When Day 1 of the SCOOP $1,050 Main Event ended, the last remaining representative of Team PokerStars Pro went to sleep with a chip stack of 1.5 million. That put him squarely in the middle of the 19 runners who still had a shot at the $502,086 first prize. It turns out that's exactly where he wanted to be.

J C Alvarado

The torrid pace of play leading up to the final table was set in the first 30 minutes. pino1234 was first to go when he shoved all-in from the small blind for his last 370K holding [Jc][9d] and tcblade called in the big blind with [Qd][Tc]. pino1234 flopped a jack, but tcblade went runner-runner for two pair to send pino1234 out in 19th place ($8,154.90). jomamusfat would quickly follow him to the rail in 18th ($9,594) when he flopped a straight with [Qs][Jc] but fell to jcamby33's runner-runner flush with [Qh][Th], with P0KERDUUDE dropping in 17th ($9,594) when he ran his pocket nines into JC Alvarado's pocket queens. Then the first of many big coin-flip pots on the day would go to ErikXP when he called tcblade's 1.2M all-in bet with a pair of deuces; tcblade's [Ah][Kd] never caught and he would finish in 16th place.

Incoming chip leader hasuace had enjoyed some early success on Day 2, especially in the early going. But he would give up the lead for good in this pot:

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hasuace did manage to come back a bit when he took down Rae_Kwon_JHK's [5h][5d] with [9h][8h], sending his opponent out in 15th place ($14,391). One minute later smeggi took his leave in 14th place ($14,391) when his [Tc] [Ts] was cracked by ErikXP's [Kc][8h] catching trip eights on the turn, and Ggod followed him in 13th place ($14,391) when he got all-in preflop with [Kc] [Kd] against Teejmeister1's [Ad][Kh], only to see an ace hit the flop. TheL0bster fared much better than some of the incoming short stacks, holding on until he found [Ac][Td] and then shoving for 754K, but he would leave in 12th place ($19,188) when fan4mizzou's [9s] [9c] for fan4mizzou spiked a set on the flop.

The beginning of the end for hasuace turned out to also be the beginning of JC Alvarado's rise to the top:

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As the first hour and the 25K/50K blind level came to a close we would lose former Sunday Million champ jcamby33. After ErikXP opened the betting with a raise to 127,999 in late position, jcamby33 raised to 430K; he then called with [Ah][Qh] when ErikXP set him all-in. ErikXP's [9c][9d] was already in the lead, but when the flop came down [9h][7c][6d] jcamby was drawing thin to a chop. No straight came and jcamby33 was out in 11th place ($19,188).

That led to the first five-minute break of the day, with one more player needing to bust before the final table would be set. The first hand back from the break would see tournament short stack Rayons X get his stack in as a respectable favorite with [Kd][Qs] against Teejmesiter1's [4h][3h], but the board ran out [Ad][5h][3c][As][Tc] to send him home in 10th place ($19,188) and set this final table lineup:

Seat 1: Crisper (1832869 in chips)
Seat 2: weeminer (4833816 in chips)
Seat 3: Ericb09 (3514591 in chips)
Seat 4: Teejmeister1 (3462739 in chips)
Seat 5: fan4mizzou (2813970 in chips)
Seat 6: phinomenon (919017 in chips)
Seat 7: hasuace (2180342 in chips)
Seat 8: JC Alvarado (4666116 in chips)
Seat 9: ErikXP (7756540 in chips)

With blinds and antes now at 30K/60K/7.5K, everyone at the table except for phinomenon had at least 30 big blinds to work with. But phinomenon had plans of his own that didn't involve being the first player out. First his [Jh] [Js] would win a race against weeminer's [Ah] [Kd] to grab a pot worth 2.7M. Then he would pick up [Qd] [Qc] against big slick again - this time [Ah][Ks] for ErikXP - and win the race with a [Qh] [7h] [9s] [2s] [8h] board, boosting him to 5.7M. He would hold on to the top spot for the next hour, taking his lead to the second break.

On the first hand back from that break phinomenon would benefit from another big pair, with this one coming in an even better spot than his previous ones. Sitting in the 120K big blind with [Jh][Jc], he had an easy call when Teejmeister1 shoved for 1.5M from the button. Teejmeister1 showed [Qd][5h], and his ill-timed steal attempt would send him home in ninth place ($25,584) when the board ran out [Jd][9d][2c][7c][3d].

But phinomenon's time at the top was coming to a close, and ErikXP would be the next to take a spin at the top. First he shoved for 1.5M preflop with [7s][6s] and beat weeminer's [Ah][Qc] on a board of [4h] [8h] [2h] [8s] [5d]. Then he took on phinomenon in a reversal of their previous confrontation; his [As][Qd] hit a queen on the turn to top phinomenon's [Js][Jh] in a 7M chip pot. He would wrap up his rocket-like ascent to the top with this hand against former chip leader hasuace, sending him home in eighth place ($39,975):

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The next player to go would be fan4mizzou, thanks to two crucial losses nearly back-to-back. First he came out on the wrong end of a 5.2M coin flip, losing with [Ac][Jh] to Crisper's [Th][Td] to leave himself just 110K with the blinds at 70K/140K. After that hand, fan4mizzou got all-in for his remaining stack with [Qd][Th] but fell to ErikXP's [Kh][Js] when the board came [8s][Jh][Tc][6h][6d]. That sent him home in seventh place, earning him $71,955.

