It's about time to start out the second one big weekend of the 2016 Spring Championship of Online Poker and Event 15 threw a little bit twist on the standard No Limit Hold'em tournament structure. The Ante Up events left the blinds alone, instead ramping up the antes with each level change. A NOVEL format that saw Antonio "jonwayne69" Gonzalez outlast the remainder of the sector to earn top honors.

The high version of the tournament had a $700 buy-in with a $200,000 guaranteed prize pool. Players had three additional re-entry options for the primary five hours and so they combined to create an enormous field. There have been 429 players putting up their money and 202 re-entries when registration closed, pushing the prize pool as much as $419,615 with the last 72 earning a piece.

The very nature of the Ante Up tournament meant there has been no pressure from the blinds and just a mild nudge because the antes increased. Pots were smaller, pre-flop strategies were tweaked, and players could wait longer before getting themselves in trouble. That meant it took longer to achieve the cash bubble than one would expect in a typical tournament.

They hit the cash after nine hours of play, an entire life within the online poker world, and it was 2013 SCOOP $10,000 Main Event final table member Sergio "zcedrick" Aido going out at the stone-cold bubble. Once the sector was within the money, Aido was quickly followed by Mike "SirWatts" Waston, Nick "FU 15" Maimone, Connor "blanconegro" Drinan, TJ "1BigAceHole" Ulmer, and Triple COOPer Rui "RuiNF" Ferreira among others.

When the tournament paused for the evening, there have been still 58 players remaining including Team PokerStars' Andre Akkari returning to a top 20 stack. Artem "veeea" Vezhenkov was the front-runner on the restart seeking to add to an already impressive list of credits; three Super Tuesdays wins, one Sunday Million victory, and one SCOOP title.

Top ten stacks returning of for Day 2

The last two tables had quite a lot of stars making for some pretty tough battles and rough beats. dragonwarior famously won two SCOOP titles in two days last year but should look forward to a 3rd when he found himself at the wrong end of a suck-resuck scenario against WCOOP/SCOOP/Sunday Million champion Andrey "Kroko-dill" Zaichenko. dragonwarior was all-in and dominated with A♦T♠ against A♠K♣, missed the 8♠8♦2♥ flop but nailed the T♦ turn before Zaichenko "resucked" at the K♥ river.

More than seven hours after the restart, they were all the way down to one final table after Vezhenkov ran his 4♣4♥ into Zaichenko's A♥A♦. They joined as one with an excessively talented group that included Shaun Deeb making his second final table of the day and going for his ninth total COOP title.

Poker pro Tim "WICKED617" Reilly took his seat on the table along side Akkari representing Team PokerStars and Brazil. Joao Bauer holds a WCOOP title from 2010 and Thomas "WushuTM" Muhlocker picked up a SCOOP victory of his own within the $1,050 Super Tuesday Special Edition.

Seat 1: Andre "aakkari" Akkari (27,9202 in chips)Seat 2: Andrey "Kroko-dill" Zaichenko (855,454 in chips)Seat 3: Antonio "jonwayne69" Gonzalez (542,221 in chips)Seat 4: Shaun "shaundeeb" Deeb (988,724 in chips)Seat 5: Tim "WICKED617" Reilly (311,730 in chips)Seat 6: zhancheng888 (648,651 in chips)Seat 7: Joao Bauer (1,075,370 in chips)Seat 8: Thomas "WushuTM" Muhlocker (1,127,355 in chips)Seat 9: deadfizh (481,293 in chips)

Blinds: 5/5 with 6,000 Ante

Deeb runs into kings, eliminated in 9th

Shaun Deeb came into the general table with the third biggest stack and a possibility to pick out up his sixth SCOOP title. But things went wrong in a rush to ruin his second final table of the day. Joao Bauer saw his stack count (temporarily) drop below Deeb's before they each were dealt big hands.

Bauer four-bet shoved with K♠K♣ and Deeb called in trouble with A♦K♦. Deeb couldn't have the ability across the kings at the Q♦Q♥5♥T♣7♥ board and was left with only 67,000.

He put that small stack in with A♣5♣ and deadfizh looked him up with A♠T♥. Neither found a work because it ran 9♣7♥2♦8♥A♥ to outkick the eight-time COOP champ out in 9th place.

Shaun "shaundeeb" Deeb

deadfizh takes a tricky beat, eliminated in 8th

deadfizh sent out Deeb but was still hanging across the bottom of the counts when his big slick was run down by a nasty beat.

Double Super Tuesday winner Gonzalez began the action when he moved all-in along with his short stack and deadfizh called in peril with A♠K♣. Gonzalez was dominated with K♥Q♥ but that modified at the K♦Q♠9♦ flop. deadfizh needed a miracle but it surely wasn't meant to be at the 7♣ turn or 8♠ river to exit in 8th place.

Brazil on Brazil violence, Akkari eliminated in 7th

The Brazilians are having one heck of a sequence thus far with Joao Bauer and WSOP champ Andre "akkari" Akkari adding to the legend today. Akkari sat back and watched two others players go out, biding his time until he found a hand to offer him a double.

