PokerStars’ SCOOP Event 7 is one of the most exciting events in this season’s series of online poker tournaments. Event 7 was the first of many No Limit Holdem Heads-up tournaments. Players went at it in what is said to be the purest form of poker, heads-up. Unlike at full-ring or short-handed, heads-up players play for their opponent’s money and their own ego. As is customary with PokerStars’ SCOOP events, Event 7 was broken down into three separate tournaments: low, medium, and high. These tournaments differ in the buy-in amount and, obviously, the prize pool and prestige that comes with a win.
The low buy-in Event 7 cost players $15 to enter. It had a guarantee of $100,000 which attracted 11,366 players making the prize pool a huge $170,490. Online poker and Team PokerStars pro Randy “nanokoko” Lew entered the tournament looking to win. Unfortunately, he was knocked out when he went all-in preflop with As2s against Leo_Herzog’s Qc9c. The TsTc8s9dTd board decided nanonoko’s fate and knocked him out of the tournament in 65th place. The final table pit style09 against SebbyGI. SebbyGI had a great showing in the last WCOOP and is looking to do the same in the SCOOP. He took second place and $13,212.97 when he lost to with Ah7d against style09’s AsJc. An all-heart QhJh8h flop gave SebbyGI a fighting chance with his Ah but the 2s turn and 6d river gave style09 the tournament win and $22,593.89 to boot.
The medium buy-in Event 7 cost $162 to enter and attracted the maximum of 2,048 players. This created a prize pool of $307,000; over $50,000 more than PokerStars’ $250,000 guarantee. Poker celebrities Vanessa Rousso, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospelier, and Hevad Khan all failed to win their first round. Randy “nanonoko” Lew, also registered in the low tournament, was unable to beat the second round. Cardrunners instructor Mike “gordo16” Gordon beat all his tournaments and made the training site proud. He took the $52,224 first prize and the ego boost that comes with winning a heads-up tournament.
Event 7’s high buy-in event had a huge buy-in of $1,575. This ensured that only the best of the best would be registered for this tournament. The tournament was maxed out at 512 registrants, creating a prize pool of $768,000; $192,000 of which would be awarded to the first place finisher. Returning from the medium buy-in event were Vanessa Rousso, Hevad Khan, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospelier, and nanonoko (who also participated in the low buy-in event). Nanonoko cashed $3,072 in 33rd place losing in round four. The final table was between tcblade and Shirtz17. It took only 34 hands before the knockout took palce. Shirtz17 minraised on the button and tcblade three-bet. Shirtz17 called and saw the QhTc8c flop. Tcblade check-raised Shirtz17 all-in and showed his AdQs. Shirtz17 was behind with a pair of queens and smaller kicker: Qs9h. However, Shirtz17 had an open-ended straight draw and a backdoor flush draw. Unfortunately for him, he missed all his outs on the 3h turn and 8d river. Shirtz17 was knocked out in second and collected $99,840. Tcblade won the huge $192,000 first prize and the pride of knowing he is among the best heads-up players in the world.