It's enough of a feat to scratch and claw through a field of thousands and make it to a SCOOP final table. To do it twice in one night is almost unthinkable. But that's exactly what Sdouble accomplished tonight, taking down Event #2, $109 buy-in PLO8 while simultaneously making an eighth-place run in Event #1-High, $530 buy-in NLHE with Rebuys.

2,104 split-game enthusiasts came out for this "medium" buy-in installment of SCOOP's PLO8 festivities, creating a $210,400 prize pool. 306 places were paid, with first place earning $33,664.Representing Team PokerStars Pro in the field were Humberto Brenes, Katja Thater, Marcin Horecki, Victor Ramdin, Gavin Griffin, though unfortunately none of them made the money. Other familiar screen names popping up in this event were yuvee04, AJunglen7, rkruok, All_in_at420, BigRiskky, BodogAri, The Grinder, Mike "Timex" McDonald, TMay420, Danny "The__D__RY" Ryan, Eric "Rizen" Lynch, and this week's TLB winner Shaun "shaundeeb" Deeb.

The money bubble burst about 5 1/2 hours into play and it would take another six to play down to the final nine. After Babooyah was eliminated in 10th place, the final table was set and the chip counts looked like this:

Seat 1: Sdouble (1,227,160)
Seat 2: EDWARDHOPPER (2.055.566)
Seat 3: SharpNut (363,896)
Seat 4: madddddddddd (1,150,105)
Seat 5: Rockytherock (712,086)
Seat 6: JP OSU (2,064,148)
Seat 7: dreadpirateA (479,972)
Seat 8: SmileGodLuvs (1,145,933)
Seat 9: tmt326 (1,071,134)

Talk of a deal broke out as soon as our nine remaining players hit the final table, most of them hoping to pause the action and take a look at chip count chop numbers. However, JP OSU immediately put the kibosh on it, saying he would not accept any deal. As this discussion played out, we saw the first elimination at the final table, when dreadpirateA exited in ninth place. DreadpriateA opened for 150,000, tmt326 popped it to 500,000, setting his opponent all in, and dreadpirateA made the call, his [Ad][3c][6c][8d] up against tmt326's [Ac][As][4d][8h]. The flop came down [Kd][6h][2c], dreadpirateA flopping the nut low draw and tmt326's aces holding up for high. The [2h] on the turn was no help for dreadpirateA, nor was the [3d] on the river, which gave tmt326 the nut low and aces up to scoop the pot and eliminate dreadpirateA from the tournament after over 11 1/2 hours of play. He earned $1,893.60 for his finish.

SharpNut, who had arrived at the final table as the short stack, was the next to fall. Though he'd managed to double up through SmileGodLuvs when he flopped trips and rivered a boat, he found himself all in again only three hands later. SharpNut opened for 175,000 and JP OSU came in for a raise to 600,000. With only another 150,000 or so behind the amount of the raise, it was time to push or fold and SharpNut chose the former, receiving an insta-call. SharpNut turned up [Ad][3c][4c][9d] to JP OSU's [Ah][2h][2c][Jc], the [8d][6d][5s] flop giving him an ace-high flush draw and an open-ended straight draw while JP OSU flopped the nut low. The [6h] on the turn missed SharpNut's outs for high as did the [Js] on the river. With jacks up and an 8-6 low, JP OSU scooped the pot, sending SharpNut to the rail in eighth place. He took home $3,576.80 for his performance.

Though that hand helped JP OSU maintain the chip lead he took into the final table, he got himself into a major confrontation with one of the table's other big stacks, Sdouble, a short time later. Take a look at how the hand played out:

Rockytherock hung on through the bubble with the shortest of stacks and with only nine big blinds remaining, decided to make a stand, moving all in for 452,086 over the top of EDWARDHOPPER's 180,000 opening raise. EDWARDHOPPER called with [3s][4s][5h][7s] and found himself well behind Rockytherock's [Ad][Ah][9h][Jh]. Luck was on EDWARDHOPPER's side, however, as the [6h][5s][2s] flop hit his hand perfectly--making him a low, a six-high straight, and straight flush redraw to boot. The turn was the [Tc], the river was the [Kh] and Rockytherock's tournament came to an end with a seventh-place finish and an extra $5,260 in his PokerStars account.

JP OSU's stack was unable to recover from that big hit he took earlier against Sdouble, and the two hooked up again in what would end up being JP OSU's final hand. Sdouble raised to 198,274, JP OSU raised to 674,822, Sdouble four-bet to 1,151,370 and JP OSU called all in. The board ran out [5h][8h][Jd][9d][Kd], Sdouble making two pair kings and jacks with [Ah][3s][Js][Kc] and JP OSU completely missing with [Ad][2s][3h][7c]. With that, he the rail in sixth place, earning $7,364 for his efforts.

With the one player who refused a chop out of the tournament, several players wanted to pause the action after JP OSU's elimination in order to look at numbers for a potential deal. This time, however, it was Sdouble that quickly ended those discussions. Not only was Sdouble in the final five of this event, but stunningly enough he was also among the final 16 players in SCOOP Event #1-High, the $530 NLHE with Rebuys. Admitting he was exhausted and too distracted by the other tournament to crunch the numbers, Sdouble (who also held the chip lead at that point) decided he'd rather play it out, much to his opponents' dismay.

Cards went back on the screen and a few hands later, madddddddddd opened from UTG for 280,000 and SmileGodLuvs called on the button. Madddddddddd led out for 680,000 on the [Ks][Js][7d] flop and SmileGodLuvs almost immediately shoved for his remaining 1,162,392. Madddddddddd called the 159,022 balance and turned up [Ah][2h][5s][Tc] for a gutshot straight draw and a backdoor low draw while SmileGodLuvs showed [Ad][3c][7h][Kc] for top two pair. The turn was the [9h], no help for madddddddddd and the river was the [9c], sealing up the hand for SmileGodLuvs and eliminating madddddddddd in fifth place for a $9,468 payday.

With play now four-handed, and the stacks a bit more even, Sdouble finally relented, deciding he wanted to look at chip count chop numbers after all.

"If I get 25 we have a deal" he wrote in the chat box.

Sdouble's potential prize money worked out to just short of that figure and while SmileGodLuvs and tmt326 agreed to shave a few hundred apiece off their take, EDWARDHOPPER refused. Once again, play proceeded without a deal.

Action resumed and tmt26 lost about two-thirds of his stack on this huge three-way hand with EDWARDHOPPER and SmileGodLuvs where he ended up folding on the turn.

Five hands later, tmt26 made his last stand, moving all in after EDWARDHOPPER opened for 265,221. EDWARDHOPPER called, revealing [Ah][2d][Kd][Ks] to tmt26's [Ad][2h][7s][Td]. Tmt26 made queens up on the [Qs][6h][Th][Qh][2c] board but it was no match for EDWARDHOPPER's kings up. Tmt26 exited in fourth place, earning $12,624.

Less than ten minutes later, SmileGodLuvs' short stack was all-in pre-flop, his [As][2c][6c][Jd] up against EDWARDHOPPER's [2d][3s][5h][Qd]. SmileGodLuvs flopped good, hitting top two pair when it came down [Ad][Jc][3h], but EDWARDHOPPER still had the best low draw and a wheel draw. The [Kd] on the turn gave EDWARDHOPPER additional outs with a flush draw, and the [4h] on the river made him the wheel to scoop the pot and eliminate SmileGodLuvs in third place for an $18,325.84 score.

As heads-up play commenced, Sdouble had a better than 1.8 to 1 chip lead over EDWARDHOPPER:

Seat 1: Sdouble (6787401 in chips)
Seat 2: EDWARDHOPPER (3732599 in chips)

With the blinds at 60,000/120,000, our final two played small-pot poker for most of their heads-up confrontation, their chip counts remaining relatively stable until Sdouble went on a tear, taking down ten consecutive pots. The first nine put EDWARDHOPPER on the ropes, leaving him with only 1.8 million to Sdouble's 8.7 million, and the tenth put him away once and for all. Sdouble opened for 360,000, EDWARDHOPPER reraised to 1,080,000, Sdouble four-bet to 3,240,000 and EDWARDHOPPER called all in.

