Francisco "Tomatee" Benitez Wins the 2021 PokerStars SCOOP-53-H: $10,300 NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO, High Roller] for $265,367
After four hours of play, Francisco "Tomatee" Benitez has come out victorious in the 2021 PokerStars SCOOP-53-H: $10,300 NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO, High Roller] for $265,367 which includes $146,719 in bounties which exceeds the first-place prize of $118,648. The tournament attracted 93 unique players who reentered 29 times to create a $1,220,000 prize pool.
This is the second SCOOP title for the Uruguayan player as he won the 2019 SCOOP-61-H: $1,050 NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO] for $128,217. He also won $156,832 in the 2019 WCOOP-22-M: $530 NLHE [8-Max, Super Tuesday SE] so is no stranger to success on the online poker tables. Benitez defeated Day 1 chip leader, Dario "Secret_M0d3" Sammartino heads-up after a battle of just over an hour.
SCOOP-53-H: $10,300 NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO, High Roller] Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Bounty | Prize | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Francisco "Tomatee" Benitez | Uruguay | $146,719 | $118,648 | $265,367 |
| 2 | Dario "Secret_M0d3" Sammartino | Italy | $89,219 | $118,648 | $207,866 |
| 3 | Daniel "Oxota" Dvoress | Canada | $45,313 | $80,262 | $125,575 |
| 4 | Yuri "theNERDguy" Dzivielevski | Brazil | $39,375 | $62,187 | $101,562 |
| 5 | Bruno "great dant" Volkmann | Brazil | $11,250 | $48,182 | $59,432 |
| 6 | Michael "imluckbox" Addamo | Australia | $23,125 | $37,331 | $60,456 |
| 7 | Artur "mararthur1" Martirosian | Russia | $10,000 | $28,923 | $38,923 |
| 8 | Adrian "Amadi_017" Mateos | Spain | $10,000 | $22,410 | $32,410 |
| 9 | Aliaksei "ale6ka" Boika | Belarus | $7,500 | $17,757 | $25,257 |
Sammartino started the day in pole position but quickly doubled Daniel "Oxota" Dvoress up to the chip lead when his jacks couldn't beat the rockets of the Canadian. Adrian "Amadi_017" Mateos was the shortest stack but doubled through Benitez before /Aliaksei "ale6ka" Boika busted to in ninth place to Yuri "theNERDguy" Dzivielevski. Mateos left in eights place when he ran his tens into the jacks of Dvoress.
Artur "mararthur1" Martirosian doubled up Michael "imluckbox" Addamo to then lose the remainder of his stack to Sammartino with pocket tens. Addamo couldn't keep hold of those chips as he was next to go when his aces got cracked by the tens of Dvoress. Sammartino and Dvoress traded the chip lead several times before the Italian took out Bruno "great dant" Volkmann when he rivered the higher pair.
Dzivielevski was the shortest stack and doubled up once before busting in fourth place when he had turned two pair and called the shove of Sammartino. But Sammartino had looked him up with the flopped lower two pair before hitting the river for a full house. Dvoress was then dusted off in third place by Sammartino when they had both flopped a pair. Dvoress also held the nut-flush draw but bricked the turn and river.
Heads-up play started with a 127 big blind average and the chips went back and forth for just over an hour and the chip lead going back and forth too. After an hour, Benitez finally increased the gap when he shoved on the trey-eight-trey-six-ace board for Sammartino to fold.
The two players went for a quick break before Sammartino called the five-bet shove of Benitez for the 57 big blinds he had behind with pocket queens. Benitez held ace-queen and flopped top pair and improved to two pair on the turn to scoop the tournament, the title, the bragging rights, and the big bounty on Sammartino's head.
This concludes the PokerNews coverage of this event, but there's still action ongoing in SCOOP-53-M: $1,050 NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO, Thursday Thrill] and we'll also be covering SCOOP-63-H: $2,100 NLHE [8-Max, Sunday Warm-Up SE], $1M Gtd, SCOOP-64-M: $530 NLHE [Progressive KO], $1M Gtd, and SCOOP-64-H: $5,200 NLHE [Progressive KO, Sunday HR SE], $850K Gtd on Sunday, April 18 so make sure to check out all the action right here!