The PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) events have concluded. The SCOOP was a 22-tournament series spread out over 12 days of action. Each tournament was offered with three different sets of buy-ins ranging from low, to mid, to high stakes. Buy-ins were offered for as little as $5.50 and as high as $25,500.
Here is a look back at the top five most memorable moments from the SCOOP.
No. 5 — Daniel "KidPoker" Negreanu Mis-Clicks Away Chance at Title
During event No. 8, Daniel Negreanu (pictured right) was looking very strong in the $3,000 high-stakes buy-in tournament. Negreanu was sitting in fourth place with four tables remaining with a stack of about 326,000.
With the blinds at 1,250-2,500, Ruben "rubenrtv" Visser raised to 6,050 from under the gun. Negreanu made the call on the button, and Eric "sheets" Haber reraised to 22,500 from the small blind. Visser then moved all in for 215,709, and Negreanu made the call with 4
3, saying "Oh no" in the chat box. Haber called all in, as well, and Visser won the pot after flopping the diamond nut flush.
Needless to say, the pot left Negreanu with much less than he started with, and the day ended shortly afterwards with him sitting in 32nd out of 34 players. The next day, Negreanu busted just minutes into play.
Negreanu did, however, go on to make a final table in the mixed-games tournament later in the series.
No. 4 — Two Main-Event Winners Who Don’t Chop, Win Outright
Rarely do you see a big online series main event played out in its entirety without some kind of deal being made at the final table. When J.C. "Area23JC" Tran won his WCOOP main event, seven-figures were set aside for the eventual winner in the original payout structure, yet Tran pocketed just over $600,000 after a deal was made. Last year, one of the most talked about deals in online poker history was made when five players chopped and Alex "AJKHoosier1" Kamberis was able to talk his way into an extra $150,000. Liberace became the largest prize winner in history by earning $1,375,249, even though he didn’t win the tournament; he lost to Carter "ckingusc" King, who won $1,265,432.
This year’s SCOOP main event turned out much differently. In the mid-stakes final, J.C. Alvarado (pictured left) took home $502,086 outright after topping a field of 3,198 players. Alvarado, who has made two World Poker Tour final tables, where deal-making is not allowed, ran over the final table and pocketed the largest score of his career.
In the high-stakes $10,000 main event, millions of dollars were still up for grabs when the tournament action stalled a bit six-handed. Amazingly, talk of a deal never materialized, and play resumed uninterrupted on a quest to determine a true champion. Jude "j.thaddeus" Ainsworth came out on top and banked $963,338, one of the largest prizes in online history.
No. 3 — Nine Tournaments Reach Seven-Figures
Thanks to the new, inventive way of offering three different buy-in levels for each event, the SCOOP series was able to offer nine different tournaments that had prize pools reach $1 million or more.
The United States led the way in most categories, including cashes (13,418), money won ($20,638,988), entrants (77,022), final tables (243), and champions (34).
No. 2 — Brett Richey Wins SCOOP All-Around Best Player
It was a close sweat for SCOOP series leader-board winner Brett "get crunk" Richey (pictured right). Francis "teacuppoker" Cagney had a chance to take away the overall title when he made the final table of the main event. Unfortunately, his ninth-place finish meant he could only manage third place on the leader board.
Other notables to finish very high in the rankings were Daniel "steamraise" Alaei (fourth), Frank "gator93" Hernadez (fifth), Jason "jakoon1985" Koon (sixth), Jon "PearlJammer" Turner (seventh), and Steven "$teveyMoney" Merrifield (10th).
Richey got to the top thanks to five final tables and nearly $118,000 in winnings. Richey will take home a Player of the Series trophy, a 2009 WCOOP main-event ticket, a 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure prize package, and an EPT Monte Carlo package.
No. 1 — Terrence "Unassigned" Chan Wins Two Tournaments During Same Event
At the mid- and high-stakes tournaments of event No. 20, Terrence "Unassigned" Chan (pictured left) was heads up in both. Chan, a former PokerStars employee and avid blogger, saw both tournaments begin to slip away before he mounted a comeback. Eventually, he turned things around in the $500 buy-in event, defeating jasjas11 for the first win and $51,300.
Admittedly, Chan was concentrating on the bigger, $5,000 buy-in event, where he was heads up with none other than the current Online Player of the Year leader, Shaun Deeb. Chan ultimately pulled out the victory there, as well, and earned another $134,887.
The man famous for being Terrence and not Johnny, made history with simultaneous SCOOP victories. The only other player with two wins was Sweden’s thehoffa, who took down two small-stakes events earlier in the series.
Notable Winners
Event No. 1 Low — Isaac "westmenloAA" Baron ($97,806)
Event No. 2 Med — Josh "Sdouble" Schlein ($33,664)
Event No. 6 High — Andrew "Browntown19" Brown ($166,400)
Event No. 8 High — Matt "MCMATTO" Affleck ($470,500)
Event No. 11 High — James "Andy McLEOD" Obst ($184,000)
Event No. 12 Low — Chris "PiMaster" Viox ($9,951)
Event No. 12 High — Frank "gator93" Hernandez ($57,770)
Event No. 13 High — Daniel "steamraise" Alaei ($63,765)
Event No. 14 Low — Hevad "RaiNKhAN" Khan ($58,107)
Event No. 15 Med — Chris "SLOPPYKLOD" Klodnicki ($33,744)
Event No. 16 Med — Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi ($19,608)
Event No. 17 Low — Rob "TheChosenWun" Kahlon ($62,732)
Event No. 17 High — Jason "jakoon1985" Koon ($302,720)
Event No. 18 High — Michael "amrasaralond" Binger (123,000)
Event No. 19 Med — Julian "jaeh00d" Rodriguez ($67,513)
Event No. 19 High — David "WhooooKidd" Baker ($215,000)
Event No. 20 Med — Terrence "Unassigned" Chan ($51,300)
Event No. 20 High — Terrence "Unassigned" Chan ($134,887)
Event No. 21 High — Benny "toweliestar" Spindler ($360,000)
Main Event Med — J.C. Alvarado ($502,086)
Main Event High — Jude "j.thaddeus" Ainsworth ($963,338)
