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6 players (of 579) remain
Chip counts
Prize pool and payouts
Final table player profiles

1pm: Who will become the first ever Eureka Bucharest champ?

This event was the first time the Eureka poker tour had ever held a stop in Romania in all its five seasons so far. Eureka6 Bucharest was a big success, with 579 players - including Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu - coming to the InterContinental Hotel and paying €1,000 for their shot at the title.

Now the time has come to crown a champion. 

There are just six players remaining, as we already lost two players from the final table of eight before play ended yesterday. Here's how they stack up:

Yesterday we got to know our final table players a little better - take a look at the player profiles here.

And here's what they're playing for:

1. €107,350.00  
2. €66,950.00  
3. €47,910.00  
4. €37,070.00  
5. €29,200.00  
6. €22,860.00

Join us at 2pm when the final table action kicks off.

PokerStars Blog Reporting Team at Eureka6 Bucharest: Jack Stanton. Photos by Tomas Stacha. Follow the PokerStars Blog on Twitter: @PokerStarsBlog

This is getting redonkulous. Another bracelet for Brazil? Did they really just ship their 19th bracelet? Dezenove! And there's still couple of more days of SCOOP left. Our colleague Stephen Bartley dubbed it "The Brazilian Storm," which tore through the opening day of SCOOP and has not relented since.

Ricardo 'preTu.ras' Silver won a TCOOP last year and now added a SCOOP title to his growing list of online wins. preTu.ras began the final table in Event #50-L PSKO as one of the two short stacks along with Team PokerStars Pro Kosei Ichinose. Although Ichinose was sideswiped in sixth place, preTu.ras dodged any misfortunes at the final table. Like an apex predator stalking its prey, preTu.ras waited until it got four-handed before he launched his offensive campaign in which he seized the chip lead, then proceeded to liquidate the three remaining players and banking all of their bounties in the process. When the carnage was over, preTu.ras's spoils totaled $16,553 in bounties and first-place prize money.

The low version of SCOOP Event #50-L $27 NL 6-Max, Progressive Super-Knockout attracted a total of 7,439 runners. They created a total prize pool worth $182,627.45 with $91,127.75 allocated for the bounty prize pool and $91,499.70 allocated for the regular prize pool. The top 960 places paid out with $13,732.61 set aside for the champ.

"It's better to burn out, than to fade away!" said the Kurgan from the first Higherlander movie. The beauty of Super-Knockout events is that sheer-aggression is rewarded, especially early on. Nothing is worst than getting off to a sizzling start in a tournament and amassing a mountain of chips before getting blindsided by a bad beat and then dusting off the rest of your stack just before the money bubble. At least in a Super-KO event, you can bank a few bounties along the way and get paid for busting players regardless if you advance to the money or not.

This was one of the rare single day events, plus it was 6-max which meant the action was ratcheted up a notch. With three tables to go, Japanese Team Pro Kosei 'K. Ichinose' Ichinose rocketed to second overall with 6.5M, but trailed overall leader S3XXYMUCK, who amassed a 9.3M stack. With 12 remaining, Ichinose was 5th overall with 6M, whereas S3XXYMUCK chipped up to 15M.

By the time 10 players were left, Ichinose slipped to next to last. With 9 to go, he was ninth and on life support. Then it happened. Call it fate, but Ichinose outflopped s1xxten's [Ad][Jd] with [Ac][4h] and flopped two pair to issue a wicked bat beat. Ichinose won the pot worth nearly 7.5M and moved to the middle of the pack.

With action hand-for-hand with seven to go, short-stacked Dr.Jointtt shoved with [2d][2s] and got called by Flyinbanana's [8c][8s]. Flyinbanana flopped a set of eights, which held up to win. Poland's Dr.Jointtt bubbled off the final table and got smoked in seventh place.

SCOOP-50-L - Final Table Chip Counts:
Seat 1: K. Ichinose (5,007,172)
Seat 2: S3XXYMUCK (18,707,522)
Seat 3: bodgik77 (9,045,564)
Seat 4: Flyinbanana (16,612,667)
Seat 5: !Mp!yavv (18,930,676)
Seat 6: preTu.ras (6,086,399)

The final table commenced during Level 47 with blinds at 120K/240K and a 30K ante. It was a tight race up to with Thailand's !Mp!yavv closing in on 19M and S3XXYMUCK second with 18.7M. Japan's Kosei Ichinose sat in last with 5M.

Team Pro Kosei Ichinose made two SCOOP final tables last year, but had yet to bust through the winner's circle. Meanwhile, Brazil's Ricardo 'preTu.ras' Silver won a TCOOP in 2015 and was trying to become the 19th champ from Brazil this year.

BRING DA RUCKUS: Team Pro Kosei Ichinose eliminated in 6th place

Kosei Ichinose picked a spot and hoped for the best. The final table played out a full level before we saw the first bustout. Short-stacked Kosei Ichinose found [Kh][Jc] and shoved for 3,713,295. S3XXYMUCK accepted the challenge with [As][Qd]. S3XXYMUCK was ahead the entire way but paired a Queen on the river anyway when the board ran out [Ts][6c][5c][7d][Qs]. Kosei Ichinose never improved and he became the first player to exit the final table. For a sixth-place finish, Team PokerStars Pro Kosei Ichinose from Japan earned a payday worth $1,372.49.

S3XXYMUCK collected a bounty worth $280.55 for picking off Ichinose, meanwhile, S3XXYMUCK's own bounty jumped to $1,383.46.

METHOD MAN: bodgik77 eliminated in 5th place

Only a dozen hands after Kosei Ichinose bid farewell, we saw more fireworks. POW! Pocket pair vs. pocket pair. S3XXYMUCK instigated a fight by raising to 736,000, bodgik77 shoved for 5,860,560, and S3XXYMUCK called. The old battle of sevens versus nines. S3XXYMUCK's [9d][9h] held serve against bodgik77's [7c][7d] when the board finished up [Jh][5d][4h][Qd][8h]. Russia's bodgik77 was knocked out in fifth place, which paid out $2,287.49.

S3XXYMUCK banked a bounty worth $508.37 and S3XXYMUCK's own bounty increased to $1,891.82, which was the richest remaining in the tournament.

With four left in the hunt for the bracelet, S3XXYMUCK led with 33.6M, followed by !Mp!yavv's 16.2M, Flyinbanana's 15.1M, and preTu.ras brought up the rear with 9.3M.

MYSTERY OF CHESSBOXIN': S3XXYMUCK eliminated in 4th place

S3XXYMUCK four-bet shoved for 13,623,684 with [Th][8h] and preTu.ras snap-called with [Kc][Ks]. Ouch. Wrong time to get ambushed by cowboys! The board ran out [As][7s][2s][4s][Tc]. preTu.ras actually won the pot with a four-flush. S3XXYMUCK rivered a meaningless pair of tens. For a fourth-place finish, S3XXYMUCK earned $4,117.48

For picking up the bounty, preTu.ras banked $945.91 and his own bounty was bumped up to $1,748.77.

With three to go, preTu.ras was the new big dog with 31.7M, followed by !Mp!yavv's 26.6M, and Flyinbanana's 16M.

PROTECT YA NECK: !Mp!yavv eliminated in 3rd place

Three-handed did not last very long before we saw more fireworks. preTu.ras instigated another brawl after raising to 1.1M. !Mp!yavv bombed it all-in for 9,017,550 with [As][6d], and preTu.ras could not have called quick enough with [Ac][Kd]. The board ran out [Ks][4s][3s][Jc][Th]. preTu.ras flopped a King and won the pot. Thailand's !Mp!yavv was knocked out in third place, which paid out $6,862.47.

Chalk up another bounty for preTu.ras, who banked $700.48 and saw his own bounty jump to $2,449.25.

HEADS-UP: Flyinbanana (U.K.) vs. preTu.ras (Brazil)
Seat 4: Flyinbanana (13,959,899)
Seat 6: preTu.ras (60,430,101)

Brazil heads-up for another bracelet. Flyinbanana trailed over 4-1.

CAN IT BE ALL SO SIMPLE: Flyinbanana eliminated in 2nd place; preTu.ras wins another SCOOP for Brazil

Seventeen hands. That's how long it took before preTu.ras finished off Flyinbanana. Flyinbanana could never jump start a proper revolution and redistribute the wealth. Going into the last hand, Flyinbanana trailed approximately 54M to 20M. Flyinbanana opened to 1,374,456 and preTu.ras called. The flop was [Qd][9c][4c]. preTu.ras checked-called a 1,131,442 bet from Flyinbanana. The turn was the [Kh]. preTu.ras check-called a 2,581,442 bet from Flyinbanana. The river was the [4s]. preTu.ras checked, Flyinbanana shoved for 15,316,544 and preTu.ras insta-called.

