Limit Hold'em tournaments are a distinct breed of poker nowadays. They were the norm back within the olden golden days but were quickly overshadowed by its No Limit brother. Event #36 at the 2016 SCOOP schedule was a "min-betting championship" with a 6-max format and the $2,000 buy-in version of the tournament drew an outstanding lineup of top players. It was a long, tough battle and bartek901 was the last player standing to take home top honor.

The tournament saw 104 players publish a work in their bankroll they usually had three additional re-entry options should they limit bet their stack all of the way down. With 69 re-entries into the game, the prize pool grew to $346,000 with $83,000 reserved for the eventual winner.

The tournament was paused on the end of Level 16 to take an overnight break with 26 players still holding stacks for the return. bartek901 finished Day 1 with the chip lead but a tricky group of players seeking to run him down including Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah, Chris "Big Huni" Hunichen, Brian "tsarrast" Rast, Shaun Deeb, Bryn Kenney, Connor "blanconegro" Drinan, and Team PokerStars member Jason Mercier.

bartek901 was in search of his first COOP title though he does have some nice result of his own. He earned $150,000 for a 3rd place finish within the 2015 Super Tuesday Special Edition event and another $65,000 for a standard Super Tuesday runner-up finish to run up his career online tournament total over $1.5 million.

With 26 players returning and only 24 getting paid, that they had just a little work to do on the restart. Step one was to get into the money, then advance further up the payout ladder to the general table and a COOP title. It didn't take long for them to get there way to Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah.

Connor "blanconegro" Drinan was the second one smallest stack on the restart and was dealt K♦K♠ at the first hand back. It didn't end well for him as Leah tracked down the kings and cracked them with a rivered flush holding J♠3♠. That put the sphere at the money bubble and it burst three hands later when Leah knocked out MyJewishWife in 25th with Q♣5♦ beating 9♥8♥.

Connor "blanconegro" Drinan

Three and a half hours once they came back for Day 2, the 26-player field was reduced to seven remaining with two-time UKIPT champion Nick Abou Risk sitting with lower than three big bets. He managed one chopped pot against when Azrarn before he capped it pre-flop with Mercier to a A♥Q♣J♣ flop. They quickly got the remainder of his chips within the middle and Mercier's 5♠5♥ held against 3♣3♠ to form the general table.

Besides superstar Jason Mercier making one more final table, there have been two other past SCOOP champions sitting around him. jama-dharma picked up a SCOOP title back within the fun times of 2010 while Bluf To Much won his SCOOP title last year within the medium HORSE event. One missing player was early leader Mike Leah, he went out in a blaze of glory in 11th place but don't shed a tear for him. Leah went directly to capture the title within the low version of this event.

Seat 1: Azrarn - 254,570Seat 2: jama-dharma - 158,160Seat 3: chess87 - 316,185Seat 4: Bluf To Much - 371,185Seat 5: bartek901 - 379,430 Seat 6: Jason Mercier - 250,470

Limits: 5,000/10,000

Mercier and Azrarn pull big pots

Limit action is clearly limited to bet/raise/call/fold etc etc etc so it lacks the spectator excitement of No Limit. The knockout hands usually aren't the biggest, much more likely only finishing off a player after losing along the way in which. Jason Mercier and Azrarn began the general table by winning two 150,000 chip pots to set themselves nicely for a potential title.

Mercier earned his with a hand that was three-bet against bartek901 to the 5♣4♥3♦ flop. They put two small bets in before the Q♦ turn and 4 big bets before the Q♣ river. bartek901 check/called one last bet to look Mercier table 4♣4♠ for the whole house winner.

Azrarn's pot was built with other players, there have been three bets within the middle before he saw the K♣5♦3♥ flop against jama-dharma and bartek901. One bet each went in at the flop and another after the 4♥ turn. Azrarn pulled the ol' river check/raise after the 2♣ hit to get a "ffs" from jama-dharma, but he also got the decision. He was good with A♦6♦ for the six-high straight and his 150,000 pot.

