2024 PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker

The $5,200 Titans Event is one of PokerStars' toughest weekly tournaments, but it becomes even more difficult to win during SCOOP when superstar players from all over the world flock to it.

Only nine of the 128 starters remain in contention for the $140,278 prize pool, with each of the nine finalists guaranteed $18,629 for their efforts thus far. You only need to look at the star-studded final table to see why the Titans Event is one of the most prestigious on the 2024 SCOOP schedule.

Veldhuis returns to the action at 5:30 p.m. WET on May 13 with 1,369,399 chips, enough for fifth place at the restart. Mexico-based Russian "hello_totti" leads the way with 2,180,863 chips, with Yuri "theNERDguy" Dzivielevski (1,980,430) and Kahle "ROFLshove" Burns (1,825,573) making up the podium positions. Ukraine's Roman "RomeOpro" Romanovsky (1,426,220) is the only other player with more chips than Veldhuis at this stage.

Even the players with fewer chips than Veldhuis will play a significant role in where the top prize ends up. "Wildace_hun" of Hungary (1,264,292) knows their way around a poker table, as do the Dominican Republic's "Nacho124441" (1,099,705) and Patrick "pads1161" Leonard (957,193), who is part of veldhuis' SCOOP League team. Event "kirbyl0ve" (696,325) cannot be considered out of the reckoning.

SCOOP 41-H: $5,200 NLHE Titans Final Table Chip Counts

The biggest haul of the weekend's action went to Marius "DEX888" Gierse, a member of Team Lex. Gierse came out on top in the SCOOP 35-H: $1,050 NLHE Mystery Bounty event, which shuffled up and dealt on May 11 before concluding on May 12.

A field of 480 entrants left PokerStars with a $20,000 overlay, not that those who finished in the money places cared because it meant free value for them. Team PokerStars's Laurie "LaliTourneir" Tournier was the unfortunate soul who burst the money bubble, falling in 80th place. With Tournier out of the way, the mystery bounties came into play.

Benjamin "Spraggy" Spragg was the first player to bust inside the money place. Fellow red spade-sporting players Fintan "easywithaces" Hand, and Parker "tonkaaaa" Talbot also cashed but didn't get the chance to open a mystery bounty envelope.

Some of the mystery bounties weighed in at five figures, including ten worth $10,000, two of $20,000, and a jackpot mystery bounty of $50,000. Most of those larger bounties were claimed at the nine-handed final table.

Romania's "blebelea" busted in seventh for $5,077 but they took home $35,791 thanks to $30,74 from the mystery bounty prize pool. Fourth-place finisher "Marusia1980" also claimed more than $30,000 in mystery bounties, as did runner-up "Haringbuis."

The $38,092 top prize and an eye-popping $75,341 worth of bounties went to Marus "LEX888" Gierse, who walked away with a total of $113,433 and plenty of points for Team Lex in the SCOOP League.

SCOOP 35-H: $1,050 NLHE Mystery Bounty Final Table Results

SCOOP 40-H: $1,050 NLHE PKO Sunday Warm-Up drew in a 454-strong crowd, but only 13 of those starters have reached Day 2. Veldhuis is one of those players; he sits down in fourth place with a 4,195,860 stack and has collected $8,351 worth of bounties already.

Veldhuis will fancy his chances of winning this event, not least because there are only a handful of big blinds outside the top three.

Vamardino "vamvam27" Magsakay (5,763,829) is the man to catch at the restart, followed by Canadian grinder Jamil "Jamil11" Wakil (5,161,145) and Ukrainian "ContraSpemSper0" (4,469,554).

Everyone who has reached Day 2 has done so on merit, but pay attention to the trio of Brazilians toward the bottom of the chip counts. Thiago "KKremate" Crema (3,079,910), Renan "Aziz.Mancha" Aziz (2,543,164), and Peter "pitaufmg" Patricio (2,531,095) are currently playing catch-up but are only a big pot or two away from becoming a force at the business end of this high-stakes event.

SCOOP 40-H: $1,050 NLHE PKO Sunday Warm-Up Chip Counts