Sammartino Claims Final Table Chip Lead in the 2021 PokerStars SCOOP-53-H: $10,300 NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO, High Roller]
After a bit more than seven hours, Day 1 of the 2021 PokerStars SCOOP-53-H: $10,300 NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO, High Roller] has come to an end with nine players making it through to the final table on Saturday, April 17. The tournament attracted 93 unique players who reentered 29 times to get to 122 entries in total. This created an prize purse of $1,220,000, easily surpassing the $1,000,000 that was set aside.
Coming back with the chip lead for the final table is Dario "Secret_M0d3" Sammartino with 4,912,808. The Italian player who plays from Austria is no stranger to anyone in the poker world. He already has 3 SCOOP titles which he won in 2016 ($718,218) and 2019 ($26,250 & $56,203). He also won a WCOOP in 2019 for $371,187 and with over $14.5 million in scores in live tournament, he has more than enough experience to battle on this tough final table.
Sammartino is joined on the final table by some of the best players that can be found in the poker scene. Artur "mararthur1" Martirosian, Yuri "theNERDguy" Dzivielevski, Francisco "Tomatee" Benitez, Bruno "great dant" Volkmann, Michael "imluckbox" Addamo, Aliaksei "ale6ka" Boika, Daniel "Oxota" Dvoress, and Adrian "Amadi_017" Mateos will all be present once action resumes.
SCOOP-53-H: $10,300 NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO, High Roller] Final Table Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dario "Secret_M0d3" Sammartino | Italy | 4,912,808 | 82 |
| 2 | Artur "mararthur1" Martirosian | Russia | 4,482,794 | 75 |
| 3 | Yuri "theNERDguy" Dzivielevski | Brazil | 4,069,565 | 68 |
| 4 | Francisco "Tomatee" Benitez | Uruguay | 3,718,329 | 62 |
| 5 | Bruno "great dant" Volkmann | Brazil | 3,689,141 | 61 |
| 6 | Michael "imluckbox" Addamo | Australia | 3,318,199 | 55 |
| 7 | Aliaksei "ale6ka" Boika | Belarus | 3,009,636 | 50 |
| 8 | Daniel "Oxota" Dvoress | Canada | 2,279,659 | 38 |
| 9 | Adrian "Amadi_017" Mateos | Spain | 1,019,869 | 17 |
Many familiar names took a seat during the first hours of the day but many of them also fell before the money stages were reached. The only PokerStars Ambassador to take a shot today was Sam "SamSquid" Grafton. He lost the biggest part of his stack to Ilya "thienlao21" Korobkin when he four-bet shoved with tens and got called by kings. He then lost the remainder to Marius "DEX888" Gierse.
Sammartino doubled to the chip lead at the start of the bubble but lost it a few times along the way to end up with it again in the end. The 50-minute bubble was also burst by the Italian when he shoved on the five-jack-seven-ace-eight board with jack-eight for two pair. Brunno "botteonpoker" Botteon had called with nine-seven for the flopped pair of sevens to bust.
Christian "WATnlos" Rudolph,"mrG01R4NG", Andras "probirs" Nemeth, Tauan "kylix42" Naves, and "DingeBrinker" all busted and cashed before "Prof. Hitman" bubbled the final table when they got their short stack in with pocket treys against the ace-six of Dzivielevski who rivered a flush.
Plan for Day 2
When the nine players return, they have already secured at least $17,757 but will all be eyeing that first-place prize of $118,648 plus all the possible bounties. The final table will resume on Saturday, April 17 at 7:05 p.m. CEST and finish the last 14 minutes of Level 22 which features a small blind of 30,000, a big blind of 60,000, and a running ante of 7,500. The level duration will then be increased to 30 minutes each.
The tournament will be played out under the watchful eyes of the Twitch and YouTube communities of PokerStars as cards-up coverage will be broadcasted with a 30-minute security delay with commentary provided by James Hartigan and Joe Stapleton.
PokerNews will be there too from the start to bring you all the action so make sure to follow along with all the exciting updates!
This is what they are all still battling for when they come back:
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | $118,648 |
| 2 | $118,648 |
| 3 | $80,262 |
| 4 | $62,187 |
| 5 | $48,182 |
| 6 | $37,331 |
| 7 | $28,923 |
| 8 | $22,410 |
| 9 | $17,757 |
for "Prof. Hitman" to stay ahead until the river when Dzivielevski hit the flush to burst the final table bubble. 
for Volkmann to hold with the higher pocket pair for two pair to bust Naves in twelfth place.
on the turn and the 
and Botteon checked for the last time. Sammartino shoved for Botteon to call for the 945,688 he had behind with the 
for Dzivielevski to flop the full house immediately to bust Vezhenkov before the tournament could be combined to two tables for the bubble.
