"Take it one hand at a time." That is the advice most tournament professionals bestow upon those lesser experienced. Every player in a multi-table tournament (MTT) is playing on the same time, against the similar sized field, looking to outlast one another and put themselves able to go deep. There'll be big stacks and short stacks for your table, but really your stack is measured against all of the field. For example, it's not relevant if you are the quick stack for your table in an MTT; check the lobby, and you will see that there are others worse off than you. So take a while. And take it one hand at a time.

That all goes out the window in a Shootout structure. Now, it is a matter of taking it one table at a time. The article is, you have to be the last player standing at every table with a view to survive. Your stack is purely measured against those five other players as you all start with an identical quantity every round, so whilst you still want to play every hand optimally, your tactics change dramatically. 

This was Event 12-M of SCOOP 2016 - a $215 NL Hold'em 6-Max Shootout event. The sphere is split into tables of six, and every plays right down to a winner. Those winners then meet at new tables with new equal stacks, and play right down to a winner again. The method continues until there are only six players remaining, and at that final table they play all the way down to winner one final time.

Today that winner was Germany's Ssick OnE, the gunslinger who managed to shoot his way through a tricky final six to bank a primary place prize of $34,400, forging an implausible comeback from just three big blinds to the win. Ssick OnE already had one SCOOP title to his name - a win in an $82 NLHE Ante Up tournament in 2015 (through which he had a similarly sick run, hence the just about identical blog title).

Among the general six here today were Vicente 'vicenfish' Delgado, winner of the $10,300 NLHE High Roller within the 2014 WCOOP for $637,000, and a Supernova player from Russia by the name of hulinada.

Vicente 'vicenfish' Delgado

A total of 1,075 players entered yesterday, they usually all took their seats right on time because of the 'no late registration' policy. Team PokerStars had a couple of deep runs; George Danzer, Felix 'xflixx' Schneiders, Marc-Andre 'FrenchDawg' Ladouceur, and Grzegorz 'DaWarsaw' Mikieleqicz all made the $352.60 money round, as did Kevin 'ImaLuckSac' MacPhee, Paul 'paulgees81' Volpe, Conor '1 conor b 1' Beresford, Scott 'Aggro Santos' Margereson, Jonas 'donut604' Mackoff, Sebastian 'p0cket00' Sikorski, and €urop€an.

Moving into the $1,505 money round, we saw Chris 'BigHuni' Hunichen, Andrew 'RunThisTable' Lichtenberger, and Phil 'philbort' Gruissem all fall before the general table.

At the tip of the night just six remained, and so they returned today to complete this thing off. Kick back and relax as we take you thru the action.

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The final Shootout

As this was a Shootout, all six players came into the overall table with equal stacks of 10,000 with the blinds kicking off at 50/100 (10 ante). Those players were:

Graftekkel (Netherlands) 10,000hulinada (Russia) 10,000persephoney (Guernsey) 10,000Ssick OnE (Germany) 10,000SV(nmgn)EN (Netherlands) 10,000Vicente 'vicenfish' Delgado (UK) 10,000

Graftekkel came out all guns blazing and managed to extend his stack to 15,000 by the second one level. There have been no huge pots though - another player didn't lose a good portion in their stack within the process. It happened little by little. 

The first big hand came within the last hand of that very same level, when vicenfish opened to 254 under the gun and Graftekkel three-bet to 825 from the cut-off. vicenfish called and checked, before calling the 820 continuation bet on an A♠J♣T♥ flop. The turn came the 5♦ and Spaniard checked again, but still came along when Graftekkel bet 1,525. Finally the river was the Q♥ and Graftekkel put vicenfish all-in when it was checked to him. vicenfish let his hand go and dropped to 4,282, while Graftekkel increased to 18,818.

Then came a string of hefty pots. Ssick OnE lost the majority of his stack in a pot against persephoney, but managed to move from a stack of 691 back to 10,000 way to a three-way all-in with pocket Kings against vicenfish's pocket nines and SV(nmgn)EN's pocket sevens (vicenfish picked up the side pot), followed by a little bit luck when his pocket sevens cracked persephoney's pocket tens way to a seven at the turn. By the primary break, persephoney was the chip leader however the two short stacks had climbed back, and again it was anyone's game.

SV(nmgn)EN couldn't get it going though. He dropped to 4,246 with the blinds at 120/240 and moved all-in from the large blind with the A♣4♥ after Graftekkel's small blind open, who called with the A♦K♦. The 2♠7♥3♠ flop brought hope for a straight, however the A♥ turn and A♠ river gave the pot to Graftekkel and eliminated SV(nmgn)EN in sixth for $5,332.

