A look at all the major stories from this past weekend on PokerStars. 

Weekend highlights

* Secret_M0d3 wins the SCOOP High Roller and a first prize of more than $700K 
* Raul Paez leads going into the final of the LAPT in Panama
* Some 27 SCOOP titles won over the weekend

Round up of latest results

Quite frankly there were a ton of results this weekend, far too many to look at individually. What we can say though is that it was an extraordinary weekend, both in the amount won (top prize was more than $700,000) and in the quality of those winners. 

Secret_M0d3 won that top prize, while there were wins for SsicK_OnE, Stephen "stevie444" Chidwick, Team Online's Matthias "Mati312" Brandner, Shawn "buck21" Buchanan (his second title of SCOOP 2016), Mike "goleafsgo41" Leah and Dan 'Danny98765' Smith. 

The weekend's top online tournament winners

In terms of numbers the top ten winners from the weekend were...

Click here for the complete list of major results on PokerStars for the weekend of April 16 to 17, 2016.

Coming up today

Another busy day for SCOOP with 12 events finishing today. There are also nine more about to get started, details of which are below. 

SCOOP-31-L: $27 NL Hold'em [4-Max], $50K Guaranteed
SCOOP-31-M: $215 NL Hold'em [4-Max], $150K Guaranteed
SCOOP-31-H: $2,100 NL Hold'em [4-Max], $250K Guaranteed
SCOOP-32-L: $55 PL Omaha [6-Max, 5-Stack], $50K Guaranteed
SCOOP-32-M: $530 PL Omaha [6-Max, 5-Stack], $150K Guaranteed
SCOOP-32-H: $5,200 PL Omaha [6-Max, 5-Stack], $300K Guaranteed
SCOOP-33-L: $27 Stud Hi/Lo, $25K Guaranteed
SCOOP-33-M: $215 Stud Hi/Lo, $25K Guaranteed
SCOOP-33-H: $2,100 Stud Hi/Lo, $75K Guaranteed

You can find details of all SCOOP events, both those that have been played and those yet to start, on the SCOOP 2016 homepage. You can also check up on all the scores on our results page, and find all the reports from each event on our SCOOP coverage page.

And finally...

The Latin American Poker Tour is in action in Panama and is down to a final table at the Sortis Hotel and Casino. Eight players will return today to pay down to a winner, led by Raul Paez.

If you've been following our live updates over the weekend you'll know that it's been a thriller. Those live updates continue at 12 CT, which is 6pm UK time. Follow the action on the PokerStars Blog.

That's another weekend on PokerStars wrapped up. As always send your questions and comments to us on Twitter: @PokerStarsBlog.

Over the last several years, babbelz has enjoyed a unique form of success in PokerStars COOP events: the player from the Netherlands has chopped at the final table of tournaments in two different COOP series. Neither of those ended with the Dutch player taking down the title, though, leaving it a distinction of a slightly bitter note. That bitter note turned sweet with another deal at the end of tonight's SCOOP 2016 event, one that finally ended with babbelz's name at the top of the leaderboard as champion.

Event #25-L was the $7.50 version of a 6-max no-limit hold'em tournament with Ultra-Deep stacks. Each player was given 50,000 chips to begin play and the levels began at five minutes each, gradually increasing in length until Level 35, when they reached 15 minutes each for the rest of the tournament. The prospect of playing so much shorthanded poker with all those chips drew 9,546 players, good for a $65,103.72 at $7.50 apiece. The top 1,200 spots paid out at least $12.36, with nearly $10,000 awaiting the winner - but only after a lot of poker had been played.

Day 1 ended after 42 levels with 232 players still holding chips, led by Estonia's Nevvegiveup (6.87M), or 214 big blinds. But neither Nevvegiveup nor anyone else in the top 25 at the start of the day would make it through to the final table, with the lone exception of Lars Botman. The player from the Netherlands climbed from ninth at the start of the day to a tie for third when the 7th-place finisher was eliminated at 12:05am ET. With blinds and antes at 600K/1.2M/150K, there was a significant spread between the stacks at the table:

Seat 1: goldenboy#36 (69,734,220 in chips)
Seat 2: Zigslick (34,740,716 in chips)
Seat 3: harmatiuk994 (167,282,862 in chips)
Seat 4: pazipro (42,043,814 in chips)
Seat 5: Lars Botman (69,538,881 in chips)
Seat 6: babbelz (93,959,507 in chips)

The 15-minute levels and relatively deep stacks on Day 2 left plenty of room to play at the final, and the players took advantage, playing out deep pots without having to be concerned about somebody moving all-in after every flop. The action was so reliably back-and-forth that when the first knockout did finally arrive on Hand #37, it was a monster that caught everyone off guard.

A big opener

harmatiuk994 opened the action for the minimum of 3.2M under the gun and both blinds called to put 10.8M in the pot before the [3c] [As] [7d] flop. Both babbelz and goldenboy#36 checked to harmatiuk994, who bet 6.4M and drove babbelz away. goldenboy#36, though, check-raised to 16M, and harmtiuk994 called. goldenboy#36 led for another 16M on the [7s] turn, a bet that harmatiuk994 called to set up a 72.8M-chip pot going to the river. goldenboy#36 led out one more time for 34.4M after the [Jc] came on fifth street, then called harmatiuk994's raise all-in for 45.6M more and showed [Ah] [7c] for the turned full house, sevens full of aces. harmatiuk994 had a better boat with [Jd] [Js] for jacks full of sevens, though, laying claim to the 224M-chip pot and knocking goldenboy#36 out in 6th place ($976.55).

With more than three and a half times as many chips as anyone else at the table, harmatiuk994 was now as clear as leader as you'll ever find at a SCOOP final. Less clear was who would step up to compete with the leader. pazipro won several pots, but they were all double-ups to keep the short-stacked Hungarian player in the game. Zigslick won a few, too, but mostly floated along ahead of the other short stacks and way behind the leader. After about 20 minutes of harmatiuk994 dominating play, babbelz flopped a set with [2d] [2h] and won a 54M-chip pot from harmatiuk994 to become the second player to cross the 100M-chip mark, at 109M.

On babbelz's next big blind, the Dutch player called with [Ah] [8s] after pazipro moved all-in for 19.1M on the button. pazipro's [As] [3h] was already dominated before falling into worse position after the [Ts] [5h] [8d] flop gave babbelz a pair of eights. Only runner-runner to a wheel straight could spin a winner, but the [Js] and [5c] came instead and pazipro was gone in 5th place ($1,464.83).

A short while later, babbelz re-raised to 10.4M out of the small blind with [Ac] [Jc] after harmatiuk994 opened under the gun and promptly caught a Broadway straight on the [Kc] [Tc] [Qd] flop. babbelz led there and again on the [Ts] before slowing down after the [4d] river in case of a full house, but harmatiuk994 checked behind and mucked. babbelz was suddenly to within 15 big blinds of the leader.