A few minutes later, despite holding a stack of 3.1 million, phinomenon would commit himself preflop with the fourth bet holding [Ad][Qh] only to run into Crisper's [Ac][Kh]. With the community cards reading [9h] [2c] [5d] [7d] [As], phinomenon was gone in sixth place ($103,935) and Crisper seized the chip lead with 9.4 million.

With play now five-handed, JC Alvarado found the first pot that would lead him to the championship. The action folded to him in the small blind and he raised to 389,999. ErikXP called and the flop came down [3h] [9h] [8h]. Alvarado led out for 567K and wasted no time shoving all-in for 4.5M after ErikXP raised. ErikXP made the call with [Kh][6s] for the second nut flush draw and Alvarado showed [Jd] [Js]; the jacks held up through the [4c] and [Qd] river to send the PS pro up to second place, just a few hundred thousand behind Crisper. When the 80K/160K/20K level arrived a few minutes later, Alvarado would be in the lead.

Just into the new level, weeminer would see a steal attempt go horribly wrong when he shoved preflop with [Jc][4c] and Ericb09 called with [As][2d]. weeminer was left short-stacked and would bust six hands later in fifth place ($135,915) when his [As][3c] couldn't outrun Ericb09's [6d][6c].

JC Alvarado still held the lead at this point with 9.2M, but ErikXP, sitting on his left, began playing back at the pro as often as he could. The two began exchanging the chip lead while Crisper and Ericb09 both looked for a spot to seize some chips from the two more aggressive players. Ericb09 would be the first to try a squeeze play against the two bigger stacks, but he went home in fourth place ($183,885) when his move turned out to be badly timed:

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Crisper's chances took a big blow when he dropped a 7.8M pot to JC Alvarado on the 100K/200K/25K level. Crisper called Alvarado's 1M bet before the flop and tried to pull of a check-raise on the [3d] [Th] [Qd] flop, but he mucked immediately when Alvarado immediately min-raised. That left Crisper with just 4.6 million, all of which would go in the middle five minutes later with [Kh][9h] agaisnt Alvarado's [Qd][Qs]. Crisper would pick up a flush draw on the [3h][Th][3c] flop, but he blanked when the turn and river came [4s][Ac], sending him home in third place ($263,835).

That pot gave Alvarado the lead, 19M-12.5M, as heads-up play began. For eleven hands he and ErikXP would go back and forth before finally playing out this pot for the championship:

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That harsh hand for ErikXP led to a runner-up finish worth $374,166. Meanwhile Team PokerStars Pro's JC Alvarado booked the win for $502,086, topping his previous best prize of $366,798 at the 2008 World Poker Challenge and making him the Medium Stakes Main Event Champion for the 2009 PokerStars SCOOP.

Final table results
1. JC Alvarado $502,086
2. ErikXP $374,166
3. Crisper $263,835
4. Ericb09 $183,885
5. weeminer $135,915
6. phinomenon $103,935
7. fan4mizzou $71,955
8. hasuace $39,975
9. Teejmeister1 $25,584

Day 2 live blog coverage of the SCOOP Medium Stakes Main Event, $1,050 No-Limit Hold'em, is brought to you by Jason Kirk and David Aydt.

Click refresh to see the latest information as the 19 finalists play for their shares of the $3,198,000 prize pool. For a look at previous coverage, see the Day 1 recap.

8:23pm--JC Alvarado conquers ErikXP heads-up to claim first prize

The Team PokerStars Pro took twelve hands of heads-up play to take down ErikXP and the $502,086.00 first place prize in the following cooler of a hand for ErikXP. For his X-tra effort tonight in this two-day event ErikXP walks away with $374,166.00 as the runner-up. Watch the final hand play out below:

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Congratulations are in order for all the final table players, as they outlasted a monster-sized field in pursuit of the top prize. And special kudos go to the Team PokerStars Pro, JC Alvarado, for playing an incredible tournament to earn the single biggest payday of his poker career. Something tells us this is just the beginning for JC.

Thanks for staying with us throughout the second day of this SCOOP Medium Stakes Main Event!

8:15pm--Crisper takes third, heads-up play begins

Crisper had been looking down the barrel of a gun for some time, though his situation was made worse after folding to JC Alvarado's snap-raise a few minutes before. He looked to have a good spot to pick up some chips with a squeeze play when Alvarado raised 509,999 and got a call in the small blind from ErikXP. Crisper came in for a raise to 2.25M, but he was committed and had to call off his last 2.1M when Alvarado shoved all-in.

