As always, the $10,000 buy-in Spring Championship of Online Poker Main Event (the "High") at PokerStars attracted a host of top tournament talent, with the leaderboard constantly displaying names of some of poker's elite players throughout the three days the tournament played out. 

By the end, however, the name of one top player stood out above the rest, the one belonging to Talal "raidalot" Shakerchi who rose to lead of the counts prior to today's final table, then led wire-to-wire to earn the most coveted title of the series and the biggest cash prize as well of $1,468,000.88.

The win -- Shakerchi's third SCOOP title overall -- culminates a terrific series for the U.K. player who cashed 36 times, including making five final tables. Here's the story of how he did it, from Sunday afternoon when the first hands were dealt up to this afternoon's final hand.  

Day 1

Over $90 million was won in this year's SCOOP, with the largest chunk of that amount forming the prize pool for this crown jewel of the series, the $10K "High" buy-in Main Event. 

There were over 300 players already in their seats shortly after the tournament began on Sunday. Just a couple of hours after that they'd surged well past the 400-player mark to start building a prize pool that was clear would easily best the event's $4 million guarantee. 

Then by the time the six-hour mark came -- at which point late registration and the ability to re-enter (only once!) had ended -- there were a whopping 824 entries, with the last one pushing the overall prize pool to a huge $8,000,001.76. The top 99 places paid, with $1,468,000.88 for first place (barring a final table deal), just over one million for second, and everyone making the final table earning at least six figures.

At that point about half the field had hit the rail already and David "MissOracle" Yan was enjoying an early lead with just over 400 players left.  There was still another six hours of poker to be played on Day 1, however, during which time the field was carved down further to 129 players making it through to Monday.

That was still 30 shy of the money, although players at the top of the leaderboard to end the night were no doubt thinking of much larger prizes than the $18,400 for a min-cash. There were plenty of familiar names among those in that group as well, as the overnight top 10 shows:

1. Christopher "lissi stinkt" Frank (Germany) -- 933,872
2. Nick "chilenocl" Yunis (Chile) -- 825,251
3. Pascal "Päffchen" Hartmann (Austria) -- 809,604
4. Rachid Ben "SkaiWalkurrr" Cherif (United Kingdom) -- 804,595
5. Christopher "NigDawG" Brammer (United Kingdom) -- 770,769
6. Scott "gunning4you" Seiver (Canada) -- 697,561
7. Ziv "zivziv" Bachar (Israel) -- 697,213
8. zaxman13 (Greece) -- 649,852
9. €urop€an (Finland) -- 637,488
10. Luke "lb6121" Schwartz (United Kingdom) -- 630,694

Day 2

It took just under two hours on Monday for 30 more knockouts to come and the money bubble to burst. At that point €urop€an had moved up and into the chip lead with Pascal "Päffchen" Hartmann and Rui "sousinha23" Sousa close behind.

As the day wore on and the field shrunk under 50 players, €urop€an remained settled in first position, staying there as more hit the rail including Nick "chilenocl" Yunis (49th, $27,200), Mike "Tîmex" McDonald (44th, $30,400), Craig "mcc3991" McCorkell (43rd, $30,400), Mohsin "sms9231" Charania (42nd, $30,400), Isaac "philivey2994" Haxton (40th, $30,400), Pascal "Päffchen" Hartmann (39th, $30,400), Mikael "ChaoRen160" Thuritz (37th, $34,400), Kevin "ImaLuckSac" MacPhee (36th, $34,400), Andreas "Hoegh93" Høgh (35th, $34,400), Peter "Se7enTr3y" Akery (34th, $34,400), Joe "bigegypt" Elpayaa" (33rd, $34,400), Luke "lb6121" Schwartz (31st, $34,400), Jeff "jeff710" Hakim (29th, $34,400), and Lauri "IMS DURNK" Pesonen (28th, $34,400).

Once they'd gotten down to three tables, however, €urop€an finally let go of the lead as others rushed ahead, with Christopher "NigDawg" Brammer leading the charge as he became the first player to 5 million chips.

The next wave of knockouts included Mike "MikeyGG3" Gentili (27th), RayJing (26th), Dylan "WhiteRabbito" Honeyman (25th), Charlie "Epiphany77" Carrel (24th), slv458 (23rd), J0hn Mcclean (22nd), brights88 (21st), zapacanov (20th), and finally €urop€an (19th), with those nine all earning $40,000 even for their finishes.

Brammer still led with two tables left with that same 5 million-plus chip stack. FourSixFour (18th), Trocola7 (17th), and jnk1313 (16th) next went out, earning $56,000.01 apiece. vovanmillion next went out in 15th, and they remaining 14 battled onward for quite some time during which Talal "raidalot" Shakerchi eventually ascended in the counts to take over the chip lead, eventually to be passed by LuckBox.

Christopher "lissi stinkt" Frank next fell in 14th followed by Darren "darrenelias" Elias in 13th, with those two like vovanmillion earning $72,000.01. Former leaders then became short stacks, with Rui "sousinha23" Sousa (12th) and Christopher "NigDawG" Brammer (11th) going out, and after a stretch of hand-for-hand play Sam "Str8$$$Homey" Greenwood went out in 10th, with those three each making $88,000.01.

They'd reached the final table, where Shakerchi was back in the chip lead for one hand -- and he won that one, too, taking a pot off Pablo "pablotenisis" Fernandez -- before the tournament was paused until Tuesday afternoon.

A glimpse at the final table just before it began:

Seat 1: Sean "Nolez7" Winter (Romania) -- 3,888,664  
Seat 2: EvnomiYa (Russia) -- 2,876,963 
Seat 3: Pablo "pablotenisis" Fernandez (Mexico) -- 3,433,591 
Seat 4: Scott "gunning4you" Seiver (Canada) -- 4,617,287 
Seat 5: Markku "markovitsus" Koplimaa (Estonia) -- 5,861,868 
Seat 6: s0nny_bLacCk (Thailand) -- 3,962,436 
Seat 7: IReadB00ks (Denmark) -- 4,229,194 
Seat 8: Talal "raidalot" Shakerchi (United Kingdom) -- 9,258,971 
Seat 9: LuckBox (Japan) -- 3,071,026 

Day 3

All nine players made it through the first half-hour of Day 3, with Scott Seiver earning a big pot off of Sean Winter in the last hand before the break (pocket aces versus ace-king), prompting a Game of Thrones reference in the chatbox during the five-minute pause in play: 

Nolez7: scotttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt
gunning4you: Jon Snow has to hold back the forces of winter
Nolez7: i must not get 9th
Nolez7: or 8th

A few minutes after play resumed, the sword came down on the first final table casualty of the day.

EvnomiYa eliminated in ninth
 
The blinds were 87,500/175,000 (with a 21,875 ante you only ever see online) when Scott "gunning4you" Seiver opened for 378,675 from early position, and it folded around to EvnomiYa in the big blind who pushed all-in from the big blind for 2,289,463 total, and Seiver called the push in a flash.

EvnomiYa had picked up [7c][7s], but Seiver had picked up [As][Ad] again. The board ran out an uneventful [4s][4d][Qs][6h][8c], and EvnomiYa was out in ninth, though still enjoyed a $100K-plus score. 

IReadB00ks checks out in eighth

Close to 15 minutes later came the next knockout, and Seiver was the one responsible again. 

Following a min-raise to 350,000 from early position by IReadB00ks, it folded around to Seiver who called from the small blind, and the pair watched the flop come [Th][Kd][2d]. Seiver checked, IReadB00ks continued for 263,542, Seiver check-raised all-in, and IReadB00ks called with the 2,552,027 left behind.

IReadB00ks showed [Kc][Qs] for top pair of kings while Seiver had both flush and straight draws with [Qd][Jd]. The [Qc] turn gave Seiver a pair, then the [Td] river gave him a needed diamond for the flush, and IReadB00ks was on the rail in eighth.

