Poker

Editor's note: Earlier this week, PokerStars released a short film about Shane Schleger that triggered a few memories in Trent Wyatt, a longtime PokerStars employee. In 2005, Wyatt was still a part-time player with a dream. This is what happened. March 25, 2005 started much like any other day off from my previous job. I woke up, had some breakfast, did some light exercising and then opened PokerStars. My days off were the only time I could commit to playing poker. Little did I know later in the day I would meet the infamous shaniac in an event that would change my life. I had recently made a $500 deposit with the specific goal of playing WSOP satellites. Unfortunately, things were not going as I had hoped. This day I was staring at a balance of $15.50 which felt like my chance--my last shot--was all but gone. At this time in my life I was struggling to pay my living expenses and college loan. Losing $500 was hard to swallow. I had bought directly into two $160 Double Shootout events and did not make it through round 1. I spent he rest on $2 to $20 satellites with no luck. I opened the Events tab and started browsing the WSOP satellites. The only events awarding seats to the Main Event were $160 DS events. It was a far cry from my measly balance, and unless I could find a smaller buy-in satellite, I would have no chance. Then I noticed a $5.50 + rebuys satellite to the $160 DS that just started. My first thought was I only have one buy-in, one rebuy and possibly an add-on if I didn't have to reload. I hesitated. Should I play this? Should I try to make a run at Sit and Go's? Should I try and run it up at a cash table? Honestly, I figured any chance with my bankroll was hopeless, and I would not reach my goal. I grabbed a cup of coffee and then debated my best shot at reaching my goal to win a seat to the WSOP. This was the biggest goal I had set for myself in poker to this point, and I was failing. If I lost this $15, I really could not afford to reload and try again. Without even realizing it, I had apparently made my decision and had registered to the satellite. Something took control of me. I did my first rebuy right away so I could start with double the chips. Now I only had enough for one last rebuy or hopefully an add-on if I could last without busting my first two bullets. The very first hand of the event I was dealt the elusive pocket aces, and something just felt right about my decision to play this event. I doubled up that hand and ran good up to the end of the rebuy. At the end of the rebuy period I found myself in the top 10 of the chip counts. After doing the add-on my account balance was $0. It was this or nothing. The satellite awarded 33 seats to the $160 DS, and I was determined to get one of the seats. And there it was: 33 players left and I was first in chips. I made it to the next event, and I could not have been more thrilled to accomplish the first leg of the day's goal. The DS was set to start as soon as 81 players registered. With the 33 that advanced from the satellite it did not take long to fill up and get started. The first round was a breeze, I was getting slapped in the face with the deck, and everyone just kept paying me off. It took less than 150 hands to seal the deal and move to round 2. There was one table left playing, so I opened it to observe. It was the first time I had ever seen the screen name "shaniac." He was heads-up. I immediately noticed was how popular he was; the rail birds were in full force rooting shaniac on to victory. Round 2 started and I was as nervous as I had been. Is this real? Am I really eight people away from winning a WSOP seat and reaching my goal? Once the first hand was dealt I calmed down a bit and got focused. The chat between shaniac and the rail birds was very entertaining, and to me it was very cool to see this popular guy interact with his fans. In addition to shaniac there was another player who had just become