Flyinbanana: [Kd][7d]
preTu.ras: [Jh][Tc]

Flyinbanana turned a pair of Kings and rivered two pair, but preTu.ras turned a straight to win the pot and the tournament. Flyinbanana was dunzo in second and preTu.ras banked Flyinbanana's bounty worth $372.03.

The U.K.'s Flyinbanana busted in second place, which paid out $9,607.46.

Congrats to Brazil's Ricardo 'preTu.ras' Silver for winning yet another SCOOP title for his home country. That makes... 19 bracelets for Brazil. Vamooooooos!

First place paid out $13,732.61 plus an additional $2,821.27 in bounties. preTu.ras also won a cool champion's watch courtesy of Movado. This win marks a second COOP for preTu.ras, who shipped a TCOOP in 2015.

SCOOP-50-L ($27 NL Hold'em [6-Max, Progressive Super-Knockout]) results
Entrants: 7,439
Total prize pool: $182,627.45 (Regular pool: $91,499.70, Bounty pool: $91,127.75)
Places paid: 960

1. preTu.ras (Brazil) $13,732.61 + $2,821.27 bounties
2. Flyinbanana (U.K.) $9,607.46 + $744.05 bounties
3. !Mp!yavv (Thailand) $6,862.47 + $6,862.47 bounties
4. S3XXYMUCK (Hungary) $4,117.48 + $1,891.82 bounties
5. bodgik77 (Russia) $2,287.49 + $1,016.73 bounties
6. Team PokerStars Pro Kosei Ichinose (Japan) $1,372.49 + $561.09 bounties

Visit the SCOOP homepage for updated stats and find out who is in contention for Player of the Series and sitting at the top of the SCOOP Leader Board.

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

Most of the tournaments on the SCOOP schedule in 2016 are two-day events that pause to give everyone time to rest before coming back for another poker marathon. At just six hours and 45 minutes, Event #50-H was a deviation from the norm, one that led to a very quick first career SCOOP title against some highly accomplished competition for Austria's SuchADegen.

A 6-Max Progressive Super-Knockout tournament that started with three-minute levels and slowly worked up to 15 minutes apiece, Event #50-H drew a 567-player field with a $1,134,000 prize pool split evenly between cash for the top 66 finishers and bounties on everyone's heads. Thanks to the aggressive tournament structure and the extra incentive to go for the knockout, it took less than five hours to progress to the final table. By then the blinds and antes were at 10K/20K/2.5K and these six players were the last with a shot at the title:

Seat 1: Trueteller (1,108,810 in chips)
Seat 2: Jason "jakoon1985" Koon (633,979 in chips)
Seat 3: SuchADegen (944,030 in chips)
Seat 4: Bryn "BrynKenney" Kenney (1,426,878 in chips)
Seat 5: xPastorcitox (627,667 in chips)
Seat 6: FaceStealer (928,636 in chips)

Despite the quick pace to reach the final table, nobody was working with less than 30 big blinds and the blind levels, which had begun the tournament at three minute apiece, had long since leveled out at 15 minutes each. There was plenty of room to play poker, and they did just that for the next two hours and two minutes.

The bulk of that final table time would be spent four-handed, and xPastorcitox wouldn't last long enough to be part of it. Having dropped about 10 big blinds in the first half hour of play, the SCOOP 2015-Medium finalist came in for a raise in the cutoff with [Js] [9s] and fired three barrels on the [5c] [5d] [Tc] flop, [Qs] turn, and [6c] river after Jason "jakoon1985" Koon called from the big blind. Koon called down the whole way with [Qc] [Jd], taking the 888K-chip pot with a turned pair of queens and knocking out xPastorcitox in 6th place ($18,144) with $7,867.15 in bounties.

Koon, a SCOOP 2009 champ and Sunday Warm-Up winner with two wins in the Super Tuesday who finished 7th in the $21,000 High Roller event last week, was now in third place with 1.26M chips, just one big blind behind Bryn Kenney. But eight minutes later he himself would be gone after back-to-back losses to FaceStealer.

The seeds of Jason Koon's departure were sown when SuchADegen doubled through FaceStealer with [Tc] [Ts] against [Ks] [Jd]. Then Koon took that first loss on the very next hand after opening with [Ah] [Kc], calling FaceStealer's all-in bet, and losing the coin flip to [6c] [6d] on a [Js] [2h] [9d] [8s] [3d].

That put FaceStealer, a three-time finalist in the Super Tuesday with past WCOOP and SCOOP final table appearances, a little under four big blinds ahead of Koon's 790K. FaceStealer had the button on the next hand and opened for the minimum with [Ad] [Qh], then called when Koon jammed with [Ah] [4h] in the big blind. Koon missed his flush draw on the river of the [Jh] [6c] [6d] [5h] [Kc] board, exiting in 5th place ($28,350) with $18,371.09 in bounties.

The next 45 minutes would be spent four-handed. After that wild three-hand sequence, FaceStealer had the chip lead at 1.69M chips, but Trueteller and Bryn Kenney were about eight big blinds back and SuchADegen was in last but still in the seven-figure range. Trueteller won the first monster pot after calling all-in from the big blind with [Ad] [Qd] and flopping a flush, topping small-blind raiser FaceStealer's [Ah] [7s] for the 1.8M-chip pot. Four more small wins shortly after that, plus an 892K-chip pot taken from Kenney without contest on the turn, made Trueteller the leader with 2.6M.

FaceStealer survived another all-in with [Ad] [6s] to button-raising SuchADegen's [8h] [5h], climbing back to 1.17M. That put Bryn Kenney, FaceStealer, and SuchADegen all within three big blinds of one another, but Kenney would be the one to fall behind. After raising on the button with [Jd] [Td] and calling Trueteller's big-blind re-raise to 190K, Kenney and Trueteller would both check the [7d] [8c] [Kd] [5c] [4h] board all the way to the river. Kenney fired 266K with the busted combo draw but lost when Trueteller called with an unimproved [Ah] [Qc].

That loss left PCA 2016 Super High Roller, SCOOP 2010, SCOOP 2014, and Super Tuesday champ with 776K in chips, which he called off three hands later in the big blind with [Ks] [Ts] after SuchADegen open-shoved on the button. Both had a flush after the board came [3d] [2s] [5s] [6s] [2h], but the Austrian player had the nuts, bringing BrynKenney's third SCOOP 2016 final table appearance to its end in 4th place ($39,690) with $28,281.24 in bounties.

Three-handed play kicked off with Trueteller in the lead, SuchADegen about 10 big blinds back, and FaceStealer holding about half the chips that SuchADegen had. The balance of the pots played was tilting toward Trueteller and away from SuchADegen. Then Trueteller raised to 125K from the small blind and called [Ah] [Js] after the Austrian player moved all-in from the big blind with [5c] [5d]. Trueteller paired on the turn with the board reading [7c] [8d] [7s] [Jc], but SuchADegen hit a full house with the [5s] on the river.

That win both kept SuchADegen alive and gave the Austrian player the chip lead, a perfect illustration of just how wide-open the tournament still was. Then Trueteller retook the lead with a stretch of six consecutive wins that reduced the field to two players.

Down to 602K after the first five consecutive pots that Trueteller had won, FaceStealer open-shoved on the button with [Ad] [6s]. Trueteller called with [Ah] [7s], paired a seven on the [Td] [7h] [9h] flop, and dodged FaceStealer's gutshot draw through the [3d] turn and [Jc] river to take the 1.27M-chip pot. That sent FaceStealer to the rail in 3rd place ($58,117.50) with $25,271.47 in bounties.

Trueteller had the edge heads-up with 3.4M chips to SuchADegen's 2.2M and extended the lead further by winning pots worth 755K and 639K in their first three hands against each other. Then SuchADegen opened on the button with [Kc] [Tc] and called after Trueteller jammed in the big blind with [As] [6c]. A small underdog before the flop, SuchADegen made a pair of kings on the [3c] [4d] [Kd] [9h] [7d] board to double to 3.2M chips.

