2012 PokerStars SCOOP Day 1: Viktor "Isildur1" Blom Lurking in Event #2-M

May 07, 2012

It's the online tournament player's favorite time of the year as the 2012 Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) at PokerStars began on Sunday. Over 15 days, 120 tournaments with buy-ins ranging from $5 to $10,000 will take place. Now in its fourth year, the SCOOP has awarded nearly $150,000,000 in payouts, so expect all of the big guns outside of the USA to take part. Who enjoyed success on Day 1? Viktor "Isildur1" Blom, Brandon “oncommand” Meyers, and Nick "FU_15" Maimone to name a few.

PokerStars SCOOP 1-H: $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max Two-Day ($750K Guaranteed)

A field of 784 coming out for the first "High" buy-in tournament of the 2012 SCOOP meant the prize pool was more than twice the guarantee. The top 90 cashed and $282,240 will go to the winner.

It took a little over five hours for the field to be cut down to 300, at which point Brandon "oncommand" Meyers led as the first to reach 100,000. Two hours later just 150 remained, with Liv Boeree among those who had recently hit the rail after fellow Team PokerStars Pro Lex Veldhuis knocked her out in 179th. By then, a half-dozen others had joined Meyers in the 100,000-chip club, with Andy "andy123460" Ganapathy leading all with nearly 200,000.

An hour after that, Jon "apestyles" Van Fleet had surged in front with Nick "FU_15" Maimone and Joseph "subiime" Cheong joining him in the top 10. A little while later, Angel Guillen was eliminated just shy of the money. In his final hand, Guillen's J♥J♣ failed to hold versus "römpsä's" Q♣9♥ when a queen arrived among the community cards, sending Guillen out in 105th.

The money bubble burst shortly thereafter. Among the first to cash were Rich "nutsinho" Lyndaker (89th - $4,076.80), James "jcamby33" Campbell (88th - $4,076.80), and Jamil "jamil11" Wakil (84th - $4,233.60). Meanwhile, Veldhuis hung on with a short stack before getting it all in on a K♥9♣3♥ flop with Q♥10♥ versus Mike "Pipedream17" Dietrich's A♣A♥. Neither of Veldhuis' draws filled, and the Dutchman was out in 78th for a $4,390.40 score.

Others hitting the rail before play was halted Sunday night included Tobias "PokerNoob999" Reinkenmeier (71st - $4,547.20), Mayu "marroca5" Roca (66th - $4,860.80), Alex "skalexjung" Jung (64th - $4,860.80), McLean "PureProfitFo" Karr (63rd - $4,860.80), Will "molswi47" Molson (56th - $5,174.40), Sorel "zangbezan24" Mizzi (54th - $5,488), Torsten “jektiss” Brinkmann (45th - $5,958.40), Chris "ImDaNuts" Oliver (44th - $5,958.40), and Jon "apestyles" Van Fleet (43rd - $5,958.40).

With 41 players remaining, here are the top 10 chip counts heading into Day 2:

Among the other many notables still with chips are "OLD TIME GIN" (12th), Andy "andy123460" Ganapathy (17th), Ignat "0Human0" Liviu (18th), Joseph "subiime" Cheong (23rd), Charlie "JIZOINT" Combes (29th), Mike "Pipedream17" Dietrich (32nd), Carter "cswidler" Swidler (38th), Chris "Genius28" Lee (39th), and Mark "AceSpades11" Radoja (40th).

PokerStars SCOOP 2-H: $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em Two-Day ($1M Guaranteed)

The second of the high buy-ins of the SCOOP was also a $2,000 affair. The $1 million guarantee was nearly doubled as 966 players came to play. Following 20 levels on Day 1, Finland's "Madcandle" is at the top of the counts and leads the remaining 50 players. A slew of notable players follow, including Dan "djk123" Kelly.

Kelly steadily rose through the chip counts in the later stages of the day and ended on a good note. On the final hand before play ended, Kelly was UTG+2 and called an UTG raise from "myzikant." The action remained the same throughout the rest of the hand as Kelly called his opponent's bets on every street of the K♣7♣7♦7♥10♥ board. It was A♦J♥ for "myzikant," while Kelly tabled K♠Q♠ for a full house to add 70,000-ish to his stack, ending the day with 360,267 and in fifth place.

Here are the top 10 chip counts heading into Day 2:

Others still in the hunt include Sam "SamSquid" Grafton (11th), Rafael "LiroLa" Monteiro (21st), Cassio "cassiopak" Kiles (22nd), Paul "pvas2" Vas Nunes (23rd), Toby "810ofclubs" Lewis (27th), Larry "BBOY3110" Sharp (30th), and Elio "smokrokflock" Fox (33rd).