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Doing well in an 8-Game Mix tournament requires a warehouse full of poker skills with flop, draw, and stud games in the rotation. The low version of the SCOOP 8-Game tournament brought a large crowd looking to show their chops to the world. 2,780 players registered for the tournament creating a nice $68,249 prizepool for just a $27 buy-in. The tournament played down as expected with the No Limit Hold'em and Pot Limit Omaha generating a lot of aggression from those specialist while the Stud game were chipping away at stacks with the extra round of betting. Several big names were making moves late in tournament including Team PokerStar's George Danzer and COOP monster Shaun Deeb but neither would have a final say for the title. Play moved quickly from 3 tables down to the final table bubble with the short-stacks taking a stab for a double-up until jakobgold moved all-in during a Deuce-to-Seven TD hand holding a little over 1.5 big bets. Chip leader Kusu_a came along for the ride and made a better hand in the end to form the SCOOP 32-L final table. Russia was well represented with half the final table flying their flag and in the middle of the remaining field. Final table chip counts: Seat 1: Shpikachka (1,970,658 in chips) Seat 2: Name1ess0ne (892,991 in chips) Seat 3: Alximik1203 (3,102,880 in chips) Seat 4: Kusu_a (5,364,352 in chips) Seat 5: kr1voship (981,960 in chips) Seat 6: babefish (1,587,159 in chips) Shpikachka scooped, eliminated in 6th place Limit Omaha Hi/Lo, limits 100k/200k Shpikachka began the final table with a comfortable chipstack but half was lost during the early stages of play. kr1voship opened from middle position and called Shpikachka's 3-bet from the small blind before the [Th][8s][6h] flop. Shpikachka and kr1voship bet/called the flop and the [2d] turn before Shpikachka check/called all-in for the remaining 120,658. kr1voship: [7c][6s][4s][3d] Shpikachka: [Ad][Kd][Jh][Jc] kr1voship was sitting on a made low and a boatload of outs for the high versus the Jacks of Shpikachka. The [5c] completed the straight and Shpikachka was eliminated in 6th place for $1,219.60. babefish gets pipped in Razz, eliminated in 5th place Razz, Limits 100k/200k (20k ante and 30k bring-in) babefish was also a victim of early final table stack abuse and began a Razz hand with just 2.5 big bets as the bring-in with the [7s] in the door. Name1ess0ne completed with the [7d], Kusu_a called with [2s], kr1voship called with [6h], and babefish came along for the ride. Name1ess0ne opened with [7d][Qh] and it folded around to babefish who called with [7s] [5s]. babefish lead out on fifth street with [7s][5s][8h] and called all-in when Name1ess0ne raised with [6h][8d][9c]. Name1ess0ne: ([7h][4d])[6h][8d][9c] babefish: ([As][6c])[7s][5s][8h] babefish was alive for the double up until Name1ess0ne drew [Ad] on sixth street babefish's [9d] for a better 8-7. No help came for babefish with the [Ac] river and was eliminated in 5th place for $2,388.71. kr1voship hits the river, eliminated in 4th place 7 Card Stud, Limits 120k/240k (24k ante and 36k bring-in) The extra rounds of betting during the Stud hands begun to play a major part in chip movement and it was a Stud Hi hand which would end the night for kr1voship. With [Ac] in the door, kr1voship completed and was only called by Alximik1203 with [9s]. Alximik1203 on fourth with [9s][5h] kr1voship bet on fourth with [Ac][8h] and was called by Alximik1203 with [9s][5h]. Another round of betting by kr1voship with [Ac][8h][6s] and a call by Alximik1203 [9s][5h][7h]. kr1voship bet the last 213,474 of the stack with [Ac][8h][6s][Js] and was called by Alximik1203 with [9s][5h][7h][2c]. Alximik1203: ([Qh][9h])[9s][5h][7h][2c] kr1voship: ([6h][5d])[Ac][8h][6s][Js] Alximik1203 was ahead with the pair of Nine versus a pair of Sixes. kr1voship improved to Eights up with the river [8s] but was beaten when Alximik1203 hit the King high flush with the [Kh]. kr1voship hit on the rive

