Though an Englishman, Tom "tjbentham" Bentham currently flies the Brazilian flag when playing on PokerStars where he's been a longtime winner, including in pot-limit Omaha games.
In other words, there were two reasons why it wasn't unforeseen to find Bentham leading at the end of Event #34-H today, a $2,100 buy-in, six-handed pot-limit Omaha event attracting many of poker's brightest stars. Nor was it surprising to see Bentham dominate the second and final day, either, leading wire-to-wire at the final table to take the title and a cool $189,200 first prize.
It was some final table, too, with Dominik "Bounatirou" Nitsche, Alex "alexo18" Manzano, and Julian "jutrack" Track among those Bentham had to overcome to earn the win. But Bentham has been finishing strong in tournaments for years, including way back when he qualified for an EPT event in Dublin where the photo below was snapped:
This event drew 473 entries which created a $946,000 prize pool -- way, way over the $200K guarantee -- with the top 54 finishers earning a share of those riches.
By the time Day 1 concluded Tuesday night the money bubble had burst with Andrey "Kroko-dill" Zaichenko (54th, $4,257), Dan "djk123" Kelly (50th, $4,257), Pascal "Pass_72" Lefrancois (49th, $4,257), Team PokerStars Pro Andre "aakkari" Akkari (46th, $4,730) among the many familiar names cashing.
Just 33 players remained to begin Day 2, with many more familar names in the counts including at the top where Bentham returned to the chip lead. Here's how the top 10 looked to start the final day:
1. Tom "tjbentham" Bentham (Brazil) -- 351,829
2. Benny "toweliestar" Spindler -- 334,511
3. Alexander "AlexKP" Petersen -- 298,373
4. Jason "jdtjpoker" Wheeler -- 252,768
5. "T-Macha" -- 248,689
6. MrBlond -- 224,772
7. anteen -- 220,269
8. Bryn "BrynKenney" Kenney -- 177,104
9. Janne "Durian" Juutilainen -- 171,038
10. Alexandre "BiatchPeople" Luneau -- 168,334
Within an hour they were already down to 21 players, with Marko "BriDge2PaiN" Neumann (32nd, $5,676), Stephen "stevie444" Chidwick (31st, $5,676), Ludovic "ludovi333" Geilich (228th, $6,149), Nicolas "niccc" Chouity (23rd, $7,095), and Mayu "marroca5" Roca (22nd, $7,095) among the fallen.
An hour after that 14 were left, with Daniel "w00ki3z." Cates (20th, $7,095) and Alexander "AlexKP" Petersen (17th, $8,987) on the rail. They were nearing the three-hour mark of Day 2 when anteen (14th, $8,987) and Alexandre "BiatchPeople" Luneau (13th, $8,987) had fallen to leave two six-handed tables, by which point Dominik "Bounatirou" Nitsche had ascended in the counts to take the chip lead.
no122 (12th), Benny "toweliestar" Spindler (11th), and ShipitFTW911 (10th) were the next players eliminated, picking up $13,244 apiece. Then GlassOfBeer (ninth), Jason "jdtjpoker" Wheeler (eighth), and Bryn "BrynKenney" Kenney (seventh) successively went out, earning $20,812 each.
With Tom "tjbentham" Bentham back in the chip lead and sitting with more than twice the nearest challenger, the final table was underway.
Seat 1: Dominik "Bounatirou" Nitsche (United Kingdom) -- 552,325
Seat 2: T-Macha (Netherlands) -- 989,132
Seat 3: Alex "alexo18" Manzano (Chile) -- 397,110
Seat 4: Julian "jutrack" Track (Germany) -- 494,919
Seat 5: deuces85 (Canada) -- 423,992
Seat 6: Tom "tjbentham" Bentham (Brazil) -- 1,872,522
The blinds were 8,000/16,000 to start the final table, and they were still in that level when leader Tom "tjbentham" Bentham opened for 48,000 from the small blind and Dominik "Bounatirou" Nitsche called from the big to leave himself just over 400,000 behind.
Nitsche, of course, sports an extensive poker résumé despite his young age, with three WSOP bracelets, a Latin American Poker Tour Main Event title (earned in Argentina back in Season 2), a World Poker Tour win, and numerous other accomplishments both live and online, including seven previous cashes this SCOOP alone.