Luck runs out for LuckBox, stopped in seventh

They continued onward with the seven remaining players all making it to the next break coming at the day's hour-and-a-half mark, by which point Shakerchi still led with 13.1 million, Seiver was next with about 9.6 million, and LuckBox was the short stack with a little less than 1.6 million.

Then on the first hand back, the blinds were 100,000/200,000 when Talal "raidalot" Shakerchi opened with a big raise from the small blind and LuckBox called all-in with the 1,355,772 left after posting the big. Shakerchi had [Qh][8h] and was dominating the [Qc][4s] of LuckBox, and five cards later -- [Jc][9d][Ad][4d][Td] -- LuckBox was done in seventh, a finish good for just over a quarter million dollars.

pablotenisis put out in sixth 

About 20 minutes later the blinds were 125,000/250,000 when Pablo "pablotenisis" Fernandez open-pushed for 3,282,444 from the button, then saw Scott "gunning4you" Seiver reraise-jam from the small blind to isolate. 

Fernandez had [9c][7c], but Seiver had picked up yet another premium pair with [Ks][Kd]. The [4c][Qd][6s][2c][Qs] board didn't help Fernandez, and he went out in sixth. The finish was a few spots shy of his third place in Event #31-H ($2,100 NLHE), but the prize was a lot more as the player from Mexico took away just over $336K.

markovitsus meets end in fifth

Despite having scored three of four final table knockouts, Seiver was still in second position behind Shakerchi who continued to add to his stack. When the next elimination came, Shakerchi increased his lead still more.

The blinds were up to 150,000/300,000, and after being folded to on the button Markku "markovitsus" Koplimaa open-raised all-in for 3,042,073. It folded to Shakerchi in the big blind who thought for a couple of beats, then called with [Ac][5c] to see he was ahead of Koplimaa's [Kd][Qs].

The [Qh][9c][6s] flop swung the edge Koplimaa's way, however, with the [Qc] turn giving the Estonian trips. But the river was the [8c], completing a backdoor club flush for Shakerchi and ending Koplimaa's run in fifth -- a 13th cash for him this SCOOP, and of course the largest by far at just over $416K.

gunning4you shot down in fourth

That pot pushed Shakerchi up over 20 million, a total representing more than what his three remaining opponents had combined. s0nny_bLacCk asked the others if they might be interested in some deal talk, but Shakerchi said "happy to play" and play they did.

They continued into the second half of the day's third hour, at which point Sean "Nolez7" Winter open-raised all-in from the small blind for close to 5.2 million and Scott "gunning4you" Seiver called with the 3,988,571 he had left after posting the 300,000-chip big blind.

Seiver had [Ts][Td] and was in decent shape preflop against Winter's [Ad][5d], and he was still leading -- albeit precariously -- after the [7s][4d][7d] flop and [3c] turn. But the river was the [2c] to complete a wheel for Winter, and Seiver was out in fourth, coming three spots shy of winning a second SCOOP title after winning one two years ago in a $2,100 2-7 draw event. 

s0nny_bLacCk stacked in third

Play continued with Shakerchi still well in front and no more deal talk arising in the chat box, and a dozen hands later they were down to two.

The blinds were still 150,000/300,000 when Sean "Nolez7" Winter open-pushed again from the small blind and it was s0nny_bLacCk calling this time from the BB for 5,890,133. Winter had [Kc][7s] and was behind s0nny_bLacCk's [Ks][Qs], but the [Tc][Td][7c][2s][9s] board favored Winter and sent the player from Thailand out in third for a prize worth a little over $792K.

Flush over flush means Winter falls in second as Shakerchi snares the win

That left just Winter and Shakerchi, a couple of players plenty familiar with each other thanks to their frequent participation in high roller events. 

Winter has been cashing in a number of them over the past year, including chopping the $25,000 High Roller at the 2016 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and earning $914,580 after taking runner-up. 

There'd be no chopping up this one, however. The businessman Shakerchi -- besides collecting cashes in SCOOP events -- had proven himself before time and again in high roller events, including winning $10K tournaments both at the EPT8 Grand Final in Monaco and at EPT9 London.

And, as had been noted in the chatbox earlier, Shakerchi was happy to play and try to win another.

Shakerchi had a close to 2-to-1 edge to start the heads-up duel with 27,169,302 to Winter's 14,030,698, and after three hands the stacks hadn't changed much when the following hand took place.

It began with a min-raise to 700,000 by Shakerchi from the button, with Winter calling. The flop came [2d][4c][3d], and Winter checked. Shakerchi continued for 788,375, and Winter stuck around. Things went similarly after the [7h] turn, with a check from Winter, a bet of 1,624,052 from Shakerchi, and another call.

The [Jd] river then completed the board, and Winter checked once more. This time Shakerchi fired 3,913,659, and Winter responded with an all-in shove for 11,330,771 total that Shakerchi called in an instant.

Their cards were tabled...

Nolez7: [Td][9d]
raidalot: [Ad][7d]

Both had rivered flushes, but Shakerchi had the nuts to claim the pot and the title. Winter managed to do a lot better than eighth or ninth, his runner-up showing adding up to a huge seven-figure score.

But the final kudos go to Talal "raidalot" Shakerchi who topped one of the tougher tournament fields you'll witness, including a stacked final table to win the SCOOP "High" Main Event and that enormous $1,468,000.88 prize.

SCOOP-54-H ($10,000 NL Hold'em Main Event) results
Entrants: 824 
Prize pool: $8,000,001.76 
Places paid: 99 

1. Talal "raidalot" Shakerchi (United Kingdom) $1,468,000.88
2. Sean "Nolez7" Winter (Romania) $1,048,000.23
3. s0nny_bLacCk (Thailand) $792,000.17
4. Scott "gunning4you" Seiver (Canada) $596,000.13
5. Markku "markovitsus" Koplimaa (Estonia) $416,000.09
6. Pablo "pablotenisis" Fernandez (Mexico) $336,000.07
7. Luckbox (Japan) $256,000.05
8. IReadB00ks (Denmark) $176,000.03
9. EvnomiYa (Russia) $104,000.02

Thanks for following our coverage all SCOOP long. Remember, you can look back through reports from all of the events, and check the SCOOP page for all the results and stats from this year's series.

The final SCOOP Sunday rolled around with big tournaments and massive prize pools. The spotlight tournaments were the three SCOOP Main Events pulling in huge crowds of players, including nearly 25,000 entrants in the low buy-in version. After three long days of grinding, it came down to a pair of Brazilians battling to earn another title for the country with mmleandro picking up the honors.

Event #54-L was a $100 No Limit Hold'em Main Event with a $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool. The tournament attracted 20,319 players and they used their additional re-entry option 4,272 times to bring the total entry count up to 24,591. They created a prize pool worth $2,255,978 with $225,000 sitting up top for the eventual Main Event champion. The last 3,150 players earned a piece of the prize pool and they were in the money before they stopped Day 1 play.

Day 2 saw 222 players return with jp_legacy leading the way with a 22 million chip stack. Jorge "Baalim" Limon and Kosei "K. Ichinose" Ichinose were the only two members of Team PokerStars back for the second day and Limon finished deepest with his 40th place result.

After five hours of play, the low buy-in Main Event was on the final table bubble. One more elimination and they would pause the action for a Day 3 final table. After several orbits of play, mmleandro opened from under the gun to get a call from Pablos791 next to act. rumbaii4 moved all-in for 62.3 million from the small blind, mmleandro let his hand go, and Pablos701 called with [as][qs].

rumbaii4 was in trouble with [ah][ts] then fell further behind on the [qc][9c][6d] flop. No love on the turn or river and rumbaii4 was eliminated in tenth place to set up the final table. mmleandro was set to return with a significant lead over the other eight players but there was a long way to go. He was also one of four Brazilian players at the final table, looking to earn that country's 21st title this series.

