SCOOP 2020 Highlights: Main Event Winners; Connor ‘blanconegro’ Drinan Ships Fifth Title; Other Notable Winners; Series Extended

Following the success of their most recent record-breaking tournament Sunday Million, PokerStars is back once again this time hosting their classic series, the Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) 2020. The highly anticipated festival which began last April 30 and is still ongoing, initially featured a hefty $85 million in combined guaranteed prizes but is now officially extended with the combined guarantee up to $135 million.

Running approximately 372 tournaments in total, the series has already concluded about two thirds of its schedule, awarding multiple players with six digit scores. Below are some of the incredible winners of the recently culminated three tier level Main Events and other notable ones who likewise cashed in a big paycheck.

Alexgirs, HayashiJoão and Auercan Triumph Main Event of PokerStars’ Largest MTT Series

2020 SCOOP 74-H: $10,300 NLHE Main Event – Alexgirs ($920,595.81)

The most prestigious tournament of the SCOOP series crowned Belarusian player Alexgirs as champion last Wednesday as he emerged victorious after topping the shark-loaded final table of the $10,300 NLHE [8-Max, Main Event]. Claiming the coveted title, Alexgirs also took home a massive $920,596 upon outlasting the field of 609 entries. A great addition to his previous victory of shipping the High Rollers 37: $10,300 NLHE [8-Max] last month for a $215,927.76 payout, the striking win definitely puts the player way up in the ranks.

While a deal was made three-handed, the $6,090,000 prize pool was enough to guarantee each player at least over $700k in winnings. Setting aside an additional $50,000 for the winner, the short handed play became a roller coaster ride with the lead swinging back and forth among the three players. Alexgirs who at one point held a short stack ended up doubling through Alex “dynoalot” Difelice thrice, enough to push his chip count to almost even for the heads up battle against Brito. Exchanging leads once again, the Belarusian eventually secured the title soon after making an impressive call down with king-jack high for nearly all his chips against his opponent’s triple barrel bluff.

The final table noted multiple tough opponents who recorded similar noteworthy titles to their names. Brazilian Pablo “pabritz” Brito claimed two major event titles, the $10,300 MILLIONS South America Main Event and the inaugural online edition of the Irish Open this year alone which bagged him over $1.5 million in profits. Third in running Canadian Alex “dynoalot” Difelice also has two WCOOP titles under his belt along with more than $5.2 million in MTT winnings from the platform. Other well-known players who made it to the final table were Belgian pro Pieter “XMorphineX” Aerts, WSOP bracelet winners Michael “imluckbox” Addamo and Max “goodeh99” Silver and Raise Your Edge founder Benjamin “bencb789” Rolle.

Final Table Results:

*Denotes deal was made while setting aside $50,000 for the winner

2020 SCOOP 74-M: $1,050 NLHE Main Event – Joao “HayashiJoão” Hayashi ($920,067)

This year’s middle tier Main Event for the series garnered the biggest turnout in PokerStars SCOOP history, attracting an astonishing 6,475 entries to create a tremendous prize pool of $6,475,000 surpassing the initial $5 million guarantee. While posting only a tenth of the buy-in as compared to the high level Main Event, João “HayashiJoão” Hayashi cashed in a total of $920,067 which is almost at par with Alexgirs’ payout of $920,596.

The Brazilian who topped the large field of players to successfully make it to the final table had to patiently wait it out as Day three chip leader Michael “merla888” Gathy continued to dominate the game, busting out half of the opponents in the table. Commanding over 70% of the chips in play, it seemed that HayashiJoão was ready to settle for second place. The heads up battle however, proved to be successful for the Brazilian who scored multiple pots which eventually eliminated the wide gap. After less than three hours of play, Hayashi emerged victorious as the pair reached the final hand of which Gathy shoved from the button for his remaining twelve big blinds with queen-jack. The board was of no help to the Belgian as Hayashi’s ace-eight immediately flopped two pairs and soon ran a full house by the river, sending him to the rails for a runner up prize money of $655,853.

Final Table Results:

2020 SCOOP-74-L: $109 NLHE Main Event – auercan ($371,751)

The $3 million guaranteed low tier Main Event drew majority of the attention with its affordable buy-in of $109 which welcomed a massive field of 46,238 entries. Expectedly, the tournament once again smashed its guarantee pushing the prize pool up to $4,623,800. Main Event champion auercan walked away with $371,751 along with the long sought-after SCOOP title after four grueling days of play.

Entering the final day on the top of the chip counts, auercan continued to crush his opponents early on gaining him half of the total chips in play with five players left in running. After fourth place Mexican LOL_U_91 was eliminated, the remaining three reportedly agreed to a deal. It was soon after that the Latvian found himself as the underdog holding the shortest stack among the three. Luckily for auercan, Irish penguy2 was quickly sent to the rail for third place after calling UruRey’s small blind shove with ace-nine. Although ahead of his opponent’s queen-ten, the flop of jack-ten-ten granted UruRey the sizable pot simultaneously putting him at a 8:1 chip lead advantage for the heads up battle against auercan. Having a run of good cards however, allowed auercan to double up as well as catch UruRey’s multiple bluffs eventually leaving his opponent with nine big blinds for the final hand. Holding queen-ten once again for the last of his chips, UruRey found himself at a loss after failing to beat auercan’s final holding of ace-ten.

