2017 PokerStars SCOOP Day 8: Sam Grafton Secures a Title
Day 8 of the 2017 Spring Championship Of Online Poker (SCOOP) was ridiculously busy as several events from Day 7 concluded, crowning more than a dozen champions.
One such champion was the popular, talkative British pro Sam “SamSquid” Grafton who took down SCOOP-27-H: $1,050 NLO8 [8-Max], $150K Gtd and added an impressive $51,285 to his lifetime tournament winnings; this latest victory took Grafton past the $4.8 million barrier.
A compact field of 263 players took to the PokerStars virtual felt in the $1,050 NLO8 event and created a prize pool that smashed the $150,000 guarantee by $113,000. The juicy pot was shared among the top 40 finishers and awarded $1,512 for a min-cash, $6,575 to the final table’s eight players and $51,285 to the champion.
Grafton was the last player standing and he won what was the fifth largest online poker tournament score of his career to date.
SCOOP-27-H: $1,050 NLO8 [8-Max], $150K Gtd Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sam “SamSquid” Grafton | UK | $51,285 |
| 2 | Bernardo “bedias” Dias | Brazil | $38,135 |
| 3 | Joao “joaoMathias” Mathias Baumgarten | Brazil | $28,930 |
| 4 | Renan “Internett93o” Carlos Bruschi | Brazil | $21,040 |
| 5 | Richard “CHUFTY” Ashby | UK | $14,465 |
| 6 | “Antonio7” | Canada | $10,520 |
| 7 | Brian “brianm15” England | Costa Rica | $7,890 |
| 8 | Robert “robc1978” Cowen | UK | $6,575 |
Grafton went into the final table of the $1,050 buy in tournament as the chip leader, but found himself surrounded by some of online poker’s elite players so a victory was not a foregone conclusion.
It took more than an hour for the first casualty of the eight-handed final table to be confirmed. Welshman Robert “robc1978” Cowen earned that unwanted title. According to the PokerStars Blog, Cowen clashed with former Sunday Million and Super Tuesday champion Bernado “bedias” Dias preflop and the latter improved to a flush on a board where no low hand was possible.
Brian “brianm13” England crashed out at the hands of “Internett93o” to finish in seventh place and England was followed to the side lines by Canada’s “Antonio7” and British mixed game specialist Richard “CHUFTY” Ashby to leave only four players in the hunt for a SCOOP title.
Those four became three with the elimination of Internett93o in fourth. Internett93o committed his stack with A♦A♠6♣4♠ and Dias called with K♣4♣3♦2♦ and was rewarded with a 4♦K♠Q♠8♥9♦ board, which improved Dias’ hand to kings and fours.
Forty-five minutes after Internett93o’s demise, Joao “joaoMathias” Mathias Baumgarten bust in third place at the hands of his fellow Brazilian, Dias. The chips went in on the turn of the 3♦2♠9♠8♦2♥ board and the river gifted Dias an 8-5 low and Baumgarten a second-best 8-7 low.
Grafton held a 1,537,974 to 1,092,026 chip lead over Dias going into heads-up yet it took 77 minutes of one-on-one action to settle the tournament. Grafton raised in the final hand with A♥8♠6♣2♣, Dias moved all in for 656,442 while holding A♣J♠7♠5♥. Grafton made the call.
The board ran out J♣3♠2♥9♠2♦, giving Grafton his first COOP title of what has been a long and illustrious career.
SCOOP NEWS AND NOTES
Grafton wasn’t the only British winner this weekend because Luke “LFmagic” Fields triumphed in the SCOOP-26-L: $215 NLHE [Heads-Up, High Roller] and secured a $28,491 payout. ... Croatia’s “mandza17” won the $2,100 NLHE Heads-Up for $88,800. ... Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky took down the $25,000 Heads-up High Roller, topping a field of 16 to get his hands on a massive $180,000. ... Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo added $95,680 to his impressive list of tournament winnings by winning the SCOOP-25-H: $2,100 8-Game event. ... Dennis “DBerglin” Berglin became a SCOOP champion when he topped a field of 605 in the SCOOP-28-H: $530 NLHE [Progressive KO] to win $28,438 and an $11,543 bounty payment.
Six SCOOP events conclude on May 15. They are:
- SCOOP-28-H: $530 NLHE [Progressive KO], $150K Gtd
- SCOOP-29-H: $1,050 NLHE [8-Max], $500K Gtd
- SCOOP-30-H: $2,100 NLHE [6-Max], $1M Gtd
- SCOOP-31-H: $2,100 NLHE, $1M Gtd
- SCOOP-32-H: $1,050 PLO [6-Max, Progressive KO], $250K Gtd
- SCOOP-35-H: $530 NLHE [Bubble Rush], $250K Gtd
DAY 7 SCOOP WINNERS
| Event | Buy-In | Prize Pool | Winner | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #24 NLHE 6-Max Progressive KO-L | $5.50 | $87,760 | RockyRoxin | $5,336 |
| #24 NLHE 6-Max Progressive KO-M | $55 | $273,300 | EyesNvrLie | $17,935 |
| #24 NLHE 6-Max Progressive KO-H | $530 | $555,500 | Rino2016192 | $46,523 |
| #25 8-Game-L | $27 | $71,612 | phinster | $11,281 |
| #25 8-Game-M | $215 | $143,000 | fred_volpe | $25,210 |
| #25 8-Game-H | $2,100 | $416,000 | Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo | $95,680 |
| #26 NLHE Heads Up High Roller-L | $215 | $188,400 | Luke “LFMagic” Fields | $28,491 |
| #26 NLHE Heads Up High Roller-M | $2,100 | $296,000 | mandza17 | $88,800 |
| #26 NLHE Heads Up High Roller-H | $25,000 | $400,000 | Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky | $180,000 |
| #27 NLO8 8-Max-L | $11 | $43,620 | SomovRulit | $6,873 |
| #27 NLO8 8-Max-M | $109 | $111,300 | krakukra | $18,405 |
| #27 NLO8 8-Max-H | $1,050 | $263,000 | Sam “SamSquid” Grafton | $51,285 |
| #28 NLHE Progressive KO-L | $5.50 | $47,815 | Mr_Plejer7x | $3,353 |
| #26 NLHE Progressive KO-M | $55 | $10,861 | morryAA | $10,861 |
| #26 NLHE Progressive KO-H | $530 | $302,500 | Dennis “DBerglin” Berglin | $28,435 |
PokerNews will be recapping all the action played out during the 2017 SCOOP. Check back daily for updates, news and more.