Seat 1: andreas1966 - 63,106,705
Seat 2: Rose Gambit - 33,820,872
Seat 3: sebirizoR - 45,239,350
Seat 4: Pablos701 - 255,207,477
Seat 5: mmleandro - 342,341,265
Seat 6: tnb1990 - 208,090,984
Seat 7: Jason-Pan39 - 36,563,518
Seat 8: TimMoscow007 - 80,636,429
Seat 9: nillolok - 164,543,400

Blinds: 2M/4M with 500K Ante

Jason-Pan39 show an early door, eliminated in 9th

Jason-Pan39 was one of two players entering the final table with less than ten big blinds and he put them to use on the second hand after their return.

He moved all-in from the button after Pablos701 opened to 8.8 million and picked up a call after the blinds released their hands. Jason-Pan39 was in good shape to double with [as][kd] against [qc][jc] but Pablos701 hit immediately on the [qs][7s][3s] flop. Jason-Pan39 still had two over cards plus his new flush draw but missed the trip-giving [qd] turn. The river came [4h] for his final miss to send Jason-Pan39 off the final table in 9th place.

andreas1966 doubles through tnb1990

No slowing them down and there was another big pot on the next hand after Jason-Pan39 was sent to the rail. andreas1966 was in the big blind when he called a min-raise from tnb1990 to the [jc][tc][9c] flop.

Both players checked and andreas1966 tossed out 12 million after the [6h] turn. tnb1990 called before the [6s] river and andreas1966 moveda all-in for his final 41 million. The shove was called but tnb1990 was second best with [jh][5c] against andreas1966's flopped set/rivered full house [js][jd] for the big double.

andreas1966 - 128,213,410
tnb1990 - 153,484,279

Blinds: 2M/4M with 500K Ante

TimMoscow007 doubles through Pablos701

The final table went an entire orbit without a major pot before two big hands created one. It started when TimMoscow007 opened for a min-raise from under the gun and Pablos701 three-bet to 21 million from the button.

TimMoscow007 responsed with a shove for 72 million and Pablos701 called with [as][ks]. Suited Slick is pretty nice until it runs into [ac][ad]. Pablos701 never came close to a bad beat as the board ran [6d][5d][5s][9d][qd] board to give TimMoscow007 the double up flush.

Pablos701 - 195,134,566
TimMoscow007 - 153,272,858

Blinds: 2M/4M with 500K Ante

Rose Gambit runs out of chips, eliminated in 8th

Rose Gambit was the shortest stack and watched as two opportunities to ladder up passed by without a knockout. It was finally time to take a shot and Rose Gambit min-raised with [as][kc] after andreas1966 min-raised from under the gun.

andreas1966 raised enough to put Rose Gambit all-in and it was a quick call. Rose Gambit needed to catch her over cards against andreas1966 [js][jc] and added a gutshot wheel draw on the [4d][3d][2s] flop. The [2h] turn was no help and Rose Gambit was gone in 8th place after the [6d] river.

andreas1966 - 178,284,282

Blinds: 2.5M/5M with 625K Ante

sebirizoR crowned by kings, eliminated in 7th

With the deep stacks, there was no desperate reason for players to put a lot of chips at risk. Only big hands. All in major early action came about when two players caught top hands to build those big pots, and it happened again to get them six-handed.

It began with another min-raise from under the gun, this time by TimMoscow007, and sebirizoR moved all-in for 46.7 million with [ad][kc]. Big Slick was back in play once again and earned a quick call by TimMoscow007 with [ks][kh]. sebirizoR couldn't find an ace as the all-low board ran [6h][4d][2h][8d][8s] to get the tournament one spot shorter.

nillolok doubles through mmleandro

mmleandro opened to 14.63 million from under the gun and nillolok moved all-in for 77.5 million from the button. The blinds released their hands and mmleandro called with another premium hand.

nillolok needed help with [as][ts] against [ks][kc] and smacked the [ah][4c][3s] flop right off the bat. No suckout on the [8h] turn or [5h] river to give nillolok a double up through the chip leader after the big pair didn't hold.

Seat 1: andreas1966 - 215,858,392
Seat 4: Pablos701 - 61,830,352
Seat 5: mmleandro - 435,447,969
Seat 6: tnb1990 - 248,809,279
Seat 8: TimMoscow007 - 96,767,208
Seat 9: nillolok - 170,836,800

Blinds: 3.5M/7M with 875K Ante

Pablos701 can't drive 55, eliminated in 6th

Pablos701 was the next in line with a short stack and open shoved for his remaining 55.7 million and TimMoscow007 called from the button with [as][7d].

It was a race with Pablos701's [5s][5c] and the [th][8h][8c] flop changed little. The bad card for Pablos701 came on the [ah] turn and they each boated up on the [8d] river, Pablos701 with the smallest to send him out in 6th place.

No deals to be found

The remaining players decided to pause the clock to discuss chopping up the remaining prize pool with each holding the following counts:

mmleandro - 509,277,909
andreas1966 - 217,358,392
tnb1990 - 200,876,289
nillolok - 159,934,850
TimMoscow007 - 142,102,560

Both the ICM and chip chop numbers had everyone making more than $100,000 but negotiations quickly fell through with each wanting more than the next. After nearly 25 minutes of back-and-forth, the returned to play some more poker.

mmleandro drops, nillolok doubles

mmleandro had a nice lead during chop talk but he dropped a big pot as soon as they returned. He was heads-up with andreas1966 to the [jd][jc][7h] flop and [2c] turn with mmleandro firing 15 million and 35 million chip bets. They both checked the [5s] river and andreas1966 pulled 13.7 million chips with [kc][5c].

nillolok was all-in five hands later with four bets against tnb1990 in another race, nillolok's [jd][js] ahead of tnb1990's [ad][kc]. The board ran clean [qs][3d][3c][9c][qd] to send the huge pot to nillolok and reset the stacks.

Seat 1: andreas1966 - 261,356,178
Seat 5: mmleandro - 377,230,123
Seat 6: tnb1990 - 77,271,439
Seat 8: TimMoscow007 - 156,822,560
Seat 9: nillolok - 356,869,700

Blinds: 4M/8M with 1M Ante

tnb1990 can't comeback, eliminated in 5th

tnb1990 was right in the middle of the pack when they hit five-handed play but quickly dropped under ten big blinds after the talks broke down. He found an ace on the button and shoved with [ac][2h] but was unlucky to have TimMoscow007 move in over the top with what turned out to be [kh][ks] in the small blind.

tnb1990 picked up additional duck outs on the [8s][8h][2c] flop but missed the [6h] turn and [3s] river to be the next gone from the final table.

Seat 1: andreas1966 - 350,356,178
Seat 5: mmleandro - 320,340,568
Seat 8: TimMoscow007 - 279,983,554
Seat 9: nillolok - 278,869,700

Blinds: 4M/8M with 1M Ante

mmleandro moves back ahead with ace-high

It was neck-and-neck between mmleandro and andreas1966 when they played a 200K pot. andreas1966 called a 56.5 million chip three-bet from mmleandro to the [th][8c][3c] flop. They both checked the flop and the [2d] turn before andreas1966 fired 40 million after the [7d] river.

After some serious thought, mmleandro called correctly to win the 213 million chip pot with ace-high [ad][ks] to beat andreas1966's queen-high [qh][jh].

Seat 5: mmleandro - 468,651,567
Seat 8: TimMoscow007 - 278,733,554
Seat 9: nillolok - 244,619,700

Blinds: 5M/10M with 1.25M Ante

TimMoscow007 makes a move, eliminated in 4th

One hand after mmleandro's big pot, while they were talking about talking about chopping, TimMoscow007 was in a three-bet hand to the [js][7h][6c] flop. The chips went in the middle with nillolok's [ac][jc] far superior to TimMoscow007's [5h][4h] and he pulled the huge double up after the [as][5d] turn/river.

The hand left TimMoscow007 very short and he was gone soon after when his [jh][5h] could not come from behind against [6c][6d] to go out in 4th place.