David "WhooooKidd" Baker finally got it. Baker had come so close to his second SCOOP watch several times this series. Baker finished 2nd in the $2,100 NLHE near the beginning of the SCOOP and then finished 3rd in Event #28-H ($2,100 Stud Hi/Lo) just two days ago. He made another final table in between that one and his victory today. In fact, Baker was playing the final table in Event #35-H ($2,100 NLHE Turbo 2X-Chance) while he was working his way to victory in Event #33-H. Baker finished 3rd in Event #35-H for $168,510 and then got his second SCOOP watch a few hours later. David Baker busting out of a tournament, something that didn't happen here Event #33-H attracted 128 players and created a $256,000 prize pool. Some of the players to contribute to that prize pool were Team PokerStars Online players jorj95, talonchick and nkeyno. Also present were Team PokerStars Pros Andre Akkari, Jonathan Duhamel, Sebastian Ruthenberg, Eugene Katchalov, Jose Ignacio Barbero and ElkY -- who finished 16th for $3,328. Team PokerStars Pro George Danzer was also in the field and made another final table this SCOOP. It was an impressive final table that started with a bubble. FTB Ana Marquez took a commanding lead with three tables left. She held 140,000 while her closest contender came in at 75,000. Marquez's lead it lasted until we made it to the bubble. That's when Eric "AceQuad" Brix took over. The game was Razz and limits were 2,500/5,000 with a 500 ante. Marquez brought it in with a [kh] and plattsburgh raised with a [4s]. AceQuad re-raised with a [7h], Marquez folded and plattsburgh four-bet to 7,500. AceQuad called and players kept betting. plattsburgh: (X)(X) / [4s][8c][qc][9h] / (X) AceQuad: (X)(X) / [7h][10d][10s][5s] / (X) plattsburgh led out with bets on fourth, fifth and sixth street and AceQuad called all the way. plattsburgh then checked on the river and AceQuad bet 5,000. plattsburgh called and mucked when AceQuad turned over [2s][3h]/[6d] for a [7][6][5][3][2]. AceQuad was up to 122,141 and plattsburgh fell to 28,000. AceQuad then took the lead away from Marquez. plattsburgh brought it in with a [9h] and AceQuad raised with a [7c]. Marquez re-raised with a [2h] and only AceQuad called. AceQuad: (X)(X) / [7c][6s][8h][ks] / (X) ana marquez: (X)(X) / [2h][4h][5c][qc] / (X) Marquez bet on every street and AceQuad called down. After calling on the river, AceQuad showed [4s][2c]/[7d] for [8][7][6][4][2] while Marquez showed [9c][5s]/[jc] for [j][9][5][4][2]. AceQuad inched into the lead with 147,000 while Marquez was down to 144,000. AceQuad increased his lead by crippling plattsburgh and Marquez burst the bubble. plattsburgh brought it in with a [5c] and Marquez raised with a [4s]. plattsburgh re-raised, Marquez 4-bet and plattsburgh made it 10,000, leaving himself with 354. Marquez called and the rest of plattsburgh's chips went in on fifth street. plattsburgh: ([ad])([2h]) / [5c][3s][5s][qh] / ([kc]) ana marquez: ([6d])([7s]) / [4s][8d][kh][jc] / ([9s]) plattsburgh's [q][5][3][2][A] was too high and Marquez won the pot with [9][8][7][6][4]. plattsburgh finished 7th and won $8,320.00 for the final table bubble. We were now down to our... Final table Seat 1: WhooooKidd -- 87,951 Seat 2: ana marquez -- 154,901 Seat 3: GeorgeDanzer -- 87,574 Seat 4: MUSTAFABET -- 73,894 Seat 5: osten -- 71,289 Seat 6: AceQuad -- 164,391 Every single player at the final table had been at a major online final table before, and won it. David "WhooooKidd" Baker took down SCOOP 19-H ($5,200 PLO) in 2009 for $215,000. Ana "ana marquez" Marquez won SCOOP 05-H ($1,050+R NLHE Turbo) for $255,035.10 just last week. George "GeorgeDanzer" Danzer in seat 3 has a bunch of online victories including two WCOOPs and two SCOOPs. Danzer's first SCOOP came in 2010 in the 9-M ($162 Badugi). Danzer's more recent SCOOP was, well, more recent. A lot more recent. Danzer also got a SCOOP last week, taking down Event #12-H ($2,100 NL 2-