SuchADegen now had 53 big blinds to Trueteller's 41, but a 1.4M-chip win for the Russian player eight hands later. The lead would only change one more time, though, and when it did it would leave Trueteller extremely short-stacked. SuchADegen opened the hand in question for 154K on the button with [9s] [8h] and Trueteller called, bringing the [5s] [9h] [4c] flop. SuchADegen bet 200K when checked to, then called two bets from Trueteller, the first a check-raise to 422K on the flop and the last an all-in move. Trueteller was an 84.1-percent favorite to win the hand with [Qh] [9c], but SuchADegen pulled out the win with a straight after the [6h] hit the river.

That 5.2M-chip pot gave SuchADegen an advantage of more than 10-to-1, and the Austrian raised every hand until Trueteller ended up moving in on the button for 152K with [Kd] [4h]. SuchADegen called with [7c] [5h] and won the pots with aces and fives after the board came [3h] [5s] [Ah] [Td] [Ad], bringing the tournament to a close.

Trueteller earned $79,380 as the runner-up, plus another $15,510.73 in bounties, an excellent showing after taking 4th place in Event #44-H this afternoon. And SuchADegen made a splash, picking up the champions watch, the $107,730 top prize, and another $41,645.97 in bounties. Congratulations to SuchADegen players for outlasting some highly accomplished players on route to a first career SCOOP win!

SCOOP-50-H ($2,100 NL Hold'em, 6-Max, Progressive Super KO) results
Entrants: 567
Total prize pool: $1,134,000 ($567,000 regular prize pool, $567,000 bounty prize pool)
Places paid: 66

1. SuchADegen (Austria) $107,730 + $41,645.97 in bounties
2. Trueteller (Russia) $79,380 + $15,510.73 in bounties
3. FaceStealer (Costa Rica) $58,117.50 + $25,271.47 in bounties
4. Bryn "BrynKenney" Kenney (Mexico) $39,690 + $28,281.24 in bounties
5. Jason "jakoon1985" Koon (Canada) $28,350 + $18,371.09 in bounties
6. xPastorcitox (Argentina) $18,144 + $7,867.15 in bounties

Last weekend, Team Online Naoya 'nkeyno' Kihara advanced to two SCOOP final tables in Badugi events. He finished in third place in both and narrowly missed his first SCOOP win. Naoya 'nkeyno' Kihara made poker history in 2012 by becoming the first-ever Japanese player to win a WSOP bracelet, but if he wanted to win his first SCOOP, then he'd have to survive a head-on collision with MUSTAFABET. Matthew 'MUSTAFABET' Ashton is a British pro who literally moved his way up the ranks through PokerStars. As a university student, Ashton frequently played freerolls under the screen name MUSTAFABET to boost his bankroll. He parlayed one freeroll score into a ticket into a 2009 WCOOP event...and proceeded to win it for his first-ever COOP win. Flash forward a few years later and Matthew 'MUSTAFABET' Ashton is slapping a WSOP bracelet on his wrist after he won the $50,000 Player's Championship for $1.7 million. In a short span, Ashton fancied himself as a mixed-game specialist.

Alas, it was a tough heads-up fight, but the nimble Naoya 'nkeyno' Kihara busted in second place and his hopes of winning a SCOOP were stifled. Matthew 'MUSTAFABET' Ashton picked up his second over COOP and his first SCOOP bracelet. Despite the disappointing runner-up finish, nkeyno survived a difficult field and an even harder final table that also included Team Pro Eugene Katchalov, and Luke 'lb6121' Schwartz who was seeking his sixth SCOOP bracelet.

The high-end of the HORSE event included the planet's premier mixed-game players. Sure, on any given day, anyone can win a no-limit hold'em tournament, but you're gonna need a heck of a lot more than luck if you want to win an all out sprint against seasoned thoroughbreds. One stumble, one falter, one mistake could threaten the life of both the jockey and the horse. Same goes for tournament poker. One bad move could result in a disaster of epic proportions. One moment you're in the lead bearing down in the home stretch at the final table, and then WHAM! You're a casualty and have become an minor statistic in the final boxscore.

The high-version of SCOOP Event #44-H $1,050 HORSE attracted 169 original players who reloaded and fired an additional 95 bullets in this event for a total of 264 entries. The prize pool topped $264,000, which easily exceed the initial $100K Guarantee. The top 32 places paid out in this HORSE event, with $53,460.00 set aside for the champion.

Day 1 of this two-day event ended with 39 players making the cut for Day 2...but not everyone had made the money yet. Russia's chopi7 was the chip leader with 180K. Team Online Naoya 'nkeyno' Kihara was 7/39 and Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov was right behind with 8/39.

Day 2 the money broke roughly an hour into the restart. Several notables were among majority of players who cashed early on Day 2 including niccc (31st place), Bryn Kenney (30th), gipsy74 (29th), luldocuments (27th), vovtroy (25th), SixthSenSe19 (23rd), NoraFlum (22nd), raidalot (21st), and jutrack (20th).

Around four tables to go, Team Online nkeyno surged to the lead with over 300K. Meanwhile, Team Pro Eugene Katchalov was hovering in the top 10. With 18 to go on the final three tables, Katchalov moved into the Top 7. With 13 to go, Katchalov chipped up into the Top 5 and flirted with third place for a while, shadowing nkeyno in first.

Couple more notables busted on the penultimate final table... plattsburgh (18th), Colisea (16th), The Cooker (13th), caprioli (12th), and bernard-bb (10th). Another deep run for plattsburgh, but the 2016 SCOOP winner Matt 'plattsburgh' Vengrin hit the road in 18th place. During a round of Stud, Dzmitry 'Colisea' Urbanovich busted in 16th place at the hands of bernard-bb. Colisea struggled with a short stack for all of Day 2 and never had enough ammo to make a legit run at the final table. 2012 SCOOP 8-Game champ The Cooker bowed out in 13th. Rodrigo 'caprioli' Caprioli was the last Brazilian standing, but busetd in 12th. He was short with two tables to go, but was unable to mount a comeback to win another bracelet for Brazil. Finland's bernard-bb won a SCOOP yesterday, but missed another chance at another bracelet after busting in 10th.

With action hand-for-hand with nine remaining, Eugene Katchalov picked off Luis_Parreir during a round of Stud. Luis_Parreir lost with a pair of Jacks against Katchlov's two pair. Belgium's Luis_Parreir bubbled off the final table in ninth place, and the final table was set.

SCOOP-44-H - Final Table Chip Counts:
Seat 1: gloria1986 (242,303)
Seat 2: Trueteller (139,264)
Seat 3: Adamyid (196,286)
Seat 4: MUSTAFABET (221,907)
Seat 5: nkeyno (686,907)
Seat 6: E. Katchalov (446,654)
Seat 7: HlPPOCAMP (298,497)
Seat 8: lb6121 (408,182)

The final table commenced during Level 54 and the S portion of HORSE with a round of Stud and betting limits at 8K/16K. Russia's Trueteller was the shortest stack remaining. nkeyno and Katchalov were first/second in chips. Talk about a dynamic duo! I'd love to see a Hollywood movie about those two... a comedy-thriller in which they solve crimes and international conspiracies using their wits and intricate costumes and disguises.

Team Online's nkeyno had a fantastic run last weekend with a pair of Badugi final tables and a pair of third-place finishes. He made another final table, but began this one as the big stack. Safe to say that this was a much harder table than what he faced last weekend. nkeyno came very close to winning a SCOOP last year, but he was edged out by SirWatts and busted in second.

Luke 'lb6121' Schwartz won 5 SCOOPs. He got another shot at #6. He was probably your High Street bookie's odds-on-favorite to win this bracelet, even though nkeyno was the leader.

Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov needs no introduction. The stoic Katchalov won a WCOOP back in 2012, but a SCOOP total has evaded the Russian.

MUSTAFABET won a WCOOP in 2009 when he was just a mild-mannered student and he parlayed a freeroll win into a seat into a WCOOP event, where in inevitably shipped the bracelet. At the 2013 WSOP, Ashton won the $50,000 Players Championship for his first piece of WSOP bling.

Adam 'Adamyid' Owen went deep in a couple SCOOP events this spring including a runner-up finish in Event 3-H.