Now we have a deal

The three remaining players paused the clock once again with the following counts:

nillolok - 566,217,108
mmleandro - 445,787,713
andreas1966 - 217,545,170

This time, it was a much quicker discussion and they decided to chop up the remaining prize pool with the following numbers, leaving $20,000 behind for the Main Event champion:

mmleandro - $176,058.77
nillolok - $175,000.00
andreas1966 - $135,000.00

That's not a typo, mmleandro negotiated a bigger payout than chip leader nillolok.

andreas1966 falls short, eliminated in 3rd

andreas1966 was looking up at the other two players and was locked into a $135,000 payout with only $20,000 left in play. In order to grab that extra money, andreas1966 needed to move up the counts. His effort came when he called a bet from mmleandro to see the [jd][jh][3c] flop then check/raised all-in.

It was an easy call for mmleandro with trip jacks [jc][5c] to dominate andreas1966's [kh][7h]. As a 97% dog to double, andreas1966 was drawing dead after the [7c] turn to go out in 3rd place and set up the Brazilian Battle for the Main Event Championship.

Seat 5: mmleandro - 745,013,341
Seat 9: nillolok - 484,536,659

Blinds: 5M/10M with 1.25M Ante

mmleandro adds another Brazilian title with Main Event win

mmleandro hit heads-up play with a nice chip lead but nillolok was not willing to give up. He managed to pull back a small lead but mmleandro quickly took it back. The chip gap continually increased until nillolok took a gamble after 50 minutes of play.

It took four bets back-and-forth before nillolok was all-in and in trouble with [kd][qd] against [ad][kh]. mmleandro was dominating before the [9d][6c][4s] flop then locked it up on the [ah] turn to win his first major online title.

nillolok did very well to earn $175,000 for his runner-up finish, a little better than his previous career high of $49. mmleandro began the final table with the chip lead and carried it through to the Main Event title for nearly $200,000 and the custom Movado watch. This was also the 21st title for a Brazilian this series, a nice little proof of talent in the South American country.

SCOOP-54-L ($100 NL Hold'em Main Event, $1M Guaranteed) results
Entrants: 24,591 (20,319 entries; 4,272 re-entries)
Total prize pool: $2,255,978.34
Places paid: 3,150

1. mmleandro (Brazil) $196,058.77*
2. nillolok (Brazil) $175,000*
3. andreas1966 (Germany) $135,000*
4. TimMoscow007 (Russia) $90,239.13
5. tnb1990 (United Kingdom) $67,679.35
6. Pablos701 (Brazil) $45,119.56
7. sebirizoR (Germany) $31,696.49
8. Rose Gambit (Brazil) $20,303.80
9. Jason-Pan39 (Taiwan) $13,535.87
*Reflects the results of a three-way deal that left $20,000 in play for the winner

Try to get Matt Vengrin's attention right now. It's not an easy thing. More than two weeks of the Spring Championship of Online Poker have been on, and that doesn't even begin to consider the NBA playoffs, an important Vengrin distraction.

How important? Well, the kid's first word was "ball." Once he could walk, he started playing, and he didn't stop. He played all the way through high school where he competed for the New York state title. He got recruited to play at SUNY Plattsburgh (hence the PokerStars screen name), and fell in love with the team atmosphere. Now, he remains a diehard ball fan, which, again, makes this a really distracting time for him. 

Nevertheless, Vengrin has once again won an online poker championship. He won his first in WCOOP 2014, the year we first got to know him as a guy who grinded so hard at an arcade that he got banned. The next came a year later when he won a second WCOOP title and revealed himself and his life even more deeply. Now, he's a SCOOP champion after taking down the $215 FL Triple Draw event last week.

With that kind of introduction, it would be easy to see Vengrin as a kid who was destined to be the online poker killer he is, one who never had to try that hard, one who followed a path to being a pro rather than blazing it himself. 

That would be really, really wrong. 

As it turns out, there was a time back when he had just finished up his first year at Plattsburgh that Vengrin's path to today could've ended right on the famed Atlantic City Boardwalk, a day that in just one moment could've meant we might never have known poker player Matt Vengrin. 

Don't get the wrong idea: he was never in mortal danger. 

But his poker life was, and if you wrote a screenplay about it today, it would be called Matt's Magical Summer Movie. 

$270

It was summertime, and things were not going well. Vengrin once had $2,000 in his PokerStars account. Now he had none. He was waiting tables in Vermont to play his bills, and his tip money wasn't making his nut. He had reached a point where he was going to have to do the unthinkable. 

"I was basically broke," Vengrin said. "Even though my parents had told me poker was bad, it was gambling and they would not support it, I still went down to Cape May while they were vacationing with plans to tell them they were right, and ask them for a loan to get through the summer and the next school year."

So, there he was. He had $270 to his name, and he was going to do the one thing he simply didn't want to do. To do it, he had to spent $50 on a new drivers license and $20 on gas. 

That left $200. 

He put his car on the Garden State Parkway and started to to drive. As he steered toward Cape May, he saw a sign for Atlantic City. He was 21 years old. He had $200 and a tank of gas. If it had been a movie, it would've been dark, and he would have been wearing sunglasses. Hit it. 

"I figured, if I was about to hear it from my parents, I may as well go enjoy some live poker before I do," he said. 

His first stop was the Taj. He put $70 into a poker tournament, and it went about as well as the rest of his summer had. Before deciding to take a knee in front of his parents, he had $270. Now...

$130

This is where, if it had been a different movie, the sad music would've started playing over the saddest scene in a poker player's life: Vengrin sat in the food court eating Sbarro and wondering what he could possibly do next. 

Imagine that. Imagine yourself there with pepperoni grease on your chin and sensing that spot in your pocket that feels so much emptier than it did even two hours before. The crust is chewy and thick. The cigarette smoke from the casino is wafting in and mixing with the smell of a spinach calzone. 

What do you do, hotshot? What. Do. You?

He decided to keep playing.

"I remember being the most nervous in my life," he said. 

He put his $130 on the table in a cash game and doubled up. Then he did it again. And then, just because this is like a scene from a movie, he hit quad fours in a monster pot. By the time the game was over, he had $1,300 in his pocket. 

"I actually had a Taj security guard escort me to my car, because this much cash was a lot and all the money I had to my name," Vengrin said. 

$1,300

That conversation with Mom and Dad? Didn't happen. Instead, Vengrin got a job at a hotel, essentially babysitting for vacationers kids.

"My schedule that summer was basically: wake up at noon, go to the beach, have some lunch. Work the kids' dining room for a few hours, and then go to Atlantic City and grind cash games at night," he said.  

The day job paid $6 an hour plus tips. Thing was, Vengrin wasn't getting any gratuities at all. So, he had an idea.  

"I decided to put a few dollars of my own money into the tip basket before anyone arrived. I started the experiment with two dollars. That day a handful of adults tipped a few dollars, and I made some extra money!" he said. "I then got ambitious and started putting ones, fives and tens in there."

Before long, he was making okay money at the babysitting gig, and grinded his $1,300 roll up to $5,000. 

For a summer that started so poorly, everything was going pretty damned well. 

At least, it was going well in real life. Meanwhile, back on PokerStars...

40 cents

Vengrin hadn't figured out the online game. It just wasn't working for him. In fact, his time at PokerStars was going so badly, he took his last couple of hundred dollars out of his account and left himself less than a dollar online. It was about that time he had an idea. 

"Why not try to run this 40 cents into a bankroll?"

He hit the lowest limit tables and turned his 40 cents into a $1. Then $2. After three hours, he had $5. 

You know what $5 was good for back then? That's right. A cheap sit and go. Which, of course, because this is the Matt Vengrin Movie, he won.

Because the man literally has no give-up in him, he took that profit to a rebuy tournament, and by the end of the night a final table deal had left him with $5,000 in his PokerStars account. 

"I remember at that moment thinking, 'Maybe I can do this," and I've never looked back," Vengrin said.

Today, Vengrin thinks of it as his Magical Summer.

