Mustapha "lasagnaaammm" Kanit Wins Third SCOOP Title in Event-24-H: $10,300 NLHE High Roller
The latest high stakes tournament of the 2020 PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) has come to a conclusion and a new three-time SCOOP winner has emerged in Event-24-H $10,300 NLHE High Roller. Mustapha lasagnaaammm" Kanit defeated Sergei "Futti18" Koliakov in heads-up to beat a field of 124 entries and claim the lion's share of the $1,240,000 prize pool, and the Italian claimed a top prize of $271,790.44 for his efforts.
Kanit's first SCOOP victory came back in 2014 when he topped Event #36-H: $2,100 NL Hold'em [Turbo, Re-Entry] for $376,920 and one year later he triumphed in the $10,300 Main Event for $1,304,720. The Italian was in the middle of the pack when the 15 Day 1 survivors returned to their seats but remained his usual jolly self on the final table despite being short-stacked, regularly engaging in table chat with Charlie "Epiphany77" Carrel and also entertaining more than 1,200 observers.
While Carrel was the chip leader at the start of the day and maintained that status with a narrow lead over eventual runner-up Koliakov, Kanit teased that he wasn't far away anymore after he scored a double-up. Carrel missed out on his third SCOOP title and had to settle for fourth place while Kanit then dispatched Luke "Bit2Easy" Reeves in third place and came out on top of a short-lived heads-up duel that lasted all but five hands.
Final Result 2020 SCOOP Event #24-H: $10,300 NLHE High Roller
| Place | Winner | Country | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mustapha "lasagnaaammm" Kanit | Italy | $271,790.44 |
| 2 | Sergei "Futti18" Koliakov | Russia | $210,580.76 |
| 3 | Luke "Bit2Easy" Reeves | United Kingdom | $163,156.10 |
| 4 | Charlie "Epiphany77" Carrel | United Kingdom | $126,411.92 |
| 5 | Teun "tinnoemulder" Mulder | Netherlands | $97,942.88 |
| 6 | Adrian "Amadi_017" Mateos | Spain | $75,885.27 |
| 7 | "iamivar" | Sweden | $58,795.22 |
| 8 | "NeedBeat" | Estonia | $45,554.00 |
| 9 | Joao "Naza114" Vieira | Portugal | $36,095.28 |
| 10 | Vicent "gordon0810" Bosca | Spain | $28,600.60 |
| 11 | Nairam "marjanko89" Kim | Ukraine | $28,600.60 |
| 12 | Wiktor “"imitless" Malinowski | Poland | $28,600.60 |
| 13 | Sergi "srxakgirona" Reixach | Spain | $22,662.11 |
| 14 | Ilya "Leqenden" Anatsky | Belarus | $22,662.11 |
| 15 | "makeboifin" | Finland | $22,662.11 |
Barely an hour was played until the final 15 hopefuls had been reduced to the nine-handed final table and the early casualties included Finnish high stakes cash game player "makeboifin", 2020 SCOOP champion Ilya “Leqenden” Anatsky, Sergi “srxakgirona” Reixach, Wiktor “limitless” Malinowski, Nairam “marjanko89” Kim and former SCOOP champion Vicent “gordon0810” Bosca.
Carrel and Koliakov were neck-on-neck at the top of the leaderboard and Kanit was the second-shortest stack. Carrel drew the first blood by sending Joao "Naza114" Vieira to the rail with tens versus king-four and Kanit scored a crucial double when he got it in with the nutflushdraw against "NeedBeat" with the second nutflushdraw and a gutshot. The Estonian lasted a couple more hands and departed in 8th place.
Sweden's "iamivar" came up short in 7th place and Koliakov stormed into a comfortable chip lead as a result. Adrian "Amadi_017" Mateos followed to the rail in 6th place when he lost a flip to Carrel and shortly after the rise of Kanit commenced.
Kanit Wins Private Duel with Carrel
All the joking back and forth between Carrel and Kanit took place regularly, not just in the breaks but also after big hands. And within ten minutes, the Italian had the best of it, reduced the field to the last three contenders and stormed into the top spot. Kanit first flopped a set of treys against the turned two pair of Carrel and then knocked the Brit out along with Teun "tinnoemulder" Mulder in a three-way all-in.
It was not an easy ride from there as Kanit dropped back to the bottom of the leaderboard and at some point, the final three were even within a single big blind. The table chat continued to flow as Koliakov and Reeves engaged with the Italian, who then pulled into a comfortable lead once more.
Reeves eventually lost a flip with nines against the king-queen of Kanit, and five hands later it was all over. Flopped two pair for Koliakov didn't hold as Kanit rivered a straight to seal the victory. More High Roller action awaits in the days and weeks to come as more SCOOP champions will emerge. The PokerNews live reporting team will be there throughout the series to provide updates and daily highlights.