With the antes up to 175,000 redKameleon would call a 196,700 raise by maximum123 as J_Marcos shoved for 5.45 million from the button. maximum123 quickly folded but redKameleon with a little less than two million pondered a call. Pocket treys [3c][3s] were left hoping for a race to claim the 5.5 million chip pot as redKameleon made the call. Pocket eights [8h][8d] was the exactly the type of hand redKameleon was trying to avoid as the flop quickly ended any hope of a miracle giving J_Marcos a set of eights and finishing with the boat [Tc] [8s] [Qd] [2c] [Qs] to give redKameleon some green in the form of sixth place money ($2,776.83).

Cracked egg

As the antes moved up to 200,000 there was a very brief pause for chop discussions but the remaining five felt there was plenty of play left with a 13.1 million chip average so play continued. While four players enjoyed stacked over 10 million, elfeggg held on to just 4.1 million while calling a button raise from J_Marcos from the small blind. Both players checked the [Th][3c][As] flop. [9d] on the turn got both players excited as J_Marcos led out for 845,555 and elfeggg came back with a shove to 3.4 million. Top two [Ad][Td] made the call an easy one for J_Marcos as elfeggg’s tournament hopes leaned on an open ended straight draw [8d][Jd]. The [4s] river would ship the 8.8 million chips to J_Marcos as elfeggg received $3,702.44 in fifth place.

MAXMIUS!

The gladiator maximum123 would go to war against KeryaFadeev just three hand after elfeggg wobbled off the table. Watch below as the two build up a 25.3 million chip pot:

After a 732,105 preflop raise by KeryaFadeev and a call by maximum123 the players would both check the [3h][2c][Qh] flop. [Jc] on the turn got KeryaFadeev to push out 1.37 million as maximum123 made the call. [Qd] river and KeryaFadeev tried again with a 2.5 million chip bet, but this time maximum123 pushed the max which was enough to put KeryaFadeev all-in. Thinking bluff, KeryaFadeev made the call with a pair of threes [Ks][3s], but maximum123 was doing anything but bluffing flipped up trip ladies, top kicker [Qs][Ac] for the 25.3 million chip pot and sending KeryaFadeev to the rail in fourth place ($4,628.05).

Over? Over. Done? Done.

A very quick chop chat between the remaining three and Team Online’s Andre “acoimbra” Coimbra hammered out the chip chop below leaving $500 and the champion’s SCOOP watch left to play for.

maximum123: $9,639.73
J_Marcos: $8,923.38
CarltonRulz: $8,539.82

Maximum value

Three handed play would last 40 minutes and threatened to go all-day. It was not for lack of aggression or any passive checkdowns, but rather no one making the kill shot to knock someone out. Until the antes moved up to 300,000 and maximum123 made a preflop raise to 350,777 and CarltonRulz made it 1.2 million. maximum123 made the call to see a [6h][9d][9c] flop as CarltonRulz led out for 1.13 million getting another call from maximum123. [8s] on the turn and CarltonRulz checked as maximum123 bet 1.63 million. Like a cougar waiting for prey, CarltonRulz lept out with a check-raise to 5.5 million as maximum123 again calmly made the call. [Th] river and CarltonRulz shoved for 12.7 million as maximum123 serenely called again, this time with more confidence flipping up the rivered straight [Jd][7d]. CarltonRulz tried hard to deter that straight from getting there by the flopped trips [9h][Qc] went into the muck ending the tournament in third place.

Reversal of fortune

The phrase “reversal of fortune” as a slightly different meaning in the world of competitive eating (we suggest not looking up “reversal of fortune and eating” on YouTube with a full stomach). But, while heads-up in a poker tournament it means overcoming your larger stacked opponent as J_Marcos would start with a 22.3 million to 43.7 disadvantage against maximum123 for the Event #14-L title.