HlPPOCAMP eliminated in 8th place

Nearly two full levels played out before the first player busted. During a round of Stud Hi/Lo, HlPPOCAMP was in serious trouble with fewer than 80K. HlPPOCAMP was all-in by the river against nkeyno.

nkeyno: [2c][5d]//[7d][2s][Ks][7s]//[9c]
HlPPOCAMP: [As][4s]//[8c][5h][Tc][Kd]//[Ac]

Without a qualifying low, nkeyno won the hand with two pair -- sevens and deuces. HIPPOCAMP's pair of Aces was no good. For an eighth-place finish, HlPPOCAMP earned $7,260.00.

With seven remaining, nkeyno chipped up to 862K. Adamyid was the new shorty with 182K.

Adam 'Adamyid' Owen eliminated in 7th place

During a round of Hold'em, we lost adamyid. The Brit was reduced to less than 83K when he made a final stand with Aces, but the results were nasty. Trueteller opened to 20,000, Adamyid raised to 30,000, and Trueteller called. The flop was [8c][7c][6s] and betting got capped. The turn was the [9c]. Adamyid checked, Trueteller fired out 20,000, and Adamyid called all-in for 12,186.

Adamyid: [Ah][Ad]
Trueteller: [9s][8s]

Trueteller flopped top pair and an opened ended straight draw, but turned two pair to take the lead. The river was the [4h]. Trueteller won the pot and snapped off Aces. Adam 'Adamyid' Owen was dunzo in seventh place, which paid out $9,240.00.

With six remaining... nkeyno staill led with 835K, followed by Trueteller (631K), Katchalov (470K), lb6121 (376K), gloria1986 (205K), and MUSTAFABET was the shorty with 121K.

View image

Luke 'lb6121' Schwartz eliminated in 6th place

Luke 'lb6121' Schwartz got crippled in a 168K pot during one of the last hands of the round of Stud Hi/Lo. He got flushed out by gloria1986 and went from over 100K to 10K. When the round switched to Razz, Luke 'lb6121' Schwartz busted on one of the first hands of the level. lb6121 held 13,482 and was all-in on third street. nkeyno and gloria1986 tried to bust lb6121 and checked it all the way down to seventh street. At showdown...

nkeyno: [6h][Ac]//[7s][Qd][3s][6s]//[9d]
gloria1986: [5h][9c]//[4c][Jc][3c][2s]//[5d]
lb6121: (X-X)//[Qs][4h][Kd][Tc]//(X)

gloria1986 won the hand with a 9-5-4-3-2 low against nkeyno's 9-7-5-3-A. lb6121 mucked his hand on the river but did not have a qualifying low. Luke 'lb6121' Schwartz was denied a fifth SCOOP. For a sixth-place finish, he earned $11,880.00.

With five remaining, Trueteller was the new leader with 766K, followed by nkeyno's 583K and Katchalov's 463K. MUSTAFABET was the shorty with 365K.

Eugene Katchalov eliminated in 5th place

An hour after Schwartz's bustout and complete revolution of games, no one had busted as a laborious five-handed battle fell into a quagmire. During the slowdown, gloria1986 had worked the way up the ladder into first place and was closing in on 1M. nkeyno collapsed to the back of the pack and was treading water with under 220K. Meanwhile, Katcholov was cruising in third with 420K.

During a barrage of Razz and Level 63, it was MUSTAFABET's turn to seize the lead and build a castle of chips worth 1M. Both nkeyno and Katcholov were short with under 200K each. Katchalov never made it out of Razz alive. He attempted to double up with his final stack of 157,554. He raised all-in on sixth street against big-stacked bully MUSTAFABET. At showdown...

E. Katchalov: [7s][As][8h][9h][4h][9d][Ad]
MUSTAFABET: [5c][3h][7d][6h][4d][Qc][9c]

MUSTAFABET won the pot with a 7-6-5-4-3 low, which he had locked up by fifth street. Katchalov made a final stand with a 9-8-7-4-A low, but it was not good enough to stave off elimination. Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov busted in fifth place, which paid out $14,520.00.

With four left in the hunt for the bracelet, MUSTAFABET topped everyone with 1.1M, followed by gloria1986's 1M, nkeyno's 352K, and Trueteller's 125K.

Trueteller eliminated in 4th place

Three hands later.... the ruthlessness of Razz claimed another victim. Short-stacked Trueteller was down to 93,767 and could not double up. The Russian also hit the bricks. By fifth street, Trueteller was all in and awaiting the moment of truth. At showdown...

nkeyno: [9c][5d][2h][7h][8h][Ad][5s]
Trueteller: [2d][4h][3d][9s][2c][8s][Jh]

nkeyno won the pot with an 8-7-5-2-A low against Trueteller's 9-8-4-3-2. Russia's Trueteller was knocked out in fourth place, which paid out $2,2440.00.

With three remaining, MUSTAFABET led with 1.1M and gloria1986 was right behind with 970K. nkeyno trailed in last with 527K.

gloria1986 eliminated in 3rd place

Once Razz ended, nkeyno breathed a sigh of relief by surviving the purge that claimed two players. During the ensuing round of Stud Hi/Lo, nkeyno surged immensely and rallied from the short stack to the big stack. His mini-rush was capped off by a 585K pot to take lead with 1.5M. He had scooped with two pair and a 7-6-3-2-A against MUSTAFABET.

A stunned gloria1986 was all of a sudden the short stack. Down to 68,485, gloria1986 was all-in on third-street in a multi-way pot. By seventh street, at showdown...

MUSTAFABET: [7h][8s][6s][2h][9s][5s][Js]
gloria1986: (X-X)//[4s][4h][Qs][4c]//(X)
nkeyno: (X-X)//[Jh][Kc][Qd][Ah]//(X)

MUSTAFABET won the main pot and side pot with a Jack-high flush and a 8-7-6-5-2 low.. Both nkeyno and gloria1986 mucked their losing hands. For a third-place finish, Thailand's gloria1986 busted in third place, which paid out $30,360.00.

HEADS-UP: Matthew 'MUSTAFABET' Ashton (U.K.) vs. Team Online Naoya 'nkeyno' Kihara (Japan)
Seat 4: MUSTAFABET (1,578,566)
Seat 5: nkeyno (1,061,434)

Down to two. Could Team Online nkeyno finally bust through and win a SCOOP? Or would Matthew 'MUSTAFABET' Ashton finally win a first SCOOP?

The two sparred for nearly an hour before we saw any significant action. Neither could really get into much of a rhythm before the level changed and they moved onto a new game. However, during a round of Stud, nkeyno went off the rails and lost a decisive pot worth 806K. MUSTAFABET caught running Kings to win the hand with two pair -- Kings and fives. That pot pushed MUSTAFABET over 2M and nkeyno slipped to 583K. nkeyno tried to rally by winning the next two small pots, but that's as far as he'd get before his quest for a SCOOP abruptly ended.

Team Online Naoya 'nkeyno' Kihara eliminated in 2nd place; MUSTAFABET wins SCOOP bracelet

Two hands later, it was all over. The round was still Stud and nkeyno's stack had been trimmed to 420K. The betting got capped on fifth street and nkeyno was all-in an praying for a double up. At showdown...

nkeyno: [As][Kd][3c][2s][9c][Qh][3d]
MUSTAFABET: [Js][Jh][2d][4h][Ts][6h][9s]

nkeyno could only muster up a pair of treys, which lost to MUSTAFABET's pair of Jacks. Alas, nkeyno headed to the virtual rail in second place.

For a runner-up finish, Team Online Naoya 'nkeyno' Kihara won $40,920.00.

Congrats to Matthew 'MUSTAFABET' Ashton. First place paid out $53,460.00 in addition to a sleek champion's watch courtesy of Movado. This marks a second overall COOP for Ashton, who won a WCOOP in 2009.

SCOOP-44-H ($1,050 HORSE) results
Entrants: 264 (169 entries, 95 re-entries)
Total prize pool: $264,000.00
Places paid: 32

1. Matthew 'MUSTAFABET' Ashton (U.K.) $53,460.00
2. Team Online Naoya 'nkeyno' Kihara (Japan) $40,920.00
3. gloria1986 (Thailand) $30,360.00
4. Trueteller (Russia) $22,440.00
5. Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov (Russia) $14,520.00
6. Luke 'lb6121' Schwartz (U.K.) $11,880.00
7. Adam 'Adamyid' Owen (U.K.) $9,240.00
8. HlPPOCAMP (Mexico) $7,260.00

Visit the SCOOP homepage for up-to-date stats and find out who has an inside track on winning Player of the Series.

