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Home / Uncategorized / SCOOP 2017: Tagomaga survives marathon saga in Win the Button (Event #50-H $530 PKO)

Win the Button. Save the universe. Okay, maybe the stakes are slightly exaggerated. Win the Button will not save Earth from an invading armada of galactic ships, helmed by hostile Reptilian shapeshifters. But in the meantime, Win the Button is fun in an Alexander Pope “trivial pursuit” kind of way in this hyper-competitive corner of the digital universe. The quirky “Win the Button” twist to hold’em poker rewarded aggression and pot accumulation. Toss in a Progressive Knockout and you have a recipe for a thermonuclear throwdown.

Tagomaga became the master of the universe after surviving a marathon-final table in 2017 SCOOP Event #50-H Win the Button PKO. Multi-COOP winner, dirty.brasil, was seeking a second SCOOP title. dirty.brasil got heads-up with Tagomaga for the guts, glory, and small mountain of cash… plus those juicy, savory PKO bounties. Despite a protracted final table, the heads-up battle went rather quick. dirty.brasil got caught bluffing less than ten minutes into their bout and lost nearly half a stack. Tagomaga seized the opportunity and went on the offensive. Within ten hands, Tagomaga gobbled up all the chips and dirty.brasil bounced in second place. Tagomaga’s total score was worth $94,641.98 in prize money and bounties.

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2017 SCOOP Event #50-H $520 NL Progressive KO, Win the Button attracted 1,057 original runners and an additional 587 re-entries for a total sum of 1,644 entries. The total prize pool was $822,000 with 50% devoted to the bounty prize pool ($411K) and the other half devoted to the regular prize pool ($411K). Only the top 216 places paid out, with $67,424.55 set aside for the champion.

Only 33 survived the cut at the end of Day 1 for this two-day affair. Sunday Milly winner thx4urm0n3y led with a 1.8M stack, and only two other players has at least 1M in chips — lejo1 and thehushpuppy. The biggest bounty belonged to thx4urm0n3y at $5,042.95.

On Day 2, it took less than 25 minutes to get down to 3 tables and big-stacked thx4urm0n3y closing in on 2M with 27 to go. With 18 remaining on the final two tables, mczchang snagged the lead, while thx4urm0n3y slipped to second. With 15 to go, Tagomaga took a turn in the top spot with a 3M stack.

With 11, yurasov1990 took out two players on the same hand when he flopped a set with 8â™  8♥ in a three-way pot against the thehushpuppy’s K♥ Qâ™  and lautixxxx’s 10â™  10♦ . lautixxxx went out in 11th place, while thehushpuppy bubbled off the final table in tenth place. yurasov1990 picked up two bounties and his own jumped to $7,436.50. The final nine were set.

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Event #50-H – Final Table Chip Counts:
Seat 1: NastyMinder (263,351 + $3,949.21 bounty)
Seat 2: Dmitry ‘yurasov1990’ Yurasov (2,083,030 + $7,436.50 bounty)
Seat 3: dirty.brasil (1,111,789 + $2,671.87 bounty)
Seat 4: SHiiPTHATiSH (2,659,315 + $7,769.50 bounty)
Seat 5: Tagomaga (3,891,194 + $11,640.59 bounty)
Seat 6: lejo1 (2,537,103 + $7,121.06 bounty)
Seat 7: Matto 23 (1,643,028 + $4,548.82 bounty)
Seat 8: Cryptasm (329,047 + $3,437.49 bounty)
Seat 9: MiracleQ (1,922,143 + $8,453.09 bounty)

The final table commenced during Level 28 with blinds at 12K/24K and a 2.4K ante. Tagomaga led the final nine with nearly 4M and also had the biggest bounty at $11,640.59. NastyMinder was super short.

A couple of notables at the final table… Dinesh ‘NastyMinder’ Alt chopped the Sunday Million and won the 2016 TCOOP Main Eventdirty.brasil won a SCOOP last year and WCOOP in 2012MiracleQ won a WCOOP in 2015… Dmitry ‘yurasov1990’ Yurasov final tabled the EPT13 Malta and made a final table yesterday in Event #46-H… Fardi ‘SHiiPTHATiSH’ Jattin shipped a side event on the EPT12 Barcelona.


