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It was the 30th time Rafael Nadal had stood at the net with Roger Federer, and the King of Clay made it count. Today at the Italian Open, Nadal beat Federer 6-1, 6-3 for the title. It was the seventh time Nadal had won the championship there and the 20th times he'd beaten Federer. If there was any question about Rafa's recovery from his 2012 injury, Rafa has put it to rest. This is his fifth title since the comeback. Now Rafa heads to Roland Garros for the French Open where he will attempt to win his 12th Grand Slam. Congrats, Rafa, on another great performance. Brad Willis is the PokerStars Head of Blogging

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The game was five-card pot-limit Omaha, one designed to add another layer, a fifth dimension if you like, to a game already laced with volatility. The result was a typical SCOOP final, one filled with good players, good play, and a winner worthy of the accolade "SCOOP champion". That was L0stKeys, who secured a shock win against Odd_Oddsen, to win the title, a SCOOP winner's watch and an un-chopped first prize of $114,660. That the prize was a big one owed everything to the re-buy and add-on option which swelled the $300,000 guaranteed prize pool to more than $440,000. From the 151 players there were 166 re-buys and a further 124 add-ons. Frugality, thy name is not 5-card pot-limit Omaha. A few hands into the SCOOP 19-H final table Clarity, your name is not 5-card PLO either. As hands flashed up the fifth card meant only the sharp-eyed were able to spot winning hands before they disappeared, the chips were pushed in one direction or another. For the sleepy, watching late at night, or early in the morning, the hand re-player served its purpose. What that showed was a pretty entertaining final table. Seat 1 - Odd_Oddsen Norway), 398,245 Seat 2 - L0stKeys (Costa Rica), 315,051 Seat 3 - VOZNI (Russia), 196,483 Seat 4 - blanconegro (Mexico), 138,113 Seat 5 - sexygee (United Kingdom), 169,826 Seat 6 - Ledicus (Ireland), 353,282 As you'd expect in a $1,050 buy-in Omaha event, the line-up was a one of competitive distinction. Among the last six there were former runners-up, of SCOOPs and a Sunday Millions, as well as those set for a career best finish. Odd_Oddsen secures the lead The relatively inexperienced Norwegian Odd_Oddsen led with nearly 400,000 chips, ahead of Ledicus, from Ireland, with 353,000. The pair would wrestle for the lead in the early stages before Odd_Oddsen pulled away through the application of relentless pressure, and a locking of antlers that took Odd_Oddsen up to more than 650,000 when Odd_Oddsen rivered an ace-high flush to beat Ledicus's ace-high straight. It was a lead he would keep until he was heads-up. Meanwhile VOZNI was first to depart. A SCOOP runner up from 2010, VOZNI's tournament ended in sixth place when his turned second nut flush was pipped by Ledicus's nut flush. Three minutes later Sexygee followed. Sexygee, who finished second in the $7m guaranteed Anniversary Sunday Million in March, was busted when he could only show ace-high against the ace-high straight of Odd_Oddsen. It meant advantage Norway, up to more than 750,000. Meanwhile... At the other end of the scale was Blanconegro, another SCOOP 2010 runner-up, who survived a further 15 minutes as the short stack before he too was despatched by the chip leader in fourth place. Three handed, Odd_Oddsen's lead was significant. Odd_Oddsen - 852,000 Ledicus - 415,000 L0stKeys - 295,000 L0stKeys, boxing out of Costa Rica, had been relatively quite up to now, but got to work taking over second place from Ledicus, while Odd_Oddsen took his stack above the one million mark. Ledicus, though, was never able to recover, busting in third place. Odd_Oddsen had led all the way and, with a two-to-one advantage over L0stKeys, looked destined to secure a first SCOOP title. With blinds at 3,000-6,000 however, the stacks were deep, deep enough for L0stKeys to set about clawing back. It looked to be working until Odd-Oddsen undid all his work to restore his lead. Then a massive hand. The hand effectively switched the stacks around, L0stKeys now leading and crippling Odd_Oddsen minutes later. Going into the last break L0stKeys's 1.3 million towered over Odd_Oddsen 269,000. It was beginning to look inevitable when Odd_Oddsen got his chips in on the flop of [3c][9c][th]. L0stKeys fired before Odd_Oddsen shoved for his remaining 124,000... L0stKeys's tens and nines were enough to secure his first SCOOP bracelet, a well-timed display to pull off the unexpected win. Congratulations to L0stKeys on an excellent performance. PokerStars 2