Ten hands later Zigslick got in on the action, calling on the button with [Td] [Th] after babbelz opened for 4.5M under the gun. babbelz would fold after Lars Botman re-raised all-in for 39M in the small blind, but Zigslick called with the tens and was up against [Jc] [Tc]. The [4d] [9c] [7d] held out the possibility for a few draws to materialize, but they failed to do so on the [Ad] turn and [Kd] river, giving Zigslick the 85M-chip pot and eliminating Lars Botman in 4th place ($2,766.90).

A deal and a turnaround

With all three remaining players' chip stacks falling within 20 big blinds of each other and nobody holding on to less than 78 big blinds themselves, the circumstances were there for a deal to be made, so the three players struck one that left $1,000 and the champion's watch in play. With their winnings secured, they continued to play for some time before Zigslick executed a bold move to take the lead. The Icelandic player three-bet to 12M in the big blind after babbelz opened the action for 5M in the small blind, and babbelz called to see an [Ad] [6s] [Qh] flop. The Dutch player then check-called 9.6M there and 22M on the [Ks] turn before checking on the [5h] river. This time Zigslick moved all-in for 123M, overbetting the pot for just 500K more than babbelz's stack, and babbelz ended up folding with the [Ah] face-up. Zigslick turned over [Th] [4d] - a stone-cold bluff - and raked in the 88M-chip pot to move into first place.

Zigslick would stay in the lead through the 1.4M/2.8M/350K level, with babbelz winning a few pots against harmatiuk994 and the former leader hanging around on the short stack. Finally, harmatiuk994 busted out to leave Zigslick and babbelz heads-up. The lead was Zigslick's by a 308M-to-168M margin, but babbelz quickly trimmed it to just two big blinds after opening with [Jc] [9h] on the button, calling a re-raise from Zigslick, and then calling bets the rest of the way after catching middle pair on the [4s] [Ts] [9c] flop. Zigslick had been firing blanks with [Kc] [6s], and the two were suddenly on even footing.

Then babbelz reeled off seven wins in the next eight pots, capped by a 217M-chip pot won after re-raising out of posiiton with [Ac] [Qs]. babbelz led for increasingly large bets with nothing on the [Ts] [2d] [3c] flop and [3d] turn before hitting a pair of queens on the [Qd] river. Zigslick called 42M there and mucked, giving babbelz a lead of better than 4-to-1. Four hands later Zigslick opened on the button with [Kc] [Qs] and called all-in when babbelz re-raised, setting up a race against [Kc] [Qs]. They were barely out of the gate when it was decided by a trey on the flop, giving babbelz a set to close out the tournament.

Having finished 3rd after a four-way split of a SCOOP event in 2013 and chopped a TCOOP five ways in 2014, getting the win was a welcome feeling for babbelz, whose share with the extra cash on the table came to $7,470.04. Congratulations on getting that breakthrough!

SCOOP-25-L ($7.50 NL Hold'em, 6-Max, Ultra-Deep) results
Entrants: 9,546
Total prize pool: $65,103.72
Places paid: 1,200

1. babbelz (Netherlands) $7,470.04*
2. Zigslick (Iceland) $6,790.96*
3. harmatiuk (Brazil) $6,918*
4. Lars Botman (Netherlands) $2,766.90
5. pazipro (Hungary) $1,464.83
6. goldenboy#36 (Germany) $976.55
*Reflects the results of a three-way deal that left $1,000 in play for the winner

It's a been a good year for Franco "rojorulez" Spitale so far.

He started it off with a cash in the PCA Main Event and then got 2nd place in the Argentinian Poker Circuit Main Event last month. Now Spitale has his first major online title after taking down Event #25-M. 

The title came with a SCOOP watch and a $29,024.92 payday. To get to that shiny treasure, Spitale had to overcome a field of 2,457 players in this ultra-deep, 6-Max event.

It was a two-day adventure with a lengthy final table.

Spitale grabbed the final table lead early on but then lost it to RigasDinamo. After that, RigasDinamo eliminated nearly every table at the final table.

Then Spitale cracked pocket kings with pocket jacks, regained the lead and brought the tournament heads-up. It was a swift victory for Spitale after that.

The final table

Seat 1: Franco "rojorulez" Spitale -- 15,479,449
Seat 2: neverdixs -- 20,218,274
Seat 3: goxomago -- 18,987,000
Seat 4: biszibosz -- 22,146,600
Seat 5: RigasDinamo -- 23,695,549
Seat 6: Pokerfan89Gr -- 22,323,128

Players were fairly even in chips until neverdixs' stack got halved.

In that hand, Spitale called from the small blind and neverdixs checked from the big blind. Spitale bet 745,000 on the [5h][ad][qs] flop and neverdixs called. The turn brought a [tc] and another bet from Spitale.

neverdixs called the 1.5 million-chip bet and a [2s] completed the board. Spitale bet 4.4 million and neverdixs called and mucked after Spitale showed [as][5d].

The hand put Spitale in the lead with 26.2 million while neverdixs dropped to 8.6 million. Then neverdixs dropped down to 0.

neverdixs raised to 1 million a few hands later and RigasDinamo called from the small blind. The big blind folded and a [9c][kh][qc] flop graced the board. neverdixs bet 1.4 million when checked to and RigasDinamo moved all-in for 27.2 million. 

neverdixs called all-in and showed top pair with [ks][jh], but RigasDinamo had two-pair with [9h][qh]. A [6s] came on the turn and [3d] fell on the river. 

RigasDinamo took the lead with 38.3 million while neverdixs won $3,492.01 for the 6th place finish. 

Tag team

RigasDinamo then helped eliminate the next player. 

Pokerfan89Gr survived a few double-ups, but wasn't able to survive a three-way all-in where biszibosz and RigasDinamo eviscerated his stack.

biszibosz moved all-in for 6.8 million from the cutoff and RigasDinamo called from the button. Pokerfan89Gr reshoved for 17.9 million and RigasDinamo called. 

biszibosz: [ah][tc]
RigasDinamo: [ac][qh]
Pokerfan89Gr: [9s][9c]

The [kc][qc][js][2d][6d] board gave biszibosz a broadway straight and the main pot while RigasDinamo took the sidepot with a pair of queens.

biszibosz tripled up to 21.6 million while RigasDinamo's lead grew to 49.3 million. Pokerfan89Gr on the other hand got a $6,449.62 payday for finishing 5th.

One more for the Dinamo

Then RigasDinamo completely eliminated goxomago.

RigasDinamo raised to 1.6 million from the button and goxomago called from the big blind. Both players checked the [7c][kc][3h] flop and a [7d] came on the turn. Players checked again and an [8c] completed the board.

goxomago bet 1.7 million and RigasDinamo moved all-in for 55.7 million. goxomago called all-in with [kd][tc] while RigasDinamo showed trip sevens with [7s][4s]. goxomago finished 4th and won $10,135.12 while RigasDinamo rose to 69.5 million.

Rise of Spitale

That's when Spitale came back.

biszibosz raised to 2.3 million from the button and RigasDinamo re-raised to 6.8 million from the small blind. Spitale moved all-in for 36.6 million, biszibosz called all-in and RigasDinamo got out of the way. 