Alvarado's [Qd][Qs] was ahead, but Crisper's [Kh][9h] did catch a flush draw on the [3h][Th][3c] flop. But the Argentinian's fate was sealed when the turn and river came [4s][Ac], sending him home in third place with $263,835. Alvarado, meanwhile, is guaranteed the biggest prize of his career. He previously took home $366,798 for finishing second at the WPT World Poker Challenge in Reno, and is guaranteed at least $374K today.

8:10pm--Blinds up, players down to three

We are down to three players; the next elimination will receive $263,835.00 for third place and set up our heads-up match for the champiionship. The blinds have increased to 125K/250K with a 31,250 ante. Crisper holds the short stack at 4.6 million. Alvarado and ErikXP are both holding sizable stacks at 14 and 12 million respectively.

8:06pm - Snap-snap, Alvarado takes down 7.8 million with three-bet

With blinds still at 100K/200K, ante 25,000 Crisper limp-called the 1,000,0009 chip raise of JC Alvarado on the button the players saw a [3d] [Th] [Qd] flop. Alvarado led out from the small blind for a 1,275,018 chip bet which was raised to the more well-rounded 2.8 million by Crisper. Alvarado wasn't letting go of his chips, though; he snap-raised the minimum and scared Crisper off, raking in the 7.8 million chip pot.

8:00pm - Ericb09's broken heart means fourth place

Good spot for a semi-bluff, but Crisper had the goods to call as he turned up top pair-top kicker to Ericb09's nut-flush draw on the [Qh] [3c] [9h] flop. Watch the 8.8 million chip pot play out below as Ericb09 took home fourth place money ($183,885.00):

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7:57pm--JC takes the lead

It seemed like it was only a matter of time before JC Alvarado picked off an ErikXP bluff.

Alvarado opened for 699,999 when the action folded to his small blind, and ErikXP made the call to see the [Jc][2h][Qh] flop. Alvarado led out for 899,998 and ErikXP didn't take long to make the call. Both players would check on the [6d] turn, and when the river came the [3d] our PS pro would check once more.

This time, after thinking it over, ErikXP decided to bet an even 1 million. Alvarado went into the tank, eating about a quarter of his time bank before finally making the call with [As][Ks] for ace-high. Turns out it was the right move, as ErikXP held nothing more than [9h][8h] for a busted flush draw. The 5.3M pot shipped to Alvarado, giving him the chip lead.

7:53pm--ErikXP comes out swinging

After the break, ErikXP has picked up four out of five pots since the break getting to 12 million chips.

7:43pm--Six figure blinds and wins

The blinds are moving up to 100K/200K, ante 25K for level 43, and chip leader JC Alvarado is a step closer to eclipsing his biggest score. All eyes are still on the $502,086.00 for first, and the next player out will receive $183,885.00:

1. JC Alvarado 10,574,271
2. ErikXP 8,042,941
3. Crisper 6,871,490
4. Ericb09 6,491,298

7:39pm--Dueling rounders

JC Alvarado has taken the chip lead on a few occasions since we became four-handed. Most of the time it's been short-lived, though, because the player on his left, ErikXP, is the most aggressive player at the table. For now Alvarado is choosing to back down, but it's very easy to imagine a scenario where he lays a very big trap for his aggressive opponent.

7:36pm--Back to (nearly) even

With Ericb09 eating up the stack of weeminer, the chip stacks have flattened out for the 80K/160K/20K level with JC Alvarado still holding a lead with 9.2 million but ErikXP, Crisper, and Ericb09 are holding strong with around seven to eight million.

7:30pm--Caught red handed

Ericb09 woke up at the wrong time for weeminer as weeminer tried to squeeze a blind versus blind shove-bluff past Ericb09. Unfortunately for him Ericb09's [As][2d] was enough to take a gamble with, as weeminer's wee [Jc][4c] couldn't' connect on the [Tc] [2s] [Td] [8h] [Ks] board.

The rest of weeminer's wee stack would go in six hands later again against Ericb09. This time it was weeminer who held the ace [3c] [As] but Ericb09 had a pocket pair of sixes [6d] [6c]. Those sixes were enough on the [4d] [8c] [Jh] [Tc] [5s] board to send weeminer back down the shaft in fifth place ($135,915.00).

7:27pm--New blinds, new leader

Blinds moving up to 80K/160K, ante 20,000 and your current chip leader is none other than Team PokerStars Pro JC Alvarado who is nearly at ten million chips. Close behind are ErikXP (7.6 million) and Crisper (8.7 million).

7:23pm--JC Alvarado takes a bite out of ErikXP

The only remaining Team PokerStars Pro has been extremely patient throughout this tournament, and he's now in second place thanks to a big hand against the now former chip leader.

