Connor "blanconegro" Drinan Wins Record-Setting Fifth 2020 SCOOP Title and Second PLO-H Title in Event-75-H: $10,300 PLO Main Event for $322,264
Connor "blanconegro" Drinan has officially made history with his fifth tournament win in the 2020 PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker, topping a field of 159 in the three-day-long SCOOP-75-H: $10,300 PLO [6-Max, PLO Main Event], $1.25M Gtd to win the top prize of $322,264. The win came less than a week after Drinan tied Shaun "shaundeeb" Deeb's single-series record of four victories, meaning he only had to share the podium for a handful of days before finding a place in the record books all to his own.
Drinan's victory came after a roller coaster of a heads-up match with Jens "Jeans89" Kyllonen that lasted for two full hours and saw both players spend significant amounts of time as the chip leader. When all was said and done, Drinan was the one with all the chips for the fifth time this series and the second time in a high-stakes Pot-Limit Omaha SCOOP Event after taking down the $5,200 Event #40-H just nine days ago.
Also at the final table was third-place finisher Joao "Naza114" Vieira, who fell just short of his second SCOOP title of the series. This marked the third time he finished in the top four in a SCOOP-H event in the last week, having also recently taken second place in Event #62-H for $102,900 and fourth in Event #52-H for $240,744.
PokerStars SCOOP-75-H Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Connor "blanconegro" Drinan | United States | $322,264 |
| 2 | Jens "Jeans89" Kyllonen | Finland | $245,286 |
| 3 | Joao "Naza114" Vieira | Portugal | $186,695 |
| 4 | Kukenmuser | United Kingdom | $142,100 |
| 5 | Gavin "gavz101" Cochrane | United Kingdom | $108,157 |
| 6 | Talal "raidalot" Shakerchi | United Kingdom | $82,322 |
| 7 | Linus "LLinusLLove" Loeliger | Austria | $66,762 |
The Road To Seven
The high-stakes version of the Pot-Limit Omaha Main Event began Sunday with 28 entries to start, and that number climbed to 136 by the time 15 half-hour levels were played. Linus "LLinusLLove" Loeliger was the chip leader among the 31 that remained at the end of the day, but the late registration period remained open until the beginning of Day 2 and 23 more entries were logged before the prize pool became official.
In total, the 159 entries generated a prize pool of $1,590,000 with what became 54 players in contention to begin Day 2. The top 19 would make it into the money, a feat that would be accomplished midway through the day when Gavin "gavz101" Cochrane eliminated Alex "dynoalot" Difelice on the direct bubble of the tournament.
Loeliger had remained atop the counts throughout the day to that point, and he stayed there until Joao "Naza114" Vieira surpassed him in the counts before two tables remained. Jens "Jeans89" Kyllonen then took a pot off Vieira to overtake the chip lead with 10 left, but Drinan would be the one to take the chip lead into Day 3's final table of seven with a stack of 12 million after doubling through Loeliger and then knocking out Ben "Ben86" Tollerene in eighth place to end play for the night.
The First Two Hours: Seven To Three
Day 3 wound up having three distinct parts to it, each of which lasted exactly two hours. Loeliger was the short stack to enter the day after losing the aforementioned pot to Drinan late in Day 2, and he was the first to find the rail just 20 minutes into the day after losing an all-in preflop situation versus Vieira.
Talal Shakerchi entered the day sixth in chips and ended up taking sixth place in the event a half-hour after Loeliger was eliminated. Despite chipping up a bit in the early orbits of the day, Shakerchi wound up short after losing a pot to Drinan where the latter had turned a full house. Vieira once again delivered the final blow for the second time of the day, knocking out Shakerchi after he had dwindled to just five big blinds.
By the first break in the day, Drinan had chipped up to nearly 14 million and had company in the likes of Kyllonen as the only two players in the tournament over 10 million. The next hour of play saw Cochrane eliminated in fifth after an up-and-down half-hour of play ended with him running top two pair into Kyllonen's top set. The pot gave Kyllonen the chip lead and left Kukenmuser as the shortest stack. They stayed alive until just before the second break of the day, when their aces lost out to Drinan's two pair to finish in fourth place.
The Second Two Hours: Three To Two
Three-handed play begain with Kyllonen on top, holding roughly half the chips in play with a stack of almost 20 million while Drinan maintained a stack of 13 million and Vieira had the last 7 million. Half an hour later, all three players were within 3 million of one another as stacks had leveled out to a range of between 12- and 15 million.
A new level then began and the momentum went against Viera. Drinan won two pots without showdown off Vieira and he was left with 4.5 million. However, he doubled through Kyllonen shortly thereafter and play marched on for exactly another hour with blinds continuing to increase and small pots being played almost all around.
Vieira's run at another SCOOP title finally came to an end just minutes before the fourth break of the day. Stacks ended up getting in after Vieira check-called off his remaining stack with the second nuts against Kyllonen, only to find that Kyllonen held the one hand that could beat his own in a straight-over-straight situation that also involved two flush draws both missing on the river.
The Final Two Hours: Two To One
Kyllonen took nearly a three-to-one chip lead into the heads-up match after eliminating Vieira from the tournament, but Drinan worked quickly to try and erase the deficit. He chipped up from 10 million to 16 million, and then rode a roller coaster down to 9 million and back up to 15 million. From there, a turn- and river raise on consecutive hands gave him the chip lead roughly 30 minutes into the match.
Drinan increased his chip lead to nearly a two-to-one advantage, but then Kyllonen nearly doubled with quad aces and regained the chip lead and acquire 60% of the chips in play. Another 45 minutes of back-and-forth play saw multiple lead changes, with Drinan taking the lead by a slight margin for what would ultimately be the last time in the tournament.
After amassing that lead, Drinan further increased it with a win at showdown where he held top two pair. Moments later, he found himself facing a huge river bet with the second nuts and made the call against what wound up being a pair of kings and missed flush draw. The pot left him with over 80% of the chips in play, and the match went on for another 20 minutes as Kyllonen stayed afloat.
On the last hand before the sixth break of the day, stacks got in on a jack-high flop with Kyllonen firmly ahead holding top pair against a wheel draw that Drinan held. A safe turn looked as if the match was going to continue into a third hour of play with close-to-even stacks, but the river completed Drinan's wheel draw to ensure him the victory and officially set a single-series record with his fifth win in the 2020 PokerStars SCOOP.