The 2011 PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker is off to an incredible start. Even the removal of American players from the world’s largest poker site has not stopped this year’s SCOOP from once again being a premier online tournament series. Events have been blowing past their guarantees, creating massive prize pools with huge first place payouts. This past weekend saw some big tournaments go down including Event #2 which saw its low buy-in surpass the 20,000 player mark.

The series continued its weekend momentum into a handful of events starting on Monday. Event #5, a NL Hold’em re-buy, had more than $1,600,000 in entry fees amongst the low, medium, and high buy-in tournaments. The low event, a $11 re-buy, saw over 11,000 players re-buy and add-on an additional 26,515 times. With more than $375,000 in the pot the tournament’s prize pool more than tripled its $125,000 guarantee. Eventual winner “vlimpers” took home more than $51,000 for his efforts. This massive score was the biggest of his career on PokerStars, easily surpassing a $3,941 3rd place finish in the $8.80 re-buy earlier this year.

SCOOP 2011 Event #5 – Low – $125k Guaranteed
11,071 Entrants; $375,860

1. vlimpers $51,312
2. degetzel $36,270
3. FellipeNunes $26,310
4. SebbyGl $18,793
5. wintyara $15,034
6. anger118 $11,275
7. Mordonio $7,517
8. pancareto $3,758
9. giotspata $2,349

The Medium buy-in, a $109 re-buy event, saw exactly 1,700 players re-buy and add-on 3,880 times for a total prize pool of $558,000. Jorryt “TheCleaner11” Van Hoof, made the final table but quickly busted in 7th place for $15,345. The high-stakes tournament and cash game professional has come close in many $109 re-buys but has yet to secure a win on PokerStars. Taking home the title was “filfedra”, a midstakes grinder who won the Nightly $100k earlier this year for a $15,504 payday.

SCOOP 2011 Event #5 – Medium – $250k Guaranteed
1,700 Entrants; $558,000 prize pool

1. filfedra $91,539
2. Kovalski1 $66,960
3. ROXY24 $50,220
4. Fred_Brink $37,386
5. CandyJohnson $26,505
6. Toni Judet $20,925
7. TheCleaner11 $15,345
8. gruzovik666 $9,765
9. Tonyvi2 $5,580

All eyes were on a strong final table in Event #5’s high buy-in tournament. The $1,050 re-buy garnered 223 players who re-bought and added-on 501 times amassing a huge $734,000 prize pool. Chris “Moorman1” Moorman highlighted a star-studded final table. The high-stakes Brit has a handful of $200,000+ scores to his name online and after this past weekend has more than $7,000,000 in total cashes. To give an example of his dominance, the 44,040 he won in this event does not even crack his top-10 online scores. Former Sunday Warm-Up winner “Doeks” found himself heads-up with a formidable opponent in “xSuPrA” who nearly won the Sunday $215 re-buy this past February. In a solid battle it was xSuPra who took down the Event #5-High title and a big $157,810 payday in the process.

SCOOP 2011 Event #5 – High – $400k Guaranteed
233 Entrants; $734,000 prize pool

1. xSuPrA $157,810
2. Doeks $113,770
3. Bandano $86,245
4. Face333X $64,225
5. Moorman1 $44,040
6. QcKimo $36,700
7. Fishenzon $29,360
8. Catenaccio $22,020
9. calamitas $14,680

Event #7 was a heads-up shootout tournament.  The single-elimination format makes for a lot of action and some great heads-up battles.  The low buy-in tournament had more than 10,000 players sign up creating a $160,425 prize pool.  The top 1,024 players made the money which meant players had to win 3 or 4 matches to earn cash depending on whether or not they had a first round bye. After more than eleven hours of play the final match was set. With nearly $9,000 in difference between first and second place both “1Cyka” and “Khudz” decided to take a lot of variance out of the final match and just play for $1,500. Each participant guaranteed themselves $16,097 by taking the deal but it was 1Ckya who earned the extra money by winning the match. These were easily both players biggest scores on PokerStars and for 1Ckya marked his first $1,000+ cash.

SCOOP 2011 Event #7 – Low – $75k Guaranteed
10,695 Entrants; $160,425 prize pool
*2-way chop

1. 1Cyka $17,597
2. Khudz $16,097
3. flo_sch99 $7,154
4. skaand $7,154
5. danoby $3208.50
6. eugenking $3208.50
7. kird face $3208.50
8. ICANHAZHIP $3208.50

It seemed all three tournaments in Event #7 were destined to fall victim to the chip-chop bug. However, this time it was the final four players who decided upon an interesting chip-chop.  With approximately $107,000 still in the prize pool the players agreed those finishing in 3rd and 4th place would receive $20,000 apiece.  There remaining $67,000 would be played out in the final match with the winner receiving $38,000.  That honor went to “Nzame” who quickly took control of his match against “human” and rolled to a win in SCOOP 2011 Event #7.