EDWARDHOPPER [As][3s][4h][Kh]
Sdouble [2c][4c][5s][8c]

The [Qd][9d][7h] flop missed both players, EDWARDHOPPER still leading with ace high. The [7c] on the turn paired the board and eliminated all low possibilities, but the [8s] that spiked on the river made Sdouble two pair, earning him the pot, a SCOOP title, and the $33,664 first-place prize. For his runner-up finish, EDWARDHOPPER collected $25,248.

Though Sdouble already had one victory in the bag, he was still alive with 12 players out of 672 starters remaining in Event #1, $530 NLHE with Rebuys, albeit short-stacked. Sdouble managed to hang on for another hour or so of play, making the final table and ultimately finishing in eighth place for $23,299.50. Sdouble's second final table finish of the night brought his total earnings for the night to $56,963.50. Congratulations, sir on a staggering achievement.

Results for SCOOP Event #2, $109 PLO8

1. Sdouble ($33,664.00)
2. EDWARDHOPPER ($25,248.00)
3. SmileGodLuvs ($18,325.84)
4. tmt326 ($12,624.00)
5. madddddddddd ($9,468.00)
6. JP OSU ($7,364.00)
7. Rockytherock ($5,260.00)
8. SharpNut ($3,576.80)
9. dreadpirateA ($1,893.60)

It's enough of a feat to scratch and claw through a field of thousands and make it to a SCOOP final table. To do it twice in one night is almost unthinkable. But that's exactly what Sdouble accomplished tonight, taking down Event #2, $109 buy-in PLO8 while simultaneously making an eighth-place run in Event #1-High, $530 buy-in NLHE with Rebuys.

2,104 split-game enthusiasts came out for this "medium" buy-in installment of SCOOP's PLO8 festivities, creating a $210,400 prize pool. 306 places were paid, with first place earning $33,664.Representing Team PokerStars Pro in the field were Humberto Brenes, Katja Thater, Marcin Horecki, Victor Ramdin, Gavin Griffin, though unfortunately none of them made the money. Other familiar screen names popping up in this event were yuvee04, AJunglen7, rkruok, All_in_at420, BigRiskky, BodogAri, The Grinder, Mike "Timex" McDonald, TMay420, Danny "The__D__RY" Ryan, Eric "Rizen" Lynch, and this week's TLB winner Shaun "shaundeeb" Deeb.

The money bubble burst about 5 1/2 hours into play and it would take another six to play down to the final nine. After Babooyah was eliminated in 10th place, the final table was set and the chip counts looked like this:

Seat 1: Sdouble (1,227,160)
Seat 2: EDWARDHOPPER (2.055.566)
Seat 3: SharpNut (363,896)
Seat 4: madddddddddd (1,150,105)
Seat 5: Rockytherock (712,086)
Seat 6: JP OSU (2,064,148)
Seat 7: dreadpirateA (479,972)
Seat 8: SmileGodLuvs (1,145,933)
Seat 9: tmt326 (1,071,134)

Talk of a deal broke out as soon as our nine remaining players hit the final table, most of them hoping to pause the action and take a look at chip count chop numbers. However, JP OSU immediately put the kibosh on it, saying he would not accept any deal. As this discussion played out, we saw the first elimination at the final table, when dreadpirateA exited in ninth place. DreadpriateA opened for 150,000, tmt326 popped it to 500,000, setting his opponent all in, and dreadpirateA made the call, his [Ad][3c][6c][8d] up against tmt326's [Ac][As][4d][8h]. The flop came down [Kd][6h][2c], dreadpirateA flopping the nut low draw and tmt326's aces holding up for high. The [2h] on the turn was no help for dreadpirateA, nor was the [3d] on the river, which gave tmt326 the nut low and aces up to scoop the pot and eliminate dreadpirateA from the tournament after over 11 1/2 hours of play. He earned $1,893.60 for his finish.

SharpNut, who had arrived at the final table as the short stack, was the next to fall. Though he'd managed to double up through SmileGodLuvs when he flopped trips and rivered a boat, he found himself all in again only three hands later. SharpNut opened for 175,000 and JP OSU came in for a raise to 600,000. With only another 150,000 or so behind the amount of the raise, it was time to push or fold and SharpNut chose the former, receiving an insta-call. SharpNut turned up [Ad][3c][4c][9d] to JP OSU's [Ah][2h][2c][Jc], the [8d][6d][5s] flop giving him an ace-high flush draw and an open-ended straight draw while JP OSU flopped the nut low. The [6h] on the turn missed SharpNut's outs for high as did the [Js] on the river. With jacks up and an 8-6 low, JP OSU scooped the pot, sending SharpNut to the rail in eighth place. He took home $3,576.80 for his performance.

Though that hand helped JP OSU maintain the chip lead he took into the final table, he got himself into a major confrontation with one of the table's other big stacks, Sdouble, a short time later. Take a look at how the hand played out:

Rockytherock hung on through the bubble with the shortest of stacks and with only nine big blinds remaining, decided to make a stand, moving all in for 452,086 over the top of EDWARDHOPPER's 180,000 opening raise. EDWARDHOPPER called with [3s][4s][5h][7s] and found himself well behind Rockytherock's [Ad][Ah][9h][Jh]. Luck was on EDWARDHOPPER's side, however, as the [6h][5s][2s] flop hit his hand perfectly--making him a low, a six-high straight, and straight flush redraw to boot. The turn was the [Tc], the river was the [Kh] and Rockytherock's tournament came to an end with a seventh-place finish and an extra $5,260 in his PokerStars account.

JP OSU's stack was unable to recover from that big hit he took earlier against Sdouble, and the two hooked up again in what would end up being JP OSU's final hand. Sdouble raised to 198,274, JP OSU raised to 674,822, Sdouble four-bet to 1,151,370 and JP OSU called all in. The board ran out [5h][8h][Jd][9d][Kd], Sdouble making two pair kings and jacks with [Ah][3s][Js][Kc] and JP OSU completely missing with [Ad][2s][3h][7c]. With that, he the rail in sixth place, earning $7,364 for his efforts.

With the one player who refused a chop out of the tournament, several players wanted to pause the action after JP OSU's elimination in order to look at numbers for a potential deal. This time, however, it was Sdouble that quickly ended those discussions. Not only was Sdouble in the final five of this event, but stunningly enough he was also among the final 16 players in SCOOP Event #1-High, the $530 NLHE with Rebuys. Admitting he was exhausted and too distracted by the other tournament to crunch the numbers, Sdouble (who also held the chip lead at that point) decided he'd rather play it out, much to his opponents' dismay.

Cards went back on the screen and a few hands later, madddddddddd opened from UTG for 280,000 and SmileGodLuvs called on the button. Madddddddddd led out for 680,000 on the [Ks][Js][7d] flop and SmileGodLuvs almost immediately shoved for his remaining 1,162,392. Madddddddddd called the 159,022 balance and turned up [Ah][2h][5s][Tc] for a gutshot straight draw and a backdoor low draw while SmileGodLuvs showed [Ad][3c][7h][Kc] for top two pair. The turn was the [9h], no help for madddddddddd and the river was the [9c], sealing up the hand for SmileGodLuvs and eliminating madddddddddd in fifth place for a $9,468 payday.

With play now four-handed, and the stacks a bit more even, Sdouble finally relented, deciding he wanted to look at chip count chop numbers after all.

"If I get 25 we have a deal" he wrote in the chat box.

Sdouble's potential prize money worked out to just short of that figure and while SmileGodLuvs and tmt326 agreed to shave a few hundred apiece off their take, EDWARDHOPPER refused. Once again, play proceeded without a deal.

Action resumed and tmt26 lost about two-thirds of his stack on this huge three-way hand with EDWARDHOPPER and SmileGodLuvs where he ended up folding on the turn.

Five hands later, tmt26 made his last stand, moving all in after EDWARDHOPPER opened for 265,221. EDWARDHOPPER called, revealing [Ah][2d][Kd][Ks] to tmt26's [Ad][2h][7s][Td]. Tmt26 made queens up on the [Qs][6h][Th][Qh][2c] board but it was no match for EDWARDHOPPER's kings up. Tmt26 exited in fourth place, earning $12,624.