One of the newest games to hit the PokerStars lobby, Pot-Limit 5-Card Omaha is exactly like regular PLO, but with the bonus of an additional hole card. Hand values increase, redraws are vital, and the nuts, or something very close to them is most often the winning hand. This isn't a game for the faint of heart and no one at this final table understood pressure more than brianm15. A Sunday Warm-Up champion who once made back-to-back Sunday Million final tables, brianm15 lost out on a SCOOP title last year in the $2,100 NLHE event, but took home over $211k for his runner-up finish. Tonight, brianm15 did one better and nabbed himself a SCOOP watch along with over $42,000. 658 adventurous SCOOPers gave Big O a whirl, their 1,155 rebuys and 499 add-ons resulting in a $231,200 prize pool. 84 places were pair with first place set to earn $42,772.00. Ten Red Spades joined the field, among them Nacho Barbero, Lex Veldhus, Eugene Katchalov, Marcel Luske and George Danzer, but when it came to making the money, they were all shut out. With seven players remaining, brianm15 held a substantial chip lead with more than double the chips of his closest competitor. He padded that lead even further by delivering a one-out blow to cluelessiam on a [Ad][6s][9s][9c][8s] board, the river making him a nine-high straight flush vs. cluessiam's full house. Left with 182,000, cluelessiam got the rest of his chips in on a [Qd][Td][3d][4h] board vs. brianm15. Cluelessiam turned up [Kc][Qc][Qs][6h][4d] for a set of queens, while brianm15 revealed [Jd][9d][9h][5s][2s] for a flopped queen-high flush. Cluelessiam didn't boat up on the river, the [Ah] falling to end his run on the final table bubble. Final table chip counts Seat 1: EdoTK (204,968 in chips) Seat 2: AceQuad (523,525 in chips) Seat 3: NoTime2WaZT (967,566 in chips) Seat 4: Andollini (619,774 in chips) Seat 5: isinm2006 (991,151 in chips) Seat 6: brianm15 (4,627,016 in chips) Andollini eliminated in sixth place Andollini couldn't seem to get any traction at the final table. Down to 244,000 with the blinds up to 10,000/20,000, Andollini opened for 70,000 from UTG. NoTime2WaZTcalled from the big blind and they saw a [Kh][Js][3s] flop. NoTime2WaZT led out for 100,000 and Andollini called. NoTime2WaZT bet another 100,000 on the [Qc] turn and Andollini called all-in, revealing [As][Ac][9d][7c][2s] for a pair of aces and the nut flush draw. NoTime2WaZT had already made Broadway with [Ad][Kc][Tc][9c][4d]. Andollini needed a river spade to survive, but got the [2h] instead, and departed in sixth place. brianm15 delivers a one-two punch AceQuad was the next to fall. After brianm15 opened for 70,000, AceQuad three-bet shoved for 196,025 and brianm15 called. AceQuad [Ac][Ah][8s][6c][3c] brianm15 [Qh][Jd][6s][5c][4d] AceQuad made aces up on the [Ts][5s[5h] flop, but the [3s] on the turn gave brianm15 a straight draw. He filled it on the river with the [2s] and AceQuad was out in fifth, earning $11,560.00 for his run. Two hands later, EdoTK put his last 110,000 in before the flop, his [Ad][As][7c][6h][5h] up against brianm15's [Kd][Kc][Jh][Th][Ts]. Although EdoTK made top set on the [Ah][9s][4h] flop, brianm15 turned the nut flush with the [8h]. EdoTK needed to pair the board on the river, but saw the [Qd] fall instead to send him home in fourth place. Clock runs out on NoTime2WaZT On the very next deal, brianm15 opened for a min-raise to 40,000 and isinm2006 called from the big blind. Both players checked the [Jd][Th][9c] flop and when the [Qh] came on the turn, isinm2006 check-called another 40,000. The river fell the [Tc] and isinm2006 checked a third time. Brianm15 bet 170,000, isinim2006 raised to 680,000 and brianm15 looked him up. Isinm2006 turned over [Kd][Qd][Qs][6h][6d] for the nut boat and raked in the 1.53 million pot, increasing his stack to 1.55 million. At this point, brianm15 continued to hold a dominating chip lead with 4.42 million while NoTime2WaZT and isinm2

