Talal Shakerchi, known online as “raidalot,” won the SCOOP, aka Spring Championship of Online Poker Main Event (high) on Tuesday, bringing to a close a record-breaking online PokerStars festival and the richest of all time.
So much for boycotting PokerStars. Over the course of the 17-day festival, $91 million was won by thousands of players across 56 events (168 tournaments in all), breaking the previous record of $81 million that had been set by SCOOP in 2014.
The $10,000 high-buy in the Main Event alone had 824 entries, up 25 percent over last year, which generated a prize pool of more than $8 million. Meanwhile, the $1,000 medium Main Event garnered 5,026 entries for a prize pool of $4.8m, and the $100 low Main Event attracted 24,591 entries and a prize pool of $2.2 million.
It seems the death of online poker has been somewhat exaggerated, as PokerStars’ Director of Corporate Communications Eric Hollreiser noted this week.
“This record-breaking prize pool is testament to the enduring popularity of online poker,” he said.
The Main Event final table was packed with some of the world’s top players, with the likes of John Juanda (Luckbox), Scott Seiver (gunning4you), Lasse Nielson (IReadB00ks), and Sean Winter (Nolez7).
The Rich Get Richer
But it was British hedge fund manager, high-stakes player, and philanthropist Shakerchi who entered the final with the chip lead, and rode it to the finish line, defeating Winter heads-up.
Shakerchi founded his own hedge fund, Meditor, and the UK’s Sunday Times Rich List has estimated his wealth at around £100 million ($146.6 million), although we’re not certain they factored in his winnings from live poker tournaments, which have been substantial over the past few years.
Shakerchi has live tournament winnings of $2.6 million to his name. Now he has an extra $1,468,001 to add to the top of his giant stash.
Shaun Deeb Wins More Than Cash
That win capped a series of impressive performances across the entire series for the 53-year-old Brit, who cashed 36 times and reached five final tables. But that wasn’t enough to win him the SCOOP Player of the Series title. That accolade went to Shaun Deeb, who tallied 41 cashes and eight final tables across the series. He narrowly edged out PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier for the top spot.
Elsewhere, another British player also triumphed in the medium Main Event, where Andres “Educa-p0ker” Artinano took $578,621.27 after striking a deal with second-place finisher Jordan “Jymaster11” Young. The latter has relocated from the US to Mexico in order to play in the international pool.
The low Main Event, meanwhile, was won by Brazilian Leandro “mmleandro” Macedo for $196,058.
