Radoja Denied Heads-Up as "Fakhish" Wins PokerStars SCOOP $10,300 Main Event
They were the marquee events at the start of the Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP), and now the three Main Events have crowned their winners on PokerStars.
All three surpassed their guarantees, with "Fakhish", Paulo "Pauilohpmoraes" Moraes, and "greatness_m" adding their names to the list of SCOOP Main Event champions. Keep reading to see how they did it!
"Fakhish" Wins SCOOP 115-H: $10,300 Main Event
From a field of 534, just one emerged triumphant: "Fakhish". The Mexico-flagged player defeated Mark "AceSpades11" Radoja and topped a field packed with talent to win $948,434 and their first SCOOP title.
Almaz "Alister307" Zhdanov, who won his first SCOOP title earlier this month, started the final table as chip leader but would have to settle for third place.
SCOOP 115-H: $10,300 Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fakhish | Mexico | $948,434 |
| 2 | Mark "AceSpades11" Radoja | Canada | $701,945 |
| 3 | Almaz "Alister307" Zhdanov | Belarus | $519,545 |
| 4 | Iago "neverstandard" Savino | Brazil | $384,531 |
| 5 | Vyacheslav "VbV1990" Buldygin | Kazahkstan | $284,604 |
| 6 | Dmitry "yurasov1990" Yurasov | Belarus | $210,644 |
| 7 | krokodil.by | Latvia | $155,904 |
| 8 | Peter "pitaoufmg" Patricio | Brazil | $115,389 |
| 9 | Juanki "B4NKR0LL3R" Vecino | Estonia | $92,083 |
Final Table Recap
Almaz "Alister307" Zhdanov may have started the day as chip leader, but it was "Fakhish" who moved through the pack to lead with six players remaining. Peter "pitaoufmg" Patricio started the day fifth in chips but followed Juan Carlos "B4NKR0LL3R" Vecino out the door as start-of-day short stack "krokodil.by" laddered twice before ultimately being eliminated in seventh.
Six-handed both Dmitry "yurasov1990" Yurasov and Mark "AceSpades11" Radoja doubled through Vyacheslav "VbV1990" Buldygin (pictured), who had started the day second in chips, before Buldygin himself doubled through Zhdanov.
Buldygin then picked up chips with the elimination of Yurasov, flopping a set of tens to send the Belarusian to the rail.
Despite this, Buldygin was next out, shoving with A♠K♦ into the pocket threes of "Fakhish." The board ran out 9♥8♦4♥10♥7♣, and Buldygin was eliminated.
Iago "neverstandard" Savino was unlucky to bust in fourth, getting jacks in against "Fakhish", only for the river to pair his opponent's queen and he was eliminated.
Then Radoja caught fire, sniffing out bluffs from both opponents three-handed. First, he called with second pair against "Fakhish" before sending Zhdanov to the rail with the next. On a A♠9♣8♦ flop, he called a check-raise from Zhdanov and then called a bet on the 5♠ turn. Zhdanov shoved the 10♠ river, and Radoja called.
Zhdanov showed K♦7♥ for a stone-cold bluff with Radoja's 9♠7♠ rivered flush, seeing him enter heads-up with 76 big blinds to Fakhish's 91.
As heads-up play got underway, there was a brief mention of a deal. "We don't look [at] numbers? We could play for slightly less," said Radoja.
"Maybe later if we will have equal stacks ok?" came the reply from Fakhish.
But there were never equal stacks. Fakhish soon opened up a 3:1 and then a 4:1 lead heads-up, with Radoja unable to mount a comeback.
In the final hand, Radoja held K♦J♥ on a Q♠10♠8♦ flop for an open-ended straight draw, while Fakhish had flopped two pair with Q♥8♥
The turn 6♦ changed nothing, and although the J♣ river gave Radoja a pair, it wasn't enough, and Fakhish was crowned champion.
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Paulo "Pauilohpmoraes" Moraes Wins Battle of Brazil in SCOOP-M: $1,050 Main Event
Congratulations to Paulo "Paulohpmoraes" Moraes who took down the SCOOP-M: $1,050 Main Event.
