There have been some wonder stories in poker through the years, but the final day of the 2019 Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) may have matched them all. Read on…
TODAY’S HEADLINES
- Gianluca “Tankanza” Speranza defends SCOOP High Main Event title
- Outlasts 662-strong field to win again, taking $1.03 million
- Last year’s runner-up “nailuj90” also makes final
- Brazil’s “felipebeltra” top 10 in medium and high events
- Second SCOOP 2019 win for Mike “goleafsgoeh” Leah
- More than 1m entries; Prize pools > $105m across series
BEHIND THE HEADLINES
The undefeated Gianluca “Tankanza” Speranza
Last year there were 654 entries. This year there were 662. But despite all of those players putting up $10,300 and bringing their A-game to one of online poker’s most prestigious tournaments, no one has been able to beat Gianluca “Tankanza” Speranza in the SCOOP High Main Event. Last night, the Austria-based Italian won his second, back-to-back version of this tournament, earning $1.03 million and successfully defending the title he won this time last year. It’s an unprecedented achievement, arguably the most unlikely online poker result ever documented.
“Tankanza” beat “OMGitshunt” of Belarus heads-up after the pair arranged a near-equal chop and left $100,000 and the trophy to play for. Dinesh “NastyMinder” Alt, who previously won the TCOOP Main Event, came third ahead of overnight leader Francisco “Tomatee” Benítez.
Not only did “Tankanza” go back-to-back, but Austria-based “nailuj90” also made the final table and finished fifth. “nailuj90” was the beaten heads-up opponent in the SCOOP-H Main Event last time. Special mention too to Brazil’s “felipebeltra” who finished tenth in the medium buy-in event and sixth in the high buy-in.
This was “Tankanka”‘s second SCOOP title of the series. He also won SCOOP 40-M: Mini Super Tuesday for $80,589.90. It makes him one of 15 players to win two SCOOP titles this year.
Brazil’s “Jack Wastes” claims low buy-in version, turning $109 buy-in into $316K. Jacobo “jacobgold” Montoya wins medium buy-in after chop with the UK’s “4BETBRICK”.
Main Event top threes:
SCOOP 61-L – Main Event
Buy-in: $109 | Entries: 33,987
Prize pool: $3,398,700
1: Jack Wastes, Brazil – $315,955.11*
2: Silden4filho, Netherlands – 246,669.14*
3: bencb789, Austria – 169,867.70
SCOOP 61-M – Main Event
Buy-in: $1,050 | Entries: 5,475
Prize pool: $5,475,000
1: jakobgold, Mexico – $688,558.42*
2: 4BETBRICK, UK – $636,030.41*
3: Daenarys T, Netherlands – $383,333.22
SCOOP 62-H – Main Event
Buy-in: 10,300 | Entries: 662
Prize pool: $6,620,000
1: Gianluca “Tankanza” Speranza, Austria – $1,028,203.24*
2: OMGitshunt, Belarus – $924,096.07*
3: Dinesh “NastyMinder” Alt, Austria – $604,383.49
In other events:
Ivan “Negriin” Luca
Ivan “Negriin” Luca won SCOOP 1-H, the phased tournament that has been running throughout the series and wrapped on its final night. Luca is a high-roller regular, a former Super Tuesday winner and a champion on the Eureka Poker Tour.
Mike “goleafsgoeh” Leah won another SCOOP title in one of the final day’s turbos. Leah won SCOOP 66-M: PLO Antes for $22K, adding that to his HORSE title last week.
Sweden doubled its tally of SCOOP 2019 titles in a single night, with four titles heading to “ShipitFTW911”, “pkrbt”, “TiltMeBig” and “hajardu”. The Scandinavian country had managed only four title this year prior to that.
TODAY’S RESULTS
| Name | Buy-in | Entries | Prize-pool | Winner | Country | Prize |
| 01-L:Phased | $2.20 | 13,848 | $285,115 | lucascostaf | Brazil | $21,407.85* |
| 01-M: Phased | $22 | 6,903 | $1,318,640 | Shansovne415 | Russia | $95,674.97* |
| 01-H: Phased | $215 | 1,251 | $2,297,600 | Negriin | Argentina | $200,005.44 |
| 60-L: Mini Sunday Kickoff | $5.50 | 11,943 | $58,521 | Kamikase1805 | Brazil | $7,638.60 |
| 60-M: Sunday Kickoff SE | $55 | 5,797 | $289,850 | tonn22 | Netherlands | $37,557.43* |
| 60-H: NLHE | $530 | 1,168 | $584,000 | clapjkspit | Hungary | $84,032.90* |
| 61-L: NLHE | $22 | 12,655 | $253,100 | Bashov | Bulgaria | $32,322.35 |
| 61-M: Sunday Warm-Up | $215 | 3,954 | $790,800 | Tralllle | Norway | $106,801.76* |
| 61-H: Sunday High Roller | $2,100 | 590 | $1,180,000 | ShipitFTW911 | Sweden | $197,703.45* |
| 62-L: Main Event | $109 | 33,987 | $3,398,700 | Jack Wastes | Brazil | $315,955.11* |
| 62-M: Main Event | $1,050 | 5,475 | $5,475,000 | jakobgold | Mexico | $688,558.42* |
| 62-H: Main Event | $10,300 | 662 | $6,620,000 | Tankanza | Austria | $1,028,203.24* |
| 63-L: PLO Main Event | $109 | 4,300 | $430,000 | tvtotallwin | Austria | $46,501.33* |