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

If you grew up in the Nintendo generation, you probably battled Bowser at one time or another. The primary antagonist in the Super Mario universe, Bowser conquered the Mushroom Kingdom and much to Mario and Luigi's ire, had somewhat of a kidnapping fetish when it came to Princess Peach. The only way for the brothers to save Princess Peach was to wind through Bowser's castle and get past the evil reptilian boss himself. Tonight, the Finnish player who appropriated Bowser's villainous name played the role to perfection, casting out short stacks and pilfering his opponents' chips at every turn en route to his first SCOOP title.

Event #44-L drew 4,039 total entries (3,217 individual players and 822 re-entries), resulting in a $40,390 prize pool. 520 players earned a share of it with $6,565.84 up top. Day 1 concluded after 61 levels, and 81 players advanced to Day 2. Among them was TLB contender Shaun "shaundeeb" Deeb, who made his 33rd cash of the series with a 19th-place finish.

On the final table bubble, the betting limits were up to 160,000/320,000 and the game was limit hold'em. Tigrenok.mn opened for a raise from UTG, short-stack xaffer three-bet, tigrenok.mn capped and xaffer called all-in for less. Xaffer's [Ac][Kd] was in great shape against tigrenok.mn's [4h][6h] preflop, but tigrenok.mn hit running hearts on the [Th][9d][7d][Jh][Qh] board to make a flush and send us to the final table.

Final table chip counts

Seat 1: tigrenok.mn (8,475,849 in chips)
Seat 2: ALD74 (1,633,392 in chips)
Seat 3: homasapiens (2,861,657 in chips)
Seat 4: Bowsercastle (7,688,838 in chips)
Seat 5: chaka-G (5,509,001 in chips)
Seat 6: Mikki31 (3,973,517 in chips)
Seat 7: JobberJay (8,346,730 in chips)
Seat 8: Sharkomaha (1,901,016 in chips)

As the rotation turned to Omaha Hi/Lo, short stack ALD74 doubled through Bowsercastle. All the money went in on a [Ts][3h][3c] flop, ALD74's [2h][3d][5d][8d] up against [Ah][2d][6c][Qh]. The turn came the [Kd], but the river [2c] made ALD74 threes full, good for the 3.08 million pot.

Moments later, the action folded to chaka-G in the cutoff and he raised to 400,000. Sharkomaha called and they went to an [Ac][5d][3c] flop. Sharkomaha check-called, and checked again when the [6s] turned. Chaka-G bet, Sharkomaha raised all-in for 521,016 and chaka-G called.

Sharkomaha [Ah][6c][Td][Kd] (aces and sixes, low draw)
chaka-G [3s][4d][5c][5h] (set of fives, low draw)

The [Jc] river meant no low qualified and chaka-G scooped the pot with trip fives, ending Sharkomaha's run in eighth place.

The game had just switched to Razz when chaka-G, tigrenok.mn and Mikki31 went three ways to fourth street for 200,000 apiece. Chaka-G made the low board with A-T and led out, with both opponents calling. Chaka-G picked up a 6 on fifth and led again. Mikki31 caught a queen and folded, but tigrenok.mn called with 3-3-A. Chaka-G fired again on fifth street, tigrenok-mn raised, and chaka-G called. Chaka-G bet the river, tigrenok.mn raised again, and chaka-G called.

tigrenok.mn ([2d][4d]) [3h][3c][As][4c] ([7h])
chaka-G (X-X) [Ad][Tc][6d][8c] (X)
Mikki31 (X-X) [4h][Th][Qc]

Togrenok.mn's river 7 made him 7-4-3-2-A low and chaka-G mucked, losing most of his stack.

Two hands later, chaka-G got the rest of his chips in on third street vs. Bowsercastle and Mikki31. Both active players checked all the way to sixth street, when Bowsercastle bet 400,000. Mikki31 came along and called an additional bet when Bowsercastle bet again on the river. Bowsercastle revealed a 7-6-3-2-A low, chaka-G could only manage a queen-low, and he went out in seventh place.

One orbit later, the game was seven-card stud and JobberJay raised to 480,000 with the [Qd] up. Tigrenok.mn called with the [6c] and ALD74 reraised with the [As]. Both JobberJay and tigrenok.mn called to see fourth street. JobberJay paired his queen and led out, with both opponents calling. JobberJay checked fifth street, tigrenok.mn bet, ALD74 called and JobberJay folded. ALD74 led out for the rest of his chips on sixth street and tigrenok.mn called.

JobberJay (X-X) [Qd][Qh][3s]
tigrenok.mn ([Kc][3c]) [6c][8c][9c][Th] ([Js)]
ALD74 ([7s][Ac]) [As][8h][8s][5s] ([5d])

ALD74's aces and eights were no good against tigrenok.mn's king-high flush and he exited in sixth place.

Before the stud level could end, Bowsercastle brought it in with the [2d] and short stack homasapiens raised to 240,000 with the [Qh]. Bowsercastle called. On fourth street, homasapiens kept the lead and bet another 240,000, earning a call from Bowsercastle. Both players checked fifth street and on sixth, Bowsercastle checked with a pair of fives showing. Homasapiens bet 480,000 and Bowsercastle called. Bowsercastle bet the river and homasapiens called off his remaining 301,657.

Bowsercastle ([Td][3d]) [2d][5s][5d][Ks] ([6d])
homasapiens ([3s][Ah]) [Qh][2c][Th][As] ([5c])

Bowsercastle snapped off homasapiens' pair of aces with a ten-high flush on the river, ending his run in fifth place.

Shortly after four-handed play began, the players agreed to pause the action and discuss a potential deal. Here's how they stacked up at the time:

tigrenok.mn 11,716,633
JobberJay 11,162,730
Bowsercastle 8,763,137
Mikki31 8,747,500

The chip count chop and ICM figures came out very close together. JobberJay, Mikki31 and Bowsercastle were willing to accept either, but despite the fact that only $71.98 separated the two figures, tigrenok.mn declared, "only chip chop or play." Bowsercastle agreed to kick in $40 from his share in order to settle things, but tigrenok.mn was dead serious about that last $30.

tigrenok.mn: miki give me 30
Mikki31: no
Mikki31: u got 45
tigrenok.mn: lets play

An exasperated Bowsercastle, Mikki31, and JobberJay all donated another $10 each to tigrenok.mn's share and at last, the deal closed. With $500 left to play for along with the SCOOP watch and title, cards went back in the air.

The games ran through nearly another full rotation and we were back to Razz when JobberJay made his last stand. After three-betting on third street and calling bets from Mikki31 on fourth, fifth, and sixth, JobberJay bet his last 632,096 on the river and Mikki31 called.

Mikki31 ([Td][9d]) [8s][5s][6s][9c] ([Jc])
JobberJay ([As][Ah]) [8h][Jd][2s][4h] ([4c])

JobberJay ended up with a J-8-4-2-A low fell to Mikki31's T-9-8-6-5, and he exited in fourth place.

However, once the game circled back to limit hold'em, Mikki31 was down to 4.5 million while Bowsercastle and tigrenok.mn sat on 18 million apiece. With the betting limits up to 360,000/720,000, Mikki31 opened for a raise with [Qc][Jh] and Bowsercastle three-bet with [Ah][Qs]. Both players made top pair on the [Qh][8c][7h] flop. Bowsercastle led out and Mikki31 called. The turn came the [6h] and Bowsercastle fired again. Mikki31 raised, Bowsercastle three-bet and Mikki31 capped. When the [4h] rivered, Bowsercastle bet and Mikki31 called off his last 174,922. Although both players rivered flushes, Bowsercastle's was ace-high and Mikki31 hit the rail in third place.

Heads-up chip counts

Seat 1: tigrenok.mn (17,910,902 in chips)
Seat 4: Bowsercastle (22,479,098 in chips)

Two of the top three stacks to start the final table, Bowsercastle and tigrenok.mn played heads-up for nearly thirty minutes. Tigrenok.mn kept the score close and nearly tied Bowsercastle in chips at one point, but Bowsercastle had a very successful Omaha Hi/Lo level, scooping four substantial pots to push tigrenok.mn down to 8 million in chips. Tigrenok.mn never recovered entirely and was down to 4 million when the game changed to stud high. In a pot that Bowsercastle raised on third street and tigrenok.mn capped on fourth, the rest of tigrenok.mn's chips went in on fifth.

tigrenok.mn ([2c][Ah]) [4h][3s][2s][6d] ([5h])
Bowsercastle ([5d][2d]) [Ad][2h][8d][9d] ([8c])

Bowsercastle made an ace-high flush on sixth street and locked up his first SCOOP title.