The action folded to Alvarado in the small blind, where he raised to 389,999. ErikXP called from the big blind and the flop came down [3h] [9h] [8h]. Alvarado led out for 567,498, and when ErikXP raised to 1.82M he quickly shoved all-in. ErikXP called with [Kh][6s] for the second nut flush draw, while Alvarado held the lead with [Jd] [Js]. The PS pro employed his top-notch dodging skills, avoiding ErikXP's outs through the [4c] turn and [Qd] river to grab a pot worth 9,236,776. That put him into second position just behind Crisper, while ErikXP fell to just under 7 million.

7:20pm--Crisper takes care of phinomenon in sixth place

We don't know what the players ate during the last break but the action has gone off the charts. phinomenon started the hand with 3.1 million and raised to 300K from UTG + 2 as Crisper answered with a three-bet to 800K in the small blind. phinomenon wasn't going to wait for aces any longer and shoved over the top holding [Qh][Ad]. Crisper rolled over one pip better [Ac][Kh] and held on through the [9h] [2c] [5d] [7d] [As] board to eliminate phinomenon in sixth place ($103,935.00).

7:14pm--And then there were six

The action we've been getting lately has certainly been worth the wait. With blinds at 70K/140K and antes of 17.5K, Crisper and fan4mizzou would tangle with all but 110K of fan4mizzou's chips going into the middle preflop for a 5.2 million chip pot:

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After that hand, fan4mizzou got all-in for his remaining stack with [Qd][Th] but fell to ErikXP's [Kh][Js] when the board came [8s] [Jh] [Tc] [6h] [6d]. That sent him home in seventh place, earning him $71,955.

7:03pm - weeminer digs up chips

After losing the majority of his chips doubling up ErikXP and Crisper, it was weeminer's turn to win a coin flip. He took his remaining 1.4 million and shoved from third position, getting a call from fan4mizzou in the cutoff holding [Qc] [Kh]. The pocket fours [4d] [4h] were good enough for a straight on the [3c] [7h] [6d] [7s] [5c] board to take down the 3.1 million chip pot.

6:59pm--ErikXP continues to bulldoze final table, hasuace out in 8th

After picking up two huge pots, ErikXP just grabbed another to catapult himself to twice what his nearest rival has. In the process he eliminated former chip leader hasuace in eighth place ($39,975):

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6:56pm--Gamble pays off for ErikXP times two

In back-to-back hands ErikXP shoved his stack into the middle and both times came out smelling like roses. First, he would open shove from the button with 1.5 million chips holding just [7s][6s]. weeminer would make the call and find himself ahead with [Qc][Ah]. But the [4h] [8h] [2h] [8s] [5d] river gave ErikXP his first double up. Then he would outrace phinomenon holding pocket jacks [Js][Jh] with [Qd] [As] on the [4d] [9c] [4s] Qh] [7d] board to get to nearly seven million chips.

6:48pm--Well nourished and ready to play

After Teejmeister1's elimination in ninth, there have been two hands of note. Ericb09 took down an 1.8 million chip pot after showing a pair of aces [Ac][4c] on the [Qh] [Ad] [8d] [8h] [2c] board to phinomenon. Then it was JC Alvarado's turn to trim some more chips off phinomenon in the below hand:

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6:42pm--Teejmeister1 exits in 9th place ($25,584)

After waiting for quite a while, we finally have a final table bustout - and in this case, the rich are getting richer because of it.

With the blinds now up to 60K/120K and antes at 15K, Teejmeister1 decided to move all-in for 1,557,739 on the button when the action folded around to him. The call was an easy one in the big blind for phinomenon, holding [Jh][Jc]. That was bad news for Teejmeister1's [Qd][5h], and the [Jd][9d][2c] flop was even worse. When the board ran out [7c][3d], Teejmeister1 became the first final tablist to find his way to the door, finishing in ninth place for $25,584.

6:36pm--Dinner's ready

All nine still looking at that $502,086.00 for first place, here are the chip counts:

1. phinomenon 6,466,152
2. Ericb09 4,719,353
3. JC Alvarado 4,034,639
4. fan4mizzou 3,907,303
5. hasuace 3,755,043
6. weeminer 3,603,649
7. Crisper 1,970,973
8. ErikXP 1,875,149
9. Teejmeister1 1,647,739

6:33pm - Squeeze for chips, JC takes in 882,500

Crisper opened the betting UTG +2 with a raise to 240K and was called by the chip leader phinomenon on the button. But, JC Alvarado in the big blind had no patience to see a cheap flop as he shoved over the top for enough to put Crisper all-in. Both players took a couple of seconds but mucked giving the Team PokerStars Pro a decent 882,500 chip pot.

6:32pm--First SCOOP Main Event champ crowned - but not here

While our nine players continue to jockey for position, the $109 Main Event has crowned a champion. Be sure to check the live blog for the full story on how JannotLapin grabbed the title.

6:27pm--Gambling time?