SCOOP 2011 Event #7 – Medium – $150k Guaranteed
1,942 Entrants; $291,300 prize pool
*4-way chop

1. Nzame $38,000
2. human $29,781
3. toddthedon $20,00
4. JSMDARKMOS $20,000
5. 00oasis00 $8,010
6. 2Maise4U $8,010
7. Koen911 $8,010
8. drygo 1 $8,010

The high buy-in tournament had much fewer players than the medium but still eclipsed the $400,000 prize pool mark. Just under 270 players entered the $1,575 event which led to a six-figure first place payout. PokerStars professional Jude “j.thaddues” Ainsworth made a strong run at the title before falling in 12th place for a nice $4,482 payday. Much like the low buy-in this tournament came down to a chip-chop. “Big_Nemo” and “Puropoker123” both agreed upon a deal leaving each player with a guaranteed $71,665 and $10,000 left on the table. Big_Nemo was no stranger to tournament success as just last week he nearly won the FTOPS XX Main Event on FullTilt before falling in 5th place for $137,180. He put that final table experience to good use in SCOOP Event #7 as he took down Puropoker123 and earned himself a $81,665 score.

SCOOP 2011 Event #7 – High – $300k Guaranteed
269 Entrants; $403,500 prize pool
*2-way chop

1. Big_Nemo $81,665
2. Puropoker123 $71,665
3. Chojjasd $28,245
4. Revjot $28,245
5. Berndsen12 $12,912
6. Fishenzon $12,912
7. lermonad $12,912
8. tralaira $12,912

Event #8, a turbo NL Hold’em freezeout, nearly outshined Event #2 from Saturday. With more than 22,500 players it ranks as the 2nd biggest tournament so far in the 2011 SCOOP. Even with a huge field the 5 minute blind structure moved the tournament along quite quickly, finishing in just over five hours. There was more than $70,000 on the line at the final table with a $21,438 winner’s share up for grabs as well. Runner-up “MastaP89” was one of the more experienced players at the final table having already won multiple large field events on PokerStars in the past including the $3, $11, and $22 re-buys. He also won the Sunday Mulligan on FullTilt last year for more than $61,000. His heads-up opponent, “müllex84”, was nowhere near as experienced online but was unable to overcome the odds and take down Event #8’s low crown. The $21,438 score for müllex84 was easily the biggest of his/her career.

SCOOP 2011 Event #8 – Low – $75k Guaranteed
22,551 Entrants; $225,510 prize pool

1. mullex84 $21,438
2. MastaP89 $15,641
3. Sh1LLa $10,147
4. mulekote346 $8,118
5. MartinAltman $6,088
6. classicrus $4,059
7. 1ssr1 $2,818
8. bukkert $1,916
9. kikabidze $1,127

An interesting thing happened at the final table of Event #8’s medium buy-in tournament. After “Nocturnick” busted in 9th place the remaining 8 players quickly agreed upon a chip-chop, effectively ending the tournament. The $109 Turbo Freezeout was over in exactly five hours and handed eight players more than $20,000 in prize money apiece. Earning the biggest piece of the pie was “DuckPower89” who took home $44,500 after the deal. The eventual champion “power_up45” actually earned just $23,000 for the “win”, or about $52,000 less than he/she might have earned had no chop been made. Of course hind sight is 50/50 but you can be sure those who might have cost themselves some cash will lose some sleep over it.

SCOOP 2011 Event #8 – Medium – $150k Guaranteed
4,803 Entrants; $480,300 prize pool
*8-way chop

1. power_up45 $23,000
2. DuckPower89 $44,500
3. Skintz $56,500
4. joejoe1337 $20,000
5. ryanmack91 $25,000
6. 2outerjames $22,118
7. cocosbeen $42,000
8. Krc321 $17,783
9. Nocturnick $3,842

The high buy-in tournament for Event #8 was a $1,050 Turbo NL Hold’em format. Over 640 of the world’s best online grinders entered the event including PokerStars very own Matthias “mattidm” De Meulder who finished in 5th place for $34,884. Finishing one spot better was Tim “Tim0thee” Adams, a Canadian poker professional who has won the $215 re-buy on PokerStars twice and nearly won the $750k on FullTilt back in 2008. After Adams busted in 4th another chip-chop took place between the final three players. The biggest piece of the pie went to “Caber89” who earned more than $102,000 after the deal. Eventual winner “JeankeNissan” took home $92,417 himself and a SCOOP watch. This was the biggest score of his career on PokerStars and was one year removed to the date of his win in the Sunday Second Chance for $54,409.

SCOOP 2011 Event #8 – High – $300k Guaranteed
646 Entrants; $646,000 prize pool
*3-way chop

1. JeankeNissan $92,417
2. Caber89 $102,452
3. JIZOINT $82,587
4. Tim0thee $49,742
5. mattidm $34,884
6. schNITzzzel $27,455
7. byniolek $20,995
8. Elmont99 $14,535
9. Etmont99 $14,535