The "high" SCOOP events always attract tough, competitive fields, and Event #31-H, a $2,100 buy-in no-limit hold'em "knockout" event, was no exception. Spread over two days, the tourney saw tough competition from start to finish as players grittily defended their knockout bounties, with highland of Canada ultimately being the only one of 626 entrants to avoid giving up a bounty to win the SCOOP watch. highland earned $174,074.23 for the win, plus a few extra bucks thanks to having knocked out a half-dozen players along the way. Meanwhile lehout of the Netherlands made it to heads-up and a final table deal with highland, thereby ensuring a nice $156,000 prize as well. That field of 626 created a total prize pool of $1,261,390, way over the $750K guarantee for Event #31-H. The top 72 finishers divided the regular prize pool, while every knockout earned players $405 apiece along the way drawn from the bounty pool. From 626 to 9 The first day saw the 626 entrants play all of the way down to 33 players, with prepstyle71, Jeremiah "Believer82" Vinsant, and rh300487 having successfully negotiated their way to occupy the top spots in the chip counts overnight. Near night's end two Team PokerStars Pros were eliminated after making it to the cash -- Henrique "Henrique.P" Pinho (62nd) and Jose "nachobarbero" Barbero (49th). Pinho earned $3,527.51 for his finish, having added no extra money as he never recorded a knockout, while Barbero took away $4,031.44 plus another $2,025 for collecting five bounties. Meanwhile Team Online member Mickey "mementmori" Petersen survived to make it to the second day of play, but unfortunately for Petersen his Thursday would be a short one, ending after he got the last of his short stack in with [Ah][Jd] against the [7s][7c] of rh300487 and failed to improve. Petersen claimed $5,039.30 for the 33rd-place finish, plus another $810 for grabbing a couple of knockouts along the way. They were approaching the two-hour mark of Day 2 when just 18 players were left, with prepstyle71 still up on top with more than 543,000, and Believer82 and rh300487 still holding onto the next two positions in the counts. Over the next two-and-a-half hours the field was whittled down to nine. Rodrigo "caprioli" Caprioli (18th), Emil "Maroonlime" Patel (17th), and Naza114 (16th) each took $8,062.88 from the prize pool plus some bounties for each. Zach "nofingclue11" Clark (15th), BgsaPnaples (14th), and fortunaVine (13th) made $10,078.60 plus bounties. And rh300487 (12th), Maxxx72alba (11th), and Rory "Mafews" Mathews (10th) each made $12,094.32 plus a few bounties as well, with the 12 picked up by rh300487 ultimately tying for the most claimed by anyone in the tournament. prepstyle71 continued to lead as the final table began. Seat 1: pokerturo (Germany) -- 202,484 Seat 2: Craig "mcc3991" McCorkell (United Kingdom) -- 283,403 Seat 3: toril274 (Russia) -- 290,455 Seat 4: lehout (Netherlands) -- 282,919 Seat 5: TIPCHIK321 (Russia) -- 72,460 Seat 6: Jeremiah "Believer82" Vinsant (Canada) -- 477,646 Seat 7: prepstyle71 (Canada) -- 1,057,747 Seat 8: highland (Canada) -- 144,275 Seat 9: guinor (Brazil) -- 318,611 Working from 9 to 5 Only one player at the final nine had yet to pick up a single bounty -- that being the short stack TIPCHIK321 -- and as it would happen that would remain so as TIPCHIK31 hit the rail in ninth on the final table's fourth hand. The blinds were 3,000/6,000 when lehout raised to 12,179 from early position, then TIPCHIK321 reraised all in for 69,460. It folded back to lehout who called right away, turning over [Ac][Kd] while TIPCHIK321 showed [5c][5s]. The flop came [4c][Kc][Qh] to pair lehout's king, and after the [2d] turn and [4d] river, TIPCHIK321 was out in ninth. Play continued, and in the last hand before Day 2's four-hour break, the blinds were 3,500/7,000 when toril274 open-pushed all in for 102,570 from middle position, then chip leader prepstyle71 reraised all in over