There's no doubt that the pace of play has been much slower since we arrived at our final nine players. A few minutes ago fan4mizzou let the table know that he wanted to get the game out of the mud. "i am fixing to start gambling," he said in the chat box. And since then he's appeared to hold true to his word: he has grabbed two uncontested pots worth a combined 2.3 million in the last orbit to boost his stack to 4.9 million.

6:16pm - Blinds go up, phinomenon still leads

Blinds increase to 50K/100K ante 12,500 and phinomenon with 5.9 million still leading the pack with a slew of players holding three million chips, including Team PokerStars Pro JC Alvarado, weeminer, Ericb09, and fan4mizzou.

6:10pm--Slow start for the Team PokerStars Pro

Not one to splash his chips so far in this event, Team PokerStars Pro JC Alvarado has only claimed two pots at the final table thus far. But with a four million chip stack and blinds and antes still at 40K/80K/10K and 20 minute levels he'll have plenty of time to wait for the right cards. And he has plenty of incentive to do so: a top-two finish today would be the biggest score of Alvarado's career.

JC Alvarado is looking for the biggest score of his career at today's final table

6:08pm--New chip leader

The biggest pot of the final table so far wasn't anything huge, but it did boost former short stack phinomenon into the chip leader's postiion. He opened for 200K in the cutoff and ErikXP was his only caller in the big blind. ErikXP led out for 320K on the [Ac][7h][2h] flop, but after being called he check-folded to a 720K bet on the [Js] turn. That shipped the pot to phinomenon and boosted him to a stack of 6.1 million.

5:55pm--High stakes, higher stakes

There's certainly been no lack of action today, with the field being reduced to just nine players in one hour of play. Since then we've seen the leaderboard shuffle a bit, but the same nine players are still in action as the blinds and antes go up to 40K/80K/10K. After the splash in action to start off the final table, the chips have spread out along the table with no one under two million in chips there's enough room for the players to raise and fold if they don't feel like their [7s][2h] is good enough for calling all-in.

5:52pm--Crisper no stranger to center stage

As shown by leading the Argentinean team in the 2008 World Cup Latin America finals to a fourth place finish, he's back in the limelight today at the final table. More so after catching a little luck on the river against phinomenon with trip sevens and a 1.6 million chip pot.

5:51pm--Something like a phinomenon

After entering the final table on the short stack and doubling up, phinomenon has made himself a contender thanks to another well-timed big hand. With blinds and antes at 30K/60K/7,5K, he opened the betting in second position for 152K. The action folded to the chip leader ErikXP, who after a bit of thought re-raised to 397,777. The rest of the table declined to get involved and phinomenon had another decision to make; he raised to 1M and then insta-called when ErikXP shipped his stack. It was [Qd] [Qc] for phinomenon and [Ah][Ks] for ErikXP, with the ladies flopping a set and holding up through the [Qh 7h 9s 2s 8h] board for a 5.68 million chip pot.

5:42pm--phinomenon-ly great

The first big pot of the final table would be shipped to (former) short stack phinomenon as he would push his 881,517 chips into the middle holding pocket jacks [Jh] [Js] and raced against the big slick [Ah] [Kd] of weeminer. The board [5s] [6c] [8c] [4c] [6s] showed no broadway cards and phinomenon would double up with the 2.7 million chip pot.

5:40pm--Welcome to the final table!

Here are your final nine tonight after just a shade over an hour of play with ErikXP holding the chip lead:

Seat 1: Crisper (1832869 in chips)
Seat 2: weeminer (4833816 in chips)
Seat 3: Ericb09 (3514591 in chips)
Seat 4: Teejmeister1 (3462739 in chips)
Seat 5: fan4mizzou (2813970 in chips)
Seat 6: phinomenon (919017 in chips)
Seat 7: hasuace (2180342 in chips)
Seat 8: JC Alvarado (4666116 in chips)
Seat 9: ErikXP (7756540 in chips)

5:38pm--Rayons X goes the way of polyester

We're finally down to our final table after the elimination of Rayons X in 10th place. The action had folded around to Teejmesiter1 in the small blind and he raised enough to put Rayons X all-in. Rayons X quickly called with [Kd][Qs], making him a favorite against Teejmesiter1's [4h]3h]. But as so often happens, the flop failed to cooperate with the short stack, coming down [Ad][5h][3c]. When the board ran out [As][Tc], Rayons X left with $19,188 and we had our final table:

5:31pm--Break time!

We're down to just ten players as the first break of the day begins. Here's a look at the chip counts:

1. ErikXP - 7,771,540
2. weeminer - 4,721316
3. JC Alvarado - 4,681,116
4. Ericb09 - 3,402,091
5. fan4mizzou - 2,731,470
6. Teejmesiter1 - 2,652,637
7. hasuace - 2,255,342
8. Crisper - 1,877,869
9. phinomenon - 1,024,017
10. Rayons X - 862,602

5:30pm - James "jcamby33" Campbell finishes 11th

In the hand before the break, jcamby33 decided to take his [Ah][Qh] to war against jcamby33's pocket nines [9c] [9d]. Watch the twisty hand for the past Sunday Million winner play out below as he took home $19,188.00 in 11th place:

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5:19pm - Big pot, no show

ErikXP continues to add to his stack after he three-bet jcamby33 in the big blind bet out 400,000 chips on the [3h] [Ks] [Jd] flop and got a call. ErikXP would check the turned [2s], getting jcamby33 to bet out 777,233, but ErikXP snapped shut a trap with a check-raise for his 3.5 million chips. jcamby33 folded as ErikXP took home the three million chip pot.