Congratulations to Finland's Bowsercastle on joining the ranks of SCOOP champions! Thanks to the four-handed deal, he banked $4,602.63 for the win while runner-up tigrenok.mn earned $4,544.56

SCOOP-44-L ($11 H.O.R.S.E) results
Entrants: 3,217 (822 re-entries)
Prize pool: $40,390.00
Places paid: 520

1. Bowsercastle (Finland) $4,602.63*
2. tigrenok.mn (Mongolia) $4,544.56*
3. Mikki31 (Finland) $4,150.81*
4. JobberJay (Denmark) $4,403.36*
5. homasapiens (Poland) $2,019.50
6. ALD74 (United Kingdom) $1,211.70
7. chaka-G (United Kingdom) $605.85
8. Sharkomaha (Russia) $363.51

*denotes a four-way deal

Don't miss out on the final weekend of SCOOP! Check out the <a href="http://www.pokerstars.com/scoop">SCOOP homepage</a> for a full schedule and satellite information.

And if you don't have a PokerStars account yet, what are you waiting for? <a href="https://www.pokerstars.com/client/download/?source=12382610">Sign up today</a>.

With so many skilled poker players around these days and chip stacks so deep, it's not at all uncommon to see a SCOOP final table stretch on for three, four, or sometimes even upward of five hours. Sometimes, though, a player comes in with a big stack, picks up a few big hands, and blitzes to a win before anybody knows what happened. dirty.brasil's run through the final of Event #43-L started off with more chips than the other players at the table and ended less than two hours later with a second career COOP title.

The options for picking up more chips in Event #43-L, a $27 no-limit hold'em tournament, were the one re-buy available in the first two hours, the one add-on after that period, and the stacks in every other player's hands. The 2,877 starting players combined for 1,700 re-buys and 1,793 add-ons, building a $156,383.50 total prize pool shared between the top 360 players. The majority of those who cashed collected their payouts before play paused at the end of level 36 with dirty.brasil already holding a significant lead. At 9.13M chips, the player from Canada had 152 big blinds and 3.6M chips more than second-place pitaoufmg, a WCOOP 2012 and TCOOP 2013 finalist.

Just 26 players remained after that first day of play, and they returned at 10am ET to wind their way down to a final table. dirty.brasil maintained that chip advantage through the 100K/200K/25K level, when the final lineup was determined:

Seat 1: kopakabritu (10,078,297 in chips)
Seat 2: swifterjet (1,919,924 in chips)
Seat 3: GloRyKeepah (7,526,120 in chips)
Seat 4: pitaoufmg (5,287,949 in chips)
Seat 5: BioNicle9 (8,446,816 in chips)
Seat 6: rodloiola (7,080,854 in chips)
Seat 7: LameR25 (3,881,460 in chips)
Seat 8: Yuri "theNERDguy" Martins (5,554,828 in chips)
Seat 9: dirty.brasil (13,923,752 in chips)

Already a 2012 WCOOP champion, dirty.brasil strategy for chasing down a second career COOP title involved adopting an aggressive posture from the start, seeking to jump further ahead and build a stack to bludgeon the table. It would take a while, but that strategy would pay off handsomely. But first past MicroMillions finalist swifterjet doubled through dirty.brasil, moving in early on with [Ks] [Jc] after the leader had opened for 512K on the button. dirty.brasil called but couldn't catch with [Qd] [Td], giving swifterjet the double to 4.5M, and an orbit later the two split a pot when both held A-K before the flop.

In the end swifterjet would be the first to go, but not by dirty.brasil's hand. The Canadian player called all-in for 4.8M in the big blind with [9c] [9s] after kopakabritu had open-shoved in the big blind. The Brazilian looked to be in a pretty bad spot with [Th] [7s], but the [5c] [Ad] [Tc] [Td] [7c] board delivered a tens full of sevens by the river, giving swifterjet a rough ride into 9th place ($1,329.25).

That win had kopakabritu within three big blinds of the lead, and the Brazilian seized it on the next hand when GloRyKeepah's [Ah] [8h] held up to double through dirty.brasil's [Ks] [Jh]. dirty.brasil moved right back in front on the next hand, though, after calling LameR25's 2.6M-chip open shove with [As] [Kd]. LameR25, a WCOOP 2014 finalist who won the Sunday Warm-Up this January, was dominated with [Kh] [9h]. After the [Qh] [5d] [Ts] [5h] [5c] failed to bring help, LameR departed in 8th place ($2,267.56).

That gave dirty.brasil 14.3M chips and the lead once again. Within an orbit the leader had already moved up to 18.8M, but the next knockout didn't come in that stretch. Instead it came after a pre-flop raising war ended up with Yuri "theNERDguy" Martins all-in, holding [Kh] [Th] to pitaoufmg's [9c] [9h] and catching a ten on the turn to double to 11.7M. That left pitaoufmg with 391K, which all went in from the small blind on the next hand with [Jd] [5d] after kopakabritu raised in the cutoff with [Ad] [7h]. Nothing resembling help came on the [4c] [3s] [Qd] [As] [6h] board and pitaoufmg was gone in 7th place ($3,831.39).

Holding 12.4M chips and position on dirty.brasil, kopakabritu looked to press the advantage two hands later when both players were in the blinds, moving all-in with [3c] [3d] after dirty.brasil limped from the small blind. dirty.brasil called with [Ac] [Qs] and 6.7M behind, but the buffer proved unnecessary. The river card of the [9s] [4d] [4h] [6h] [9h] board negated kopakabritu's treys and made nines and fours for both players. kopakabritu played the board for the [6h] kicker, though, and dirty.brasil's [Ac] kicker ended up being the difference in the 25M-chip pot. With that, kopakabritu exited in 6th place ($5,395.23).

dirty.brasil took a stab at another knockout on the next hand, raising on the button with [Kh] [Qs] and calling when GloRyKeepah moved in for 5.5M in the big blind, but GloRyKeepah's [Ah] [7s] caught aces on the flop and river for three of a kind to stay alive. Seven hands after that dirty.brasil opened all-in with [5d] [5h] and the only caller was past Sunday Million finalist rodloiola, who had [Tc] [Ts] in the small blind. rodloiola was drawing to two outs after the [Ac] [9c] [5s] flop but the [As] turn and [4h] river didn't deliver, sending the last of the final table's three Brazilian players to the rail in 5th place ($6,959.06).

theNERDguy was the only player remotely close to dirty.brasil now at 15.9M chips. But then the WCOOP 2015 PLO/8 champion and WCOOP 2014 Main Event runner-up dropped 7M to the leader a few hands later. After checking the [Kh] [7d] [9h] flop and then semi-bluffing the turn and river with [8d] [6d], theNERDguy watched dirty.brasil show down [Jc] [Js] and drag the 14.3M-chip pot.

With 36.5M chips in hand, dirty.brasil now had 19 big blinds more than the rest of the table combined and used that advantage to apply consistent pressure to the others, who were looking at a difference of more than $4,000 between being the next player steamrolled by the leader and hanging on one more spot. With 10 minutes that stack was up over 50M, thanks to another knockout. Already in for 600K in the big blind, GloRyKeepah called with [As] [3s] after dirty.brasil shoved in the small blind. That was a 2-to-1 favorite over [9c] [2d], but the turn of the [Ks] [7c] [5h] [9d] [4d] board made a pair of nines for dirty.brasil, sending GloRyKeepah to the rail in 4th place ($9,148.43).

Another 10 minutes later the leader picked up [Tc] [Ts] in the big blind and called when BioNicle9 moved in for 6.8M. The German player had [Ks] [Qs] and missed the [3d] [Ad] [Jc] [6s] [7h] board completely, bowing out in 3rd place ($13,292.59).

theNERDguy was facing a massive uphill battle and did so with a sense of humor.

Even after doubling up twice, theNERDguy was still facing a 3-to-1 chip deficit and had to stay extremely aggressive. That led to three-betting all-in with [Qs] [8s] on the final hand after dirty.brasil opened on the button, and dirty.brasil made the call with [Ac] [9d]. The turn looked like it would extend the match, but the river of the [Ks] [6h] [5d] [Qh] [Ah] board made dirty.brasil a pair of aces and closed the tournament out.