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Short-handed Big O with rebuys. How much more exhilarating excitement can you ask for? For extreme skiers, 6-max Big O is like a run down the treacherous, icy slopes of Mt. Everest. In the ultimate thrill-seeking event, I Am Benjami faded 3,362 players to become the latest SCOOP champion. The Spring Championship of Online Poker Event #19-L "Big O" $11+R attracted 2,262 runners. They contributed 5,983 re-buys and an additional 2,000 add-ons. That boosted the total prize pool to $113,450. The top 450 places paid out with $17,586.77 set aside to the eventual champion. Team PokerStars Pros seeking a SCOOP title in this event included familiar faces such as George Danzer, Martin Hruby, Marcin "Goral" Horecki, Nacho Barbero, Bryan Huang, and Lex Veldhuis. Team PokerStars Online members who played, but didn't cash in Big O included nkeyno and George "Jorj95" Lind. The only notable who cashed was Team Online Daleroxxu, who finished in the money in 349th place. George Danzer came close to the money, but the German Team Pro met his fate near the bubble in 482nd place. With 18 to go on the final three tables, holdi12 (Liechtenstein) held the lead with 4.2 million. With 12 to go on the final two tables, babbelz (Netherlands) held the lead with 5.2 million. With nine remaining, babbelz chipped up to 9 million. With seven remaining, action went hand-for-hand for a full level before holdi12 unceremoniously bubbled off the final table in seventh place. holdi12's [Ah][Kc][Qh][Jc][9s] lost to I Am Benjami's [8h][8s][7h][6s][5s]. The board ran out [Td][3s][2h][2c][6d] and I Am Benjami dragged the pot with two pair. With holdi12's elimination, the final table of six was set. SCOOP Event #19-L - Final Table Chip Counts: Seat 1: Profesigh (2,199,710) Seat 2: malika1989 (1,925,034) Seat 3: babbelz (13,496,038) Seat 4: §fengshai§ (6,165,595) Seat 5: I Am Benjami (11,651,623) Seat 6: Pokerslive (2,597,000) The final table commenced during Level 40 with blinds at 100K/200K. With six to go, babbelz held the lead with 13.4 million, and malika1989 sat on the short-stack with 1.9 million. Pokerslive eliminated in 6th place It did not take long before we saw our first elimination. On the second hand of the final table, someone busted. It all began when malika1989 opened to 700,000 and Pokerslive called from the big blind. The flop was [Jh][Ts][Th] and both players checked. The turn was the [2s]. Pokerslive shoved for 897,000, and malika1989 called. Pokerslive: [Ac][Qc][5s][2d][2h] malika1989: [As][Ad][Jd][Tc][6d] Pokerslive turned a boat, but malika1989 flopped a bigger boat. The [Kh] fell on the river and malika1989 won the pot with Tens full of Jacks. Pokerslive became the first player to get knocked off the final table. For a sixth-place performance, Pokerslive earned $1985.37. Profesigh eliminated in 5th place Profesigh took a nasty hit a few hands earlier and all of sudden was on life support. Short-stacked Profesigh shoved for 860,763 and §fengshai§ called from the big blind. §fengshai§: [Ah][Kc][4h][3s][2c] Profesigh: [Ac][Kh][Jc][8h][3c] The board ran out [6h][4d][2d][2s][5c]. Profesigh rivered a Wheel, but §fengshai§ dragged the pot with a full boat. For a fifth-place finish, Profesigh took home $3,687.12. With four to go, I Am Benjami held a slight lead with 11.5 million to babbelz's 11.4 million. malika1989 held 8.8 million and §fengshai§ was the "shorty" with 6.1 million. DEAL Action was paused to discuss a deal. The final four quickly agreed upon the terms: I Am Benjami ($13,195.93) babbelz ($11,470.89) malika1989 ($10,551,37) §fengshai§ ($9,287.37) They left $1,500 on the table (in addition to the winner's watch) for the eventual champion. §fengshai§ eliminated in 4th place A quick bustout occurred right after the deal. Here's what happened... babbelz opened to 675,000 and §fengshai§ called. The flop was [Jd][9h][2c] and both players checked. The turn was the [5d]. babbelz fired out 1 million, §fengsha

