To say that the Ante Up format is different would be an understatement. While it’s played in the familiar game of No Limit Hold Em, players have to adjust to the blinds always remaining at 5/5 with the antes raising each level. It’s a relatively new format that can be found on PokerStars and it was featured for Event 13 of the Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP). The low buy-in was $16.50 with a $50k guaranteed prize pool, the medium buy-in was $162 with $100k guaranteed, and the high buy-in was $1,575 with $200k guaranteed.
The guarantee was destroyed in all three tournaments for Event 13. With an original guarantee of $200k for the high buy-in, 312 players participated, inflating the prize pool to $468,000. This created an impressive first place prize of $90,558. PokerStars pro Jason Mercier just missed out on the final table finishing 17th for $4,680, but two-time bracelet winner JP Kelly, a British PokerStars pro, made it. Also making it was James “mig.com” Mackey, a 2007 Bracelet winner and one of the best poker players online. Both of these high profile pros had plenty of chips when the final table started.
This final table was a long grind as it lasted well into the wee hours of the night and eventually morning. Let’s fast forward to five handed play and we’ll check out a pivotal hand between mig.com and Vaga_Lion.
Seat 3: coxnator (230259 in chips)
Seat 5: Needleking (212047 in chips)
Seat 6: Tha Giggy (425711 in chips)
Seat 7: mig.com (468696 in chips)
Seat 9: Vaga_Lion (223287 in chips)
coxnator: posts the ante 2500
Needleking: posts the ante 2500
Tha Giggy: posts the ante 2500
mig.com: posts the ante 2500
Vaga_Lion: posts the ante 2500
coxnator: posts small blind 5
Needleking: posts big blind 5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Tha Giggy: calls 5
mig.com: raises 7545 to 7550
Vaga_Lion: raises 11338 to 18888
coxnator: folds
Needleking: folds
Tha Giggy: folds
mig.com: raises 19338 to 38226
Vaga_Lion: raises 39551 to 77777
mig.com: raises 388419 to 466196 and is all-in
Vaga_Lion: calls 143010 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (245409) returned to mig.com
*** FLOP *** [7h 9c 9s]
*** TURN *** [7h 9c 9s] [5h]
*** RIVER *** [7h 9c 9s 5h] [3s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
mig.com: shows [Qs Qd] (two pair, Queens and Nines)
Vaga_Lion: shows [Kh As] (a pair of Nines)
mig.com collected 454089 from pot
Mig.com won the classic flip, making him the overwhelming chip leader. As the final table played on there were talks of deals but mig.com vetoed them. We again fast forward, this time to heads-up play between mig.com and coxnator.
Seat 3: coxnator (441340 in chips)
Seat 7: mig.com (1118660 in chips)
coxnator: posts the ante 4000
mig.com: posts the ante 4000
coxnator: posts small blind 5
mig.com: posts big blind 5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
coxnator: raises 3495 to 3500
mig.com: raises 10995 to 14495
coxnator: raises 27505 to 42000
mig.com: raises 73600 to 115600
coxnator: raises 321740 to 437340 and is all-in
mig.com: calls 321740
*** FLOP *** [Ks 5h 7c]
*** TURN *** [Ks 5h 7c] [2s]
*** RIVER *** [Ks 5h 7c 2s] [Th]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
mig.com: shows [Jd Jh] (a pair of Jacks)
coxnator: shows [Ac Qh] (high card Ace)
mig.com collected 882680 from pot
It must be nice to be awesome at poker and also flip well when it matters! Congratulations to mig.com. Here are the final table payouts:
1. mig.com – $90.558
2. coxnator – $67,860
3. Tha Giggy – $51,480
4. Needleking – $38,610
5. Vaga_Lion – $26,676
6. soso9200 – $20,592
7. Jp Kelly – $15,912
8. Hazarrr!! – $11,232
9. sakpoker – $8,190
The prize pool of the medium buy-in ended up being an incredible $301,050, and any players that made the final table of the medium version of this event were in for an epic grind as well. They started out with 2,007 players at 2 PM EST and didn’t hit the final table until 4:13 AM EST. Little did they know that it would be close to four hours at the final table before the event was finally over. They were 5-handed within the first hour of the final table, but getting rid of the last 3 proved to be a difficult task. Here’s a big hand that came up between jeffonx (3rd in chips) and the Adrian900123 (1st in chips):
Seat 1: Adrian900123 (3929243 in chips)
Seat 6: rkruok (706716 in chips)
Seat 7: Runnin Rich (2449087 in chips)
Seat 8: conslice (1345427 in chips)
Seat 9: jeffonx (1604527 in chips)
Adrian900123: posts the ante 12500
rkruok: posts the ante 12500
Runnin Rich: posts the ante 12500
conslice: posts the ante 12500
jeffonx: posts the ante 12500
Runnin Rich: posts small blind 5
conslice: posts big blind 5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
jeffonx: raises 35380 to 35385
Adrian900123: raises 54095 to 89480
rkruok: folds
Runnin Rich: folds
conslice: folds
jeffonx: calls 54095
*** FLOP *** [5h 7c 3h]
jeffonx: checks
