PokerStars' Lex Veldhuis in the Hunt for Back-to-Back SCOOP $5,200 Titans Titles

Calum Grant
Senior Editor & Live Events Executive
4 min read
Lex Veldhuis

Another weekend of the 2024 PokerStars Spring Championship Of Online Poker (SCOOP) has come to a close on PokerStars, and there's been plenty of action from the virtual felt to talk about.

Benny Glaser became SCOOP's all-time number one after bagging his 11th title in SCOOP 75-L: $55 NLHE Turbo $19,590 while seasoned veteran Ilya "Leqenden" Anatsky won his fourth SCOOP title by taking down the $1,050 buy-in edition of the Thursday Thrill for $91,220.

Additionally, one week on from getting his maiden SCOOP victory, PokerStars ambassador Lex Veldhuis has the chance to run it back in the $5,200 Titans, the battleground he came out on top of seven days ago.

Martynenko in Pole Position for $60K Payday

Vlad Martynenko
Vlad Martynenko

The $5,200 Titans is one of the flagship Sunday tournaments on PokerStars, and this SCOOP edition is no exception. As always, a plethora of high rollers turned up, with this week's instalment attracting 123 entries and generating a $615,000 prize pool.

From the field, just nine remain, and best placed to collect the $59,669 up top is Ukraine's Vlad "VladTheSlaye" Martynenko (3,893,326, 111BBs), who has more than double his closest rival in Vlad "dariepoker" Darie (1,718,113, 49BBs).

Veldhuis (1,442,927, 41BBs), the defending champion, rounds out the top three chip counts in his pursuit of back-to-back titles. Another player representing the Spadie brand is also in contention as Alejandro "[Papo]AR" Lococo sits in the middle of the pack with a stack of 30 big blinds.

SCOOP 78-H: $5,200 NLHE [Progressive KO, Titans] Chip Counts

PlacePlayerCountryBountyChip CountBig Blinds
1Vlad "VladTheSlaye" MartynenkoUkraine$15,6253,893,326111
2Vlad "dariepoker" DarieRomania$10,7811,718,11349
3Lex VeldhuisNetherlands$6,2501,442,92741
4Eccentric_BGBulgaria2500133521638
5Alejandro "[Papo]AR" LococoArgentina$11,8751,042,93130
6234241234214432Ukraine$13,125969,19428
7Kelvin "Kelvin_FP:AR" KerberBrazil$7,969844,70624
8Alisson "heyalisson" PiekazewiczBrazil$6,719677,81419
9NotmystyleCanada$2,500375,77311

Can Anybody Stop Team Lex?

Not only is Veldhuis having a fantastic SCOOP campaign, but his stable of horses in the inaugural SCOOP league is cantering away from Team Spraggy, Tonka, and Fintan.

Four of the top five scoring players in the SCOOP league are on Team Lex. Patrick "pads1161" Leonard (1st - 1,410pts), who won his eighth SCOOP title last week, sits atop the point leaderboard.

"Fal1st" (2nd - 1,400pts) has been doing the heavy lifting for Team Spraggy while Denis "aDrENalin710" Strebkov (3rd - 1,220pts), Jerry "Perrymejsen" Odeen (4th - 1,060pts) and Veldhuis (5th - 965pts) are other main contributors to Team Lex's domination.

TeamPointsIncrease
Lex8,945+340
Spraggy7,220+120
Tonkaaaa4,940+100
Fintan3,715+140

Record Breaker: Benny Glaser Becomes SCOOP's All-Time Number One

$40K Mystery Bounty Prize for "WHATSON83!"; Hand Makes the FT

Fintan Hand
PokerStars Ambassador Fintan Hand

Another SCOOP Mystery Bounty offered up some huge prizes, most notably in SCOOP 72-H: $530 NLHE [Mystery Bounty].

In this event, a $40,000 top mystery bounty envelope was up for grabs, and the fortunate recipient of that tasty treat was fifth-place finisher "WHATSON83!". On top of that, the Swiss-based poker player banked a further $16,823 in bounties in addition to their $10,469 payout. Their final prize came to $67,292, making them the biggest winner on the day.

"twavlo147", also stationed in Switzerland, was the eventual champion and banked their first SCOOP title along with the $33,061 they received for their efforts.

