Viktor Blom Wins PokerStars SCOOP $10K Main Event For $1 Million; Noah Boeken 2nd
The 2013 PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) came to a close Monday as champions were crowned in the three Main Events. The two-day tournaments began Sunday and offered three different buy-in levels — low ($109), medium ($1,050), and high ($10,300) — and each had a guaranteed prize pool of at least $1 million.
The highly anticipated SCOOP High Main Event saw several top pros run deep for a shot at more than $1 million for first place. The final table was headlined by Viktor "Isildur1" Blom, who was seeking his third SCOOP title in addition to the prize money. He was joined by notables Noah "Exclusive" Boeken, Mike "munchenHB" Telker, Ravi "govshark2" Raghavan, and Sergio "zcedrick" Aido. Blom went on to win the tournament in come-from-behind fashion against Boeken in heads-up play.
PokerStars SCOOP Event #43-High: Main Event ($3M Guaranteed)
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $10,000+300 | 580 | $5,800,000 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Viktor "Isildur1" Blom | $1,096,200 |
| 2 | Noah "Exclusive" Boeken | $803,300 |
| 3 | cmontopdeck | $591,600 |
| 4 | Mike "munchenHB" Telker | $446,600 |
| 5 | Sergio "zcedrick" Aido | $313,200 |
| 6 | Ravi "govshark2" Raghavan | $246,500 |
| 7 | w4ldo | $188,500 |
| 8 | leshkaGmBlZ | $130,500 |
| 9 | Adrián "Amadi_017" Mateos Díaz | $88,740 |
Notable Finishes: Thiago “XTheDecanoX” Nishijima (11th - $69,600), Konstantin "BongBob" Bücherl (15th - $58,000), Justi "ZeeJustin" Bonomo (17th - $46,400), Mark "AceSpades11" Radoja (20th - $34,800), Tom “7tHEcROw7” MacDonald (21st - $34,800), Ondrej "Vinkyy" Vinklarek (23rd - $34,800), Tommie “Godfatti” Janssen (24th - $34,800)
High-stakes tournament regulars Thiago “XTheDecanoX” Nishijima, Konstantin "BongBob" Bücherl and Justin "ZeeJustin" Bonomo were eliminated with two tables remaining, but there was still plenty of fire power when the nine players combined to form the SCOOP High Main Event final table. In addition to the seven-figure payday and the SCOOP champions watch, the eventual winner would join the likes of former champions Nick "GripDsNutz" Grippo, Sami "Lrslzk" Kelopuro, Ryan "toetagU" Fair and Jude "j.thaddeus" Ainsworth in the SCOOP history books.
Team PokerStars Pro Noah Boeken began the final table with the chip lead, but Mike "munchenHB" Telker closed the gap when he eliminated Adrián "Amadi_017" Mateos Díaz in ninth place. With the blinds at 8,000/16,000/2,000, Telker min-raised to 32,000 from early position with the J♠J♥, and Díaz moved all in for 363,205 from the big blind with the A♠K♣. Telker called, and his pair of jacks held up through the 4♠9♥5♥Q♦4♦ board. Díaz collected $88,740 for ninth place.
After "leshkaGmBlZ" (8th - $130,500) and "w4ldo" (7th - $188,500) hit the rail, Ravi "govshark2" Raghavan exited in sixth place. Raghavan was one of the short stacks when the day began and battled his way to reach the final table, but his run ended when his Q♠9♥ failed improve against Blom's A♥Q♣ after all the chips went in preflop.
Sergio "zcedrick" Aido was eliminated in fifth place, and again it was Blom serving the knockout. With the blinds at 15,000/30,000/3,750, Boeken raised to 60,000 from under the gun, and Blom flat called directly to his left. Aido was the next to act and moved all in for 505, 263. Boeken folded, but Blom called.