Less than ten minutes later, SmileGodLuvs' short stack was all-in pre-flop, his [As][2c][6c][Jd] up against EDWARDHOPPER's [2d][3s][5h][Qd]. SmileGodLuvs flopped good, hitting top two pair when it came down [Ad][Jc][3h], but EDWARDHOPPER still had the best low draw and a wheel draw. The [Kd] on the turn gave EDWARDHOPPER additional outs with a flush draw, and the [4h] on the river made him the wheel to scoop the pot and eliminate SmileGodLuvs in third place for an $18,325.84 score.

As heads-up play commenced, Sdouble had a better than 1.8 to 1 chip lead over EDWARDHOPPER:

Seat 1: Sdouble (6787401 in chips)
Seat 2: EDWARDHOPPER (3732599 in chips)

With the blinds at 60,000/120,000, our final two played small-pot poker for most of their heads-up confrontation, their chip counts remaining relatively stable until Sdouble went on a tear, taking down ten consecutive pots. The first nine put EDWARDHOPPER on the ropes, leaving him with only 1.8 million to Sdouble's 8.7 million, and the tenth put him away once and for all. Sdouble opened for 360,000, EDWARDHOPPER reraised to 1,080,000, Sdouble four-bet to 3,240,000 and EDWARDHOPPER called all in.

EDWARDHOPPER [As][3s][4h][Kh]
Sdouble [2c][4c][5s][8c]

The [Qd][9d][7h] flop missed both players, EDWARDHOPPER still leading with ace high. The [7c] on the turn paired the board and eliminated all low possibilities, but the [8s] that spiked on the river made Sdouble two pair, earning him the pot, a SCOOP title, and the $33,664 first-place prize. For his runner-up finish, EDWARDHOPPER collected $25,248.

Though Sdouble already had one victory in the bag, he was still alive with 12 players out of 672 starters remaining in Event #1, $530 NLHE with Rebuys, albeit short-stacked. Sdouble managed to hang on for another hour or so of play, making the final table and ultimately finishing in eighth place for $23,299.50. Sdouble's second final table finish of the night brought his total earnings for the night to $56,963.50. Congratulations, sir on a staggering achievement.

Results for SCOOP Event #2, $109 PLO8

1. Sdouble ($33,664.00)
2. EDWARDHOPPER ($25,248.00)
3. SmileGodLuvs ($18,325.84)
4. tmt326 ($12,624.00)
5. madddddddddd ($9,468.00)
6. JP OSU ($7,364.00)
7. Rockytherock ($5,260.00)
8. SharpNut ($3,576.80)
9. dreadpirateA ($1,893.60)

It's enough of a feat to scratch and claw through a field of thousands and make it to a SCOOP final table. To do it twice in one night is almost unthinkable. But that's exactly what Sdouble accomplished tonight, taking down Event #2, $109 buy-in PLO8 while simultaneously making an eighth-place run in Event #1-High, $530 buy-in NLHE with Rebuys.

2,104 split-game enthusiasts came out for this "medium" buy-in installment of SCOOP's PLO8 festivities, creating a $210,400 prize pool. 306 places were paid, with first place earning $33,664.Representing Team PokerStars Pro in the field were Humberto Brenes, Katja Thater, Marcin Horecki, Victor Ramdin, Gavin Griffin, though unfortunately none of them made the money. Other familiar screen names popping up in this event were yuvee04, AJunglen7, rkruok, All_in_at420, BigRiskky, BodogAri, The Grinder, Mike "Timex" McDonald, TMay420, Danny "The__D__RY" Ryan, Eric "Rizen" Lynch, and this week's TLB winner Shaun "shaundeeb" Deeb.

The money bubble burst about 5 1/2 hours into play and it would take another six to play down to the final nine. After Babooyah was eliminated in 10th place, the final table was set and the chip counts looked like this:

Seat 1: Sdouble (1,227,160)
Seat 2: EDWARDHOPPER (2.055.566)
Seat 3: SharpNut (363,896)
Seat 4: madddddddddd (1,150,105)
Seat 5: Rockytherock (712,086)
Seat 6: JP OSU (2,064,148)
Seat 7: dreadpirateA (479,972)
Seat 8: SmileGodLuvs (1,145,933)
Seat 9: tmt326 (1,071,134)

Talk of a deal broke out as soon as our nine remaining players hit the final table, most of them hoping to pause the action and take a look at chip count chop numbers. However, JP OSU immediately put the kibosh on it, saying he would not accept any deal. As this discussion played out, we saw the first elimination at the final table, when dreadpirateA exited in ninth place. DreadpriateA opened for 150,000, tmt326 popped it to 500,000, setting his opponent all in, and dreadpirateA made the call, his [Ad][3c][6c][8d] up against tmt326's [Ac][As][4d][8h]. The flop came down [Kd][6h][2c], dreadpirateA flopping the nut low draw and tmt326's aces holding up for high. The [2h] on the turn was no help for dreadpirateA, nor was the [3d] on the river, which gave tmt326 the nut low and aces up to scoop the pot and eliminate dreadpirateA from the tournament after over 11 1/2 hours of play. He earned $1,893.60 for his finish.

SharpNut, who had arrived at the final table as the short stack, was the next to fall. Though he'd managed to double up through SmileGodLuvs when he flopped trips and rivered a boat, he found himself all in again only three hands later. SharpNut opened for 175,000 and JP OSU came in for a raise to 600,000. With only another 150,000 or so behind the amount of the raise, it was time to push or fold and SharpNut chose the former, receiving an insta-call. SharpNut turned up [Ad][3c][4c][9d] to JP OSU's [Ah][2h][2c][Jc], the [8d][6d][5s] flop giving him an ace-high flush draw and an open-ended straight draw while JP OSU flopped the nut low. The [6h] on the turn missed SharpNut's outs for high as did the [Js] on the river. With jacks up and an 8-6 low, JP OSU scooped the pot, sending SharpNut to the rail in eighth place. He took home $3,576.80 for his performance.

Though that hand helped JP OSU maintain the chip lead he took into the final table, he got himself into a major confrontation with one of the table's other big stacks, Sdouble, a short time later. Take a look at how the hand played out:

Rockytherock hung on through the bubble with the shortest of stacks and with only nine big blinds remaining, decided to make a stand, moving all in for 452,086 over the top of EDWARDHOPPER's 180,000 opening raise. EDWARDHOPPER called with [3s][4s][5h][7s] and found himself well behind Rockytherock's [Ad][Ah][9h][Jh]. Luck was on EDWARDHOPPER's side, however, as the [6h][5s][2s] flop hit his hand perfectly--making him a low, a six-high straight, and straight flush redraw to boot. The turn was the [Tc], the river was the [Kh] and Rockytherock's tournament came to an end with a seventh-place finish and an extra $5,260 in his PokerStars account.

JP OSU's stack was unable to recover from that big hit he took earlier against Sdouble, and the two hooked up again in what would end up being JP OSU's final hand. Sdouble raised to 198,274, JP OSU raised to 674,822, Sdouble four-bet to 1,151,370 and JP OSU called all in. The board ran out [5h][8h][Jd][9d][Kd], Sdouble making two pair kings and jacks with [Ah][3s][Js][Kc] and JP OSU completely missing with [Ad][2s][3h][7c]. With that, he the rail in sixth place, earning $7,364 for his efforts.

With the one player who refused a chop out of the tournament, several players wanted to pause the action after JP OSU's elimination in order to look at numbers for a potential deal. This time, however, it was Sdouble that quickly ended those discussions. Not only was Sdouble in the final five of this event, but stunningly enough he was also among the final 16 players in SCOOP Event #1-High, the $530 NLHE with Rebuys. Admitting he was exhausted and too distracted by the other tournament to crunch the numbers, Sdouble (who also held the chip lead at that point) decided he'd rather play it out, much to his opponents' dismay.

Cards went back on the screen and a few hands later, madddddddddd opened from UTG for 280,000 and SmileGodLuvs called on the button. Madddddddddd led out for 680,000 on the [Ks][Js][7d] flop and SmileGodLuvs almost immediately shoved for his remaining 1,162,392. Madddddddddd called the 159,022 balance and turned up [Ah][2h][5s][Tc] for a gutshot straight draw and a backdoor low draw while SmileGodLuvs showed [Ad][3c][7h][Kc] for top two pair. The turn was the [9h], no help for madddddddddd and the river was the [9c], sealing up the hand for SmileGodLuvs and eliminating madddddddddd in fifth place for a $9,468 payday.