He took a stab with a three-bet shove after an open from Joao Bauer and got a handy guide a rough call from his countryman with A♥A♣. Akkari needed numerous help with 4♠4♦ then lost one in all his precious outs at the J♣7♣3♣ flop. The T♠ turn left Akkari on the lookout for the case four but was the following eliminated when the river came 2♥.

Andre "aakkari" Akkari

Reilly flipped out, eliminated in 6th

There was really no pressure from the non-existent blinds and slowly creeping antes, it was big hands that forced the action. Reilly and Muhlocker found two of them and chips were flying once more.

Muhlocker raised it up after two limpers, Andrey Zaichenko called next to act, and Reilly moved all-in from the large blind. Zaichenko let his hand go and the hands were tabled, Reilly was ahead with T♣T♥ but racing against Muhlocker's A♥Q♦.

It was a sprint in preference to a marathon when Muhlocker connected immediately at the A♦9♣5♥ flop. Reilly was an extended shot to stay around but nothing helped him at the 4♥ turn or 5♠ river.

Zaichenko chopped down, eliminated in 5th

Zaichenko lost a big a part of his stack within the Reilly KO hand and was forced to take a shot soon afterwards. He moved all-in for his last 189,852 to get calls from zhancheng888 and Joao Bauer.

The two live players checked down the J♠3♣2♦Q♥9♥ board and Bauer tabled 6♣6♠. Both Zaichenko and zhancheng888 mucked their hands with Zaichenko leaving the overall table in 5th place.

Andrey "Kroko-dill" Zaichenko

Muhlocker sees unlucky river, eliminated in 4th

One of the most important pots of the tournament was also one of the crucial few not built pre-flop. Nearly 1.5 million ended up within the middle and commenced with a four-way limped pot to the J♦8♥8♠ flop.

Action checked around to Muhlocker and his 16,008 picked up one called in zhancheng888 to peer the 5♣ turn. zhancheng888 check/raised all-in and Muhlocker called off his final 616,000 with the turned full boat 5♥5♠. zhancheng888's flopped trip eights 8♣2♦ left Muhlocker with seven outs to dodge however the J♣ river did the wear and tear to send him out in 4th place.

Thomas "WushuTM" Muhlocker

zhancheng888 arrange and sent out in 3rd

Three-handed play went on for almost 90 minutes and not using a one taking a large lead, it was more swapping chips then a mass collecting of them. With that pace of play, zhancheng888 picked a captivating spot to get rammy with T♥7♠.

The Chinese grinder opened from the massive blind after the opposite two players limped and Gonzalez responded with a raise. Not believing the limp/raise play, zhancheng888 four-bet to 352,000 and Gonzalez put him all-in. T♥7♠ still looked good and he called to look he was flipping against 2♣2♥.

The race didn't last too long when Gonzalez flopped bottom set at the T♠7♥2♠ board. zhancheng888 picked up a gutshot draw after the 9♥ turn however the Q♦ was no help to kick him out in 3rd place.

Seat 3: Antonio "jonwayne69" Gonzalez (3,803,951 in chips)Seat 7: Joao Bauer (2,506,049 in chips)

Blinds: 5/5 with 14,000 Ante

Gonzalez beats top/top to win Event #15-H title

The two players were evenly matched, in both chips and experience, and battled for greater than an hour. Neither professional gave in but Gonzalez slowly added to his lead against Bauer. The Brazilian Bauer was looking to pick up a 10th SCOOP title for his country however it wasn't looking good.

He was down 700K to 5.5 million when he opened from the button to 18,955. Gonzalez called, they saw the K♣9♠3♥ flop, and Gonzalez checked. Bauer bet 24,390 to get a decision from Gonzalez followed by another check after the 7♠ turn. This time, Bauer tossed in 146,488 and Gonzalez hit the decision button before the 8♦ river.

Gonzalez went with another check and Bauer moved all-in for his last 534,857 holding top pair/top kicker A♦K♠. Generally a good catch heads-up but he could only watch as Gonzalez tabled his turned two pair with K♥7♦ to take the hand, the match, and the title.

A tough strategy to lose and Bauer was unable so as to add a SCOOP title to his previous WCOOP win. Gonzalez earned his first COOP victory to move along side two big Super Tuesday victories, adding nearly $80,000 to his bankroll.

Antonio "jonwayne69" Gonzalez

SCOOP-15-H ($700 NL Hold'em Ante Up) resultsEntrants: 631 (429 Entries, 202 Re-Entries)Total prize pool: $419,615Places paid: 72

1. Antonio "jonwayne69" Gonzalez (UK) $79,307.502. Joao Bauer (Brazil) $58,116.673. zhancheng888 (China) $42,800.734. Thomas "WushuTM" Muhlocker (Austria) $32,310.355. Andrey "Kroko-dill" Zaichenko (Russia) $22,659.216. Tim "WICKED617" Reilly (Netherlands) $17,833.637. Andre "akkari" Akkari (Brazil) $13,637.488. deadfizh (Finland) $9,441.339. Shaun "shaundeeb" Deeb (Mexico) $6,420.10

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com]