He topped a field of 3,993 players to win $493,965 after a heads-up deal with compatriot Guilherme "GoTelesGO" Teles, who would have to settle for second place and $483,703.
SCOOP 115-M: $1,050 Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paulo "Paulohpmoraes" Moraes | Brazil | $493,965* |
| 2 | Guilherme "GoTelesGO" Teles | Brazil | $483,703* |
| 3 | 59ofspades | Costa Rica | $290,036 |
| 4 | Leonardo "LeoAlcantara" Alcantara | Brazil | $206,747 |
| 5 | Henrique "HenriquinAK" Starling | Brazil | $147,376 |
| 6 | PokerHorst | Malta | $105,055 |
| 7 | cocoojones | Denmark | $74,886 |
| 8 | ifyourgood | United Kingdom | $53,381 |
| 9 | Havana85 | United Kingdom | $38,052 |
*denotes heads-up deal
Final Table Recap
Four of the top five players were from Brazil, and after "HenriquinAK" and "LeoAlcantara" were eliminated in fifth place, the remaining three players looked at the numbers.
Costa Rican-flagged "59ofspades" sat in the chip lead at this point, and ultimately no deal was agreed. Then came the Brazilian comeback.
"59ofspades" was sent to the rail by "GoTelesGO" after running ace-six into the ace-ten of his opponent and failing to catch up. With Brazilian PokerStars Pro Rafael Moraes looking on in the chat, the final two agreed to a deal. But that didn't stop the drama of the final hand.
With level stacks, both players got it in on a 9♦8♦3♣ flop. Moraes had flopped top pair with Q♦9♣ but was behind the two-pair of Teles with 8♥3♥. However, the miracle J♠10♥ runout gave Moraes a backdoor straight to take down victory, secure a six-figure victory, and become the newest SCOOP Main Event champion.
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River Hands "greatness_m" Victory in SCOOP 115-L: $109 Main Event
It doesn't matter what poker tournament you're playing, you need the river to be kind to you. And that's exactly what it was to "greatness_m" heads-up in the SCOOP 115-L: $109 Main Event.
In the final hand, the player playing under the flag of Thailand got it in good with A♥Q♠ against the A♦10♣ of "Japa Bill". The flop K♥10♠7♦ gave their opponent a pair, with the turn 2♣ a brick. However, the J♣ came on the river to hand "greatness_m" the win, beating a field of 23,616 players to win $241,169.
SCOOP 115-L: $109 Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | greatness_m | Thailand | $241,169 |
| 2 | Japa Bill | Brazil | $171,901 |
| 3 | Jesse "ezynow99" Wigan | Untied Kingdom | $122,567 |
| 4 | €uropictured | Romania | $87,348 |
| 5 | RisingStar | Z | Malta |
| 6 | Tom1006 | Germany | $44,384 |
| 7 | Alex “grinder1992” Dimitrov | Bulgaria | $31,639 |
| 8 | kopakabritu | Brazil | $22,553 |
| 9 | Matthew "mattydredd2323" Davies | Untied Kingdom | $16,076 |
Final Table Recap
They had come into the final table as the second-shortest stack at the table, but by the time play got four-handed, "greatness_m" was firmly ensconced in the chip lead and could only watch as "ezynow99" cracked the kings of "€europictured" thanks to an ace on the river, leaving "€uropictured" with just two big blinds. They were eliminated in fourth, with "ezynow99" following soon after.
"greatness_m" then picked up kings to send "ezynow99" to the rail and held a 120 to 26 big blind chip lead heads-up. They made short work of "Japa Bill" heads-up, wrapping up the victory in just over an hour's play.
Remaining SCOOP Results
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Based in the United Kingdom, Will started working for PokerNews as a freelance live reporter in 2015 and joined the full-time staff in 2019. He graduated from the University of Kent in 2017 with a B.A. in German. He also holds an NCTJ Diploma in Sports Journalism.