Two big pairs were about to clash.

Spitale showed [jd][js] and biszibosz tabled [kc][ks]. biszibosz was in the lead, but a [2h][5s][jc][qd][5h] board gave Spitale a set of jacks. 

biszibosz won $15,663 for finishing 3rd while Spitale took back the lead.

Heads up

Spitale -- 64,814,400
RigasDinamo -- 58,035,600

Spitale pulled away early on. On the fifth hand of heads-up play, RigasDinamo raised to 2.3 million and Spitale three-bet to 6.4 million. RigasDinamo called and the flop came [2c][3d][ks]. Spitale bet 6.2 million, RigasDinamo called and a [4s] came on the turn. 

Spitale bet 12.4 million and RigasDinamo called. The river brought a [4d] and an all-in bet from Spitale. RigasDinamo thought for some time, showed a [kh] and folded.

The hand put Spitale up to 92.8 million and left RigasDinamo with 30.0 million.

The tournament ended five hands after that. 

Spitale raised to 2 million and RigasDinamo moved all-in for 23.6 million. Spitale called and we had the final showdown of the tournament.

Spitale: [ad][jd]
RigasDinamo: [kd][9d]

The [th][ah][ks][7c][2s] board brought both players a pair but Spitale's aces were best.

RigasDinamo won $21,094.92 for finishing 2nd while Spitale took the title and $29,024.92.

SCOOP-25-M ($82 NLHE 6-Max, Ultra-Deep) results
Entrants: 2,457
Total prize pool: $184,275
Places paid: 330

1. Franco "rojorulez" Spitale (Argentina) $29,024.92
2. RigasDinamo (Latvia) $21,191.62
3. biszibosz (Poland) $15,663.37
4. goxomago (Russia) $10,135.12
5. Pokerfan89Gr (Cyprus) $6,449.62
6. neverdixs (Thailand) $3,492.01

What has Dan 'Danny98765' Smith not won? Danny98765 now only needs a WCOOP to win the Grand Slam and take down an elusive Stars Slam. Danny98765 won the Sunday Million in 2012, binked a TCOOP in 2014, and just shipped a SCOOP. So a WCOOP bracelet is the only major COOP that he hasn't won. Danny98765' also prevented a Brazilian from winning another bracelet much to the dismay of the swath of Brazilian fans and dedicate followers of Team PokerStars Felipe 'mojave' Ramos.

The relentless Brazilian Storm wrecked havoc and seemed unstoppable during the first week of SCOOP with a dozen bracelets won by Brazilians. Although Team PokerStars Felipe Mojave advanced to the final table, the highest he'd get would be third place before busted out. That marked his second third-place finish over the previous week.

The high version of 2016 SCOOP Event #30-H $2,100 Zoom Mixed PLO 6-Max was also a turbo-charged event that attracted 179 Omaha gurus. They created a prize pool worth $358,000. The top 24 places paid out in this Zoom Turbo expedited event with $85,920.00 set aside for the champion. This "mixed" Omaha event switched between regular PLO and 5-car PLO.

Felipe 'mojave' Ramos and Shaun Deeb both made the final table of this ZOOM event, but they were just speed bumps on Dan 'Danny98765' Smith's journey into victory lane.

SCOOP-30-H - Final Table Chip Counts:
Seat 1: Mrdawwe (300,862)
Seat 2: shaundeeb (148,336)
Seat 3: Hoegh93 (352,606)
Seat 4: Danny98765 (437,182)
Seat 5: Turtza (269,232)
Seat 6: mojave (281,782)

The final table commenced during Level 39 with blinds at 10K/20K. Danny98765 was the biggie with 437K and Deeb was the shorty with 148K. A couple of notes about the final table players...

- David 'Mrdawwe' Sonelin won a 2015 WCOOP, but he was seeking a first SCOOP.

- shaundeeb won a ton of stuff. You know his accolades, so I won't repeat myself. The OG Waffle Crush has 5 SCOOP victories and he's trying to win another one after Shawn "buck21" Buchanan shipped another event.

- Dan 'Danny98765' Smith won a 2014 TCOOP and he chopped a Sunday Million in 2012. He's won over $10 million and is a regular in High Roller events all over the world.

- Team PokerStars Felipe 'mojave' Ramos closest call to winning a COOP was at the 2009 WCOOP when he finished second in a PLO event. He also final tabled Event #3-H and finished in third.

- Hoegh93 went deep in Event #8-H heads-up and made a final table in a 2014 SCOOP.

Turtza eliminated in 6th place

During a round of 5-card PLO... Turtza bombed it all-in for 67,050, mojave and Mrdawwe both called. The flop was [Qh][Td][8d] and mojave and Mrdawwe both checked. The turn was the [5h] and both players checked. The [4d] fell on the river. mojave check-folded to a 67,500 bet from Mrdawwe.

Mrdawwe: [Kc][7c][6d][3c][2h]
Turtza: [Ac][Ah][Qs][Jh][8h]

Turtza losy with two pair -- Queens and eights -- against Mrdawwe's eight-high straight. Finland's Turtza became the first player to bust at the final table. Sixth place paid out $16,110.00.

Shaun Deeb eliminated in 5th place

Shaun Deeb will have to wait another day to win another SCOOP bracelet. But at least he can add another final table to his collection.

During regular PLO... Mrdawwe opened to 98,000, shaundeeb called all-in for 74,336, Hoegh93 shoved for 287,806, and Mrdawwe called.

Hoegh93: [Kd][Kh][Qc][Td]
Mrdawwe: [Ks][Jd][9s][2d]
shaundeeb: [Ah][Js][7c][2s]

The board ran out [8d][7s][5c][3d][9d]. Mrdawwe lost with a Jack-high flush to Hoegh93's King-high flush. shaundeeb could only muster up a pair of sevens and failed to triple up. Shaun 'shaundeeb' Deeb from "Mexico" was dunzo in fifth place, which paid out $23,270.00.

With four remaining... Hoegh93 led with 664K and mojave was the shorty with 312K.

Mrdawwe eliminated in 4th place

During a roun of 5-card PLO... Shorty Mrdawwe open-shoved for 50,642, Hoegh93 and Danny98765 both called. The flop was [Th][7d][7s]. Hoegh93 check-folded to a Danny98765 bet of 50,135. Heads-up.

Danny98765: [Kh][Tc][Td][8c][5d]
Mrdawwe: [As][Qc][9s][9c][2h]

The turn was the [Kc] and the river was the [Ks]. Mrdawwe lost with two pair against Danny98765's full house. Sweden's Mrdawwe was knocked out in fourth place, which paid out $30,430.00.

With three left in the hunt for the bracelet, mojave had seized the lead with 769K.

Felipe 'mojave' Ramos eliminated in 3rd place

Brazil denied another bracelet. PokerStars Team Pro Felipe 'mojave' Ramos hit the bricks in third place during a round of 5-card PLO. mojave lost the bulk of his stack and he was seeking a well-timed double up. He moved all-in for his last 106,922 against big-stacked Hoegh93.

mojave: [Kh][8d][6d][4h][2s]
Hoegh93: [As][9h][5h][5s][4c]

The board ran out [Ah][7h][3c][3s][9d] and mojave could only muster up a pair of treys. Hoegh93 dragged the pot with Aces up. Team PokerStars Pro and Snapchat superstar mojave went busto in third place, which paid out $44,750.00.

