The PokerStars SCOOP 2010 Event #20 is in the books! Many dreams came true, and others got shattered, in what was an awesome display of tournament magnificence.

As we know, each SCOOP event is broken down into 3 tourneys, with each one catering to a different audience in terms of buy-in. Today’s events had the following buy-ins: $22 for the Low Buy-in tournament, $215 for the Medium Buy-in tournament, and $2,100 for the Highest Buy-n tournament. The games in question today were NLHE Freezeout 2-day events.

L
We begin with the low buy-in tournament. Today’s event had a guaranteed prize pool of $500,000, which is an extreme amount when you consider that the buy-in for this event was $20+2. Despite drawing 21,481 hopefuls into the mix, they did not exceed the prize pool, which meant that there was a fair bit of overlay in this particular tourney. And if there is something that tourney players love, that would be overlay. Besides heaping oodles of Red Bull, of course.

But don’t let the buy-in fool you, as it’s possible that this might have been one of the toughest tourneys that PokerStars has hosted this year. That will change with upcoming Sundays events though. The reason is that since there are so many entrants, the average player is going to be matched up against so many unknowns that it’s impossible to figure out how everyone pays in time. So, theoretically, you’d have to play close to the standard lines, and this may or may not result in early exits.

3,600 out of its 20,000+ entrants got something for their troubles. But all eyes were of course on the final table. Action on the final table was fast and furious, with heads rolling at a comparatively quick rate. As soon as the 4th place finisher, TRAANKKA, got knocked out, the remaining players discussed a deal (because TRAANKKA was the only one that would oppose this). The accepted deal was as follows:

Spoli4tor: $36,500.92
grandslamsal: $30,000.00
gamma21: $28,179.08

$10,000 was left on the table for the winner.

The action continued on a brisk pace. Just 4 hands after the 3rd place finisher got the bad news, HU was already over. This was the hand that ended it all:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 22 Tournament, 800000/1600000 Blinds 200000 Ante (2 handed) – Poker-Stars Replayer from Poker Hands Replayer

Spoli4tor (t178785740)

gamma21 (t36024260)

Preflop:

Spoli4tor bets t3200000, gamma21 raises to t35824260 (All-In), Spoli4tor calls t32624260

Flop: (t72048520) A, 5, 7 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t72048520) 4 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t72048520) 9 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t72048520

Results:

Spoli4tor had Q, Q (one pair, Queens).

gamma21 had 10, 10 (one pair, tens).

Outcome: Spoli4tor won t72048520

And just like that, Spoli4tor rode the heat wave of cards on the final table, and emerged as the last man standing out of a 5-figure field, with a 5-figure payday. Quite a feat in any case, so congrats to all who participated!

M
The medium buy-in event of 2010 SCOOP #20 was a $200+15, which is fairly standard for when it comes to large online tournaments. 8,266 hopefuls showed up for this one. With a prize pool that was guaranteed at $2,000,000, the generated buy-ins fell just short of covering it and therefore this tourney also had excellent overlay.

Among all the hopefuls that got into this tournament lurked many sharks, undoubtedly attracted by the rather large first prize worth $290,000. Among the many talented individuals that participated in this tournament were a host of usual suspects such as FTR’s own busto_soon and a whole array of PokerStars pro’s which included Grayson “Spacegravy” Physioc, Victor Ramdin, USCphildo, Dustin “Leatherass9” Schmidt and Noah “Exclusive” Boeken. Each and every single one of these guys is an accomplished tourney vet, and they were literally a dime a dozen in this particular tourney, so despite the buy-in not being ultra high you could count on that it would have been a very tough tourney to win.

After VOZNI from Moscow got eliminated in 3rd place, gutshtallin and jakehekejnr discussed a potential deal. It was agreed upon then that gutshtallin would take home $238,884 and jakehekejnr $230,315, despite the stacks being desperately unequal at this point. They would duke it out for the remaining $40,000 from the prize pool.

Oh, and everyone’s favorite high stakes player Barry Greenstein made a cameo appearance in the tourney, and was the final table host. Talk about special!

