The PokerStars Spring Championship Of Online Poker (SCOOP) continued on May 8, crowning almost two dozen new champions. PokerNews has the inside scoop on all SCOOP matters, so pull up your favorite chair and feast your eyes on the biggest stories coming out of the latest round of PokerStars SCOOP Events.
In today’s round-up we have a fantastic ROI story, a tenth SCOOP title won, and an impressive $186,000 score to shout about.
Spraggy Banks More Than $52,000 From a $109 Satellite
Everyone loves reading about poker players turning a small investment into a massive payout, especially when that poker player is as popular as Team PokerStars’ Benjamin “Spraggy” Spragg. Yesterday, PokerNews noted that Spragg had navigated his way to Day 2 of SCOOP 16-M: $1,050 NLHE Super Tuesday, but we didn’t then know that Spragg had won his $1,050 seat via a $109 buy-in satellite.
Spragg returned to the action 11th from 18 in chips but soon found himself at the star-studded nine-handed final table. After the eliminations of “sanpri,” “icho90,” and Kelvin “Kelvin_FP:AR” Kerber, Spragg found himself in the final six and with a realistic shot at the $95,554 top prize.
The waters became less shark-infested after Gediminas “Gedis92” Uselis and Canada’s “roo_400” bowed out before Finnish superstar Samuel “€urop€an” Voudsen saw his latest deep run end in a fourth-place finish.
Spragg was only two eliminations away from taking down this event but came unstuck in third and had to make do with a $52,343 score. Usually, everyone other than a tournament’s champion is unhappy at busting, but Spragg was delighted about turning $109 into more than $52,000, and took to X/Twitter to declare his love for SCOOP.
Canada’s “uwintakeit” went on to defeat “Natrium111” heads-up to become the champion and recipient of a cool $95,554; the runner-up banked a still-welcomed $70,722.
SCOOP 16-M: $1,050 NLHE Super Tuesday Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | uwintakeit | Canada | $95,554 |
| 2 | Natrium111 | Belarus | $70,722 |
| 3 | Benjamin “Spraggy” Spragg | United Kingdom | $52,343 |
| 4 | Samuel “€urop€an” Vousden | Finland | $38,741 |
| 5 | roo_400 | Canada | $28,673 |
| 6 | Gediminas “Gedis92” Uselis | Lithuania | $21,222 |
| 7 | Kelvin “Kelvin_FP:AR” Kerber | Brazil | $15,707 |
| 8 | icho90 | Austria | $11,625 |
| 9 | sanpri | Mexico | $9,277 |
Andrey “Premove” Skvortsov Becomes a Ten-Time SCOOP Champion
You are forgiven for not knowing much about Andrey “Premove” Skvortsov because he rarely steps into the high-stakes world which is traditionally where the poker community’s interest is highest. However, Skvortsov is an online poker legend who yesterday won his tenth SCOOP title, tying him with the legendary figures Calvin “cal42688” Anderson and Benny “RunGodlike” Glaser.
Skvortsov was one of 3,199 entrants in SCOOP 17-L: $11 PLO 6-Max, a two-day event with a $31,350 prize pool. Battling through almost 3,200 opponents is challenging at best but especially so in a game as volatile as pot-limit Omaha. Yet Skvortsov embraced strapped himself in, embraced the variance, and ultimately came out on top for SCOOP title number ten.
The champion-elect found himself heads-up against Swiss grinder “Rosekilla.” As he had done in nine previous SCOOP events, Skvortsov got the job done, his hands on $4,516, and the tenth SCOOP title of his illustrious career.
SCOOP 17-L: $11 PLO 6-Max Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andre “Premove” Skvortsov | Bosnia & Herzegovina | $4,516 |
| 2 | Rosekilla | Switzerland | $3,144 |
| 3 | santaofis | Greece | $2,191 |
| 4 | Matuks | Brazil | $1,526 |
| 5 | Sanchez Juan | Argentina | $1,063 |
| 6 | CASSIANO_PE | Brazil | $741 |
| 7 | aschyl | Austria | $516 |
Mattsson’s Eighth SCOOP Win Came With $186,237
Simon “C. Darwin2” Mattsson is no stranger to the winner’s circle; the Swede is one of the winningest online poker players of all time, with more than $34.7 million in cashes. On May 8, Mattsson helped himself to another $186,237 and what was his eighth SCOOP victory.
Mattsson reached the final table of SCOOP 16-H: $10,300 NLHE Super Tuesday High Roller third in chips, trailing Estonia’s “DingeBrinker” and runaway chip leader Espen “Hymn2Ninkasi” Jorstad. The latter’s stack contained more than twice as many chips as anyone else’s.
It should not be surprising to discover the final table of this $10,300 buy-in event was ridiculously stacked. Such luminaries as Niklas “Lena900” Astedt, Artem “veeea” Vezhenkov, Pedro “pvigar” Garagnani, and Juan “Malaka$tyle” Pardo busted first but that still left the likes of Dinesh “NastyMinder” Alt, and the aforementioned “DingeBinker.”
With those elite-level players out of the way, Jorstad, Adrian “Amadi_017” Mateos, and Mattsson set about each other in an epic three-handed battle. Start-of-the-day chip leader Jorstad was the first of this trio to falter, collecting $104,479 for his third-place finish.
That left Mateos heads-up against Mattsson in an intriguing one-on-one battle. Mateos rarely loses when heads-up but neither does Mattsson. Something had to give in this proverbial immovable versus unstoppable object scenario. It was Mattsson who eventually came out on top and with his hands on his eighth SCOOP win and $186,237 in prize money, resigning Mateos to the $139,491 consolation prize.
SCOOP 16-H: $10,300 NLHE Super Tuesday High Roller Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Simon “C. Darwin2” Mattsson | Sweden | $186,237 |
| 2 | Adrian “Amadi_017” Mateos | United Kingdom | $139,491 |
| 3 | Espen “Hymn2Ninkasi” Jorstad | United Kingdom | $104,479 |
| 4 | DingeBrinker | Estonia | $78,254 |
| 5 | Dinesh “NastyMinder” Alt | Austria | $58,612 |
| 6 | Juan “Malaka$tyle” Pardo | Andorra | $43,901 |
| 7 | Pedro “pvigar” Garagnani | Brazil | $32,881 |
| 8 | Artem “veeea” ZVezhenkov | Thailand | $24,628 |
| 9 | Niklas “Lena900” Astedt | Sweden | $21,511 |
Team Spragg Leads the SCOOP League
Spragg’s third-place finish in the $1,050 NLHE Super Tuesday helped push Team Spragg to the top of the SCOOP League, with Spragg leapfrogging Team Lex.
The four teams have had a minor reshuffle with each captain now earning points for their respective teams, but the overall format remains the same. Who will win the inaugural SCOOP League?
2024 SCOOP Team Standings:
- Spraggy – 2,140pts
- Lex – 1,945pts
- Fintan – 1,130pts
- Tonkaaaa – 1,115pts
SCOOP Day 4 Results
Almost two dozen PokerStars players became SCOOP champions on Day 4, including Casimir “Ceis25” Seire who triumphed in SCOOP 18-H: $2,100 NLHE Progressive KO for $49,247, which was the biggest top prize aside from the tournaments mentioned above.
*includes bounty payments
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