HEADS-UP: Hoegh93 (Denmark) vs. Danny98765 (Canada)
Seat 3: Hoegh93 (761,534)
Seat 4: Danny98765 (1,028,466)

Heads-up lasted a mere three hands. Denmark could not stop Canada.

Hoegh93 eliminated in 2nd place; Danny98765 wins SCOOP bracelet, eh!

This heads-up match went fast, even for Zoom standards. During a round of 5-card PLO, Hoegh93 peeked into the abyss before getting nudged over by Danny98765. Hoegh93 opened to 25,000, Danny98765 bumped it up to 150,000, and Hoegh93 called. The flop was [Ac][Kc][5d]. Danny98765 fired out 30,000, Hoegh93 jammed for 436,534 and Danny98765 called.

Danny98765: [9s][8c][8h][7s][6c]
Hoegh93: [9c][7h][4c][3h][2c]

The board completely finished up [Ac][Kc][5d][Jd][Qd]. Hoegh93 completely whiffed on everything and could only muster up a paltry Ace-high. Danny98765 won the hand with a pair of eights.

Denmark's Hoegh93 busted in second place, but earned a payday worth $59,249.00.

Congrats to Danny98765 for winning Event #30-H. This Zoom Mixed PLO event paid out $85,920.00 for first place, in addition to a commemorative champion's watch courtesy of Movado.

SCOOP-30-H ($2,100 PL Mixed Omaha [6-Max, Turbo, Zoom]) results
Entrants: 179
Total prize pool: $358,000
Places paid: 24

1. Dan 'Danny98765' Smith (Canada) $85,920.00
2. Hoegh93 (Denmark) $59,249.00
3. Team PokerStars Felipe 'mojave' Ramos (Brazil) $44,750.00
4. David 'Mrdawwe' Sonelin (Sweden) $30,430.00
5. shaundeeb (Mexico $23,270.00
6. Turtza (Finland) $16,110.00

Visit the SCOOP homepage for a complete schedule of remaining events. Plus see who is on top of the Leader Board and in contention for Player of the Series.

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

Say the words "high roller" and names like Mustapha Kanit, Steve O'Dwyer, and Igor Kurganov no doubt come to mind. But in our game, everything is relative, so why not have a high roller for everyone? For the SCOOP's low buy-in players, their high roller was priced at $215, and suprisingly, it drew quite a few players that frequent nosebleed-stakes MTTs, including German sensation Ole Schemion, a man who has hoisted quite a few trophies and banked numerous seven-figure scores in his short time in the game. Schemion, however, wasn't long for this final table, which came down to a fierce three-way battle for the title. Australia's Knightsgeee recently made a $141k score for fourth place in the $2,100 "Mount Everest" installment of the Mountain series, jorginho88 is a Sunday Warm-up Champion who took down six figures in Event #10-H ($1,050 NLHE Super Tuesday SE) and IvanaHarman is a three-time Big $109 champion. In this three-horse race, IvanaHarman saw fortune shine down in a number of tough spots, and emerged as our newest SCOOP champion. 

Event #24-L drew 3,782 entries (2,517 players and 1,265 re-entries) resulting in a $756,400 prize pool. 480 places were paid with $124,754,54 up top. Day 1 concluded after 33 levels of play, with 39 players remaining. Notable Day 2 finishers included Keven "Stammdogg" Stammen (32nd), WCOOP champ Jonathan "OMGjonyctt" Concepcion (33rd), Chris "Big Huni" Hunichen (26th), and Chris "Moorman1" Moorman (14th). 

The blinds were up to 150,000/300,000 on the final table bubble. Jorginho88 led off with a 680,500 raise from UTG and leitalopez moved all-in for 4,110,827 from the small blind. IvanaHarman reshoved for 7,845,038 from the big blind and jorginho88 got out of the way. Leitalopez's [Ad][9d] did not improve against IvanaHarman's [Ac][Qh] and he went out in ninth place, sending the rest of the remaining field to the final table.

Final table chip counts

Seat 1: wizowizo (4,965,989 in chips) 
Seat 2: PDGanev (4,630,242 in chips) 
Seat 3: jorginho88 (16,413,445 in chips) 
Seat 4: jareth3542 (4,629,004 in chips) 
Seat 5: IvanaHarman (12,861,365 in chips) 
Seat 6: Romzess II (5,681,511 in chips) 
Seat 7: IceStream (10,865,562 in chips) 
Seat 8: Knightsgeee (15,592,882 in chips) 

The most decorated player at this final table was unfortunately the first to bust. Ole "wizowizo" Schemion has over 11 million in career live earnings at only 23 years of age, and most recently won the €100,000 Super High Roller at the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo for €1,597,800. He then went on to finish 2nd in the €50,000 Super High Roller, banking another €857,241. Not bad for a week's work, eh?

Down to about 3 million in chips with the blinds up to 180,000/360,000, Schemion open-shoved with [Ks][Qh] from UTG+1 and was met with a reshove from Romzess II in the small blind. Romzess II turned over [Ad][Kh] and picked up an ace on the flop, ending Schemion's run in eighth place. 

Four hands later, Knightsgeee made it 759,600 to go from middle position and jareth3542 three-bet shoved for 1.89 million from the big blind. Although jareth3542 held the preflop lead with [Ad][9d] vs. [Qs][Th], a queen hit the flop and jareth3542 hit the rail in seventh place. The pot took Knightsgee up to 23.1 million, good for the chip lead. 

PDGanev got quite unlucky when he three-bet shoved with [Qc][Qd] and ran smack into jorginho88's [As][Ad]. Jorginho88 flopped quads to boot on the [Ah][Ac][Kh][4c][7c] board, and a stunned PDGanec went out in sixth place. 

IceStream steadily lost ground during five-handed play, going from 8.3 million in chips to 3.4 million. When Romzess II opened for 960,000 from UTG, IceStream looked down at [As][Ks] and moved in for 3.37 million. Romzess II called with pocket fours and promptly flopped a set on the [7d][5s][4h][6h][2s] board, sending IceStream home in fifth place. 

Romzess II briefly took the chip lead with 23.1 million, but on the next deal jorginho88 picked up [Ks][Kd] and opened for 980,000. Romzess II called and they saw a [Tc][3s][3d] flop. Romzess II check-called jorginho88's 850,850 bet and check-called another 2.46 million when the [9c] turned. The river was the [7d] and Romzess II check-called another 6.87 million, only to be shown kings up. Jorginho88 raked in the 22.85 million pot and moved into the chip lead with 34.6 million, while Romzess II fell to 11.8 million. However, less than an orbit later, IvanaHarman open-shoved from UTG for 13 million and jorginho88 called from the big blind. IvanaHarman was in a world of trouble, her [4c][4s] up against [Ts][Th], but was saved by the flop when it fell [8h][7c][4h] to make her a set. Jorginho88 didn't catch up on the turn or river and IvanaHarman assumed the chip lead with 26.7 million, relegating jordinho88 to second place. 

