Flowers are blossoming all over the Northern Hemisphere to announce the start of the 2016 Spring Championship of Online Poker. 

While some scientists say spring predates the SCOOP, poker players agree that the season doesn't start until the series does. For the next few weeks, players will have the chance to capture a SCOOP title in 55 different events. It's a bankroll friendly series since each event will feature a low, medium and high buy-in.

While most of the titles are still up for grabs, HhCMotU already snagged one. Germany's HhCMotU bested a field of 3,361 players and won the SCOOP-05-M title along with $51,219.57.

It was a fairly quick victory for HhCMotU, who started the final table second in chips and finished the tournament off in a flush-over-flush cooler.

The final table

Seat 1: Dhr. Awesome -- 7,768,338
Seat 2: FiatEruditio -- 1,700,093
Seat 3: HhCMotU -- 10,678,290
Seat 4: andersbisse -- 13,412,426
Seat 5: Karolijanas -- 3,409,889
Seat 6: puan29 -- 7,810,964

On the second hand of play, Dhr.Awesome raised to 400,000 and FiatEruditio moved all-in for 1.7 million. Action folded back to the initial raiser and Dhr. Awesome called.

FiatEruditio tabled [as][ts] and Dhr.Awesome turned over [jc][jh]. 

The [7s][3s][7d][5c][td] board brought FiatEruditio too little too late and the Russian player was eliminated in 6th place.

FiatEruditio won $5,709.45 for the final table finish while Dhr.Awesome chipped up to 9.9 million.

The big slick slide

Ace-king didn't work out too well for puan29 this tournament.

Shortly after FiatEruditio's elimination, Karolijanas moved all-in for 2.5 million. puan29 re-shoved from the button and the blinds folded.

puan29 turned over [ac][kd] and had Karolijanas' [as][6s] dominated. But Karolijanas hit a [6c] on the flop and puan29 didn't improve on the turn or river. 

Karolijanas doubled to 5.5 million while puan29 became the tournament shortstack with 4.4 million.

Then puan29 got ace-king again. 

anderbisse called from the cutoff, puan29 moved all-in for 3.1 million from the small blind and anderbisse called.

puan29: [ah][ks]
anderbisse: [8h][8c] 

andersbisse was in the lead and hit another eight on the [4s][2c][8d][jh][ts] board. anderbisse's lead grew to 21.7 million while puan29 won $10,075.50 for finishing 5th.

Return of the king

Ace-king had its time in the pits and wanted a rematch. 

HhCMotU raised from the button and Karolijanas moved all-in for 7.8 million. HhCMotU called with [as][kc] and Karolijanas tabled [8d][8s].

Eights were in the lead until the river of a [3c][qh][4s][th][ac] board paired HhCMotU's ace and gave our eventual champion the lead with 20.6 million. 

Then HhCMotU brought the tournament heads-up.

Dhr.Awesome moved all-in for 4.3 million from the button and HhCMotU called from the small blind. 

HhCMotU showed [ah][8d] while Dhr.Awesome tabled [kc][th]. The [9s][4c][5h][8s][qs] board brought no ace or king, but it did pair HhCMotU's eight. 

Heads up

HhCMotU -- 24,865,949
Anderbisse -- 19,914,051

Heads-up play was cut short due to a pair of flushes.

In the last hand of the tournament, anderbisse raised 400,000 and HhCMotU re-raised to 1.34 million. anderbisse four-bet to 3.28 million and HhCMotU called. 

The flop came [td][4d][4h] and anderbisse bet 1.8 million. HhCMotU called and a [jd] came on the turn. anderbisse bet 2.8 million, HhCMotU called and a [ks] completed the board. 

anderbisse moved all-in for 10.9 million and HhCMotU called. anderbisse turned over [9d][8d] for a jack-high flush, but HhCMotU showed a king-high flush with [kd][jd].

anderbisse won $36,943.50 for the runner-up finish while HhCMotU took the title and $51,219.57.

SCOOP-05-M ($82 NLHE 6-Max) results
Entrants: 3,361 entries, 1,117 re-entries
Total prize pool: $335,850.00
Places paid: 570

1. HhCMotU (Germany) $51,219.57
2. Anderbisse (Denmark) $36,943.50
3. Dhr. Awesome (Netherlands) $26,868.00
4. Karolijanas (Lithuania) $17,511.21
5. Puan29 (Argentina) $10,075.50
6. FiatEruditio (Russia) $5,709.45

The Manila Megastack 5 Main Event hosted by PokerStars Live Manila and Asia Pacific Poker Tour, came to a close at the Grand Ballroom of City of Dreams Manila with Chinese Taipei's Tze Chieh Lo reigning victorious to capture the massive first place cash prize of P2,392,350 and the championship trophy.