With play now four-handed, and the stacks a bit more even, Sdouble finally relented, deciding he wanted to look at chip count chop numbers after all.

"If I get 25 we have a deal" he wrote in the chat box.

Sdouble's potential prize money worked out to just short of that figure and while SmileGodLuvs and tmt326 agreed to shave a few hundred apiece off their take, EDWARDHOPPER refused. Once again, play proceeded without a deal.

Action resumed and tmt26 lost about two-thirds of his stack on this huge three-way hand with EDWARDHOPPER and SmileGodLuvs where he ended up folding on the turn.

Five hands later, tmt26 made his last stand, moving all in after EDWARDHOPPER opened for 265,221. EDWARDHOPPER called, revealing [Ah][2d][Kd][Ks] to tmt26's [Ad][2h][7s][Td]. Tmt26 made queens up on the [Qs][6h][Th][Qh][2c] board but it was no match for EDWARDHOPPER's kings up. Tmt26 exited in fourth place, earning $12,624.

Less than ten minutes later, SmileGodLuvs' short stack was all-in pre-flop, his [As][2c][6c][Jd] up against EDWARDHOPPER's [2d][3s][5h][Qd]. SmileGodLuvs flopped good, hitting top two pair when it came down [Ad][Jc][3h], but EDWARDHOPPER still had the best low draw and a wheel draw. The [Kd] on the turn gave EDWARDHOPPER additional outs with a flush draw, and the [4h] on the river made him the wheel to scoop the pot and eliminate SmileGodLuvs in third place for an $18,325.84 score.

As heads-up play commenced, Sdouble had a better than 1.8 to 1 chip lead over EDWARDHOPPER:

Seat 1: Sdouble (6787401 in chips)
Seat 2: EDWARDHOPPER (3732599 in chips)

With the blinds at 60,000/120,000, our final two played small-pot poker for most of their heads-up confrontation, their chip counts remaining relatively stable until Sdouble went on a tear, taking down ten consecutive pots. The first nine put EDWARDHOPPER on the ropes, leaving him with only 1.8 million to Sdouble's 8.7 million, and the tenth put him away once and for all. Sdouble opened for 360,000, EDWARDHOPPER reraised to 1,080,000, Sdouble four-bet to 3,240,000 and EDWARDHOPPER called all in.

EDWARDHOPPER [As][3s][4h][Kh]
Sdouble [2c][4c][5s][8c]

The [Qd][9d][7h] flop missed both players, EDWARDHOPPER still leading with ace high. The [7c] on the turn paired the board and eliminated all low possibilities, but the [8s] that spiked on the river made Sdouble two pair, earning him the pot, a SCOOP title, and the $33,664 first-place prize. For his runner-up finish, EDWARDHOPPER collected $25,248.

Though Sdouble already had one victory in the bag, he was still alive with 12 players out of 672 starters remaining in Event #1, $530 NLHE with Rebuys, albeit short-stacked. Sdouble managed to hang on for another hour or so of play, making the final table and ultimately finishing in eighth place for $23,299.50. Sdouble's second final table finish of the night brought his total earnings for the night to $56,963.50. Congratulations, sir on a staggering achievement.

Results for SCOOP Event #2, $109 PLO8

1. Sdouble ($33,664.00)
2. EDWARDHOPPER ($25,248.00)
3. SmileGodLuvs ($18,325.84)
4. tmt326 ($12,624.00)
5. madddddddddd ($9,468.00)
6. JP OSU ($7,364.00)
7. Rockytherock ($5,260.00)
8. SharpNut ($3,576.80)
9. dreadpirateA ($1,893.60)

It seemed fitting that one of the earliest tournaments on the 2009 SCOOP calendar should be Pot-Limit Omaha Hi/Lo, a split-pot game that requires players to scoop the whole pot if they expect to make any headway against the field. To some, PLO8 (as its known) is the devil's game. Omaha Hi/Lo is a game of draws. Going all the way to the river with a monster draw is the very essence of the game. But pot-limit betting structures are designed to make it very difficult to draw, creating a frustrating tension in the game.

To its devotees, PLO8 is a true gambler's game. Since preflop hand values run closer together than they do in holdem, there's a real sense that a player is never too far behind before the flop. Such a mindset appeals to the loose-aggressive action junkie that burns at the core of every poker player's psyche.

327 players attempted to dial into that mindset earlier today by stepping up to the virtual felt and shelling out $1,050 for the high-stakes version of SCOOP #2. $327,000 went into the prize pool, creating a temping first-place prize pool of $66,871.50 and a SCOOP Champion's Watch. Among the player battling for that first-place payday were five Team PokerStars Pros: Chad Brown, Ivan Demidov, Daniel Negreanu, Victor Ramdin and Katja Thater. It was a rough day for the team, with only Thater managing to crack the top 100 on the leaderboard. She ultimately bowed out of the tournament in 66th place, thereby preventing the Team PokerStars Pros from notching a cash in this event.

There were, however, 36 players who did make the money after bean1869 was eliminated as the bubble boy in 37th place. Those 36 players half-potted, full-potted, drew and quartered their way down to a final table of these nine:

Seat 1: tatta (343,594 in chips)
Seat 2: finsfan7 (234,629 in chips)
Seat 3: bleu329 (95,795 in chips)
Seat 4: Benjaphon (75,603 in chips)
Seat 5: caprioli (114,829 in chips)
Seat 6: OmahaEd (237,491 in chips)
Seat 7: Kcannon (192,006 in chips)
Seat 8: DenYoungGun (191,543 in chips)
Seat 9: Slavik_Krs (149,510 in chips)

For the first ten minutes of final table play, the players seemed very cautious. Chips changed hands but seemed to just be passed endlessly around the table from one player to the next, resulting in no real chip movement. Then caprioli, who came into the final table in 7th chip position, was crippled by tatta.

caprioli opened the pot preflop for 14,000, then called tatta's reraise to 46,000 out of the small blind. With all of those chips already in the pot, tatta took a small ball approach on a flop of [7d] [9d] [jd] by betting 4,000. caprioli called that bet, called another 4,000 on the [kd] turn, and then called a more sizable bet of 24,000 when the river fell [qs]. tatta showed down an ace-high flush, [Ad] [8d] [Kh] [Ac], to jump to 434k in the counts and drop caprioli to just 30,000. caprioli impressively hung on for another 25 minutes before getting all in preflop for 36,000 with [As] [kd] [9s] [6c] against finsfan7's [Ac] [jc] [tc] [3d]. finsfan7 was all over a board of [Ad] [3h] [th] [td] [qc], making a full house, tens full of aces, to send caprioli to the rail in 9th place. He left the tournament with $6,213 in prize money.

Play continued to develop slowly while caprioli was trying to stave off execution. Once he was eliminated, play seemed to relax a touch. bleu329 caught a huge break by tripling up against OmahaEd and DenYoungGun. bleu329 re-raised big from the small blind, to 75,000, and was called by both opponents. He put his remaining 30,000 chips into the middle on a board of [4d] [ kc] [qs]. OmahaEd and DenYoungGun both called, but neither one of them could beat bleu329's [4h][5d][ah][kd] when the board came running queens, [qd] [qh]. bleu329's trip queens, ace-king kicker, was a good enough hand to take down a pot worth 330,000 and to take over the chip lead.

bleu329's chip lead didn't last for long. Supernova player tatta hit a small rush up to 485,000 in chips that was capped by eliminating kcannon in 8th place. The two players went to war on a flop of [3c] [4h] [kc]. When the dust settled, kcannon was down on the mat and didn't get back up. His [ah] [4s] [3h] [3s] started out as a set of threes, but was overtaken by tatta's [as] [2h] [6c] [qc] when the turn and river came [5d] [7h] to give tatta a wheel for both halves of the pot. kcannon receive $8,175 in parting money.

tatta was at it again a few minutes later. His 7th-place victim was DenYoungGun, who opened preflop for 17,500 and was quickly all in for 35,903 after a re-raise from tatta. Although it might not look like at it first blush, the two were essentially flipping with DenYoungGun's [Ac] [Qc] [9h] [4c] a slight favorite against tatta's [As] [jd] [8c] [3d]. it was tatta who came out on the right side of the coin by making a full house on a board of [qd] [8s] [8h] [4s] [js]. 7th place was worth $11,445 to DenYoungGun.

