Perhaps unsurprisingly last year’s SCOOP player of the year, Shaun Deeb, has already played 12 events and in the top five on the overall leaderboard with 115 points.
In fact Deeb nearly won his sixth SCOOP title in Event 4-H but lost heads-up against Paul Volpe.
Some of the other notable players that look good through the first three days of this year’s SCOOP include Christian Harder (3rd in Event 4-M), JC Alvarado (4th in 1-H) and Calvin “cal42688” Anderson.
Interestingly Norwegian cross country superstar Petter "Northugjr" Northug finished 7th in Event 2-H for $60,617.
Here’s a look at a few of the highlight reel moments:
Spindler Takes Event 1-H for $301k
German Benny Spindler certainly got his 2013 SCOOP off to the right start by outlasting 848 players to win Event 1-H $2,100 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max for $301,040.
It was no easy feat for Spindler as he had to beat a final table that included JC Alvarado and noted Finnish grinder €urop€an.
It was the former EPT London winner who came out on top, however, adding another considerable score to his already sparkling poker resume.
Here are the complete final table results for Event 1-H:
1. Benny 'toweliestar' Spindler (Austria) - $301,040 2. €urop€an (Finland) - $223,024 3. bbbbb33 (Canada) - $169,600 4. JC 'PrtyPsux' Alvarado (Mexico) - $118,720 5. Amadi_017 (UK) - $84,800 6. akut (UK) - $50,880Volpe Outlasts Deeb to win Event 4-H for $34k
A great 2013 got even better for Paul Volpe when he beat Shaun Deeb heads-up to win Event 4-H $2,100 Badugi for $34,780.
Volpe, who plays on PokerStars as paulgees81, has already had an amazing 2013 with back-to-back WPT final tables and an EPT Grand Final satellite win for over $1 million in live tournament earnings.
It appeared Deeb was destined for his sixth title as he battled back from a heads-up deficit to grab the chip lead. Volpe went into beast mode at that point, however, and eventually busted Deeb to grab the title.
Be sure to check out our recent interview with Volpe here.
Here are the complete final-table results:
1. Paul "paulgees81" Volpe (Canada) $34,780 2. Shaun "shaundeeb" Deeb (Mexico) $23,500 3. Stroynowski (Poland) $14,100 4. Fresh_oO_D (Germany) $9,400 5. Chris "d0r1t0s" McClung (Canada) $7,050 6. Phil "Jackal69" Shaw (United Kingdom) $5,170Marquez Puts on Dynamic Performance to win Event 5-H for $255k
Ana Marquez has been wowing the poker community for a few years now with some very deep runs and a runner-up finish at the WSOPE last fall.
She got some serious bragging rights with her outright victory in Event 5-H $1,050+R No-Limit Hold’em Turbo for $255,035.
Marquez beat a final table that included Brendon “brendon1717” Rubie and recent hot-hand Amadi_017.
With the win Marquez becomes one of the few known female poker pros with a SCOOP title.
Here’s a look at the final-table results:
1. ana marquez (UK) $255,035.10 2. TIPCHIK321 (Russia) $189,382.50 3. Amadi_017 (UK) $139,545.00 4. shinbunshi (Japan) $106,320.00 5. blakjak19 (Greece) $74,424.00 6. aliasbissen (Sweden) $56,482.50 7. treezer (Sweden) $43,192.50 8. brendon1717 (Australia) $29,902.50 9. China_White1 (Belgium) $22,061.40Visit www.pokerlistings.com