The fifth installment of the Manila Megastack series promised to be bigger and better than its previous installments, and it certainly did not disappoint. There were a total 478 entries at the Main Event generating a prize pool of P10,432,350, well exceeding the guarantee of P6M. After three intense days of Main Event action, it came down to the final table action with some of the toughest players in the Asian poker scene. Entering the final table as the chip leader was Norway's Henrik Tollefsen followed by Germany's Julian Hasse.

It was Japan's Eichi Mizuno who delivered the first blow, eliminating Chinese Taipei's Fu Lung Hung in 9th place. But immediately after, it was Lo and Chinese Taipei's Shih Chieh Su who began to dominate the action, taking down pots with several aggressive bets and raises. Lo eliminated Canada's Karl Thorson in 8th place, Tollefsen railed Mizuno in 7th place, and then Tollefsen took a painful blow to his stack when his big slick lost to Su's set of threes. Tollefsen managed to gain some of it back but after Lo eliminated Australia's Angelo Peter Scicchitano in 6th place, Lo had a dominating lead. With the blinds quite high, the only action seen at the felt was the all-in shove. Eliminations went by quick with Tollefsen railed in 5th place by Hasse, then Hasse eliminated by Lo in 4th place, and Japan's Keiji Ye in 3rd place after falling to Su's straight.

The heads up round had Lo ahead in chips against Su but after ten hands with a few flops hitting the felt, Su overtook Lo by nearly 2M chips. But in heads up, there is usually that one crucial hand that turns the tide and it happened when Lo moved all in on a board of [5h][7c][8c] and Su snap-called. Lo had [as][9d] and Su with [ah][6c]. When the turn of [js] and river of [5s] completed the board, Lo was awarded the biggest double up of the Main Event, climbing to over 12M chips while Su fell to 1.8M chips. Two hands after, the last hand saw Lo eliminate Su in 2nd place with his [kd][8d] against [9h][6h] on a board of [2d][ts][2h][ad][jc].

Prior to the final table, there were 108 gunners who entered the final day. Holding court at the top was Su, with Lo within range in fourth position. With 45 players seeing the money, reigning Asia Player of the Year champion Hong Kong's Alan "Kinglune" Lau finished in a respectable 12th place, Japan's Kenichi Takarabe (Red Dragon winner in July 2010) took 25th place, and Australia's Ken Demlakian finished just made the money in 39th place. Another player who ran well was Korea's Seung Soo Jeon who nearly bubbled to the money but instead made it to 10th place, one spot shy of the final table. Indonesia's Sammy Bolung finished in 14th place, he was one of the many players Su eliminated throughout the day.

The Main Event drew in an international crowd representing 29 countries led by the Philippines with 104 players, Japan with 84 players, Taiwan/Chinese Taipei with 51 players, Korea with 40 players, and the USA with 34 players. The Main Event also posted some record-breaking numbers with 220 entries at Day 1a, the largest number of entries for the series-to-date. The total entries of 478 also surpassed previous turnout of 375. Lastly, this was the largest prize pool for the series, over P10.4M, crushing the past record of P3.2M.

Top Ten Payouts:

1st Tze Chieh Lo - Chinese Taipei - P2,392,350

2nd Shih Chieh Su - Chinese Taipei -P1,526,000

3rd Keiji Ye - Japan - P966,000

4th Julian Hasse - Germany - P773,000

5th Henrik Tollefsen - Norway P585,000

6th Angelo Peter Scicchitano - Australia - P433,000

7th Eichi Mizuno - Japan - P331,000

8th Karl Thorson - Canada - P280,000

9th Fu Lung Hung - Chinese Taipei - P234,000

Final Day Updates

Manila Megastack 5 Blogs

12:15PM: Final Day begins! Welcome to the Final Day of the Main Event with 108 players returning to the felt. They will all be gunning for the massive first place purse of P2,392,350. Good luck to all the players!

It was another bustling day at PokerStars Live Manila with the Manila Megastack 5 Main Event Day 1b drawing in 258 entries to the Grand Ballroom of City of Dreams Manila. With a deep starting stack of 30,000, players flocked the registration booth, and by the time cards were in the air, there were at least twenty tables already filled up with more opening up shortly after.
By the end of late registration / re-entry, the day's prize pool grew to a massive P5.6M.