Play settled down for approximately fifteen minutes after DenYoungGun's elimination. The only thing that really seemed to excite the players was learning that they would all receive SCOOP jackets, courtesy of PokerStars, for making the final table.

Eventually, of course, the table had to continue consolidating. Benjaphon had been flirting with disaster for most of the final table, never really able to muster any pots or accumulate many chips. He was finally put out to pasture by finsfan7, who called a big blind re-raise by Benjaphon from 15,000 to 48,000. Benjaphone had no choice by to move all in for 55,863 on a flop of [6c] [6d] [Ah]. His [Ac] [qd] [qc] [7s] was no match for finsfan7's [As] [7h] [6s] [3c], which had flopped a full house. Benjaphon was unable to runner-runner a qualifying low, as the turn and river fell [ks] and [8d]. He left the final table in 6th place with $14,715.

Ninety minutes of final table play had resulted in the elimination of only four players. Five still remained; one of them was OmahaEd. Ed had a rough final table, his chip stack slowly dwindling orbit by orbit. When one player at the table remarked that he had played with Ed before and that Ed was a dangerous player, Ed responded, "I was more dangerous an hour ago," a clear allusion to his diminished chip count. He found himself down to 69,000 chips, which all went in against finsfan7 after two preflop raises. Ed's luck at the final table was so bad that despite flopping about as big a draw as you can have, the [2h] [th] [4h] flop matching almost perfectly with his [3c] [5d] [6d] [7c], he missed completely against finsfan7's [ac] [2s] [8h] [jd], which went runner-runner [qs] and [9s] for a queen-high straight. That unfortunate hand left OmahaEd without a seat at the final table. He took home $18,966 in 5th-place money.

OmahaEd rides off

It was after OmahaEd's elimination that looking at a deal was first proposed by finsfan7, who was the chip leader at the time. Slavik_Krs and tatta agreed, but bleu329 never responded to the requests to look at the numbers for a chip chop. As such, the PokerStars host told the players he would not stop the tournament. They seemed to take that as their cue to focus their fire on bleu329. Within ten minutes, bleu329 was out. He lost half of his stack to a small flush rivered by tatta. Six minutes later tatta finished the job by calling bleu329's preflop all-in raise of 82,270. It was another flip situation, with tatta again getting the best. His [as] [7c] [4c] [6d] made sixes full of sevens on a board of [6s] [7s] [kd] [ts] [6c]. That was much, much more than bleu329's [Ac] [qc] [jh] [4s] could produce/

With bleu329 out of the way, the tournament was paused to consider a chip-chop. The host reminded the players that $4,000 had to be set aside for the champion, then told them that a chip chip would results in $50,396.02 for tatta, $47,918.85, and $50,557.63 for Slavik_Krs (who had very quietly survived to the final three). The three went back and forth for ten minutes about what numbers would be fair, with Slavik_Krs asking for time to call a friend. He was the one who eventually scuttled the deal.

Deal karma being what it is, nobody should be surprised to read that Slavik_Krs was the next player eliminated, and in somewhat brutal fashion to boot. On a board of [ks] [2c] [kd], he flopped a full house with [2d] [2s] [6h] [ad]. He managed to get all 397,000 of his chips into the middle against finsfan7's [kc] [qs] [jh] [tc], only to see the [jd] immediately pop off on the turn to give finsfan7 a bigger full house. Nobody could blame either player for getting their chips in the middle in that spot; it was just a rotten piece of luck for Slavik_Krs. He was left with 3rd-place money of $36,951 and perhaps the nagging feeling that he would have been better off agreeing to the original deal.

With yet another chop-blocker out of the picture, finsfan7 and tatta ran the numbers again. They agreed to a slightly modified chip chop of $57,686.62 for finsfan7and $54,234.88 for tatta.

That left $4,000 and a SCOOP watch up for grabs. Ten minutes later, those two prizes belonged to the player who started heads-up play with the chip lead: finsfan7. On a flop of [as] [qc] [2c], the action was furious. finsfan7 checked, then raised tatta's 16,000 bet to 80,000, then raised all in after tatta made it 272,000 to go. tatta called with [2s] [4s] [6c] [8c], a flush raw and a low draw. finsfan7 showed a better flush draw and a better low draw, [3s] [kc] [7h] [5c]. The board ran out [ac] and [th], giving finsfan7 the best hand, and the victory, in SCOOP #2-High. We imagine that he'll become a convert to the "devil's game" if he wasn't one already.

Final table results (including two-way deal)

1. finsfan7 - $61,686.62
2. tatta - $54,234.88
3. Slavik_Krs - $36,951
4. bleu329 - $27,795
5. OmahaEd - $18,966
6. Benjaphon - $14,715
7. DenYoungGun - $11,445
8. Kcannon - $8,175
9. caprioli - $6,213

It seemed fitting that one of the earliest tournaments on the 2009 SCOOP calendar should be Pot-Limit Omaha Hi/Lo, a split-pot game that requires players to scoop the whole pot if they expect to make any headway against the field. To some, PLO8 (as its known) is the devil's game. Omaha Hi/Lo is a game of draws. Going all the way to the river with a monster draw is the very essence of the game. But pot-limit betting structures are designed to make it very difficult to draw, creating a frustrating tension in the game.

To its devotees, PLO8 is a true gambler's game. Since preflop hand values run closer together than they do in holdem, there's a real sense that a player is never too far behind before the flop. Such a mindset appeals to the loose-aggressive action junkie that burns at the core of every poker player's psyche.

327 players attempted to dial into that mindset earlier today by stepping up to the virtual felt and shelling out $1,050 for the high-stakes version of SCOOP #2. $327,000 went into the prize pool, creating a temping first-place prize pool of $66,871.50 and a SCOOP Champion's Watch. Among the player battling for that first-place payday were five Team PokerStars Pros: Chad Brown, Ivan Demidov, Daniel Negreanu, Victor Ramdin and Katja Thater. It was a rough day for the team, with only Thater managing to crack the top 100 on the leaderboard. She ultimately bowed out of the tournament in 66th place, thereby preventing the Team PokerStars Pros from notching a cash in this event.

There were, however, 36 players who did make the money after bean1869 was eliminated as the bubble boy in 37th place. Those 36 players half-potted, full-potted, drew and quartered their way down to a final table of these nine:

Seat 1: tatta (343,594 in chips)
Seat 2: finsfan7 (234,629 in chips)
Seat 3: bleu329 (95,795 in chips)
Seat 4: Benjaphon (75,603 in chips)
Seat 5: caprioli (114,829 in chips)
Seat 6: OmahaEd (237,491 in chips)
Seat 7: Kcannon (192,006 in chips)
Seat 8: DenYoungGun (191,543 in chips)
Seat 9: Slavik_Krs (149,510 in chips)

For the first ten minutes of final table play, the players seemed very cautious. Chips changed hands but seemed to just be passed endlessly around the table from one player to the next, resulting in no real chip movement. Then caprioli, who came into the final table in 7th chip position, was crippled by tatta.

caprioli opened the pot preflop for 14,000, then called tatta's reraise to 46,000 out of the small blind. With all of those chips already in the pot, tatta took a small ball approach on a flop of [7d] [9d] [jd] by betting 4,000. caprioli called that bet, called another 4,000 on the [kd] turn, and then called a more sizable bet of 24,000 when the river fell [qs]. tatta showed down an ace-high flush, [Ad] [8d] [Kh] [Ac], to jump to 434k in the counts and drop caprioli to just 30,000. caprioli impressively hung on for another 25 minutes before getting all in preflop for 36,000 with [As] [kd] [9s] [6c] against finsfan7's [Ac] [jc] [tc] [3d]. finsfan7 was all over a board of [Ad] [3h] [th] [td] [qc], making a full house, tens full of aces, to send caprioli to the rail in 9th place. He left the tournament with $6,213 in prize money.