The flop came [5d][Js][6s] and when Benthan checked, Nitsche fired 64,000. At that Bentham check-raised all-in, and Nitsche called with what he had left. Bentham had [Qs][Ts][4h][2h] for a flush draw plush a gutshot, while Nitsche showed [Ah][Jd][6d][6h] for a set of sixes. The turn was the [4c], keeping Nitsche in front, but the [3h] river filled that six-high straight for Bentham, and Nitsche was done in sixth.
They pushed through the day's five-hour mark. About 20 minutes after that the limits had increased when deuces85 opened with a pot-sized raise to 70,000 from the button, Tom "tjbentham" Bentham reraised from the small blind, and deuces85 called all-in with the 63,682 left behind.
deuces85 had [Ah][Js][5s][4h] while Bentham showed [As][Qh][Js][7d], and after the [2c][7c][7s][2h][5h] runout Bentham's trip sevens beat deuces85's two pair, and the latter was out in fifth. That's a seventh cash this SCOOP for deuces85, including four final tables.
About five minutes later it was another big winner on a PokerStars-sponsored tour, European Poker Tour Season 10 Prague Main Event winner Julian "jutrack" Track who opened to 70,000 from UTG and it folded aroudn to Alex "alexo18" Manzano, another LAPT Main Event champion who won his title in São Paulo during Season 4. Manzano jammed for 190,191 from the small blind, earning a call from jutrack.
Manzano had the edge with [Kc][Ks][6h][5s] though jutrack had potential with [Kh][Tc][9s][8s]. The community cards didn't realize that potential, though, coming [2d][6d][6c][9h][8h] to give alexo18 trip sixes and knock jutrack out in fourth -- a whopping 14th cash already for Track this series.
Bentham continued to cruise along with a huge chip lead as the final three made it nearly to the end of the day's sixth hour. Then with the blinds up to 12,000/24,000, Bentham opened for 48,362 from UTG, Manzano three-bet to 157,086 from the small blind, and Bentham called.
The flop then came [2h][7c][7h], Manzano went all-in for 175,994, and Bentham called. Manzano had aces and sevens with [Ac][Ah][8c][3c], but Bentham had a lucky seven in his hand to make trips with [Jh][Ts][9d][7s]. The turn was the [3d] and river the [5c], and suddenly they were down to two. Manzano departed with his sixth and best cash so far during this year's SCOOP.
That pot meant Bentham had 4,362,696 to start heads-up play, more than 10 times the 367,304 T-Macha had. They played a few hands with T-Macha slipping below 300,000, then came one that saw T-Macha limp in from the button, Bentham check, and a flop fall [5c][2s][Tc].
Bentham checked and T-Macha fired 24,000, prompting a check-raise to 120,000 from the chip leader. At that T-Macha pushed all-in for 266,504 total, and Bentham called.
tjbentham: [9s][6h][5s][4h]
T-Macha: [8d][7s][5h][2c]
Both players held a hands full of middle-to-low cards, with T-Macha the one who'd flopped two pair to take the lead. T-Macha was making his eighth cash in this year's SCOOP and first final table, and was hoping to get one step further to earn the win.
The turn brought the [Kh] and no change, but the river was the [6d], giving Bentham a better two pair with sixes and fives to earn him the title.
Congratulations to Tom "tjbentham" Bentham who after finishing ninth in Event #9-H ($700 NLHE/PLO) made it all of the way to the winner's circle in this one to earn his first career SCOOP win. And kudos again to Brazil who extends its lead with a 15th SCOOP title so far.
SCOOP-34-H ($2,100 Pot-Limit Omaha, 6-max.) results
Entrants: 473
Prize pool: $946,000
Places paid: 54
1. Tom "tjbentham" Bentham (Brazil) $189,200.00
2. T-Macha (Netherlands) $140,008.00
3. Alex "alexo18" Manzano (Chile) $104,060.00
4. Julian "jutrack" Track (Germany) $71,896.00
5. deuces85 (Canada) $52,503.00
6. Dominik "Bounatirou" Nitsche (United Kingdom) $33.583.00
*denotes three-way deal.
Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.
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