With the blinds up to 300,000/600,000, Romzess II was down to 8.37 million. When IvanaHarman made a button shove for all 30.7 million, Romzess II called, his [Kh][Qs] in great shape against [Ks][9c]. However, the poker gods once again shined on IvanaHarman with the gift of a [Th][9s][7d] flop, pairing her kicker. The [Tc] turn and [3h] river were no help to Romzess II and he departed in fourth place. 

When three-handed play commenced, IvanaHarman was the chip leader with 40.37 million, jorginho88 held 18.34 million and Knightsgeee was the short stack with 16.92 million. 

Knightsgee picked up some steam in a pot that was limped three ways to a [5s][5c][4c] flop. Jorginho88 checked to IvanaHarman, who bet 941,850. Knightsgeee called and jorginho88 gave up his hand. The turn came the [6s], and IvanaHarman checked. Knightsgeee bet 2,822,222 and IvanaHarman came in with a raise to 7,244,444. Knightsgee called and both players checked the [Jd] river. IvanaHarman turned up [Qs][4h] for two pair on the flop, but it was no match for Knightsgeee's [Ts][Th] for tens and fives. Knightsgeee raked in the 18.8 million pot and moved up to 36.2 million in chips, while IvanaHarman fell to 22.5 million. 

After another thirty minutes of pushing chips around the table, the final three agreed to pause the action and discuss a potential deal. Here's how they stacked up at the time:

IvanaHarman  32,428,065
jorginho88  23,731,512
Knightsgeee  19,480,423

After being presented with both chip count chop and ICM figures, IvanaHarman proposed a deal that would average the two numbers. Both IvanaHarman and Knightsgeee were amenable to this version of the deal, but jorginho88 had a different idea. Instead of leaving $3,000 on the table to play for, jorginho88 proposed using the numbers IvanaHarman and Knighsgee agreed to, but taking an even amount off each share so they would leave $10,000 in play instead. Once the calculations were made, all three agreed to the deal, and with $10k and the SCOOP watch still in play, action resumed. 

Then, on the very first hand back, jorginho88 folded his button and IvanaHarman made a small blind shove for 32.2 million. Knightsgeee called, his [5s][5c] up against [Ah][3h]. IvanaHarman's run-good continued, as she flopped an ace on the [As][Jd][7s][Kd][7c] board to send Knightsgeee to the rail in third place. 

Heads-up chip counts

Seat 3: jorginho88 (23,581,512 in chips) 
Seat 5: IvanaHarman (52,058,488 in chips) 

Despite the $10,000 still on the table, this heads-up match was over in three hands. On Hand #3, IvanaHarman made a button min-raise to 2,000,000 and jorginho88 three-bet to 4.8 million. IvanaHarman shoved and jorginho88 called all-in. 

jorginho88  [Ah][Qd]
IvanaHarman  [Ac][9d]

Although her hand was once again dominated, IvanaHarman caught a nine on the flop, the board running out [9c][7s][4s][Kh][6c] to lock up the win. 

Congratulations to IvanaHarman on joining the ranks of SCOOP champions. The Serbian banked $107,530.81 for the win, while runner-up jorginho88 of Hungary earned $90,049.81. 

SCOOP-24-L ($215 NL Hold'em [8-Max, High Roller]) results
Entrants:3,782 players (2,517 entries, 1,265 re-entries)
Prize pool: $756,400.00
Places paid:480

1. IvanaHarman (Serbia) $107,530.81*
2. jorginho88 (Hungary) $90,049.81*
3. Knightsgeee (Australia) $86,017.92*
4. Romzess II (Russia) $52,948.00
5. IceStream (Bulgaria) $37,820.00
6. PDGanev (Bulgaria) $22,692.00
7. jareth3542 (United Kingdom) $13,237.00
8. Ole "wizowizo" Schemion (Germany) $6,996.70

*denotes a three-way deal

There is still plenty of SCOOP action ahead! Check out the SCOOP homepage for a full schedule and satellite information. 

And if you don't have a PokerStars account yet, what are you waiting for? Sign up today. 

The second weekend of the 2016 Spring Championship of Online Poker presented players with plenty of opportunities to hit it big. Saturday afternoon's schedule included Event #22, a pretty standard No Limit Hold'em format except players were given access to huge stacks.

The medium buy-in version had a $109 ticket price and a $150,000 guaranteed prize pool. The structure change gave players five stacks of 5K virtual chips which they could load anytime they pleased. They could play one stack at a time or pile them up all at once at the start. If they didn't activate all their stacks by the start of Level 20, the system would do it for them.

The tournament drew a whopping 3,545 players to create a prize pool worth $354,500 with the last 450 earning some cash. The tournament was scheduled to pause at the end of Level 28 and 181 players were still around for a Day 2 return including Team PokerStars members Eugene Katchalov and Mickey "mement_mori" Petersen.

The extra deep stacks and slow structure allowed players to use all the weapons in their arsenal and they carefully made way through the tournament. They played 28 levels on the first day plus another six hours on Day 2 but still two tables remained with some top players.

Matthew "mjw006" Wakeman final tabled the Event #1-H, the big opening tournament last week but was unable to match his 2015 WCOOP Event 36 title. Dylan "Pokerl)eviL" Hortin had back-to-back seventh place finishes in the 2013 and 2014 WCOOP Main Events for over $200,000 each while Agentul05 has three Super Tuesday final tables to his credit.

All top players, none of which were able to make their way to this final table. They each dropped out with two tables still around and it was down to one when dyno52's [ah][8h] held against Lars Botman's [kd][9d] to send him out in 10th place.

Seat 1: dyno52 (15,356,571 in chips)
Seat 2: Purple Haze (8,060,832 in chips)
Seat 3: lil-lj1981 (10,682,232 in chips)
Seat 4: BernardoDG (5,149,686 in chips)
Seat 5: Jan "hownorez" Nakladal (14,347,176 in chips)
Seat 6: TerjePower18 (10,951,691 in chips)
Seat 7: #2slim4gym#H (9,565,360 in chips)
Seat 8: ragAAAila19 (11,384,676 in chips)
Seat 9: HYZENBURG (3,126,776 in chips)

Blinds: 120K/240K with 30K Ante

HYZENBURG dealt tough beat, eliminated in 9th

HYZENBURG hit the final table as the bottom stack of the bunch but found a big pair not long afterwards. He opened under the gun to 516,000 and Nakladal raised to 1.43 million from the cutoff.

HYZENBURG four-bet shoved for a bit under 3 million total and Nakladal called to put him at risk. [qd][qh] was the big pair HYZENBURG found and gave him a great chance to double up against [ah][qs]. Instead of a double, HYZENBURG saw the problem immediately on the [ad][5h][5s] flop.

The [kc] turn did nothing to improve his situation and HYZENBURG was knocked out in 9th place after the [5d] river ended his day.