Play continued to develop slowly while caprioli was trying to stave off execution. Once he was eliminated, play seemed to relax a touch. bleu329 caught a huge break by tripling up against OmahaEd and DenYoungGun. bleu329 re-raised big from the small blind, to 75,000, and was called by both opponents. He put his remaining 30,000 chips into the middle on a board of [4d] [ kc] [qs]. OmahaEd and DenYoungGun both called, but neither one of them could beat bleu329's [4h][5d][ah][kd] when the board came running queens, [qd] [qh]. bleu329's trip queens, ace-king kicker, was a good enough hand to take down a pot worth 330,000 and to take over the chip lead.

bleu329's chip lead didn't last for long. Supernova player tatta hit a small rush up to 485,000 in chips that was capped by eliminating kcannon in 8th place. The two players went to war on a flop of [3c] [4h] [kc]. When the dust settled, kcannon was down on the mat and didn't get back up. His [ah] [4s] [3h] [3s] started out as a set of threes, but was overtaken by tatta's [as] [2h] [6c] [qc] when the turn and river came [5d] [7h] to give tatta a wheel for both halves of the pot. kcannon receive $8,175 in parting money.

tatta was at it again a few minutes later. His 7th-place victim was DenYoungGun, who opened preflop for 17,500 and was quickly all in for 35,903 after a re-raise from tatta. Although it might not look like at it first blush, the two were essentially flipping with DenYoungGun's [Ac] [Qc] [9h] [4c] a slight favorite against tatta's [As] [jd] [8c] [3d]. it was tatta who came out on the right side of the coin by making a full house on a board of [qd] [8s] [8h] [4s] [js]. 7th place was worth $11,445 to DenYoungGun.

Play settled down for approximately fifteen minutes after DenYoungGun's elimination. The only thing that really seemed to excite the players was learning that they would all receive SCOOP jackets, courtesy of PokerStars, for making the final table.

Eventually, of course, the table had to continue consolidating. Benjaphon had been flirting with disaster for most of the final table, never really able to muster any pots or accumulate many chips. He was finally put out to pasture by finsfan7, who called a big blind re-raise by Benjaphon from 15,000 to 48,000. Benjaphone had no choice by to move all in for 55,863 on a flop of [6c] [6d] [Ah]. His [Ac] [qd] [qc] [7s] was no match for finsfan7's [As] [7h] [6s] [3c], which had flopped a full house. Benjaphon was unable to runner-runner a qualifying low, as the turn and river fell [ks] and [8d]. He left the final table in 6th place with $14,715.

Ninety minutes of final table play had resulted in the elimination of only four players. Five still remained; one of them was OmahaEd. Ed had a rough final table, his chip stack slowly dwindling orbit by orbit. When one player at the table remarked that he had played with Ed before and that Ed was a dangerous player, Ed responded, "I was more dangerous an hour ago," a clear allusion to his diminished chip count. He found himself down to 69,000 chips, which all went in against finsfan7 after two preflop raises. Ed's luck at the final table was so bad that despite flopping about as big a draw as you can have, the [2h] [th] [4h] flop matching almost perfectly with his [3c] [5d] [6d] [7c], he missed completely against finsfan7's [ac] [2s] [8h] [jd], which went runner-runner [qs] and [9s] for a queen-high straight. That unfortunate hand left OmahaEd without a seat at the final table. He took home $18,966 in 5th-place money.

OmahaEd rides off

It was after OmahaEd's elimination that looking at a deal was first proposed by finsfan7, who was the chip leader at the time. Slavik_Krs and tatta agreed, but bleu329 never responded to the requests to look at the numbers for a chip chop. As such, the PokerStars host told the players he would not stop the tournament. They seemed to take that as their cue to focus their fire on bleu329. Within ten minutes, bleu329 was out. He lost half of his stack to a small flush rivered by tatta. Six minutes later tatta finished the job by calling bleu329's preflop all-in raise of 82,270. It was another flip situation, with tatta again getting the best. His [as] [7c] [4c] [6d] made sixes full of sevens on a board of [6s] [7s] [kd] [ts] [6c]. That was much, much more than bleu329's [Ac] [qc] [jh] [4s] could produce/

With bleu329 out of the way, the tournament was paused to consider a chip-chop. The host reminded the players that $4,000 had to be set aside for the champion, then told them that a chip chip would results in $50,396.02 for tatta, $47,918.85, and $50,557.63 for Slavik_Krs (who had very quietly survived to the final three). The three went back and forth for ten minutes about what numbers would be fair, with Slavik_Krs asking for time to call a friend. He was the one who eventually scuttled the deal.

Deal karma being what it is, nobody should be surprised to read that Slavik_Krs was the next player eliminated, and in somewhat brutal fashion to boot. On a board of [ks] [2c] [kd], he flopped a full house with [2d] [2s] [6h] [ad]. He managed to get all 397,000 of his chips into the middle against finsfan7's [kc] [qs] [jh] [tc], only to see the [jd] immediately pop off on the turn to give finsfan7 a bigger full house. Nobody could blame either player for getting their chips in the middle in that spot; it was just a rotten piece of luck for Slavik_Krs. He was left with 3rd-place money of $36,951 and perhaps the nagging feeling that he would have been better off agreeing to the original deal.

With yet another chop-blocker out of the picture, finsfan7 and tatta ran the numbers again. They agreed to a slightly modified chip chop of $57,686.62 for finsfan7and $54,234.88 for tatta.

That left $4,000 and a SCOOP watch up for grabs. Ten minutes later, those two prizes belonged to the player who started heads-up play with the chip lead: finsfan7. On a flop of [as] [qc] [2c], the action was furious. finsfan7 checked, then raised tatta's 16,000 bet to 80,000, then raised all in after tatta made it 272,000 to go. tatta called with [2s] [4s] [6c] [8c], a flush raw and a low draw. finsfan7 showed a better flush draw and a better low draw, [3s] [kc] [7h] [5c]. The board ran out [ac] and [th], giving finsfan7 the best hand, and the victory, in SCOOP #2-High. We imagine that he'll become a convert to the "devil's game" if he wasn't one already.

Final table results (including two-way deal)

1. finsfan7 - $61,686.62
2. tatta - $54,234.88
3. Slavik_Krs - $36,951
4. bleu329 - $27,795
5. OmahaEd - $18,966
6. Benjaphon - $14,715
7. DenYoungGun - $11,445
8. Kcannon - $8,175
9. caprioli - $6,213

Often times winning a poker tournament comes down to being in the right place at the time. For PokerStars player thehoffa, the first "right place" of the day was the registration screen for a type of tournament he'd never played before: Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo. There would be plenty of fortunate spots along the way that paved thehoffa's path to SCOOP glory, but that decision kickstarted them all.

Before even a single player was registered for the tournament PokerStars guaranteed a $25,000 prize pool, which would have been met if just 2,500 players had turned up to play. In the end more than three times that many - 7,622 - showed up. Think of the WSOP Main Event from recent years and you've got an idea of the sheer size of this $11 tournament. With a first-place prize of $10,670.81 at stake, everybody had reason to let it all hang out.

The pace of play was frenetic despite the 5,000-chip starting stacks and pot-limit nature of the game. Never mind the split pots: more than 1,900 players were gone by the end of the first hour of play, and over half the field was gone by the second break. Play did slow down momentarily as the money bubble approached, but once it popped the shortest stacks all seemed ready to take the money and run. Meanwhile the survivors built stacks meant to last into the early morning hours when the real struggle would begin.

After 11 hours of play, thehoffa was one of those survivors. He held a slim chip lead over -$eG mAsTeR- when this situation came along at just the right time:

Just minutes later the crippled CastorrTroy would become the final table bubble boy, while thehoffa would enter the final table with nearly double the stack of his closest opponent:

After PokerStars staff stepped in to congratulate the players, they took a moment to do the same with one another. Rightfully so, given the odds each of them had overcome to get where they found themselves. But when the moment passed it was right back to work.

First to go was Afferrare in ninth place. He mucked his cards on a board of [Jh] [5s] [4h] [9s] [7d], with thehoffa taking the the low pot with [2h] [3c] [2s] [4c] while tmxzt829 claimed the high with [Qc] [Qd] [8s] [Ts] for a straight. Afferrare's exit earned a respectable $518.30.

tmxzt829 got right back to work on the next hand, claiming another victim in the form of Dr.Niebaum. The good doctor got his money in with [9h] [4c] [Tc] [Ah] and managed to catch a pair of nines on the [Qd] [9d] [7d] flop, but he left in eighth place with $762.21 when tmxzt829's [Td] [7c] [Qh] [Ac] two pair held up through the river.