"That was one of the most fun summers of my life," he said. 

Magic Man

Take this on board: Matt Vengrin's story is not one you should try at home. For most people, working in such dark magic would end up like most magic: Now you see me. Now you don't. Seriously. Do not be like Matt. Only Matt is Matt, and he's the only one who gets a movie with this script. 

Indeed, most success stories are more like a tired academic film, one that extolls the virtues of bankroll management, slowly rising in stakes, and not counting on poker money to live. That's the screenplay we want from you. 

That's just not how Vengrin did it, and because he lived a magical summer, today he is a pro living in Mexico, surfing when he wants, and living a life he couldn't have imagined when he was 21 years old. He has three COOPs, untold other online winnings, and nearly a million bucks in live cashes. 

If that's not magical, I don't know what is. 

There's still just over 90 minutes left to register for the HKD$50,000 freezeout event at APPT Macau, and tournament officials are sweating the prospect of a three-figure field.

At present--just entering Level 8--there are 97 players on the list, of whom 82 are still involved. Three more and we're at the century, while a late night on this opening day is already guaranteed.

Some of the big names have already fallen. There's no sign of Bryan Huang, while Daniel Laidlaw is among the most recent departures. The Australian shipped his final 11 blinds from under the gun--11,000 in the 500-1,000 level--with [ac][qh] but must have been dismayed to see Canno Junsheng Lim re-shove for 53,000 one seat to his left.

Lim had [ad][kc] and it stayed the best hand through a board of [2d][tc][8h][2h][5h].

Everyone else folded after Lim moved in, but there were at least two players at the table who might have called and still remained healthy in this tournament. New Zealand's Tom Ward--second in last year's ACOP main event--has at least 100,000 at this stage, while Kun Wang has about 110,000.

A quick scoot around the room located big stacks in front of the following:

Dong Guo -- 165,000
Zhen Xing Ke -- 155,000
Matthew Moss -- 130,000

The APPT Macau main event starts Wednesday, May 25 at PokerStars LIVE at the City of Dreams. Full details are available on the official APPT website or via the PokerStars Macau

. page.

Now that the European Poker Tour season is over, and SCOOP is entering its death throes, there has never been a better reason to head over to Asia--specifically Macau and the PokerStars LIVE card-room at the City of Dreams.

The Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) is now in its tenth season and Macau is the only destination on the tour that has hosted at least one event every year. Buy-ins have changed, as has the location, but after trips through the Grand Lisboa, the Grand Waldo and downstairs in the City of Dreams, the card-room now has a superb perch on the casino's second level, overlooking the casino floor but agreeably separate from it.

There's a food court around the corner, and even a place to watch the action from a bar. You'd need to go a long way to find a better poker room than this one, and the action is appropriately enticing.

This festival comprises 14 events, with buy-ins beginning at HKD$1,000 (a little less than USD $200) and rising to HKD$100,000 (around USD$13,000). 

Our principal focus will be the HKD$25,000 main event, which begins at 2pm on Wednesday, and has two opening flights. Day 1B is on Thursday and the field will combine on Day 2 on Friday. We'll then play down to a final on Saturday before crowning a champion sometime on Sunday night.

With something like 500 players a distinct possibility, it's going to be a marathon.

See table below for stats from previous renewals of this tournament.

This evening, all eyes will be on the start of a HKD$50,000 two-day event, a kind of high-ish roller to give something for the early-arriving sharks to sink their teeth into.

Registration is under way right now, ahead of a 6pm start. Players can buy-in up to the end of the ninth 40-minute level, at 12:30am. 

Keep your eyes on PokerStars Blog for all the action from Macau.

We'll go blow-by-blow for the main event from tomorrow, and drop in on the high-ish roller from time to time tonight.

APPT Macau season-by-season

*Buy-in in USD.

No rest for the weary in Event #56! They were going to kick it old school and play from start to finish in a single session during a rare single-day event on the 2016 SCOOP docket. The actual official designation for this event is Progressive Super-Knockout, Bounty Builder Special Edition, which sounds like the title to a new single off of Kayne's new album "Life of Pablo."

For this Super-KO event, Switzerland's Ambri 81 advanced to the final nine in the middle of the pack that also included Luke 'LFmagic' Fields and Danny 'DannyN13' Noseworthy. A frosty and perpetually-chill Ambri 81 embarked on an early heater at the final table. When the near-apocalyptic carnage was over, Ambri 81 knocked out six of eight possible players at the final table en route to a nearly unstoppable win in Event #56-M. If you tally up all the bounties Ambri 81 earned, the Swiss player walked away with a total score worth $52K.

This was a special bonus event added to the schedule at the last minute. The medium-sized version of SCOOP Event #56-M $109 NL Progressive Super-KO was also the Bounty Builder $109 SE. The highly-popular PSKO format attracted 5,302 runners. The total prize pool was $530,200, with half (or $265,100) devoted to the bounty-KO pool and the other half devoted to the regular prize pool. Only the top 675 places paid out with $41,591.75 set aside to the champ.

With 15 to go on the final two tables, sniper18 picked off a few stacks and chipped up to 11.5M as the only person over the 10M barrier. The surging Ambri 81 took out @rtemur on the final table bubble when [Qs][Qh] held up against [As][Kc]. Ambri 81 bagged another bounty and the final table was set.

SCOOP-56-M - Final Table Chip Counts:
Seat 1: theManiAKo (2,232,582)
Seat 2: marswu0624 (1,532,074)
Seat 3: Ambri 81 (7,750,568)
Seat 4: Vittorio_PL (5,538,416)
Seat 5: DannyN13 (8,435,681)
Seat 6: GeorgesVanC (2,684,952)
Seat 7: sniper18 (12,504,445)
Seat 8: LFmagic (2,625,834)
Seat 9: Green_Ape23 (9,715,448)

The final table commenced at the end of Level 45 with blinds at 60K/120K an a 15K ante. Canada's sniper18 led with 12.5M and China's marswu0624 was the short stack with 1.5M.

Two notables at the final table: Luke 'LFmagic' Fields and Danny 'DannyN13' Noseworthy. LFmagic won over $2 million online. He final tabled the Sunday Milly twice and final tabled four previous SCOOPs with a pair of runner-ups. Meanwhile, DannyN13 a.k.a. Danny Noseworthy has nearly $2M in online cashes. In 2015, he final tabled 2 WCOOPs and 1 SCOOP.

KING OF HOLLYWOOD: marswu0624 eliminated in 9th place

The short stack was the first to go. The shorties are always easy targets. DannyN13 min-raised to 320,000, marswu0624 bombed it all-in for 982,074, Ambri 81 re-shoved for 6,980,568, and DannyN13 bailed. marswu0624 was in trouble with [Ah][Th] against Ambri 81's [As][Kh]. The board ran out [Kc][Qs][5h][8c][4s]. marswu0624 whiffed on a Broadway draw and Ambri 81 flopped a pair of Kings to win the pot. China's marswu0624 became the first player to bust at the final table. Ninth place paid out $2,120.80.

In this Super-KO format, Ambri 81 banked a bounty worth $468.74, and Ambri 81's own bounty increased to $2,361.02.

DISCO STRANGLER: Vittorio_PL eliminated in 8th place

Ambri 81 min-raised to 320,000, Vittorio_PL shoved for 3,978,416 with [Qs][Qc] and Ambri 81 called with [Ah][Kh]. Classic confrontation with pocket Queens versus Big Slick. The board ran out [Tc][4s][2d][3s][5d] and Ambri 81 caught running cards for a Wheel. Ouch. Queens cracked. Vittorio_PL was unable to absorb the painful blow and went busto in eighth place, which paid out $3,313.75.

Ambri 81 earned a bounty worth $1,264.23 for picking off Vittorio_PL, meanwhile their own mouth-watering bounty jumped to $3,625.25. Ambri 81 chipped up to 12.7M and was nearly deadlock with sniper18 in first place. Thus would begin the fall of sniper and the fortification of Ambri 81 as the big stack.