#2slim4gym#H hashed out, eliminated in 8th

#2slim4gym#H was firmly in the middle of the pack for much of the latter parts of the tournament but lost an 8 million chip pot to Purple Haze one hand after HYZENBURG was KOd. He tried to get his chips back a few orbits later when he open-shoved for 4.9 million and lil-lj1981 responded with a shove of his own in the small blind.

BernardoDG let his big blind go and #2slim4gym#H was flipping with [ad][qc] against [9c][9d]. No magic for the two big cards as the board ran out [ks][7d][5h][4d][4s] to send #2slim4gym#H out in 8th place.

A-Q giveth and A-Q taketh away.

ragAAAila19 queened as well, eliminated in 7th

Keeping up with a theme of big hands with big queens, the next major pot involved two of them once again. This time, it was ragAAAila19 moving all-in for 4.2 million from the cutoff and lil-lj1981 called in the big blind with a chance for back-to-back knockouts.

ragAAAila19 was in trouble with [as][7d] against [qd][qh] and couldn't pair his overcard as the virtual dealer spread the [js][8d][4c][7c][8s] board. It was another queen hand, this one holding, and ragAAAila19 hit the rail in 7th place for $7,976.

BernardoDG follows the path of queens, eliminated in 6th

There were three quick eliminations at the final table before the remaining six settled in for an hour of grinding. TerjePower18 picked up a 12 million chip pot during that time and BernardoDG went to find a double for himself an orbit later.

The Brazilian three-bet shoved for 7.4 million after lil-lj1981 opened to 1.26 million. Nakladal saw something he liked and moved all-in over the top for 25.4 million next to get everyone else out of the hand. It's was queens again, this time BernardoDG holding [qc][qd] and they were dominated by Nakladal's [kh][ks].

BernardoDG couldn't find a queen or magic miracle cards to save his day as the board ran out [5h][5c][4c][jd][3c] to send another out with queens.

dyno52 chopped up, eliminated in 5th

The blinds were starting to catch up to dyno52 and TerjePower18 with each hovering around the ten big blind mark. The two short stacks put their chips in against each other but it was much ado about nothing. Each was holding the (now) popular A-Q and neither could find the double-loving four flush.

Four hands later, dyno52 was all-in again and Purple Haze called in the big blind to get a long, time bank sucking decision by lil-lj1981. The big blind eventually folded and it was a non-traditional race with dyno52's [5s][5c] ahead of the [kc][tc] of Purple Haze.

The [tc][7h][4d] flop put Purple Haze in the lead and dyno52 was the next knocked out when the board completed [7d][jh].

lil-lj1981 has a little quad trouble, eliminated in 4th

The comfortable period of the tournament was a thing of the past and the super short-handed table was costing players a lot in blinds and antes. lil-lj1981 found a four-handed baby pair and called all-in from the big blind after Purple Haze put in a sizable big blind bet.

lil-lj1981 held [2s][2h] and her ducks were looking for a miracle against [7c][7d] but received the exact opposite in the form of the [9s][7s][7h] flop. The quad-giving board left lil-lj1981 drawing completely dead to the pointless [3d] turn and [9c] river to exit the tournament in 3rd place.

Bad flop for TerjePower18, eliminated in 3rd

One hand after lil-lj1981 was eliminated, there was another battle of the blinds causing another elimination. It was Nakladal doing the damage when he open-shoved from the small blind with [ad][8c] and TerjePower18 called in the big with [as][ts].

A dominating hand for TerjePower18 but the eight-high [8d][6d][4d] flop swapped their fates. TerjePower18 was stuck hoping for a ten or some combination of running straight cards but saw nothing he liked on the [2h] turn or [qh] river to drop in 3rd place.

Seat 2: Purple Haze (38,137,252 in chips)
Seat 5: Jan "hownorez" Nakladal (50,487,748 in chips)

Blinds: 350K/700K with 87.5K Ante

Purple Haze immediately asked Nakladal if he was interested in making a deal and got a quick "no thx". Nakladal had the lead but it switched up on that first hand when Purple Haze dragged an 18 million chip pot without a showdown.

Seat 2: Purple Haze (47,324,752 in chips)
Seat 5: Jan "hownorez" Nakladal (41,300,248 in chips)

Blinds: 350K/700K with 87.5K Ante

Nakladal adds second COOP title with Event #22-M win

Purple Haze extended his lead through the early part of the heads-up match, stretching it to better than three-to-one for a while before losing traction. Nakladal stayed alive when he doubled with [ac][qh] versus [ah][jd], pulled back ahead in a 24 million chip pot with [4s][4s], then finished it off with a furtunate flop.

The final hand saw Nakladal open-shove his button with [kh][7s] and Purple Haze quickly called with the dominating [as][kc. His chance for a double up took a hit on the [ts][7h][5s] flop then it was all over when the board finished [4h] and [7c] to give Nakladal the hand and the tournament.

Purple Haze had a chance to earn his first COOP title but had to settled for runner-up money. This is the second SCOOP victory for Nakladal, joining along with his 2013 SCOOP $215 NLH 4-Max event win. He also has a bit of live tournament success including the time he made the last two tables during the 2013 World Series of Poker Main Event.

SCOOP-22-M ($109 NL Hold'em 5-Stack) results
Entrants: 3,545
Total prize pool: $354,500
Places paid: 450

1. Jan "hownorez" Nakladal (Czech Republic) $55,657.63
2. Purple Haze (Sweden) $41,476.50
3. TerjePower18 (Norway) $29,423.50
4. lil-lj1981 (Cyprus) $20,383.75
5. dyno52 (Canada) $15,176.14
6. BernardoDG (Brazil) $11,521.25
7. ragAAAila19 (Romania) $7,976.25
8. #2slim4gym#H (Estonia) $4,431.25
9. HYZENBURG (Canada) $2,836.00

Bulgaria's silna_rakia survived a tough Badugi final table in SCOOP Event #23-H that also included Team Online Naoya 'nkeyno' Kihara, Alex 'BiatchPeople' Luneau, Mike 'goleafsgoeh' Leah, and Adam 'adamyid' Owen. silna_rakia prevented nkeyno from winning his first SCOOP title, and thwarted Alex Luneau from winning a second overall COOP crown. The high-version of Badugi was a unique final table in which only the top five places paid out in this top-heavy event. Plus, three of the final table players had barely missed winning previous SCOOP events and had to settle with a disappointing runner-up finish. Those blood-thirsty Badugi fiends were all seeking redemption with their first bracelet. In the end, Bulgaria's silna_rakia bested this boisterous bacchanalian Badugi buffet and defeated Alex 'BiatchPeople' Luneau heads-up to clinch the win.

The high version of SCOOP Event #23-H $2,100 Badugi drew in 45 Badugi-heads. They created a $90,000 prize pool where only the top 5 places got a cut of the prize pool with $36,000.00 set aside for the champ.

When your nickname is just the name of the game you play the most, it's safe to say you're probably pretty good at that game. Team Online's Matthias "Mati312" Brandner is known as "Mr. Badugi," thanks to his great success playing the game at high stakes. Now he has a Badugi tournament victory to go along with those winnings after breaking through in Event #23-M.

