The Main Event of the PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) wrapped up early this week and taking the title in the headlining “high” buy-in portion of the event was Nick “GripDsNutz” Grippo. A total of 517 players entered the $10,300 No-Limit Hold’em event, with 63 making the money. For his win, Grippo banked just shy of $800,000.
The money bubble burst with the final elimination of Day 1, so all 63 of the remaining players entering Day 2 had the chance to relax somewhat, knowing that they were at least making a profit over the two day tournament. When the final table arrived, Grippo was in good shape, sitting in 3rd place out of the final nine and with a stack that was plenty deep for the blind level.
Here is what the chip stacks looked like at the start of the final table:
Seat 1: hotmark777 (Lebanon) — 680,210
Seat 2: r4st4f4ri (Germany) — 877,267
Seat 3: sosickPL (Poland) — 908,306
Seat 4: UrMySponsor (Germany) — 1,269,454
Seat 5: wizowizo (Germany) — 1,128,786
Seat 6: B4d3m3!st3r (Germany) — 768,006
Seat 7: römpsä (Germany) — 726,146
Seat 8: sp00led (Canada) — 456,020
Seat 9: GripDsNutz (Costa Rica) — 940,805
About half an hour in, sosickPL limped pre-flop for 16,000 and B4d3m3!st3r, whose stack had decreased dramatically, shoved for 286,312. sosickPL made the call, showing T♠-T♥, up against the K♠-J♦ of B4d3m3!st3r. The flop of A♠-T♣-4♥ gave B4d3m3!st3r a gutshot, but the straight never came to be and he was eliminated in 9th place.
Shortly thereafter, UrMySponsor raised to 40,000 pre-flop and römpsä went all-in for 456,646. When GripDsNutz shoved over the top for about 1.6 million, UrMySponsor folded and it was just Grippo and his A♦-A♠ against römpsä’s K♥-Q♠. römpsä also had a chance at a gutshot, this time on the turn, but the Aces held, römpsä bowed out in 8th, and Grippo maintained his chip lead, growing his stack to 2.15 million.
Grippo proceeded to eliminate the next two players, r4st4f4ri and hotmark777, the former on a bit of a lucky runner-runner straight.
UrMySponsor achieved the next knockout, getting his A♠-T♥ to suck out on the flop against wizowizo’s A♥-Q♥. But just six hands later, UrMySponsor ran his 5♥-5♠ and 1.3 million chip stack into sosickPL’s 9♣-9♠ and exited the tournament in 4th place.
Going into three-handed play, GripDsNutz had a small lead, 3.26 million to sosickPL’s 3.12 million, while sp00led held on to 1.36 million chips. sp00led quickly doubled through GripDsNutz, though, reversing their positions at the table. A few minutes later, the three competitors took some time to discuss a deal, sp00led leading with 3.2 million chips, sosickPL in second with 2.4 million, and GripDsNutz in third with 2.2 million. Grippo didn’t want to split up the money based on chip counts, typing, “Before we look at numbers ill [sic] take an even chop and nothing else.”
Perhaps surprisingly, the other two almost agreed to this, but there was still some hesitation. A deal got closer when it was suggested that they each take $728,675 and play for the remaining $50,000 and the special SCOOP watch. sp00led wanted to leave $100,000 on the table, but Grippo balked at that idea. They finally all agreed to leave $80,000 on the table and guarantee themselves $718,675.
When play resumed, Grippo saw his tournament saved on the river. He got it all in with A♣-6♣ against the T♣-T♥ of sp00led. The 5♠-J♠-3♦-7♠ through the turn did nothing for him, but the A♣ on the river doubled him up to over 4.1 million.
Not long after that, Grippo and sosickPL got into a pre-flop raising war, eventually getting all of their chips into the middle. Grippo’s 9♦-9♠ held up against sosickPL’s 8♦-8♣ (Grippo actually flopped a set) and the SCOOP Main Event was down to two.
GripDsNutz had a big chip lead going into heads-up play, 6,134,353 against sp00led’s 1,620,647. After 20 minutes, though, it was almost even, and a little while later sp00led took the lead. It was back and forth after that, with Grippo regaining a 2-to-1 lead twice and sp00led coming back to essentially tie both times.
The turning point finally came after around two hours of heads-up play. sp00led opened for 120,000, GripDsNutz raised to 298,765, and sp00led called. After the flop of A♠-4♦-8♣, GripDsNutz bet 264,845 and sp00led called again. GripDsNutz changed it up on the turn of 3♠, check-raising sp00led’s bet of 180,000 to 489,485. Upon the river Q♣, GripDsNutz bet 812,345, sp00led called, and the computer revealed that GripDsNutz won with A♦-2♠. sp00led mucked his losing hand and saw his stack fall to 1.3 million.
Two hands later, the two got it all-in pre-flop, Grippo with 6♠-6♥ and sp00led with A♥-3♦. The flop came down 2♣-T♠-5♣, good for Grippo, but offering sp00led a gutshot straight draw to go along with his one overcard. The 8♦ did nothing and the river 5♠ clinched the victory for Grippo.
2012 PokerStars SCOOP Main Event High – Final Table Results
1. GripDsNutz (Costa Rica) — $798,675*
2. sp00led (Canada) — $718,675*
3. sosickPL (Poland) — $718,675*
4. UrMySponsor (Germany) — $403,260
5. wizowizo (Germany) — $284,350
6. hotmark777 (Lebanon) — $219,725
7. r4st4f4ri (Germany) — $168,025
8. römpsä (Germany) — $116,325
9. B4d3m3!st3r (Germany) — $85,822.00
* indicates deal-adjusted payout