Yuri "theNERDguy" Martins fared well, weathering the storm to second place for $18,558.02. As for dirty.brasil, the win marked a second career COOP title after a four-year gap, and it came with $24,710.41 and a fancy SCOOP champion's watch. Congratulations to both players for making so much out of a $27 tournament!

SCOOP-43-L ($27 NL Hold'em, 1R1A) results
Entrants: 2,877 (1,700 re-buys, 1,793 add-ons)
Total prize pool: $156,383.50
Places paid: 360

1. dirty.brasil (Canada) $24,710.41
2. Yuri "theNERDguy" Martins (Australia) $18,558.02
3. BioNicle9 (Germany) $13,292.59
4. GloRyKeepah (Sweden) $9,148.43
5. rodloiola (Brazil) $6,959.06
6. kopakabritu (Brazil) $5,395.23
7. pitaoufmg (Brazil) $3,831.39
8. LameR25 (Germany) $2,267.56
9. swifterjet (Canada) $1,329.25

Meet your final eight in the Eureka6 Bucharest main event:

Seat 1: Moshe Eliyahu, 27, Nahariya, Israel

Moshe Eliyahu had only $13k in reported live cashes prior to entering Eureka6 Bucharest. He's now guaranteed to double that; making the final table here already secures him a €11,630 payday. This is not Eliyahu's first visit to the Romanian capital; last August, he arrived to Bucharest for the Israeli Poker Tour and picked up three cashes during the festival, including his best result until today: €8,910 for a sixth place finish in the €550 Main Event. Eliyahu has been wearing a green shirt of his favourite football club Maccabi Haifa during the Eureka Bucharest Main Event. He can become the third Eureka champion from Israel should he follow in the footsteps of his compatriots Idan Greenberg (Eureka1 Bulgaria winner) and Liran Machluf (Eureka3 Bulgaria champ).

Seat 2: Avishai Shitrit, 30, Beersheva, Israel

Another Israeli player on the final table is Avishai Shitrit from Beersheva, who's sitting right next to his fellow countryman Moshe Eliyahu. Shitrit is a poker pro who started playing six years ago. He's focusing on both tournaments and cash games. The 30-year-old splits his time at the tables between live and online, and making the final table here is the biggest achievement of his career.

Seat 3: Razvan "razvyqq" Belea, 27, Targu Jiu, Romania, PokerStars player

Razvan Belea comes from Targu Jiu, Romania. His live results don't reveal much about him as he has recorded only two small cashes on the home soil. However, he's a poker pro, grinding online as "razvyqq". In the online realm, his biggest accolades came in the PokerStars Big $11. Belea has made five final tables of that same tournament including two second and two third place finishes. He banked over $11k several times in these events but making the final table here at Eureka6 Bucharest is certainly his biggest achievement to date. Belea's moniker indicates that his favourite hand is pocket Queens but on Day 3, he didn't mind holding a pair of Kings when he knocked out Mihai Ciorteanu (18th) & Adrian Ion Popa (19th) in a single hand. Apart from poker, Belea's hobbies are playing football and watching movies. The linguists amongst you might enjoy the fact that Belea means "trouble" in Romanian.

Seat 4: Yasen Dichev, 27, Varna, Bulgaria

Bulgaria's Yasen Dichev hails from Varna's suburb Aksakovo. The 27-year-old emerged as the chip leader at the end of Day 2, bagging up about 14% of all chips in play. That already made Dichev a huge favourite on making the final table. Should he finish sixth or better, he'll celebrate the best result of his career. So far, he's amassed $54k in live tournament cashes with the biggest prize of €21,000 earned in the €1k Event at EPT12 Prague. Dichev is currently ranked #57 on the Bulgarian all-time money list but can possibly move thirty places up the ladder if he wins this tournament. He's been playing poker for ten years and considers himself an amateur. However, he's also doing well in online tournaments; his biggest payday was around $119k.

Seat 5: Jozsef Liszkovics, 28, Odorheia Secuiesc, Romania, PokerStars player

Jozsef Liszkovics is a poker pro from Odorheia Secuiesc, Romania. He's been playing poker for four years, almost exclusively online. The 28-year-old specializes in tournaments and his biggest accolade was a first place in the PokerStars Bigger $109 worth about $37k. He's also a huge Real Madrid fan, filling a sentence "Hasta el final, vamos Real" in his profile. While his favourite football club is preparing for next week's Champions League final, Liszkovics will experience his biggest final tomorrow.

Seat 6: Razvan "b91pit" Bordei, 34, Bucharest/Romania, PokerStars qualifier

Amateur poker player Razvan Bordei has made his biggest live tournament final table right here in his home city. The 34-year-old from Bucharest has been enjoying poker since 2009, playing both live and online. Prior to entering Eureka6 Bucharest, Bordei amassed $24k in live cashes including a €2,080 payday for a 134th place at Eureka4 Vienna. He'll collect his second Eureka Main Event cash here in the Romanian capital and it will also be the biggest of his live career. In the online realm, Bordei's biggest win was about $25k.

Seat 7: Florin Ionut Pandilica, 36, Bucharest, Romania

Florin Ionut Pandilica is also a local player. He's been playing poker for the past decade and has racked up over $75k in live tournament winnings. Pandilica collected his biggest cash at EPT8 Barcelona, finishing 50th for €14,000 in the Main Event. He prefers tournaments over cash games.

Seat 8: Carmen Zainescu, 45, Plaiesti, Romania

There were only four female players in the Eureka6 Bucharest Main Event but one of them made it to the final table. Carmen Zainescu celebrated it loudly as she'd had the shortest stack in the tournament since there were two tables left but still found her way amongst the final eight. Zainescu, 45, hails from Plaiesti and has been playing live tournaments for five years. Her resumé includes cashes worth nearly $26k and she's about to boost it with her result in this tournament, which has already beaten her previous best (€3,700 for 15th at PokerFest Bucharest back in 2013). Zainescu claims family to be her other hobby.

Some players seem to do better in certain kinds of tournament structures than others, but if SCOOP final table appearances are anything to go by, SP3WMONKEY isn't one of them. The player from the Netherlands last appeared at a SCOOP final table playing Zoom Poker back in 2013. Returning today for a Special Edition of the Thursday Thrill, SP3WMONKEY played a dozen 30-minute levels of poker before emerging with a first career COOP title.

1,559 players turned out for this Progressive Super-Knockout no-limit hold'em tournament, building a $1,559,000 prize pool split down the middle between cash for the top 180 finishers and bounties for everyone who knocked someone else out. After 19 levels of play they called it quits for the night.

The Day 2 restart came around at 1:00pm ET and the 181 players who survived Day 1 all waited to see who would be the unlucky player who waited overnight to bust on the bubble. Ansimans from the Netherlands took that dubious honor, and everybody else left in the tournament collected a minimum of $1,013.35, plus any bounties they'd claimed along the way.

The long march to the final table was on, and it was a long one indeed. It took just over 10 hours to take the field down to nine players:

Seat 1: OMGACEACEACE (1,142,379 in chips)
Seat 2: gusmaa (2,201,953 in chips)
Seat 3: Divved (2,351,695 in chips)
Seat 4: Olorionek (307,064 in chips)
Seat 5: MkMyWishFish (2,508,772 in chips)
Seat 6: mican_ludi (2,779,567 in chips)
Seat 7: Vladimir "vovtroy" Troyanovskiy (817,283 in chips)
Seat 8: SP3WMONKEY (2,957,838 in chips)
Seat 9: benatias (523,449 in chips)

The first player to go was Israel's benatias. After losing a pot with [Qd] [Qc] to Olorionek's [Ks] [Kh] to keep the WCOOP 2011 Triple Shootout winner in the game, benatias was left with about 11 big blinds. After paying another round of blinds and seeing them coming back around, benatias opened all-in under the gun with [As] [Jh]. gusmaa called with [Kh] [Qd], caught top pair on the flop, and dodged a gutshot draw on the [Ks] [6d] [Td] [9d] [Jc] board to win the 465K-chip pot. After finishing 9th in last week's SCOOP 2016 Super Tuesday Special Edition, benatias also exited this event in 9th place ($8,106.80 + $6,035.15 in bounties).

Nearly an hour and a half would pass before the next knockout, no big surprise given that four stacks were working with 100 big blinds and not even the shorties had less than 20. MkMyWishFish survived in that stretch with [Ts] [Tc] against SP3WMONKEY's [7c] [7h] after both players hit sets, doubling to 3.48M, and Olorionek did the same with [Ac] [Kd] against Divved's [Ah] [Jh] for 994K.