| 63-M: PLO Main Event | $1,050 | 900 | $900,000 | PeiMaiPano93 | Finland | $148,257.72 |
| 63-H: PLO Main Event | $10,300 | 150 | $1,500,000 | pkrbt | Sweden | $285,762.77* |
| 64-L: PKO | $11 | 13,964 | $136,847 | mahdigras | UK | $13,177.04 |
| 64-M: PKO Sunday Cooldown | $109 | 6,303 | $630,300 | rogerdox | Brazil | $67,705.07 |
| 64-H: PKO Sunday Cooldown | $1,050 | 1,054 | $1,054,000 | NationalPPP | Malta | $156,997.76 |
| 65-L: PKO | $11 | $11 | 28,459 | hajardu | Sweden | $19,682.83† |
| 65-M: PKO | $109 | $109 | 9,692 | Jokerstar377 | Austria | $80,225.75† |
| 65-H: PKO | $1,050 | $1,050 | 1,395 | Neanderthal4 | Latvia | $177,632.14† |
| 66-L: PLO Antes | $6 | $5.50 | 6,251 | gytmiyashiro | Brazil | $4,978.72† |
| 66-M: PLO Antes | $55 | $55 | 2,567 | goleafsgoeh | Canada | $21,922.95†* |
| 66-H: PLO Antes | $530 | $530 | 589 | TiltMeBig | Sweden | $52,745.88†* |
| 67-L: NLHE | $6 | $5.50 | 13,471 | Sick’nSocial | Germany | $8,254.24 |
| 67-M: NLHE | $55 | $55 | 5,343 | seserman01 | Romania | $37,987.06 |
| 67-H: NLHE | $530 | $530 | 792 | Kkidmoney | Canada | $67,218.19 |
†inc. bounties
*after deal
STAT TRACKER
Tournaments completed: 219
Entries: 1,024,232
Prize pool so far: $105,133,091
First-place prizes awarded: $15,586,276.50
The final-day flurry of action took the SCOOP 2019 stats through some significant milestones. The series featured more than 1 million entries and awarded prizes of more than $100 million, with winners banking more than $15 million.
COUNTRIES LEADER BOARD
Mateus “zilbeee” Zilberknop: Responsible for two Brazil titles
It has been obvious for quite a while, but Brazil triumphed handily in the countries leader board, claiming 36 outright victories.
The UK and Russia tied for second with 19 each.
Remember, these countries represent only where a player is based rather than their nationality of birth, with many Americans living across the world to play online, and many Germans, Italians, Spanish and French also overseas.
36: Brazil
19: UK, Russia
16: Canada
14: Germany
11: Austria
10: Netherlands
8: Romania, Sweden
6: Poland, Finland
5: Malta, Greece, Ireland, Mexico
4: Hungary, Norway
3: Costa Rica, Belgium, Argentina, Latvia
2: Chile, China, Georgia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Bulgaria
1: Denmark, Estonia, Gibraltar, Indonesia, Macau, Serbia, Switzerland, Lebanon, Peru, Croatia.
PLAYER OF THE SERIES
Konstantin “krakukra” Maslak
Not much changed on the final weekend in the overall Player of the Series leader boards, but that’s only because we already knew who has been the undisputed standout player of this SCOOP.
Take a bow Konstantin “krakukra” Maslak, who won three of the four leader board trophies, in the low, high and overall categories. It’s highly unusual, perhaps unprecedented, for a player to prevail in both the low and high races. Maslak was 14th in the medium standings too.
Russia’s Maxim “ImluckNuts” Pisarenko clinched some late points to seal the medium leader board, despite spirited challenges from Canada’s “TruthBeTold7” and Matheus”zilbee” Zilberknop, who ended up splitting second place.
Read an interview with the dominant “krakukra”.
Low
1 – Konstantin “krakukra” Maslak (Russia) – $5,000 + Trophy
2 – carvenlys (Germany) – $2,000
3 – tvtotaliwin (Austria) – $1,500
Medium
1 – Maxim “ImluckNuts” Pisarenko (Russia) – $7,500 + Trophy
2= – TruthBeTold7 (Canada) – $3,750
2= – zilbeee (Brazil) – $3,750
High
1 – Konstantin “krakukra” Maslak (Russia) – $10,000 + Trophy
2 – Joao “Naza114” Vieira (Netherlands) – $7,500
3 – Rui “RuiNF” Ferreira (Netherlands) – $5,000
Overall
1 – Konstantin “krakukra” Maslak (Russia) – $25,000 + Trophy
2 – Joao “Naza114” Vieira (Netherlands)
3 – Rui “RuiNF” Ferreira (Netherlands)
Note: Standings are subject to final verification from PokerStars
TWEET TWEET
Some of the night’s best performances didn’t go unnoticed:
Got another one 🏆 #SCOOP #PLO @PokerStarsBlog @PokerStars
2nd Scoop win of the series and I think 4th all time? Also FT’d three 8-Game events this series. Give me more then 2 cards and I’m good 😇 pic.twitter.com/vYcVorV4h0— Mike Leah (@GoLeafsGoEh) May 28, 2019
Tankanza goes back to back Wins in SCOOP Main Event (High) 2018 & 2019. Live & Online Poker History this has to rank pretty high for Poker Accomplishments ♠️♥️♣️♦️ #SCOOP #tankanza #poker pic.twitter.com/upjLYDF6MV
— Chris King (@sheffield__16) May 28, 2019
Happy to be on vacation after an intense #Scoop and #GGSeries
Let’s fucking go my boyz @kooraay90 and nailuj90!!! pic.twitter.com/6JlZyjQWCW— Steffen Sontheimer (@RunGo0seRun) May 27, 2019
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