Aido: A♣K♥
Blom: 9♠9♥
The board ran out 2♥7♦Q♣10♥6♠, and Aido collected $313,200 for fifth place. Meanwhile, Blom took the chip lead away from Boeken — but that wouldn't last long.
With the blinds increased again to 17,500/35,000/4,375, Boeken raised to 70,000 from the button and Telker three-bet to 199,885 from the big blind. Boeken called, and the flop rolled out Q♥10♦4♥. Telker bet 198,995, and Boeken raised all-in, having his opponent covered. Telker called, and the cards went on their backs:
Boeken: Q♦J♠
Telker: Q♣9♣
Boeken's kicked had Telker in trouble, and the 2♥ turn and 10♣ river sent the former WCOOP champ out in fourth place for $446,600.
Boeken increased his stack on the very next hand by eliminating "cmontopdeck" with pocket kings against J♣10♥, setting up a heads-up match against Blom. Known for his legendary high-stakes heads-up duels over at Full Tilt Poker, Blom had ground to make up as he was facing a 3-to-1 chip disadvantage against his Dutch foe. As expected, he didn't make it easy for Boeken.
Blom grinded away at Boeken, winning enough small pots to take the chip lead on the 77th hand of the heads-up match. He then extended that lead by winning a hefty pot shortly before a scheduled five-minute break. Blom min-raised his button to 100,000 and Boeken three-bet to 250,000. Blom called, and the flop came 10♠2♣J♣. Boeken fired 250,000 and Blom called, bringing the K♦ on the turn. Boeken bet again, this time 600,000, and Blom came along. The river was the A♦ and Boeken slowed down by checking. Blom moved all in, prompting Boeken to fold, and Blom took more than a 3-to-1 lead.
A short while later, it was all over. Boeken raised his button to 100,000 and Blom called to see a flop of K♣J♠9♠. The action moved quickly from there; Blom checked, Boeken bet 130,000, Blom check-raised to 342,500, and Boeken three-bet all in for 1,859,359. Blom called and tabled Q♣10♣ for the nuts, and Boeken needed a miracle to survive with his K♠5♣. The 9♣ turn gave him some help, but the A♦ on the river brought an end to the tournament. Blom is no stranger to million-dollar days, but he'll no doubt feel some satisfaction in defeating one of the toughest online tournament fields of the year.
Running alongside the $10,300 Main Event on Sunday were the medium and low buy-in variants. Team PokerStars Online member Randy "nanonoko" Lew made the final table of the medium event, but ultimately fell short of the title in fourth place after agreeing to a four-way deal. Here's a look at the results from the medium and low SCOOP Main Events:
PokerStars SCOOP Event #43-Medium: Main Event ($2M Guaranteed)
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $1,000+50 | 4,039 | $4,039,000 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | nicofellow | $472,209* |
| 2 | Bostero10 | $434,760* |
| 3 | LuCasino777 | $396,731* |
| 4 | Randy "nanonoko" Lew | $368,445* |
| 5 | mandalaclub | $171,657 |
| 6 | Need1MFasT | $131,267 |
| 7 | stasia42 | $90,877 |
| 8 | iAct.VolanD | $50,487 |
| 9 | zinkAA | $32,312 |
*Denotes four-handed deal
Notable Finishes: Will "molswi47" Molson (13th - $18,175), Cyriel "Supa4real" Dohmen (20th - $10,299)
PokerStars SCOOP Event #43-Low: Main Event ($1M Guaranteed)
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $100+9 | 23,045 | $2,304,500 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | MLiz | $198,015* |
| 2 | Cha444 | $121,137* |
| 3 | Pawel.Mpl | $142,494* |
| 4 | yuricougar | $111,322* |
| 5 | Thru Ya City | $114,277* |
| 6 | sirgiannis1 | $46,090 |
| 7 | TWOcc | $32,378 |
| 8 | tonn22 | $20,740 |
| 9 | boomerangP | 13,827 |
*Denotes five-handed deal
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