Russian player Ivan ‘vandir4rek’ Soshnikov won the 2014 PokerStars.com Spring Championship of Online Poker Main Event ‘High’ tournament for more than $1 million on Monday night, in what turned out to be a record field of 657 players for the event, easily surpassing the 2010 record of 615. It meant the total prize pool of $6,570,000 was more than double the $3 million guarantee.
Soshnikov, who won the EPT10 Prague High Roller title last December for more than $500,000, saw off the likes of Martin ‘M.nosbocaJ’ Jacobson and Ben ‘NeverScaredB’ Wilinofsky at the final table, to scoop the first prize of $1,048,000. A deal had been done three-handed, though, which meant UK players ‘Se7enTr3y’ and ‘Better C4ll’ earned $860,000 and $890,000 respectively.
The ‘Medium’ and ‘Low’ stakes versions of the Main Event also finished on Monday night. ‘LexaLucky666’ from Belarus edged out former EPT Main Event champion Zimnan ‘Zimmy86’ Ziyard heads-up to grab the first prize of $635,379 in the Medium tournament, while the Low was won by Ari ‘BodogAri’ Engel for $187,669.27 after a four-way chop.
For reports from every SCOOP 2014 event, go to http://psta.rs/1o1QXfn.
RECORD-BREAKER
With all the events completed and the final figures in, it’s clear that SCOOP’s popularity knows no bounds, beating its 2013 record to once again set a new high for richest online poker championship. The final figure of $81,222,158.66 surpassed last year’s total prize pool of $75,585,435.05 by nearly $6 million.
NOTABLE WINNERS
There were two SCOOP watches for Team PokerStars Pros this year, with Jason Mercier winning his first and George Danzer getting his fourth. Other well-known players who tasted glory included Scott ‘BigRiskky’ Clements, Scott ‘gunning4you’ Seiver, Dan ‘w00ki3z’ Cates, Niki ‘RealAndyBeal’ Jedlicka, Ami ‘UhhMee’ Barer, Bryn ‘BrynKenney’ Kenney, James ‘Andy McLEOD’ Obst, Shawn ‘buck21’ Buchanan, David ‘Gunslinger3’ Bach, Luke ‘lb6121’ Schwartz, and Calvin ‘cal42688’ Anderson, who has now drawn level with all-time SCOOP wins leader, Shaun Deeb, on five.
OVERALL STATS
Team PokerStars Pro George Danzer enjoyed the most cashes of SCOOP 2014 with 32, Calvin ‘cal42688’ Anderson made the most final tables with seven appearances, and only one player – ‘youngblood51’ from Germany – won two events this year.