5:16pm--JC Alvarado doubles through hasuace

After coming in with the chip lead and looking strong in the early going, it's been tough times for hasuace. First he lost with J-J to weeminer's aces. Now he's dropped another monster pot to JC Alvarado:

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5:13pm -- TheL0bster boiled and served in 12th place

Facing a 100,000 chip button raise from fan4mizzou and blinds at 25,000/50,000 ante 6,250, TheL0bster held [Td] [Ac] and just 704,785 chips behind after paying his big blind he decided to push.

Pocket nines [9s] [9c] for fan4mizzou would nail a set on the [9h] [Kd] [Qs] cutting TheL0bster's outs to four. No jacks on the turn [Ah] or [2s] river and TheL0bster left the holding tank in 12th place ($19,188.00).

5:09--Ggod goes down in 13th place

It wasn't Ggod's day at the SCOOP tables. After coming near the bottom of the leaderboard he finally a hand to go with on the 20K/40K/5K level. But after getting his last 756K in the middle preflop with [Kc] [Kd] against Teejmeister1's [Ad][Kh], he would bow out in 13th place ($14,391) thanks to a board of [7d] [Ah] [6h] [Th] [5c].

5:08pm - Tens good against one eight, against two not so much

After limping in on the button ErikXP would call the 93,500 chip raise by smeggi in the small blind to see a [8c] [7s] [5s] flop. smeggi would lead out for 204,500 chips and be met with a raise from ErikXP to 640,000. smeggi three-bet all-in to 1.4 million total as ErikXP would call and turn over a pair of eights [Kc] [8h].

Top pair was no good as smeggi's pocket tens [Tc] [Ts] were in the lead until the turn [8d] gave ErikXP trips and the [2d] finished off smeggi in 14th place ($14,391.00).

5:07pm--hasuace recovers, Rae_Kwon_JHK can't protect his neck

After dropping that huge pot to weeminer, hasuace has recovered - and taken Rae_Kwon_JHK out of the tournament. With blinds still at 20K/40K with 5K antes, hasuace opened under the gun for 101,225. When the action reached Rae_Kwon_JHK, he shoved all-in for 610,925 holding [5h][5d]. That was ahead of hasuace's [9h][8h] until the flop came down [Ad][9s][3d]. The [8d] turn gave Rae_Kwon_JHK a flush draw, but his tournament ended in 15th place ($14,391) when the river came the [Qs].

5:06pm--weeminer has hasuace's number

We have ourselves a new chip leader after two big hands collided. weeminer is over 5.2 million now thanks to this monster pot, while hasuace drops to 2.86 million:

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4:58pm-Consider TheL0bster

Currently with blinds at 20K/40K and antes of 5K, TheL0bster took offense to smeggi's 102,500 chip raise into his big blind holding just 562,285 behind and pushed over the top. That caused smeggi to tank a bit before folding.

Meanwhile, hasuace has been quiet for a bit but decided to let his tablemates know he's still the biggest stack in the tournament. After opening in early position for 102,250, hasuace found himself repopped to 280K by Teejmesiter1 in the big blind. After calling for time, hasuace would take down the pot with a third raise to 685K.

4:52pm--tcblade is cut in 16th, Crisper jumps ahead

tcblade took his big slick [Kd] [Ah] up against ErikXP's pocket deuces [2h] [2c] preflop for his remaining 1.2 million chips. The ducks would hold up on the [7c] [Jc] [5h] [5s] [6s] board sending tcblade home with $9,594.00 as the pay scale takes another bump.

Meanwhile Crisper picked up a healthy pot off Rae_Kwon_JHK thanks to a picture perfect flop:

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4:49pm--Sunday Million Winner looking for more

We met with James "jcamby33" Campbell back in April 2007 after he took down the Sunday Million for more than $180,000. Today he'll need to finish 4th or better to eclipse that score. Read about James here in his winner's interview.

4:46pm--P0KERDUUDE takes a knee for JC (17th place)

Team PokerStars Pro had only one representative left when the day began. JC Alvarado played a solid game all through Day 1 just to make it here, and luckily for him he's going strong again after picking up a big hand at the right time. After opening under the gun for 79,999, Alvarado would get his entire stack in the middle against P0KERDUUDE in the big blind. The PS pro's [Qd][Qh] would hold up against his opponent's [9c][9h] through the [7d] [8d] [Kh] [3s] [5s] board to bust P0KERDUUDE in 17th place ($9,594).