Then over the course of a 10 minute heads-up battle J_Marcos would nip away at that lead. A 15 million chip pot, then four hands later an 8.5 million chip pot, then a 7.6 million chips pot thus grabbing a 37.3 million to 28.7 million chip lead going into the decisive hand.

With the antes up to 350,000 J_Marcos made a raise to 310,000 as maximum123 called to see the [2c][9s][7c] flop. maximum123 checked as J_Marcos followed through with a 875,000 chip bet. maximum123 mini-check raised, as J_Marcos ended all silliness with a shove that covered maximum123′s stack. Holding top pair [Jc][9d] maximum123 made the call and saw immediately the kicker problems that would end the tournament. J_Marcos showed [9h][Kh] for the same pair, higher kicker and successfully dodged the three-outer on the turn [3h] and river [4h] to claim the Event #14-L title!

$25,000 guarantee SCOOP 2012 Event #14-L $7.50 Ante Up results (05-12-12)
(* denotes part of three-way deal)
1. J_Marcos (Brazil) *$9,423.38
2. maximum123 (Norway) *$9,639.73
3. CarltonRulz (Australia) *$8,539.82
4. KeryaFadeev (Russia) $4,628.05
5. elfeggg (Russia) $3,702.44
6. redKameleon (Denmark) $2,776.83
7. neonasl (Lithuania) $1,851.22
8. PoLoTeN41kXX (Russia) $925.61
9. Chocoyote (Germany) $555.36

A look at Day 6 of the 2012 Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) at PokerStars.

If Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom thought he was going to run away with the overall SCOOP 2012 Player of the Series title, he probably should’ve consulted Shaun Deeb first. As of the most recent update, Deeb had jumped up to tie Blom for the overall lead. (Update: Deeb has now taken over the lead by a large margin.)

As has been widely and exhaustively reported, Blom won two back-to-back SCOOP titles in the first week of this year’s online festival. The two first place finishes combined with a quarterfinal finish in the $2,100 PLO Heads-Up event and top 100 finish (okay, he finished 100th) in SCOOP-02-H: $2,100 NL Hold’em rocketed Blom to the very top of the overall leaderboard.

Blom: Who is that creeping up on me?

Deeb (profiled here yesterday) seems to have decided to make a run for the title, too. He’s cashed seven times already, including a win in the $2,100 Stud event and a final table in the $27 NLHE turbo last night. If there was any question about whether his move to Play del Carmen, Mexico was a good one, put those concerns to rest. Deeb is on his game this year and prepared to give the King of Swing a run for his money.

Deeb: See these people? I beat them all. Blom is next.

The two leaders are joined in the hunt by (the only) three-time SCOOP winner, cal42688; Team PokerStars Pros ElkY and Martin Staszko; Team Online’s Anders “Donald” Berg; as well as a lot of other immeditely recognizable names. With nearly half of this year’s events in the can, this race is shaping up to be one worth watching.

Here’s what the overall leaderboard looks like at this hour.

SCOOP 2012 Player of the Series Leaderboard

1-2. Isildur1 — 250

1-2. shaundeeb — 250

3 . cal42688 — 230

4 . Donald — 225

5 . joacowalter — 220

6 . UhhMee – 190

7-12. ElkY — 185

7-12. gbmantis — 185

7-12. ImDaNuts — 185

7-12. M. Staszko — 185

7-12. paulgees81 –185

7-12. SebbyGl –185

As you might be aware, this year, in addition to the overall race, PokerStars is awarding Player of the Series prizes across all buy-in levels. As it stands today, Switzerland’s DeeKay8686 leads the low buy-in race, Germany’s cyberkanguru is on top of the medium buy-in battle, and Canada’s paulgees81 is on top of the high buy-in leaderboard.

While that’s how it stands now, there are still nine more days of action before the finish line. It’s literally still anyone’s game.

To keep an eye on the leaderboard over the weekend and into next week, check out the SCOOP Player of the Series page.