Those back-to-back hands took the table down to seven, and anybody could have taken charge of the table with blinds at 125,000-250,000 and an average stack of 5.4 million. Sitting on the biggest stack with nearly 13.6 million, thehoffa had the most room for error; as it turned out he wouldn't need much of it. He turned up the aggression factor and claimed one key pot without a showdown before eliminating Henry XIV in this pot:

Henry XIV picked up $1,524.41 for the seventh place finish, while thehoffa went on to scoop another pot worth over 3.5 million holding a lowly pair of fours, building his stack to nearly 21 million in the process.

As thehoffa's stack grew, talk of a deal quickly arose. The players were all interested in hearing chip-chop numbers, but thehoffa's fair share came out to be worth more than the already announced first place prize. That proved to be too big a stumbling block for the other players and the game would continue without a new deal in place.

-$eG mAsTeR- seemed to gather steam from the failed negotiations. He had been in a distant second place when play was paused but he quickly narrowed that gap. With blinds at 150,000/300,000, mois64 opened to 1,050,000 and found -$eG mAsTeR- as his only caller in the small blind. After checking behind on the [Kc] [Td] [3d] flop, mois64's [Ah] [Qh] [3h] [2c] turned two pair with the [Qs] and that was good enough to get his remaining 3.1 million in the middle. Unfortunately -$eG mAsTeR- had flopped a set with [5c] [9d] [Ks] [Kh], and when no low came mois64 was out in sixth place, collecting $2,286.61.

Only a few hands later a short-stacked tmxzt829 would press a slim hand at the wrong time. His [9d] [7h] [Kh] [Ad] hit the [6s] [7c] [6h] flop, but thehoffa's [2s Kc Ah 6d] hit it much, much harder. The turn and river were of no help and tmxzt829 left in fifth place with $3,048.81.

While four players remained at the table, the chip disparity was too big to see many different outcomes. thehoffa held nearly 65% of the chips in play, and -$eG mAsTeR- had most of the rest. Even in a swingy game like PLO8 it would take something approaching a miracle to save the short stacks, but the deck held no such plan. The two big stacks didn't either, and they took turns raising pots until their last two opponents withered away.

The first out was bstockton68. The [9h] [As] [6c] flop looked good to his [Ac] [3c] [Kh] [6s], but -$eG mAsTeR- had the big draw with [3s] [5d] [2d] [8c]. The [Jh] on the turn didn't change things, but the [7h] on the river scooped the pot for the big stack, making a nine-high straight and a 7-6-3-2-A low to send bstockton68 home in fourth place with $3,811.01.

Then leonardop4 took his turn, raising all-in preflop for just a few big blinds with [7d 3c Kd 8c] and getting a call from thehoffa with [4h 5c Ks Kc]. The [Qd 2s Qc 3h 9c] board didn't provide enough help, sending leonardop4 out in third place with $5,487.85.

With just two players left and thehoffa holding a better than two-to-one chip lead, talk of a deal was on the table once more. This time the negotiations didn't take long: thehoffa got $9,400, -$eG mAsTeR- took $8,500, and the last $500 stayed on the table for the winner. When the first hand of heads-up play was dealt, thehoffa made an admission to his opponent.

"this is actually my first PLO8 tourney," thehoffa typed in the chat box. "kind of like the game. Ive been so lucky, its so sick"

That stretch of luck held out exactly as long as it needed to. The chip lead did change hands twice, but just a few minutes after heads-up began it would end with this pot:

The willingness to be in the right place at the right time by entering an $11 SCOOP event in an unfamiliar game ended up being worth $9,900 for thehoffa. With a start like this for SCOOP, the rest of the schedule should start looking even juicier than it already did for players with dreams bigger than their bankrolls.

Final table results (including two-way deal)

1. thehoffa - $9,900
2. -$eG mAsTeR- - $8,500
3. leonardop4 - $5,487.85
4. bstockton68 - $3,811.01
5. tmxzt829 - $3,048.81
6. mois64 - $2,286.61
7. Henry XIV - $1,524.41
8. Dr.Niebaum - $762.21
9. Afferrare - $518.30

Often times winning a poker tournament comes down to being in the right place at the time. For PokerStars player thehoffa, the first "right place" of the day was the registration screen for a type of tournament he'd never played before: Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo. There would be plenty of fortunate spots along the way that paved thehoffa's path to SCOOP glory, but that decision kickstarted them all.

Before even a single player was registered for the tournament PokerStars guaranteed a $25,000 prize pool, which would have been met if just 2,500 players had turned up to play. In the end more than three times that many - 7,622 - showed up. Think of the WSOP Main Event from recent years and you've got an idea of the sheer size of this $11 tournament. With a first-place prize of $10,670.81 at stake, everybody had reason to let it all hang out.

The pace of play was frenetic despite the 5,000-chip starting stacks and pot-limit nature of the game. Never mind the split pots: more than 1,900 players were gone by the end of the first hour of play, and over half the field was gone by the second break. Play did slow down momentarily as the money bubble approached, but once it popped the shortest stacks all seemed ready to take the money and run. Meanwhile the survivors built stacks meant to last into the early morning hours when the real struggle would begin.

After 11 hours of play, thehoffa was one of those survivors. He held a slim chip lead over -$eG mAsTeR- when this situation came along at just the right time:

Just minutes later the crippled CastorrTroy would become the final table bubble boy, while thehoffa would enter the final table with nearly double the stack of his closest opponent:

After PokerStars staff stepped in to congratulate the players, they took a moment to do the same with one another. Rightfully so, given the odds each of them had overcome to get where they found themselves. But when the moment passed it was right back to work.

First to go was Afferrare in ninth place. He mucked his cards on a board of [Jh] [5s] [4h] [9s] [7d], with thehoffa taking the the low pot with [2h] [3c] [2s] [4c] while tmxzt829 claimed the high with [Qc] [Qd] [8s] [Ts] for a straight. Afferrare's exit earned a respectable $518.30.

tmxzt829 got right back to work on the next hand, claiming another victim in the form of Dr.Niebaum. The good doctor got his money in with [9h] [4c] [Tc] [Ah] and managed to catch a pair of nines on the [Qd] [9d] [7d] flop, but he left in eighth place with $762.21 when tmxzt829's [Td] [7c] [Qh] [Ac] two pair held up through the river.

Those back-to-back hands took the table down to seven, and anybody could have taken charge of the table with blinds at 125,000-250,000 and an average stack of 5.4 million. Sitting on the biggest stack with nearly 13.6 million, thehoffa had the most room for error; as it turned out he wouldn't need much of it. He turned up the aggression factor and claimed one key pot without a showdown before eliminating Henry XIV in this pot:

Henry XIV picked up $1,524.41 for the seventh place finish, while thehoffa went on to scoop another pot worth over 3.5 million holding a lowly pair of fours, building his stack to nearly 21 million in the process.

As thehoffa's stack grew, talk of a deal quickly arose. The players were all interested in hearing chip-chop numbers, but thehoffa's fair share came out to be worth more than the already announced first place prize. That proved to be too big a stumbling block for the other players and the game would continue without a new deal in place.

-$eG mAsTeR- seemed to gather steam from the failed negotiations. He had been in a distant second place when play was paused but he quickly narrowed that gap. With blinds at 150,000/300,000, mois64 opened to 1,050,000 and found -$eG mAsTeR- as his only caller in the small blind. After checking behind on the [Kc] [Td] [3d] flop, mois64's [Ah] [Qh] [3h] [2c] turned two pair with the [Qs] and that was good enough to get his remaining 3.1 million in the middle. Unfortunately -$eG mAsTeR- had flopped a set with [5c] [9d] [Ks] [Kh], and when no low came mois64 was out in sixth place, collecting $2,286.61.

Only a few hands later a short-stacked tmxzt829 would press a slim hand at the wrong time. His [9d] [7h] [Kh] [Ad] hit the [6s] [7c] [6h] flop, but thehoffa's [2s Kc Ah 6d] hit it much, much harder. The turn and river were of no help and tmxzt829 left in fifth place with $3,048.81.

While four players remained at the table, the chip disparity was too big to see many different outcomes. thehoffa held nearly 65% of the chips in play, and -$eG mAsTeR- had most of the rest. Even in a swingy game like PLO8 it would take something approaching a miracle to save the short stacks, but the deck held no such plan. The two big stacks didn't either, and they took turns raising pots until their last two opponents withered away.