Event 35-Low of SCOOP 2013 called for a little NLHE turbo rebuy action. Given the low price point and the chance for a second bullet if the first bullet blew up in a player's face, turnout was huge. Almost 12,000 players vied for the SCOOP title in Event 35-L. At the end of a tidy five-and-a-half hours, it went to BOOGANDEHAH after a see-saw final table. In a field as big as this one, nobody expected any Team PokerStars Pros or PokerStars Team Online players to make the final table. And none did. But six of them did break through into the money of Event 35-L. They were led by Team Online player Caio Pessagno, who made it as far as 170th place ($230.81) before expiring. He was joined on the Team Pro side of things by Cristian "el grillo" de Leon, who was bounced from the tournament in 217th place ($196.62). Randy "nanonoko" Lew, Henrique Pinho, Mickey "mement_mori" Petersen and Andre Coimbra also cashed in the event. Still, the amount that all the Team Pros and Team Online players earned combined was insignificant compared to the $59,000 that awaited the winner at the end of the final table: Seat 1: PokerStarJ2 (11580565 in chips) Seat 2: BOOGANDEHAH (10632756 in chips) Seat 3: BWFCLEE (14947452 in chips) Seat 4: zenonmika (5259130 in chips) Seat 5: wiredoor (4278239 in chips) Seat 6: imcastleman (5878420 in chips) Seat 7: eazynow007 (3962248 in chips) Seat 8: T-BooGiE (22892576 in chips) Seat 9: theboss77777 (7623614 in chips) Level 51: blinds 300k-600k, ante 75k Average: 9.67 million (16 BBs) T-BooGiE started the final table with a sizable lead over the field, but in a turbo tournament chip leads tend not to mean very much. Still, those big stacks do have at least a little room to sit back and wait. The short stacks certainly do not. The two shortest players, eazynow007 and wiredoor, tangled on the 4th hand of the final table. eazynow007 shoved for 3.6 million from second position with [kh][qd]; wiredoor called from the big blind with [6d][as]. Things were looking good for eazynow007 after a queen-high flop, but wiredoor hit running straight cards to bounce eazynow007 out the door. theboss77777 got to play exactly two hands at the final table. In the first, theboss77777's pocket treys were rivered by zenonmika's [ad][9c] to cut theboss77777's stack in half. Three hands later theboss77777 picked up another pocket pair, a pair of 7s, and shoved all in. This time BOOGANDEHAH was the player on the opposite end of the flip, with [ad][jh], and again the decisive card came on the river. BOOGANDEHAH paired aces to end theboss77777's day in 8th place. After the 10pm break the blinds were up to 500k-1000k. That increase put the most pressure on zenonmika and wiredoor. zenonmika was forced to go with [ah][6h] on the button when action folded around. imcastleman called in the big blind with [kc][jd] and paired on a [qh][2d][jc] flop. zenonmika missed the entire board and exited in 7th place. While the short stacks were immolating, T-BooGiE's chip lead vanished. It started slowly - blinds and antes here, then a forefeited raise there. T-BooGiE's stack kept going down and down and down. T-BooGiE decided to go for broke with [qd][8d] after opening to 2.4 million and being three-bet all in by wiredoor for 11.7 million. wiredoor showed down [as][kc] and flopped a king to remove almost all doubt from the matter. That hand didn't eliminate T-BooGiE, but it may as well have. Down to only 423k, T-BooGiE wound up all in with [7h][3h] against big blind imcastleman's [jd][5d]. Nobody improved, allowing imcastleman's jack-high to send former big stack T-BooGiE out of the tournament in 6th place. As the chips continued to move around the table, former short stacks wiredoor and imcastleman became the big stacks. imcastleman's time in the spotlight was shortlived; PokerStarJ2 doubled through imcastleman with pocket 10s to wrest the chip lead away and drop imcastleman back to the pack. With blinds at 800k-1600k, it was BWFCLEE's bad

