The stakes were raised during Monday’s PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker action as the fields of the Main Events began to dwindle and the pay jumps began to soar. At the same time the Main Events were playing out, a trio of other SCOOP events crowned winners including one title going to one of Brazil’s most promising MTT grinders and another to a former online Player of the Month.

$1.1 Million Up Top

Just 40 players from the 664-entries in Event #92-H ($10,300, 8-Max, Main Event) are left to battle for a piece of the $6,640,000 prize pool. As overnight registrations pushed the prize pool north, the first place prize became worth $1,130,395.89 with everyone who makes the final table at the end of Day 3 assured to walk away with at least a six-figure score.

Romanian pro ‘Dannuz0r’ finished the day with a healthy chip lead, being the only player to eclipse 16 million in chips (16,354,262) and will start Tuesday with over 160 big blinds. New Zealand’s David ‘MissOracle’ Yan wrapped the day second in chips with 13,782,929 and ‘kZhh’ from Hungary logged off with 11,708,894 in chips, good for third overall.

There’s still plenty of online poker star power left in the final forty including current worldwide #7-ranked Bruno ‘great dant’ Volkmann, Russia’s Arsenii ‘josef_shvejk’ Karmatckii, and Tuen ‘tinnoemulder’ Mulder all of whom have a top-10 stack.

Joining them in the fight for a million-dollar payday is Rui ‘RuiNF’ Ferreira, Day 1a chip leader ‘ShipitFTW911’, Dan ’SmilleThHero’ Smiljkovic, Ukraine’s ‘Remo Lebo_10’, Christian ‘WATnlos’ Rudolph, and Thiago ‘KKremate’ Crema among others.

The tournament is set to resume at 1:05 pm ET, where players will play down to the final eight.

Just 80 Remain in Medium Main Event

Event #92-M ($1,050 NLHE Main Event) also saw a nice bump in overnight registration finishing with a total of 5,903 runners and a prize pool of $5,903,000. From those thousands of players, just 80 remain in contention for the $838,908.55 first-place prize. Austria’s ‘livinmydream1’ is doing his namesake, sitting with the overnight chip lead at the end of Day 2 with 18,717,331 chips. Uruguay’s ‘elmelogno4’ is not far behind, bagging 18,235,563 for second place. ‘Palma17’ out of Russia will also have a big stack heading into Day 3, locking up 17,010,770 in third place.

The aforementioned Bruno Volkmann still has a stack in the Medium Main Event as does his Brazilian countryman Pablo ‘pabritz’ Brito Silva who took down a SCOOP title on April 25. Other notable names left in the field include Jack ’Swaggersorus’ Sinclair, former #1 Christopher Brammer, Luis Faria, Robin ‘robinho’ Ylitalo, and PokerStars ambassador Lex Veldhuis, who spent the entire day streaming his journey into making Day 3.

The massive 38,913-entry field of Event #92-L ($109 NLHE, 8-Max, Main Event) is now down to just 159 and one of those players is going to turn a hundred dollar bill into a $376,086.99 payday. Sweden’s ‘dammsugarn’ is likely happy about their chances to be that player, holding the overnight chip lead of 16,269,467 chips (roughly 100 big blind). ‘CaptainRobur’s second bullet is paying off as the grinder from Greece sits in second place with 15,977015 in chips. They are followed by ‘macker888’ out of Ireland who finished the night in third with 15,263,687.

$10K PLO Main Event Reaches Guarantee

As the only one of the six Main Events to not have eclipsed its guarantee at the end of play on Day 1, Event #93-H ($10,300 Pot Limit Omaha Main Event) was the biggest beneficiary of the extended late registration. When late reg finally closed before the start of Day 2, 134-entries had registered and generated a $1.34 million prize pool, by $90,000.

The tournament played down to the final table where Brazil’s Joao ’vovo_leo’ Studart, who is still in the NLHE $10K Main Event with 40 left, will enter Day 3 with the chip lead with over 7 million in chips and have an edge on earning the $281,269.15 first-place prize. All seven players at the final table are guaranteed at least $59,046.16 when play resumes at 1:25 pm ET.

More Winners Crowned

Brazil’s Dalton ‘daltonhb’ Hobold locked up a career-high online score with his victory in Event #91-H ($2,100 NLHE, PKO, Sunday Warm-Up SE). The current worldwide #27-ranked pro outlasted a field of 554 runners to capture the $85,357.83 first-place prize and an additional $73,472.64 in bounties for a total score of $158,830.47. En route to his first career SCOOP title, Hobold denied Darrell ‘FourSixFour’ Goh his second. Goh settled for runner-up status but enjoyed a six-figure score of $121,627.02 with bounties included. Russia’s ‘mvelt900’ rounded out the top three, finishing in third place for $93,537.45.

For a little bit, it looked like PokerStars ambassador Fintan ‘easywithaces’ Hand was going to repeat his performance in Event #82-H where he took down the title and a hefty $232K payday. However, this time, with over 8,500 watching on his Twitch channel, he ended up falling in fourth place which was good for another $48,543.60.

There was a deal made at the end of Event #90-H ($530 NLHE, Freezeout) between Frank ‘Denman98’ Lillis and Latvia’s ‘Colisea’ in which Lillis locked up $68,645.48 and added on the additional $4,000 left on the table for the eventual winner. In total Lillis took home $72,645.48 as well as his first career SCOOP title. For their part of the deal ‘Colisea’ earned $67,565.03 as the runner-up, more than $9,000 than the original payout for second place. Brazil’s Vinicius ‘jason13-2008’ Steves was the third-place finisher and added the $41,681.04 to his $3 million in career online earnings.

At the same time as he was making a deep run in the SCOOP $10K Main Event, Dan ’SmilleThHero’ Smiljkovic was busy taking down his second career SCOOP title in Event #97-H ($215 NLHE Turbo). Smiljkovic, the online player of the month back in October 2020, topped the 1,964-entry field and walked away with the $58,778.40 first-place prize. Romania’s ‘rattyde’ finished in second place which was good for $41,898.20 and Brazilian ‘CFAlmeida’ took home the bronze and turned their $215 into $29,289.87. Also of note, 2020 WSOP Main Event champ Damian ‘pampa27 Salas made another deep run, taking fifth place for $15,176.14.

Event #90-H ($530 NLHE, Freezeout)
Entries: 1,002
Prize pool: $501,000

1. Denman98 – $72,645.48*
2. Colisea – $67,565.03*
3. jason13-2008 – $41,681.04

Event #91-H ($2,100 NLHE, PKO, Sunday Warm-Up SE)
Entries: 554
Prize pool: $1,108.000

1. daltonhb – $158,830.47
2. FourSixFour – $121,627.02
3. umvelt900 – $93,537.45

Event #97-H ($215 NLHE, Turbo)
Entries: 1,964
Prize pool: $392,800

1. SmilleThHero – $58,778.40
2. rattyde – $41,898.20
3. CFAlmeida – $29,866.50