Mirza "zazano" Muhovic Wins Maiden Title in SCOOP-57-H: $5,200 NLHE ($201,606)
Another champion has been crowned during the 2020 Spring Championship Of Online Poker (SCOOP) and it was Mirza "zazano" Muhovic that emerged victoriously in SCOOP-57-H: $5,200 NLHE High Roller to earn the biggest slice out of the $1,000,000 prize pool.
Out of a field of 184 entries filled with some of the biggest names in poker, Muhovic had to overcome a tough final table which he entered as the chip leader and never once lost the top spot for the remainder of the tournament. In heads-up, Muhovic defeated Joel "Odonkor1" Nordkvist to earn a payday of $201,606 while Nordkvist had to settle for $155,222 and his second runner-up finish within a week.
At least one further player from the Benelux country already earned SCOOP title as far back as 2011 when "flashdisastr" came out on top of Event 12H $2,600 No Limit Hold’em [Knockout] to win the first title for Luxembourg. For Muhovic it was also the second final table of the current festival as he finished in 5th place out of 285 entries in SCOOP-35-H: $2,100 Six Max NLHE for a payday of $32,843.91 on Day 9 of the 2020 SCOOP.
Among the finalists were also Jon "apestyles" Van Fleet, poker coach and streamer Benjamin "bencb789" Rolle, Job "DeadNylan" Greben and PokerStars ambassador Lex "L. Veldhuis" Veldhuis, who eventually finished in 7th place while streaming all the action on his Twitch channel.
Final Result SCOOP-57-H: $5,200 NLHE High Roller
Place | Winner | Country | Payout |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Mirza "zazano" Muhovic | Luxembourg | $201,606 |
2 | Joel "Odonkor1" Nordkvist | Sweden | $155,222 |
3 | Jon "apestyles" Van Fleet | Canada | $119,510 |
4 | Benjamin "bencb789" Rolle | Austria | $92,014 |
5 | EEE27 | Finland | $70,844 |
6 | Job "DeadNylan" Greben | Netherlands | $54,545 |
7 | Lex "L. Veldhuis" Veldhuis | Netherlands | $41,996 |
8 | kimokh | Lebanon | $32,334 |
9 | Wildace_hun | Hungary | $24,895 |
Early Eliminations and Muhovic's Rise to the Top
Gianluca "Tankanza" Speranza was the first casualty of the day and two big names followed to the rail in Joni "bustoville" Jouhkimainen" and 2020 SCOOP champion Jorryt "TheCleaner11" van Hoof. The former three-bet jammed pocket treys and ran into queens and ace-king while van Hoof could not get there with ace-deuce against the pocket jacks of Joel "Odonkor1" Nordkvist.
Linus "LLinusLLove" Loeliger was next to fall when his top pair with king-jack was no good and Benjamin "bencb789" Rolle dealt the final blow with ace-king. By then, Lex "L. Veldhuis" Veldhuis had dropped back into the middle of the pack but managed to double. Charlie "Epiphany77" Carrel was not as fortunate and bowed out.
What followed was the rise to the top of eventual champion Mirza "zazano" Muhovic who knocked out Pauli "Fiilismies" Ayras with tens versus sixes and won the flip against the ace-king of "Wildace_hun" in a three-way all-in. Ayras turned a six only for Muhovic to river the ten for the superior full house. Moments later, Muhovic claimed the stack of Tyler "wonderboy222" Goatcher with kings versus jacks. Day 1 chip leader "BOOGANDEHAH" also fell to Muhovic with two pair versus straight and the final table was then set with the elimination of Pavel "silentm0de" Plesuv.
Muhovic Goes Wire-to-Wire on the Final Table
Muhovic retained his lead for the entire duration of the final table and immediately pulled further ahead once the field had combined to one table. After several short stacks had doubled up, "Wildace_hun" and "Kimokh" departed eventually. Muhovic then scored his first knockout by sending Lex "L. Veldhuis" Veldhuis to the rail in seventh with ace-ten versus king-queen.
Nothing much changed after that and Joel "Odonkor1" Nordkvist was the only one that came close to taking over the top spot. The blinds increased and the short stacks succumbed one by one. Rolle departed in 4th and Jon "apestyles" Van Fleet came up short with king-ten against the queens of Muhovic, which set the stage for the heads-up duel. After trading medium-sized pots for 20 minutes, Muhovic flopped trips and turned a full house with six-five to seal the victory.
That wraps up the PokerNews coverage for this event and the 2020 SCOOP is preparing for the busiest Sunday yet with the start of the Main Event.