The final hand went down as follows:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 215 Tournament, 300000/600000 Blinds 75000 Ante (2 handed) – Poker-Stars Replayer from Poker Hands Replayer

jakehekejnr (t70159116)

gutshtallin (t12500884)

Preflop:

jakehekejnr bets t1200000, gutshtallin raises to t12425884 (All-In), jakehekejnr calls t11225884

Flop: (t25001768) 9, A, 3 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t25001768) 5 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t25001768) 5 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t25001768

Results:

jakehekejnr had K, Q (one pair, fives).

gutshtallin had K, 7 (one pair, fives).

Outcome: jakehekejnr won t25001768

And jakethehekejnr took home the additional $40,000 with this beautiful hand. That’s an additional car for the rest of us, you know? Care to take us for a ride? Oh, and congrats!

H
The highest buy-in event of the 2010 SCOOP #20 clocked in at a hefty $2,100 per seat. Accordingly, fewer people showed up to duke it out for this bracelet. But you know exactly where this is going. If the low buy-in tourney had a tough field, and the medium buy-in tourney had a tougher field, this one had an OMG toughest field the likes of which you just don’t see often. This particular event only drew 1,088 participants, but it should be regarded as a gathering of the who is who in poker today. To get an idea of what we are rambling about, here are 5 names taken from the pool at random: t soprano; zangbezan24; IV. Geoffrey; djk123; and finally, gp333. These are all guys who are widely considered to be at the top of the game, and they were all together, duking it out for this specific bracelet.

Once at the final table, the action was slow and deliberate. It did not help that the blinds were very shallow compared to the stacks, meaning that everyone was playing very deepstacked poker.

These players knew each other and played each other well. All in all, it took upwards of 4 hours for play to conclude at the final table, with close to half of that going to the HU battle alone.

The final hand was as follows:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 2100 Tournament, 40000/80000 Blinds 10000 Ante (2 handed) – Poker-Stars Replayer from Poker Hands Replayer

sms9231 (t9141513)

JotaGran49 (t1738487)

Preflop:

sms9231 bets t160000, JotaGran49 calls t80000

Flop: (t340000) J, 6, 10 (2 players)

JotaGran49 checks, sms9231 checks

Turn: (t340000) K (2 players)

JotaGran49 checks, sms9231 bets t200000, JotaGran49 raises to t1568487 (All-In), sms9231 calls t1368487

River: (t3476974) 5 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t3476974

Results:

sms9231 had 5, K (two pair, Kings and fives).

JotaGran49 had K, 7 (one pair, Kings).

Outcome: sms9231 won t3476974

Like true gladiators they fought leaving it all on the field. It’s almost saddening that someone had to lose, but alas, that is the way it goes. sms9231 knew how to exploit the opposition, and took down one of the most prestigious tournaments that will run during this whole year in the process despite not being the chipleader during the whole HU match. Congrats!

A big round of applause to everybody who participated, and keep this in mind: if you did not win, or even cash, today, there is always tomorrow and the day after that. Keep trying, because one of these days Victory will be yours to savor!

Final Tables Cash List, SCOOP 2010 Event #20

NL Hold’em Freeze Out (2-Day)

$20 + $2 buy-in L

1st) Spoli4tor $46,500.92*
2nd) grandslamsal $30,000.00*
3rd) gamma21 $28,179.08*
4th) TRAANKKA $18,000
5th) PLZDUNCALL $13,500
6th) mr.dex $9,000
7th) PRODIGYNEEBR $6,250
8th) 88diamond88 $4,250
9th) Chapalette $2,500
*= after deal
$200 + $15 buy-in M
1st) jakehekejnr $270,315*
2nd) gutshtallin $238,884
3rd) VOZNI $150,000
4th) joaobarb $100,000
5th) brianm15 $80,000
6th) roypappie $60,000
7th) pokerjones66 $40,000
8th) m4ttyd $22,000
9th) Tehp $15,500
*= after deal
$2,000 + $100 H
1st) sms9231 $380,354.80
2nd) JotaGran49 $276,352
3rd) jackellwood $206,720
4th) poker1O1 $154,496
5th) Noctus $108,800
6th) Danneville $87,040
7th) Tagir $65,280
8th) IAmSoSo $43,520
9th) wowspaceaex $25,024