Record Setting SCOOP Concludes on PokerStars

The 2016 Spring Championship of Online Poker drew to a close on Tuesday as the series’ last three events played out on PokerStars. With more than $90 million in tournament prizepools across 168 tournaments, this edition of the SCOOP was the richest yet.

As play began on Tuesday there were just three tournaments running - the SCOOP High, Medium, and Low Main Events. These prestigious contests offered a fantastic three-day structure and some of the largest payouts in online poker history.

The $100 buy-in “Low” Main Event featured a total of 24,591 entrants and a $2.25 million overall purse. The final table featured four Brazilians, two Germans, as well as competitors from Russia, the UK, and Taiwan. In the end it was "mmleandro" who collected all of the more than 1 billion chips to claim $196K (after chop) and the Championship Watch.

The $1,000 buy-in ‘Medium’ Main Event produced another astounding prizepool as 5,026 entered in hopes of hitting it big. After an exciting final table it was Andres "Educa-p0ker" Artinano of the United Kingdom who took home the title and $578K (after a four-way chop) - defeating long-time pro Jordan ‘Jymaster11’ Young ($458K) heads-up. 

The biggest tournament of the series, the $10,000 buy-in SCOOP “High” Main Event produced a staggering $8 million prizepool, drawing 824 entrants. As expected from a $10K buy-in event, the final table was packed with talent. With just 9 players remaining Talal “raidalot” Shakerchi held a commanding chiplead with 9.2 million chips - roughly 3.5 million more than his nearest challenger. By the time they reached four-handed play Shakerchi controlled over 20 million chips, more than the rest of the field combined. With mouth-watering pay jumps in store there was some talk of a deal, however, the British businessman with a considerable net worth remarked that he was “happy to play”. 

High Roller regular Scott Seiver soon exited in fourth ($596K), followed by s0nny_bLacCk ($792K) - both bowing out at the hands of Sean “Nolez7” Winter, setting up a massive heads-up match for $420,000. 

Despite relatively deep stacks and a slow structure, heads-up play lasted just three hands. Shakerchi, holding a 2-1 chip advantage, raised to 700K from the button and was called. The flop brought the 2d - 4c - 3d. Winter then check-called a 788K bet and the dealer produced the 7h on the turn. Winter again check-called Shakerchi’s 1.624 million chip bet and the SCOOP’s final two players saw the Jd appear on the river. Winter checked a third time, inducing a 3.91 million chip bet. Winter then committed all of his remaining chips, check-raising all-in for 11.33 million having made his flush with the Td-9d. Shakerchi instantly called however, showing Ad-7d - TheNuts - to take the title.

Official Results for the $10K SCOOP High Main Event:

1st - Talal “raidalot” Shakerchi - $1,468,000.88

2nd - Sean “Nolez7” Winter - $1,048,000.23

3rd - s0nny_bLacCk - $792,000.17

4th - Scott “gunning4you” Seiver - $596,000.13

5th - markovitsus - $416,000.09

6th - pablotenisis - $336,000.07

7th - Luckbox - $256,000.05

8th - IReadB00ks - $176,000.03

9th - EvnomiYa - $104,000.02

Congratulations to all of the 2016 SCOOP Champions! Not playing on PokerStars yet? Create your account today through TheNuts and reap the rewards of playing on the world’s largest poker room.