4:44pm--Split it up

We're not playing Hi-Lo today but phenomenon and ErikXP just got their chips in the middle both holding big slick. Neither one held a flush draw by the turn of the [Qd] [7d] [5h] [Ts] [Th] board and both split up the 2.1 million chip pot.

4:37pm--Beware of the flopped straight

James "jcamby33" Campbell takes down the first big pot of the tournament. Watch below as the rivered heart takes out:

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4:35pm--Big bang, baby!

It took only one hand once play resumed to get us down to the final 18. pino1234 was looking to add some more numbers to his chip stack early as the short stack with 370,399. Unforunately he tried to open push those chips from the small blind into tcblade. [9d][Jc] for pino1234, [Qd] [Tc] for tcblade and while pino1234 would pair his jack, tcblade would catch his queen on the turn and river two pair on the [6d] [Ah] [Js] [Qc] [Td] board for 19th place ($8,154.90)

Meanwhile hasuace has come out with barrels blazing, raising both of the first two hands. He got no callers on the first, while Rae_Kwon_JHK called preflop but folded on the [Kh][Js][2h] board. That puts hasuace over 5 million, making him the first player to cross each of the last three million-chip milestones for the tournament.

4:30pm--It's business time!

Here's a look at the final three tables of our tournament as play begins:

Table 42:

Table 241:

Table 417:

Day 2 coverage to begin at 4:30pm ET

Join us here at 4:30pm ET for Day 2 coverage of the 2009 SCOOP $1,050 Main Event. The 14 remaining players and their chip counts are as follows:

1. hasuace - 4,737,047
2. Ericb09 - 2,833,241
3. jcamby33 - 2,531,250
4. smeggi - 2,392,776
5. Teejmesiter1 - 2,323,945
6. weeminer - 2,212,749
7. Rae_Kwon_JHK - 2,111,188
8. JC Alvarado - 1,501,169
9. phinomenon - 1,466,291
10. fan4mizzou - 1,303,843
11. jomamusfat - 1,209,530
12. Crisper - 1,188,269
13. Rayons X - 1,186,339
14. ErikXP - 1,106,603
15. Ggod - 974,584
16. TheL0bster - 876,412
17. P0KERDUUDE - 828,717
18. tcblade - 825,648
19. pino1234 - 370,399

After a week and a half of guarantee-busting tournaments, SCOOP has finally rolled around to the Big One - or rather, the Big Ones. With three Main Event tournaments running today, SCOOP, the new kid on the PokerStars tournament series block, was set to go out with a bang.

The medium tier tournament, sporting a $1,050 buy-in and a fat $3 million guaranteed prize pool, drew a whopping 3,198 players for the first of two days of action at the virtual felt. The math on that one is easy enough - the guarantee was broken by $198,000. When the tournament began all the players had their eyes on the $502,086 first prize. But as Christopher Lambert once said on the silver screen, there can be only one.

The task at hand for the day was to play 33 levels and whittle the field down to the final group that would return for a second day of poker. With the levels lasting 20 minutes each, any aspiring champ would have to settle in for 11 hours just to have a shot at the top prize. Befitting a Main Event, the 10,000-chip starting stack was deep enough to allow players room to maneuver as they sought a path to the final table.

With so many players in the field and such a large first prize it's no surprise that Team PokerStars Pro came out in force. But as is the case with any group of players, most of them would fall short of making the money. Among the PS players who played in this event but didn't cash were Peter Eastgate, Ivan Demidov, Isabelle Mercier, Johnny Lodden, Vanessa Rousso, Victor Ramdin, Bertrand Grospellier, Noah Boeken, Dennis Phillips, Hevad Khan, Chad Brown, Gavin Griffin, William Thorson, Alexandre Gomes, and Maridu Mayrinck.

If that list seems like it's light a few names, that's because there were plenty of their teammates who finished in the money. Former PokerStars Caribbean Adventure champ Steve Paul-Ambrose came in at 463rd. He was followed closely by Marcin Horecki in 442nd, and Leo Fernandez got even closer to the top in 195th. Impressive as those cashes were in such a large field, there were still a small handful of PS pros who outdid them - including two former world champions.

By 1:30 a.m. ET the blinds had reached 3K/6K with a 750 ante and only 105 players remained from the original starting field. At that point BruceWizayne became the first player to surpass the 1,000,000 chip mark when his [8s][8c] held up against [Kc][Qc] to send the all-in jahwise home in 104th place.

Not too far behind BruceWizayne in the chip counts was Team PokerStars Pro's own J.C. Alvarado. The PS pro had been hovering around the top of the leaderboard for some time, but within two orbits at the 4K/8K/1K level the two-time WPT final tablist grabbed pots worth 318K and 289K - the latter courtesy of picking up [Ac][Ad] against NoraFlum's [Ks][Qs] - to jump back into second place. A few small pots later he would cross the 1 million mark himself and take the chip lead, staying in the top 10 for most of the rest of the night and keeping himself within striking distance whenever he did slip further back.

