The final weekend of the 2016 Spring Championship of Online Poker presented players with one of the most popular games on the schedule. High-rolling heads-up tournaments with three juiced up buy-in amounts, the medium version running with a $2,100 price tag and $200,000 guaranteed prize pool. After eight rounds of heads-up matches, it was a battle between two UK grinders in the end with jamjam818 defeating dougiedan678 for the SCOOP title.
The tournament drew 180 players to push the prize pool up to $360,000 with everyone in the Round of 16 earning a piece plus more than $100,000 up top for the winner. The tournament paused for the evening when it was in the money with 16 players remaining and plenty of big names falling short including Bryn Kenney, former WCOOP champion vicenfish, and habitual COOP final table member ( and Super Tuesday champ) AceSpades11.
Team PokerStars member Jason Mercier had the best chance to cash among his patched-up peers but he was run out by Igor "lechuckpoker" Kurganov short of the money round. With Alex "bigfox86" Rosen falling in the Round of 16, 3P3NIPA was the only player remaining with a past COOP title going into the quarterfinals. He earned up a SCOOP title earlier this series to go along with his $500K score for winning the WCOOP Sunday Million Special Edition in 2015.
Quarterfinal Matches
3P3NIPA versus ORLOVSKIY
teunuss versus jamjam818
beginner27 versus moglimiranda
bar-bar9999 versus dougiedan678
The first Quarterfinal match to wrap up was the battle of the broken capslocks between 3P3NIPA and ORLOVSKIY. It was the fastest of the four tables and had two big hands along the way. 3P3NIPA was behind by a nice chunk when he pulled a near double up without actually get all of his chips in the middle. He showed down with [jd][jc] and the board showing [5s][4d][4c][9h][6s] to drag a 16,800 chip pot.
ORLOVSKIY dropped down to 4,022 a little later then put them in the middle with [8c][7c] after the [kh][6c][2c] flop and 3P3NIPA called with [jc][js] once again. ORLOVSKIY couldn't catch his flush as the board finished [9s][6h] to send him out.
jamjam818 was the next to advance after he earned a 14,000 chip pot without a showdown to take a lead, then put teunuss all-in on the river with flopped top set [tc][ts] and was called by jamjam818 with two pair [6h][5h] on the [td][6d][5d][7s][8h] board.
Former Super Tuesday winner bar-bar9999 was the next in line to hit the virtual payout desk after bleeding chips for much of his match. He was down to 4,433 and moved all-in with [ah][4d] to get a call from dougiedan678 with [as][9h]. He needed a lot of help but his chance went south right on the [9d][8s][8c] flop to leave one match still running.
The final match went on for a while as beginner27 ground down moglimiranda's stack with a series of smaller pots until moglimiranda had to make a move with [qd][6d]. beginner27 called to flip with [4h][4d] then nailed the [8s][5d][4s] flop, his set turning into a boat on the [8h] turn and the semifinals were ready to go.
Semi-final Matches
3P3NIPA versus jamjam818
beginner27 versus dougiedan678
The heads-up high-roller turned into a UK affair with three of the four remaining players hailing from the empire and 3P3NIPA trying to stand in their way.
It looked like both matches were going to drag on for quite some time until jamjam818 and 3P3NIPA ran up a big pot with both holding similar stacks. jamjam818 called a three-bet from 3P3NIPA to see the [9h][8h][2s] flop then called another 1,356 before the [7s] turn.
3P3NIPA bet out 3,532 more to get another call from jamjam818 and they watched the [7s] hit the river. After firing on all streets up until this point, 3P3NIPA opted to check after the river and jamjam818 jammed him all-in. After using up almost all of his time bank, 3P3NIPA called at risk with bottom pair/busted flush draw [th][2h] which was far behind jamjam818's flopped top two with [9s][8s]. It was a shocking end to the first semi-final match, 3P3NIPA hit the rail in 4th place while jamjam818's win guarantees a UK champion in this event.
Unlike the other match, beginner27 and dougiedan678 waited an hour to play a significant, five-digit pot. dougiedan678 called a three-bet before the [qc][jc][8c] flop followed by bets after the flop and [qd] turn. beginner27 slowed down after the [8d] river and they both checked. Each hit a big flop but dougiedan678's flush [7c][6c] trumped beginner27's straight [td][9d].
beginner27 was able to hang on for a while longer but ran out of luck when his [ac][qc] was no good against [kh][3s] after the [kd][qd][8s] flop. The board finished [5h] and [2s] for beginner27's exit in 3rd place to set up the final match.
jamjam818 wins long battle against dougiedan678 to win title
Despite starting the final match with the exact same chip count, dougiedan678 managed to talk nearly $5,000 in extra money out of jamjam818 when they paused to clock to discuss chopping up the remaining prize pool. dougiedan678 locked up $89,000 in the deal with $79,800 going to jamjam818 and $4,000 left behind for the eventual winner.
dougiedan678 held the advantage for the first hour of the match but jamjam818 pulled back a bit before catching a huge double to put him into the lead. jamjam818 called a three-bet to the [7h][6h][5s] flop and dougiedan678 check/called 2,851 to see the [8h] turn. This time, jamjam818 moved all-in after dougiedan678 checked the [2d] river and it was decision time for dougiedan678.
After a long think, dougiedan678 called incorrectly with two pair [8d][6d] against jamjam818's straight with [kh][9s]. The hand put jamjam818 in control of the match and he finished it off 15 minutes later.
dougiedan678 was down to 5,675 and open-shoved his button with [q][9c]. After thinking it over for a minute, jamjam818 called with the dominating [qh][ts] and had dougiedan678 drawing dead on the turn with the board reading [6h][3d][3c][tc]. It was a tough, long battle of UK grinders but dougiedan678 can be happy that his chop deal $89,000 earned him more than first.
jamjam818 played a great set of heads-up tournaments and won eight straight matches to earn his first major online title, the custom Movado watch as SCOOP champion and the $83,800 bankroll boost.
SCOOP-49-M ($2,100 NL Hold'em Heads-Up, High-Roller) results
Entrants: 180
Total prize pool: $360,000
Places paid: 16
1. jamjam818 (United Kingdom) $83,800*
2. dougiedan678 (United Kingdom) $89,000*
3. beginner27 (United Kingdom) $36,000
4. 3P3NIPA (Czech Republic) $36,000
5. moglimiranda (Germany) $14,400
6. bar-bar9999 (Israel) $14,400
7. teunuss (Netherlands) $14,400
8. ORLOVSKIY (Russia) $14,400
*Reflects the results of a heads-up deal that left $4,000 in play for the winner
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