Adrian900123: bets 145320
jeffonx: raises 1357227 to 1502547 and is all-in
Adrian900123: calls 1357227
*** TURN *** [5h 7c 3h] [7s]
*** RIVER *** [5h 7c 3h 7s] [Th]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
jeffonx: shows [Ah 9h] (a flush, Ace high)
Adrian900123: shows [Jd Jc] (two pair, Jacks and Sevens)
jeffonx collected 3246564 from pot
Hitting that heart on the river vaulted jeffonx into the lead. Just 14 hands later jeffonx took another huge pot from Adrian900123:
Seat 1: Adrian900123 (2203361 in chips)
Seat 6: rkruok (568621 in chips)
Seat 7: Runnin Rich (2655452 in chips)
Seat 8: conslice (1388977 in chips)
Seat 9: jeffonx (3218589 in chips)
Adrian900123: posts the ante 15000
rkruok: posts the ante 15000
Runnin Rich: posts the ante 15000
conslice: posts the ante 15000
jeffonx: posts the ante 15000
rkruok: posts small blind 5
Runnin Rich: posts big blind 5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
conslice: calls 5
jeffonx: raises 46440 to 46445
Adrian900123: raises 72005 to 118450
rkruok: folds
Runnin Rich: folds
conslice: folds
jeffonx: calls 72005
*** FLOP *** [8s 7h Qc]
jeffonx: checks
Adrian900123: bets 185400
jeffonx: calls 185400
*** TURN *** [8s 7h Qc] [7d]
jeffonx: checks
Adrian900123: bets 384300
jeffonx: calls 384300
*** RIVER *** [8s 7h Qc 7d] [Kc]
jeffonx: checks
Adrian900123: bets 795400
jeffonx: calls 795400
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Adrian900123: shows [9d As] (a pair of Sevens)
jeffonx: shows [Jd Qd] (two pair, Queens and Sevens)
jeffonx collected 3042115 from pot
Jeffonx was also responsible for the next elimination as he got lucky and beat conslice’s KK with his ATo, creating a massive chip lead of 6.4 million which was nearly half the chips in play 4-handed. Rkruok was the next one to depart the final table as he flopped top two pair against Runnin Rich but was no match for Runnin Rich’s flopped nut straight. However, Rich’s success would be short lived as he later played an enormous pot against the jeffonx with AK. He couldn’t connect with the board against jeffonx’s QQ and jeffonx took a huge lead into heads-up against Adrian900123.
Despite being down so badly at the start, Adrian900123 battled back into contention, and eventually the two players made a deal. When play continued, Adrian collected more and more of the remaining chips, and here is how everything ended:
Seat 1: Adrian900123 (7342059 in chips)
Seat 9: jeffonx (2692941 in chips)
Adrian900123: posts the ante 40000
jeffonx: posts the ante 40000
Adrian900123: posts small blind 5
jeffonx: posts big blind 5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Adrian900123: raises 54995 to 55000
jeffonx: raises 2597941 to 2652941 and is all-in
Adrian900123: calls 2597941
*** FLOP *** [Jc 3h 3c]
*** TURN *** [Jc 3h 3c] [7c]
*** RIVER *** [Jc 3h 3c 7c] [Qh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
jeffonx: shows [6c 4s] (a pair of Threes)
Adrian900123: shows [Kc 8c] (a flush, King high)
Adrian900123 collected 5385882 from pot
Adrian900123 completed the comeback and was crowned champion. Here are the final payouts for the event, including the adjusted payouts due to the deal:
1. Adrian900123 – $44,294.83
2. jeffonx- $40,000
3. Runnin Rich – $27,094.50
4. rkruok – $18,665.10
5. conslice – $13,547.25
6. kirbyi17 – $10,536.75
7. fuddebuf – $7,526.25
8. SlowRollJoe1 – $5,117.85
9. McBreed – $2,859.97
The low version of the event attracted 10,712 players, creating a handsome prize pool of $160,680. The final table lasted two hours and Thishowedoit claims everything ended in a misclick:
Seat 4: pash123 (48674058 in chips)
Seat 9: Thishowedoit (4885942 in chips)
pash123: posts the ante 125000
Thishowedoit: posts the ante 125000
Thishowedoit: posts small blind 5
pash123: posts big blind 5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Thishowedoit: raises 124995 to 125000
pash123: raises 225000 to 350000
Thishowedoit: calls 225000
*** FLOP *** [Td 4h Ac]
pash123: bets 400000
Thishowedoit: calls 400000
*** TURN *** [Td 4h Ac] [Ts]
pash123: bets 1000000
Thishowedoit: calls 1000000
*** RIVER *** [Td 4h Ac Ts] [3h]
pash123: bets 15599685
Thishowedoit: calls 3010942 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (12588743) returned to pash123
Thishowedoit said, “asodkdagokadg”
*** SHOW DOWN ***
pash123: shows [Kc As] (two pair, Aces and Tens)
Thishowedoit: shows [Ah 4c] (two pair, Aces and Tens – lower kicker)
Thishowedoit said, “misclick”
pash123 collected 9771884 from pot
Whatever the case, congratulations to pash123 for his victory. Here are the entire final table payouts:
1. pash123 – $21,298.77
2. Thishowedoit – $14,694.18
3. lorenzo79 – $11,086.92
4. trompete – $7,873.32
5. AttyBubba – $6,266.52
6. Robie123 – $4,659.72
7. axe lavec – $3,052.92
8. BigMan1984 – $1,446.12
9. XBraumeister – $964.08
Congratulations to everyone who final tabled these events! Be sure to stay tuned to FTR for more coverage of SCOOP.