THOSE SHOES: LFmagic eliminated in 7th place

Super-duper shorty LFmagic was all-in in the big blind for 190,364 and five players called/limped. They all checked the flop of [Ad][Qh][7d], but Green_Ape23 spoiled the party and bet 400,000 the turn when the [Ac] spiked, and everyone folded except GeorgesVanC. The board finished up [Ad][Qh][7d][Ac][Ah]. Green_Ape23 fired out 200,000 on the river and GeorgesVanC called.

Green_Ape23: [9h][7h]
GeorgesVanC: MUCKED
LFmagic: MUCKED

Green_Ape23 won the pot with a full boat and both opponents mucked their losing hands. Luke 'LFmagic' Fields was dunzo in seventh place, which paid out $5,964.75.

Green_Ape23 banked LFmagic's bounty of $760.63 and their own bounty was bumped to $5,283.29.

THE GREEKS DON'T WANT NO FREAKS: DannyN13 eliminated in 6th place

How about a back-alley rumble? Ambri 81 min-raised to 480,000, DannyN13 shoved for 4,496,329 with [As][Qc] and Ambri 81 insta-called with [Kh][Kc]. The board ran out [7h][5s][3s][Td][7d]. Kings held up for Ambri 81 and Danny Noseworthy hit the virtual rail in sixth place. DannyN13 earned a payday worth $8,615.75.

Ambri 81 banked another bounty and DannyN13's was worth $2,239.67. Meanwhile, Ambri 81's own hefty price tag increased to $5,864.92.

With five remaining... Ambri 81 was the big leader with 25.8M, followed by Green_Ape23's 11.3M, and sniper18's 9.8M. Short-stacked twins GeorgesVanC and theManiAKo both held 3M each and a fading glimmer of hope that they could win a SCOOP title.

I CAN'T TELL YOU WHY: GeorgesVanC eliminated in 5th place

Another incident of big-stacked bully vs. weakling stack. Ambri 81 min-raised 480,000, GeorgesVanC bombed it all-in for 1,321,184 with [6d][6c], and Ambri 81 called with [Ad][9c]. It was another race...but this race had a mortality at the finish line. The board ran out [9d][5c][4s][5s][3h]. The nine on the flop ended GeorgesVanC's run. Stopped dead-cold in fifth place, which paid out $11,266.75.

Yup, another bounty for Ambri 81, who banked $628.12 and their own bounty ballooned to a paunchy $6,493.04.

With four left in the hunt for the bracelet... Ambri 81 led with 30M and held a vast majority of the chips in play, followed by Green_Ape23's 11.3M, sniper18's 9.2M, and theManiAKo's 2.3M.

HEARTACHE TONIGHT: sniper18 eliminated in 4th place

The sniper got sniped. sniper18 spewed a significant amount of chips and was down to under 4M. sniper18 open-shoved for 3,953,986 with [Ac][3h] and theManiAKo called with [Ah][Ts]. The board finished up [Th][Td][2d][4h][6s]. The Brazilian Bounty Hunter theManiAKo flopped trips, which held up. Canada's sniper18 was picked off in fourth place, which paid out $14,978.15.

theManiAKo collected a bounty worth $1590.16 and theManiAKo's own bounty jumped to $2.632.32.

With three to go... Ambri 81 chipped up to 32M, followed by theManiAKo's 12.1M and Green_Ape23's 8.5M.

SAD CAFE: theManiAKo eliminated in 3rd place

The two big stacks rumbled: theManiAKo four-bet shoved for 6,249,618 with [Jc][Js] and Ambri 81 called with [Ad][Ts]. An Ace on the flop destroyed theManiAKo's chances of a massive double up when the board ran out [Ac][Qs][4s][4d][Td]. theManiAKo lost with Jacks and fours against Aces up. Brazil's theManiAKo was KO'd in third place, which paid out $21,870.75. Alas, Brazil missed a chance to win one last bracelet!

Ambri 81 banked yet another bounty. This one was $1,316.16 and Ambri 81's own price jumped to $7,809.20.

HEADS-UP: Ambri 81 (Siwtzerland) vs. Green_Ape23 (Israel)
Seat 3: Ambri 81 (44,426,994)
Seat 9: Green_Ape23 (8,593,006)

Green_Ape23 was down nearly 5-1. Despite the deficit, Green_Ape23 pulled even early on and even seized the lead during their 25-min bout. However, Ambri 81 rallied and launched a successful comeback to regain the lead after dragging a 42.7M pot with a straight. That monster hand essentially cleared a path toward victory and within 20 hands, Ambri 81 acquired the remainder of Green_Ape23's chips.

THE LONG RUN: Green_Ape23 eliminated in 2nd place; Ambri 81 wins SCOOP bracelet!

Ambri 81 teased with a min-raise of 720,000, Green_Ape23 decided not to mess around and shoved for 15,607,074 and Ambri 81 called. Battle of pocket pairs: Ambri 81 took [6h][6s] into battle against Green_Ape23's [2c][2s]. The sixes held up and Green_Ape23 was unable to come from behind to stave off an elimination. Ambri 81 won the pot and banked Green_Ape23's bounty worth $2,641.65.

For a runner-up finish, Israel's Green_Ape23 earned $30,884.15 (plus another $5,283.29 in bounties).

Congrats to Switzerland's Ambri 81 for winning the added Event #56-M. First place paid out $41,591.75. Ambri 81 also earned an additional $10,450.84 in bounties for a total score in excess of $52K! Ambri 81 also wins a sleek champion's watch courtesy of Movado.

SCOOP-56-M ($109 NLHE [Progressive Super-Knockout, Bounty Builder $109 SE]) results
Entrants: 5,302
Total prize pool: $530,200.00 (Regular pool: $265,100; Bounty pool: $265,100)
Places paid: 675

1. Ambri 81 (Switzerland) $41,591.75 + $10,450.84 bounties
2. Green_Ape23 (Israel) $30,884.15 + $5,283.29 bounties
3. theManiAKo (Brazil) $21,870.75 + $2,632.32 bounties
4. sniper18 (Canada) $14,978.15 + $3,180.31 bounties
5. GeorgesVanC (Belgium) $11,266.75 + $1,256.24 bounties
6. Danny 'DannyN13' Noseworthy (Canada) $8,615.75 + $4,479.34 bounties
7. Luke 'LFmagic' Fields (U.K.) $5,964.75 + $1,521.26 bounties
8. Vittorio_PL (Poland) $3,313.75 + $2,528.46 bounties
9. marswu0624 (China) $2,120.80 + $937.48 bounties

Visit the SCOOP homepage for updated stats and find out who will win Player of the Series.

Pauly McGuire is the author of "Lost Vegas" and a freelance contributor to PokerStars Blog.

The late add-on of Event #56 gave SCOOP players one extra chance to gather a last big score in the series, and there were many who played the $1,050 buy-in "H" version of this no-limit hold'em progressive super-knockout event who did just that.

A total 980 played Event #56-H, and just eight-and-a-half hours after it started it was Henwii22 of the United Kingdom winning the last pot, claiming the last bounties, and earning a $61,751.88 first prize plus $29,408.18 for a $91,160.06 payday.

Thanks to a three-handed deal at the final table, runner-up finisher 942003 of Switzerland actually took more from the prize pool -- just a little over $100K, in fact.

With 980 playing that meant a $980,000 total prize pool, half going to the regular prize pool (divided by the top 117 finishers) and half for bounties, nearly quadrupling the $250K guarantee.

The fast structure featuring short levels early, medium-length ones later, and the longer ones for the finish meant they were able to play down from 980 to 18 players in just about six hours, at which point martin12389 led in the counts.

yukeepplayin (18th), ericluccas88 (17th), and Apostolis "apostolis20" Bechrakis (16th) were the next to go, each earning $3,185 from the regular prize pool while all earning more in bounties, with ericluccas88 adding an extra $5,046.87 in that way. vip25459 (15th), tomic91 (14th), and JNandez87 (13th) followed, each picking up $4,165 for their finishes with vip25459 earning an extra $5,125 in bounties.

