Ivan "vandir4rek" Soshnikov Wins SCOOP Main Event For $1 Million

Russia’s Ivan “vandir4rek” Soshnikov has won the PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) $10,300 Main Event, after besting a field of 657 players over two days on his way to claiming the title, and collecting the $1,048,000 first place prize.
Soshnikov’s has been making a name for himself recently by entering high-roller tournaments, and his million dollar online score comes half a year after he took down the €10,300 EPT High Roller in Prague for €382,050 ($523,542).
The SCOOP Event #44-High: Main Event paid out a  total of 81 places and amongst the notables seeing a return on their $10,300 investment was Mike “Timex” McDonald in 34th ($29,565), Phil “RaiseOnce” Ivey in 32nd ($29,565), Dan “mrGR33N13” Colman in 31st ($29,565), Keven “Stammdogg” Stammen in 30th ($29,565), Shannon “baseba1b” Shorr in 28th ($29,565), Taylor “tRaMp$d0PrAy” Paur in 24th ($36,463) and Eugene Katchalov in 19th ($36,463).
By the time the final table of nine had been set, Better C4ll was the chip leader on a 2.28m stack, followed by Ivan “vandir4rek” Soshnikov (1.61m), and Ben “NeverScaredB” Wilinofsky (1.46m). Also in contention for the title was Phill “Grindation” Mcallister (1.37m), Peter “Se7enTr3y” Akery (1m), Santiago “sanpri” Nadal (669k), sat1337en (484k), Martin “M.nosbocaJ” Jacobson (463k), and a short-stacked VVVILELAAA on a 436k stack.
Better C4ll (A-9) then proceeded to eliminate sat1337en (J-9) in 9th for $98,555, before Peter “Se7enTr3y” Akery picked up A-9 and did likewise to Santiago “sanpri” Nadal (A-5) in 8th for $147,825, followed a few hands later by VVVILELAAA in 7th ($213,525).
Next, McAllister (A-J) sent Wilinofsky (A-9) from the competition in 6th ($279,225), but after five-bet shoving with pocket fives into the pocket kings of Soshnikov was himself eliminated in 5th for $350,838. Soshnikov (8-8) followed up by dispatching Jacobson (7-7) to the rail in 4th ($499,320), at which point the remaining three players struck a deal which saw Soshnikov lock up $988,000 in prize money, Better C4ll $890,820, Akery $860,000, with $60,000 left for the eventual winner.
A couple hands later, Soshnikov (Q-Q) took care of Better C4ll (10-10) in 3rd ($890,820) to set up the heads-up battle against Peter “Se7enTr3y” Akery. As the final battle commenced, Soshnikov held a sizable lead over his UK opponent but it would still take 78 hands before the defining hand was played with Akery all-in preflop holding K-9 to Soshnikov’s A-6. The board subsequently rolled out 2-J-10-4-A to relegate Akery to a runner-up finish, while Ivan “vandir4rek” Soshnikov was awarded the title.
SCOOP Event #44-High: Main Event:
1. Ivan “vandir4rek” Soshnikov (Russia) $1.048m
2. Peter “Se7enTr3y” Akery (UK) $860k
3. Better C4ll (UK) $890,820
4. Martin “M.nosbocaJ” Jacobson (UK) $499,320
5. Phill “Grindation” Mcallister (UK) $350,838
6. Ben “NeverScaredB” Wilinofsky (Canada) $279,225
7. VVVILELAAA (Brazil) $213,525
8. Santiago “sanpri” Nadal (Mexico) $147,825
9. sat1337en (Sweden) $98,555