Turbo events are perfect for impatient people whom want instant gratification. Turbo events are tournaments specifically designed for people seeking extreme, high-pressure situations. This is not the type of tournament for someone with alligator blood pumping through their veins. Slow and steady does not win this particular race. Instead, of patience and passiveness, you have to be willing to sprint out of the gate and never stop running at full throttle. From a spectator perspective, turbo events often run so fast that if you blink, you'll miss the final table. SCOOP Event #35-M took a little over five hours from start to finish. During that time, FellipeNunes, a seasoned veteran from Brazil closing in on $1 million in career earnings, faded a field of 2,963 players in an all-out sprint. SCOOP Event #35-M attracted 2,963 runners. They contributed 1,344 re-buys and boosted the prize pool to $861,400. The top 378 places paid out with $136,101.53 set aside to the eventual champion. Six notables cashed in Event #35-M. Among those fortunate folks to secure themsleves a cut of the prize pool were: Team PokerStars Pro Vivian Im (369th), Team Online nkeyno (339th), Team Online mement_mori (283rd), Team PokerStars Pro mattidm (241st), Team PokerStars Pro David Williams (63rd), and Team PokerStars Pro Christiam "el grillo" de León (40th). PokerStars Team Online members who took a shot at a SCOOP title, but failed to cash included: nanonoko, Jorj95, WizardOfAhhhs, acoimbra, Pessagno, and Baalim. Team PokerStars Pros who participated but did not cash included ElkY, Vanessa Rousso, Lex Veldhuis, Chad Brown, Liv Boeree, Ike Haxton, Eugene Katchalov, Joe Cada, Nacho Barbero, Angel Guillen, Marcin "Goral" Horecki, and George Danzer. Christian "el grillo" de León won the Team Pro last longer after his deep run with a 40th place performance. "el grillo" busted in a three-way pot with [As][7c] against UhhMee's [Ad][Kc] and san-ok135's [Ah][6h]. UhhMee dragged the pot and el grillo hit the virtual rail in 40th place, which paid out $1,852.01. In this turbo-boosted format, 75% of the field was liquidated in under two hours. 90% was gone in 2.5 hours. After 3 hours, only 100 players remained. By the time the tournament reached its fourth hour, we were down to the final two tables. With 18 players remaining on the final two tables, bullyon held the lead with 2 million. With 10 to go, action went hand-for-hand. Short-stacked kimokh made a final stand with [Kh][3h] versus GearUp777's [As][Qd]. The board ran out [Tc][9c][2c][Jh][Ah] and GearUp777 dragged the pot with a pair of Aces. Lebanon's kimokh was bubbled off the final table in tenth place. the final nine were set. SCOOP Event #35-M - Final Table Chip Counts: Seat 1: san-ok135 (5,584,710) Seat 2: bullyon (2,406,295) Seat 3: GearUp777 (3,084,120) Seat 4: DwnByDaBrdge (704,692) Seat 5: DeathBlow500 (2,891,352) Seat 6: 7HE__D__ASH (103,8854) Seat 7: theNERDguy (1,814,974) Seat 8: FellipeNunes (2,478,814) The final table commenced during Level 45 with blinds at 80K/160K and a 20K ante. Russia's san-ok135 held the overall lead with 5.5 million. DwnByDaBrdge was the shorty with 704K. 07Papi eliminated in 9th place It did not take very long before we saw the first elimination at the final table. 07Papi open-shoved for 1,171,189, and san-ok135 tried to pick him off. 07Papi took [Ad][4d] into battle against san-ok135's [As][Jd]. The board ran out [Js][7s][6d][7h][Ts], and san-ok135 won the pot with two pair. 07Papi became the first player to exit the final table. For a ninth-place finish, 07Papi collected $7,321.90. DwnByDaBrdge eliminated in 8th place Less than an orbit later, we saw the second bustout. DwnByDaBrdge raised to 584,865, theNERDguy shoved for 1,314,974, and DwnByDaBrdge called all-in for 524,519. DwnByDaBrdge trailed with [Ad][5s] against theNERDguy's [Ac][Js]. The board ran out [8d][7d][2h][As][6c]. DwnByDaBrdge failed to improve and theNERDguy won the pot

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