Then after sliding in the counts martin12389 fell in 12th, followed by $uperdecay (11th) and "mikki696" (10th), with those three each getting $5,145 plus bounties, with martin12389 earning the most of the latter after claiming $8,468.75.

With GreenBoo having moved up and into the chip lead, the final table was underway.

Seat 1: Narcis "Narcisus90" Nedelcu (Romania) -- 2,087,830  
Seat 2: Dylan "ImaLucSac" Linde (Canada) -- 614,224  
Seat 3: ZeBaronjù (Mexico) -- 534,754  
Seat 4: 942003 (Switzerland) -- 898,887  
Seat 5: Henwii22 (United Kingdom) -- 425,203  
Seat 6: dadowiec (Poland) -- 372,311  
Seat 7: GreenBoo (Latvia) -- 2,279,964  
Seat 8: Anthony "D1rtyR1v3r" Nardi (Mexico) -- 1,618,819  
Seat 9: dragonwarior (Germany) -- 968,008 

A little over 10 minutes into the final table, a big three-way hand developed that ended in two knockouts -- an extra sweet result for the winner in a knockout tournaments such as this one.

It began with ZeBaronjù pushing all-in from middle position for 388,754 (not quite 10 big blinds), then Henwii22 called from a couple of seats over. The action folded to Anthony "D1rtyR1v3r" Nardi who reraise-pushed for 1,030,805 from the big blind, and Henwii22 called that shove as well.

D1rtyR1v3r: [Ad][Ks]
Henwii22: [9h][9d]
ZeBaronjù: [6c][6h]

The flop came [9c][Ah][3d], pairing D1rtyR1v3r but giving Henwii22 a set of nines, and by the [5d] turn the two all-in players were already drawing dead. ZeBaronjù took ninth, Nardi eighth, and Henwii22 enjoyed collecting the pot plus both players' bounties.

Just three hands later, dragonwarior was all but felted by 942003 after a preflop all-in confrontation resulted in 942003's ace-king outdrawing dragonwarior's pocket tens. The next hand saw dragonwarior all in for just 11,119 (most of which comprised the ante) against two opponents, with 942003 the one to win the pot and dragonwarior's bounty after flopping a set of sixes. dragonwarior mucked without showing, having been sent railward in seventh -- still a great showing from the player who won two SCOOP titles in two days during last year's series. 

On the very next hand, Narcis "Narcisus90" Nedelcu open-raised all-in from early position for 609,402 (about 12 BBs) with [Ad][6d] and was called by dadowiec in the big blind who held [Kd][Qh]. The flop came [Tc][Jc][Ac], giving dadowiec Broadway, and after the [4h] turn no river card could prevent Nedelcu from finishing sixth -- a third final table for Nedelcu this series after having finished third and fourth in previous events.

Just two hands after that, the blinds were 25,000/50,000 when dadowiec opened for 115,000 from the butotn, GreenBoo reraised all-in for 1,250,779 from the small blind, and dadowiec called. GreenBoo had picked up [Ah][Jc], but unfortunately had run into dadowiec's [Ad][Qs], and five cards later -- [3d][4d][3h][6h][Qh] -- they were down to four.

They continued onward, then came a hand in which 942003, having become the chip leader, min-raised to 120,000 from UTG and got two callers in dadowiec (small blind) and Dylan "ImaLucSac" Linde (big blind). 

The flop came [Jh][3s][8s], it checked around to 942003 who bet 195,000, and only Linde called. The turn was the [2d], and this time Linde check-called a bet of 390,000 from 942003. The [4d] then completed the board, and Linde responded by checking a third time. 942003 responded with an all-in push, and Linde called with the 673,546 he had left.

Linde turned over [Jd][Tc] for top pair of jacks, but that couldn't beat 942003's [Ah][Ad] and Linde was done in fourth. Linde comes just a bit shy of earning a second career SCOOP title after having won his first in a $1,050 Mixed NL/PLO event in 2013. That made 22 cashes and four final tables this series, too, for Linde. 

By then 942003 was leading with about 4.39 million, dadowiec was next with just under 3.36 million, and Henwii22 third with not quite 2.05 million. Both "ICM"-based and "chip chop" numbers were presented (leaving $2,500 for which to play), and dadowiec responded wanting a little more than what was being suggested.

Some negotiation followed, with both 942003 and Henwii22 ultimately giving up a little to help make a deal happen. Play then resumed, with not only the $2,500 still on the table but a lot more in the form of everyone's remaining bounties, not to mention the SCOOP title, too.

A short while later the blinds were 35,000/70,000 when dadowiec -- who already owns a WCOOP title won back in 2013  -- open-raised all-in for 1,143,209 from the button, was called by 942003 in the small blind, then was also called by Henwii22 who went all-in for 824,079 after posting the big blind. The three players' hands were tabled:

942003: [As][2s]
dadowiec: [Qc][Jd]
Henwii22: [Ac][Jh]

942003 was going for a double-KO to end it right there, but the board came [4c][8h][8s][9c][Kc] to give Henwii22 the main pot and survival. Still, 942003 got the side pot, and to collect half of dadowiec's bounty, with the other half increasing 942003's own.

With the elimination of dadowiec in third, heads-up play commenced with 942003 the big leader with 7,091,513 versus Henwii22's 2,708,487.

The pair battled for nearly half an hour, after which the stacks were nearly the same as when they started. Then came two big hands out of three, and suddenly it was all over.

In the first 942003 raised 2.5x to 250,000 from the button, Henwii22 made it 900,000 to go, 942003 shoved all-in, and Henwii22 called with the almost 1.7 million behind.

Henwii22 had [As][Qs] and 942003 [3s][3d]. The flop came [9d][Ad][Jh] to put Henwii22 in front, and after the [4d] turn and [Ts] river, Henwii22 was up over 5.2 million and slightly ahead.

Two hands later, 942003 once again raised 2.5x to 250,000, Henwii22 three-bet to 700,000, and 942003 called. The flop came [3c][Js][Ad], and Henwi22 continued for 541,500, earning a call from 942003. The turn then brought the [6s] and an all-in push from Henwii22, and 942003 called ot commit the 3,434,808 behind.

Henwii22: [As][Kh]
942003: [Ac][7s]

Both had flopped top pair, but Henwii22's kicker was best. The [Ts] then fell on fifth street and it was all over -- Henwii22 had won!

Congratulations to Henwii22 for outlasting a tough final "H" field in this year's SCOOP to earn a $61,751.88 first prize plus more than $29K more in bounties. Kudos as well to 942003 and dadowiec for making it to the three-handed deal and ensuring themselves big paydays in this one as well. 

SCOOP-56-H ($1,050 NL Hold'em, Progressive Super-Knockout) results
Entrants: 980
Prize pool: $980,000 ($490,000 regular prize pool, $490,000 bounty prize pool)
Places paid: 117 

1. Henwii22 (United Kingdom) $61,751.88* (+ $29,408.18 in bounties) 
2. 942003 (Switzerland) $69,592.39* (+ $30,945.28 in bounties)
3. dadowiec (Poland) $68,085.73* (+ $21,453.10 in bounties)
4. Dylan "ImaLucSac" Linde (Canada) $35,525.00 (+ $5,640.62 in bounties)
5. GreenBoo (Latvia) $24,696.00 (+ $5,671.87 in bounties)
6. Narcisus90 (Romania) $19,796.00 (+ $12,484.36 in bounties)
7. dragonwarior (Germany) $14,896.00 (+ $9,109.37 in bounties)
8. D1rtyR1v3r (Mexico) $10,045.00 (+ $11,683.58 in bounties)
9. ZeBaronjù (Mexico) $6,125.00 (+ $4,562.50 in bounties)
*denotes three-way deal.

