Craig “@ChipsMaxwell” Stout had been waiting a long time for this day.
The Sheridan, Indiana native had been playing on Global Poker since the social poker site launched and had won 13 trophies. He has $17,466 in live tournament earnings, including winning three tournaments in less than two weeks in January at the Horseshoe Indianapolis. But he had never enjoyed a day quick like this one, and he dreamt it was coming.
Stout earned his tournament entry for the semi-final of the inaugural PokerNews Cup on Global Poker in the first qualifier. He won the semi-final last night to secure his spot in the SC250,000 Final. And then he had a bold prediction.
“I called my shot and said I was going to win this,” Stout told PokerNews’ Jesse Fullen on Twitch shortly after he defeated “Thunder2007” to win the PokerNews Cup and earn the SC100,000 first-place prize along with the Global Poker x PokerNews Cup trophy.
I won the @official_glp x @PokerNews cup semifinals tonight… going to win the finals tomorrow! https://t.co/UJkzD2KDvw
“I am stoked. I’ve been looking forward to this day for, I don’t know, 25 years, I guess,” he said. “I’ve been playing tournament poker, I feel like, my whole adult life. It’s been a long time coming to get this. I’ve won some decent tournaments, but this is my first six-figure score. So I’m thrilled right now.”
Final Table results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Craig “@ChipsMaxwell” Stout | SC100,000 |
| 2 | “Thunder2007” | SC40,000 |
| 3 | “PeanutFlush” | SC25,000 |
| 4 | “Penneltenn” | SC15,000 |
| 5 | “Jayz4dayz72” | SC10,000 |
| 6 | “hhella Tight” | SC6,000 |
| 7 | “cgoated” | SC4,000 |
| 8 | “Brrrr” | SC3,000 |
| 9 | “HippyMike” | SC2,000 |
Event Recap
The SC250,000 Final began at 5 p.m. ET with 54 players making it through the qualification rounds. PokerNews Stream Team member Anthony “Acepoker444” Caldiero and WSOP bracelet winner David “RUeTaMa” Moses were among them but fell in 33rd and 21st place, respectively.
Once the field had been whittled down to the final three tables, Stout lost a large portion of his stack when he shoved the turn with a pair of jacks and “Brrrr” called with two pair. He began climbing back up the leaderboard after knocking out “Morgilicous” with pocket aces, then taking out “LambdaLambdaLambda” in 11th place when the board counterfeited his opponent’s pocket pair.
Stout began the nine-handed final table in third chip position with 103,504, behind only “Thunder2007” (137,309) and “PeanutFlush” (132,893). On the first hand, “HippyMike” moved all in for 5,596, less than three big blinds, and “hhella Tight” called in the big blind. “hhella Tight” turned a flush to beat pocket nines, making “HippyMike” the first casualty of the final table.
Stout’s former nemesis “Brrrr” was eliminated in eighth place, losing a race with ace-king to jacks when “Thunder2007” flopped top set. “cgoated” then moved all in for 7,540 and received three callers. The board was checked down and “PeanutFlush” won the pot with king-high to knockout “cgoated” in seventh.
From there, the tournament was all Stout. He called an all-in shove for 19,909 from “hhella Tight” on a five-high board with pocket eights and beat a pair of fives to earn the knockout. In a blind versus blind confrontation, Stout put “jayz4dayz7” all in for 22,882 and won with ace-queen against ace-seven as he took the lead with more than half the chips in play four-handed.
Stout wasn’t done dominating the table. He made a running straight to win a big pot off “PeanutFlush,” then cracked pocket kings with ace-queen, hitting an ace on the turn, to bust PokerNews contest winner Penneltenn in fourth place.
PeanutFlush was knocked out in third place when Stout got them to call off their last 44,388 on the river with a pair of eights. Stout showed down a rivered pair of aces as he eliminated his fourth consecutive opponent at the final table to take a 377,145 to 162,855 chip lead over “Thunder2007” into heads-up play.
“Thunder2007” doubled up once to draw closer, but on the last hand, they moved all in on the flop for 93,910 with a straight draw. Stout called with a pair of sixes and held on to secure the title and become the first-ever PokerNews Cup champion.
Global Poker emphasizes the social aspect of the game. It allows players to enjoy the experience in a fun, friendly atmosphere for free with no purchase or downloads necessary. Stout has been a loyal player on the social poker site from the beginning, and he was well-rewarded today. But he doesn’t have too many big plans just yet.
“I got to go to work tomorrow and then we’ll go from there,” he said.
That concludes PokerNews’ coverage of the inaugural PokerNews Cup on Global Poker. Stay tuned for more action from tournaments around the world.