Win your first table, make the money. It sounds easy enough. But to get a shot at the big cash, players had to dispose of two more tables of ten. A format favored by SNG wizards and tourney grinders alike, Event #18-L offered the potential to turn a $27 investment into enough to buy a midsize car. Taking direct aim was Cem1994, who hit a crucial river card to double up during nine-handed play. Cem1994 never had to look back and rode his chip lead into the winner's circle, capturing his first SCOOP title. 6,099 players came out for Event #18-L, creating a $149,730.45 prize pool. The 1,000 players who won their first-round tables earned a share of it, with $23,588.18 set aside for first place. Joining the action were more than a dozen Red Spades, including George Danzer, Andre Coimbra, Randy "nanonoko" Lew, George "Jorj95" Lind III, Mickey "mement_mori" Petersen, Naoya "nkeyno" Kihara and Eugene Katchalov. Both Lex Veldhuis (418th) and Joao "jomane" Nunes (268th) made the money, but couldn't top their second-round tables. First-round tables took the field from 6,099 to 1,000 and the second from 1,000 to 100. With 11 players remaining in the third round, a single table was still heads-up, AVTOPILOT holding a 2 to 1 chip lead over shiptourneys. Their match came down to a cooler, shiptourneys six-bet shoving his [Qs][Qd] into [Kd][Kh]. A nine-high board ended shiptourneys' run in eleventh place, while AVTOPILOT F1 advanced to the fourth and final round. Final table chip counts Seat 1: bg.TheProfie (5,000 in chips) Seat 2: Cem1994 (5,000 in chips) Seat 3: qqgo (5,000 in chips) Seat 4: ros1987 (5,000 in chips) Seat 5: ShaneGlsd (5,000 in chips) Seat 6: MPH84 (5,000 in chips) Seat 7: leopeluca (5,000 in chips) Seat 8: AVTOPILOT F1 (5,000 in chips) Seat 9: Win A Rolex (5,000 in chips) Seat 10: Igr2017 (5,000 in chips) MPH84 sputters out in tenth MPH84 took a hit in the first level when lgr2017's [As][Qh] outflopped his [Ad][Kd] and hit a pair of queens. MPH84 tried to move him off on the river with a bluff-raise, but lgr2017 looked him up and took down the 3,000 pot. Down to 2,310, MPH84 again found [Ad][Kh] and shoved over Win A Rolex's UTG min-raise and lgr2017's 360-chip three-bet. Lgr2017 called with [Qs][Qd] and improved to top set on the flop, ending MPH84's run in tenth place. Cem1994 takes the chip lead Lgr2017's luck changed, however, when his [Ac][4d] turned a wheel only to fall to Cem1994's full house on the river. Cem1994 doubled to 12,220 while lgr2017's stack plummeted to 1,946. ShaneGlsd finished him off a short time later. With 1,263 remaining and the blinds up to 60/120, lgr2017 picked up [Ah][8d] and open-shoved from middle position. ShaneGlsd reshoved to isloate and his pocket fours held up to eliminate lgr2017 in ninth place. Seven, six, five... Bg.TheProfie had ground his stack up to 7,700 when he picked up [Ad][Qc] and opened for 336. Win A Rolex smooth-called from the big blind and bg.TheProfie hit top pair on the [Qh][7c][2d] flop. Win a Rolex check-called 488, and checked again when the [6s] came on the turn. Bg.TheProfie bet 912, Win A Rolex raised to 3,040 and bg.TheProfie shoved for 6,847. Win A Rolex called, having successfully trapped his prey with [As][Ac], but bg.TheProfie spiked the [Qd] on the river to make trips. Win A Rolex was suddenly on the rail in eighth place, collecting $2,470.55 for his troubles. Two hands later, qqgo's [Ah][7c] flopped an open-ended straight flush draw. He moved in for his last 1,994 on the [4c][5c][6c] flop, but Cem1994 snap-called, having flopped a flush with [Qc][9c]. Qqgo improved to a ten-high flush on the river but it wasn't enough and he departed in seventh place, earning $3,443.80. Leopeluca was down to 1,338 as the blinds moved up to 80/160. Although he doubled through Cem1994 when his [Ah][7h] rivered a pair of aces against [6h][6d], he didn't hang onto those chips for long. Two hands later, leopeluca picked up pocket jacks and fo