J.C. Alvarado playing Day 2 of LAPT Uruguay

Now the chip lead began to change hands more frequently. At the end of the 4K/8K/1K level Rapid_Slap took control with this pot:

But as anyone who's been around the game for a while knows, tournament poker can cruelly take away what is has only recently given. Only a few hands later Rapid_Slap would be denied the opportunity to pull away from the field significantly by hasuace:

And then hasuace would claim the chip lead for the first - but not last - time of the night. Again, his advance came at the expense of Rapid_Slap, who would eventually bow out in 50th place for $6,076.20:

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With the field shrinking further by the minute, Chris Moneymaker and Andre Akkari were both appeared to be card dead and were holding on to their stacks thanks to small pots and timely steals. While aggression can pay off on the short stack, timing is the key; it's all about dodging real hands and managing to catch big when you do run into a legitimate hand. Akkari would manage to stay afloat for a long while, but on the 6K/12K/1.5K level Mr. Moneymaker would finally reach the end of his run, finishing in 68th place ($5,436.60) after this pot:

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While the man whose win built online poker was on his way out of the tournament, his fellow former WSOP Main Event champ Greg Raymer was still going strong. Always aggressive at the table, Raymer's game had nearly everyone at his table taking shots at playing back at him. True to form, FossilMan never feared getting his chips in the middle in an effort to build the kind of stack that can win a tournament. More often than not he held the best hand in his confrontations against all-in opponents, such as when his [Jc][Js] topped Cain Foster's [Tc][Th] or his [9s][9c] beat Unst0pab13's [3c][3d].

But all good things must come to an end. As it turns out, Raymer's good thing would end at the hands of a PS teammate. When the blinds and antes went up to 7K/14K/1.75K, J.C. Alvarado would be moved to FossilMan's table. Raymer's stack was on a downswing and he was looking for a chance to double himself right back up the leaderboard. Unfortunately he picked the wrong spot to make a move against Alvarado, sending him to the rail in 48th place ($6,076.20):

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Alvarado used that pot to float back up toward the top of the leaderboard where a number of players, including Crisper, BruceWizayne, and weeminer, took turns exchanging the chip lead. It would be weeminer who first crossed the 2,000,000 chip mark just before 4 a.m. ET when his pair of jacks held up against hasuace's [Qh][9h]. At just about that time, Andre Akkari's run would end in 39th place ($6,555.90) when his [Ks][Qs] couldn't beat fan4mizzou's [Ad][Kc].

After one final five-minute break the remaining players came back for three more levels of play. J.C. Alvarado was starting to slip and the 10K/20K blinds with 2.5K antes were providing plenty of incentive to find a spot to double up. A coin flip with [9h][9d] against HedgeMe's [Ad][Kd] proved to be crucial. If he'd lost it, Alvarado would have been left with under 200K and probably found himself on the outs soon afterward; instead, the board ran out [3d] [6s] [Jd] [Js] [2s] and the PS pro was back in the hunt.

Despite his earlier slip against weeminer, hasuace would become the pacesetter with two huge pots in a 10-minute span. First, with blinds at 12.5K/25K and antes of 3,125, heffalump75 opened for 62.5K in early position before the flop and called for 670K total when hasuace shoved behind him; hasuace's [5h] [5d] held against heffalump75's [As] [Kd] for a 1.5M pot that made him the first player to break 3 million. Then he took this pot to cruise past the 4 million mark, extending his chip lead even further:

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It looked as if the leaderboard might hold steady for the rest of the level, but just as play was coming to a close for the night Ericb09 would take down three pots worth over 1,000,000 each in the span of four hands - [Ac][Kh] vs. JOPKE JOPKE's [Jc][Jh], [Ad][Kc] vs. TheCronic420's [9d][9s], [Kd][Ks] vs. Hauen's [Tc][Th] - to finish the night in second position.

So after 11.5 hours of poker, just 19 players remained on three tables. They'll be back in action today at 4:30 p.m. ET, and we'll be here providing live updates for you. So be sure to join us to find out who will become the first ever medium-stakes Main Event SCOOP champion.

Table 52
Ericb09 - 2833241 in chips
phinomenon - 1466291 in chips
pino1234 - 370399 in chips
Rayons X - 1186339 in chips
Teejmesiter1 - 2323945 in chips
weeminer - 2212749 in chips

Table 241
ErikXP - 1106603 in chips
fan4mizzou - 1303843 in chips
Ggod - 974584 in chips
hasuace - 4737047 in chips
Rae_Kwon_JHK - 2111188 in chips
smeggi - 2392776 in chips

Table 417
Crisper - 1188269 in chips
JC Alvarado - 1501169 in chips
jcamby33 - 2531250 in chips
jomamusfat - 1209530 in chips
P0KERDUUDE - 828717 in chips
tcblade - 825648 in chips
TheL0bster - 876412 in chips