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TWO HANDS: NastyMinder eliminated in 9th place

Double up, or go home. NastyMinder picked a spot with Aâ™  Jâ™  and lejo1 attempted to pick off the shorty with “The Tourist” a.k.a Ace-seven. lejo1 flopped a seven and that’s all she wrote. lejo1 said, “sry bruh.” lejo1 dragged the pot and collected a PKO-bounty worth $1,974.61. Dinesh ‘NastyMinder’ Alt became the first player to exit the final table. Ninth place paid out $4,110.00, plus $3,949.21 in bounties.

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NastyMinder = 9th place

GREENSBORO WOMAN: Cryptasm eliminated in 8th place

Red nine! Cryptasm bombed it all-in for 604,387 with 4♣ 4â™  and SHiiPTHATiSH called with 9♥ 9♦ . Pocket nines held up for SHiiPTHATiSH, who wont he pot and collected a bounty worth $1,718.75 for busting Cryptasm. Germany’s was dunzo in eighth place, which paid out $7,192.50, plus $3,437.49 in bounties.

With seven left in the hunt, MiracleQ led with 4.5M.

HIGHWAY KIND: lejo1 eliminated in 7th place

SHiiPTHATiSH kicked off the raising war, short-stacked lejo1 moved all-in for 276,641 with A♠ 5♠ and SHiiPTHATiSH called with K♠ 2♣ . lejo1 never improved and SHiiPTHATiSH locked up the hand with a deadly King of hearts on the turn. SHiiPTHATiSH earned a bounty worth $4,547.83 for picking off lejo1. Meanwhile, lejo1 headed to the rail in seventh place, which paid out $11,302.50, plus $9,095.66 in bounties.

With six to go, SHiiPTHATiSH seized the lead with 4.8M. Two big stacks emerged — MiracleQ and SHiiPTHATiSH — against 4 short stacks of equal strength.

STANDIN’: Matto 23 eliminated in 6th place

Six-handed played for nearly an hour, or two full levels before someone busted. The board read K♣ 6♠ 5♠ K♦ 7♠ with 1.2M in the pot. Matto 23 checked, MiracleQ bet 1.6M, Matto 23 called all-in for 1,253,263.

MiracleQ: Aâ™  2â™ 
Matto 23: Kâ™  4â™ 

Both players rivered a flush, but MiracleQ won the pot with a nut flush. MiracleQ earned a bounty worth $2,274.41. MiracleQ earned a bounty worth $2,274.41. Matto 23 was dunzo in sixth place, which paid out $15,412.50. Matto 23 also won $4,548.82 in bounties. With five remaining, MiracleQ was the new leader with 6.2M.

TO LIVE IS TO FLY: yurasov1990 eliminated in 5th place

Short-stacked yurasov1990 made a final stand with A♥ J♦ , but was up against SHiiPTHATiSH’s A♣ Kâ™  . Neither player improved. SHiiPTHATiSH won the pot with Ace-high and a King-kicker. SHiiPTHATiSH picked up a bounty worth $3,718.25. Dmitry ‘yurasov1990’ Yurasov busted in fifth place, which paid out $19,522.50. Yurasov also banked bounties worth $7,436.50.

With four to go, dirty.brasil took a turn as the chip leader with 5.5M.

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yurasov1990 = 5th place

MR. MUDD AND MR. GOLD: MiracleQ eliminated in 4th place

Four-handed went almost two full levels or an hour of play before someone exited stage left. Battle of the blinds. dirty.brasil opened to 250,000, Tagomaga called from the small blind, MiracleQ shoved from the big blind for 1,915,628, dirty.brasil bailed, but Tagomaga called. MiracleQ went racing with A♥ J♥ against Tagomaga’s 6♦ 6â™  . Tagomaga’s sixes held up to win the pot. Tagomaga banked a bounty worth $5,363.75 for knocking out MiracleQ. MiracleQ failed to double up and hit the road in fourth place, which paid out $27,537.00, plus $10,727.50 in bounties for a $48K total score. Not too shabby.