Among the min-cashers ($4,057.20) were Viktor "Isildur1" Blom, Calvin "cal42688" Anderson, Lauren "locoencabeza" Kling, and David "SexSeen" Sands. Posting slightly better showings were Spencer "UH Big Tex" Hudson (52nd - 6,375.60), Angel Guillen (55th - $5,796), Phil "MrSweets28" Galfond (65th - $5,409.60), Grayson "gray31" Ramage (66th - 5,409.60), and David "davidv1213" Vamplew (71st - $5,409.60).

PokerStars SCOOP 1-M: $200 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max Two-Day ($500K Guaranteed)

Event #1-M saw another huge turnout and guarantee-busting prize pool with a cool $165,403.72 scheduled to go to Monday's winner.

By the time that big field had been trimmed to less than 1,000, Mickey "mement_mori" Petersen had found a spot in the top 10 and remained there as the field shrunk below 200 players. Meanwhile, the cashers included Team PokerStars Pros Alex Kravchenko (708th - $347.07) and Richard Toth (446th - $422.99).

As the final levels of the night played out, "guiguibos," "tracyer," and "Heminsley" pushed to the top of the counts, with Petersen still hanging tough inside the top 30. When play concluded, just 49 remained and Petersen was right in middle in 24th. Here are the top 10 chip counts heading into Day 2:

PokerStars SCOOP 2-M: $200 No-Limit Hold’em Two-Day ($1M Guaranteed)

The Sunday Million enhanced — aka SCOOP 2-M — drew a field of 8,240. Only 89 players made it through the day and leading the way is "LoveWrecked." Even though the chip lead changed many times throughout the day, two notable players stayed at or near the top for the last few hours of Day 1. Nick "FU_15" Maimone and Viktor "Isildur1" Blom finished third and 16th in chips, respectively, and are in good shape entering Day 2.

Blom's last two hours on Day 1 were quit tumultuous. After losing with K♦J♣ to 10♣10♦ and Q♠Q♣ to K♦J♦ in back-to-back hands, Blom dipped to less than 1 million in chips and about 66 big blinds during Level 28 (30 levels were played). Four hands later, nearly all of chips were in the middle following a K♣7♦6♠ flop. Attempting to push Blom off his hand, "cardzzila" four-bet shoved with A♦Q♦. Blom called for about 80 percent of his stack with A♠A♥, no doubt happy to see he was miles ahead. Not so fast, though, as the 8♦ turn gave his opponent a flush draw. However, the 8♠ river locked up the pot for Blom and put him back into the top five.

That stay was short lived because Blom lost a pot that would have given him the chip lead. After raising under the gun, Blom was called by "rzr900rzr," who was one seat over. The two saw a Q♥J♣10♥ flop and Blom's continuation bet was called by his opponent. The same happened on the 2♣ turn, but the action really picked up when the Q♦ hit the river. The chips got into the middle and Blom saw his A♥K♣ run down by "rzr900rzr's" Q♣10♣. While that knocked Blom down to about 30th place, he gained some chips back and sits in 16th place with 1,522,992.

Here are the top 10 chip counts heading into Day 2:

PokerStars SCOOP 1-L: $25 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max Two-Day ($250K Guaranteed)

The “low” version of the first SCOOP event of the series crushed the guarantee, as well. The winner is scheduled to earn a nice $74,008 return on the $27 investment.

After several hours, the 25,520-player field had become less than 1,000, with "jordanmatt" leading as the first player to 1 million chips. Meanwhile, 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event champion Pius Heinz had jumped onto the first page of the counts, as well, and was hovering just outside the top 10. Heinz remained near the leaders over the next hour before gradually falling back to an average stack. His run finally came to an end after running A♣J♥ into "estofesto's" A♦K♣ to go out in 278th ($223.30).

By the time the field had been trimmed to less than 150, nearly everyone had a million chips, with "Denis XXX0007" on top of as the first to 10 million. Several huge pots later, "Denis XXX0007" had catapulted over 22 million — a healthy 560 big blinds or so at the time — well ahead of his nearest foes hovering around the 6 million-chip mark.

Others managed to catch “Denis XXX0007” as the night wore on, although he’d push back out in front before play was paused. With 42 players left, here are the top 10 chip counts heading into Day 2:

PokerStars SCOOP 2-L: $25 No-Limit Hold’em Two-Day ($400K Guaranteed)

Last but not least, the low buy-in of Event #2 drew a whopping 28,876 players. A mere 70 players will return on Day 2. Notables still remaining include Alex "J0hnny_Dr@m@" Zervos (11th) and Rory "Mafews" Mathews (35th).

Here are the top 10 chip counts heading into Day 2:

We will be providing daily recaps of all SCOOP Day 1s and final tables, so be sure to keep it here at PokerNews to stay up to date on all of the exciting action as it occurs.

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