Aside from those situations, nobody had to put their stack on the line again until 12:52am ET, when Olorionek made the fourth bet before the flop all-in for 383K, holding [9h] [9s]. That was a big favorite against the [7d] [7s] of three-better-turned-caller Divved, but then Divved made quads on the [7c] [7h] [8d] flop. The [8h] turn and [Qd] river didn't make runner-runner quads for Olorionek, and the Polish player was gone in 8th place ($14,810.50 + $6,921.86 in bounties).

After all that waiting for a knockout, the next one took just one more hand to arrive. Vladimir "vovtroy" Troyanovskiy, making his fifth SCOOP 2016 final table after a win back in SCOOP 2014, was in the big blind for 36K and called MkMyWishFish's button min-raise with [Jd] [9h] to see a [Qs] [8d] [3h] flop. He check-called a bet there, both players checked turn [Kd] turn, and then vovtroy made a straight with the [Td] river. He bet and called all-in when MkMyWishFish raised, but the Israeli player had made a flush on the same card with [Qd] [2d]. WIth that, vovtroy left in 7th place ($22,605.50 + $8,097,65 in bounties).

Following the five-minute break, only two more minutes would pass before gusmaa hit the rail. The Brazilian player, a finalist during SCOOP 2015, WCOOP 2013, and WCOOP 2015, had [9c] [9s] in the big blind and moved all-in for 1.18M over the top of mican_ludi's 78K-chip opening raise. The Serbian player called with [Ah] [Qc] and turned a Broadway straight on the [Kh] [8h] [Jd] [Ts] [Qh] board, and gusmaa was out in 6th place ($30,400.50 + $16,738.25 in bounties).

Five ways to Saturday

Those three quick knockouts left just five players in the hunt:

Seat 1: OMGACEACEACE (2,176,704 in chips)
Seat 3: Divved (2,505,827 in chips)
Seat 5: MkMyWishFish (4,917,938 in chips)
Seat 6: mican_ludi (4,921,323 in chips)
Seat 8: SP3WMONKEY (1,068,208 in chips)

The 18K/36K/4.5K blinds and antes meant nobody was under real pressure, and everybody got their chance to shine. Accordingly, it would be almost another hour and a half before another player hit the rail.

mican_ludi set the tone early and jumped into a big lead after playing a 148-big-blind pot against MkMyWishFish. The Israeli player, a Super Tuesday finalist in 2013, originally flat-called on the button after Divved raised to 77K in the cutoff, but MkMyWishFish ended up being the only caller of a small blind re-raise to 318K from mican_ludi. The action went bet-raise-call for 539K on the [Ad] [4d] [8h] flop before both players checked the [5s] turn. mican_ludi check-called a nearly pot-sized bet of 1.75M from MkMyWishFish on the [3d] river and showed down [9d] [6d] for the diamond flush - plenty good enough to beat MkMyWishFish's bluff with [Ts] [9s].

MkMyWishFish got it back half an hour later, surviving all-in with [Qc] [Tc] agaisnt mican_ludi's [Ah] [7h] to get back to 4.54M. But over the hour that followed, seemingly every big pot the Israeli played took part in ended up in the opponent's stack. MkMyWishFish would finally reach the end of the line at 2:27am ET after opening under the gun with [Ks] [Jc] and catching middle pair. Playing it safe out of position to mican_ludi, MkMyWishFish eneded up falling behind when the [5c] turn made a set for mican_ludi. The rest of the chips went in, the [8h] river changed nothing, and MkMyWishFish departed in 5th place ($38,195.50 + $17,810.52 in bounties).

At only 47 minutes, the wait for the next knockout was relatively short by this table's standard. The pots were distributed around the table, but mican_ludi continued to find a way to win the big ones. Taking the initiative and rivering two pair with [8s] [4h] for a 3.2M-chip win against Divved helped the Serbian player get out in front of the field again. Losses to Divved and previous SCOOP Zoom PLO finalist SP3WMONKEY kept both of those players alive, though still short-stacked compared to the leader, but SP3WMONKEY found a way back into contention soon afterward.

Under the gun with [Ad] [5d], SP3WMONKEY opened for 132K. past Super Tuesday runner-up and WCOOP finalist OMGACEACEACE re-raised to 330K on the button, then called after SP3WMONKEY made it four bets and 720K to go. Both players had ample reason to get their chips in on the [5s] [2c] [5c] flop, putting SP3WMONKEY at risk with three of a kind. The flush draw didn't come home for OMGACEACEACE after the [3h] turn and [7d] river, giving SP3WMONKEY the 5.3M-chip pot.

Left with seven big blinds, OMGACEACEACE defended the big blind an orbit later with [Jd] [7c] against a mican_ludi button raise and caught top pair on the [4c] [5s] [Jc] flop. The chips went in there, but mican_ludi walked away the winner with top pair after the [Ad] turn and [Qh] river, and OMGACEACEACE left in 4th place ($53,006 + $6,234.37 in bounties).

More than four hours of final table play were already in the books and with blinds and antes at 30K/60K/7.5K, three players still remained. mican_ludi led the way with 8.06M, with SP3WMONKEY (5.41M) and Divved (2.11M) trailing. With so much room to play, it took two players holding pocket pairs to force the action on the final hand before the break leading up to 4am ET. Divved had [4h] [4s] on the button, mican_ludi [Tc] [Th] in the small blind, and all Divved's chips went in as the fourth bet before the flop. mican_ludi called, the tens held up on the [Kd] [9c] [As] [Js] [Jc] board, and Divved exited in 3rd place ($71,714 + $6,554.68 in bounties).

Two more players, one more hour

Heads-up play began with mican_ludi holding 112 big blinds and SP3WMONKEY 82, portending a long match - even more so when they didn't want to talk about making a deal. SP3WMONKEY said the bounty on mican_ludi was enough extra to play for - and at more than $48,000 total, the half the SP3WMONKEY would claim for a knockout would be worth more than a 7th-place finish had been.

SP3WMONKEY turned up the heat early, winning the first nine pots, including one worth 2.94M after flopping bottom two pair on the button with [Th] [7s]. mican_ludi struck back six hands later with a pot that brought the two players' stacks within two big blinds of each other, and that settled them into a rhythm where there was action on most hands but the pots didn't get out of control.

A stretch where mican_ludi only took down four out of 27 pots, including four losses between 1.94 and 2.49M, turned things in SP3WMONKEY's favor, and the Dutch player used the advantage to apply maximum pressure. Down to 17 big blinds, mican_ludi was able to double up with [Kd] [4d] against SP3WMONKEY's [Ah] [Th] and eventually climb back as high as 5.4M, but the deficit would prove too much to overcome. The Serbian player finally moved all-in with [Kc] [8c] at 5:09am ET, and SP3WMONKEY called with [Ac] [8d]. The [9s] 5c] [5d] [6d] [Jh] changed nothing, and a marathon final table finally came to its conclusion.

mican_ludi's knockout-strewn path to the runner-up position left the Serbian player with a $95,099 cash from the regular prize pool and another $48,602.46 in bounties. SP3WMONKEY, meanwhile, earned $130,215.58 for first place plus another $31,228.96 in bounties - about three-quarters of which came just for besting mican_ludi heads-up. At six hours and one minute, the final table accounted for three out of every eight minutes played on Day 2 of this tournament. It was a true endurance test and both players earned every dollar of their prizes.

SCOOP-41-H ($1,050 NL Hold'em, Progressive Super KO, Thursday Thrill SE) results
Entrants: 1,559
Total prize pool: $1,559,000 ($779,500 regular prize pool, $779,500 bounty prize pool)
Places paid: 180

1. SP3WMONKEY (Netherlands) $130,215.58 + $31,228.96 in bounties
2. mican_ludi (Serbia) $95,099 + $48,602.46 in bounties
3. Divved (Poland) $71,714 + $6,554.68 in bounties
4. OMGACEACEACE (Poland) $53,006 + $6,234.37 in bounties
5. MkMyWishFish (Israel) $38,195.50 + $17,810.52 in bounties
6. gusmaa (Brazil) $30,400.50 + $16,738.25 in bounties
7. Vladimir "vovtroy" Troyanovskiy (Russia) $22,605.50 + $8,097,65 in bounties
8. Olorionek (Poland) $14,810.50 + $6,921.86 in bounties
9. benatias (Israel) $8,106.80 + $6,035.15 in bounties