The tournament drew a select field of 186 players, good for a $37,200 prize pool to be shared among the top 24 finishers. Team Pro's George Danzer managed to make the money but couldn't draw close to the final table, finishing in 21st place ($465). Shaun "shaundeeb" Deeb also busted from the same table, finishing 17th. Not long after their departures, Day 1 ended as the final table was reached.

Sitting at the top of the leaderboard overnight was none other than Team Online's Naoya "nkeyno" Kihara. Holding the chip lead gave him an advantage for chasing down his first SCOOP title after finishing both second and third in past events. But even with an advantage, there was plenty of competition to get through, including multiple past COOP winners and Kihara's teammate, Brandner, who took 5th place in SCOOP 2014's high-price Badugi event.

Seat 1: gmd68 (256,230 in chips)
Seat 2: Team Online's Naoya "nkeyno" Kihara (515,305 in chips)
Seat 3: The TJS (308,390 in chips)
Seat 4: Premove (233,335 in chips)
Seat 5: Team Online's Matthias "Mati312" Brandner (259,050 in chips)
Seat 6: CAE$AR_08 (124,860 in chips)
Seat 7: aDrENalin710 (39,890 in chips)
Seat 8: Sal "ugritaly" Fazzino (122,940 in chips)

Four-time COOP winner aDrENalin710 had past experience grinding back from a short stack to win a SCOOP title, and in a triple-draw game no less. But having just three big bets didn't leave much room for withstanding an early loss. aDrENalin710 three-bet from the small blind early on after Mati312 raised in the cutoff, and ugritaly joined the two of them, drawing one card the whole way. aDrENalin710 stood pat on the first two draws before taking one card one the third, while Mati312 went 2-1-1 on his draws. urgitaly finally got his card on the third draw and showed down [8s] [5d] [3c] [2h] to take the pot, so it was no fifth COOP for aDrENalin710, who was out in 8th place ($1,023).

Premove made the $215 Badugi final table in SCOOP 2013 and took 5th place, but more recently finished 6th in Event #21-L just a few hours ago. Unfortunately the Russian player wouldn't top either of those finishes here. After losing a few pots in the early going, a particularly nasty cooler in the small blind shut down Premove's day in this tournament. Dealt a Badugi with [8d] [6h] [7s] [3c] in the small blind, Premove raised to 14K and then four-bet for 28K after Mati312 re-raised in the big blind. Both stood pat and kept up the betting until Premove was all-in, and then Mati312 showed down [8h] [7d] [6s] [2c] - a Badugi with the top three cards identical to Premove, only with a deuce instead of a trey. The slimmest of losses sent Premove to the rail in 7th place ($1,302).

Fellow short stack CAE$AR_08 would go on the next hand, also from the small blind. The Bulgarian player re-raised and then stood pat with [Tc] [7h] [4c] [2d], and ugritaly, winner of two TCOOP tournaments this January, stood pat as well after taking one card on the first draw and then re-raising CAE$AR_08's bet. That shook Mati312 and ugritaly heads-up with CAE$AR_08, showing down [9h] [6d] [3c] [2s] after the Bulgarian player was all-in. ugritaly took the pot, and CAE$AR_08 took 6th place ($1,674).

gmd68, who won the Turbo Takedown back in 2010 and made the final table of Event #4-M earlier this week, wasn't particularly short with more than 95K in chips. But a fold after the third draw in a pot against The TJS left gmd68 in the hole with just over two big bets. Even after doubling up twice with the tournament on the line, a single loss - against The TJS once again - left gmd68 hoping for an opening. The German player was ground down by the blinds and finally raised all-in for a single big bet, discarding one card on all three draws in a three-way pot with Mati312 and The TJS. The Badugi remained elusive, though. Mati312 showed down the winner, and gmd68 left in 5th place ($2,046).

After all that action, the table was four-handed and both Team Online players were still in the hunt. The TJS had the lead with 614K, and the other three players were relatively equally stacked between 399K and 432K. With the stakes newly raised to 8K/16K there was still a lot of poker to be played, and the 59 hands that followed could serve as a workshop for anybody looking to learn about playing Badugi well. As it had through the final table, the chip lead would change hands during this stretch. Mati312 took it from The TJS in a pot where the former stood pat after the second draw and the latter folded after the third. Then nkeyno won two sizable pots and suddenly all four players' stacks were within just two big bets of each other.

Mati312 eventually managed to string together two wins within three hands against The TJS. The first came when both players could only make a 3-card and Mati312's 5-2-A beat The TJS's 7-6-2, and the second when Mati312 drew one card to a 9-5-2-A Badugi on the first draw and stood pat the rest of the way. The TJS mucked at showdown on that second hand and was left with 61K. Half of those chips went in before the first draw two hands later after ugritaly re-raised The TJS's opener, and the rest went in after the second draw. Both players were drawing the whole way and could only make three-card hands, ugritaly with [7h] [5s] [2h] [Ac] for 5-2-A, and The TJS with [5d] [4h] [3h] [2s] for 5-3-2, out by the slimmest of margins in 4th place ($3,162).

Three players remained now, two were from Team Online, and one was multitabling another SCOOP Badugi final. Naoya Kihara's focus was divided between three-handed play in both this tournament and Event #23-H, the $2,100 version. In some ways an enviable position, it still meant he had two different groups of world-class players coming after him at the same time. He began three-handed play in this tournament as the shortest stack and soon lost two pots to ugritaly: whiffing a one-card draw all three times in the first pot, and then standing pat after discarding one on the first draw, only to see ugritaly make a better Badugi on the second draw with T-6-4-2.

Two hands after that, Kihara made his stand. He raised the button to 24K, drew two cards, and then called ugritaly's bets the rest of the way before raising all-in after the third draw with a [Tc] [6s] [2h] [Ad] Badugi. ugritaly had drawn the same number of cards on each draw - two, one, and one - and ended up with a nearly identical hand: [9d] [4s] [3c] [Ah]. The nine beat the ten, and Naoya "nkeyno" Kihara was gone in 3rd place ($4,464).

It was now 2:11pm ET and the final two players were so closely stacked - 943K for Mati312 and 916K for ugritaly - that they were essentially tied with the stakes at 12K/24K. They were also both relatively deep-stacked at close to 40 big bets each, setting up a long heads-up match. For an hour and 15 minutes they battled and ugritaly seemed to be getting the better of the match as the stakes got higher. Then Mati312 rattled off five big wins in six pots on the 24K/48K level that changed the course of the game, showing down three big Badugis and betting ugritaly out of the hand on the other two.

Those losses set ugritaly far enough back that even winning a 336K-chip pot a few hands afterward was only enough to bring him to within a 2-to-1 deficit. Down the stretch he continued to win pots, but mostly the ones that Mati312 didn't bother to chase. The rest of the time, the Team Online pro was showing down winners and grinding ugritaly's stack further down. Finally he wound up all-in for less than one big bet, losing yet another slim showdown between three-card hands: ugritaly had 6-2-A, and Mati312 closed out the tournament with 3-2-A.

