SCOOP 2020 Day 1: First Champions Of The Series Crowned

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May 01, 2020 5 min read

The $85 million guaranteed 2020 Spring Championship Of Online Poker (SCOOP) kicked off in style on April 30, crowning two champions and whittling down seven massive tournaments. PokerNews’s live reporting team is bringing you coverage of 30 SCOOP events throughout the series, so let’s start with a couple of these events.

SCOOP #02-H: $2,100 NLHE 8-Max PKO Thursday Thrill SE

The $2,100 buy-in SCOOP #02-H: $2,100 NLHE 8-Max PKO Thursday Thrill SE was the perfect way to kick off our live reporting coverage of the SCOOP 2020. A total of 575 players piled into this event and created a guarantee-busting prize pool weighing in at $1,150,000.

This massive sum is being shared among the top 71 finishers. Spare a thought for Christian “WATnlos” Rudolph who was the unfortunate soul to burst the money bubble. Rudolph busted at the hands of “Belqi” in 72nd place when his pocket kings were cracked by Belqi’s turned diamond flush.

Rudolph’s exit secured a payout of at least $2,257 for the remaining players.

Swedish superstar Niklas “Lena900” Astedt was the first to collect some prize money. Astedt lost a classic coinflip with ace-king against the pocket queens of Guillaume “Nolet20” Nolet. Astedt crashed out in 72nd place while Nolet put those chips to good use, ending Day 1 fifth in the chip counts.

Day 1 concluded after eight-hours and 50-minutes of action and with only 43 players in the hunt for the $88,383 top prize, which will be boosted by a gigantic bounty payment.

Sweden’s “Sasuke234” is the player to catch when play resumes a7:00 p.m. CET on May 1. The Swede finished the night with 3,196,370 chips, the only player to break through three million chips.

Second-placed “kZhh” of Hungary is hot on Sasuke234’s heels with a 2,966,657 stack.

Other notables still in with a shout of SCOOP glory include Markku “markovitsus” Koplimaa (2,899,468), Bertie "bigstealer" Bayley (1,647,000), Fabiano "Kovalski1" Kovalski (1,275,578), Jorryt "TheCleaner11" van Hoof (1,236,870), Jans "Graftekkel" Arends (1,166,809), Kenneth "kenny05" Smaron (877,911), Christopher "lissi stinkt" Frank (753,092), Ivan "Negriin" Luca (624,065), and Marton "noirduck" Czuczor (554,671).

Follow The SCOOP-02-H Action Here

SCOOP #02-M: $215 NLHE 8-Max PKO Mini Thursday Thrill SE

The only thing mini about the SCOOP #02-M: $215 NLHE 8-Max PKO Mini Thursday Thrill SE was the name because 5,840 players turned out in force for it on April 30. These entrants were reduced to a more manageable 198 over the course of eight-and-a-half hours.

Each of the players who return to the action at 7:00 p.m. CET under the watchful eye of the PokerNews live reporting team, do so having secured a payday of at least $401 plus however many bounties they’ve collected along the way.

The money bubble burst during the 20th level of the night. Blinds were 4,000/8,000/1,000a and “aviator2014” opened to 16,000 from under the gun. “NeveGiveUp” called in late position, “adkaf” and “selinantis” called from the cutoff and button respectively, before Anthony “Otter8759” Diotte called off their last 14,574 chips from the big blind.

Aviator2014 fired a continuation bet of 56,000 on the trey-deuce-trey flop and only adkaf called. The turn was a five and aviator2014 bet 107,287 but quickly folded to adkaf’s 298,050 shove.

Adkaf showed seven-three for trip threes and the all-in Diotte pocket queens. Another five on the river improved adkaf to a full house and Diotte popped the bubble.

Some of the more notable players to reach the money included Martin “0PIGGYBANK” Finger, Johan “busto_soon” van Til, Billy “b8chatz” Chattaway, “joaoMathias”, and Artem “veeea” Vezhenkov.

Such luminaries as Caio “pessagno” Pessagno, Josip “Jozinho6” Simunic, Jorryt “TheCleaner11” van Hoof, and Pascal “Paffchen” Hartmann are still in the hunt for the title.

Returning to the action as chip leader is the Dutch player “Pimms” courtesy of their 5,106,864 stack. Pimms and “giumas987” of the United Kingdom were the only players to finish with more than five million chips.

Two other household names fund themselves in the top 10 when play resumed. Ireland’s Sean “MonkeyBudg” Prendiville (3,788,398) and Brazil’s Bruno “bootycheck” Rangel (3,791,128) being those players.

Follow The SCOOP-02-M Action Here

Brazil’s William “Williaml666” Barbosa Takes Down SCOOP-04-M: $109 NLHE

As mentioned earlier, two SCOOP 2020 events crowned their champions on April 30, the SCOOP 04-M: $109 NLHE being one of them.

It was a Brazilian one-two in this tournament with William “WilliamI666” Barbosa walking away with the lion’s share of the prize pool, namely $69,061. Barbosa defeated his fellow countryman Guilherme “guilherme12” Decourt heads-up fo the title, resigning the runner-up to a still substantial $48,462.

Four other players turned their $109 investment into a five-figure prize. Argentina’s “fedebola9” banked $11,753 for their sixth-place finish. “xtha” of brazil won $16,748 while Netherlands’ “0000000000136” scooped $23,866. Third-place finisher “KingBenzii” of Canada saw their PokerStars account balance swell by $34,009.

SCOOP-04-L: $11 NLHE Ends in a Three-Way Chop

The other completed event was the SCOOP-04-L: $11 NLHE which attracted 19,588 and ended in a three-way chop. The three players involved in the ICM deal were also the only folks to receive a five-figure prize for their efforts.

Canada’s “2aSi” of Romania officially finished in third and saw their $11 turn into an impressive $13,584. Their exit left “Fixxxr6_” and Mitoas “papadatos69” Papadatos of Greece to battle one-on-one. It was a fight the Greek grinder won, therefore netting $15,084. Fixxxr6_ walked away with the slightly larger prize of $15,869 thanks to the aforementioned deal.

*reflects a three-way deal

Other Events

SCOOP-02-L: $22 NLHE [Progressive KO]

SCOOP-03-L: $22 PLO

SCOOP-03-M: $215 PLO

SCOOP-03-H: $1,050 PLO

SCOOP-04-H: $1,050 NLHE

What To Look Forward To On Day 2

May 1 is a busy day for SCOOP players with seven in-play events resuming and 12 more tournaments shuffling up for the first time! Check out the full schedule in the table below.

Matthew Pitt hails from Leeds, West Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom, and has worked in the poker industry since 2008, and worked for PokerNews since 2010. In September 2010, he became the editor of PokerNews. Matthew stepped away from live reporting duties in 2015, and now concentrates on his role of Senior Editor for the PokerNews.

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