Seat 1: Azrarn - 354,570Seat 2: jama-dharma - 118,160Seat 3: chess87 - 296,185Seat 4: Bluf To Much - 371,185Seat 5: bartek901 - 226,930Seat 6: Jason Mercier - 362,970

Limits: 5,000/10,000

jama-dharma ground down, eliminated in 6th

The first knockout at the final table came after jama-dharma saw his stack slowly drop into the chance zone, then he let himself get under one small bet. After action folded to him, he called all-in from the small ignorant of give Bluf To Much a small rebate on his big.

jama-dharma tried to begin his comeback with A♣2♦ but he was unlucky to run into A♠8♦. He never caught up at the Q♦7♠5♠A♥3♦ board to exit in 6th place with an extended long how you can go.

Mercier shown no mercy, eliminated in 5th

Jason Mercier had little luck within the latter parts of the tournament and located himself hovering across the ten big bet line while others were running up their stacks. He was under 40,000 with the boundaries at 12,000/24,000 and tossed in a 3rd bet from the massive blind against Bluf To Much before the 8♦5♠2♠ flop.

Mercier installed his last 3,915 with J♠6♦ and Bluf To Much called with Q♠7♦. The 7♠ turn paired for Bluf To Much and the three-time WSOP champion Mercier was gone in 5th place after the T♥ river did nothing to enhance his hand.

Jason Mercier

chess87 fires away, eliminated in 4th

The steadily-rising limits finally started putting a little bit pressure at the stack sizes and we saw some big movement between the stacks. chess87 was at the wrong side of the largest pot thus far on the final table when he went heads-up against bartek901. The German called a raise within the big unaware of see the J♣8♠6♠ flop.

chess87 check/raised the flop, he was called before the Q♠ turn hit the board and he led out with another bet. bartek901 raised, chess87 installed a 3rd big bet, and was called to the 8♣ river. It went bet/call and chess87 showed an unimproved open-ended straight draw 9♠7♥, nowhere near ok to overcome bartek901' straight with T♥9♦.

The hand knocked his stack down near the felt and he was gone soon after in 4th place.

Bluf To Much set up, eliminated in 3rd

Bluf To Much was the following to take a turn on the bottom of the counts as Azrarn became the primary player with greater than 1 million out front. He picked up 9♠9♦, a good hand in a three-handed game, and capped the betting with bartek901 before the Q♠7♠3♦ flop.

Three more bets and Bluf To Much was all-in to peer he was badly out-flopped by 3♠3♥. Bluf To Much couldn't discover a saving card at the A♣ turn or T♦ river to head out in 3rd place for $43,250.

Seat 1: Azrarn - 1,047,680Seat 5: bartek901 - 682,320

Limits: 16,000/32,000

bartek901 battles back to win Event #36-M title

Azrarn took a pleasing lead into heads-up play but bartek901 quickly fought back to take the advantage. He added 384,000 to his stack with a rivered flush holding T♥9♥ then picked up another 256,000 with a single pair of queens.

Azrarn didn't surrender with no fight and was in a position to pull back even before he lost traction. bartek901 won a 480,000 pot with a turned straight holding T♠9♣ and another 320,000 with a showdown on a Q♠5♠2♦Q♦T♦ board. One hand later and bartek901 put Azrarn all-in after the Q♦9♠5♥ flop.

bartek901 was holding ace-high A♣2♣ but was sooner than Azrarn's K♦T♦. The Q♣ turn and 7♦ river changed nothing and the comeback was complete for bartek901. Azrarn fell in need of earning his first major title however the $57,263 for second place could be a pleasant consolation prize.

bartek901 played a really perfect final table and eliminated some tough opponents along the right way to capture the $2,100 FL Hold'em 6-Max title and $83,040.

SCOOP-36-H ($2,100 FL Hold'em 6-Max) resultsEntrants: 173 (104 entries, 69 re-entries)Total prize pool: $346,000Places paid: 24

1. bartek901 (Mexico) $83,040.002. Azrarn (Belarus) $57,263.003. Bluf To Much (Moldova) $43,250.004. chess87 (Germany) $29,410.005. Jason Mercier (Canada) $22,490.006. jama-dharma (UK) $15,570.00

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