It was a fitting first COOP win for the high-stakes Team Online player known as "Mr. Badugi," who topped his previous best SCOOP finish with his first PokerStars MTT win in the game that gave him his name. Congratulations to him for adding a tournament title to all his cash game success!

SCOOP-23-M ($215 FL Badugi) results
Entrants: 186
Total prize pool: $37,200
Places paid: 24

1. Team Online's Matthias "Mati312" Brandner (Austria) $8,091
2. Sal "ugritaly" Fazzino (Australia) $5,766
3. Team Online's Naoya "nkeyno" Kihara (Japan) $4,464
4. The TJS (United Kingdom) $3,162
5. gmd68 (Germany) $2,046
6. CAE$AR_08 (Bulgaria) $1,674
7. Premove (Russia) $1,302
8. aDrENalin710 (Russia) $1,023

Pot Limit Omaha has always been an action game, big bets and tons of options. Event #21 threw in an extra hole card, rebuys, and short-handed tables to really ramp things up. It was a Pot Limit Omaha 6-Max tournament with five hole cards and big guarantee. The field was small but talented and turned into a battle of the Netherlands in the end, with WhattUBluff knocking out countryman BlackOps02 to win the title.

The $82 buy-in medium version of the event drew 455 players and they mashed the single "rebuy" 281 times with 256 add-ons when late registration closed on the tournament. They created a $75,640 prize pool to easily pass the $50,000 Guarantee and the last 60 players earned a piece of it.

Day 1 concluded at the end of Level 28 and only nine players remaining in the tournament. NOR-playah led the way at the restart but there was little difference among the top four. neto-gol held the shortest stack and the 2012 SCOOP Event #30-M champion was the first eliminated after the restart.

The final table was set when NOR-playah's [ac][qc][jh][6h][6d] held up against deuces85's [ad][qd][tc][7s][3h] on the [kh][5c][4s][8c][8d] board. They gathered as one six-handed table with Lovet89 holding a big chip lead.

Seat 1: Lovet89 (3,208,736 in chips)
Seat 2: NOR-playah (1,219,627 in chips)
Seat 3: DroNNer (1,618,520 in chips)
Seat 4: Alexander "utvekklo2" Ceder (1,383,225 in chips)
Seat 5: WhattUBluff (1,747,455 in chips)
Seat 6: BlackOps02 (742,437 in chips)

Blinds: 20K/40K

Queens no good for NOR-playah, eliminated in 6th

No one was really short when they started the final table and the six of them played with a full table for an hour before something broke. WhattUBluff caught a big double up against Lovet89 before NOR-playah tried for one of his own.

BlackOps02 started things off with a limp on the button and Lovet89 limped his small blind. NOR-playah popped it with a pot-sized bet and only BlackOps02 came along to the [6h][4d][2c] flop. NOR-playah check/raised all-in with a hand full of overcards plus a big pair [ad][ks][qd][qs][jh] and BlackOps02 called with his flopped set [9h][9c][6c][6s][5c].

NOR-playah needed help but missed the [8d] turn and BlackOps02 improved to a straight on the [3h] river to send the first player off the final table.

utvekklo2 wheeled out, eliminated in 5th

Alexander "utvekklo2" Ceder was the only player at the final table with a previous COOP victory, earning a WCOOP title in 2012 during a PLO tournament, but he ran his big pair into a big flop five hands after NOR-playah was eliminated.

It was three-ways to the [4h][3h][2h] flop when Ceder called all-in after BlackOps02 bet big. Ceder called with [as][ad][9c][5d][4d] and it was in bad shape against BlackOps02's flopped nut flush [ah][qh][jc][8c][2d] to leave Ceder drawing super thin. The [7s] turn was no good and Ceder was stuck with 5th place money for $4,008.

DroNNer jacked up, eliminated in 4th

The hour-long, drawn out final table action at the start was a thing of the past and chips were flying once players began hitting the rail. Five cards make for some big starting hands and DroNNer found himself with a short stack and big(ish) pair.

He opened for a pot-sized bet and WhattUBluff hit the pot button right back to him. It was enough to put him all-in and he called with [qh][jh][jc][7d][5c]. A nice pair but WhattUBluff was a little bigger with [ac][ad][qs][6c][2c] and the aces held as the board ran [tc][th][6s][4d][ks] to send DroNNer out in 4th place.

Let's make a deal

The remaining three players paused the clock to work out a deal to chop up the remaining prize pool. WhattUBluff and BlackOps02 held the majority of the chips and took the majority of the money.

BlackOps02: $11,585.21
WhattUBluff: $11,419.18
Lovet89: $9,617.59
Leftover for the champion: $1,000

Lovet89 can't find a way, eliminated 3rd

Lovet89 hit the final table with a big lead but nothing went right from that point forward. He tossed a double up to WhattUBluff early and his stack went downhill from there. His final hand saw him heads-up with BlackOps02 to the [kh][8s][6s] and he raised all-in for his final 819,000.

Lovet89 was ahead by a little with [qd][td][9h][8h][2s] but BlackOps02 was holding a big wrap draw with [tc][9c][7d][6c][4s]. The [5d] turn finished the straight to send the former leader out in 3rd place for $9,617.

Seat 5: WhattUBluff (4,057,797 in chips)
Seat 6: BlackOps02 (5,862,203 in chips)

Blinds: 50K/100K

WhattUBLuff wins battle of the Netherlands to earn SCOOP title

WhattUBluff and BlackOps02 both hail from the same fine country and the two settled in for a long heads-up battle. BlackOps02 extended his lead early but he couldn't put it away. The two went back and forth for more than 30 minutes with WhattUBluff crawling back into the match then taking a small lead into the final hand.

They were only separated by a few big blinds when they saw a [9h][6s][5s] flop in a three-bet pot. An action flop if there ever was one and all the chips were in the middle after four big bets. BlackOps02 had to like his flopped straight with [th][8c][7h][6c][2s] but he had to dodge WhattUBluff's flush draw with [ah][qs][js][9s][5h].

The [3d] turn changed nothing but the tournament ended when WhattUBluff caught his flush on the [ts] river. The big action event ended the way it played the entire time, draws on draws and plenty of gamble. BlackOps02 played a great game to take home the deal-made second place payout while WhattUBluff continued the proud Dutch poker tradition to win his first COOP title.

SCOOP-21-M ($82 PL 5-Card Omaha 6-Max 1R1A) results
Entrants: 455 (281 Rebuys, 256 Add-Ons)
Total prize pool: $75,640
Places paid: 60

1. WhattUBluff (Netherlands) $12,419.18*
2. BlackOps02 (Netherlands) $11,585.21*
3. Lovet89 (Sweden) $9,617.59*
4. DroNNer (Russia) $5,597.36
5. Alexander "utvekklo2" Ceder (Sweden) $4,008.92
6. NOR-playah (Norway) $2,571.76
*Reflects a three-way deal that left $1,000 in play for the winner