Ambassador Fintan "easywithaces" Hand made the final table but was the first to leave in ninth place. Overall, the event had 909 entries, making for a $454,500 prize pool.

SCOOP 72-H: $530 NLHE [Mystery Bounty] Final Table Results

PlacePlayerCountryBountyPrizeTotal
1twavlo147Switzerland$1,118$31,943$33,061
2Zaiz024Brazil$10,235$24,169$34,404
3Christian "eisenhower1" JeppssonSweden$8,691$18,287$26,978
4SSchranckUnited Kingdom$2,382$13,836$16,218
5WHATSON83!Switzerland$56,823$10,469$67,292
6marjan1231Slovenia$22,662$7,921$30,583
7Renan "xrenanx182" MeneguettiBrazil$2,382$5,993$8,375
8Dimisi777Belarus$13,500$4,535$18,035
9Fintan "easywithaces" HandIreland$838$3,431$4,269

Brazil Gets Another SCOOP Winner in Baumgarten

SCOOP 81-H: $530 NLHE [7-Max, Turbo, PKO, Sunday Cooldown] was one of the six tournaments that played out to their conclusion on Sunday. Thanks to the 582 entries, the $250,000 guarantee was obliterated, with $291,000 being the final tally.

Joao Mathias "joaoMathias" Baumgarten was the player to get the lion's share after being crowned the champion. His $23,274 in bounties and $21,897 prize ended up in a $45,171 payday.

Baumgarten became the latest Brazilian to become a SCOOP winner, continuing the takeover from the South American state in the online poker streets.

SCOOP 81-H: $530 NLHE [7-Max, Turbo, PKO, Sunday Cooldown] Final Table Results

PlacePlayerCountryBountyPrizeTotal
1Joao Mathias "joaoMathias" BaumgartenBrazil$23,274$21,897$45,171
2nd1masBrazil$5,335$21,897$27,232
3vvdmmSlovenia$3,426$12,880$16,306
4coloradoallBrazil$4,072$9,132$13,204
5AdoptAMonkeyUnited Kingdom$5,010$6,474$11,484
6Pavels "Rigapols81" SpirinsLatvia$2,453$4,590$7,043
7MastermandelAustria$1,469$3,254$4,723

SCOOP Results from Sunday, May 19

Along with "twavlo147" and Baumgarten, four more players achieved poker glory. "budalzeira" and "Rust_A277" took down the low and medium editions of the Mystery Bounty.

"Ketamine2801" reigned supreme in the Low Sunday Cooldown while "Marcelinhobf" locked up their third SCOOP title in the Medium instalment. "Marcelinhobf's" previous two SCOOP wins came in Pot-Limit Omaha, with the latest coming in No Limit Hold'em.

EventFieldPrize PoolWinnerPayout
SCOOP 72-L: $5.50 NLHE [Mystery Bounty], $60K Gtd14,868$72,853budalzeira$3,703
SCOOP 72-M: $55 NLHE [Mystery Bounty], $300K Gtd7,075$353,750Rust_A277$22,246
SCOOP 72-H: $530 NLHE [Mystery Bounty], $400K Gtd909$454,500twavlo147$33,061
SCOOP 81-L: $5.50 NLHE [7-Max, Turbo, Progressive KO, Sunday Cooldown, Single Re-Entry], $30K Gtd9,979$48,897Ketamine2801$3,919
SCOOP 81-M: $55 NLHE [7-Max, Turbo, Progressive KO, Sunday Cooldown, Single Re-Entry], $175K Gtd5,412$270,600Marcelinhobf$25,965
SCOOP 81-H: $530 NLHE [7-Max, Turbo, Progressive KO, Sunday Cooldown, Single Re-Entry], $250K Gtd582$291,000Joao Mathias "joaoMathias" Baumgarten$45,171

* includes bounties, ** denotes three-way deal

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Calum Grant
Senior Editor & Live Events Executive

Calum has been a part of the PokerNews team since September 2021 after working in the UK energy sector. He played his first hand of poker in 2017 and immediately fell in love with the game. Calum has written for various poker outlets but found his home at PokerNews, where he has contributed to various articles and live updates, providing insights and reporting on major poker events, including the World Series of Poker (WSOP).

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