When some events come up on the SCOOP calendar, you just know they're going to be special final tables. SCOOP 2013 Event 18-High, $2,100 NLHE (10-Max, Shootout) had all the makings of that: a steep price point and a shootout format that is favored by many pros who see it as the easiest form of trophy hunting. In the end, Shawn "buck21" Buchanan won the 2nd SCOOP of his career title by denying JIZOINT a 2nd SCOOP title of the day. Shawn "buck1" Buchanan The Team PokerStars Pros and PokerStars Team Online players put up an 0-fer in Event 18-H. Seven of them entered the field, but none advanced to the final shootout table and the money. Ike Haxton came closest, but close doesn't get in a tournament where only making the final table got a player any cash. Despite the lack of Team PokerStars Pros and PokerStars Team Online players, the final table of Event 18-H did not disappoint. The ten players who assembled at 7:20pm PokerStars time represented many of the best and the brightest players that online poker has to offer. Seat 1: Dan "Danny98765" Smith (5000 in chips) Seat 2: hneves182 (5000 in chips) Seat 3: JIZOINT (5000 in chips) Seat 4: Dani "supernova9" Stern (5000 in chips) Seat 5: Leqenden (5000 in chips) Seat 6: Shawn "buck21" Buchanan (5000 in chips) Seat 7: LaurisL91 (5000 in chips) Seat 8: Rednaxela747 (5000 in chips) Seat 9: FOO-92 (5000 in chips) Seat 10: Shaun "shaundeeb" Deeb (5000 in chips) In addition to Smith, Stern, Buchanan and Deeb, the final table featured: recent Sunday Warm-Up winner FOO-92 (who also made the Sunday Warm-Up final table the week before winning); hneves182, who seems to make at least one SCOOP final table every year; Leqenden, who took down SCOOP 2013 Event 14-H yesterday, and JIZOINT, a SCOOP 2011 winner who won SCOOP 2013 Event 15-H for $50,000 while competing in the early rounds of this event. A few of the players exchanged pleasantries as the final table kicked off. buck21: gl boys buck21: and gals buck21: if any shaundeeb: just cuz I dressed up once buck21: hahaha Deeb was referring to the infamous event at the 2010 World Series of Poker where he dressed up in drag to play the Ladies Event and was roundly criticized for it, to the point that he later issued an apology. The two would later discuss their SCOOP cross-booking action, apparently an annual ritual. Deeb called off the bet mid-SCOOP last year - in hindsight, an unwise decision, given his four SCOOP victories. And they're off Blinds started at 25/50 and each player started with 5,000 in chips. FOO-92 took an early hit but later check-raised Deeb all in on the turn of a [3c][as][2s][7c]. Deeb folded but took over the mantle of "early short stack" from FOO-92. In the first hour of play, it seemed that every sizable pot was won by Leqenden, many of them without showdown. Leqenden climbed all the way up to 11,000 in chips despite only showing down one hand, pocket jacks that won a 1,500-chip pot from FOO-92. Leqenden was quite aggressive on the river, and almost every time those river bets and raises induced folds from Leqenden's opponents. At that point of the tournament, Leqenden was the only player above the starting stack. About an hour into the final table, Stern ran ace-queen into LaurisL91's aces on an ace-high flop to slip all the way down to about 2,000 in chips. Stern lost a few more small pots over the next half hour, including one to JIZOINT on a [6s][8d][td][th] board, to fall below 800 in chips with blinds approaching 50/100. Dealt [ks][qh], Stern shoved the button after action folded to him. Buchanan woke up with [ac][kh] in the big blind and sent Stern to the rail after the board rolled out [7d][4h][4d][td][7c]. FOO-92 followed Stern out of the tournament about 10 minutes later in the biggest pot to that point of the tournament: Deeb and Leqenden exit Deeb was the next player out, although 45 minutes of play passed in between. His fatal hand came against cross-booking partner Buchanan, who