The first out was bstockton68. The [9h] [As] [6c] flop looked good to his [Ac] [3c] [Kh] [6s], but -$eG mAsTeR- had the big draw with [3s] [5d] [2d] [8c]. The [Jh] on the turn didn't change things, but the [7h] on the river scooped the pot for the big stack, making a nine-high straight and a 7-6-3-2-A low to send bstockton68 home in fourth place with $3,811.01.

Then leonardop4 took his turn, raising all-in preflop for just a few big blinds with [7d 3c Kd 8c] and getting a call from thehoffa with [4h 5c Ks Kc]. The [Qd 2s Qc 3h 9c] board didn't provide enough help, sending leonardop4 out in third place with $5,487.85.

With just two players left and thehoffa holding a better than two-to-one chip lead, talk of a deal was on the table once more. This time the negotiations didn't take long: thehoffa got $9,400, -$eG mAsTeR- took $8,500, and the last $500 stayed on the table for the winner. When the first hand of heads-up play was dealt, thehoffa made an admission to his opponent.

"this is actually my first PLO8 tourney," thehoffa typed in the chat box. "kind of like the game. Ive been so lucky, its so sick"

That stretch of luck held out exactly as long as it needed to. The chip lead did change hands twice, but just a few minutes after heads-up began it would end with this pot:

The willingness to be in the right place at the right time by entering an $11 SCOOP event in an unfamiliar game ended up being worth $9,900 for thehoffa. With a start like this for SCOOP, the rest of the schedule should start looking even juicier than it already did for players with dreams bigger than their bankrolls.

Final table results (including two-way deal)

1. thehoffa - $9,900
2. -$eG mAsTeR- - $8,500
3. leonardop4 - $5,487.85
4. bstockton68 - $3,811.01
5. tmxzt829 - $3,048.81
6. mois64 - $2,286.61
7. Henry XIV - $1,524.41
8. Dr.Niebaum - $762.21
9. Afferrare - $518.30

Often times winning a poker tournament comes down to being in the right place at the time. For PokerStars player thehoffa, the first "right place" of the day was the registration screen for a type of tournament he'd never played before: Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo. There would be plenty of fortunate spots along the way that paved thehoffa's path to SCOOP glory, but that decision kickstarted them all.

Before even a single player was registered for the tournament PokerStars guaranteed a $25,000 prize pool, which would have been met if just 2,500 players had turned up to play. In the end more than three times that many - 7,622 - showed up. Think of the WSOP Main Event from recent years and you've got an idea of the sheer size of this $11 tournament. With a first-place prize of $10,670.81 at stake, everybody had reason to let it all hang out.

The pace of play was frenetic despite the 5,000-chip starting stacks and pot-limit nature of the game. Never mind the split pots: more than 1,900 players were gone by the end of the first hour of play, and over half the field was gone by the second break. Play did slow down momentarily as the money bubble approached, but once it popped the shortest stacks all seemed ready to take the money and run. Meanwhile the survivors built stacks meant to last into the early morning hours when the real struggle would begin.

After 11 hours of play, thehoffa was one of those survivors. He held a slim chip lead over -$eG mAsTeR- when this situation came along at just the right time:

Just minutes later the crippled CastorrTroy would become the final table bubble boy, while thehoffa would enter the final table with nearly double the stack of his closest opponent:

After PokerStars staff stepped in to congratulate the players, they took a moment to do the same with one another. Rightfully so, given the odds each of them had overcome to get where they found themselves. But when the moment passed it was right back to work.

First to go was Afferrare in ninth place. He mucked his cards on a board of [Jh] [5s] [4h] [9s] [7d], with thehoffa taking the the low pot with [2h] [3c] [2s] [4c] while tmxzt829 claimed the high with [Qc] [Qd] [8s] [Ts] for a straight. Afferrare's exit earned a respectable $518.30.

tmxzt829 got right back to work on the next hand, claiming another victim in the form of Dr.Niebaum. The good doctor got his money in with [9h] [4c] [Tc] [Ah] and managed to catch a pair of nines on the [Qd] [9d] [7d] flop, but he left in eighth place with $762.21 when tmxzt829's [Td] [7c] [Qh] [Ac] two pair held up through the river.

Those back-to-back hands took the table down to seven, and anybody could have taken charge of the table with blinds at 125,000-250,000 and an average stack of 5.4 million. Sitting on the biggest stack with nearly 13.6 million, thehoffa had the most room for error; as it turned out he wouldn't need much of it. He turned up the aggression factor and claimed one key pot without a showdown before eliminating Henry XIV in this pot:

Henry XIV picked up $1,524.41 for the seventh place finish, while thehoffa went on to scoop another pot worth over 3.5 million holding a lowly pair of fours, building his stack to nearly 21 million in the process.

As thehoffa's stack grew, talk of a deal quickly arose. The players were all interested in hearing chip-chop numbers, but thehoffa's fair share came out to be worth more than the already announced first place prize. That proved to be too big a stumbling block for the other players and the game would continue without a new deal in place.

-$eG mAsTeR- seemed to gather steam from the failed negotiations. He had been in a distant second place when play was paused but he quickly narrowed that gap. With blinds at 150,000/300,000, mois64 opened to 1,050,000 and found -$eG mAsTeR- as his only caller in the small blind. After checking behind on the [Kc] [Td] [3d] flop, mois64's [Ah] [Qh] [3h] [2c] turned two pair with the [Qs] and that was good enough to get his remaining 3.1 million in the middle. Unfortunately -$eG mAsTeR- had flopped a set with [5c] [9d] [Ks] [Kh], and when no low came mois64 was out in sixth place, collecting $2,286.61.

Only a few hands later a short-stacked tmxzt829 would press a slim hand at the wrong time. His [9d] [7h] [Kh] [Ad] hit the [6s] [7c] [6h] flop, but thehoffa's [2s Kc Ah 6d] hit it much, much harder. The turn and river were of no help and tmxzt829 left in fifth place with $3,048.81.

While four players remained at the table, the chip disparity was too big to see many different outcomes. thehoffa held nearly 65% of the chips in play, and -$eG mAsTeR- had most of the rest. Even in a swingy game like PLO8 it would take something approaching a miracle to save the short stacks, but the deck held no such plan. The two big stacks didn't either, and they took turns raising pots until their last two opponents withered away.

The first out was bstockton68. The [9h] [As] [6c] flop looked good to his [Ac] [3c] [Kh] [6s], but -$eG mAsTeR- had the big draw with [3s] [5d] [2d] [8c]. The [Jh] on the turn didn't change things, but the [7h] on the river scooped the pot for the big stack, making a nine-high straight and a 7-6-3-2-A low to send bstockton68 home in fourth place with $3,811.01.

Then leonardop4 took his turn, raising all-in preflop for just a few big blinds with [7d 3c Kd 8c] and getting a call from thehoffa with [4h 5c Ks Kc]. The [Qd 2s Qc 3h 9c] board didn't provide enough help, sending leonardop4 out in third place with $5,487.85.

With just two players left and thehoffa holding a better than two-to-one chip lead, talk of a deal was on the table once more. This time the negotiations didn't take long: thehoffa got $9,400, -$eG mAsTeR- took $8,500, and the last $500 stayed on the table for the winner. When the first hand of heads-up play was dealt, thehoffa made an admission to his opponent.

"this is actually my first PLO8 tourney," thehoffa typed in the chat box. "kind of like the game. Ive been so lucky, its so sick"

That stretch of luck held out exactly as long as it needed to. The chip lead did change hands twice, but just a few minutes after heads-up began it would end with this pot:

The willingness to be in the right place at the right time by entering an $11 SCOOP event in an unfamiliar game ended up being worth $9,900 for thehoffa. With a start like this for SCOOP, the rest of the schedule should start looking even juicier than it already did for players with dreams bigger than their bankrolls.

Final table results (including two-way deal)

1. thehoffa - $9,900
2. -$eG mAsTeR- - $8,500
3. leonardop4 - $5,487.85
4. bstockton68 - $3,811.01
5. tmxzt829 - $3,048.81
6. mois64 - $2,286.61
7. Henry XIV - $1,524.41
8. Dr.Niebaum - $762.21
9. Afferrare - $518.30