With three to go, Tagomaga led with 6.9M, followed by SHiiPTHATiSH’s 6M, and dirty.brasil’s 3.3M.

BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS: SHiiPTHATiSH eliminated in 3rd place

Three-handed went rather fast all things considered. SHiiPTHATiSH whiffed on an open-ended straight draw with 7♣ 4♣ against Tagomaga’s Aâ™  Qâ™  , who hit the flop with a pair of Queens. SHiiPTHATiSH never improved and Tagomaga won the pot with a pair of Queens. Tagomaga got $8,877.16 richer for SHiiPTHATiSH’s lucrative bounty. SHiiPTHATiSH busted in third place and took home $36,990.00, plus $17,754.32 in bounties.

HEADS-UP: dirty.brasil (Canada) vs. Tagomaga (Malta)
Seat 3: Seat 5: Tagomaga (9,758,526)

Tagomaga held a slight edge heads-up, but also had a sick bounty worth $25,881.50. dirty.brasil with a $2,67.87 bounty, made the final table without taking out too many opponents.

HIGH, LOW AND IN BETWEEN: dirty.brasil eliminated in 2nd; Tagomaga wins SCOOP Event #50-H!

Approximately 8 minutes into heads-up, both players were deadlocked in chips with around 8M apiece. Then it happened… the triple-barrel bluff that ended up a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Talk about shooting off your foot! dirty.brasil fired away pre-flop, and again on the flop, turn, and river. Tagomaga had turned a flush and let dirty.brasil shoot away with nothing but air. Tagomaga dragged a pot worth 7.1M and jumped into a commanding lead 11.7M to 4.7M.

Ten hands later… it would be all over.

Going into the final hand, dirty.brasil had 4.9M. All the money went in on the river, with the board showing 10♣ 6♦ 5♣ 2♥ 4♠ . Tagomaga moved all-in, and dirty.brasil called.

Tagomaga: 6♥ 5♥
dirty.brasil: 6♣ 2♣

dirty.brasil flopped a flush draw, then turned two pair, but whiffed on the river. Tagomaga flopped a better two pair — sixes and fives — which held up. Tagomaga won the pot and added a bounty worth $1,335.94 for knocking out dirty.brasil.

dirty.brasil was dunzo in second place. The runner-up payday was worth $49,320.00. dirty.brasil also banked $2,671.87 in bounties.

Congrats to Tagomaga for shipping Event #50-H! First place paid out $67,424.55, plus all the bounties that were banked… worth $27,217.43… for a total score worth $94,641.98.

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SCOOP-50-H ($520 NLHE [Progressive KO, Win the Button]) results
Total entries: 1,644 (1,057 entries, 587 re-entries)
Prize pool: $822,000 (Regular pool: $411,000; Bounty pool: $411,000)
Places paid: 216

1. Tagomaga (Malta) $67,424.55 + $27,217.43 bounties
2. dirty.brasil (Canada) $49,320.00 + $2,671.87 bounties
3. SHiiPTHATiSH (Costa Rica) $36,990.00 + $17,754.32 bounties
4. MiracleQ (Russia) $27,537.00 + $10,727.50 bounties
5. Dmitry ‘yurasov1990’ Yurasov (Belarus) $19,522.50 + $7,436.50 bounties
6. Matto 23 (Slovakia) $15,412.50 + $4,548.82 bounties
7. lejo1 (Switzerland) $11,302.50 + $9,095.66 bounties
8. Cryptasm (Germany) $7,192.50 + $3,437.49 bounties
9. Dinesh ‘NastyMinder’ Alt (Switzerland) $4,110.00 + $3,949.21 bounties

Visit the SCOOP home page for a schedule of remaining events. Plus, find out who was in contention Player of the Series.


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Pauly McGuire is a freelance contributor to PokerStars. Final table recap album of the day: “High, Low and in Between” by Townes Van Zandt.

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