Event 17 on the 2016 Spring Championship of Online Poker was one of the most anticipated tournaments on the schedule. A lot of players love heads-up action and Pot Limit Omaha brings out the action junkies. Combine them together with a small buy-in and you get a huge field. The tournament drew 1,836 players and ten matches later it was begood9999 adding a ninth title for Brazil this series.

The low buy-in version of the event created a prize pool worth $45,073 with the last 256 players getting paid. They would have to win the first three matches to get a piece of the money and play was halted with 64 players remaining. Team PokerStars member Chris Moneymaker was the only player to make the money but the 2003 WSOP Main Event champion fell out in the round of 16.

The quarterfinals rolled around, the ninth round of matches where the winner would book a place into the Final Four. Three of the eight players had previous success while the other five were trying for their first major online victory.

probirs was the most recent champion when he won SCOOP Event #9-M last May and Born2Ca$h was the only other SCOOP winner. His coming during the 2012 SCOOP 5-Card Draw event. ante-geia_AA doesn't have a COOP title to his credit but he did pick up $243,000 for winning a Sunday Million tournament in 2012.

begood999 defeated Born2Ca$h
Mucka Wasem defeated ante_geia_AA
probirs defeated TMaxx805
Pastello defeated mikmipa

Semi-final matches

Semi-final matches

The match between probirs and Pastello on Table 2 had on big hand in a short amount of time to book one seat in the final match. probirs dominated the first two levels until Pastello found a huge double when his two pair [as][kh][qd][5s] was good against [kc][jh][ts][7s] on the [ks][8d][2s][5d][4d] board.

It left probirs with only 2,600 and the match was over quickly.

The other match running on Table 1 wasn't nearly as fast. begood9999 and Mucka Wasem went after each other for more than 20 minutes. Ten levels of action with no huge pots or anyone putting themselves at risk.

begood9999 held the lead when he three-bet and Mucka Wasem called before the [qc][jh][9h] flop. begood9999 check/called 1,600 from Mucka Wasem then they both checked the [ks] turn. The [jd] river prompted begood9999 to bet enough to put Mucka Wasem at risk when he called to see the damage. His flopped set, rivered full house [ah][9c][9s][6d] was ahead of begood9999's [as][qh][jc][5s] until the unfortunate river.

That completed the semi-finals to pit begood9999 against Pastello for the title.

begood9999 earns another Brazilian title

The system reset the starting stacks and the two players kicked things off at the top of Level 1. And it wouldn't go a whole lot further.

There was little movement over the first two four-minute levels but begood9999 took command of the match in the third. He called an opening bet from Pastello to see the [jd][4h][3h] flop then check/raised to 753, a bet that was called before the [ts] turn.

begood9999 became the aggressor, leading out for 1,207 to get a call from Pastello before the [9h] river. begood9999 slowed down with a check/call of 2,776 and it turned out his [6c][5d][5h][2h] flush was good against Pastello's [kc][jc][9c][4d] two pair. It was a 9,800 chip swing to begood9999 to give him a commanding lead.

Seat 1: begood9999 (14,894 in chips)
Seat 2: Pastello (5,106 in chips)

Blinds: 40/80

The tournament lasted only 11 more hands before Pastello tried to double his way back into the match. There were three bets in the middle before the [6d][5h][2c] flop when Pastello made a pot-sized bet. begood999 hit the re-pot button and it was enough to put Pastello at risk.

Pastello: [9c][8h][7h][6s] - top pair, wrap draw
begood9999: [th][8c][5d][4d] - middle pair, gutshot

Pastello was ahead with a lot of outs to improve but the [tc] turn was not good for him. That left 13 outs to keep the match going but the [ad] river ended the tournament right there.

It was a quick match to wrap things up. Pastello earned $3,618 for winning ten out of eleven heads-up matches, a fine return on his $27 investment. begood9999 earned his first major online title, won eleven straight matches, and grabbed the ninth SCOOP title of the series for Brazil.

SCOOP-17-L ($27 PL Omaha Heads-Up) results
Entrants: 1,836
Total prize pool: $45,073.80
Places paid: 256

1. begood9999 (Brazil) $5,689.43
2. Pastello (Netherlands) $3,618.97
3. Mucka Wasem (Brazil) $1,810.16
4. probirs (Hungary) $1,810.16
5. Born2Ca$h (Canada) $1,007.85
6. mikmipa (Finland) $1,007.85
7. TMaxx805 (Russia) $1,007.85
8. ante_geia_AA (Cyprus) $1,007.85