Two hands later and vicenfish was out too. Graftekkel opened to 571 from the cut-off and vicenfish defended his big blind. They saw a Q♠7♣9♠ flop land and after it was checked to him Graftekkel continued for 600, which was called. The turn was the A♦ and it went check-bet 1,200-call, before the Q♦ came at the river. vicenfish then check-called an all-in bet with the Q♣T♦, but his trips was second best to the A♠Q♥ full house that sat in front of Graftekkel. vicenfish banked $8,600, while Graftekkel tied persephoney for the chip lead with 20,000 a piece.

The flying Dutchman

From there, Graftekkel started to take over, thanks in no small part to an enormous pot won from persephoney. The player from Guernsey opened to 600 under the gun and called a 2,150 three-bet from Graftekkel within the small blind. A 6♣T♣T♥ flop arrived and Graftekkel cotinued for 1,850, which was called, taking us to the 3♦ turn. Graftekkel then opted to check, and persephoney used the chance to take a 3,240 stab on the pot, however the player from the Netherlands called. Then, at the T♦ river he'd check again and contact a 5,240 bet. It turned out persephoney was being just a little foney with just the J♥K♣, while Graftekkel had an entire house with the A♦6♦. After that pot he shot as much as 36,542, while persephoney had 8,087, hulinada had 7,833, and Ssick OnE had 7,538.

hulinada was the following to fall. He moved all-in at the button for 4,953 with the A♠Q♦, but Ssick OnE aroused from sleep with the K♠K♣ within the big blind. The board ran out 4♣6♣9♥2♣J♥ and the Russian hit the virtual rail with $12,900.

It was truly a sick run for Ssick OnE after that as he won the following four pots in a row, one in every of which was worth almost 12,000, to bring his stack as much as 20,000 mark. Persephoney was now our short stack, as rounded-up counts gave him 10,000 to Ssick OnE's 20,000 and Graftekkel's 30,000.

Ssick OnE started to pull ahead and take the chip lead, swapping positions with Graftekkel as persephoney got shorter stacked. That was until a lucky hand against Graftekkel got him back to 15,000. Graftekkel made it 704 at the button with the blinds at 160/320 and persephoney called from the large blind. The flop was the 4♦9♥3♣ and Graftekkel continued for 675 when it checked to him, but persephoney then moved all-in for 6,824 and was called. He had the Q♦4♥ which was the trailing the A♦9♠, but another four at the turn secured him a double up and made Graftekkel the player most at risk.

The flying Dutchman's downfall came not long after. With the blinds at 200/400, persephoney made it 1,111 to head from the small blind and Graftekkel three-bet to 3,200 from the large. Persephoney then jammed all-in with good enough to hide him, and Graftekkel called off for 11,226 total. persephoney was ahead with the 9♠9♥ against the 8♥8♣ however the 9♣A♣3♣ gave Graftekkel a greater shot despite having his opponent make a collection. Any club would do it, however the turn was the 4♥ and the 6♦ came at the river. Graftekkel went flying out of this tournament, however the player from the Netherlands collected $19,350 for third.

Heads-up

Stacks were similar going into heads-up play, but two big hands changed it all.

First, persephoney made it 1,300 at the button and got a call, before the 2♥J♣T♣ flop fell. Ssick OnE check-called a 1,200 c-bet and the T♦ hit the river. He then check-called a 2,400 bet, taking us to the 3♠ river. Ssick OnE checked again and persephoney bet 5,445 which was called. persephoney had just the Q♥7♥, so it was a fair call by Ssick OnE with the 9♠J♦. That gave him 40,000 to persephoney's 20,000.

Then, only a few hands later it was all over the place. Ssick OnE opened to 876 and was called, so the T♠8♣3♦ flop was dealt. persephoney checked, but then raised Ssick OnE's 1,385 bet to 4,000. Ssick OnE came back excessive for 8,400, which was called. The turn was the 8♥ and persephoney jammed for 12,377, which got a snappy call:

Ssick OnE: K♣T♣persephoney: T♥5♠

Both had paired their ten at the flop, but with the King kicker Ssick OnE's was bigger. The 7♠ at the river changed nothing, and this one was all wrapped up. persephoney banked $25,800 for his runner-up finish.

A sick come again and a sick win for Germany's Ssick OnE, who's your latest SCOOP champion and the winner of $34,400. Let's have a look at how he gets on within the remainder of the inside track - taking it one tournament at a time.

SCOOP-12-M ($215 NL Hold'em 6-Max Shootout) resultsEntrants: 1,075Prize pool: $215,000Places paid: 216

1. Ssick One (Germany) $34,4002. persephoney (Guernsey) $25,8003. Graftekkel (Netherlands) $19,3504. hulinada (Russia) $12,9005. Vicente 'vicenfish' Delgado (UK) $8,6006. SV(nmgn)EN (Netherlands) $5,332

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Jack Stanton is a contract contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

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