Final Table Results:

*Denotes deal was made

Connor ‘blanconegro’ Drinan’s Incredible Run – Ships Record Five Titles in a Single Series

Connor ‘blanconegro’ Drinan’s phenomenal heater has come at a no better time than to happen during the largest MTT series of the leading network’s history. Beating the former #1-ranked PocketFiver Shaun Deeb for the most titles in a single series, Drinan claimed his fifth title along with $322,264.28 last Tuesday after taking down the $10K Pot Limit Omaha Main Event. The skilled player had to overcome the heads up battle against PLO specialist Jens ‘Jeans89’ Kyllonen who fell short of the title to walk away with $245,286.27.

The past few weeks have been overly successful for the Chicago native after beasting multiple events to earn him $567,287 in total winnings. His record-breaking run shipped him SCOOP titles from two Pot Limit Omaha events, one in Pot Limit Omaha 8 or Better, one in No Limit Omaha, and one in HORSE. Not relatively new to the game of poker, the impressive player’s recorded wins has ultimately pushed his career total cashes to over $8.8 million.

Other Notable Winners

With numerous events running by the hour, several players are at the same time bagging memorable wins, boosting their careers and bankrolls alike. Among the notable winners last Wednesday are Adrian “Amadi_017” Mateos who took down the $1,050 NLHE event and Steve “Mr. Tim Caum” O’Dwyer who shipped two high roller event titles.

Adrian “Amadi_017” Mateos Bags Second SCOOP Title in Event-79-M: $1,050 NLHE

Renowned high stakes tournament player Adrian “Amadi_017” Mateos ended his three year drought after contending his second career SCOOP title from the $1,050 Super Tuesday Special Edition NLHE event. Winning his first SCOOP title on Event #30-H: $2,100 NLHE [6-max] back in 2017 for $234,030, the Spanish pro banked a smaller yet substantial amount of $164,398 for his long awaited victory. The $1 million guaranteed event drew in only 937 entries, 67 players short of meeting the guarantee.

The final table quickly became short handed as a quick round of eliminations commenced with vladxxxro, DaanOss and AnFiieLD busting in 9th, 8th, and 7th place respectively, followed shortly after by Pedersen and samuraiUA leaving in 6th and 5th place. Winning a big flip with pocket tens against BBRS999’s ace-queen, brought him a 3:1 chip lead for the heads up battle versus Bernardo “Machadada RS” Rocha. The heads up play lasted for almost two hours with both holding big stacks to maneuver around before Mateos was crowned as the winner. The final hand saw the Spanish pro’s ace-nine holding against opponent Rocha’s queen-jack for another recorded six figure score.

Steve “Mr. Tim Caum” O’Dwyer Wins Two High Roller Events

American pro Steve O’Dwyer finds himself at a huge profit after taking down two high roller events in less than a week. The outstanding player previously shipped a $25K High Roller event for a whopping $521,598 to consequently follow through with another high roller title soon after. His most recent win was of the SCOOP-79-H: $10,300 NLHE [8-Max, High Roller], $1M GTD garnering him an additional $241,956 in winnings.

Besting through the field of 105 players, O’Dwyer entered the final table second in chips earning himself even more as the game played out. Getting a good run of cards, O’Dwyer held 40% of the chips in play five-handed. Fellow high stakes tournament reg Juan “Malaka$tyle” Pardo was likewise raking in chips, scoring the next two eliminations. After a little over an hour of heads up play, Pardo was sent to the rail after a failed bluff against O’Dwyer’s flush on the river to conclude the tournament.

Series Extended

Just last week, PokerStars officially announced that the Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) 2020 will be extended until the end of the month, increasing the combined guarantee to as high as $135 million. A total of 132 events were added to the schedule with 18 lined up to occur on May 31st, Sunday to conclude the esteemed series. Among the added tournaments are seven highlights that feature guarantees of at least $1 million as listed below.

Thursday 21 May: A Thursday Thrill

13:00 SCOOP 85-H: $1,050 NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO, Thursday Thrill SE], $1M Gtd

Sunday 24 May: The Second Chance Main Event

13:00 SCOOP 96-L: $55 NLHE [8-Max, 2nd Chance Main Event], $1M Gtd

13:00 SCOOP 96-M: $530 NLHE [8-Max, 2nd Chance Main Event], $1.5M Gtd

13:00 SCOOP 96-H: $5,200 NLHE [8-Max, 2nd Chance Main Event], $1.5M Gtd

Tuesday 26 May: High Rollers in action

13:00 SCOOP 102-H: $10,300 NLHE [8-Max, High Roller], $1M Gtd

Sunday 31 May: A Sunday Million to remember

13:00 SCOOP 121-M: $109 NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO, Sunday Million SE], $2.5M Gtd

13:00 SCOOP 121-H: $1,050 NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO], $1.5M Gtd