By the end of sixteen rounds, there were 59 players who made the cut with Chinese Taipei's Shih Chieh Su bagging the largest stack of 367,000 chips. Su had a steady run of accumulating chips throughout the day and then landed a massive pot with a nut flush. During the hand, Su called a player's all in shove on the flop of [ah][5h][2d] while holding [kh][8h], and he was up against ace-five two pair. The turn of [8c] was no help to both but the river of [7h] gave Su one of the outs he needed for a winning flush, and he was awarded a pot that sent his stack straight into the leader's seat. Finishing the day second-in-chips was Korea's Soojing Hong with 327,000 chips and rounding out the top three was Chinese Taipei's Tzu Chieh Lo with 309,500 chips.

Day 1b saw five players from Chinese Taipei ending the day within the top ten of the chip ladder. Chuang Yi Wu finished in sixth position, Jack En-Ching Wu in eighth position, and Chia Iin Chang in tenth position. For En-ching Wu, he amassed his stack just before the final hour of the tournament when he landed back-to-back pots, with the second one earning him a pot of nearly 250k. He finished the day with 213,500 chips. For Chang, she battled for a big pot against Hong just before the final round of the day to bring her up to 198,500 at the close.

Throughout the day, there were many hands that left players in disbelief. One of those crazy hands was won by Japan's Kenichi Takarabe who had [ah][kc] and was up against another player with [ad][ks]. The board ran four hearts giving Takarabe the nut flush. There were also several full house over full house hands with India's Jayde Fernandes's nines-over-eights falling victim to a player's kings-over-eights.

Despite the grueling battle at the felt, there were players who had their fair share of winning pots to end the day with the chips in their arsenal such as Canada's Karl Thorson, Germany's Matteo Rechtien, China's Hui Yao, Australia's Piyush Gupta, Japan's Mitsutoshi Yamagoshi, and Filipino players Joven Huerto and Anacleto Quijano to mention a few.

With just over twenty percent of the field surviving the night, a good number of well-known players and PokerStars regulars were part of the mix that were not so fortunate and found the rail instead. Among them were China's Zhinning Chen, Norway' Kai Paulsen, Japan's Tempei Kotani, USA's Gerald Casey, Korea's Sim Jae Kyung, UK's Jean Issa, Welcome Event champion Japan's Daiki Iijima, and previous Manila Megastack champion Filipino player Euryd Rivera.

Final day action resumes tomorrow, Sunday, May 8, 2016, at 1215pm. For a read on some of the action at Day 1b, head to the Manila Megastack 5 Day 1b Updates.

3:15PM: Field and prize pool update

There are currently 185 entries posted which means the P6M guarantee has been surpassed. Combined with yesterday's flight, the prize pool is at P8.8M and increasing.

3:00PM: Ming Yuan Lee earns a decent pot

Ming Yuan Lee kicked off the hand with a raise to 325. To his left, Jordan Gomes made the call but Kim Enriquez three-bet the raise to 1275. When action swung back around to Lee, he called, and so did Gomes. On the flop of [2c][7c][ad], Lee bet 2600 which was enough to win the hand as both Gomes and Enriquez quickly folded. Lee is now up to 33k.

2:40PM: Level 2

Blinds up 50-100

2:30PM: Hui climbs to 50k chips

We are just in the first level and already, China's Yao Hui has hurt a player's stack. Catching the action only on the river bet with a board of [6d][qd][3h][8h][9c] and a pot of 12k in the middle, Hui bet 8k and his opponent, Shyh Chyn Lim took some time to decide but eventually called. Hui revealed his pocket queens for a set. He climbed to around 50k chips.

2:20PM: Kyung earns a pot against Isayama

After a series of raises and re-raises preflop, the pot grew to 2400 with three players in the hand. The flop read [qh][6c][8c], acting first was Jude Kumar who checked to Ko Isayama who bet 1100. Beside him was Sim Jae Kyung who raised it up to 2275. Kumar folded but Isayama called. On the turn of [2s], Isayama checked to Kyung who continued and bet 2700. Isayama flat-called. Then on the river of [7s], both players checked and Kyung won with his [as][qc] against Isayama's [ac]kc]. Kyung now at around 37k chips.

2:10PM: Day 1b begins

Cards are in the air for Day 1b of the Main Event! There are 80 players already in their seats with more working their way in. We will have updates throughout the day on the action at the felt.

Level 1 blinds begin at 25-50. Starting stack is 30,000. Blind duration is 30 minutes.

Good luck to all!