Back in 2012, Nick "GripDsNutz" Grippo closed SCOOP out with an excellent day at the tables, taking down the $10,300 SCOOP-High Main Event for $798K after a three-way deal. The next three years passed without another champion's watch, and after 11 previous cashes without a final table, it looked like the same might hold true for SCOOP 2016. But after four years and two days of waiting, Nick Grippo has earned his second SCOOP title with another series-closing victory.

The final Sunday Warm-Up Special Edition of SCOOP 2016, Event #52-M kicked off at 11am ET yesterday. The 27 levels of 8-max poker played took the Day 1 field from 4,967 to under 150, paying out the majority of the 640 cashers in the process, including Team Pro's Liv Boeree (460th place, $397.36).

Team Online was well-represented in the payouts. Both Kosei "K.Ichinose" Ichinose (298th, $476.83) and Caio "Pessagno" Pessagno (234th, $516.56) cashed on Day 1, but Celeste "LadyMaCe86" Orona was still in the hunt with more than half the prize pool remaining when Day 2 began. Her run eventually came to an end in 97th place, good for $993.40.

By 3:48pm ET, all but these eight players had collected their payouts:

Seat 1: pisha4 (2,704,519 in chips)
Seat 2: SergeiOrehov (6,460,110 in chips)
Seat 3: Squa1l (7,959,053 in chips)
Seat 4: Nick "GripDsNutz" Grippo (25,321,391 in chips)
Seat 5: Parker "tonkaaaa" Talbot (14,345,202 in chips)
Seat 6: Kley (5,045,176 in chips)
Seat 7: Gerardo "g3r4rd0x" Rodriguez (17,292,090 in chips)
Seat 8: passuare (20,212,459 in chips)

Blinds and antes were at 140K/280K/35K, putting pisha4 in immediate danger. The player from Belgium had last made a SCOOP final in 2011, taking third place in a Medium 6-max event, but this stay wouldn't last quite as long. pisha4 called from the big blind with [5d] [5c] after GripDsNutz raised to 622K, then opened all-in for 2M more when the flop came [4d] [6h] [3c]. GripDsNutz called behind with [Ac] [Jh] but took the lead on the [Jc] turn, and the [Qs] river ended pisha4's tournament in 8th place ($7,450.50).

SergeiOrehov's stack had dropped by a about a quarter since the start of the final table. Then the Russian player picked up [Ac] [Ad] under the gun, raised the minimum, and got one caller in Parker "tonkaaaa" Talbot. SergeiOrehov led for 725K on the [7c] [8d] [7d] flop, and then again for 722K on the [6c] turn after tonkaaaa called. tonkaaaa raised all-in then, showing [7s] [7h] for flopped quads when SergeiOrehov called. Drawing dead, the Russian player left in 7th place ($12,417.50).

About 15 minutes went by without a knockout, a stretch that saw the blinds and antes rise to 160K/320K/40K. That put added pressure on short stacks Kley and Squa1l, the latter of whom ended up raising all-in for 4.1M in the small blind with [As] [8d] after passuare opened for 640K on the button. passuare called with [Ad] [Jh] and made queens and jacks on the [Jc] [9h] [Qc] [7d] [Qs] board to send Squa1l to the rail in 6th place ($28,808.60).

After holding on to a 20-big-blind stack long enough to see it become a 17-big-blind stack when the stakes went up to 200K/400K/50K, Kley would be the next to go. The Swedish player moved all-in with [Ad] [Kc] over the top of tonkaaaa's opening raise and ended up in a race with [Qc] [Qd]. Both of Kley's cards stayed live the whole way, but the [5d] [6d] [Js] [7s] [Jh] board provided no help, eliminating Kley in 5th place ($48,676.60).

Getting a grip

Half of the contenders had been accounted for in the first 43 minutes of play, leaving these four to chase the title:

Seat 4: Nick "GripDsNutz" Grippo (34,835,920 in chips)
Seat 5: Parker "tonkaaaa" Talbot (26,574,695 in chips)
Seat 7: Gerardo "g3r4rd0x" Rodriguez (13,041,982 in chips)
Seat 8: passuare (24,887,403 in chips)

Nick Grippo immediately put some distance between himself and the other three. On the first hand after Kley's departure, he made the fourth pre-flop bet for 6.6M in the small blind after g3r4rd0x opened for 840K and passuare re-raised to 2M on the button. g3r4rd0x folded, but passuare called and took the [Ac] [7s] [2s] flop. The Brazilian player raised the minimum after Grippo opened for 3.8M, but Grippo's all-in three-bet ended the action in the 29.9M-chip pot.

passuare's 10.5M remaining chips dwindled to 8M before the Brazilian player picked up [Qd] [Qs] and re-raised all-in from the small blind over the top of g3r4rd0x's 800K opening bet. g3r4rd0x called with [7h] [7s] and 5M chips behind, which looked to be where he would be working from after the [8h] [4d] [Ah] flop and [Kd] turn, but the [7d] river made a set to win the pot for the underdog. That dagger of a river card brought passuare's tournament to a close in 4th place ($68,544.60).

That pot gave g3r4rd0x 21.5M chips, but the deck didn't hold many more wins for the past Sunday Million and MicroMillions 7 winner. Three-handed play amplified the effect of 250K/500K/62.5K blinds and antes, and after 20 minutes g3r4rd0x was holding just 10.6M. He limped on the button with [Ad] [Jd] and then shoved when GripDsNutz made it 2M to go in the small blind. GripDsNutz called with [8c] [8s] and made two pair by the time the board read [4s] [4h] [3h] [4c] [3s], taking the 21.8M-chip pot and knocking out g3r4rd0x in 3rd place ($88,412.60).

Winning that pot gave Nick "GripDsNutz" Grippo 69.1M chips as he began heads-up play in a SCOOP event for the first time in almost exactly four years. Past Super Tuesday winner and SCOOP 2016 Event #45-H 5th-place finisher Parker "tonkaaaa" Talbot 30.1M. They immediately made a deal based on ICM, giving Grippo the bigger share of the money and leaving $12,000 on the table as a brief but entertaining run to the title began.

First Talbot won a race with [Tc] [Th] to Grippo's [Ks] [Qc] to take the lead by eight big blinds. Then Talbot jammed a few minutes later with [2s] [2h], only to have Grippo call and win with [Ad] [Ah]. Talbot doubled to 26.1M two hands later with [Kc] [Qc] to Grippo's [Jc] [Jd], and then reclaimed the lead one minute later after winning with [Ad] [Qc] against Grippo's [Qh] [2h]. Then Grippo won with [Kc] [Kh] against Talbot's [7c] [7h] to get back to 81.6M in what would be the final lead change of this tournament. Three hands later, Grippo jammed on the button with [Kc] [6d] and Talbot called with [Qc] [Td]. The king on the river of the [Ad] [5h] [7s] [7d] [Ks] made a pair for Grippo, bringing this Sunday Warm-Up Special Edition to its conclusion.

Parker "tonkaaaa" Talbot's share of the heads-up deal was $119,041.85. And Nick "GripDsNutz" Grippo, after 11 previous SCOOP 2016 cashes with no final tables and three previous SCOOP series without a title, laid claim to $146,436.43 and his second career SCOOP champion's watch. Congratulations to him for another fine SCOOP closing day!

SCOOP-52-M ($215 NL Hold'em, 8-Max, Sunday Warm-Up SE) results
Entrants: 4,967
Total prize pool: $993,400
Places paid: 640

1. Nick "GripDsNutz" Grippo (Canada) $146,436.43*
2. Parker "tonkaaaa" Talbot (Canada) $119,041.85*
3. Gerardo "g3r4rd0x" Rodriguez (Peru) $88,412.60
4. passuare (Brazil) $68,544.60
5. Kley (Sweden) $48,676.60
6. Squa1l (United Kingdom) $28,808.60
7. SergeiOrehov (Russia) $12,417.50
8. pisha4 (Belgium) $7,450.50
*Reflects the results of a two-way deal that left $12,000 in play for the winner